I hardly slept that night. I kept listening quietly to the sound of rain outside the house and the sound of wind getting stronger and stronger. I felt a surge of sadness in my heart. I had thought that one day I would go to see my father, but when that time really came, how would I face my father
"You're not asleep?" It was late at night when the lady suddenly asked this.
"Madam, why are you still awake?" To be honest, I was a little startled. It was quiet in the middle of the night, and suddenly someone said something like that to you in bed. It was really scary. "How did you know I wasn't asleep?"
"You snore when you sleep, but your breathing has been heavy and uneven for half a day. You definitely don't sound like a sound sleeper."
"You haven't slept either, right? Go to sleep. I'm fine. I'm just feeling a little upset."
"My husband is worried about the people and cannot sleep at night. How can Pei sleep alone and leave my husband in such sorrow?" This person is really pedantic because of reading too much.
"Then let's all go to bed. We still have a lot of things to do tomorrow morning." I hesitated for a moment. I really wanted to go with her, but I thought of Yinling who was a sleepyhead. Although she was not Yinling, since she was my wife, I couldn't disturb her rest.
After that, she called me several times, but I didn't answer. Finally, she fell asleep behind me. I don't know when she fell asleep, but at least I know that there is only a blink of an eye between dark and dawn.
It was already dawn at that time. When I opened my eyes, I was fully awake, but I just lay on the bed, looking at the faint light on the window. It was still raining, but very quiet. The whole Lingling was very quiet, with only the drizzle falling like sobs. Listening carefully, it seemed that Guo Pei also had a very slight snoring sound, but it was so light that it could be drowned out by the sound of the drizzle outside.
Yinling doesn't seem to snore. If she snores, it means she sleeps well. I once asked her why. She said that people who snore are closest to the snoring and are not affected by it, but she can be woken up even if she is separated by a wall. In addition, the more sleepy and tired I am, the louder my snoring is, which can also serve as circumstantial evidence.
I quickly got up from this futile fantasy, put on some clothes and walked out. Guo Pei seemed very sleepy and was not woken up. I heard that she was sleeping well. I think that because Mr. Shui Jing's snoring was louder than thunder, my snoring did not affect her possibility of sleeping peacefully.
When I came out, there was no one in the whole house. It seemed that someone had just walked outside the door. The stone slabs on the road in front seemed to have just been tilted, and there was a lot of mud splashed on the steps on this side. I strolled out. The rain was not heavy, and the whole sky was still gray. I walked carefully across the loose stone slabs in front. In front of me was an abandoned blacksmith shop. There were gray lights all around. I saw some light here, so I walked in.
The blacksmith shop had no door, and there was nothing decent inside. It was empty and the wooden walls around it had rotted away. Although there didn't appear to be any holes in it, water was still dripping from the house, and the wind blew in with a strange whistling sound.
This house seems to have been abandoned for a long time, and I don’t know what the blacksmith has done. I can only be sure that it is not my fault.
The only thing in the room that caught my eye was the blacksmith's anvil next to the empty hearth.
I guess anyone I know who has seen the scene can immediately imagine what happened next. I rolled up my sleeves and without thinking, I just pulled it up with all my strength.
This thing was really heavy, and I was helpless against it. An hour later, when the sky began to brighten, I sat at the door of the blacksmith shop, panting, with my left arm bare, plaster and sweat dripping down my body, looking at Guo Pei, who was a little surprised just now.
I just looked at her and wanted to say hello, but then I remembered that this was my wife and I didn't need to be so polite. I nodded to her and then took off my right sleeve, leaving my upper body bare. Reluctantly, I turned around and went back inside to continue doing my own things.
I heard her coming in from behind. She said nothing but just continued to bend down and lift the thing. She also said nothing but just stayed with me quietly from behind. I don't know why, but this bitch seemed to have taken root.
After another moment, I finally stood up somewhat helplessly and said to my wife, "Maybe someone will lift it up in the future, but I can't do it today."
She still said nothing, just smiled.
After a quick bath and breakfast, I rushed to Guiyang, leaving Song for a while.
There were often dark clouds along the way, but they never came down.
