Hanhou

Wei Yue rode his horse and approached, saw the millet and rattan baskets on the cart, raised his right arm, and immediately a knight pulled out three brown pack horses from the cavalry.The knight stepped forward on his horse, turned over and landed on the ground, untied the leather bag and spear from the horse's back, pulled the reins, and sent the pack horse to Zhao Jia.

Zhao Jia wanted to decline, but Wei Yue smiled more gently.

"Three pack horses, will Hodor also be polite to me?"

While speaking, the knights had already placed the pack horses properly. Before flying onto the horses, one of them grinned at Zhao Jia, pulling the freshly scabbed wounds on his face.Bloodshots overflowed from the edge of the wound, which quickly solidified in the cold wind.For an ordinary person, he should have hissed coldly, but the knight didn't even notice it, and he rode his horse back to the team without even rubbing it.

Zhao Jia knew that he couldn't continue to decline, so he could only bow his hands and say thanks.The three horses did arrive in time, but Zhao Jia always felt uncomfortable owing each other a favor.

Seeing Zhao Jia's expression, Wei Yue sighed.

"Hodor is estranged from me."

Zhao Jia frowned, but didn't make a sound.

Wei Yue is the son of Wei Shangcong. His father was rarely famous for his talents, but died young.His mother remarried when Wei Yue was five years old. After that, Wei Yue was taken to Yunzhong County and raised by Wei Taishou.

Zhao Jia's father was a guest of Wei Taishou before he became the meritorious officer of Shaling County.Zhao Jia had known Wei Yue since he was four years old.

At that time, Wei Yue was already in his old age, and he displayed as much wisdom as his father, and even acquired superb archery skills.As long as Wei Shang does not fall, after he attains the crown, no matter whether he is promoted to the imperial court by virtue of military merits or the imperial court, it is a certainty.

A talented young man with extraordinary wisdom, destined to be unable to keep up with his peers.After all, while others were still walking, he had already started galloping.

Unexpectedly, Wei Yue and Zhao Jia get along very well.

Wei Yue, who was still a teenager at the time, would always bring Zhao Jia by her side, whether she was studying or practicing calligraphy or martial arts with the elders.Even Zhao Jia's enlightenment literacy was taught by Wei Yue.

In the eyes of the elders, when Zhao Jia grows up, he will become Wei Yue's right-hand man.But in Zhao Jia's cognition, he is more like a big rag doll.The young genius has no friends and is too lonely to break into the circle of elders, so he can only find a three-headed person who can understand his words to communicate with.

Can an ordinary four-year-old child calm down to read, read, and transcribe "Historical Poetry"?A normal ten-year-old child would not hold the volume of "The Six Secret Teachings of the Grand Duke" in his hands.

Birds of a feather flock together, and the two formed a friendship.

Wei Yue found a talking mascot, and Zhao Jia also benefited a lot from reading the classics collected by the prefect's mansion.

It's a pity that the good times didn't last long. Zhao Gongcao died in the battle against the Huns' invasion, and Zhao Jia's mother also fell seriously ill. Without any brothers, sisters, or clansmen to help, Zhao Jia, who was only eight years old, had to support the family alone.

As Zhao Jia moved out of Yunzhong City and took Jianfu to reorganize the family business, the number of times the two met continued to decrease.

This is the first time the two have met since last year.

When Zhao Jia was concentrating on his family business, Wei Yue had already studied government affairs with Wei Shang, and recently went out with the frontier army to pursue the Huns who had returned from the north.Although he failed to achieve anything, he also really set foot on the battlefield, laying a solid foundation for his military advancement.

The carts were loaded with armor and weapons captured by the Huns on the battlefield.As far as the Han army is concerned, most of them are not used. They can be recast and forged, or simply repaired, and used to arm village pavilions and further strengthen the defense of border counties.

However, if it involves armor and weapons, it must be reported to Chang'an.Although the imperial court advocates governance by doing nothing, Bingjia and the like are too sensitive to be prosecuted, and if they are prosecuted, they are likely to get into trouble.

Wei Shang was once dismissed from office because of the wrong number of heads, and he learned a lot from his mistakes. After he was appointed as the prefect of the border county, he would be cautious when encountering problems that might step on the line, and would not make mistakes easily.

Seeing the weapons loaded on the cart, Zhao Jia knew that Wei Yue had something important to do, so he signaled his servants to tie the pack horses to the ropes, then saluted Wei Yue, and moved to the side of the road.

This time Wei Yue didn't stop him, but before raising his whip, he said to Zhao Jia: "I heard that Ah Duo has a livestock farm, which raises a lot of cattle and sheep?"

