I played as an assistant in ancient times

Chapter 103

At this moment, old man Shen Shanyou and Taoist Master Hengxi, who was decocting medicine in the kitchen, heard it and came out.

Shi Cun felt a little pressured by being stared at by everyone, so he tried to remain calm and said, "My master is still in Beijing making inquiries, so he sent me here to inform you today.

The civilians may gradually return home by heading south via Gubei or Yongning. He advises you not to leave the country.

When a large number of soldiers returned south, it was difficult to obtain the customs documents.

If you want to go to these two places, order me to go with you."

"Grandpa, let's go and open the way." Shen Xiaoye made a decision immediately after hearing this.

The old man hesitated for a moment, then nodded slightly, remembering that they were all within the pass.

Unexpectedly, the eldest grandson said, "Grandpa, I want to go too."

The old man frowned even more: "Nonsense, can you ride a horse?"

"Yes, I learned it with Xiaoye." Although he had only learned it recently and his thighs were bruised, Shen Cungeng finally learned how to ride.

The old man then noticed that his walking posture was not right, and glared at his granddaughter who was standing with her legs slightly apart. Just as he was about to say something else, his daughter-in-law came out holding the door and said, "Dad, let him go, otherwise I will be uneasy.

I think the civilians coming south from outside the Great Wall won’t be able to walk very fast, so I’ll give Xiaoye and Gengge a carriage, so that if they get hurt while picking up the people, they can take a ride home.”

“Grandpa, I think it’s feasible, bring some medicine for external injuries.

And bring the mother leopard with you, she can find people much faster than us." Shen Xiaoye couldn't help but hear her cousin looking at her with a pleading look, and to be honest, although they learned to ride horses in two hours, they really couldn't stand riding for a whole day.

If it weren't for the two Taoist priests' careful teaching, the two siblings would have wrapped cotton pads on their thighs and buttocks for protection in advance, and applied medicine at night, and they might have bled now.

But when she got up today, her skin was still broken. She tried to stand and didn't dare to walk in front of her family.

"You all," the old man sighed, "go, I'm going to the county government office to get a pass.

But the female leopard won’t let us go, because we can’t pass all the checkpoints with her.”

"Okay, Grandpa, let's go together." She had to look at Grandpa's guide. Shen Xiaoye patted the little black cat on her shoulder and said, "You tell Leopard Mom to go back to the mountains and wait for a few days."

"Meow." The little black cat came running down the stairs, but it was still not as fast as Taoist Qingxi and was caught up in a moment.

Qingxi said: "I'm just strolling around."

His junior fellow Taoist Master Hengxi was talking to Shen Xiaoye, "If we don't go beyond the pass, there's no need for Taixu Temple to send so many people. My senior brother and I are enough. You can return the four horses you rented."

"Yeah." It was true that Shen Xiaoye bought four horses, and she also rented several more in the county town.

She took the two certificates of ordination handed to her by the Taoist priest, and then quickly went to her grandmother to get the household registration card.

On this side, the old man was already harnessing the donkey cart. Xiao Ye had bought a new cart last time, and it was quite spacious.

Geng Ge'er came to help and fed hay to the horses in the stable.

He said, "Grandpa, I don't need to take the carriage. I can get there earlier and find my father earlier."

The old man said in a muffled voice: "Why are you trying to be so strong? This is not an urgent matter.

Don't just worry about the horse, tie the mule to the handlebars of the cart for me. We will leave soon. Go to the headman's house to buy some cotton wool and ask Erniu's mother to make a few thick mattresses for you to take with you.

Then put the thick clothes out to dry and fill up the water bags.”

"Okay, but why does Grandpa still bring a mule?"

"Get a carriage and bring it back."

After he finished speaking, he drove out without even looking at his eldest grandson. Shen Xiaoye, who had been waiting, held up the household registration letter and jumped into the car.

The old man saw Shicun getting on the horse and asked, "Brother Shicun, are you coming too?"

Shi Cun said, "I have the master's name card with me, I will go with you to lead the way."

The three of them were silent along the way. After quickly arriving at the county town, they discovered that the county street didn't seem as bustling as before.

Shen Xiaoye was wondering, but soon found out the reason. A lot of people gathered in front of the county government office.

When I got closer, I seemed to hear people asking about the people.

She looked at Shicun: "Has it spread?"

"Probably. I didn't go into the city, but I heard merchants talking about it on the way here." This kind of thing can't be kept secret for too long.

Shen Xiaoye stood on the cart and looked into the distance. He saw the Dianshi and Captain Lu at the gate trying to persuade the crowd to disperse, but not only did they fail to persuade them to leave, more people came over to inquire about the situation.

The autumn sun in early September still had a bit of the scorching heat of late summer, and she clearly saw the yamen runners who were maintaining order wiping their sweat.

After a while, several people who looked like country gentry appeared in the gate, and the crowd suddenly pressed towards them.

She asked: "County Master, won't you come out to comfort me?"

