Then, I heard Xie Chengzu's somewhat indifferent voice say: "There is not only the cemetery of the Xie family, but also countless innocent people who died tragically at the hands of the Tile Thorn Huns. ”

With that, he reined in his horse and pointed to a low hill not far away.

From a distance, that area is full of nameless graves piled up.

Occasionally, some women, with sad expressions, carried dustpans and baskets to the grave, knelt there, bowed their heads and wept while lighting the thin paper money in their hands, and a cold wind swept by.

The half-burning paper money was blown up by the wind, like a white butterfly in the sky, fluttering in the sky......

"On the day when the city of Wei'an was broken and slaughtered, the smoke and dust in the city were billowing in the city, the original city garrison abandoned the city from the north gate and fled, the soldiers were scattered, the people were panicked, and the Tatars who were showing off their might took the opportunity to block the four exits of the city gate, rushed into the city and wantonly robbed the property, cut down when they saw people, burned houses when they saw them, provoked children's hands and feet with the tip of their knives, and the city was full of people's screams."

The voice of the person behind him was heavy, as if he remembered the situation of that day, his tone was a little more solemn, and after speaking, he paused for a moment before he said: "On the day of the burning of the city, when the reinforcements arrived, there were corpses of people inside and outside the city, and the heads were rolling everywhere, and it took three days for the soldiers to classify and bury them, and buried the graves of 1,800 people here, most of whom were not even known. ”

A grave was left lonely in the wilderness, whimpering with flowing water and crows screaming, very bleak and desolate.

Listening to the words of the people behind her, and seeing this scene in her eyes, Tan Wanqing seemed to be able to empathize with that miserable scene and that painful and heavy mood.

At the same time, she also thought that the people of Wei'an City respected the Lord Xie behind him, but it was not born out of thin air, although he was despised, but he once beheaded the military attache with a small hundred, and in the case of the loss of the city, he led more than 100 soldiers under his command to enter the city to expel the Tatars and save the people from fire and water.

It is no wonder that the people of Wei'an City are kneeling down when they see him, if there is no courage in him, this entire Wei'an City will be in ruins.

A common man who did not have a prominent family background, or was at the bottom, after enlisting in the army, he rose up from the army, accumulated military exploits, and achieved the position of garrison with the efforts of only one person, not by luck and drilling.

It is brave and strong, it is scheming, it is not afraid of sacrifice, and it is also the will to persevere.

Tan Wanqing doesn't have a hero complex, but she also knows that the person behind her, even if he is not a chivalrous man, serves the country and the people, but for the people of this city, he is already a hero with courage and perseverance and outstanding martial arts.

Such a person, regardless of his age, should be respected.

Xie Chengzu sat firmly on the horse, and when he saw that Tan Wanqing heard his words, his eyes, which were still slightly raised, slowly slowed down, as if he was thinking about something, but he hung his head and said nothing.

Her skin was in the sun, there was no blemish, the white lump was like congealed mutton fat, and when she stared at people, her eyes were as bright as washed gems, which could not make it difficult for anyone to have a trace of bad feelings.

If he hadn't seen the squeamish and cold, bullying appearance that stopped in front of him five years ago, when he rode a horse on the street with the two young ladies of Tanfu, he would never believe that he would be the same person as he looked like this.

Seeing that Tan Wanqing raised her eyes slightly, swept her eyes at the mound, hesitated for a moment, and put her hand on his arm again, it seemed that it could be passed, just like this, you can still see a little bit of what it looked like back then.

There was a trace of gentle fluctuation in Xie Chengzu's eyes, but he pulled the reins in his hand, reversed the direction, and did not continue towards the somewhat gloomy and lonely cemetery, but took her to the outer city.

On the way, we passed dozens of military families built on the outer city wall.

These people were refugees who had fled here from Yizhou, and now they have voluntarily fallen into the military household when they see Guardan build an outer city.

The first hundred or so households to come in had already moved into clean houses, and when they came late, they also cut down trees as beams in time.

It was fixed in a square box with adobe mud, and the adobe bricks were hastily made and piled up to form a wall, and then the thatch from the hillside and the edge of the field was cut and piled on the roof to make tiles, barely surviving the winter.

In the end, dozens of households settled, the weather was already freezing, and there were no bricks or tiles, so they had to simply tie up the saved firewood and grass to block the wind, a piece of mud and clay kang, and burn some firewood at night to keep warm, in order to survive the cold winter.

When I passed by, the place where the sergeants lived, was full of dirty dirt, women and children were rarely in good condition, most of them were in tattered clothes, and their faces were scorched, and a dozen women were separated in the wasteland not far away, and they were digging and digging with their heads bowed and digging, although there were a few boys chasing them in the field, but they looked really thin and small, and they had no spirit.

