In a daze, Li Yan was pushed awake by someone. When he opened his eyes, he saw his fourth sister Li Xiaozhu. His third brother was no longer there. His fourth sister looked at him with red and swollen eyes.
"Fifth brother, Uncle Guo Xin is here. Dad wants you to get up and go over."
Li Yan didn't sleep much last night. He finally fell into a drowsy sleep after the rooster crowed several times. He sat up straight and said to his fourth sister.
"Fourth sister, I'll go right away."
Li Xiaozhu did not move, still looking at him with reluctance. Li Yan looked at the other person's expression, his heart tightened for no reason, but a smile appeared on his face.
"Fourth sister, there's no need to be like this. I'll come back to see you next New Year, but I don't know if you'll be home by then."
Li Xiaozhu was stunned when she heard this, and then her face turned red.
"loquacious!"
Then he turned and walked out.
Li Yan looked at his fourth sister's back and couldn't help but sigh softly. He didn't even believe what he said.
After returning from the Chinese New Year, it is now late summer and early autumn. Not to mention what my situation will be like in half a year, I don’t even know what the situation will be like next year or the year after.
After a simple wash, Li Yan came to the front room, where five people were sitting, his father, mother, third brother, fourth sister, and a strong man in his forties.
The sturdy man sat on a slightly taller and larger chair. He had a square face, a full beard, and was wearing a short-sleeved hunter's suit. His body was muscular.
In the early autumn morning, the mountain village was already chilly, but he did not seem cold. He had a kind of imposing presence as he sat there.
Seeing Li Yan coming in, the sturdy man smiled.
"Li Yan, you got up a little late."
Li Yan walked a few steps to the strong man, bowed and said.
"Uncle Guo Xin, good morning!"
The strong man's name is Li Guoxin, and he is the village chief. In addition to farming, he is also a good hunter and often leads the young and strong men in the village to hunt in the mountains.
Thanks to him, the locust plagues of the past two years have made life in the village better than in other villages, at least no one has starved to death.
Li Guoxin looked at Li Yan, then at Li Yan's mother, Li Wei and Li Xiaozhu, and said.
“Originally, I was going to the city in two days. The second son of the Laoshan family and the eldest son of the Li Tian family were going to the county town to work as a kitchen helper and a blacksmith apprentice. They asked me to send them there and give them a certificate.
Last night, Chang Bo came to my house and told me about Li Yan, so I decided to go there today."
Li Yan's father's name is Li Chang, and the villagers call him Chang Bo. Li Guoxin looked at everyone again and continued.
"In fact, I also talked to Chang Bo yesterday. It's okay to let Li Yan go to the county town to work like them. This is a safe job.
However, I must make it clear that a young man like him has no experience in this kind of work and must start as an apprentice.
Apprentices are charged fees, and they have to do all kinds of work and sign a contract. If something happens during the apprenticeship, the master will not compensate them. However, Chang Bo still decided to let Li Yan serve as a soldier and eat food. "
Li Guoxin looked at Li Yanniang's red and swollen eyes and told her what happened.
This is actually mainly a matter of money. Li Yan's family doesn't have much money, and the apprenticeship fee is only 500 coins.
But for this family of five, this amount is undoubtedly unaffordable. Their monthly expenses are only around fifty cents, and this would cost them nearly a year's expenses. How can they afford it
The second reason is that being an apprentice is very hard. There is no personal freedom and no dignity before one has learned enough. It is also common for masters to beat or kill apprentices.
Chang Bo looked at Li Yan and said.
"That's it! I'm going to trouble you, Guo Xin, now."
Upon hearing this, Li Yanniang, whose eyes were red and swollen, hurriedly spoke to the village chief.
"Are you leaving today?"
The village chief nodded and said.
“Yes, although conscription is a common thing now, someone in the village came back from the county town yesterday and said that Marshal Hong had already started conscription early yesterday morning.
The soldiers this time may be the city guards, who usually protect the families of officials in the city and guard the granaries and armories in the city. They usually don't encounter any battles, so it will take two or three days at the latest to recruit them. If you go too late, you will miss this opportunity."
Li Yan's mother became anxious when she heard this.
"Ah, we still have to fight?"
Upon hearing this, Li Xiaozhu looked at Li Guoxin anxiously.