"Yes." Zhao Jia nodded.

"I got a new hundred-acre pasture, and let Ado manage it, how about it?"

Just as Zhao Jia wanted to speak, he stopped suddenly. After careful consideration, he said, "There is an old servant in my family who is good at raising cattle and sheep. If the third son is interested, he can choose a few healthy servants, and he will teach how to manage the livestock farm."

Wei Yue stared fixedly at Zhao Jia for a moment, and said, "Forget it, I'll contact Ah Duo after the matter here is settled."

Zhao Jia cupped his hands again and watched Wei Yue and his party go away.After the snow splashed by the horse's hooves disappeared, Fang Fang let out a breath of steam and said to the healthy servant: "It's getting late, go home quickly."

"promise!"

With three pack horses, the speed of travel will naturally increase.

It gets dark very early in winter, and by the time the cart reaches the boundary of Shaling County, which is located at the southwest end of Yunzhong City, the sun has already set to the west.The houses surrounded by earthen walls were shrouded in the wind and snow, making them vague and unreal.

"Your Majesty, we're almost there!"

Yunzhong County is a strategic location, and the Yunzhong City where the prefect Wei Shang sits has heavy troops, and Yuanyang County in the east is an important place for cavalry training.Shaling County, where Zhao Jia lives, also has a large horse farm.

The entire border county is a large barracks. As far as the architectural style is concerned, the pavilions and villages in the county and townships are inevitably military in nature.

The village where Zhao Jia lived was under the rule of Shaling County, and it was built when Emperor Wen moved people to farm.There is an earthen wall around the village, and the buildings inside the wall are all rammed with earth, and the roofs are paved with tiles, which are in the style of Qin and Han Dynasties.

The earthen wall encloses the village, and only one door is opened on the east side, which is guarded by special personnel.

In times of war, a wooden archery tower will be rolled out inside the wall, and a baffle will be raised on the top of the wall, and the young and strong will hide behind the baffle and bend their bow to shoot arrows.When encountering someone climbing forcibly, you can use the inclined angle of the baffle to swing the spear and knife stick to directly smash the person down.

Most of this defense system was built by Zhao Jia.

In order to rebuild the outer wall and build the archery tower, he argued with the villagers a lot, but in the end reality prevailed, and the project started smoothly in the face of the threat of the Huns.

Of course, there is no lack of shadow left by Zhao Gongcao.

If it is not limited by the conditions, there is not much room for development. He does not mind making this place a tortoise shell, or a tortoise shell with long thorns.It is the real success to make the foreign robbers have nowhere to start, and feel disgusted when looking at this shell.

The cart stopped in front of the earthen wall, and the healthy servant came forward and knocked on the door.

Soon there was a sound behind the door, and then a torch was raised.

"Lang Jun is back!"

Accompanied by a burst of words, the wooden door opened from the inside, allowing the servants to drive the cart into the village.

The sky was dark, the cold wind whizzed past, and the torch was torn and swayed in the wind, as if it would go out at any moment.

After all the carts entered, the old man guarding the gate looked in the direction of the rut, but found no figure, only heard the howling of wolves from a distance.Immediately, he waved the torch, signaled Qing Zhuang to push the door leaf, and then set up the wooden bolt to seal the wooden door completely.

"There are wolves outside." The old man coughed, his beard and hair were white, his face was full of dimples, his right sleeve was empty, but his body was not even a bit stooped. "Be alert."

"promise!"

Jianfu drove the cart to continue, and soon came to a courtyard in the center of the village.

Compared with other houses, the courtyard walls here are taller, the doors are painted, and the tiles on the roof and walls are decorated with animal patterns, showing the identity of the owner.

There was a knock on the courtyard door, and an old servant answered behind the door.

Seeing Zhao Jia standing in front of the door with his teeth chattering from the cold, the old servant stuck the torch into the wall without saying a word, unfolded the wolf fur in his arms, and wrapped Zhao Jia tightly.

"The hot soup has been prepared, Mr. Lang goes into the house to warm it up, and then eats."

"Okay." Zhao Jia nodded and walked inward.

The front yard is very spacious, and on the left is a wooden stable. The servants are untying the ropes on the pack horses and putting fodder into the manger.

Five steps away from the stables are three rows of wooden cages.

Four years ago, Zhao Jia tried to breed wild rabbits, but unfortunately he was unsuccessful. Most of the rabbits ran away, and the ones that did not escape became dinner on the plate. The cages were temporarily useless and all were empty.

Every time Zhao Jia saw this row of wooden cages, he couldn't help but think of those ferocious hares.

