Liu Cong smiled heartily and said, "We can't stay any longer. We want to hang out after dinner."
Hearing this, the man put the bowls and chopsticks on the bed, carefully placed the cooking cakes on the chopsticks, cupped his hands to Liu Cong and the others, and said, "My name is Meng Wen, and I am the corps leader of this corps."
Liu Cong did not return the courtesy, but approached and said with a smile, "Among the other two, there is only one big soldier. Brother Meng, don't be so polite to me."
With that said, Liu Cong sat on Meng Wen's bed with his rice bowl, "Brother Meng, can I sit here?"
"Brother, what are you talking about? As long as you don't mind that this camp is dirty, you can sit wherever you want."
Liu Cong nodded and sat down, "I just heard you guys chatting in full swing. We couldn't help but come in and want to take a look and chat with you."
While Liu Cong was speaking, Xing Daorong and others squatted beside him, observing the people in the tent with some scrutiny.
Meng Wen didn't care that he was pushed aside and picked up the rice bowl on his bed, "I see you have tender skin and tender flesh, you don't look like a soldier?"
Liu Cong was a little surprised. The team leader was very careful in his observations. "I have never been able to tan since I was a child. I have always looked like this fair."
Meng Wen nodded and said, "How old are you this year?"
"Me? How old do you think I am?" Liu Cong took a bite of the cooking cake and chewed it in his mouth along with the flour cake.
Meng Wen looked at Liu Cong and rolled his eyes, "I think you are no more than seventeen or eighteen at most."
"I'm nineteen this year."
"You're not old then. What do you do at home? Why did you become a soldier?" Wang Er, who had just yelled, asked Liu Cong.
Liu Cong smiled and said, "I have no father or mother. I worked as a slave for others. I have been living in poverty since I was a child. I have to do all kinds of dirty and tiring work. Later, because the Marquis of Chu ordered a population census, I ran out to become a soldier.
.”
Another man whose name had not been revealed smiled and said, "Then you are just like me. I used to be a servant. In the Fei family, I was beaten and scolded even after I did the work."
"So, we were traveling together before?" Liu Cong looked at the man with a hint of surprise.
"My name is Lu Tai. If you have anything to do in the future, say hello to my brother. If I can help you, I will definitely help you."
"Thank you so much, brother."
"Are you married yet?"
"not yet?"
Lu Tai said sternly, "Hey, if you go out to serve as soldiers and fight, how can you not start a family? You have to leave a seed, otherwise if we die in battle one day, we will have no descendants."
Liu Cong swallowed a mouthful of noodle soup and nodded with a smile, "I'm young, and these brothers in our team take care of me. In many battles, these brothers have taken care of me."
Following Liu Cong's words, several people looked at Xing Daorong and others who were squatting beside him.
Zhao Si smiled and said, "Then you are lucky to have such a few loyal brothers."
Before Liu Cong could say anything, Wang Er scolded Zhao Si, "Do you think everyone is like you, a bastard?"
Zhao Si was naturally not to be outdone, "You piece of shit, what kind of good thing do you think you are?"
"You can't even sleep with a woman!"
"That guy of yours can't be tough on anything!"
"Okay!" Meng Wen scolded and then said to Liu Cong, "These two bastards quarrel like this every day, but they have a life-long friendship."
Liu Cong was stunned for a moment. Could he still have a brother who was a life-long friend? It was impossible. At this stage, who would dare to be a brother with him?
Suddenly, he envied Liu Bei. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were good brothers from beginning to end. Even after becoming emperor, their feelings never changed.
"Little brother?"
Liu Cong came back to his senses, smiled and said to Meng Wen, "I just thought that I would be too lonely by myself."
"Brother Wang Er, you just said that your family used to eat chaff. Why?"
When Wang Er heard this, he put down the finished bowl and said bitterly, "My family used to be tenants of the Luo family. That bastard family would send someone to beat them every year when they paid taxes."
"Not only do we have to pay 60 percent of my family's annual harvest, but we also have to give those people tax benefits! My family used to have only twenty acres of land, and I have a younger sister, plus my father and mother, there are four people."
"It's not enough to eat even if you don't hand over the food, let alone after you hand it over. My mother always makes the whole family full, and then sneaks outside alone, digs out the chaff from the pot and eats it herself."
At this point, Wang Er's eyes were already filled with tears, and he swallowed more and continued, "One time my mother passed out from hunger, and my father and we discovered that she had been eating chaff!"
"Later, no matter how little food there was, my father would not let my mother eat the chaff alone. The whole family ate together! There was chaff in everyone's rice bowl!"
As he said that, Wang Er smiled and said, "Fortunately, not long after that, the Marquis of Chu came to power, and my family's life changed day by day. I heard that being a soldier gave me money, land, and less taxes.
Or whatever, I just came to be a soldier."
"Those bullshit aristocratic families can no longer control my family! They should be punished by the Marquis of Chu, so that they can all be found out by the government for breaking the law!"
"Hahaha……"
Wang Er's words caused everyone to laugh.
After he finished laughing, Liu Cong looked at the silent man over there and asked several people, "That big brother, why doesn't he say anything?"
Meng Wen took a look and sighed, "That boy's name is Hu Xia. He is a prisoner from the north. He was captured during the attack on Wancheng. He is from Jizhou."
"I am the only one left in the family. He is not very old, one year younger than you. He doesn't talk much. If the military hadn't asked him, I wouldn't have known his name."
During this Eastern Expedition, Liu Cong ordered the Cao troops captured in Wancheng to be dispersed and divided into various ministries to enrich the army.
Meng Wen sighed again, "Didn't my lord say that after this battle, he would send them back to the north? This boy is also brave in fighting, but he just wants to go back and see his mother."
Liu Cong stood up after hearing this, put the bowls and chopsticks on the Mengwen bed, and walked to Hu Xia, "I'm older than you, you have to call me big brother! This is the first time I've seen someone younger than me."
Hu Xia squatted facing the bed, turned her head and glanced at Liu Cong, then turned back and ignored him.
Liu Cong poked Hu Xia's elbow, "Okay, the grown man is not dead yet, what can happen to us gentlemen?"
Seeing that Hu Xia was still unmoved, Liu Cong smiled and said, "I know an official. I heard from him that the lord is going to take over your family members who have been reduced to soldiers."
"Now that the battle is over, I still want to ask you whether you want to go back or stay in Jingchu. I will follow your wishes."
"Hu Xia, do you want to take your mother over to live with you, or do you want to go back to the north?"
Hu Xia stood up and stared at Liu Cong. This startled Xing Daorong and others, who also stood up instantly and looked at Hu Xia eagerly.
Liu Cong waved to a few people and said, "Sit down, don't be so nervous."
Amid the surprise of Meng Wen and others, Xing Daorong and others sat down obediently like kittens.
"Can you really, really bring my mother to Jingchu?" Hu Xia's eyes turned red as she stared at Liu Cong. Her body was shaking like chaff!