Before Zhu Susu could think of a way out, the shopkeeper of Xinfeng Inn called her mother, You Qianniang, and said that the room they were staying in was the upper room, and they originally paid one tael of silver for a day's accommodation, but it was Du's previous room.

The master introduced them and gave them a discount, temporarily staying for a few days for free. Now that the discount period has expired, they are asked to pay the market price.

You Qianniang knew that she had offended the Du family, and she regretted for a moment that she should not have listened to Su Su's words and went to the door of the Du family to apply eye drops to the eldest daughter of the Du family.

After returning to her room, You Qianniang lowered her face and said to Zhu Susu: "Pack your things, let's go find another inn."

Zhu Susu was speechless after knowing the whole story. While complaining about the Du family's small belly, she packed her things and left Xinfeng Inn with You Qianniang to find another place to stay.

After searching around a lot, I found out that it was indeed "Chang'anju, a big deal". Among the inns in Shengyefang, Xinfeng Inn is actually the cheapest. In other inns, even an ordinary room costs one or two silver dollars.

One day. Even if they had one hundred taels of silver in their hands, they would not be able to live there for one hundred days.

The couple searched for a whole day, and then under the guidance of kind-hearted people, they came to the slums in the lower city of Chang'an City, where they could buy a small three-room house for twenty taels of silver. The two women

Since they were unfamiliar with the place, they could go directly to a middleman to do business, or they could go to Xiao Xiangsheng's shop and ask him to be a guarantee for them to buy a small yard in Xiacheng District.

Xiao Xiangsheng did not see them again, but sent a steward to help them buy a small courtyard.

It was not until the end of April, when You Qianniang and Zhu Susu finally settled down and tried their best to find Xiao Xiangsheng, that they found out that he had gone to the south of the Yangtze River again.

This time, he went with Du Xiancheng.

Because last winter was too warm, a huge locust plague broke out in Jiangnan at the turn of spring and summer this year.

The entire land of plenty will definitely lose its harvest this year.

After receiving the news, Xiao Xiangsheng and Du Xiancheng hurriedly went to Jiangnan again and transported half of the grain stored in Jiangnan farms in previous years back to Chang'an. The other half was distributed to tenant farmers on the spot, so as to prevent the victims from causing trouble and robbing their farms and granaries.

Along the way, they found that the chaos of the Great Zhou Dynasty was beginning to appear.

The news of the defeat of the Zhou army at the end of last year not only hit the morale of the Zhou Dynasty, but also dealt a heavy blow to the national power of the Zhou Dynasty. The 100,000 good family sons recruited for the second expedition to Goguryeo were the mainstay of the national power of the Zhou Dynasty. They

Once he died, Zhou's national power declined by half.

However, Emperor Dezhen still did not repent and refused to withdraw his troops from Goguryeo. He was recruiting new good men to join the army and planned to conquer Goguryeo himself.

In June of the fifth year of Changye's reign in the Great Zhou Dynasty, while the army was still gathering, the Huaihe River in the north burst its embankments, flooding countless fertile fields on both sides of the Huaihe River. Just after the locust plague in the south, another drought broke out. For a time, the entire Great Zhou Dynasty collapsed like a rotten embankment.

Come down.

As the twelfth lunar month entered, the weather was severely cold and food was scarce everywhere. More and more victims fled to Chang'an City.

Originally, the Zhou Dynasty had been able to recuperate and recuperate for more than ten years, so it would not be stretched even in a disaster year. However, Emperor Dezhen insisted on attacking Goguryeo, and he had already lost more than half of the wealth accumulated by the Zhou Dynasty over the years.

When disaster comes, there will be no extra food for disaster relief.

The victims of the disaster fled everywhere for a piece of food, resulting in many refugees. Among them were many young and middle-aged refugees who went up to the mountains to become bandits and thieves in order to avoid military service.

