Bianshanhan [farming]

After hearing the imperial decree from the capital, Lin Tan's face turned pale, and he knelt on the ground without moving for a long time.

Lin Jian looked at him with no expression on his face, and reminded: "General Lin, it's time to receive the order."

Lin Tan bowed his head on the ground with sweat dripping from his forehead, claiming to be guilty. Zhou Fengnian also hung his head, speechless for a long time.

This year, not only the border towns suffered from cold disasters, but the area from north to south was not spared either. The states with the most grain production have more or less reduced their production. The people affected by the disaster have not yet been rescued. With the increase of troops, the food and grass that should have been transferred to the northwest military camp has changed.

The tens of thousands of people in the frontier will have to stop cooking in a few months. The imperial court sent people to several places to dispatch food and grass to the Northwest Camp, and the border town is one of them.

There is a reason for the imperial court to issue this order.

First of all, the thousands of soldiers led by Lin Tan, in addition to defending against the enemy, had the duties of farming and horse herding. They had to plant a certain number of fields and provide a certain number of war horses every year. They had to write detailed memorials to the court every year.

Secondly, there are records of the exiles sent to the border towns, and the amount of food that should be handed over to the exiles is also counted.

The officers, soldiers and exiles have been in the border town for five years. According to the papers reported to the court every year, it is calculated that there is ample grain here, and the surplus grain and grass can be sent to the northwest.

Of course, that's just the calculation on the booklet.

In fact, the food and grass in the city is not enough for the border town to use itself, and there is no surplus at all.

Seeing the appearance of Lin Tan and Zhou Fengnian, Lin Jian knew that something had changed, and said in a deep voice, "You two adults want to resist the order?"

The two said "Don't dare" in unison, Zhou Fengnian raised his head, accepted the imperial edict in silence and thanked him.

Seeing that Lin Tan didn't speak for a long time, Zhou Fengnian didn't get up, but said, "I'm not going to lie to Mr. Lin, the frontier city can't produce food and grass to transport to the Northwest camp, which has delayed the important affairs of the court. I will accept the crime willingly."

Zhou Fengnian said the sincerity, but actually he was about to vomit blood. He had never heard of the transfer of grain and grass from the exile. Besides, how far is it from the border town to the northwest, I really don't know who came up with the idea of ​​borrowing grain.

He was just here to hide, who would have thought that he could be pulled over by the capital in such a corner.

Lin Jian was not angry, he threw the book in his hand on the table, and said calmly: "It is clearly recorded in the account, since there is no one, then find out where it went! If there is no food, there should be an account Come on, General Lin!"

Lin Tan got up slowly, Lin Jian ordered him to fetch the account book, Zhou Fengnian poured tea for Lin Jian, and by the way, gave Zhou Cong the courier a wink, asking him to talk to those who came with him from the capital.

There is no need to reconcile the account, Lin Tan also knows where the food shortage is. This year's disaster will not only help him, but also harm him. It depends on how Lin Jian goes back to report.

It's just that Lin Jian hated him the most since he was a child, and he did something that insulted the Lin family. This time, he might take the opportunity to retaliate fiercely.

He still wanted to restore the decline, Lin Tan clenched his fists tightly, and said with difficulty: "Although there is no food in the camp, but give the general some more time, and we will be able to gather the food and grass needed by the court."

This year, the fields planted in the camp have failed to harvest. How can so much food be produced at once?

Zhou Fengnian was taken aback for a moment, and then his face sank. He knew what Lin Tan was up to.

In the camp, Lin Jian and others were nervous because they came suddenly with the imperial decree. The people outside the camp didn't know this, and they took out their wooden squeeze sticks one after another.

The adults push the long wooden poles in circles, and the women swiftly place the sorghum stalks between the two logs. With the rotation of the gears, the stalks are rolled into the middle of the logs, and the pressed juice drips down. drip.

Extracting sugar from early-maturing sorghum stalks is several tenths less than normal, but now each family has a large number of acres, and the squeezed sugar can't be eaten by the whole family for several years.

Li Qingyong was not idle early in the morning. He carried bundles of sorghum stalks from his family to the yard, and carried the squeezed stalks to the open space to dry. His whole body was dirty.