He was sleeping again. It was almost noon, so I asked my wife to go and rest first, and I went in alone. He sat up on the couch with sleepy eyes, straightened his clothes a little, and leaned forward on the pillow. Then he said lazily, "Is it settled? Then I can continue to sleep."
"I'm not interested in making trouble with you." Although I was worried, I still smiled and said, "Get up, get up."
"Brother Zirui, go eat!"
"You can sleep for a while. I have a lot of things to do. Don't be angry with me! Get up." He suddenly got up and came over to me and put his collar in my hand, pretending that I was holding his collar. This was a bit strange. I'm not afraid of those who don't want to die, but I'm really afraid of those who come out to commit suicide for no reason.
"Zi Rui, Zi Yue is your classmate and friend, why did you hit him?" The clear female voice behind me immediately let me know the bad guy's intentions, and I couldn't explain it clearly. So, I found a random reason to beat him up. Of course, the beating was not the kind of beating that would break bones, but at least he had to feel the pain and know that such false accusations would be punished.
"You evil villain, why did you hide these things from me, causing me to almost go to war with the southerners." Finally, I decided to start framing him, and before he could ask me what he had hidden from me, I walked up to him and pushed him to the ground, making him lie flat on the couch.
Suddenly remembering the iron mine, he immediately said righteously: "Nothing else, it's just that Jingzhou produces good iron, why do we have to go to Lingling to buy it? You think the iron mine is prone to collapse, and the government is unwilling to operate it. But I learned from the southerners that this is not the case, but I want to see how you explain it."
This time, it was Madam who advised me to talk nicely and not to hit anyone first, so she let Ziyue explain first. After all, Madam was not there when I started talking to Nanren, and she didn't know what happened at that time.
Ziyue started to become serious, sitting up straight, and bowed to me who was "trying hard to suppress my anger", and then said: "Ziyue understands your anger, and at first I didn't dare to speak frankly because of your temper. Now that you asked me, I will tell you the truth."
"Just tell me." I also stepped back and sat down, feeling a little curious.
"We do buy most of the iron we use for government smelting from those iron merchants. This is because mining is difficult, there are not enough laborers, and there is a lot of rain here, so it costs a lot to maintain the mines. After the Guanghe drought, Jingzhou has been in trouble and unable to maintain normal mining. So we handed the mines over to those merchants, and we can collect a lot of taxes every year to provide for this place and Xiangyang. If we need iron, we can buy a small amount from those merchants."
I fell into deep thought, and after a moment I said, "How can those merchants afford to mine?"
"Because they often interact with the southerners, they buy a large number of children from them. They only need to provide them with food and those children can only work until they die. When the children die, even the government pension is exempted, and they are just thrown away and the matter is over. Our government is not good at comparing and cannot learn from them. After all, our Han Dynasty is a country of benevolence, righteousness, and propriety. If the court knows about our slavery and mining, how can we be exempted from the crime?"
"There is this article in the Han law." The lady frowned. I guess she nodded because of her own words and frowned because of Ziyue's words.
"Kid? A slave... I don't know if there is such a place in our Han Dynasty. Let's not use it for now. Find someone to take me to see it." I stood up immediately and was about to leave.
"My husband, don't go," Guo Pei obviously knew my temper and what I would do when I got there, "Don't lose the big one."
"Sister-in-law is right, brother must not be rash. Those merchants have close ties with the southerners. If something happens to them, the southerners will inevitably have arguments with us." This argument was used cleverly, and I also knew that the argument would not be that simple. Since they only bought rice and salt in Lingling, even if they were not short of iron, we didn't buy much iron, and the money those merchants earned was not enough to pay a small portion of the tribute to the government every year.
I shouldn't have gone. If I had gone, perhaps I would have met my brothers on the battlefield soon.
But how could I not go? I couldn't imagine what it would be like there.
But this is all I could do now. I walked around the room several times and finally had no choice but to sit down again.
I sent a letter to Xiangyang, mentioning Lingling's begging for labor, and asked them to investigate these things. I remember that her husband had already served three years of labor service, and this time it was definitely not her family's turn. There were millions of people in Jingzhou, so it was impossible that more than 100,000 civilians could not afford to be drafted.
