Bianshanhan [farming]

Since the fire started burning, no one likes to go out, except for Jiang Cong.

He goes out every day, fishing, fetching water and looking for firewood. He often goes out before dawn and returns after dark, bringing with him snowstorms and prey of all sizes.

Li Qingwen baked Jiang Cong's wet shoes every night, and soon became proficient.

Jiang Cong and the others caught hundreds of catties of fish, which alarmed the other soldiers. As soon as the fish came back, they were dragged away by a group of soldiers.

Exiles cannot have their own private property, even a few baskets of fish.

These soldiers suddenly appeared, not only took the fish away, but also dragged Jiang Cong, Jiang Liping and others to give lectures, to make them understand the rules here.

The imperial court imposed strict punishments on exiles.

But now they just caught a little more fish, and they couldn't say they made any mistakes, but they were still locked up by the soldiers without water or food.

Li Qingwen and the others hurried around, wanting to find someone to reason with, but Old Xingtou shook his head, "They are trying to build up their prestige and profiteering, and they won't be locked up for too long. If you go there, you may cause trouble."

Jiang Liping, Jiang Cong and the others were tied hands. Next to them stood a circle of border town soldiers in soap coats and fur hats. On top sat a red-faced middle-aged man who was in charge of Lu Gang, who was in charge of exiles.

Lu Gang raised his eyelids and looked at the group of exiles, "You have also been in the camp before, so you should be more aware that there are no rules, and you broke the rules when you first arrived. It is my town's management that is not good."

Jiang Liping and the others had served in the army and knew many bad ways and methods. They also understood that the people in front of them deliberately wanted to discourage them, so they laughed and said, "My lord, we know we made a mistake, and we will never do it again next time."

Lu Gang didn't even look at him, and just leaned lazily on the thick fur behind him. Seeing this, the soldier next to him shouted: "Shut up, have you been told to talk? You have no rules and no memory!"

"Our old rule here is that if you make a mistake, you will be punished. If you commit a crime for the first time, you will get [-] lashes per person. If you commit another crime, you will be doubled." Lu Gang said.

Hearing this, the soldiers next to him jumped up like wolves, stripped off the clothes of Jiang Liping and others, and went to the next room to receive their whips one by one.

Jiang Liping was the first to push over. He was pressed on the stool, and he quickly withdrew a piece of silver from his sleeve to beg for mercy.

The silver was snatched away, and the soldier snorted coldly, "You are wise, but it's too late, and a whip is indispensable."

The whip fell, not very heavy, but not light either, Jiang Liping grinned in pain.

When Jiang Liping came out, Jiang Cong was about to go in when the door was suddenly pushed open from the outside and five or six people walked in.

The leader is a young man, dressed in snow-white fox fur, with handsome eyebrows and a touch of sandalwood on his body. He looks like a son of a wealthy family, and he is out of place in this wilderness.

Seeing the person coming, Lu Gang stood up and saluted, "I've seen Mr. Zhou!"

The visitor glanced at the room and said, "This is it?"

Lu Gang lowered his eyes and said, "The lower officials are teaching the new prisoners to obey the rules."

The visitor didn't care about these things, and said, "Thank you, Mr. Lu. I heard that you are going to hunt, and I want to join in the fun."

Lu Gang looked at the stove in the hands of the person in front of him, feeling extremely disdainful in his heart, and replied respectfully, "Leave the day after tomorrow."

The visitor seemed to be afraid of getting his clothes dirty, so he was about to leave without taking a seat. When he reached the door, he suddenly turned around and said, "These exiles seem to be in good health. Take them with you when hunting."

Needless to say, Lu Gang also had this plan, and he repeatedly agreed.

After Master Zhou left, the punishment continued, everyone was beaten up, and it was dark. The soldiers sent Jiang Cong and the others to clean up all the fish, and ordered them to hunt together two days later before letting them go back.

Jiang Cong and the others returned to the stable hut with a smell of fish all over their bodies. Li Qingwen jumped up to meet them.

Everyone took off their coats, revealing the criss-cross whip marks on their backs, and gritted their teeth to scold the soldiers.

When they were warmed up, Li Qingzhuo began to give them medicine, and Lao Xingtou said: "Save the medicine, you will be bumped and beaten in the future, save it for life-saving."

Hearing this, Li Qingwen seemed to have something stuck in his throat, gasping for breath, silently put ginger slices into the boiling pot.

Brother Jiang and the others wouldn't have suffered if he hadn't said he wanted to catch fish.

Looking at his wrinkled face, Jiang Cong said: "Even if there is no such thing, they will find other troubles, and they can't hide from the left and right."

Others also said: "This can't be helped, we are prisoners now, the meat on the chopping board, we can't resist, let's be human with our tails between our legs."

Thinking of the day when they will be bullied in the future, someone said harshly: "If they don't give them a way out, I will bring a few with me when I die. I am not afraid of death, it depends on whether those turtle grandchildren are afraid!"

Jiang Liping frowned, but did not stop them from venting.

