Three thousand miles in exile

When Liu Zhan stepped into the village entrance, he saw Liu Xueyuan who was looking forward to it by the side of the road. His eyes were bloodshot and he must have been up all night.

"It's good to be back, it's good to be back." Liu Xueyuan was almost unable to stand still.

Liu Zhan asked Cao Zhuang and Cao Ming to go home first and not be with him anymore. When he returned to Liu's house, more people were disturbed, and the female relatives were crying with joy.

Only Liu Zhan carried Song Fenglin back to the room with a calm face, and after he settled down, Song Fenglin went to the main room to answer everyone.

That night, the sky was covered with dark clouds and heavy snow fell, and the real heavy snow finally came.

"Why do you open the window to be careful of catching a cold?" Liu Zhan brought medicine for Song Fenglin, but as soon as he entered the door, he saw him staring at the heavy snow on the window sill in a daze with the window open.

Liu Zhan touched Song Fenglin's forehead without waiting for him to speak. He didn't have a fever, and held his hand again. "Why is it so cold?"

"It's okay." Song Fenglin withdrew his hand.

Liu Zhan knew that he must have something hidden in his heart, and it would be extremely difficult for Song Fenglin to speak out on his own initiative. Liu Zhan felt helpless for his petty temper.

After closing the window, Liu Zhan climbed onto the kang and brought the medicine to him. "Doctor Li said that this is a medicine to nourish the body, because he had to take heavy medicine to save his life before, so he can only replenish it slowly."

A trace of pain flashed in Song Fenglin's eyes.

Liu Zhan said softly: "In the future, I will find a better doctor and better medicine. We are still young, trust me."

Song Fenglin set his eyes on Liu Zhan's firm eyes.

"Drink, huh?" Liu Zhan sent the medicine forward.

Song Fenglin took it, and Liu Zhan secretly heaved a sigh of relief, staring at Song Fenglin after drinking the medicine before returning to the kitchen with an empty bowl.

"I think big brother is crazy. We can't take care of ourselves. How much money did you spend saving people this year? A whole acre of paddy fields!"

Liu Zhan passed by the old lady's room and heard Liu Xueli's loud voice yelling from a distance.

"Keep your voice down," the old lady scolded.

"Mother, am I in a hurry! You have to take care of elder brother..." Liu Xueli said something else, but Liu Zhan was not interested in listening to those words.

Going around to the kitchen, Mrs. Zhao and Mrs. Li were busy making dinner. Liu Zhan cleaned the dishes and squatted in front of the stove to watch the fire for Mrs. Zhao.

Liu Zhan's thoughts drifted away as he turned on the fire. Liu's family was exiled by the imperial decree and could not leave Wuyuan County. At present, all he can do is to seek a breakthrough in the small world of Wuyuan County.

He is not reconciled to mediocrity, now that Yunzhong Academy has a stable income and the Liu family has no worries about food and clothing, Liu Zhan feels that it is time for him to do something else.

In the blink of an eye, the Spring Festival came soon, and the Liu family had a lively Spring Festival this year.

On the eve of the New Year's Eve, the memorial tablets of the Liu family's ancestors and the Song family's ancestors were placed in the hall of the Liu family. Because Song Yijun worshiped the old lady as a godmother, the ancestor worship of the two families was held together.

The Song family came from a public residence, and the old lady was most interested in family status, and she was very satisfied with accepting Song Yiwei as her adopted son.

That night, the Liu family held a banquet. There were chickens, rabbits, wild boar, home-grown cabbage, radishes, home-grown soybeans, tofu, etc., ten dishes and two soups, rice with refined rice, and pork dumplings with refined bread.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year the next day, the younger generation kowtowed to the elders to pay New Year's greetings. The old lady smiled from ear to ear looking at the children and grandchildren, and hugged the youngest Cong'er straight to the Liu family.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the Cao family, the Zhang family, and the Wen family came to pay New Year’s greetings through the snow, and the teenagers gathered together.

Liu Zhan had long held back his words and waited for others to speak. "Do you know any kind of money-making business on our mountain?"

Cao Ming rushed to answer excitedly. "Selling wild boars! My mother made a calculation for me. The wild boars I brought back this year were sold for 11 taels of silver!"

Zhang Xiaoman said: "I have about the same number."

The trophies obtained by everyone's wild hunting are all average points, so they are all about the same.

Wen Qingshan said happily: "Jujubes are also valuable. My family plans to buy an acre of paddy fields in the spring. This is the first time our family has bought a field."

Li Xiaolian said: "Hare furs and mink furs can also be sold, which means a lot of income in a year."

Cao Zhuang said: "You are not as much as I am. I have earned 18 taels of silver this year. My father plans to add some silver to buy two acres of paddy fields."