However, there are very few young and strong men in Guiyang, and those who are there are mainly our soldiers, while women make up the majority of the farmers who start farming in the fields.
How could this happen to us in Jingzhou? Hasn't there been any war in Jingzhou for many years? I didn't expect that the situation in Jingzhou would make people feel uncomfortable. According to reports, large tracts of land in the south have been left uncultivated since last year.
I wanted to see the customs of different places, but now I am already very annoyed just by what I have heard. I ran around that day and saw an old woman who was at least 70 years old, hunched over with a hoe on her back, and she never raised her head. I also saw a girl of 11 or 12 years old, holding a hoe on her shoulder, covering her bare feet cut by stones in the field, but she stared at me, at a loss. Most of the so-called men were hunchbacks, blind, lame, etc.
Something is wrong, there must be a problem. I remember that the situation in the north is not as serious as ours, so there must be something wrong here.
So, when I returned to Luo Xin that night, I only asked, "Where are our people?"
"I went to control the flood."
"Only a few hundred thousand people. What about the others?"
"Who told you hundreds of thousands?" When he said this, he also looked around.
"I listened to others. You know I was away last year." I also began to feel unsure. I could only listen to others and various official reports.
"Although you are the governor of a state, if you want to start construction with more than 200,000 people, you must report it to the emperor through the prime minister. If the emperor does not agree, we cannot start construction. Otherwise, we will be treated as treason if we start construction. How could you let the whole Jingzhou be flooded and wait for the emperor's order? You immediately decided to start construction with 180,000 people and posted a notice to quell the flood. Therefore, many people are not on our list. If they died somewhere, it would be difficult for anyone to know. Because of confidentiality, except for the foreman there, no one else, including you, has a list or something like that. Even if someone investigates, you really don't have any handle in the hands of others. You don't even know it yourself, so why should you be afraid of others investigating? So your person may have to wait for the water to recede and go home by himself. Otherwise, even if he is dead, we won't know."
"Yes." He may not know what I was thinking when I muttered to myself. Yunmeng is thousands of miles in radius and has a population of more than 100,000. Each person has to work alone on a surface of hundreds of feet. To complete it in just a few months, it would require more than ten times the number of people.
Ten times! I exclaimed in my heart, Oh my God... Can our Jingzhou support such a large project
Where did the teacher get the money? How could we in Jingzhou have so much money? How did they raise food and other things? I felt incredible at the time and couldn't figure out where they came from.
After settling down, I couldn't think straight and found myself not knowing what to do. I was confused and at a loss. Frankly speaking: I didn't know anything.
It seems that I am still an immature "person".
It was another spring morning. While eating, I only said, "Ziyue, send someone to take the two musicians I brought with me to find some beautiful places to visit."
Maybe this is all I can do. I just watched him talk to people and didn’t remember anything about him. I just walked out.
The world is so big, I really don't know where to go, I have no idea what to do. I just rode my horse casually under the dark sky. Suddenly, there was a loud sound of horse hooves behind me. I don't know if it was looking for me. I didn't turn around, just kept going forward. I was just a mediocre person, what's the point of looking for me
But this man and his horse came specifically to find me.
And this person was my wife. She was dressed as a barbarian and came after me. When she rode her horse across my face, it was hard to tell whether it was a smile or anger, or both.
"I heard from Yinling a long time ago that once you encounter setbacks and can't do anything, you will become depressed like a child. It seems that you have been like this for the past eighteen years. Yinling is really miserable to have a brother like you." She seemed like a different person, bold and energetic. She was no longer the gentle and virtuous wife she usually was. Instead, she taught me like an older sister, which made me feel a little more relaxed. Maybe this feeling has been with me for eighteen years, so I can get used to it. I also noticed that she was very good on horses. The way she pulled the reins showed that she was definitely a good rider.
I tried to smile, "Didn't that guy come with us?"
"He is practicing martial arts. You defeated him with one move last time. He felt that he was too bad and was afraid that you would think he was useless in the future, so he went to find someone to practice martial arts with."
"Then I have to work hard too. I didn't practice today." I shook my head, thinking that if I always do this, I am not someone who can achieve great things.