Xie Chengzu saw Tan Wanqing looking at those children, and he said quietly: "Wei'an City seems to be prosperous, but it is an empty shell city, although I am in charge of the garrison of a city, now even these two hundred small military households in the family can not settle well, and the next dozens of households will survive this winter, not a few more can be left." Speaking of this, he looked at the rows of thin grass houses, where the thatch was covered as thick as possible, but for the cold winter, separated by a small thatch, the outside is windy, and the inside is light, what is the difference.

Tan Wanqing pursed her lips, and also condensed and asked, "In that case, why should your lord rush to build an outer city?" "Wouldn't it be better to leave some surplus money to settle the victims?

"The border Tartars are cruel and ferocious, and their strength is strong, if they lead troops to attack the city again, the inner city will be difficult to preserve, and the matter of building the outer city is imminent."

"Then we will build a fortress, set up a fort, a secret outpost, a guard cannon, etc." Tan Wanqing looked at the stretching and tall wall that had been built for most of the time and enclosed the entire city, and knew that this was by no means something that could be done with 120,000 taels of silver, "The city wall is not completed, and the adults also know that they can't take care of both, so why do you have to take it in?" "Wouldn't it be cruel to take them in, but let them face the situation of freezing to death and starving to death at any time?

Xie Chengzu didn't say a word, but rode out of the outer city, a few soldiers in the distance saw their own adult's horse, ran over, and he waved away, he did not go to the main gate, but rode his horse out of the nearest place to break work, and the scene of the outer city was even more bleak.

When Tan Wanqing arrived here by a one-day carriage from the temple, it was just autumn, and the autumn scenery was pleasant, and there was still a little greenery, but now it was full of yellow sand, and the withered grass was decayed and depressed.

Even the wind here is a little stronger, Tan Wanqing was cold in her hands and feet, but all the way, relying on a ready-made stove, it was not so difficult, but her legs were a little numb from the cold, and she rode around the fragmented and unbuilt walls and walked a distance to the outer city gate, and then Tan Wanqing saw a shocking scene in front of her.

As far as the eye can see, outside the outer city wall four or five zhang high, close to both sides of the city gate, there are large and small, deep and shallow pits, the pits and the pits are full of ragged refugees, many people are walking around the outside of the city, that black and oppressive figure, by no means more than four or five hundred people, dragging their families, men, women and children, unkempt, yellow and thin, some people even cough, while digging in the wasteland not far away.

Tan Wanqing was stunned for a moment, and then looked sideways at the city guard behind her.

From this angle, you can only see his chin, a faint layer of cyan stubble on his chin, to show that this person is busy and has no time to take care of himself, yes, not to mention the official who bears the responsibility of a city, even when he sees such a scene, he is also shocked, with this sympathy.

Seeing several side faces, Xie Chengzu also lowered his gaze, the two were so close, the moment they looked at each other, a cold wind gently blew across her clothes, she could feel his hand holding her shoulder without a trace, slightly blocked, and sighed softly in his heart, he didn't seem to be as cold as the words in his mouth.

didn't look at him for long, Tan Wanqing's eyes slowly fell, and then turned her head sideways to look at the crowded, nowhere to go and homeless people, through those, I thought of myself and Ruizhu who were desperate at the beginning, and when I came to this city, there was nowhere to go to panic.

The world is big, but there is no place for it, how sad it feels to feel, she has also experienced it.

In the cold winter, it is unimaginable that there will be nearly 1,000 people gathered under the city, how many victims of Yizhou City are there? How many refugees who had to hear about Lord Xie's name on the way out of their hometowns, how many of them were displaced people who lost their homes due to the invasion of the tile, and perhaps because they were jealous of the young garrison of the city, they deliberately obstructed and drove a large number of people to gather under the city.

It is foreseeable that if hundreds of refugees freeze to death at the city gate at the same time, and are taken advantage of by someone with a heart to participate in a book, not only will he not have to do the garrison of the city, but even his head will not be guaranteed.

What she could think of, how could Master Xie, who was in a dilemma, not know.

He brought himself here in reply to what she had just asked, because of the imposition of things, whether it was taken into account or not, it was useless, and there was no difference between the inner and outer cities for him.

The black charcoal head did not lean into the dense crowd, just flicked its tail far away, snorted its nose, in the sunny place by the city wall, the four hooves walked leisurely in circles, all sides of the sun basking on its oily black hair, eating combed soft grass blades and sweet broken beans on weekdays, occasionally encountered a clump of dead grass on the ground, it was just a glance, has been pampered without delicious food, this is also a stinky and picky horse, I really don't know how it can get on the battlefield.