After hearing what his wife said, Chang Bo saw his fourth daughter's anxious look and slapped the table in front of him in dissatisfaction.
"Didn't Guo Xin say that this is the Imperial Guards... The Imperial Guards guard the city and the house, not fight! Let's see what you look like."
Li Xiaozhu and Li Yan's mother looked at Li Guoxin timidly. After Li Guoxin looked at Chang Bo, he nodded repeatedly and then comforted them. Only then did they feel relieved and stopped asking questions.
Li Yan, however, had remained silent since he said hello when he entered the room. Seeing his mother and fourth sister like this, he couldn't help feeling sad and a sour feeling blocked in his throat, and his eyes began to turn slightly red.
He thought that if he made money in the future, he would go home to be with his parents and relatives and never be away from them again. He wanted to see their satisfied smiling faces every day and enjoy the warmth and happiness.
In fact, although the Guards do not need to participate in wars in peacetime, if a war breaks out and there are insufficient troops, it doesn’t matter whether you are a Guards or not.
At least you have to go to the top of the city wall to defend it. The enemy's swords, guns and arrows during the siege are also blind and cannot tell who is the guards and who is the general, so just shoot them all.
In addition, when the situation becomes critical, the Guards may have to go out of the city to meet the enemy, and then it would be a real hand-to-hand combat, a fight for life and death.
But in general, the Guards are much better than other troops recruited in normal times.
Li Wei on the side looked at Li Yan worriedly. He knew that things were not as simple as the village chief said.
Li Guoxin saw that Li Yan had been silent, so he spoke to him.
"Do you have anything to ask?"
Li Yan thought about it and finally spoke.
"Uncle Guo Xin has already said that the Royal Guards were personally recruited by Marshal Hong to guard the granaries and armories, and even to guard the homes of officials. This job is already very good and difficult to come by. I must do my best to do this job well."
After hearing this, Li Guoxin frowned slightly, thinking that Li Yan really believed everything he said, but he said in his heart.
"On the way, you have to tell this kid not to really believe in this risk-free mission, or he will lose his life."
Li Guoxin then said goodbye to Li Yan's family.
"We will set off in half an hour. This time, I will go with the three young men. No one from my family can see us off. It's more than 200 miles of mountain road, and one person from each family will see us off. With the luggage, the carriage can't run fast, so it will be difficult for us to reach our destination today."
There were only two good horses in the village. After pulling the cart and adding the weight of the four of them, it would be difficult to reach the county town before sunset.
Shortly after the sun rose, the carriage drove out of the village, and the mountain village slowly moved away behind.
Looking at the few families still standing at the entrance of the village and the women crying in the crowd, the other two children in the carriage, who were only thirteen or fourteen years old, began to sob and kept wiping their tears.
Li Yan looked at his fourth sister and mother who were crying in the crowd, and his third brother who was limping and supporting his father, in silence.
Until Li Yan got on the carriage, the third brother and father didn't say another word, but just tried to smile.
The fourth sister and mother kept pulling at the corners of his new coarse cloth, as if they were afraid that the clothes would not be straight. They cried and told him all kinds of things, asking him to come back to see them when he had time. There were dry food and pickles in the package, so he could eat when he was hungry and drink when he was thirsty.
Li Yan didn't cry, he was just holding back tears. With waves of sadness in his heart, he forced a smile and waved to them.
"Dad, Mom! Third brother, fourth sister, take care of yourselves. I will bring you good things from the city next time I come back. Third brother, take good care of the family!"
"Old Five, I remember it, I remember it, let's go, let's go."
"Fourth sister, when I'm settled, I'll bring you some rouge and powder from the city!"
"Old Five... Sister, wait, woo woo."
"Old Five"
With a heart-wrenching cry, Li Yan's mother fell into the arms of her fourth sister.
There were also cries from the other two families around, and the sobbing in the carriage was even louder. Li Yan could no longer control his tears and let them flow freely down his face, but he remained silent.
The carriage finally moved away slowly, away from where Li Yan grew up, away from the foot of the Daqing Mountain, and away from the familiar plants and trees here.
As the carriage turned a corner, the mountain village gradually became darker and smaller, and finally disappeared. However, the crying sounds from the village carried by the wind seemed to be a little louder, which made people sad...