Cao Xian had been looking forward to it day and night for more than ten days, and finally received the news that Yuan Xi was coming to the city soon. He couldn't help but have mixed feelings. During this period, the chores in the house had almost overwhelmed her, but now she could finally be relieved!
She happily found Hou and said, "Madam, do you want to go out of the city with me to greet her?"
After hearing this, Mrs. Hou felt guilty for no reason, and hesitated: "I'd better not go, so as not to let people gossip."
Cao Xian patted his head and said with a smile: "I didn't think well. I'll go find Mrs. Du."
She turned around to Mrs. Du's room and found that it was empty. She couldn't help but scratch her head. Where is the Taoist?
Cao Xian thought something was wrong with Mrs. Du, but when she walked around the mansion, she still couldn't find Mrs. Du. She realized that something was wrong, so she returned to Mrs. Du's room and found that there were a few pieces of clothing missing, and she realized that something had happened.
.
She became panicked, Mrs. Du had been here for several months, why did she suddenly disappear?
Was he taken away by someone, or did he run away on his own?
No matter what happens in the house, it's not quite right, right?
Thinking of this, she couldn't care less. She asked the guards to take precautions and quickly called a carriage to go outside the city. Before leaving, she told Mrs. Hou to watch the children and never go out.
When Ms. Hou learned about Mrs. Du's disappearance, she was panic-stricken and hurried back to the house.
Cao Xian waited outside the city for half a day. It was not until noon that he saw a vague crowd of people in the distance. The dull and orderly pace of the march could be heard. This was the return of the Youzhou Army!
At this time, the roads on both sides of the city were already filled with people. When Yuan Xi appeared on horseback first, the crowd suddenly burst into cheers.
No wonder they are happy. When the Black Mountain Army was there, Beixin City was often harassed by Black Mountain bandits. People who went out to farm often encountered misfortunes. Now that the Montenegro Army has been defeated, Beixin City has lost its biggest threat. Everyone can live out of the city and feel relieved.
many.
Cao Xian stood on the carriage shaft and saw Yuan Xi passing by. He waved his arms desperately and shouted with everyone. Yuan Xi turned around and caught a glimpse of Cao Xian's figure. He laughed and rode over.
He leaned down on the horse, hugged Cao Xian's waist, and with a little force, he pulled Cao Xian into his arms. When the crowd saw it, the cheers became even louder.
Yuan Xi hugged Cao Xian and entered the city gate. Cao Xian sat sideways on the horse, feeling happy and sad at the same time, crying: "Young Master is back, there are so many things going on in the house!"
"I'm almost exhausted!"
Yuan Xi thought of the bamboo slips sent by Cao Xian with densely written small characters, and said apologetically: "I didn't think carefully."
"There were too many things going on a while ago, and I didn't have time to transfer someone to you, so you were wronged."
Cao Xian shook his head, "I know that the young master has experienced many dangers, and even General Qu passed away."
"Fortunately, Mr. Han Yu found a geomantic treasure land and had someone bury him."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi turned his head slightly to look at Lu Lingqi behind him, nodded and said: "You did a good job, I will go to pay homage to you tomorrow."
Cao Xian did not notice Lu Lingqi. Although she heard that Yuan Xi married the daughter of Marquis Wen, she could not imagine the bodyguard wearing the same armor as Sun Li. She thought to herself and said: "But I sent the young master here."
Mrs. Du has lost it!"
"I really don't have the face to face the young master!"
Yuan Xi was stunned, "What Mrs. Du?"
His voice almost sounded together with Lu Lingqi's. Lu Lingqi took a few steps forward on her horse and stared at Cao Xian in Yuan Xi's arms with confusion on her face.
Only then did Cao Xian realize that Yuan Xi's personal guard was actually a woman. He didn't think much about it at the moment and said, "It's Mrs. Du that the young master asked Mr. Han Yu to bring back."
"She came to live in the mansion, but she disappeared from the mansion today!"
After Yuan Xi thought about it, he understood the whole story and broke out in a cold sweat. It turned out that Mrs. Du was really in his house?
Lu Lingqi looked at Yuan Xi with a faint smile, "It's really hard for you to hide it from me. Maybe you didn't see me coming and hid Mrs. Du?"
Yuan Xi quickly defended: "I really don't know, I made a curse back then!"
"There's no reason for me to lie to you about this, right?"
Lu Lingqi snorted angrily: "Who knows what you think?"
Cao Xian said weakly: "Who is this general?"
Yuan Xi said: "This is Miss Wen Hou, who just married me."
After hearing this, Cao Xian made a sound and hurriedly lay on the horse and saluted: "I am Cao Xian. I have met my wife."
Lu Lingqi had long heard that there were two extremely capable women around Yuan Xi, Cai Zhaoji and Cao Xian. Cao Xian was responsible for sorting out information about Beixin City. Lu Lingqi had read the bamboo slips written by them. Yuan Xi obviously trusted Yuan Xi to entrust him with such a thing.
she.
She sat up straight on the horse and returned the greeting: "I have met Mrs. Cao."
Cao Xian couldn't help but feel relieved when he saw that Lu Lingqi seemed to be a talkative person.
An endless procession followed Yuan Xi into the city. At the end of the procession, there were hundreds of shackled prisoners.