Although my mother was talking to the aunt next to her, she kept her eyes on him, and he didn't dare to sneak around, so he could only work honestly.

"I heard that someone from Hongzhou is coming again, this time it's Jiang Cong's father."

"That's right, my little girl's grandfather had a drink with them last night, and Ma Yongjiang's brother, many men and women came."

"Our place is getting more and more lively!"

"When I went to deliver the sauce, I saw a lot of young girls. I asked Mrs. Jiang's family specifically. It seems that the girls they met in their hometown sent them here to marry..."

"Hey, as parents, no matter how far away they are, they are always thinking about them... They are now under the control of the court, and they are usually fine. If you marry a wife and have children here, most of the worries of the elders in your hometown can go away. "

As soon as he heard about the marriage, Li Qingyong wanted to stay away, but he was slow, his mother gave him a sideways look, and said: "The girl I told you about the other day, I think it's pretty good."

Li Qingyong rolled his eyes several times, "She played with us when she was a child, and when she was ten years old, she thought she was a kid. I don't want to marry my brother."

"This one won't work, that one won't work, you want to be a bachelor?"

"Qingfeng and I have discussed that neither of us will get married, and we will live together in the future." Li Qingyong said firmly: "There is also Xiaozier, the three of us together, he cooks for us, and we will help him fight."

In fact, Li Qingfeng only said that he didn't want to marry a wife, it's troublesome, and they will live together in the future, it was Li Qingyong's own thinking.

As soon as Li Qingfeng was mentioned, Li Qingyong's mother's head hurt even more. She stared and said: "Whatever you like, don't spoil the little boy, or I will twist your ears off."

When Li Qingwen got up, the back stove was steaming hot. He heard his mother and aunt talking, and seeing his eyes were red, Chen asked, "What's wrong?"

"I had a nightmare yesterday, and I forgot it after waking up." After washing his face, Li Qingwen didn't want to say anything, and asked, "Mom, what do you want to eat?"

Today, the Jiang family and them were invited to have dinner at home. Mrs. Chen got busy early in the morning, pulling out a piece of stewed meat from the pot and putting it in a big bowl.

Li Qingwen was eating meat with a big bowl, Chen said: "Your Uncle Jiang kept talking about you yesterday, and he also said, if we want, we will accept Jiang Cong as a godson, hahaha, what a refreshing person."

While chopping vegetables, Li Maoyu said: "As far as the relationship between Jiang Cong and our family is concerned, dry relatives are considered births. When Zai'er and Jiang Cong have children and marry in-laws, they are such good brothers, and the children must have the same feelings. deep."

"Hey, this is good!" Chen said pleasantly, "Kiss is more intimate."

Li Qingwen put down the stewed meat and said, "Mom, I'm full."

Chen took a look, "Why did you only take a few bites?"

"It's a bit boring, I'm going to eat some oranges." Li Qingwen said as he entered the room.

He took the fist-sized orange out of the bag, and he could smell the fragrance before peeling it open. This orange followed them thousands of miles to the border town, just because he liked to eat it.

Although we only met for a short time yesterday, Li Qingwen already felt that the Jiang family treated him just like his family treated Jiang Cong.

Gently peeling off the outer skin, Li Qingwen broke off a piece and put it in his mouth. The juice was sour and sweet, and he chewed slowly, but it still couldn't taste the sweetness in his heart.

After eating the whole thing, Li Qingwen took out the oranges from his pocket and placed them on the table one by one. The rows of bright yellow oranges looked very pretty.

After watching for a while, Li Qingwen ran to the camp to practice arrows. After practicing arrows, when he was walking out, he saw Fang taking a group of girls to fetch water from the river.

Li Qingwen avoided them, did not say hello, returned home and began to read and practice calligraphy.

Li Maoxian and Li Qingrui slept in the camp yesterday. After waking up, they walked around the camp and the fields with the Jiang family and the others.

Just now when Li Qingwen practiced arrows, a group of them saw him from behind, but no one disturbed him. After walking far, some people said that Jiang Cong taught Li Qingwen how to practice arrows, and he would definitely be right in the future.