Old Xingtou said repeatedly: "There is no need to fight to the death. They have searched clean this time, and they will not find excuses to punish you in the future. Just avoid provoking those people. The most important thing is, don't offend Lu Zhen Tube."

"What kind of person is Nalu Zhenguan?" Jiang Liping stood up straight, grinning involuntarily when his back hurt.

Old Xingtou hesitated for a moment, and said in a low voice: "You are flattering to your superiors, and cruel to your inferiors. Remember, if you want to live well here, you must not offend him."

Hearing this, everyone's face became a little more hopeless. With such a villain in charge of exiles, I'm afraid life will be difficult in the future.

Jiang Cong raised his head and asked, "What does Master Zhou do?"

"General Zhou?" Old Xing took a sip of the hot ginger soup and said, "He is from the capital. I heard that he is a young master of a family. He can't even lift a knife. I don't know which tendon is wrong. This savage land suffers!"

Some people said: "Lu Gang used lynching on exiles, and the surname Zhou didn't care about it, he looked like a drunkard, bah!"

They suffered a lot and got angry. After finishing speaking, Jiang Liping said: "The situation we are in now is not the same as before. In the future, we must learn to bow our heads and learn to swallow our anger. I really can't bear it. Think about my old lady and child."

As soon as these words came out, the cabin fell into a deathly silence.

Li Qingrui looked around, Daju's face was gloomy, and he said, "It's not that there is no hope. When the imperial court amnesties the world, there is still a chance to get rid of the crime."

It is the only hope, the only hope of all exiles.

Li Qingwen was holding Jiang Cong's trousers to roast. Hearing what his elder brother said, he was a little dazed, and asked, "Can't you use money to redeem yourself? Burning the tribute is not a small loss, can you get rid of the crime by paying the money?"

Everyone had a mournful face at first, but when they heard this, they couldn't help laughing bitterly, "Do you know how much the tribute is worth?"

"How much?" Li Qingwen said: "Silk and paper are both man-made. They are not rare treasures."

Mentioning the burnt tribute, the others began to sigh. Jiang Cong pulled out Li Qingwen's hand that was about to reach into the charcoal basin, and explained: "The tribute silk is different from ordinary silk. It is woven from the unique fire silk of our Hongzhou. The satin is shiny. It is magnificent and special, so it is regarded as a tribute. Fire silkworms only eat mulberry leaves from a mulberry tree planted by a mine river, which are relatively rare and are only for the royal family, and the folks are not allowed to wear them privately."

Li Qingwen: "..." It's his lack of imagination for the arrogance of the superior.

Jiang Liping said: "Huzhou's paper is extremely thin, extremely white, extremely delicate, and as smooth as porcelain. The common people can buy it and use it, but it is expensive."

"Then how much are these two things worth?" Li Qingwen asked persistently, "Is there not even a sum?"

"28 taels of silver." Jiang Cong said: "The total loss in the conviction book is nearly double the actual value, which is the price estimated by the superior."

Hearing this amount, Li Maoqun gasped. He feared that he would never earn 28 taels in his life, and 28 taels was even more unthinkable.

"In fact, those things are worth tens of thousands of taels. They are just clothes and writing, so they are not worth so much! But silk is a royal tribute, and there is no sale among the people. Naturally, they decide as much as they want, and we can't pay for it. I'm sorry, why don't you write with them!" Someone said angrily.

Li Qingwen didn't have any idea about so much money, he just asked: "If you pay this money, will you be innocent?"

One of the exiles named Qi Min laughed out loud, "I dream every day that the imperial court will amnesty the world and go home by myself, but I never dreamed that I could have so much money!!"

Jiang Liping was also amused, "The annual salary of the government soldiers is only a few taels of silver. I pay more, 12 taels. I don't eat or drink all year round. Everyone here adds it up, but it is only 300 taels. We save 100 taels for 2 years. Too much silver, even a fraction is not enough, and it will last for several lifetimes, not to mention that we are not even allowed to have a penny of private property now, that more than 20 taels of silver is farther than the moon in the sky."

Li Qingwen wanted to say that it depends on human effort, but he doesn't even have a tael of silver on hand, his words are too pale, he pursed his lips, but couldn't help but said: "If you can really use silver to pay off, it's a way, you can't give up .”

After speaking, the next words will be smoother, "It would be great if we can wait for the court to amnesty, but no one can tell when we will have a chance, we can only resign ourselves to fate, we can make money, this should be let go in the first place."

Everyone fell into silence again. If this was said by someone other than the Li family, they must think that this person is not afraid of breaking his waist when he speaks big words, but a 13-year-old boy braved the wind and snow without fear of life and death. place, they respect it from the bottom of their hearts.

"Okay!" Jiang Cong said suddenly, his black eyes sparkling, "From now on, I will go hunting every day, and I will keep all the furs I get for sale."

After getting a response, Li Qingwen rolled his eyes, "Aren't you guys not allowed to have private property? Give me everything, and I'll sell it! I don't know where else, our leather is so valuable, we can also grow something besides hunting, anyway, here There is so much land, it’s useless to leave it alone! By the way, this land is fatter than our village, I won’t go back, it’s just this kind of land!”