There was no one to guard, so Xiaohu asked: "I gave the eldest brother the silver ticket sewn inside the cotton clothes, don't you know?" ”

Leader Zhao had calmed down his sadness, nodded and replied, "I know!" As soon as I got here, I took it out and hid it. It's just that the situation here is different from at home, and I really don't dare to use it. ”

"It's such a mess here?"

Leader Zhao nodded heavily: "Chaos!" I can't say that it's messy, and it's commonplace to rob alive. Didn't the virtuous brother prepare a big cotton robe for me! My dad was a few years old, so he let my dad wear it, who knew that my dad was wearing it here for less than three days, and he was robbed by someone in the blue sky and daylight. My eldest son was closer to his father, and when he got the news, he ran over, and took off his padded jacket to his father at that time, otherwise he would have frozen my father to death that day.

You see, we don't have anything in this house! Even if there is, it will be taken away. We can't keep anything a little more valuable here. I used to be ruthless, but there are people here who can die for a handful of salt. I, I can't be ruthless with them after all, I still have two sons, and my father, eldest brother, and second brother are relatives to take care of. I have to save my own lives before I can save them. ”

Xiaohu can understand Leader Zhao's helpless mood of wanting to fight but not being able to fight, "Alas! You're only in your second year! What if there are so many years to come? Your family also has a lot of people together, why can't you beat them? Several of my family's immediate family members lived in exile here for 10 years, and they lived well until they left. That's still a woman! ”

Leader Zhao replied to Xiaohu in frustration: "You said women! Women are doing well here. I heard that it was mainly because there was a penal colony at the foot of the mountain to the north, and there was a woman from the Peng family in it. It's amazing. Just with one mouth, many women can stand on the same side as her, and they can really form a group and fight against those who are stronger than them. Not only can they protect themselves, but they can also protect their children. Especially during the great drought, I stayed in the mountains for two or three years and was still alive. I heard that when her mother and son left, many people cried to see them off. Ay! That woman is amazing, ashamed of herself! ”

Women can form a group, and the officials will not have scruples about them, but not men. Xiaohu probably thought of this as well, so he didn't persuade Leader Zhao to also set up a small team. Just don't understand how the officials who rule over them don't care about the robbers? "Those people are robbing. It's a mess! Do you not care about the rulers who are in charge of you? ”

"As long as they don't cause trouble, they generally don't care. Many of these thieves have reached the end of their exiles. But there are no entanglements back, there are those who have nothing in their hometowns, there is no place to settle down, and there are those who are afraid of seeking revenge when they go back, so these people have stayed here and settled down here temporarily, and have become people with free status.

There are those who are dead set on returning to their hometowns and are ready to stay here for the rest of their lives. So he went to the officials and changed it to a military household. Then he went to the land under the administration of the military household and settled down in a divided plot. There is the one who does not give up, and still thinks that one day he can get the money back, and he is fierce and domineering, and he robs the new exiles here. If they come with money, they will take it back when they grab it. The officials seemed to be quite willing for them to treat us newcomers like this, and sometimes when they saw it, they not only did not come forward to stop it, but turned around and pretended not to see it.

Originally, I thought of taking out a silver ticket you gave me and exchanging it for some fine rice to cook porridge for my father. As a result, even the officials connived at those people like this, and I didn't dare to show them until now. Later, I learned that there were so many people who didn't go back because they didn't get entangled. I could only be trapped here, so I thought it would be better to save the silver ticket until the end of the exile period, and be a pestering for our family to go back. After all, I still have your sister-in-law and children at home, waiting for us to go back! ”

Xiaohu panicked in his heart, but he couldn't help Leader Zhao in such a situation. Just looking at the things that hadn't been taken down from the carriage outside the door, he was a little uneasy: "Brother Zhao! I brought a lot of rice, millet, bacon and dried rabbit meat this time, can you keep it? ”

As soon as Leader Zhao heard that there was rice, millet and meat, his eyes lit up, "Give it to me first, I want to hide it!" My dad ate bud rice all at once, and he didn't poop for a few days, and we were in a hurry to find a way. So saying, he got up and went to the carriage to carry his things.

Xiaohu looked at the impatient Leader Zhao, and finally saw the shadow that was full of energy, enthusiasm and boldness before, and couldn't help but want to laugh. "Brother Zhao, don't worry, since I brought it, I want it to be given to you, and I won't bring it back, what are you anxious about? Sit and sit and we continue to talk. ”

"Hey! That's good, that's good! Leader Zhao sat down on the broken stool behind him while his eyes were on the carriage, if it weren't for Xiaohu reaching out and moving the stool behind his buttocks, he would have fallen to his back.

