On Tianhan Street, Hao Erfu walked by holding his son Hao Gouer.
The father and son were originally from Guanzhong and fled to Hanzhong in July last year.
When he first arrived, he was resettled by the government, and Hao Erfu dug a cellar outside the city to live in.
He was a hard-working man who farmed seven acres of land. In his spare time, he went to the workshop outside the city to do some manual labor. It was hard work. Now, a year and a half later, he has harvested one crop of winter wheat and another crop of early rice.
Life will become easier.
After paying the land rent, leaving the father and son's food rations, he sold the remaining grain and built a small house. Seeing that he had some spare money, Hao Erfu thought of going to the city to buy clothes for Hao Gou'er.
He walked along the long street, looking around from time to time, and finally walked into a clothing store.
Hao Gou'er looked around and saw that the clothes in the shop were actually made. He found it novel and was about to reach out and touch it when he was hit by Hao Erfu.
"Don't touch it, you'll get it dirty."
Hao Erfu confessed in a low voice and looked blankly at the ready-made garment. Although it was made of linen, the stitching was meticulous. He didn't know how much it cost, so he hesitated for a moment.
The clothing store was doing quite well. A clerk was sitting behind the counter checking out people. After a while, he turned around and asked, "My guest, would you like to buy some clothes?"
Hao Erfu spoke with a Guanzhong accent, pointed to a piece of ready-made clothing that seemed to suit Hao Gouer, and asked, "How much does this ready-made clothing cost?"
The waiter glanced around, pointed to another cotton-padded coat hanging on the wall, and said, "It's cold in winter, sir, please buy a cotton-padded coat for the baby. Oh, it's also called a Jibei coat. It's warm."
"How...how much?"
"Two hundred coins."
The waiter was also busy, so he answered and turned around to pay the bill again.
Hao Erfu was stunned, a little surprised that the thick clothes were so cheap. He quickly took out two hundred copper coins, wiped them, squeezed behind the people in line, and handed them to the waiter.
Hao Gouer pulled him.
"Buy something for my dad to wear. My dad went to the workshop and came back at night. I'm in the new house, wrapped in a quilt, and it's not cold."
Hao Erfu touched his son's head. Since he still had six copper coins in his arms, he felt a lot more confident. He said on impulse: "Buy them all, buy them all."
It was rare for him to be generous.
When I was checking out, I heard the clerk laugh and say: "If you like it, you can prepare two more clothes for washing. Our store only makes a small profit from selling clothes. In order to make the people of Hanzhong have a better winter, we also set the price of clothes on the market."
.”
Hao Erfu didn't understand this. He just felt that the other party wanted to coax him out of his hard-earned money, so he shook his head and rejected the proposal.
Before leaving the store, he asked Hao Gouer to put on his new clothes to keep warm.
But he himself was reluctant to wear it for fear of getting dirty...
The father and son bought some more new year goods, each carrying a basket in front of them.
It was a rare trip to the city. I just wanted to go out and buy some random things, but I didn't expect that many items were cheaper than expected, and there were many things I needed at home. Unknowingly, I ended up shopping until dusk.
Seeing Hao Gou'er coveting the pot-bian rouxzi on the street, Hao Erfu gritted his teeth and decided to eat in the city today before going home.
After sitting at the stall, not long after, I saw groups of carriages and horses coming in from Zhenwu Gate in the west and slowly heading towards the east street.
Seeing the bustle on the street, Hao Erfu didn't go up to watch, and quickly looked down at his basket.
"Here comes a bowl of Youhuazi... This brother, there is no seat. Can you please let me share a table?"
A man asked casually, sitting down opposite Hao Erfu.
"Okay."
"Looking at this battle, it must be Li Jieshuai who has returned to the city, right?"
Hao Erfu looked back, scratched his head, and replied, "Uh, I don't know."
"Brother is not from Hanzhong?"
"Uh, I'm from Weinan, Guanzhong. Last year, I came here to escape the war in Mongolia." Hao Erfu thought for a moment, and still remembered that an officer named He Shun coaxed him to come.
He wanted to buy some New Year's goods for the other party today, but he didn't know where to find the benefactor again.
"Then my brother doesn't want to go back to Guanzhong?" the man opposite asked again.
Hao Erfu was stunned for a moment, then replied: "Life is easy. I have cultivated the land and built a house, but I can't walk such a long distance."
"But I heard that Li Jieshuai seems to have regained Guanzhong?"
Hao Erfu was very surprised, but finally shook his head and said, "Well, I've never heard of it."
"Really? My brother thinks Li Jieshuai is a good official?"
"That must be a good official." Hao Erfu said: "I have never met Li Jieshuai, but I have met Lu Zhixian of Nanzheng. When I first came here, Lu Zhixian gave me a house and a tenant farm. It is fertile land and the canals have been built.
Well, I don’t have to pay too much in land rent, all Hanzhong are good officials.”
"Yes, if you are an official, you can repair the water conservancy, prevent thieves, and not disturb the people too much. Then the people's life will be easier."