It is true that the Han Dynasty favored martial arts, who can tell him why the rabbits in the Han Dynasty were so tough?A two-finger-thick wooden pole can be easily bitten off!

The health servant tried to catch it, but his finger was almost bitten off.

Thinking about the rumors that rabbits love braised pork, Zhao Jia was very suspicious that these rabbits from the Han Dynasty might really have the carnivorous gene.

As for poultry, regardless of chickens, ducks and geese, they all retain a lot of wildness.Looking at the domestic cock that was comparable to a fighting cock, Zhao Jia lost his mind.

Sure enough, it is a tough era, and tough species need no explanation.

In contrast, cattle and sheep are easier to raise.

After careful consideration, Zhao Jia temporarily gave up breeding wild rabbits and delayed the plan to raise poultry on a large scale, but devoted himself to the development of cattle and sheep raising.

From the age of ten to the age of 14, the breeding business has achieved initial results, and the bullocks and fat sheep have been slaughtered one after another, which is enough to feed a whole village.

But Zhao Jia also knew very well that if the Xiongnu cavalry stepped into Yunzhong County, his livestock farm would definitely suffer heavy losses.If you don't want years of hard work to be in vain, the robbers going south must die!

The poisonous chimney dedicated to Wei Taishou is proof of Zhao Jia's determination.

There is a pile of stones scattered on the right side of the courtyard, as well as many iron and bronze tools.It used to be a vegetable field, but unfortunately it was abandoned a year ago, and was used by Zhao Jia to accumulate stones for making stone mills.

There is no need for Zhao Jia to worry about transporting the food back home, the old servant Hubo will naturally arrange it properly.

Entering the house, there is already a poke lamp against the wall, a low table is facing the door, beside it are two futons, and a brazier that is burning vigorously.

Zhao Jia sat on the futon, took off the animal skin hat first, and put on the wolf skin to warm up by the fire.

The boots made of animal skins were placed in front of the door. Although they were not wet, they were already thoroughly chilled.Tabi socks cannot keep warm, and I have lost feeling in my toes.While warming up the fire, Zhao Jia was thinking in his mind that when the flock reached a certain size, he would no matter what to get the wool out.Otherwise, such a winter is really too difficult.

While Zhao Jia was warming up, Uncle Hu brought the food himself and put it in front of Zhao Jia.

Originally there were two young servant girls in the family, but when Zhao Jia was 12 years old, they were both sent out by Hubo.

Huber's explanation is that Zhao Jia is still young, and knowing about personnel too early will hinder his growth.Zhao Gongcao is Zhao Jia's only seedling, so naturally he can't be careless.

The poke light was moved closer, and Flameheart jumped, leaving vague shadows on the wall.

Hu Bo looked at the brazier, waited for Zhao Jia to finish his meal, and then said: "Miss Wei came here during the day, and said that I have something to discuss with my husband."

Zhao Jia stretched his waist and nodded to express his understanding.

After this incident was revealed, Huber mentioned two or three other matters, most of which involved snow disasters, livestock farms and grain.

"I care about all of this." Zhao Jia yawned, propping his cheek with one hand, "Wait until the market opens three days later, and then buy another batch of millet, it will always last these days."

"Lang Jun..." Hu Bo showed hesitation.

"Ok?"

"Your Majesty should not give these millets for nothing."

"I know." Zhao Jia nodded.

He is very clear about the fact that Shengmi is kind and Michou is fighting.In exchange for food, it will naturally not be given in vain, but it is also an impossible condition for the people in the village to exchange for goods immediately.

"After the snow melts, I'm determined to raise more cattle and sheep, and reclaim all the fields left by my father. In addition, the earthen walls will also need to be rebuilt, and some stone materials need to be carved. All these require manpower."

Zhao Jia yawned as he spoke.

"When the millet is distributed, talk to He Lao about it in detail, and he should arrange it properly."

It is acceptable for most villagers to use labor force to pay for food.If there are people who steal, rape, play tricks and try to deny it, Zhao Jia doesn't need to speak up, and the three elders of the village will come forward to solve it.

The wick exploded, Zhao Jia's eyelids began to fight, and he couldn't hold on.

Huber got up and left the room.When closing the door, deliberately leave a gap.He may not understand the concept of carbon monoxide, but he knows that there is a brazier in the house, and the doors and windows must not be closed, otherwise accidents may occur.

When the door was closed, Zhao Jia walked around the screen, lay down on the wooden bed, tightened the quilt sewn with animal skins, and fell asleep within a moment.

In Yunzhong City, Wei Yue put down the bamboo slips, thinking of meeting Zhao Jia in the daytime, facing the flickering candlelight, unconsciously a little lost in thought.