It was already early March when I returned to Zhoucun, Jinxian Township, Hailong County.
Annan Ruan Thong's family went through many hardships and came to this place where they will live for the rest of their lives.
Before reaching the entrance of the village, I heard a series of barking sounds.
The two children were so frightened that they hid behind their parents and held their clothes tightly.
The adults looked up and saw more than ten horses galloping in the wilderness, chasing two hares, one gray and one black.
The rabbit moved very nimbly, making sharp turns from time to time, trying to get rid of the horse. However, the hound was more alert and immediately stepped forward to block it, forcing it to return to its original route.
"Whoosh!" An arrow flew out and nailed the black hare to the ground.
"Haha, I hit it." A boy wearing fur shouted happily.
"Whoosh!" Another arrow flew out from behind and hit the gray rabbit.
The rabbit was carried away by the lost power of the arrow, rolled a few times on the ground, then twitched and swept its legs, kicked off, and died.
The other teenagers all sighed with disappointment on their faces.
An Feihu laughed loudly when he saw it, and said: "Chen Jingang, your grandpa has not learned half of his martial arts skills. If this continues, I will let your brother be a soldier in the future, and you can farm the land honestly.
"
As the saying goes, "There are twelve volumes of military books, and each volume has the name of the father." Not everyone can be a soldier. Those who are registered in the military book are the soldiers, and they are exempt from tax and corvee. Those without names, that is
Common people do not have any privileges.
When Chen Jinjiang heard this, he shouted angrily, and all his playmates laughed.
Looking at the young men walking away, Ruan Tong was stunned.
He has also served as a soldier and touched arrows. In his eyes, these young men's martial arts are really good. They can perform various movements on horseback. They obviously practice often. Look at their bodies, they are strong and burly. If
In Aizhou, he must have been recruited as a guard by the officials and served with good wine and meat.
But in Liaodong, there seem to be many such teenagers.
The children of military families have been practicing martial arts since they were young, and are strong and strong. They are familiar with various weapons and have simple military common sense. They also have an extraordinary tacit understanding and skillful cooperation with their peers through hunting and playing all year round.
What a high-quality source of soldiers! A county can recruit thousands of people, use the township party clan as a link, give them rough training, and equip them with appropriate equipment, and then they will be a qualified army.
With such a high-quality source of troops, the rule of the Xia Dynasty seemed to be as stable as Mount Tai, unless these so-called good family members rebelled on their own.
Ruan Tong lowered his head and took his wife and children into the village.
An Feihu greeted a few familiar people, chatting and laughing loudly.
The villagers looked at the new family carefully and said with a smile: "This woman is so beautiful that I feel pity for them."
"Get out!" An Feihu lowered his face and said, "They are all my people. If you have any lingering thoughts, first consider whether your neck is stronger or my knife is stronger."
Everyone laughed endlessly and dispersed one after another.
An Feihu didn't take it seriously either. This place in Liaodong is just like this bird.
If you are not ruthless, gentle and courteous, it will be really difficult to move forward.
After returning to Anjia's house, Ruan Tong saw an equipment rack in the yard, on which were hung spears, rifles, longke axes, epees, horizontal knives and other weapons. Two young men each held a wooden pole and were laughing.
Hot sparring.
They obviously knew that someone was back, but they still insisted on finishing the sparring exercise before coming over to salute: "Master."
An Feihu nodded and casually pointed out the fallacies made by the two teenagers during practice before sending them to rest.
"Follow me." An Feihu waved, asking the Ruan family of four to follow.
They came to a place that looked like a warehouse.
An Feihu opened the door, pointed to the corner of the wall, and said: "This is your bedding. It's a little dirty, but warm enough. Take it away. Later, I'll go pull some bundles of thatch outside the west wall and put it on the bed. I'll sleep well."
It’s more comfortable. You can also move some firewood away, but I’ll have to bring some firewood tomorrow so I can make up for it.”
After he finished speaking, he realized that these people couldn't understand him, and he felt a little annoyed.
But this is not a big deal, you will understand after a few more gestures.
Ruan Tong really understood, and he packed up his bedclothes and hugged him with all his gratitude.
An Feihu simply stopped talking and pointed to another place: there were rice steamers, earthen pots, wooden spoons, wooden bowls and other items, as well as a bag of beans.
