He Qizhou silently took a detour, also wanting to see what was going on in the village.
"I'll give you some water and jars with this money, mother-in-law, what's going on in this village? Why are there only women and children left?" Qi Xu caught up with the old woman who was crying secretly and the children who were still shouting in front of a dilapidated earthen house by the woods.
, thrust a small purse into the old woman's hand.
The old woman poured out the silver in her purse, which amounted to more than four taels. She was shocked and wanted to return it to Qi Xu, saying: "Girl, I can't help it. You are also a child of a poor family. How can I ask for it?"
"Take it, she is my maid, I asked her to give it to you." Feng Yan, who followed, said.
Qi Xu knew Feng Yan's intention and looked back with a smile.
The old woman really needed the money. She hesitated for a moment, but accepted it and said, "Thank you two kind people. It's not that we are greedy. This water was taken from a valley seven miles away. It has to be walked on a long mountain road. If the army
I don’t want to give more, and I won’t force it..."
"That soldier is a bastard! Ignore him. Where are the men in your family?" Qi Xu said angrily.
"We used to have more than thirty households here, but two years of drought killed most of the grapes we planted, and all those who could move were moved away. Now there are only six households with more than 20 people left.
We have to bring some water to the passers-by to survive, but the poor children don't have enough to eat. The men have gone to Jiayuguan to build the Great Wall. Not only do they have food there, but they can also receive dozens of pennies every day, but they haven't come back for several days."
The old woman cried.
"I should be back by the end of this month. We heard about it when we passed Jiayuguan. I'm leaving, so take care of yourself," Qi Xu said.
"No wonder you are penniless. You are so impulsive and don't leave any money for yourself. Here, take this." When she turned back, Feng Yan took out a few taels of silver and stuffed it into Qi Xu's hand.
"Then I'm not polite. I'll pay you back at the racecourse." Qi Xu said.
"Don't I still owe you wages?"
"I know you won't be able to save much money from this escort trip. If you pay like this, you won't lose your money to death. Stop talking, I owe you." Qi Xu said.
"By the way, why didn't I hear that the city wall was repaired this month?" Feng Yan asked, she was basically always by Qi Xu's side.
"I heard it when I was called for questioning." Qi Xu hesitated.
"Brother, my mother said there is no water at home. I will give you this silver." A child's voice came from not far away. Qi Xu and Feng Yan turned their heads and spotted He Qizhou hiding behind a big tree a few feet away.
He Qizhou glanced at the two of them awkwardly, then turned to take the broken silver in the little girl's hand and said, "Then can you do another favor for big brother?"
"Okay!" said the little girl.
"Big brother picked up some money on the road. This bag of money was lost by a rich man. Can you divide it into six parts and give them equally to every family in the village?"
"My mother said you can't just accept money from others," the little girl said.
"Then when you see poor people in the future, can you charge less for water?"
"Okay, I'll go talk to my mother." The little girl turned around and ran into the house not far away.
"What kind of uncle are you pretending to be? I hate it!" Qi Xu said angrily, pulling Feng Yan to quicken his pace. The bag of silver was at least forty or fifty taels, which made Feng Yan dumbfounded. She really missed this guy.
He Qizhou was already 80% sure that Qi Xu was Xu Mu. In terms of money, he had learned a little better. Unexpectedly, the guy was still the same, so he followed him happily and said: "At least my salary is much more than yours."
.”
Qi Xu said: "I don't understand what you are saying, get away!"
"Get out!" He Qizhou became more and more certain that Qi Xu was Xu Mu. Seeing that her injury was almost healed, a big stone fell in his heart, and he happily walked towards the end of the convoy that was leaving.
"You must know each other!" Feng Yan said, "Be honest with me!"
"Can you keep it a secret for me?" Qi Xu was embarrassed to lie to Feng Yan all the time, but the other party was very open to her.
"Yes! Yes!" When Feng Yan moved into the inner city last night, she initially suspected Mr. Wei's arrangement. Later, she found out at dinner that it was definitely not Wei Chenliang. Now she thought it was because of the impoverished Qi Xuzhi next to her.
Seeing that He Qizhou suddenly turned into a four-veined person, his curiosity suddenly burst out.
"We must keep that guy's secret until then." Qi Xu said.
"He still has a secret? OK, OK. Can you tell me now?" Feng Yan said.
"cannot!"
"Okay, tonight, tonight."
…
In the next three days, the convoy left Yumen Pass and headed north. The road changed from wasteland and Gobi to rugged mountainous terrain.
He Qizhou had mixed emotions. On the rare occasions when they met, Qi Xu was still cold to him, but he was still willing to talk to him from time to time. Feng Yan's eyes seemed to have changed a lot, from a eldest sister who teased her younger brother, to a
He found a gentle and lovely little girl; Wei Chenliang sent someone to try him twice. Once he tripped so hard that his forehead was broken, which temporarily alleviated the other party's doubts.
"It's just over the hill. It'll be much easier to go back!" Zhu Gui pointed to the hill in front and said to He Qizhou beside him. He was not afraid of being robbed when transporting grain and grass, but he was afraid of being burned. If it was time to start a war,
If a grain transporter fails to do his job, he will lose his head. Even in normal times, it is a serious crime. Now that he has arrived safely, of course he will be relieved.
