Human dimension reduction

Xie Yinyu was exiled to Mobei for falsely accusing the Ministry of War of secretly making military money.

This matter had already spread throughout the aristocratic families in the capital before the end of the court meeting.

The young ladies in their youth are full of sorrow and weep to the flowers, the lords sit silently behind the piano platform, and Qingxi, where the rich and powerful live together, falls into a deadly and restless atmosphere. This atmosphere is also passed through the servants, The mouth of the foot merchants has spread outwards to the residential areas of the common people.

The Six-Year War is a very sensitive topic. Almost every household has a white flag hanging under the eaves. Since Mr. Xie Sanlang said that he would compile the history of the Six-Year War, the people are looking forward to it with great anticipation. Waiting, just waiting for such a result.

He was exiled in Mobei, and he was not pardoned.

Over the years, great disasters have been recorded by special personnel, detailing what kind of battle happened at a certain time and place because of something, how the generals acted in the battle, and how the soldiers sacrificed. Generals, death toll, etc. These brief historical accounts are also the last glory that the families of the fallen soldiers can get.

But only for this war that was too tragic and destroyed an unknown number of people, the imperial court did not make official and clear records, and the only records were vague and few words, not to mention full-hearted descriptions, even The basic and emotional ones are indifferent and thin.

There are many folks who wrote what they saw and heard. These bloody and grisly sentences were forbidden to be disseminated by the government, so that now, the six-year war has become a thing that clearly happened but seems to have never happened. Things that never happened.

The common people just want to know how their husbands, sons, and brothers died, whether their death was worthwhile, whether they looked like a hero or not.

Yet their country is reluctant to leave them even a clear comment.

Now the only person who is willing to stand up is exiled for thousands of miles, and the people who died in the pile of old papers still have their eyes open.

There are only two places where prisoners are exiled in Daxia. One is Lingnan, which is densely covered with poisonous insects and miasma. Uncivilized wild people live here, using poisonous arrows and wood grass to attack outsiders. Only rare officials will be sent here to serve. In one year, three county magistrates in Lingnan died in a row. They all died of illness because they could not adapt to the local climate. Years will die here; another place of exile is Mobei.

The climate in Mobei is cold, and the water drips into ice in winter. Not to mention the harsh climate, the most dangerous thing here is its geographical location.

Mobei is adjacent to the grassland, and it is next to the Beiman. As the first line of defense of the Great Xia, this place is subject to the malicious invasion of the Beiman every year. There is no sound of people outside the city, and the bones are exposed in the wilderness. No matter what the capital does Singing and dancing to promote peace, this place has basically been in war for many years.

The prisoners exiled to Mobei will be used as consumables, either as coolies to repair the city walls, dig trenches to defend the northern barbarians, or be directly incorporated into the forward battalion as pawns to test the northern barbarians and throw them in front of the position.

Every year in February and September, the Ministry of Criminal Justice organizes two convoys to transport exiled prisoners. The February convoy transports prisoners to Mobei, and the September convoy to Lingnan.

Because of the long distance, it takes several months to walk. It is not so cold when you arrive in Mobei, and you can avoid the most miasmaous rainy season when you arrive in Lingnan.

It's mid-March now, Xie Zhuo should go to Mobei with the team in February next year, but obviously the Minister of the Ministry of War is afraid of his background, for fear that Xie Shoufu will suddenly feel sorry for this grandson and want to fish him out—this matter It's not impossible for Xie Shoufu to do it, so he moved up and down, forced the Criminal Department to approve a note for Xie Zhuo alone, and sent Xie Zhuo out of the capital overnight, without even giving others a chance to hear the news and come to see him off.

Wang Yuanzhi didn't go out after returning home that day. He sat blankly on the porch in front of the house, with a guqin lying across his knees. on legs and clothes.

On one side of the ink-colored piano body, there are two gold-lacquered seal characters of birds and insects. The name of the piano is "Tingyu", which is one of the famous pianos in Daxia.

Apart from its great fame, the most well-known thing about it is that it was given to Mr. Xie Sanlang as a birthday gift in the year of the weak crown after being searched by Xie Shoufu everywhere.

Xie Yinyu and his Ting Yuqin have been the talk of the capital for a long time.