"Zirui, I need to teach you a lesson, get off the horse." She stayed on the horse, and I got off as she said. I knew that what I had been doing recently was not appropriate.
"Yinling cherishes you and lets me give in to you in everything, but she's also afraid that you'll be spoiled, so she also wants me to discipline you sometimes." She said seriously.
"When Yinling talked to me, two out of three sentences mentioned Zirui. She said that Zirui was straightforward and didn't know the evil of human nature, so he needed to be reminded more; Zirui was stubborn and didn't know how to attack indirectly, so he was bound to be a sinner and needed to be guided more. And what she was most worried about was that you would do anything to achieve your goal."
"Why?"
"When you are successful, you are overconfident and don't know how high the sky is and how deep the earth is; when you are frustrated, you immediately lose yourself completely and don't know what to do. It seems that everything in the world is decided by you. If you succeed, you are happy, and if you fail, you blame yourself. How can a gentleman behave so rigidly?"
"It is easy to say, but hard to let go. Although I know that the world is full of ups and downs, and it is difficult to let go of it, why can't I let go?"
"When I was young, my father taught me calligraphy. At first, he only taught me one character. He then unfolded a bamboo slip and wrote it in large letters. Later, he taught me another article. I only knew that it was an article on governing a country and pacifying the world. Then my father tore apart the bamboo slips and scattered them all over the place. He even asked me to put them together again in order. Unfortunately, I only knew one character. How could I do it? But my father left without paying any attention, leaving me alone in the room."
"This is really excessive."
"At first I burst into tears and didn't know what to do." This girl is a girl. If she can't spell it, she can't spell it. Why cry? Of course, I just let her continue and didn't interrupt her: "Later, when I was tossing and turning with this, I found the ink marks of the word "人" on the back."
"Ah." I immediately understood what was going on, but I continued to listen quietly.
"I just spelled it according to the shape of the Chinese character for 'person'." She also laughed, as if a little embarrassed. "Later, my father told me that the strategy of governing a country and bringing peace to the world is simple, but complicated and difficult to understand. It is just like being a human being. In fact, as long as you know how to be a human being, you can rule the world."
"A gentleman does what he should do and does not do what he should not do. He weighs the pros and cons before he is faced with them, and weighs the cons before he is faced with them. These two sentences are all he needs to know as a human being. Then what can be done? What cannot be done? What is important? Who is not important? It will take a lifetime to answer these four questions." I nodded, as if I had realized something.
I was immediately convinced and bowed deeply. When I stood up again, I felt full of energy.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Looking at my wife today, she really is like a fairy from heaven." When I said this, I suddenly had a feeling that might have made others feel very strange. I think I really fell in love with her.
She was a little shy, so she said forcefully, "Zi Rui is ridiculous, and his words are not serious at all."
"So what? You still fell into my hands in the end." Just like what Long Xing and I said, the fresh flowers are planted in cow dung. Although it is appropriate, it hurts me too much, so I have to keep it to myself.
Now, I was flattering my wife and she was laughing the whole time.
Forty miles north of Guiyang City, there is a rammed earth dam, but the builders have disappeared now, leaving only the reddish embankment and the blue-green water of Yunmeng Lake in the north. Madam told me a little about the classics of Yunmeng, including the "Zi Xu Wu You" classic, and then left. But when I left, I saw what I was most afraid of seeing on a hillside facing east.
I was startled at first, then I rode forward, then turned sideways and watched in silence as my wife followed me, and then I saw that she stopped talking.
"Let's go back." We said at the same time.
On the way, she was reciting a poem from the Book of Songs. I didn’t know which poem it was at the time. To be honest, I knew very little about the Book of Songs.
In the next few days, he discussed the details with Ziyue and Yudong who had rushed back from Lingling, while sending people to inquire about the news in the south.
But on the fourth day, a rare good day, I received some bad news: something happened to the couple. At that time, I was lifting a stone in the courtyard where I lived, and when I heard the news, I almost dropped my foot. I sighed and said, "Although Xing and Xi were not misled by me, I cannot deny my guilt."