"Brother Zhao! What are you doing outside in the middle of winter? When Leader Zhao heard Xiaohu's question, he reluctantly pulled out his two eyes from the carriage and transferred them back. He replied: "We don't let us rest all year round, and in winter, the snow on the ground freezes and we can't do anything else, so we dig a dark river underground." ”

"I see that the old man and your youngest son are not here, do they also have to go to work?"

"Hey! Whoever is exiled here must work, and if he does not work, there is no ration. Even the women had to do handicrafts, weaving straw sandals, baskets, straw mats, etc., and exchanging things for rations. Children under the age of seven do not have to work, but they are not given rations, and adults save them from their mouths. Otherwise, I said that the Peng family woman is very powerful, she is a woman with two children, and she has supported both of them, and I heard that her children are stronger than other people's children. Leader Zhao couldn't help but let out a sigh of admiration as he spoke.

The woman of the Peng family in his mouth is Peng Yunjiang's grandmother who Xiaohu said, and Xiaohu also heard a rough idea from Peng Yunjiang's mouth. At the end of the exile period, Peng Yunjiang and Peng Yunhai went to pick them up, and they were sent to their hometown Haizhou. This woman is indeed a powerful woman, as soon as she returned to her hometown and gained the power of the patriarch, she gathered the whole Peng family together and made a plan and arrangement for the future development direction and goals of the Peng family. In less than three years, I heard that although the Peng family has not yet gotten rid of the double disaster of raiding the family and suffering from the exile of the whole family, it has dealt a devastating blow. However, everyone's mentality has begun to change, from the original negativity, self-pity, cynicism, and burnout to actively seek a way out. The entire Peng family has begun to have a vigorous momentum again, and it has a much higher starting point than those small families who still live without desires.

Xiaohu didn't tell Leader Zhao that the powerful woman in his mouth was the woman Xiaohu mentioned before. While asking the boys who came with him to help move the things in the carriage into the house, he asked Leader Zhao: "Brother Zhao!" I heard that people from the West often come here to burn, kill and rob, did you encounter it last year? ”

Leader Zhao was looking at the salted duck with shiny skin, his mouth was full of relish, and he quietly swallowed his saliva. Hearing that Brother Wang began to ask questions to himself again, he had to answer Xiaohu attentively: "We're okay here!" Those people in the western Xinjiang know that we are a place of exile, poorer than them, and never come here to rob things, even if they pass through here, they go around, and they are afraid that the people here will rob their horses! ”

As soon as Xiaohu heard this, he subconsciously felt that something was wrong: "How can their Gentiles know so much about the affairs of our realm?" ”

Leader Zhao has never had any patriotic feelings, and he felt funny in the face of Xiaohu's serious expression. said: "What do you care about it! They won't be able to grab your house in this life. ”

Xiaohu didn't want Leader Zhao to know that his younger brother was an official here, so he smiled and didn't answer. But he still has some concern for this matter, even if those people from the West Xinjiang know it once, they can still know it in such detail, and the fact that they can avoid this area itself is a little suspicious, isn't this just like wandering in their own back garden?

However, if you want to ask, you should still ask: "Then Brother Zhao has heard others say that the people of Western Xinjiang usually bypass your place from?" ”

Leader Zhao thought for a moment and replied: "I came here once in the beginning of spring this year, and I came from the mountain to the north of us. In previous years, I didn't know, when we were working, we didn't let people talk together and spend time. ”

Xiaohu nodded and didn't speak, thinking about whether to take the boys to the mountain to see the terrain. I heard Leader Zhao ask: "That's right! Brother Wang, why did you come so far to see my brother? ”

"Ahh Me? I'm planning to open up a wasteland here, so I've brought a group of people here, and I'm thinking that you're here, so I'll stop by to have a look. ”

At this time, Leader Zhao couldn't understand it, and shouted: "There is no way for people to be here, why do you have to spend money to open up a wasteland here?" Those people from Western Xinjiang have to come over once a year to burn, kill and loot, and others can't escape yet, why do you want to go up? Listen to my brother, I don't have much money to spend now, so hurry back. ”

Xiaohu smiled and shook his head: "Thank you Brother Zhao for your concern, I know this matter in my heart." ”

"Alas! Since you said so, it must have been arranged a long time ago, and I won't persuade you much. ”

Xiaohu left the things, and was afraid that someone would come to rob Zhao and lead them to protect them, so he left two boys to help guard, and he himself took the other six to the north to see which passage on the mountain would be the way for those people from the west to go back and forth. (To be continued.) )