These men were quick on their feet. They visited the brick-burning place, went to the new city, and walked on the city wall. It was not noon when they came back.

Li Maoxian naturally refused to let them go back to the camp and took them directly to his home.

Li Qingfeng was making sugar juice with his two nephews, and the Jiang family and they stopped entering the house and rolled up their sleeves to work.

I have heard about this sorghum syrup for a long time, and I happened to come across it, so I can see it.

Li Qingwen's family has a lot of land and several wooden press sticks. These people are all accustomed to the work, and they know what to do at a glance.

Biancheng and Hongzhou are thousands of miles away, and everything here is both unfamiliar and familiar to them. After receiving the letter from Biancheng, they have turned it over in their heads thousands of times. no.

When they were working, Zhou Yao came, and the guests from Hongzhou knew her, and when they spoke, they were both polite and friendly.

A group of people were talking and working in the yard. At this moment, more than a dozen horses came from the north towards the camp.

The squeezed sugar juice was boiled in a large pottery pot in the shed next to it. This process was a bit slow. After the lunch meal was ready, everyone washed their hands and entered the house. Li Maoqun then arrived with a wine jar.

After drinking together last night, everyone said that they would not drink during the day and had to work in the afternoon.

There was a table on the Kang of the Li family, and two on the ground. When the food was about to be served, two more people came to the house. They were Qi Min and Ma Yongjiang who had been away for several months.

The two parked the horse outside and tied it to a wooden stake. They smelled the fragrance before they entered the house. When they saw the old grandson standing at the door, they smiled and said, "Are there more wrinkles on the face? Are they tired from the autumn harvest?" broken?"

Qi Min was dragged into the east room by Lao Sun and the others.

Ma Yongjiang went directly to the back, he never saw outside, he grabbed the door frame and asked loudly: "Auntie, what delicious food are you cooking today, is it for us?"

The two of them went to Beigang for so long, but they didn't expect to come back suddenly today. Mrs. Chen was very happy, "There are chicken, duck and fish. Whatever you want to eat, my aunt will make it for you now."

"I want to eat fried bean sprouts, put more vinegar." Ma Yongjiang stretched his neck and looked at the dishes that were about to come out of the pot, and nodded in satisfaction.

"It's soaking in the water, here's a big plate for you!" Chen smiled and pushed him to the front room. This silly boy probably didn't know that Hongzhou was coming, and wanted to take the plate and serve it to the front.

Ma Yongjiang, who was pushed away, went to the west room again, poked the face of the youngest girl in the Li family, and then wandered to the east room.

As soon as he came in, he saw that there were people on the kang and on the ground, Ma Yongjiang was stunned for a moment, he only knew that the old grandson was here to eat, why there were other people.

Everyone in the room looked at him, Ma Yongjiang stretched out his hand and pulled Li Qingwen, "Zaier, do you have guests at home?"

Qi Min couldn't hold back the "poof" and laughed out loud.

Ma Yongchen's face kept changing colors. He had heard his brother's voice a long time ago, but this fool hasn't seen him until now. If he had known that he was still as heartless as before, he shouldn't have gone all the way. make this trip.

Li Qingwen turned his face away with his hands, "There is a guest, and you know him."

With his head broken halfway, Ma Yongjiang's eyes widened, "Isn't this Old Zhong? Why did you come to the border town? Could it be that you received a letter to find your wife and children, hahahaha... hey, hey, This looks like the son of Joe, Joe, and Old Joe, Qi Min, take a look, is he the third son of their family?"

To be honest, Li Qingwen felt a little worried for Ma Yongjiang's brother now.

When he saw Jiang Jiahe, Ma Yongjiang finally realized that something was wrong, "Oh, Uncle Jiang, Uncle, you are here too, you are all here, why is there no one in our family? Said that everyone in the family misses me..."

Ma Yongchen didn't want to make a sound at first, he wanted to see when his younger brother could see him, but he was really afraid that he would lose face again, so he coughed heavily.

Ma Yongjiang finally looked over and saw his brother standing there with a sullen face, and rushed over happily, "Brother, it's just you, didn't father and mother come?"