Seeing that these were low hills with no grass growing on them, He Qizhou couldn't help but curiously asked: "Is there really a large grassland here?"
"Let's go up the hillside and you can see it!" Zhu Gui pulled He Qizhou and ran quickly up the hill. Below was a huge valley. Under the setting sun, a large undulating green field came into He Qizhou's eyes. On the other side of the distant valley,
There are stretches of forest on the hillside, with tall and straight trees like folded umbrellas, and groups of horses wandering freely on the grassland.
"Is this the prairie? This is the first time I have seen a prairie." He Qizhou did not want to hide his feelings. It was really a pleasant thing for Daqi to have such a grassland.
"The grassland is grassland. How big is it? Haha, you will have the opportunity to go outside the customs in the future to see what the real prairie is." Zhu Gui said.
"Have you been there?" He Qizhou asked curiously.
"Maybe when you were your age, you went out with the army and Tu Yuhun's troops. Later, they were defeated and lost their horses. They were unwilling to join the infantry... Oh, I won't mention it anymore." Zhu Gui was filled with emotion.
"Then you shouldn't be a corps commander?" He Qizhou asked.
"I'm just unlucky. I made two mistakes when I was a member of the Hundred Households. There was no one on top. It's good to be able to survive. Let's not talk about it anymore. Let's go."
The long convoy is like a thin line, slowly going from the top of the slope to the bottom of the valley. After passing through two fences guarded by sergeants, the people and vehicles separate. The people in the convoy follow a group of sergeants to the barracks where they camped, while the hay carts
Handed over to a team of hundreds of soldiers.
Zhu Guidao: "The hay barn and the granary are important areas, and outsiders are not allowed to enter, so there is no need to move the grass after going downhill. Someone will be responsible for the horse farm. Just wait at the second fence tomorrow to retrieve the mule cart. But you
You should be able to settle down here, the wages for horse soldiers are very high, you just have to be able to endure the loneliness."
"Nothing is easy." He Qizhou said with emotion.
"By the way, have you seen the camp behind the first fence? That is the outpost of the horse farm general. If you want to find someone, you can go there and ask." Zhu Gui said.
He Qizhou said: "I seem to see Wei Chenliang and Feng Yan going there."
"Well, there is a guest room next to the guard's tent. Of course Mr. Wei will not live in the barracks."
"Brother Zhu, I won't follow you to the barracks. I'll go find my relative first. We'll meet again by chance."
"Okay! See you again by fate. I hope you won't go back with us!"
He Qizhou led the big yellow horse and walked towards the camp. From a distance, he saw an officer in the uniform of a fourth-grade military general bowing beside Wei Chenliang and walking into the camp, followed by five of Wei Chenliang's entourage, and behind them were
Ma Tong, Feng Yan, Qi Xu, and He Qizhou quickened their pace and caught up with Qi Xu who was at the back. They said with a smile: "Miss Qi, Miss Feng, we meet again."
"Go, go, go..." Qi Xu said impatiently.
"Aren't you always watching us from behind? How do you say we meet again?" Feng Yan turned around and smiled.
"What I mean is that you are seeing me again." He Qizhou was naturally thick-skinned anyway.
Two soldiers in front of the camp blocked the way for Feng Yan and others. One of them said: "You are from the Anxi Escort Bureau? Didn't we agree that only two people can go to the guest room?"
"Oh, I am the chief escort of this escort, and this is my niece. We are the only ones from the escort agency." Since Feng Yan was invited into the inner city alone last time, Ma Tong was not willing to crowd with those men anymore.
, worried that Feng Yan would pull the friend she made along the way and persuade her to go to the barracks, so she answered first.
Qi Xu stepped aside and put He Qizhou in front. He Qizhou came prepared and took out a letter from his arms and said: "I came here to find a relative. This is written by the magistrate of Xihe County to Liu Qianhu."
Please send me your letter."
Seeing that He Qizhou seemed to have some background, the sergeant's expression improved a lot and he said, "Wait a moment, by the way, this is your companion? Can you please remove the veil?"
"It's me..." He Qizhou was about to plead for mercy, but was interrupted by Qi Xu: "I came from Jiayuguan Pass. Please forward this letter to Liu Lei immediately. If it's late, be careful about military law!" After saying that, he glanced at He Qizhou contemptuously.
The soldier was about to call out the word "bold", but seeing Qi Xu's calm expression, he took the word back and said to himself: Okay! I'll report it now. If you dare to play tricks on me, see how I deal with you!
Zhou Tong was dumbfounded now. Even if it was the county magistrate in the background, Qi Xu actually dared to call Qianhu by name. What kind of method was that?
Qianhu Liu Lei has been worried these days and has not had a good night's sleep for several days. Unexpectedly, when it was getting dark, he received a message from the Second Young Master of Wei, so he asked his subordinates to stop him for a while, and hurriedly changed
Shangguanfu came out to greet him. Fortunately, he seemed to be quite easy to talk to. As soon as he led Mr. Wei into the tent, the chief guard under his command came after him, shouting: "Sir, there is an urgent message from Jiayuguan Pass."