Ziyue has always been blaming himself. It was actually none of his business. He had already explained the route, but he didn't expect the two music fans to leave the guide and ride into the mountain without permission. When he found that they had disappeared, he chased them and saw them in a trap from a distance and were dragged away. But he must be blamed. He actually told me that there were bandits in the mountains in the southwest of Jing until now, and it seemed that there were a lot of them, almost one nest in each mountain.
Ziyue, because we have been fighting with foreigners and there is a flood, we have no strength and no time to take care of them. We have always been at peace with those bandits and we have not interfered with each other. But now we have to take care of this matter, otherwise there will be no peace in the future. However, we cannot send too many troops because the food and grass are not enough.
I decided to set off immediately. I had to step up to resolve this matter. Zi Yue also believed that I was the only one who could possibly defeat those bandits with only a few thousand soldiers. So I asked Song Yudong to make plans and asked Zi Yue to ask General Xing to follow me with the follow-up troops. Then I took up my gun and armor, mounted my horse, and left with only a few guards following the person who brought the news.
The lady didn't follow me. She made me feel relieved and I asked her to take care of herself.
In less than a day, we arrived at a city. After crossing a wooden bridge, we saw the city wall behind the bridge. This place is called Mingzi. No one can tell me the reason. It is said to be a southerner's allusion. It is a child's name. The city is surrounded by mountains. A river flows from the south and turns west under the city. The scenery is very beautiful. I arrived that night. At that time, I didn't have any feelings about this dark city. The city wall is rammed earth. It is said that it was built by the Chu people in the past. After so many years of rain and wind, only a few sections can stand. If the bandits gather together to attack, the city will be lost in an instant.
That night, I had a brief conversation with the leader of the garrison there, learned some clues, took a quick look at the city, and then went to sleep.
The next day I woke up early and went out for patrol with my gun. The morale of the soldiers patrolling along the way was very low. If the bandits really attacked, it would be very dangerous. Now we can only wait for General Xing to bring his men. It's no use for me to worry.
It was foggy that morning. The fog rose from the river beside the city, and the whole city was covered in white. I walked around the city for a while and decided to go out to have a look. Some soldiers knew that an important person was coming, but many did not know me. They seemed to be local soldiers. They just knew where I was and made way for me. When I left the city, the sun had already set in the southeast valley. Even this made me deeply intoxicated by the quiet beauty of this city.
The mist floated from the water, gently brushed the city wall, and overflowed the city for a while, but slowly fell down at a break in the middle of the city wall. The houses in the city were well-arranged, and the white mist was like a veil, floating lightly above it, just like a fairy island born in China. When the sun rose in the mountains, the inside and outside of the city seemed to be inlaid with gold foil, and it immediately changed from simple to magnificent.
My thoughts were soon interrupted by the rapid and clear sound of horse hooves coming from the fog. Someone on the city gate seemed to have heard it as well, and immediately showed panic. They hurriedly asked me to return to the city, and someone at the city gate was preparing to close it.
I guessed it was General Xing and his men, because I didn't think those bandits would have so many horses.
So I just asked them to close the city gates, while I pretended to be a hero outside the city. A moment later, I heard someone on the city wall shouting at me: "Marquis Ping'an Fengyun, please return to the city as soon as possible."
I just waved my hand to show that I was fine, and walked a few dozen steps to the east. I waved my spear. Since I was sure it was General Xing, not someone else, and they didn't know who it was, it shouldn't be a mistake for me to show my bravery outside.
General Xing arrived as scheduled. He came faster than I expected. He only brought a brigade of light cavalry, and the infantry led by Song Yudong might take another two days to arrive.
It's fine with me. I can fight with 500 people.
Actually, I have no idea at all now. I don't even know who kidnapped them or whether they are still alive. Frankly speaking, although I feel very guilty, I am not very worried about their safety.
On the morning of February 15th, the first year of the Chuping reign of the Han Dynasty, the weather was very good. I was lingering outside the city of Mingzi. Another big battle was waiting for me, and this battle would not be easy to win. Every order I was prepared to give would determine the fate of these young soldiers who had great confidence in me. I admit that I had no idea at the time.