After all, it was his own younger brother. Seeing that he was tall and strong, Ma Yongchen forgot what happened just now, looked up and down his younger brother, and couldn't help the smile on his face.

Qi Min explained to everyone next to him: "We didn't know who was coming from our hometown. We came back with the officers and soldiers this time to report the Beigang incident to the camp. We knew that Jiang Cong would come back."

Li Qingwen bowed his head.

As soon as Qi Min spoke, Ma Yongjiang suddenly remembered something, and he quickly extended his hand to Zhou Yao, "My little finger was broken before, and Jiang Cong picked it up for me. See if it's healed now?"

Ma Yongchen was startled, and quickly brought his head closer.

Zhou Yao patted him, nodded and said: "The connection is very straight, it's okay, it looks good."

Everyone asked them if they had met the enemy at Beigang, Qi Min nodded, not only did they meet, they had already fought many times.

"Those savages are as tall and strong as savages, and their strength is amazing. Except for Jiang Cong, most of us can't match them. They also wanted to sneak attack on our wooden house, but they all went to meet the king of Hades..." Ma Yongjiang said Feeling so relaxed, thinking about it, the little finger that has healed seems to still have that pain.

Those people are like bears, confronting each other out of the blue, it really won't do any good.

Li Qingwen looked up at Qi Min, and Qi Min said: "Jiang Cong is not injured, don't worry. Those in Luoche Kingdom don't know if there are few people, or they don't gather together. We rarely meet more than 200 people. You are in the capital." The heavy bow I bought is easy to use, and there are no six hundred or five hundred people who died under your brother Jiang's arrow, and some officers and soldiers will remember each one clearly, and they will receive credit after they come back."

Unexpectedly, he had a life-and-death struggle with so many people. Li Qingwen was shocked. He looked at Jiang Jiahe, but the expression on Uncle Jiang's face did not change much.

"We brought a lot of things back this time." Ma Yongjiang blinked at Li Qingwen, "Jiang Cong brought it back for you."

While talking, the food was served one after another, and everyone sat down one after another. Everyone talked while eating. Qi Min and Ma Yongjiang talked about what happened to them in the past few months in the north. .

After listening, I found that each had its own difficulty, and they all sighed.

After dinner, Qi Min and Ma Yongjiang gave Li Qingwen the two big bags they brought back, and smiled at Jiang's house. Jiang Cong only said to give the things to Zai'er, even if his father came.

The dishes and chopsticks were all cleared away, and the table was moved away. Everyone sat on the edge of the kang, leaving an open space in the middle.

Qi Min helped Li Qingwen open it. Inside the bag were piles of furs, including brown bear skins, patterned tiger skins, snow-white fox skins, and twenty or so smaller gray-white furs, all of which were densely packed. Soft fluff, this Li Qingwen didn't know what it was.

There are almost no flaws in these furs, and all of them are worth a lot.

The second bag was very heavy, Qi Min opened several small pockets one by one, and poured them out. Inside were things of different shapes, warm and moist like stones.

Li Qingwen picked up one, it was very light, with a faint luster, some were transparent, some were opaque, these were all amber.

Under Ma Yongjiang's movements, the thing wrapped in cloth on the side also showed its true colors, the long section turned out to be two ivory tied together!

At this moment, everyone was still staring at those furs, not even knowing what was in the second bag.

"You, aren't you busy dealing with the enemy all day long, when did you kill so many prey?" Someone asked in confusion.

Ma Yongjiang chuckled, but didn't say anything.

Li Qingwen looked over one by one again, and asked, "Where did you get this from?"

"Zai'er guessed it right away!" Qi Min said with a smile.

The faces of the big guys in the room were even more surprised, and they asked in unison: "Did you really snatch it?"

Qi Min nodded, "Those Luoche people have been attacking us all the time, we tracked them back to their lair, brought two of them, and packed back all the good things inside."

They got more furs, they just picked the good ones and brought them back, the others were still at the sentry post.

"Don't look at those people who smell worse than bears, there are a lot of valuable things." Ma Yongjiang muttered.

"You guys are really amazing!" Everyone in the room was really convinced.

