Various grassland tribes like to hold various activities such as horse racing, wrestling, archery, hunting, etc. in winter. The reason is also very simple. After a whole summer and autumn fattening, the horses are smooth, fat and strong, which is the time of year.
peak state - in fact, many animals in nature are doing the same thing, trying their best to store fat before winter in order to survive the winter of food scarcity.
After the chiefs from various tribes gathered in the Fengzhou area celebrated the New Year with their grand hunting activities, their hearts trembled when they saw the prince frequently giving gifts to the warriors.
The one with a violent temper immediately cursed in his heart: The Shao family and his son are so virtuous that they always plunder warriors from various tribes and bring them back to the Central Plains.
Warriors are not like leeks in the field, which grow new ones every month after cutting. In fact, the cultivation cycle of Beiwei or warriors is very long, and it often depends on luck.
Those who are physically strong do not necessarily have outstanding skills.
A person with outstanding skills does not necessarily have a tough mind.
Those with a tough mind may not necessarily be hardworking.
Only those who meet all the conditions and have a certain level can be called "warriors". The imperial court also recruited so-called prairie warriors in the past, but most of the time they were just people who were skilled in bows and horses.
But this time the prince chose something different, they were all the best from each department. If they had known this, they would have hidden everyone at home and not brought them out.
Of course, this is just words.
Given what the saints have done over the years, can the warriors really endure the poor life on the grasslands and not go to the Central Plains to serve as soldiers? I'm afraid it will be difficult.
And once the secret hiding of warriors is exposed, it will be a serious crime, and the punishment will be enough to make people frightened.
Therefore, their leek has been cut.
The prince selected about 300 people to join the East Palace Guards.
Seeing these people looking so happy, the chiefs of various tribes lamented their bad luck and their hearts were broken.
If it is cut every few years, the grassland will never be able to resist.
However, Daxia's national power is really strong and cannot withstand it.
Just yesterday, the accompanying officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs hurriedly hurriedly transported dozens of large carts of seafood. This move alone shocked the chiefs from all over the grassland to be confused and dumbfounded.
How pitiful it is that most of them have never seen what a fish looks like or eaten kelp in their lives. In front of the court's inhumane behavior of showing off their wealth, any words or actions pale in comparison.
It’s difficult to do.
Therefore, they basically accepted their fate. Shao Chengjie was obviously just a trumped-up Shao Shude, and there was no reason to explain. Furthermore, they had all met in Fuyundui Temple, so what else was there to say? A little dissatisfaction was destined to be the only choice.
Hidden deep in my heart.
Shao Shude watched the series of "interactions" between the prince and the grassland chiefs with cold eyes, without much interest.
He summoned officials at all levels below the governor in Fengzhou and listened to reports.
For example, how is the harvest this year, how is the water truck irrigation system running, how are the lives of the town soldiers and government soldiers, the number of livestock in Yongqingzha Ranch, etc.
He didn't just watch, he also visited the treasury and looked through the accounts when his legs and feet were not weak. For this reason, the officials who had been on leave had to come back to "celebrate the new year" with the saint.
After finishing all this, in the middle of the first month of the eleventh year of Tongguang's reign (926), Shao Shude took Yin'an straight ahead and headed for the West City.
It snowed heavily, and officials tried to dissuade him, but Shao Shude, as if being pulled by an invisible thread, couldn't resist the urge to return to Xicheng, and arrived in Xicheng in late January.
******
"You're back?"
"I'm back."
Fine snowflakes hit the firewood leaf. Shao Shude, who got off the carriage, looked at the newly posted Spring Festival couplets and was stunned for a long time.
It seems like I haven't experienced this kind of life for a long time.
He stretched out his hand and touched the red Spring Festival couplets.
The snow gradually melted and became stained with ink, making it look like a distant memory.
Liu Xiu Niang has the key to the old Shaw family house. In the past few years, she has often come here to clean and sometimes rest here.
After cleaning, she likes to go up to the attic and sit there looking towards Luoyang.
She had a premonition that the saint would come back one day.
Li Yanling came back and was buried in the suburbs.
Others also came back one after another to keep Li Yanling company.
She didn't feel sad, just a little emotional.
If the saint comes back, she is willing to clean it for him, just like cleaning his old house, until the end of her life.
However, this small place in Xicheng is probably not as grand as the royal mausoleum in Luhun Mountain, right? The saint has his own concerns, and he can't help himself. He may not be able to come back to accompany his old friend.
Shao Shude pushed open the firewood door and came into the central hall.
There is a thick layer of incense ash on the incense table. The tablets of the Shao family's ancestors from three generations are enshrined on it, just like the Luoyang Imperial Ancestral Temple.
