Kaiping four years, September 16th.

The sun is shining brightly and the autumn air is crisp.

A group of knights set out from Green Willow Manor, passed the straight road and then headed to the desolate forest in the southeast. Pei Yue led the way, dressed in powerful clothes, with a single sword hanging from his waist, his hair tied into a bun with a white jade hairpin tied through it.

Pei Yue, who just celebrated his birthday, is actually fifteen years old. According to the unique customs in Daliang, he is seventeen years old this year. Compared with a year and a half ago, his appearance has changed a lot. Now his height is very close to the standard of an adult.

, due to diligent martial arts practice every day, his body looks increasingly strong and his palms have thick calluses.

In the past nine months, in addition to continuing to consolidate and expand the briquette business, he rarely left Luliu Village, practicing martial arts and studying while renovating the village. The buildings and roads in the village were re-planned, and more than ten light and dark sentries were added outside.

Especially with Mr. Xi guiding me, it feels a bit like a military camp.

A courtyard with heaven and earth inside was built behind the main house. It looks normal from the outside, but inside the towering courtyard wall are a dozen adjacent simple but extremely strong houses. The walls of these houses are all made by Pei Yue.

It is made of three-piece clay and does not have a single window except for an extremely small skylight for ventilation.

Except for Ye Qi and Mr. Xi, no one else was allowed to go near the courtyard behind without Pei Yue's permission.

No one knows what Pei Yue wants to do inside.

The horse rides on the autumn wind, arriving in an instant.

Everyone stopped in the deserted forest. Apart from Pei Yue, there were a total of twelve riders on this trip. Among them, there were only three old faces, Deng Zai, Feng Yi and Qi Jun. The rest were all newcomers. It is said that Pei Yue began to form his own team after the year.

The villagers of Green Willow Village were all enthusiastic about the personal soldiers. Whenever there was a boy of the right age in the family, he would send it to the head of the family. Finally, after some selection, Pei Yue selected eighteen young people to form his own together with the previous eighteen people.

Guards team.

According to the Daliang etiquette system, a baron can recruit fifty soldiers, a viscount can recruit a hundred people, and then add up the hundreds, that is, the duke can have five hundred soldiers. This number seems a bit too high, but the problem lies with the court

Not being able to take care of these soldiers means that you have to spend a lot of money to support them.

Therefore, from the founding of the country to the present, no noble man has ever recruited a full number of soldiers.

On the one hand, they don't want to arouse people's jealousy, on the other hand, they can't afford to support them, and the latter accounts for a greater proportion.

In terms of salary, horses, weapons, clothing, food and other daily expenses, an elite soldier will need at least a hundred taels of silver in a year. For the vast majority of nobles who are not good at business management, this is

The cost is unbearable.

Although Pei Yue can currently support hundreds of personal soldiers, he will not do so.

Hiding in Luliu Village, he was supposed to act in a low-key manner, so how could he be so high-profile and attract criticism? What's more, the number of young people in the village was limited, and there were not so many good prospects for him to choose from. In addition to these personal soldiers, Pei Yue

The men in the village were also divided into two shifts, and they would take turns to work at the coal yard every seven days. This way they could earn money without affecting the farm work in the village too much.

Pei Yue jumped off his horse and came to a clearing in the deserted forest. He looked at several large empty holes dug on the ground and frowned slightly.

Deng Zai arranged for Feng Yi and Qi Jun to lead several people to disperse and guard, and then walked to Pei Yue and said: "Young Master, the young master of the Qin family brought people from the Beijing camp to verify the results of the battle and cut off the heads of those bandits.

Come down and take them away, so what are buried here are the headless bodies of those thieves. The only exception is the leader of the thieves. After the young master executed him, Wang Yong and I buried him here."

Pei Yue knelt down by the pit, stretched out his hand to touch the dry soil on the ground, and said in a deep voice, "Are you sure this is also where Fang Rui's bones are buried?"

Deng Zai nodded with certainty and said, "I remember correctly, it's right here."

Pei Yue stood up and walked around several large pits, and then asked, "When were these pits discovered?"

Deng Zai looked ashamed, lowered his head and said: "Young master, our daily vigilance is mainly around Zhuangzi. Because it is a deserted forest, we rarely pay special attention to these pits. I heard Uncle Chen from the east end talk about these pits today, and then came here

I found out after checking, but I guess the incident happened earlier, but I can’t determine the specific time.”

Pei Yue said gently: "You are right. Judging from the soil beside these big pits, they were not dug out in recent days. By the way, you don't need to take this matter to heart. It is not a big deal."

Deng Zai breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in agreement.

Pei Yue turned around and walked towards his mount. The precious colt that Pei Cheng gave him had now grown into a divine horse. After getting on the horse, he said to Deng Zai: "When you go back, call a few people and bring them with you."

Bring tools to fill these holes."

"yes!"

The Thirteen Riders quickly returned to Green Willow Village.

After Pei Yue returned to the main house, he went straight to his study, not allowing anyone to come near, and closed the door to think about the problem.

After an unknown amount of time, a cold voice sounded outside the door: "Pei Yue?"

Pei Yue woke up from his meditation, with a smile on his face. He stood up and opened the door. He looked at the graceful Ye Qi outside the door and said, "Nvxia Ye is here. Do you have any advice?"

"Don't talk too much." Ye Qi said angrily, then walked into the study carrying a tray.

Today she was wearing a moon-blue butterfly-colored satin skirt, which made her figure even more slim, and her face felt like a fragrant breeze blowing when she walked.

Pei Yue looked at the plate in her hand, uncontrollably feeling uneasy in his heart.

Ye Qi placed the tray on the table, turned to look at Pei Yue, and said with a smile: "I have newly learned Tremella and Lotus Seed Soup, come here and try it."

"Have you learned it again?" Pei Yue said with a bitter smile.

His most painful memory in these nine months is none other than the various "delicious dishes" made by Ye Qi, who suddenly became interested in cooking. God is very fair. He gave Ye Qi a beautiful appearance and a free and easy personality.

As well as her martial arts talent that even Mr. Xi admired, but it didn't give her a reasonable sense of taste.

Her chef, inherited from Aunt Qi and Taohua, follows a traditional gourmet style and does not make messy dark dishes, but the taste of these delicacies is really hard to describe.

But in the entire Green Willow Village, only Pei Yue could enjoy this blessing.

"I just drank a teapot of water, why don't you leave it for now and I'll eat it later?" Pei Yue moved forward and said cautiously.

Ye Qi didn't urge him, he just walked over and picked up the teapots full of teapots on the table, weighed them, and then looked at him with a half-smile.

Pei Yue sighed softly and picked up the exquisite porcelain bowl with a look of death. He took a closer look and saw that the white fungus was white and moist, the lotus seeds were full, and the color of the soup looked normal.

Has she finally learned?

Pei Yue mustered up the courage to take a bite with a spoon.

Ye Qi stared at him expectantly and asked, "How is it?"

Pei Yue's eyes lit up, he didn't say anything, he ate big, responded with practical actions, and quickly finished the small lotus seed soup.

"I learned another dish!" Ye Qi said with rare joy.

Pei Yue put down the porcelain bowl and wanted to praise her a few words. However, after enduring it again and again, his face finally twisted and hesitantly said: "You are great, but please don't do it next time."

Ye Qi frowned and said, "Don't you think it tastes delicious?"

"Indeed." Pei Yue paused and said awkwardly: "If you don't consider that the lotus seeds are very bitter, this bowl of white fungus and lotus seed soup is indeed delicious."

"..."
Chapter completed!