Ma Yongjiang was still thinking about other things, and after muttering to Li Qingfeng, he went to talk to his brother, asking him what he brought from home, and then ran into the camp.

After wrapping up his things again, Qi Min said to Li Qingwen, "Jiang Cong won't let you miss the north, and said that he will go back to the camp in winter and send you to Linsu to take a boat to the capital."

He didn't want others to miss him, but he cared about others on his own, Li Qingwen thought to himself, so Jiang Cong is such a domineering and unreasonable person.

The whole room was talking, when Zhou Congxin came over, Li Qingrui asked him familiarly if he had eaten, and there was still hot food in the pot.

Zhou Congxin said that he had eaten, and he was greeted by the big guys to sit down. Li Maoxian introduced him and the people from Hongzhou, and everyone was polite, but Zhou Congxin didn't beat around the bush, and said, "I have something to do, the young master asked me to come here first." The Prophet will tell you..."

On the other side, the officers and soldiers who came back with Qi Min reported all kinds of Beigang to Lin Tan.

In the past six months, whether it was saving people or killing enemies, Jiang Cong was indispensable, so naturally he was mentioned many times.

Lin Jian raised his eyebrows. Whether in the capital or the border towns, he had heard this name many times. If he had the chance, he would like to meet this young man.

Zhou Fengnian had been keeping an eye on Lin Jian, and took the opportunity to praise Jiang Cong. He didn't know what Master Lin was thinking about. After hearing what Lin Tan said, he seemed indifferent.

Clearly allocating food and grass is a matter of utmost urgency, but knowing the predicament of the border town, he can still sit still, which is really a bit unpredictable.

He was still thinking about it, but Lin Jian got up suddenly, "Master Zhou, I was entrusted to find Li Qingwen, please show me the way."

Not knowing what he was going to do, but he couldn't escape, so Zhou Fengnian got up.

Without guards and officers and soldiers, the two walked out of the camp. Lin Jian looked at the vast land around him with a sneer on his lips.

Stationed in this kind of place, even struggling to supply food and grass for his own troops, just like this, he sharpened his head and wanted to climb up, even at the expense of humiliating the reputation of the Lin family and joining his family. Until now, Lin Jian didn't understand, Lin Tan There is something in the head.

In that room, Zhou Congxin had just finished talking about the court's secondment of grain and grass. The faces of the people in the room were all different, and before they said anything, Zhou Fengnian and Lin Tan suddenly came to visit.

Everyone in the room hurriedly got up, Zhou Fengnian was familiar with them, and the other one was working for the emperor in the border town, regardless of his official position, that was unusual.

Lin Jian saw Zhou Congxin among the people saluting, and said calmly: "It seems that Mr. Zhou has explained the matter of borrowing food to the big guys. His Excellency is dedicated to solving the court's worries and problems. This loyal Lin returned to Beijing. It must be played to the Ming emperor."

It was clearly not the case, and Zhou Fengnian couldn't deny it, so he could only laugh along and ask Lin Jian to sit down.

Lin Jian also did as the Romans did, taking off his shoes and sitting cross-legged on the kang, he even told other people not to hold back.

After hearing Zhou Congxin's words, everyone in the room knew that Lin Jian was here to collect grain, with a respectful mouth and face, but wary eyes.

To everyone's surprise, Lin Jian did not mention food and grass, but took out Su Shuqing's letter to Li Qingwen, and then chatted with Li Maoxian and others, asking them how they came to the border town, how they stayed here, and how they lived in the border town over the years. The harvest, also said a few words to Jiang Jiahe and others.

The Jiang family and a group of people came here by boat from the capital with Lin Jian, but they didn't discuss it in advance, but met by chance.

Originally, the Jiang family and they planned to take a boat to Linsu first, and then find someone to lead the way to the border town. If they couldn't find it, they would wait in Linsu, knowing that Jiang Cong and Li Qingwen would definitely go to Linsu again.

But Ding Jie went to the pier to see them off, saw Lin Jian, and even though they only killed the traitors together for a short time, for the safety of his old friend, he still had the cheek to ask him to take care of him.

Along the way, Lin Jian took good care of the Jiang family and them.