Xiao Mo walked over and said with a smile: "Yingbao, I can see you everywhere. Why don't you stay at home? Why do you come to Jingzhou again?"
"I came here with my second senior brother." Ying Bao said.
Zhang Min echoed: "Junior sister wanted to help us defend Jingzhou, so she came with me."
Xiao Mo glanced at Zhang Min and said nothing more. He turned around and spoke to Zhou Wuchang: "Master Zhou, Jingzhou is out of danger. It's time for us to go to Tokyo to help."
Master Zhou: "Tokyo has become an empty city. His Majesty has left for Shu. It would be a waste of money and manpower for us to go to Tokyo now. It is meaningless."
"Your Majesty did not go to Shu. It was the King of Dai who went to Shu."
Xiao Mo: "That Master Pei has become quite famous in the capital. At this time, he even gave advice to His Majesty, asking the court to send troops to attack King Cheng, saying that King Cheng was planning a rebellion."
Zhou Wuchang sneered: "Pei Shixian didn't just say that, he also said that I, Zhou, am an accomplice of King Cheng."
Xiao Mo touched his nose and said, "Your Majesty is not a foolish person, how can I believe everything?"
Zhou Wuchang smiled and said, "It's hard to say. Xiao Mo, if you want to go back to Beijing, go back by yourself. I have no position or power. I am just a Taoist monk, so I will not get involved in your affairs."
This Xiao Mo is very ambitious and probably wants to take this opportunity to do something big.
He had no interest in court affairs. He didn't care who would be the emperor between the Xiao and Murong families. He was just a free and easy person, and could go wherever he wanted. But if they were to do something bad to him, he also had ways to protect himself.
Xiao Mo thought for a moment, "Master Zhou, can you give me the troops in the surrounding military settlements? The Jurchens have surrounded the city of Dongjing, and the Grand Master sent a letter ordering us to go to the capital to protect the emperor."
"The manpower of the military settlement is not under my control. Commander Xiao should discuss this matter with Governor Zhang."
Before Zhou Wuchang came to Jingzhou, he did not bring any people with him. He only contacted the surrounding military settlements after arriving in Jingzhou.
Many of the generals in these military settlements were his former subordinates, so he was able to recruit one or two thousand people to come to the rescue in a short period of time.
They happened to meet Xiao Mo and Chu Yan's team on the way, so they came together.
Thanks to their help, Jingzhou was saved.
Now Xiao Mo wanted to borrow people to expand his team. Zhou Wuchang was reluctant at first, but when he thought that those military settlements originally belonged to the imperial court, he couldn't stop him.
In fact, Governor Zhang had no control over those military settlements. The imperial court valued civil officials over military officials, and all military settlements were mercenaries directly supervised by the imperial court. The governor or governor had no right to mobilize the forces of the military settlements, which also resulted in a shortage of soldiers to defend the city.
Now if Xiao Mo wants to mobilize these military garrisons, he must either have the imperial tiger-tally order from the court or have a personal relationship with the generals and pay a high price to hire them.
He had nothing and could only rely on Zhou Wuchang's influence.
But at the end of the discussion, Zhou Wuchang still did not give in.
The reason was that these soldiers had to stay in Jingzhou City to guard the city until the Jurchens retreated back to their hometown.
Yingbao didn't know what her master and Xiao Mo wanted to talk about, so she returned to her room and started packing her things, preparing to go home with her master.
After this incident, Zhang Min decided to stay in Jingzhou and be with his parents.
But Mrs. Zhang firmly disagreed and asked him to leave with Zhou Wuchang.
Helplessly, Zhang Min said goodbye to his parents and sisters in tears three days later.
This time when they went home, Yingbao and her younger brother took one carriage, the master and Huzi took another, and the second and eldest brothers served as the drivers of the two carriages respectively.
It was already July and the weather was very hot. Yingbao and her brother were sweating profusely in the covered carriage.