In the sixth year of the Great Zhou Dynasty, in the first month of the year, many thieves directly occupied the prefectures and counties, proclaimed themselves kings, and rebelled against the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The Duke of Qi, Qi Boshi, was sent by Emperor Dezhen, who was on a personal expedition in Goguryeo, to conquer the rebels all over Dazhou. However, he was exhausted, beating the Eastern family, and the Western family emerged again.

By the sixth year of Changye's reign in the Great Zhou Dynasty, more than half of the shops of Xiao Xiangsheng and Du Xiancheng had been closed. The two exchanged most of their gold and silver money for grain and cloth, half of which were secretly given to Qi Guogong, and half of which were hoarded by two families outside the city.

in the village and in the cellars of the city.

At this time, Emperor Dezhen just ignored it and wanted to mobilize Duke Qi's army to go to Goguryeo to participate in the war.

The imperial edict reached the Duke of Qi's palace, and Qi Boshi, the ambitious Duke of Qi, killed Emperor Dezhen's imperial envoy with one sword and officially rebelled against the Great Zhou Dynasty. Qi Boshi had always been a talented person, and after many years of careful preparation, although he had just announced the uprising,

However, the Taizhou area has been managed in an orderly manner, and it has become the largest and most dazzling force among the seventy-two rebel thieves in the Zhou Dynasty.

The news that Duke Qi rebelled against the Zhou Dynasty reached Chang'an City, and Xiao Xiangsheng and Du Xiancheng realized that the chaos in the Zhou Dynasty had just begun.

Chang'an City has the prince, the queen and the imperial uncle stationed with the imperial army, and it is relatively stable for the time being. However, seeing the increasing number of victims inside and outside Chang'an City, Du Xiancheng and Xiao Xiangsheng feel heavy.

It's not that Duke Qi Boshi didn't send people to win them over. But they knew that if they agreed to Duke Qi, they would go to the battlefield. They were people who had narrowly escaped death on the battlefield, so naturally they knew that following Duke Qi, they might have a great fortune in the future.

However, this great wealth must be obtained from danger. It may not take long for the two brothers to be wiped out on the battlefield, leaving two families of women, children, and children behind. Whose face should they live by?

They know better than anyone else. The Duke of Qi values ​​them because they can work hard for him while they are alive. Once they have a problem, they don't think that the Duke of Qi has the leisure and leisure to take care of their family for the rest of their lives.

They have no ambitions and just want to live a peaceful life with their families. For them, the title of marquis is too far away and they have never had extravagant hopes.

Therefore, they are reluctant to get involved in this mess.

But being here, it is extremely difficult to stay out of the situation.

He had no choice but to make excuses with the special envoy of the Duke of Qi, saying that he would wait until the family affairs were settled, but he did not refuse.

The special envoy of the Duke of Qi did not come specifically to recruit these two people. These two people had some abilities, but they were not to the point where they had to do it, so they did not force it. They just let them figure it out and go to Taizhou to join the army.

The special envoy of Duke Guo of Qi left Chang'an City secretly.

Du Xiancheng said to Xiao Xiangsheng: "Brother, we have to withdraw too. This is not a place to stay for a long time in Dazhou."

Xiao Xiangsheng glanced at Du Xiancheng and said, "Do you still want to go overseas?"

Du Xiancheng nodded, with a bit of fanaticism in his eyes, "Brother, do you remember that businessman from France? He always persuaded me to go to France to do business with him. Of course I didn't want to leave before, but now

Chaos is coming, shouldn’t we make plans in advance?”

Xiao Xiangsheng remained silent.

Du Xiancheng continued to persuade: "Brother, the chance of victory for Qi Guogong is really not good. I heard that the emperor is already on his way back to Luang. As soon as the emperor comes back, it is really difficult to predict the outcome. I have suffered enough from the war.

, I definitely don’t want my Shuang’er to grow up in troubled times. —Brother, my sister-in-law just gave birth to a daughter last year, can you guarantee that you can protect your family from the pain of war in the future?”

The pain of war can only be understood by those who have truly experienced it.

Whether they are winners or losers, they all advance on the bones of others. As two ordinary sons of good family who have no family background and are not from the Guanlong clan, there is a 99% chance that they will become the bones of others.