Wang Yuanzhi put his hands on the strings of Tingyu's qin, remembering his dazed surprise when he came home in a daze and saw Yinyu's dull servant holding the qin and asking him to give it to him by name.

The sun is falling in the sky, the setting sun on the willow branches is like blood, the long pavilion outside the capital is full of green grass, the four prison guards are wearing orange uniforms, Xie Zhuo among them is still dressed as in the morning, his crown uniform has been removed, and the Only the plain toga with long sleeves was left, and the expensive fabric was hanging down. There were wrinkles torn by violence on the plain white undershirt and the light blue gown. He lowered his head and calmly stroked the neckline, trying to put Those wrinkles were smoothed out, and after a few attempts and failed, he just let it go, and there was no aggrieved and depressed look on his face.

The four jailers had a strange sense of respect for him, and their attitude didn't seem like they were escorting prisoners, but seemed overly respectful and thoughtful.

Xie Zhuo originally thought that they had received some money from Wang Yuanzhi or Xie Shoufu, and after traveling for a while, they truthfully said that there were also family members who died in the six-year war in their family. This move was only out of Xie Zhuo's proposal to rebuild the history books thanks.

"Xie Langjun, this place is already some distance away from the capital, do you want to hire a carriage? The road to Mobei is not easy, and there are few inns and shops going further north. It is best to hire a carriage here .”

A jailer reminded.

Ordinary exiled prisoners need to wear shackles and chains, wear linen clothes, walk from the capital to Mobei, not to mention taking a car, and even sleep in a cowshed and stable. It is very common for a group of people to die on the way thing.

Proposing to let Xie Zhuo take the car was already an extremely kind gesture.

Several jailers have been reminded by their superiors that this prisoner is very important, and he cannot be allowed to escape no matter what. Even if he dies on the road, the body must be kept for inspection. This also made them stop lying about his death and let him go Zhuo thought that he could only take care of him as much as he could.

However, Xie Zhuo politely rejected their proposal, raised his finger and pointed not far away: "The road ahead is Danzhou, right?"

The four prison guards are all walking this old road, and they know exactly where they will pass along the way from the capital to Mobei. They nodded immediately: "Exactly, Danzhou is more than a hundred miles away. According to the regulations, we must Tomorrow before sunset, go to the Danzhou government office to sign the security deposit."

Escorting prisoners is hard work. It is not just a matter of wandering around the mountains and rivers. The imperial court regulations clearly calculate the prisoners' footsteps, and there are extremely strict regulations on when and where they should go. Arriving at the government office to sign the custody, the official issued a guide to pass through the customs, and at the same time counted the prisoners to prove that no prisoners had absconded.

Danzhou was their first stop after leaving the capital.

Hearing this, Xie Zhuo responded thoughtfully and nodded: "Then let's go over there."

There was no word on the way, the next evening, they arrived at the Danzhou government office, rested in the government office for one night, and set off early the next morning, for the sake of saving face, they put Xie Zhuo in shackles before entering Danzhou , and Xie Sanlang dragged the heavy chains and shackles without any objection and sat in the government prison for a night.

The four officials brought Xie Zhuo out of the prison early in the morning with official documents, and left the mansion to embark on the road to the north, but as soon as they reached the gate of the mansion, their attention was huddled next to the stone lion beside the mansion. man attracted.

The sound of the chain hitting and dragging was not light. The man curled up on the ground was holding a huge coarse cloth bag in his arms. Hearing this sound, he woke up in a daze. Getting up from the ground, Yu You's sleepy hoarse voice was dull and deep.

"Mr. Saburo, take me to Mobei together."

The man was unkempt, his clothes were messy, his cloth shoes were tightly tied with straw ropes, and his leggings hit his knees. Except for the big bag in his arms, which was a bit eye-catching, he looked like a coolie.

This person is none other than the servant who knelt down and kowtowed to ask Xie Zhuo to revise the history.

Xie Zhuo obviously still had an impression of him, and raised his brow slightly in surprise. Before he could say anything, the servant had already seen the chain on his hand.

"Sirs, I am the servant of Lord Sanlang. According to the rules, if the master commits a crime, the servant can replace him with his own body. It is the court's decision for Lord Sanlang to be exiled. I dare not ask the servant to break the court rules. It’s just that this flail can be worn by the servant on behalf of Lord Saburo?”