So Yingbao took out a portion of iced peach from the cave and handed it to her brother.
The peaches are cooked with rock sugar and taste sour and sweet.
The second brother who was sitting on the shaft of the cart suddenly turned his head to look and asked, "What are you eating? I want some too."
Yingbao had no choice but to take out a bowl of iced peaches for him.
Zhang Min ate his iced drink happily, and from time to time he corrected the carriage and returned to its previous state.
Hu Zi, who was sitting in the carriage in front, was leaning on the small window behind the carriage shed. He stretched his head and saw this scene. He couldn't help but shout, "How dare you eat alone?"
He turned to Zhou Wuchang, who was resting with his eyes closed, and said, "Master, please stop the car. The three of them are eating alone in the back."
So the two carriages stopped in an open area.
Hu Zi jumped off the carriage and ran to Ying Bao quickly: "Ying Bao, what did you give them to eat? The master and I don't have anything."
Yingbao turned around and took out three bowls of iced peaches from the basket behind her, "Here, for you and Master and Senior Brother."
Hu Zi then smiled happily and went to the carriage in front with the bowl of ice.
Zhang Min and Zhou Hao got off the car to feed and water the horses, rested for a while, and then continued on their journey.
When they encountered a county town or a market town, the two vehicles went in for repairs.
But there were many refugees along the way, all of them with their families.
Sometimes Zhou Wuchang would stop the car and chat with them.
When he learned that they had to flee because of drought in their hometown, Zhou Wuchang asked Yingbao how he could help them out of their predicament.
How would Yingbao know
This northern region basically depends on the weather for its livelihood.
Even where they are, once there is a flood, there will be no harvest for half a year.
But the court’s taxes will not be reduced at all and must still be paid.
Seeing that his young apprentice was at a loss, Zhou Wuchang didn't ask any more questions. He turned around, got in the car and left.
They followed the official road, passed through countless villages and several cities, and finally returned to Qinchuan County in July.
The county town is very lively now, and you can often see large and magnificent horse-drawn carriages on the streets.
Yingbao was very curious and asked her cousin when she returned to the shop.
Jiang Cheng was relieved to see his cousins coming back. "They all escaped from the capital. We can't provoke them."
Then he asked, "What happened to you? Where did you go? Uncle Three and Uncle Two are very worried."
Yingbao didn't dare to tell us what happened in Jingzhou, and said calmly: "Second Brother wanted to go home, so we accompanied him. Now he is back. Tell us, how is the family?"
Jiang Cheng said, "Everything is fine at home. Wei Zhan and his mother are here too, and they are living in our village. And Madam Wen and her two children are also living in our village."
In fact, there are more than just these few families living in Dongchen Village. Some wealthy families have gone to the south slope, bought land at high prices and built houses, saying that they want to build separate courtyards.
However, that was done by the people of Xichen Village. They sold their inferior fields on the south slope to outsiders at high prices and let those people build houses.
"Mrs. Wen is here too?" Yingbao was very happy to hear that both Mrs. Wen and Sister Wen were here.
He said to Jiang Wu and Hu Zi, "We will go back tomorrow."
Master and two senior brothers will also return tomorrow. Master said that he will stay in Dongchen Village for a while and learn how to grow pepper and cotton from his father.
"You guys stay for a few days. Xiaojie will be on vacation then, and you guys can go with him." Jiang Cheng said.
Yingbao: "Okay."
Jiang Cheng paused for a moment, then whispered to his little cousin, "Let me tell you something. My uncle died, and the concubine came to my aunt and made a scene, asking her to pay for the burial."
Yingbao twitched her eyes: "Where's my aunt? Did she give me the money?"
"I don't know. My aunt took Yuying and Hongxiao to the funeral today. I don't think they will be back tonight."
Jiang Cheng used a knife to peel an apple and handed it to his little cousin, then continued to peel the second one: "Zhang Yukun is such a jerk. He actually thinks that his father is dead and his mother should pay for the burial."