Then, he took Ruan Tong to the backyard, opened the door, pointed to a dark and shabby hut about ten steps away, and said: "This is your home. It's a bit shabby, but it can be lived in. From now on, when you have money,
But you can repair it yourself or re-build it, I don't care."
Ruan Tong didn't care whether he understood or not, he just nodded.
An Feihu sneered and said, "Go away, don't forget to come and firewood tomorrow."
When Ruan Tong saw his gesture of driving people away, he immediately understood and left with a lot of thanks.
An Feihu closed the door and went straight to the front yard.
My two sons have started practicing again.
Each of them had a birch bow and was practicing archery at the target.
There is no doubt that only one of the two sons can be a soldier. But in Liaodong, practicing martial arts is not a bad thing, otherwise he may be looked down upon and it will be difficult to find a wife.
This place despises the weak and is very unfriendly and intolerant to the disadvantaged groups. If you want to survive here without being bullied, you must not be underestimated. Even if someone is really better than you, you must fight him to the end, at least
You can't admit defeat verbally, otherwise if you spread the word, your face will be really tarnished.
When it was almost noon, Mrs. Liu, An's wife, prepared a meal and called the whole family over to eat.
The two young men put down their bows, loosened the strings, and then inserted the bow tips.
Practicing martial arts actually consumes a lot of money.
Not to mention food, there is not much shortage here in Liaodong. But the consumption of other supplies is not a small amount.
For example, in this archery, birch bow tips are not cheap, and better ones are even more expensive.
Bow strings are consumables and you need to find someone to buy them.
Lost arrows are also considered a consumable item, and you also need to find someone to buy them.
I was accidentally injured during training. The medicine for the bruise is still a consumable. I have to find someone to buy it.
Let’s talk about horseback riding.
Aren’t horses consumables? In fact, they are.
The more you train, the more your horse will consume and need to be fed food to restore its strength.
At least one fat and strong war horse should be kept at home all year round. After all, Nanman knows to select high-quality horses from Yongchang and raise them, and feed them with rice juice for six or seven years. After they grow up, they will then feed them refined grains.
On hold.
Horses that feed grass like grassland herdsmen are short, small, ugly, and sometimes skinny. They don't gain weight until autumn. Is that kind of horse easy to use when it is really needed? Anyway, the man in charge of the army
They look down upon it.
The requirements for riding a horse can be lowered, just eat grass, and temporarily gain weight before military operations.
In short, supporting a warrior is not a simple matter, and the cost is many times that of studying.
In the peaceful and prosperous times, practicing martial arts may not bring much benefit, but it will cost a lot, and the martial arts style in the Central Plains may be weakened. However, their tradition of border soldiers can be maintained for a long time, after all, here
The land is vast and sparsely populated, and the land is far from enough.
But there are no absolutes in this world. There is another possibility that will cause Fu Bing to collapse, and that is "abuse".
Prepare your own armor, horses, equipment, and rations, and assemble them within the specified time. Such consumption once or twice is nothing, and you can bear it even three or five times. But if this happens every year, and you still have to go on an expedition, then the government will
Soldiering is not an enviable profession anymore, it is a life-threatening talisman.
Don't think this won't happen.
The level of some border officials is very low.
Like Zhang Qiantuo, he wanted to play with Ge Luofeng's wife and caused successive wars in Yunnan.
Like Fan Yang and Pinglu officials in the former Tang Dynasty, they frequently beat and scolded the Tibetan chieftains, or demanded bribes or even forced people to death, which led to endless wars on the border and never peace.
We have political clarity now, but what about in the future? All kinds of nonsense may happen.
****
After lunch, An Feihu practiced epee for a while, then changed his clothes and went out for a stroll.
A horse team arrived at the entrance of the village, under the banner of Li's Trading Company. There was a dazzling array of items on the car, including everything.
People in the village gathered around and cheered, including many Fu Bing tribes who also went to pick out goods.
An Feihu took a quick look and said curiously: "Li Dashu, is there something new this time?"
"Hey, hey! Don't touch it." Li Dashu pushed An Feihu's hand away and said, "This is Yunnan Tonghua cloth. It's rare. Who should I sell it to if it gets dirty?"
"What use can such short cloth be used for?"