Hao Erfu was startled and said hurriedly: "It's better that we don't talk about government affairs."
The man smiled and took the oily flower seeds from the stall owner, but he was not in a hurry to eat them. He just looked at the motorcade passing through the long street and talked casually.
"It doesn't matter, Hanzhong City doesn't care what we people say. By the way, the Eighteenth Realm Club is of no use in Sichuan and Shu?"
"Well, I don't know what Huizi is. I've always used copper coins." After Hao Erfu said this, he quickly clarified, "Oh, well, I don't have any money either."
"I do have money, but it's too inconvenient to carry it with me, but I don't accept money everywhere."
Hao Erfu didn't understand this kind of distress and just said "oh".
The man refused to eat the oily flower seeds in front of him and asked again with a smile as if he didn't care.
"Brother, do you think you are a commoner of the Song Dynasty?"
Hao Erfu was stunned for a moment and couldn't answer for a while.
He really hasn't thought about this problem. In the past year and a half, he has been busy every day. As he watched the days go by, he didn't think about anything else.
"Uh...uh, right? You have a household registration."
The man leaned over and asked in a low voice: "Brother, can you sell me the household registration document? Make a price."
Hao Erfu was startled and his eyes widened.
"Brother, why did you buy this thing?"
"Look for a small official."
"That's easy. Brother, get registered and wait for a year..."
"I just can't wait, brother, do you want to sell it?"
"They will definitely be found out." Hao Erfu shook his head quickly and pressed Hao Gou'er to eat.
When he looked up again, the man opposite him had disappeared, leaving only a bowl of untouched oily flowers.
Hao Erfu was staring at the bowl in a daze, and a knife was placed on the table. He couldn't help but be startled.
"Uh, I didn't... I didn't want to eat your oily flowers... Hey, Brother He?"
In front of him was He Shun, who had led him to escape to Guanzhong.
He Shun did not wear armor, but put on a brand new military uniform. He looked majestic. He pointed at Hao Erfu and said with a smile: "I said it looks familiar. He is my benefactor. What is your name?"
"Hao Erfu." Hao Erfu didn't feel any slightness at all, and said happily: "Brother He is at Ziwu Pass, isn't he? I just wanted to give you New Year's gifts, and I have a piece of bacon at home..."
"I won't accept it." He Shun said with a smile, "I have been promoted long ago."
He threw a few pennies on the table, picked up the bowl of oily flowers and ate them.
"Brother, this Youhuazi is just a newbie. He asked for the quota to buy a household registration..."
"I saw it. He was sneaky. When he saw me, he ran away and ignored him."
Hao Erfu was shocked and asked: "Is he really a thief?"
"What did he ask you?"
Hao Erfu talked from beginning to end, and he felt more and more that the man just now was a little strange.
However, He Shun waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "Ignore him. What ability can someone from the east have?"
"Brother means..."
"Let me ask you, how are you doing?"
"Of course."
"How are your neighbors doing?"
"That's fine."
He Shun grinned and said: "That's it. In this case, what big noise can the small fish and shrimp from the east make? Oh, by the way, you are a widower, right?"
This question was so direct that Hao Erfu was stunned and felt very sad when he thought of his dead mother-in-law.
He Shun already said carelessly: "The government hopes that you widowers and widows can still remarry. The population is small. I am not forcing you, but anyway, there are benefits to remarrying."
Hao Erfu scratched his head, not knowing what to say for a moment.
He still remembered his dead wife in his heart, but she was an honest and obedient person after all. After returning home that day, he followed He Shun's instructions and went to the village head to express his willingness to marry another wife.
Within a few days, a matchmaker came to his door, helped him find a matchmaker, and found a widow named Xu who worked in a garment shop. They got married simply.
Hao Erfu also forgot to ask what benefits the government could give him if he married another wife.
But on the night of the wedding, Mrs. Xu said, "The government hopes that our life will get better," and Hao Erfu felt at ease.
After taking root, he felt that he was also a Shu native...
~~
Chengdu.
Zhang Jue read a long letter again, his eyes filled with contemplation.
The letter was a secret letter, written by Cheng Yuanfeng himself. The content was simple. I was worried that Li Xia had evil intentions, so I asked him about it, and hoped that he would put the Song Dynasty's government first.
Zhang Jue really had never thought about these things before.
He started from a young age and spent half his life working on Diaoyu City. In the past two years, he only thought about managing the roads in Chengdu.
I have to start thinking about this issue from now on...
After thinking about it, Zhang Jue finally got up, changed into plain clothes, and walked out without any entourage.
I bought two pots of turbid wine in Xicheng and cut a few kilograms of pig head meat. I left the city and went all the way to the Qingshui River. I saw a house in the fields.
Zhang Jue entered one of them and saw an old farmer feeding chickens in the yard.
"Mr. Jiang."
"The pacifier has arrived."
"I brought two bottles of wine and asked Mr. Jiang to warm them up."
Zhang Jue handed over the food and wine, then naturally took the dried earthworms from the old farmer's hand, fed the chickens, and entered the house.