The two of them had suffered enough from the pain of war in Goguryeo and absolutely did not want to repeat the same mistakes.

There is another reason why Du Xiancheng wants to go overseas.

After Fang Wu Niang gave birth to her second daughter Du Hengxue, she was no longer pregnant, so Du Xiancheng did not have a son. He was not in a hurry. The one he loved most was his eldest daughter Du Hengshuang. He had long made up his mind that if he was destined to have no children, he would

This family property was passed on to his daughter Du Hengshuang.

He wanted to go to France in the West, and it was the businessman who told him that in France, men and women have equal inheritance rights. Even the royal family is now governed by Her Majesty the Queen, unlike Da Zhou, who must have a son.

, in order to inherit the family business. Otherwise, it will be taken back by the clan.

Xiao Xiangsheng nodded frequently as he spoke, "You are right. We should take a long-term view."

The two went to talk to the businessman with a tall nose, blue eyes and French teeth who lived in Xinfeng Inn.

The businessman happened to be leaving for home within a few days, so he agreed with Du Xiancheng and Xiao Xiangsheng that he would take Du Xiancheng to the first stop first, and then pick up the two families together after they were settled in.

Du Xiancheng also agreed with Xiao Xiangsheng that he would take a large number of followers, as well as the fabrics and porcelain hoarded by the two families, and go to sea with the businessman. He would be able to return in about a year and a half. Xiao Xiangsheng would be responsible for the affairs at home.

He took care of him first. Du Xiancheng specially left Qian Bo and a few particularly trustworthy family members to help him guard his home.

Xiao Xiangsheng was still a little reluctant at first, but when the news came that Emperor Dezhen was returning and uprisings were happening all over the Zhou Dynasty, Xiao Xiangsheng nodded and took his people to personally send Du Xiancheng and a large group of bodyguards and entourage to the big ship.

They went to Quanzhou City, the mouth of the sea. They would board a sea ship there and go to France in the West Sea.

It has been half a year since Du Xiancheng left and there has been no news from him.

Emperor Dezhen's Luan Jia was also blocked in the north of Taizhou and was not allowed to return to Beijing.

Although Xiao Xiangsheng was worried day and night, he never said a word in front of the two families. He only said that everything was going well and there was no need to worry.

It was a hot day, so Xiao Xiangsheng took several family members out of the city to see the harvest of the crops in the fields outside the city.

When we came back, it was a little late, so a few people couldn't help but hurry up and rush to the city.

When they were about ten miles outside the city, a carriage suddenly came out from behind and almost startled Xiao Xiangsheng's horse.

Xiao Xiangsheng tightened his arms and tightened the reins. The black horse under him roared and stood up.

"Who are you? Do you know that you almost frightened our master's horse? Can you afford it?!" Xiao Xiangsheng's entourage yelled at the driver.

Inside the car, there sat an elegant, veiled woman with a swollen belly. A guard beside her whispered: "Madam, the person outside seems to be Xiao Xiangsheng, a salt merchant from Chang'an City. Should we ask him?"

Call for help?—The pursuers behind us are already very close.”

The woman pondered for a moment and then ordered: "Go and beg." After a pause, she added: "Don't mention the master's name."

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The word "Liangjiazi" here is borrowed from the class that meets the standards for joining the army since the Han Dynasty. It refers to those who are not in the seven disciplines, or are not the children of doctors, witches, merchants, or workers. They are Liangjiazi. Since the Han Dynasty, Liangjiazi has been regarded as the

A relatively general specific class that owns certain assets, follows ethical principles, and engages in legitimate activities

Occupation. Sons of good families are also an important source for the country's selection of soldiers. The Sui Dynasty implemented the army system, and the soldiers were mainly composed of sons of good families. Traders, sons-in-law, criminals, beggars, etc. are not considered sons of good families and are usually not recruited into the army.

Accepted, even if they are accepted, their chances of receiving military honors and rewards are much less than those of soldiers from good families.
Chapter completed!