"It's okay to make a pillow or something, but don't touch it if you don't want to buy it. It's expensive."
"This cloth is too short, I don't want it for free." An Feihu curled his lips and asked again: "This muslin is a bit rough."
"Gaochang coarse muslin is cheaper. Someone has already ordered it. If you want to buy it, I will leave one for you." Li Dashu said.
“Real cloth or fake cloth?”
"Can this be fake?" Li Dashu laughed angrily and said, "My second uncle collected it in Henan and the rewards received by the soldiers who accompanied him on the Western Expedition couldn't be more real."
Upon hearing that this was a reward from the army, An Feihu's eyes suddenly became hot. He picked up a piece of cheesecloth, played with it carefully, and couldn't put it down.
After a long time, he sighed: "I bought this horse. Alas, I can't fight, so I can only buy some military rewards to enjoy myself."
"Aren't there two thousand soldiers from Liaodong accompanying the army?" Li Dashu asked.
"Only two thousand people. There are tens of thousands of soldiers in Liaodong, and most of them are staying at home." An Feihu said angrily.
Going on an expedition will certainly consume your own assets, but if you fight well and capture a lot, it is possible to not lose money. Not to mention warlike warriors like them, they are still very envious of the two thousand people who went out.
of.
"When I was in Xianzhou, I heard that Liaodong's troops were going to have a big attack this year." Li Dashu said, "Didn't you hear the news?"
"Who are we going to hit when Dafa hits?" An Feihu absentmindedly selected the products and asked casually.
"Could it be Abaoji?" Li Dashu guessed.
"Maybe." An Feihu randomly picked out a few gadgets and bought them together with the piece of Gaochang cheesecloth.
He did hear a little bit of noise, but it was relatively messy.
Some people say that Abaoji always goes south to plunder, which is really annoying. The prince of the prison country asked the saint to summon a group of elite soldiers and bring enough horses to give Abaoji a hard beating.
Some people also said that they would take action against Shi Wei.
Of Shiwei's twenty tribes, only seven or eight went to Heichengzi to form an alliance. Most of the rest went their own way and occasionally plundered Liaodong, which made the prince extremely angry and planned to attack them.
An Feihu thinks this is a good thing. After clearing out the thieves, everyone can live in peace.
As he slowly walked home with his things, he passed by the drying yard to the west of the house.
His family's Bohai tribe, Yang's, was bringing jars out to dry. Inside were tempeh and rabbit meat sauce, all of which were the property of the An family.
An Feihu nodded and continued walking forward.
After opening the courtyard door, Qu Huang from Annan, who came last spring, was repairing the fishing net. When he saw him, he immediately stood up and saluted.
An Feihu waved his hand and asked him to continue working.
The fishing net also belongs to his family. He has promised to lend it to Huang for fishing in spring to supplement the family income.
He was once worried that his two original tribes would run away.
But after a few years, I found that they had no intention of running away. After careful questioning, it turned out that they rented fifty acres of land, and even if they split it half and half with the owner's family, the remaining food could still feed a family of five.
During the off-season, if you work hard, such as picking some wild products, harvesting some wild honey, or going fishing like this Annan native Huang, you can still make extra income - An Feihu considers himself a relatively tolerant person
, he didn't bother to ask for the "extra money" that the tribesmen obtained through various methods, there was no need.
After the grain harvest in autumn, An Feihu would sometimes gather the men from the three families and take them out hunting.
At that time, the foxes, rabbits, deer and deer were fat and strong. If you were lucky, it was not difficult to bring back a few. He would take away the skins and only part of the meat. Most of them were rewarded to Buqu, so that
They can also improve lives.
All in all, in Liaodong, which has a vast territory, sparsely populated areas, and fertile soil, life for the Buqu people is not very difficult.
It is true that there were always people fleeing in the past few years.
But after such a long period of running-in, the soldiers gradually learned how to get along with the tribe in order to maximize their own interests. From that time on, the relationship between host and guest began to slowly improve.
If you can have enough food and clothing, why bother?
Is it that your family in Bohai is particularly kind-hearted, or is it that the wealthy people in Annan are particularly generous and can make you all feel fat? Is it possible?
Liaodong is for raising people. The Sage of Daxia has given everyone the chance to live, so we must cherish it.