Even if this Master Xie is in such a dilemma, he still does a good job.

Many soldiers have dug holes one after another three feet outside the city wall, and some soldiers have helped to build them, and there are also firewood cut in the field to warm these refugees.

Tan Wanqing took advantage of the high terrain, carefully looked at the deep and shallow pits that had been dug nearby, and looked at the deep and shallow holes that seemed to be able to play a role in sheltering from the wind and heating, about two meters deep pits, on which were simply half-tied with the beams of trees and some thatched grass and branches, smeared with mud, sprinkled with soil, just waiting for it to dry thoroughly, a simple ground house was made, which could shelter the wind and snow, and had the effect of keeping warm, Tan Wanqing did not see inside, but there must be a stove or a chamber that burned wood, if it snowed heavily, it was covered by snow. Burn a few pieces of charcoal, it must be extremely warm.

This method is really good, no wonder there is such a pit next to the simple grass hut I saw before.

As if seeing Tan Wanqing's doubts, Master Xie explained: "I learned it from the Tartars in the field. He added, "You can only drive away the cold, but you can't fill your stomach." "This method of warding off the cold is very simple, it does not cost money, only some troops need to be spent, but the food of nearly a thousand people is a huge expense, and it cannot be compared.

There are a few pots set up outside the city gate in the distance, I am afraid that these days are relying on the distribution of rice and grain in the city, although it can be solved for a while, but there are still three to four months until next spring, there is no difference in this way, I don't know how long this city guard can last? Listening to his tone, he should have run out of ammunition and food, and the city treasury was empty.

Xie Chengzu looked at those who were busy, whether they were soldiers or people who were digging food around in the harsh winter and wanted to survive, the expression on his face was extremely cold and solemn, he said: "Others don't want to abandon it, but I, Xie Chengzu, can't ask for it, as long as they survive the cold winter and wait for the land and water to be civilized, these thousand people can reclaim a large area of wasteland." ”

Where there is a field, there is grain and grass, and the capital of grain and grass is better than gold and silver.

He looked at the unfinished outer city wall in the distance, and said forcefully: "Not only should we build an outer city here and set up a secret sentry barrier, but also dig out a moat ten zhang wide, which flows in from the northwest and flows out to the southeast, leading the source of the river to besiege the city. ”

After he finished speaking, he looked at Tan Wanqing, who was sitting in front of him, as if he was thinking about his words, and said in a low voice: "This is a fertile land with convenient river water, and it is the main grain place, so close to the border, but there are few soldiers and the city is broken, the tax and silver increase every year, but the fertile land is barren, the officials only know how to open their mouths and close their mouths, fresh clothes and food, self-filling money, poor and extravagant, the peasants and small people outside the city are hungry and cold, and they are killed and taken captive, but they don't care, when the Tatars attack the city, they only know that they have collected the silver and wealth and fled, and the six hundred soldiers in the city have no soldiers who can not even put a cannon in the city. It's a shame. ”

The two of them were so close that although his voice was not high, the words were clearly heard in his ears, and he could feel the suppressed anger and disappointment in his voice.

Some of the refugees who crawled out of the basement to look for food came to them in twos and threes, and saw someone riding a tall horse, and some looked at it from a distance with curiosity, all of them were teenagers, their clothes were tattered, their faces were gray, and their hands and feet were thin, but they could not hide the freshness of seeing the horses in their eyes, and there was still a childlike innocence in their eyes that had not been crushed by the hard life.

Lord Xie calmed his tone, looked at these people and said lightly: "In the year of the famine, the master of the capital still can't allocate a few grains, grass and clothes to settle the victims for half a year, but the famous and noble mansions are full of delicious delicacies, gold and jade. He looked at Tan Wanqing and said slowly: "Even the income from the raid in the minister's mansion has tens of thousands of gold, and it is transmitted to this border place, how to calm the people's anger?" Your father gave up his wealth and money to the imperial court to rescue the victims, and only 600,000 taels of his house were confiscated, so he was exempted from the death penalty and sentenced to exile to the Tan family. ”

"But if one day, the Dan Mansion is demolished and rebuilt, and a large amount of property is found to be hidden, under the wrath of the saint, I wonder if it will immediately make up the decree and order the execution of Tan Chengji, or will the whole house be beheaded?"

He said: "Everyone loves money and wants to get it, but there is gold and silver to save all people from fire and water, and some of them hide the disaster of destruction, and it is only up to people to choose so." ”

Tan Wanqing was slightly shocked when she heard this, and felt that what he said was also reasonable, and it was indeed possible.