"I'm afraid he's trying to appease the gentry and elders in there." The old man looked for a while and said, "Go buy a carriage and some medicine first."

Shen Xiaoye coughed lightly: "I bought the medicine and put it in the room in Xingrenfang. The oilcloth rain gear and several jars of strong liquor are also prepared."

"You." The old man turned the donkey cart around, "Little brother, why don't you go in through the back door."

"Okay, I'll listen to you." Shicun had no objection. His mission was to protect the two of them.

The people at the back door did not recognize Shen Shanyou and his father, but they were very familiar with Shicun. When they heard that they wanted to apply for a pass, they immediately helped to call the clerk of the household registration office.

However, when the clerk met them and asked, he learned that these people wanted to go to Yongning Guard, "No, to go there, you need the approval of the county lord."

"Officer, we are not going out. We just want to go and pick up our family. They are the laborers who are delivering the grain this time." Shen Xiaoye explained hurriedly.

The clerk of the Household Department did not dare to act on his own and immediately reported to the county magistrate.

Magistrate Deng was already extremely worried at this moment. As the news spread that the general had died and the army had been ambushed, the villagers in the county town and nearby areas rushed to the county government office one after another as if they had agreed beforehand.

He persuaded round after round of gentry and village elders to leave, but more people kept coming.

You should know that in order to better complete the task, he did not follow the previous system of rotating ten-jia labor service, but instead ordered all the able-bodied men in each village to serve. (Note: There are ten jia in one village, and one jia has ten households.)

Hearing that someone had taken the initiative to find out the truth and provide support, he immediately said, "Open it for them, and tell them to report the details to me when they come back.

Mr. Yi, please help me go meet them and give them some encouragement.

On my side, I have to keep the visitor steady and prevent him from leaving."

"Don't worry, Mr. Dong, I will do my best to fulfill your mission." Master Yi bowed and left. Magistrate Deng gathered his energy and went back to deal with the elders of the village.

A quarter of an hour later, Shen Xiaoye and his companions got the pass to travel far away.

All preparations have been made, and we can set off after buying some dry food.

That night, the family sat together to say goodbye. At dawn, Grandma Lin, supported by her daughter-in-law and niece, watched them leave home.

Great grandfather Shen Shanxin and cousin Lin chased after him for a long distance: "We'll watch over you at home, be careful on the road."

While walking through Jiuli Village, Shen Xiaoye could still hear sobbing coming from many villagers' homes. The news had spread throughout the village yesterday.

The village head also came to our house, but my grandfather did not reveal his intention to go north to look for someone.

They rode at such a rapid speed that they could hardly sleep on the way.

In order to relieve his boredom, Shen Xiaoye concentrated on practicing his riding skills.

That day, after several days of traveling, they finally arrived at the Gubei area. The endless desolation made Shen Xiaoye rub his eyes hard.

She said, "Grandpa, is the population here so small? We walked for most of the day and didn't see many villages."

“Under the rule of the Northern Barbarians in the previous dynasty, almost the entire Great North became their pasture.

If it weren't for Taizu who drove out the Tartars, recovered the country, and relocated the people to the north, you wouldn't even see a village here.

Our Jiuli Village has a small area with no land, so we didn’t get many immigrants at that time. But Wuli Village, which is further southwest and close to Baohe County, has many immigrants who came here in recent decades. ” The old man sighed and looked around.

Shen Xiaoye nodded. When she was collecting the cloth, many people, including Uncle Xin's wife, spoke with the accent of people south of the Yellow River.

Taoist Priest Qingxi said: “It is too difficult to graze large tracts of arable land and then raise them again.

Some of the relocated people couldn’t stand the hardship and fled secretly.”

"There are very few people here. What will happen after we leave the pass?" Shen Xiaoye looked into the distance again. The so-called Great Wall Pass here was not a continuous wall, but just scattered small fortresses.

Taoist Priest Qingxi: "Haha, there is almost no one from Kaiping to the north, and to the south, decades have passed, I don't know what it is like now.

After the earliest remnants of the Northern Barbarians were destroyed more than ten years ago, they continued to migrate westward and northward. After years of reproduction, their manpower has returned.

Some tribes would lead their people to surrender, and might be settled south of Kaiping. Surrender and rebellion happened almost every year.

Before the emperor ascended the throne, he was often ordered to go out and sweep away the invaded people in order to strike at their new vitality. Unfortunately..."

Shen Xiaoye listened carefully: "What a pity?"

Qingxi: "There are not just one northern barbarians, but a large group. They roam from the north of our dynasty to the Mongol and Timurid regions further west, and even further west.

Although they were defeated and migrated, the Northern Tartars were originally a nomadic tribe. They were reluctant to give up the fertile land and water and wanted to occupy it all at any time. "

"Are there no truly surrendered tribes left outside the border?" Shen Cungeng felt that this was different from what he had heard before. "They say that there is a lot of money to be made by selling goods outside the border, but no one has anywhere to sell the goods."