The teenagers all spoke happily, and were already satisfied with this good day.

Liu Zhan stated his goal. "I want to earn several hundred taels of silver."

The five teenagers were stunned at the same time.

Zhang Xiaoman asked cautiously: "Boss, are you serious?"

Liu Zhan turned the brush in his hand. "Yes, I need a stable job that can earn hundreds of taels of silver."

The five young men were silent, the huge sum of hundreds of taels of silver was completely beyond their imagination.

Wen Qingshan was the first to break the silence. "The only way to earn so much money is to do business, but all the big and small businesses in the county are in the hands of the powerful, and it is as difficult for the common people to get involved."

Liu Zhan stopped turning the pen. "How to say?"

Wen Qingshan said: "For example, the common people picked the medicinal materials from the mountains and took them down the mountain to sell them to the medical clinic. If someone took the medicinal materials from the common people and resold them to the medical clinic, the merchants in charge of the medicinal materials in the county would find out the next day. The thugs come to the door, regardless of whether they kill or injure the county government.”

This is the naked monopoly!

Zhang Xiaoman said: "My father also thought about going to the county government to open a shop to sell wooden wares, but he couldn't even rent a shop. The middleman turned his head and left when he heard that we were untouchables."

Cao Zhuang said: "My father also wanted to open a blacksmith shop in the early years, but he was almost beaten to death by a family doing blacksmith business."

This is a world with distinct classes. There is a huge gap between all walks of life and all levels that is difficult to bridge. Liu Zhan's heart sinks into a deep pool. The rules of this world are more cruel than he imagined.

Cao Ming said: "Boss, let's sell wild boar and medicinal materials, hunt more and save slowly."

Liu Zhan shook his head with furrowed eyebrows. "I need capital."

Knowing that Liu Zhan has always had big ideas, the teenagers dare not question him.

Li Xiaolian said: "Brother, we will help you with what you want to do."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Liu Zhan thought: "We still need to save money before making any plans. At present, there is no other way but to continue hunting in the mountains. I heard that Chen Ji Grocery in the county buys wild boar bacon. This winter, we will make some bacon and sell it to see if there is any." How much silver."

In the past, Liu Zhan hunted more for food. The dozen or so members of Liu’s family ate meat all at once, and the consumption of wild pork was also high. Most of the wild pork that Cao Zhuang and the others brought back were sold for money, which is why the teenagers saved money. .

Now that Liu Zhan wants to save money, he can no longer make small troubles.

Liu Zhan made a decision. "Da Zhuang, can your father secretly make some iron guns for us?"

Cao Zhuang said without hesitation, "Yes."

Liu Zhan patted Cao Zhuang on the shoulder. "Tell Uncle Cao for me, please rest assured that we will hide the weapons on the mountain and never bring them down."

People can't hide weapons privately. If they are caught, it will be a serious crime of beheading. Liu Zhan is also very courageous.

Not only Liu Zhan was courageous, but the other five teenagers were also courageous. They were very excited when they heard that Liu Zhan was going to make a weapon without being cowardly.

Liu Zhan suddenly remembered something. "Qingshan, you will not follow us when you want to take the entrance examination for children in Chunwei. Let's play together again when you are in high school."

Wen Qingshan scratched his head in frustration.

Cao Zhuang patted him. "You have to fight for us, and you must pass the exam."

Wen Qingshan was the only one of several teenagers who was born as a good citizen. Because of his diligence and studious, he was accepted as a closed disciple by Liu Xueyuan.

Wen Qingshan's eyes became wet, and he still wanted to be with his brothers more in his heart.

Half a month later, Cao Zhuang came to look for Liu Zhan, and said that five guns were ready. Last night, Cao Zhuang's father quietly carried them to the thorn forest and buried them in snow.

Liu Zhan was very excited and immediately asked everyone to go up the mountain.

"This child, he still runs up the mountain in winter." Mrs. Zhao watched Liu Zhan go out helplessly.

Li Shi also sighed. "Fortunately, I made a sheepskin jacket before winter."

"That's not true." Mrs. Zhao shook her head.

The five teenagers all wore sheepskin jackets, sheepskin pants, sheepskin boots, and sheepskin hats on their heads, with the wool facing inside and the leather facing outside, which was both warm and waterproof.

Five people and one wolf waded through the snow all the way, the deepest part of the snow was even up to the waist.

When he came to the thorn forest, Cao Zhuang followed the markings and found the pistol. The tip of the iron gun was extremely sharp, and the pole was made of good wood by Zhang Xiaoman's father.

"Let's go!" Liu Zhan gave an order, and led the boys into the depths of the forest that they dared not go before.