There was a tablet on the incense table in the hall. Zhang Jue first poured a glass of wine and placed it in front of the tablet. He looked at the words "The memorial tablet of Yu Jie, the former general of Sichuan during the Song Dynasty" and bowed before turning around and sitting at the table. Down.
"The imperial court has rehabilitated Commander Yu. When an ancestral hall is built in Chengdu, we can move the memorial tablet there."
"It's rare for the pacifier to come here when he has free time. Could it be that he just wants to talk about this?"
Zhang Jue smiled bitterly and said: "I have encountered a problem recently and I want to ask Mr. Jiang."
The old farmer in front of him was named Jiang Kai. He was once the prison clerk under Yu Jie's rule, and he just came down from Jiuding City last year.
The two of them drank wine, and Zhang Jue talked about recent events in detail...
"The pacifier thinks Li Jieshuai is really rebellious?"
"I don't know... maybe there is, what does Mr. Jiang think?"
Jiang Kai did not answer, but raised his finger and pointed outside the hospital.
Zhang Jue turned around and saw several farmers passing by with hoes on their shoulders, looking quite happy.
"Last year, when we were asked to come down from Jiuding City, I was still murmuring in my heart, thinking about what to do if we abandoned the mountain city and the Mongols came. But this year, I heard that Longxi has been recovered, which makes me feel relieved.
.”
Jiang Kai didn't answer the question, but he talked about all kinds of trivial things that happened in the past year. A certain child living nearby has grown taller again, a neighbor raised a pig and wanted to kill it for meat during the New Year, and whose chicken...
There were five eggs or something like that.
Finally, he said slowly: "There is still a lot of food grown in the fertile fields of Chengdu. What the people of Shu want is very simple. Live a stable life and live well. They don't care about the right and wrong in the temple. I am from Zhejiang and Quzhou, and the comfort envoy is Fengxiang
The people in the government are all Shu people, so why shouldn’t we consider the people of Shu?"
"But I am entitled to a salary from the imperial court. If there is a rebellion, I will be responsible for quelling it."
"Has Li Jieshuai rebelled?" Jiang Kai asked.
Zhang Jue shook his head and said: "What the Right Prime Minister means is that the officials want to recruit Li Jieshuai to return to the court, but they are afraid that Li Jieshuai will not come."
Jiang Kai asked: "If you don't go, will you be rebelling?"
"If an official issues an edict and he doesn't go, that's a traitor."
"But the official hasn't issued an edict yet, right?"
Zhang Jue shook his head and drank a glass of wine, still feeling that the questions in his mind had not been explained.
Jiang Kai held the wine glass and asked: "I don't know Li Jieshuai, so I just want to ask the envoy, is it possible for others to do these things in recent years?"
"It can't be done." Zhang Jue said: "To be honest, when it comes to the generals in Sichuan and Shu, except for Li Jieshuai and General Wang, no one can compare with me. If the Mongolian army invades Shu again, I have no chance of holding it, let alone shouting
The people of Chengdu live in peace on the plains. Speaking of which, when Li Jieshuai said that the people would move down the mountain, I thought it was to reduce the constraints of the court. But if... I really don't want to be a traitor..."
Jiang Kai waved his hand and didn't want to say anything more.
"I'm in a dilemma. Does Mr. Jiang have any good advice for me?" Zhang Jue asked again.
Jiang Kai then turned his head, looked at the tablet on the incense table, and murmured: "The Comforter didn't ask anyone else, but came to ask me. I hope that there will be a chance to be as embarrassed as the Comforter."
Zhang Jue was a little confused when he heard this.
"I think of Yu Shuai's poems and self-portraits back then." Jiang Kai sighed, "A hero's courage, a seven-foot-long body. The emperor gave birth to me, I don't know what this means?"
Zhang Jue gradually understood it, and later discovered that he actually already had the answer in his mind before coming.
That night, when he returned to the mansion, he learned that a messenger was waiting in the side hall. After meeting him, he handed over a letter from Li Xia.
…
"Brother Jun Yu has received a letter from Lin'an recently and asked me to return to the court again. I will not go there until I have achieved success in governing Shu. If brother hears that I have disobedient intentions, don't pay attention to it. I will just keep you safe and peaceful."
Let’s see if the princes in the temple have the guts to force themselves to rebel against us? I’ve been busy lately and will go to Chengdu for interviews after the Chinese New Year.”
Every sentence is written in plain language, and no one was found to represent it.
After Zhang Jue saw it, his doubts were relieved.
Cheng Yuanfeng's long letter said a lot, and the words were sincere, but the attitude revealed... seemed to have no confidence in the current emperor of the Song Dynasty, and he was deeply afraid that the emperor would not be able to control the generals.
Worrying, worrying about gains and losses.
Zhang Jue was also a military commander himself, so he naturally resented this kind of suspicion.
Li Xia didn't say much, not even a sentence of explanation, but his words were full of confidence and magnanimity, with a hint of scorn.