Outside Zhaoling Village, Han Sanlang's funeral had just been held. Looking around, the slopes full of sycamore trees were full of tombs.
This is because after Zhang Zhao buried the common people of Qianzhou and a dozen volunteers and civilians here, the people in Zhaoling Village thought that this was the burial place chosen by the emperor and was contaminated with royal nobility.
Therefore, they now basically choose this place to bury their relatives.
According to Li Xiaofeng's original arrangement, he had made two preparations.
If he couldn't find it, he took with him some of his grandmother's and father's clothes, as well as a condolence letter written by his father. If he couldn't find a tomb, he would erect three tombs here as a memorial.
If you can still find some earthen bags, you need to dig them up and identify them, because when his grandfather, uncle and aunt were buried, they were all buried with pottery pieces with their names and birthdates engraved on them.
As for the possibility of digging up other people's graves, Li Xiaofeng didn't care, and the graves buried around him were probably all without owners.
But now he hesitated, because all the tombs were well taken care of.
At this time, the Hungry Ghost Festival had just passed on July 15th, and there were still grave papers floating on the tombs. There were traces of burning paper money around the tombs, and traces of rice and water could be seen in a few tattered bowls.
Li Xiaofeng stood speechless under the tallest sycamore tree for a long time, not knowing what he was thinking.
Seeing that this extraordinary merchant from Sichuan Province was in a daze, the village leader walked over with a basket in his arms.
The basket contains two steaming buns that are still steaming. Steamed buns have existed since ancient times and are usually called steamed cakes. During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Wuhou gave steamed buns a special mission - offering sacrifices.
In the Tang Dynasty, it was also called steamed buns. Of course, the steamed buns at this time should be called steamed buns because they have fillings.
Due to the influence of the legacy of the Three Kingdoms and Two Jin Dynasties, steamed buns are usually made and eaten on such occasions.
Li Xiaofeng mechanically took a steamed bun, took a bite mechanically, then looked at the chief and asked.
"I just discovered that most of the people buried on this hillside don't seem to be from the village. Many of them are in lonely graves. So who is offering sacrifices to them during the Hungry Ghost Festival?"
A proud look appeared on the head's face, "Mr. Lang, please come with a certain family. You will know after seeing this."
Li Xiaofeng followed the chief and walked a few steps down the mountain. There was a flat area that seemed to have been deliberately cultivated. In the middle of the flat area, there were two stone tablets.
The stone tablet was also very clean, with no moss or any other material on the body. There were some words engraved on the front, and Li Xiaofeng looked at it curiously.
The stele on the left is engraved with "In the second year of Guanghua period of the Tang Dynasty, the Qi army fell into Fengtian, and many people died. Seven hundred and thirty-three corpses were collected, and they were buried here. I pray for an early attainment of bliss."
The stele on the right is engraved with "In the third year of the Tang Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, rebel troops captured Qianzhou. Nearly half of the people died. 1,700 people without relatives were collected and 300 were buried here. There were also three Weizhou volunteers." Ten volunteers were buried here together.'
"Most of the isolated graves here are villagers who suffered disasters in the second year of Guanghua and the third year of Qingtai. The saint collected their remains and buried them here. He also allocated three thousand yuan of money and food every year for sacrifices. These lonely grave ghosts can also enjoy paying homage."
After listening to the chief's words, Li Xiaofeng realized that all these years they had thought that their relatives had become wild ghosts and their tombs were not even solitary graves. Unexpectedly, they were cared for so well.
At this moment, Li Xiaofeng was so ashamed that he almost buried his face in his crotch. People were helping to sacrifice his relatives, but he came to exhume the bones. Comparing the two, the gap was huge.
The chief looked at this businessman from Sichuan strangely. He had an extraordinary temperament but was a bit mysterious, as if he had some ulterior secret. He looked ashamed at this moment.
There must be something wrong!
The headman laughed, walked quickly to the edge, and immediately asked his son Erlang to go to the prefectural city to report to the official.
Zhang Xiaobao liked the young man named Li Yinsheng very much. He saw the shadow of himself in this child.
Zhang Xiaobao was also in his teens back then, but he had better luck than Li Yinsheng.
Li Yinsheng only had a father who had just climbed to the position of Cheng Xinlang. When he started to join the army, his father and brother were already well-known generals or marquises in the army.
Seeing these half-grown children, under the command of Li Yinsheng, performing tactical actions such as arraying, attacking, shooting with bows and arrows, Zhang Xiaobao liked it even more, and he sent a real long spear into Li Yinsheng's hands.
"Back then, Lord X conquered Xiazhou and came back victorious. Among the spoils he captured, there was this spear. It was used by the son of Li Niyinzhou's defense envoy. I will give it to you today. I will also stay here for two days to teach you.
You use the method of 槧."
As soon as these words came out, Li Yinsheng and his mother Li Hanshi were very excited. When Han Sanlang was buried, it was Zhang Xiaobao who officiated as a military officer. Therefore, their mothers knew very well that the lame officer standing in front of them was
, who exactly is he?
Immediately, Li Yinsheng held a simple apprenticeship ceremony outside the village entrance, and Zhang Xiaobao also accepted a disciple, as if he was counting on his impossible journey across the world.
At the entrance of the village, Li Xiaofeng, who was about to leave, was grabbed by the village chief and insisted on killing pigs and sheep to thank him for helping bury Han Sanlang.
How could Li Xiaofeng be willing to waste time here? And he had tasted it.
In the countryside, pigs and sheep are very precious. I just helped to play the suona, and the Marquis Du Yu around me helped to play the drum a few times. How could someone kill pigs and sheep as a reward?