But he was stared at by the gaze on his head, and his whole body was uncomfortable, but he couldn't avoid it, so he could only turn his face sideways, unwilling to be seen by him.

The tip of her eyebrows frowned slightly, and she did have some doubts, because Tanfu had always had plenty of money.

Hearing that the vault was empty, and there were only 600,000 taels in total, she was also suspicious, because in her memory, when her biological mother was alive, she had accidentally heard her say that the land deeds accumulated by the three generations of Tanfu were definitely more than a hundred hectares.

Later, as Tan's father's official position rose to the top, the money became more and more abundant, and the gifts and gifts sent by the officials alone were probably going to fill the entire treasury, but how could it end up empty?

Tan Wanqing thought of her stepmother Dong, and was a little suspicious, but she was just suspicious.

Tan Wanqing lowered her eyes and thought, and Master Xie was not in a hurry and slowly rode the horse.

It wasn't until Tan Wanqing pondered for a moment that she whispered with a wry smile: "I already know the thoughts of adults, and I am moved by both soft and hard, and the heart of the people can be described as well-intentioned, but adults." She put her hand back on her lap.

"I said in Danfu that the good ones are the daughters, but the bad ones are the daughters who have lost their mothers without the protection of their mothers, how much can I touch the property of Danfu? It was the dowry left to me by my biological mother, and when I was young and ignorant, I didn't keep it, and most of it was lost by people. ”

"And I really don't know about the property that Lord Xie said."

Tan Wanqing's eyes looked at the sky from afar, the sky was so good, but it was rare to be in a good mood, and she felt that no matter how beautiful the scene was, she couldn't see it in her eyes.

She said: "However, in the early years, my biological mother left me a dowry, although I worked hard to get it, it was less than half, but after a few years of operation, it was also a small accumulation, and I bought a stack of private land deeds worth 8,000 taels, hidden in a silver pot, and buried in the bedroom of Yuqing Courtyard on the east side of the house, under the bluestone slab pressed by the pillar at the end of the bed in the corner of the wall.

I'm the daughter of a criminal minister, and I'm in such a situation, I'm afraid I won't have the chance to return to the capital, and it's useless to keep those that can't be used and buried in the soil? If it is not copied by anyone, and the adults need it, take it yourself. ”

After Tan Wanqing finished speaking, she pursed her lips tightly and didn't want to speak anymore.

After Xie Chengzu heard these words, he didn't make a sound behind him, and in the quiet surroundings, he only heard the sound of the horse's hooves as the black charcoal head slowly walked forward.

Gradually, it began to speed up, and when it bypassed the city walls, it was like suddenly returning to a warm stable, and the road it had always come from galloped quickly, and the sound of whirring in its ears seemed to be about to sprint into the battlefield to kill the enemy.

Under such a bumpy speed, she was really a little uneasy, and the hand on her lap subconsciously nervously grabbed the arm that had been holding the reins in front of her.

She turned around and was about to ask him to stop the horse, but she saw that the person behind her was expressionless, and when she looked ahead, she no longer had the moving expression she had just seen when she saw the homeless people, but was a little cold and deep and unfathomable.

Tan Wanqing was stunned for a moment, and suddenly at that moment, this is the meaning of both soft and hard, successfully taking out the silver money from her mouth, and then kicking it away? She couldn't help but want to laugh, why bother, she didn't have to hit her board, as long as she filled in the fire and scared her, she would say it all, and she didn't leave any behind.

The cold wind that ran up, the people who rolled up were almost speechless, and Tan Wanqing's body temperature that had just eased up was scattered again, and under such a speed, it was really difficult for the horseback to avoid sticking to him.

Seeing that the woman in front of him was half-leaning on his arms, and had to turn his face to his chest because of the cold, in order to shield himself from the cold wind, he couldn't help but hold her waist tightly, and brought it into his arms hard, but the loose reins were loosened in his hands, and the legs were clamped between the horse's belly, and the black charcoal head neighed, and the gallop became faster and faster.

Tan Wanqing didn't know how to get back into the city.

I only knew that when the horse stopped at the door of the house, Ruizhu, who was turning around at the door of the six gods and no owner, saw that the blue sky was bright and bright, and his own young lady was tightly held in his arms by a man on the horse, Ruizhu was so shocked that he almost blurted out and screamed.

The man rolled over and dismounted, then held out his hand to the man on the horse.

Tan Wanqing looked at the hand, endured it for a long time, and then put her finger in his hand, Xie Chengzu tightly held a few white and smooth snow fingers, hugged her off the horse, stepped on the ground, eased the numbness under her legs, she shook off his hand vigorously, and without looking back, Ruizhu who ran over, entered the house, and closed the door hard.