The dull-faced domestic servant suddenly became flexible when facing a few servants. His face remained the same, but his tone and voice were full of flattery. Every word and every word carefully held the servants. He spoke so smoothly that he couldn't see how he was stunned when he asked Xie Zhuo to revise the history that day.

Xie Zhuo frowned lightly: "I don't need you here, you should go back to Xie's mansion quickly."

The servants didn't speak, and several messengers looked at each other, but they all felt pity in their hearts, and they hurriedly persuaded: "Mr. Xie Lang, don't do this, how are such loyal servants so rare? The journey to Mobei is difficult. There are many difficulties, just to increase the chance of survival, it is not a bad thing to bring him, few of the prisoners who were exiled in the past could go to Mobei, they really lack someone to take care of them..."

The domestic servant didn't care what others said at all, but just stared straight at Xie Zhuo, with an indomitable look in his eyes.

Xie Zhuo saw something else in his eyes, pondered for a while, and finally did not refuse, as if he agreed to the matter, the servant was about to put his hand on the chain for him, but was stopped by the guard with a smile: " It's just a frivolous foreign object, and Xie Langjun shouldn't have worn it in the first place, it's fine to go out of the city and take it off in a place where no one is around."

So a group of six people continued to go towards Mobei like this.

On the way, Xie Zhuoyang Agou got him some bamboo slices, cut a bamboo tube and embedded it with a broken iron piece to make a knife and pen. He used to use such inferior pen and paper, but he never complained about a single word. He just walked and recorded something while holding the bamboo slip. Start writing.

Ah Gu doesn't know many characters, and Xie Zhuo writes in the elegant script that is used by the aristocratic family. He didn't recognize it after reading it a few times, and he didn't dare to ask too much, so he just helped Xie Zhuo to smooth it out silently when he wanted to polish off the handwriting. Bamboo slips.

Several guards were very willing to pamper Xie Zhuo within the scope of their duties. Seeing him writing all day long, they all turned a blind eye to him. As long as Xie Zhuo could get to the place on time, they didn't want to bother him. Thank you Saburo-jun.

They didn't care about writing, and they didn't care when Xie Zhuo talked to the peasants he met on the road and the poor people who lived here. They just chatted, so what?

The bamboo slices have been worn away layer by layer. When they are too thin to engrave, they will be thrown away and replaced with new ones. Agou’s skills in polishing bamboo slices have become more and more mature. The polished bamboo slices are extremely smooth. There are no thorny bamboo stubbles, but Xie Zhuo still has many wounds on his hands, most of which were cut out by that knife and pen.

However, he didn't have to suffer from this knife and pen anymore. One day on the road, Ah Gou found an old bamboo pen in the grass. It was randomly thrown here by a son of a certain aristocratic family, but Xie Zhuo got this pen like a precious treasure.

"Ah, it turned out to be a Wanbi made by Master Yu's apprentice. It seems that there are treasures everywhere on the road to Mobei." Xie Zhuo wiped off the stains on the bamboo brush lovingly with his sleeve, and sighed with a smile.

Ah Gou at the side was dumbfounded.

Mr. Yu, he knows this name. This is a famous pen maker. Most of the family members are proud of being able to use his pens. The Xie family has an extraordinary status. Mr. Yu will personally come to deliver pens every year. Mr. Xie Sanlang used to When he was in Xie's house, Master Yu would come to order different styles of bamboo pens for him regularly. To him, Master Yu's bamboo pens were nothing more than common things.

Ah Gou looked at Xie Zhuo holding the old pen, laughing, laughing and teasing freely. For some reason, he suddenly felt sore. What? I see there is Artemisia annua on the side, how about making some Artemisia rolls?"

On the way to exile, most of them can only wrap their stomachs with dry food and rough cakes, and drink them with cold water. Not only does it hurt their throat, but it also hurts their spleen and stomach. Naturally, we can make a bowl together, so we are happy to make it convenient.

Xie Zhuo got a new pen, and he was elated. Hearing this, he laughed: "Have you got an Artemisia roll? Today can be called the Ruyi Festival."

Ah Gou laughed, and tenderly echoed his husband: "Yes, it's a good day."