In fact, he once wanted to remove the memorial tablet here, but after much thought, he was still attached to his hometown and did not do so.
He didn't want to lose the last connection with the place where he was born and raised.
When he was a child, he was playing house behind the house. The person who became his bride had forgotten who he was, but he only remembered that she was a little girl with a runny nose.
When he was young, he played a war game, and the person he "bravely broke the formation" didn't know where he was. He might have children and grandchildren, his bones might have been buried in the wilderness, or he might have moved far away.
When he was young, he received training as a local hero. It seemed that his teammate Pao Ze was caught in a rain of arrows, and there were not many left. He recalled the faces of those who were lucky enough to survive, but he could never remember their faces.
When he was in his twenties, he left Xicheng and rarely came back until the twilight years of his life.
Oh, people.
There was obviously nothing here, but he still wanted to come back here.
Yes, he is the emperor, and he has the power to keep his hometown the same as he remembers it when he was young. This is something that countless people in the world cannot do. But everything around him has finally changed.
He has no right to let the villagers continue to live in thatched huts made of branches and mud, and he has no right to prevent people from pursuing a happier life.
Everything is different after all.
The embroiderer served the food silently, as if she expected him to come tonight.
"Very good." Shao Shude finished eating like a storm and smiled gently.
The embroiderer smiled and put away the bowls and chopsticks.
Shao Shude stood up and walked around in the nave.
Incense and candles are burning in front of the ancestors' tablets, and they have never been stopped.
He stared intently, as if he saw the scene of his ancestors overcoming obstacles and reclaiming wasteland.
You have to go to war and open up wasteland for farming. You can imagine how difficult your life is. It is really not easy.
He opened the back door, and a gust of cold wind blew in. The candles flickered on and off, and the incense ashes rose up.
It was quiet in the backyard.
A small bench was placed next to the vegetable bed, and the fallen snow covered the turnip leaves.
When he was a child, he sat here and helped the adults pick winter vegetables. After picking, he had to wash them in the freezing cold water, and his fingers were as frozen as carrots.
Life was hard, and I used to think there was nothing worth remembering, but now I often recall it.
If you could live your life over again and didn't follow Hao Zhenwei eastward, what would be the outcome now?
If he was lucky, he might become a junior and middle-ranking officer in the Tiande Army and manage hundreds of people. After all, he was brave enough to fight and had outstanding archery skills. Then, he would marry a local wife and drift with the tide in troubled times.
If he is unlucky, this place has been captured by Hedong, and he will most likely die in the war. Even if he does not die, he will become a member of the Jin army, be recruited by Li Keyong, fight fiercely in Hebei, and eventually be buried in a foreign land.
There are no ifs in life, and there is no way to start over.
"Bang!" He closed the back door and turned around.
The embroiderer walked to the corner of the central hall where there was a small Buddhist niche for singing. She lit incense and candles and muttered words.
"I've never seen you believe in Buddhism so much before." Shao Shude sat down and said with a smile.
He was not very friendly to the Buddha. He had cleaned up all the temples and jungles in Guanbei, and the fellow villagers all knew it.
"Does your Majesty believe in the afterlife?" The embroiderer turned her head and asked.
There was a very pious look in her eyes.
"Ghosts and gods..." As soon as Shao Shude started speaking, he sighed and stopped talking.
There was a hint of pleading in the embroiderer's eyes.
Shao Shude avoided her gaze and said, "I believe it."
The embroiderer smiled and was very satisfied.
People always have to hold on to the last bit of psychological comfort. This life is too bitter, has too many regrets, and has taken too many wrong paths. If there is an afterlife, I hope to make up for it.
But which life is not miserable? This is just wishful thinking of good men who believe in women and crazy men who hate women.
"Your Majesty, are you still leaving?" After the embroiderer prayed, she sat over and asked.
"Maybe I can't leave." Shao Shude smiled and said: "When I was in Yunzhou, I had this idea in my mind. I must return to Xicheng. No matter how difficult or easy it is, I have to come back. Walk around
Let's go, take a look, and see you for the last time. Now I'm back, and my wish has been fulfilled."
The embroiderer was silent.
"It's quite a scene when I come back." Shao Shude smiled gently: "I have a wise prime minister, a brave general, tens of thousands of brave soldiers, and a high-ranking leader from the grassland to accompany me. Isn't it wonderful?
Amazing? When I left that year, the embroiderer didn’t expect me to be surrounded by people like I am today, right?”
An inaudible sigh.
"Come with me for a walk tomorrow and see my old brothers." Shao Shude said, "Come back and prepare some delicious food for me."
"good."
In the quiet night, the house was filled with melancholy, which was so intense that it was hard to get rid of it.