Qingxi said patiently: "Yes, let's see where it is. There are many people from here to the northwest. Many people gathered there during the previous dynasty.

There are still ethnic groups that have submitted to the previous dynasty, but there are still some among them who cannot stand the constraints and sometimes defect to the north.

As for the goods, they are not only sold to people in the neighborhood, but also sold far beyond Yumen.”

"What about the northeast of Jizhen? Don't they often do business with us?" Shen Xiaoye asked again.

Qingxi shook his head and said disdainfully: "It can be considered half farming and half herding, but he always tries to take advantage of both sides.

They were the ones who started the little rebellion a few months ago."

"If we don't fight lightly, the barbarians will be afraid of the emperor's might but not his virtue. Sooner or later, the emperor will punish them." Taoist Priest Hengxi interrupted them, "Look, there is a group of light cavalry coming ahead."

Although the smoke and dust were far away, Shen Xiaoye and the others rode their horses to the side in advance. After listening to most of the scene, Shi Cun looked at the two Taoist priests from time to time to make sure that they were not kind-hearted.

The light cavalry was very fast and passed them in the blink of an eye.

After the dust settled, everyone saw that there was still a group of people, and from afar they saw more than a dozen carts pulled by mules and donkeys.

Shen Xiaoye stared at him, "Could it be a civilian man?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Shen Cungeng beside her rode his horse to meet her, and the old man also followed closely on his horse.

Instead, she had a little black cat whispering in her ear: "There is a man buying cloth in the car."

"Master Miao?" Shen Xiaoye asked in a murmur.

"It seems so." When the little black cat responded again, Shen Xiaoye also hurried forward.

Then she saw a lot of dusty people crowded on the carts, but there was no Mr. Miao among them.

It was clearly a commoner. Little Black Cat had misled me by his slip of the tongue.

The old man and Geng Ge'er had already dismounted and were asking questions in each carriage.

Shen Xiaoye jumped down and headed straight for the middle car, "Captain Qi?"

"You?" The middle-aged man sitting next to the car squinted at her.

She noticed that the other party was weak, so she quickly turned back to the horse, took down the bag and water bag, and ran over again, "Here, water and dry food."

As he spoke, he tore it open, revealing the steamed bun inside.

Everyone in the car's eyes instantly turned green, and they quickly reached out to grab food. They were so hungry. From yesterday until now, everyone had only been given one steamed bun. They thought they would have food after passing the pass, but they were not allowed to stop.

It was Captain Qi who opened the water bag and drank the water first.

Taoist Master Hengxi, who had been following her closely, sighed and took his own dry food.

Taoist Priest Qingxi rode over on his horse, glancing sharply and fiercely at the people coming here from the cars in front and behind.

Shi Cun, who was driving the carriage from behind, also rushed over with the whip in hand, and instantly pulled out a knife hidden in the carriage and stood on the shaft.

The people in the carriages and horses in front and behind stopped their restlessness instantly.

The old man also noticed this, and ran over with his eldest grandson, showing his eyebrow-length short stick and asked, "Who is the leader?"

Village Chief Qi put down the water and pointed at the car at the back, "They are lying there hungry."

Shen Xiaoye asked: "Chief Qi, do you still recognize me? I am from the Shen family. Brother Qi Zhi is the one who collects cloth from Aunt Xin's house."

"Yes, I saw your uncle not long ago." As soon as he finished speaking, Geng Ge'er grabbed him and asked, "Where is my father?"

"I don't know at the moment. When we met, he was transporting grain further north." Village Chief Qi took the steamed bun handed to him by the Taoist priest, took a bite, and said vaguely.

"You never saw him again?"

"I've seen him with him."

"Where?"

"The group behind us doesn't have these cars. I estimate they will come in through the pass in an hour or two."

"Thank you." Shen Xiaoye pulled his cousin up and got on the horse.

At this time, the head of the village, Qi Lichang, looked up and said, "Miss Shen, Qi Zhi and I have been separated. If you see him, tell him that we cannot stay here. We will meet at home."

"Okay." Shen Xiaoye ran to the last car and found someone hugging his grandfather and crying.

"Okay, okay, go home early and report that you are safe.

You can eat these on the way." The old man also left the food in his bag.

Everyone got on their horses and left again. Shen Xiaoye asked, "Grandpa, who is it?"

"People over there by the river, hey... speed up." The old man slapped his horse and rushed out a long distance in an instant.

They hurried to Gubei, and their pass was checked again and again, taking a full quarter of an hour to verify before they were allowed to enter.

The streets here are not as busy as Linghe. There are only a few food shops and restaurants open.

By the time Shicun found the inn with familiarity, Shen Xiaoye and his grandfather had already arrived at the other side of the city gate, which was the entrance and exit pass.

She vaguely saw rows of people sitting on the ground outside the city gate. When she rushed to the front door, she was stopped by soldiers: "You are not allowed to leave the city after 3 p.m."

She was pushed back by the spear, and so was her grandfather. But at this moment, they both heard a heavenly voice: "Miss Shen?"