So he ignored the obstruction and insisted on leaving, but he didn't expect that as soon as they left the village entrance, a group of five of them were immediately surrounded.
A gong rang, and the villagers who had been chatting with him just now and seemed very grateful to him suddenly changed their appearance.
A second ago, he was still a simple and honest farmer who looked easy to bully. He was no different from the farmers Li Xiaofeng and others had seen in Shu who were drafted into corvee labor.
But the next second, they were armed with sticks and even farm tools, and their fighting spirit was overwhelming. They were even more difficult to deal with than the most difficult people in Sichuan.
Marquis Du Yu took out the long knife hidden in his baggage and wanted to intimidate the farmers with sticks, but found that no one was afraid.
Immediately afterwards, Zhou Jun Yuhou, who had some inconvenience in his legs and feet, looked at him coldly, just like Yuhou.
Du Yuhou immediately seemed to be chained by a poisonous snake and did not dare to move at all.
Zhang Xiaobao smiled coldly, "Master, a certain family still advises you not to move around. In this important place in Guanzhong, there are righteous followers in every village. You can't get out."
After saying this, Zhang Xiaobao exhaled and fired an arrow from eighty steps away. The arrow missed and flew over the head of the capital of Shu, Yuhou. If it had been lower than that, Duyuhou would have been dead.
Li Xiaofeng gave a wry smile, what kind of country is this Zhou Kingdom? Even a lame man who retired from the army is a sharpshooter.
But he also had a way to deal with it. He quickly raised his hand and said with a wry smile.
"You have misunderstood. This certain person is not a traitor from the Shu Kingdom, but someone who came to Zhaoling Village to find relatives."
Since you are going to be exposed anyway, it is better to choose the lesser of two evils and be treated as someone who is here to find relatives, rather than being beaten to death as a traitor.
"Hmph! If you are here to look for relatives, why don't you just tell me? You and me all speak with Sichuan accents, so why do you have relatives in Guanzhong? Besides, everyone in Zhaoling Village is here, tell me who you are.
Blood relatives?"
The headmaster snorted coldly and looked at Li Xiaofeng with contempt, unable to even make excuses.
"That's right! The whole village is here. Tell me, which family of ours are you a relative of?"
The surrounding villagers also laughed and asked. Only Lin Yinsheng's mother, Li Hanshi, looked a little uncertain when she heard Li Xiaofeng's Sichuan accent.
Li Xiaofeng also looked a little unhappy, because this also involved an embarrassing past event that the Li family did not want to mention.
His father, Li Hao, was separated from his grandmother during the war when he was seven years old. Nineteen years had passed when he found his grandmother. Li Hao, who was still a child at that time, was already twenty-six years old.
During these nineteen years, Li Xiaofeng's grandmother, a woman in such troubled times, could not survive without a man to rely on.
So when his father Li Hao sent people to find his grandmother, she had abandoned her husband and son and followed her eldest son to live a wealthy life in Shu.
After all, at that time, Li Hao was already a member of the Shu family and a Hanlin bachelor. Li's mother followed him to Shuzhong, which was better than suffering at a farmhouse in Guanzhong.
Moreover, she was afraid that her husband's family would stop her, so she ran away quietly in the middle of the night, leaving behind her honest husband and ten-year-old son.
This act of abandoning a husband and a son is deeply morally flawed.
When Li's mother was young, in order to live a good life and reunite with her eldest son, she was able to forcefully put this episode behind her.
But now that she is getting old, she still feels extremely guilty when she thinks about it. She often talks about Guanzhong, feeling guilty and longing for her.
This is a family shame!
But Li Xiaofeng had to say it, so he could only shamelessly bow to the villagers, especially the elderly people.
"Weng, please remember that more than 20 years ago, in the fourth year of Liang Zhenming's reign, there was a family here also named Li. He had an aunt who suddenly..."
When Li Xiaofeng said this, he was actually a little ashamed, "She left a thousand dollars and suddenly left without saying goodbye. She had a son at that time, who was about ten years old."
"Oh! Oh! Yes! Yes!"
The old people in the village became excited immediately. This was a strange event back then!
A big living person disappeared after saying he was gone. Will the mystery be revealed now?
Moreover, they collectively looked at Li Hanshi and Li Yinsheng.
This one said, "Brother, I'm afraid your aunt sent someone to find you."
The one said, "Li Hanshi, when your elder brother was a child, he often said that his mother would come to pick him up and go to Shu to enjoy the blessings. Now she has really come."
Li Yinsheng was confused, but Li Hanshi's eyes were red. She was a tough-tempered, virtuous and virtuous woman who was not greedy for wealth. She held Li Yinsheng's hand.
"Let's go, give birth to a brother. This has nothing to do with us. Our family doesn't have any eldest mother in Shu."
Zhang Xiaobao squinted his eyes, and everyone could feel that the matter was by no means as irrelevant as Li Hanshi said. He slowly raised the bow and arrow in his hand and said loudly on purpose.
"Opposite me, it seems you told a lie, so take a certain arrow!"
Li Hanshi's resolute departure suddenly paused, and then slowly stopped.
Li Xiaofeng was also anxious, because according to the virtues of warriors in this era, there was no reason to shoot you with an arrow, let alone being reasonable. Who dares to bet on whether a lame warrior would immediately lose his mind?
But before he could say anything, everyone around him was so frightened that he collapsed. He was almost hit by an arrow just now, and he almost peed at that time. Why did he come again?
"Sister-in-law, don't dare to talk nonsense! I'm waiting for these five lives!"
Li Xiaofeng gave the coward Du Yuhou a hard look, not because he was a coward, but because this Li Han was probably his aunt.