Naturally, one cannot go blindly into the mountains in winter. In order to prevent sudden snowstorms, Liu Zhan chose a location to build a temporary shelter.

First clear an open space, then build a frame with wooden branches, and seal the roof tightly with snow, and a simple snow house is formed. They will be active near this shelter for a few days.

"Boss! What kind of footprints do you think this is?" Cao Ming was stunned by the huge footprints in front of him.

Liu Zhan compared it with his hands, and the imprint on the snow was bigger than his palm.

Cao Zhuang said: "It should not be Xiong Xiazi, I heard that Xiong Xiazi does not come out of the nest in winter."

Liu Zhan's heart sank. "I can't go any further, go back, this is the territory of the tiger."

The four boys were taken aback, but Wangcai stood so far away that he refused to come over even if he said anything.

The mountains of Qiyun Mountain are vast, so wild boars are not the only ones living in this dense forest.

The territory between the animals was clearly defined, knowing that they had entered a place they shouldn't, Liu Zhan and the others quickly retreated to the wild boar's territory.

For the next two months, as long as the weather is fine, Liu Zhan will go up the mountain to hunt. Not every time there are people, only Liu Zhan insists on going up the mountain.

The prey that Liu Zhan hunted back were wild boars, foxes and hares. The furs were processed immediately, and the meat was stored in the backyard to freeze outdoors, waiting for the weather to be warmer and smoked uniformly.

Liu Zhan only told his family that he would use the money from the sale of the wild boar, but he didn't reveal anything else. Liu Xueyuan watched his son busy up and down every day, full of questions and didn't know where to ask them.

And Song Fenglin also saw all this.

Soon in March, the cold weather gradually eased, Liu Zhan led Li Xiaolian to set up wild boars in pieces with a machete to smoke, and Song Fenglin silently helped watch the fire, like this every day.

"Zhan'er, you can sell these bacon for a lot of money." Liu Xueli said with a cheerful smile during lunch.

Liu Zhan didn't speak, he took a piece of meat and put it in Zhao's bowl at the next table. "Mom, eat more."

Liu Xueli said to himself: "Selling these bacon for money can add a lot of things to the family this year, brother, how about buying a cow?"

Liu Xueyi sneered and said nothing.

Liu Xueyuan didn't want to talk too much and said: "Let's talk about it later."

Liu Xueli didn't understand very much. "Why can't outsiders say this, you won't really let Zhan'er spend the money by himself?"

Liu Zhan cleaned up the rice in the bowl, wiped his mouth and went back to the house to take a nap, and continued to work in the afternoon.

In this way, at the end of March, every family on Qiyun Mountain began to raise seedlings to prepare for spring plowing in April, and Liu Zhan's wild boar bacon was all smoked.

As soon as the mountain road passed, Liu Zhan borrowed an ox cart from Cao Zhuang to drive it down the mountain to sell to merchants. Because wild boar cured meat was light in weight and more expensive than fresh meat, it could be sold for 35 yuan a catty.

After working for more than two full months, a cart of bacon was sold for a total of 35 taels, and fox fur, mink fur and rabbit skins were sold for another 45 taels, for a total of [-] taels of silver.

I was a little discouraged, he was so busy that he still didn't have a hundred taels, but Liu Zhan was an adult soul after all, although he didn't like it, he didn't give up on himself.

Liu Zhan took the money and asked Cao Zhuang to park the car outside the study. "I'm going to go shopping, you go to Lin Ji to order something to eat, and I'll meet you later."

Liu Zhan wanted to understand the world, so he bought two books in his study, "Regional Chronicles of the World" and "General History of Zhou and Chu".

Because new books were too expensive, he bought old books. Before leaving, Liu Zhan thought about it, went back and picked out a Langhao pen, which cost more than one or two taels of silver.

The shopkeeper of the study knew Liu Zhan and knew that he was Liu Xueyuan's son, so he sent another roll of rice paper, which Liu Zhan wrapped carefully before going to Linji to meet everyone.

Wuyuan County is not big, and there are only a few people in the stone-slab long street. Liu Zhan is dressed in short commoner clothes, which is no different from the clothes of ordinary peasants.

But he has a very good face, with a full nose and a high bridge of nose, and his eyes are clear and full of heroism, and his gestures and gestures are full of the willful and unrestrained youthfulness of a young man, already faintly showing two points of momentum.

The shopkeeper of the study looked at Liu Zhan's leaving back, stroked his goatee, and said in his heart, indeed, dragons give birth to dragons and phoenixes, how could such a son, a barefoot farmer, be born?

The roll of rice paper he sent was worth the value of Langhao's pen, but he wanted to form a good relationship with Yunzhong Academy.

Walking on the street, Liu Zhan attracted frequent glances from young women, but he never paid attention to these.