When the people on both sides of the road saw this, they shouted and cursed one after another. Some people were about to pick up the earth and rocks on the ground and throw them at them. When the soldiers escorting them on both sides saw it, they quickly stopped and the onlookers gave up angrily.
Without him, these shackled people are all prisoners surrendered by the Montenegro Army. Over the past few days, they have been escorted from Montenegro one after another every day, so the people of Beixin City have long understood their origins.
Yuan Xi also put a lot of thought into how to treat these Black Mountain bandits who had been fighting to the death with the Youzhou Army and were finally forced to surrender.
Killing prisoners is not acceptable, but it is also inappropriate to integrate them directly into the army or release them to farm.
Because these people have long been accustomed to fighting and killing, and have extremely strong bandit habits, if they are allowed to become soldiers, it will have many negative effects.
So in the end, Yuan Xi decided to let this group of people return to Youzhou and participate in labor education for at least two years. After the education is complete, they will be released to live. By then, whether they join the army or farm, the impact will be minimized.
Yang Feng was also among these hundreds of people.
She had iron shackles on her feet and hands. Although the journey was quite hard, the Youzhou army did not mistreat them. They had all the necessary clothes and straw sandals. Even the food was the same as that of the soldiers, which was better than what they had eaten in Montenegro.
fine.
Although she has not recovered yet, she has persevered relying on her previous physical strength.
At first, when Yang Feng heard Yuan Xi say that he wanted to go back to Youzhou with him, he thought that the other party wanted to recruit her, so after thinking about it, he refused.
Unexpectedly, Yuan Xi sneered after hearing this: "Do you think that because you are Zhang Jiao's daughter, I will win over you?"
"If you think so, you are totally wrong."
"At least for now, I don't have any such thoughts at all."
"You and I are walking on different paths now. You and I are very insistent on what we believe in. I can't convince you, and I don't want to convince you."
Yang Feng listened and sneered: "Then why don't you kill me?"
Yuan Xi said in a deep voice: "Because I want you to see with your own eyes that your path is wrong."
"You once stood on the right starting point, but you took the wrong path. The same is true for Zhang Jiao."
Yang Feng was angry: "You, a nobleman who plunders people's wealth and anointing, are worthy of criticizing my father!"
"He just died too young!"
"Give him some more time and you would have been killed long ago!"
Yuan Xi spread his hands: "You are wrong in one point. No matter the nobles or the common people, they are all qualified to find a path. There is no distinction between superior and inferior."
"I still admire Zhang Jiao very much, but he has not jumped out of this circle, so his failure is inevitable."
Yang Feng sneered: "You are using the name of Taiping Road, pretending to be a ghost, and fishing for fame. Is this considered pathfinding?"
Yuan Xi sneered, "Aren't you the same?"
Yang Feng saw the mocking look in the other person's eyes and became angry, "We believe in Huang Tian!"
"In addition to money, official positions, and women, what else do you nobles have?"
Yuan Xi sneered: "Huang Tian is so good, did you succeed in the end?"
Yang Feng was choked and said angrily: "It's all sophistry!"
Yuan Xi said disdainfully: "You can't do sophistry well, otherwise why would you be at this point?"
"You came from the common people, became the Black Mountain Army, and then raised your weapons against people who are also common people. Is this your way of Huang Tian?"
Yang Feng realized that she couldn't argue with the opponent in front of her, so her voice became a little weaker, "I can't even eat, so what can I do?"
Yuan Xi waved his hand, "That's why I said you are on the wrong track. You are simply avoiding the problem."
"I admit that I also have many shortcomings, but at least I am trying to solve the problems I face, and you will only escape reality and deceive yourself."
"Next, I will take you and the Montenegrin prisoners to participate in labor education, so that you can see the difference between my Yellow Sky Way and yours."
"Whenever you can understand my true intentions, I can restore your freedom."
"Otherwise, I'll just farm till I die."
After saying that, Yuan Xi left without looking back.
Yang Feng looked at Yuan Xi's leaving figure, feeling resentful in her heart. What kind of labor education is this?
Your belief is firm enough, no matter what happens, it will not change!
Yuan Xi thought about Yang Feng and couldn't help but sigh. In fact, in his opinion, people like Yang Feng were the most likely to become his comrades.
The two people actually have the same goal and the same ideal, but Yang Feng is limited by the limitations of the times and the teachings of the Yellow Turban Army, and cannot see through the nature of the world's conflicts, and in the end he can only be used by others.
In order for him to get rid of these fogs, he must take the right medicine and let him start from the most basic work, and then go back and think about the purpose for which he wanted to change the world in the first place.
If it works, Yang Feng will understand what Yuan Xi wants to do.
But if it fails, Yang Feng will only become an obstacle to him in the future, and Yuan Xi will have no choice but to let him farm in Youzhou indefinitely.
Yuan Xi led everyone to the door of his mansion. Chen Gui Jushou and others were already waiting to meet Yuan Xi in advance, and then prepared to follow Zhao Yun to the city to rectify the internal defense affairs.
Although Zhao Yun is still actually Yuan Xi's subordinate, everyone can see that Yuan Xi will entrust Youzhou to Zhao Yun in the future. Thinking of the preparations made by Yuan Xi before, Mr. Xindao is really thinking long-term.
Yuan Xi entered the mansion and dismounted, and was greeted by Mr. Hou and Ms. Ma. When he saw Mr. Ma, he couldn't help but think of Qu Yi, and his mood became even more complicated.