Quickly stepped into Linji to meet everyone. The boss of Linji saw Liu Zhan coming and sent a pot of rice wine. He cooked it slowly on a warm fire. It was fine after that.

The teenagers could see that Liu Zhan was in a bad mood and stopped being noisy as usual. In the quiet hall, there were only a few traveling businessmen at the other table talking about major events in the world.

"I just came back from the capital, and rumors have spread that the emperor is going to send troops to help Chen Liu seize the ancient land of Bashu. The [-] troops are expected to leave in May."

The other three were very surprised. "Last year, when the Yan people invaded the border and invaded the border, Yan's army retreated steadily. Baoping County was devastated for hundreds of miles, and northern Xinjiang was still too busy to take care of itself. Why did they send troops to Bashu?"

"Brother Chen, tell me quickly."

The businessman surnamed Chen sighed. "Ham, don't say that you don't understand, who among the aristocrats in the capital understands that one?"

The merchant surnamed Chen lowered his voice and said, "It's nothing serious, you guys don't know, something big happened in the capital this winter!"

Everyone listened attentively.

"Guess what, it's spread all over the market that the eldest prince's mother clan, the Zhou family, killed the third prince with medicine!"

Not just the merchants, but the other diners in Lin Ji all gasped.

"The Zhou family overthrew the Song family, the former Prime Minister, and now the Zhou family has power in the court. No one has thoroughly investigated such a shocking case. Even the emperor kept silent. He only said that he had a sudden illness, but who would believe it? ? Well, the big living will be gone if they say no? The third prince’s mother clan, the Chen clan, knelt outside the palace to beg for orders, and there was an uproar.”

"I heard with my own ears the Patriarch of the Chen Clan scolding outside the palace gate that the emperor Jinkou Yuyu said that he wanted to make the third prince the crown prince, and the third prince who was healthy for only three days died suddenly in the palace. "

Everyone in the room looked sad and felt sorry for the third prince.

After finishing speaking, the merchant surnamed Chen sighed. "Don't talk about things in the capital, just look at our northern border. Yan's army was chased and beaten by the Yan people. I don't know how difficult this year's situation is."

Everyone shook their heads and sighed.

After finishing the wine in the glass, Liu Zhan's eyes sparkled. "Boss, check out."

After returning home, Liu Zhan entered the house, and Liu Xueli greeted him immediately when he heard the movement. "Zhan'er, how much money did you sell in total?"

Liu Zhan went around, but Liu Xueli held him back. "You child, third uncle is talking to you!"

Liu Zhan had no choice but to look at him. "Third Uncle, I told you that I would use the money."

Liu Xueli said: "Why do you need so much money for a child? You see, our family lacks everything. Your mother, your aunt, and your grandma don't even have a set of makeup. That's fine. The Cao family and the Zhang family have all bought cattle. We have to buy one too."

Liu Zhan said patiently, "Didn't the Cao family and the Zhang family already help us plow all the land? After spring plowing in April, the students will go to school, and this year's Shuxiu will be collected, and the family will not be short of expenses."

Liu Xueli said, "Shuxiu is one thing. You are young and don't understand. Our family is not divided. The money should be handed over to the public for unified use. Third uncle is also afraid that you will spend it indiscriminately."

Liu Zhan didn't want to talk anymore. "Since I have the ability to earn money, I have my own ideas on how to use it. Third Uncle, if you want money, you can earn it yourself."

After saying that, Liu Zhan left without looking back, making Liu Xueli fall backwards in anger.

"What? There is such a thing!" Liu Xueyuan and Song Yijun were very surprised to hear the rumors repeated by Liu Zhan.

Song Fenglin also stopped helping to clean up the textbooks.

Song Yijun said excitedly: "The Son of Heaven is really confused!! The Zhou family is a wolf with ambition, killing me and the Song family to exclude dissidents. Everyone in the world can see it. Only the emperor still favors and trusts the Zhou family. Now the power of the Zhou family is so powerful that even the prince dares to poison him , such a minister of power and sycophant, I am wronged by the Song family!" At the end, they were all incoherent.

The Zhou family was the knife used by Emperor Xuan to kill people. He successively eliminated the Liu family and the Song family and approached the center of power step by step. He used the pretext of Emperor Xuan to suppress the former emperor's old ministers every time to eliminate dissidents, until he completely controlled the court and made the officials dare not oppose him.

Emperor Xuan thought that he was decisive in killing and punishing him, but he didn't know that he was just the knife in Zhou's hand, and he cut a road to heaven for Zhou with one knife at a time.

Only one year after the Song family was destroyed, the Zhou family's power was thrown into the court and the public, and the three princes were poisoned.