Zhu You carried a piece of meat, dragged it away, and walked south. Now that the sun is rising, the nearby grass market is about to disperse, so while it is not too hot, I can rush home early and do some farm work. After walking more than 100 steps, I turned my head and suddenly found a man and a woman standing under a willow tree on the side of the road. The two young men held hands and looked at each other like glue.

Zhu You looked at it and smiled secretly in his heart. Who doesn't have a teenager, a girl will be a lover, that's it. Just as he was about to move forward, he suddenly felt that the man's side face was a little familiar. Look carefully, it turns out that this person recognizes, isn't it the second lang of the eldest brother's family?

After thinking for a while, Zhu You moved to the side of the road and looked for a big tree to hide. Erlang is eighteen years old, and when he reaches the age of talking about marriage, it is a good thing to have a sweetheart. The two like each other, and they save a lot of things in the back, so they can't bother them.

Leaning on the trunk of the tree, Zhu You looked at the two from time to time. Seeing that the two of them had been standing there, as if they were sticky, they just couldn't be separated, so they had to look at the sky helplessly. Young people of this age don't have a few words to say, and they are reluctant to part as soon as they meet.

At this time, late June is the hottest time of the year. After a while, the sun rose, and it was hot, and it was really uncomfortable. Zhu You was about to find a shady place to hide from the heat, but saw that the two of them were separated.

The girl turned back three times and went north. Until he couldn't see the shadow, Erlang was still standing under the tree, looking at it stupidly.

Zhu You returned to the road, quietly came to Erlang, and suddenly said, "Erlang, what are you looking at here?" ”

Erlang was taken aback, turned his head to see that it was the third uncle, and hurriedly said, "Nothing." Today here is the grass market, I will play. If you are tired of walking, take a break here, and wait for no one. ”

Zhu You smiled secretly in his heart, and he didn't say anything, and said, "The sun is up, the weather is hot, let's go home quickly." ”

This is Xiongzhou, with many waters, vast and sparsely populated, and there are no households along the way. After walking five or six miles, there was a village in front of me, with seven or eight families, surrounded by large trees. Two earth dogs stood at the entrance of the village, looking at the two of them, full of momentum.

Zhu You said: "It's hot, you go to my house to rest for a while, and wait for a thousand queens to cool down before leaving." I bought meat today and drank two glasses of wine with me. ”

Erlang naturally agreed, and followed Zhu You into the village. After walking through a few houses, I arrived at a courtyard in the south of the village. The main house of three thatched huts has a fence in front of it, and there is a vegetable garden outside the fence, as well as a small pond.

Zhu You lives in this village, three miles away from his eldest brother's village. He was a bold man, a good friend, and had not yet married a wife at the age of thirty. He didn't live with his eldest brother's family, and he didn't discipline him.

When I entered the courtyard, I sat down under a plane tree next to the door. Zhu You prepared tea and let Erlang drink tea.

After drinking a few cups of tea, the heat subsided, and Zhu You said: "When I came back just now, I saw you and a little lady there. Who is that little lady? It looks very thoughtful. ”

Hearing this, Erlang almost spit out a sip of tea, and his face turned red all of a sudden. After a while, he refused to admit it.

Zhu You smiled: "I see it all in my eyes, how can I deny it?" Then the lady is gone, and you still stand there and watch for a while. Just tell me, I'll go to my eldest brother and talk about it, and I'll set up a family affair for you. ”

Erlang sighed: "Don't hide it from the second uncle, that little lady's surname is Qin, and she is the daughter of a family in Hebei." His family is also an ordinary farmer, and he met me at a grass market. Because of the joy in my heart, I often come here to meet when I am in the grass market. ”

Zhu You couldn't help frowning when he heard this: "How is this good?" The court forbade us to marry the Northlanders. If you find such a person, it will be difficult to do it in the future. Even if your parents agree, the court will not obey you. ”

When Erlang heard this, he couldn't help frowning: "What the second uncle said is that I am also worried about this matter." Recently, I thought that if there is no way, it is better to let their family move to Henan. These days, the Khitan is arresting people and building soldiers, and I heard that Zhuozhou City is going to be repaired. ”

Zhu You nodded: "I heard that at the beginning of the year, the Khitan suffered on Hedong Road and lost Shuozhou. In order to prevent the imperial court, the border has been repairing the city recently. Zhuozhou is on the northbound avenue, and the Khitans naturally want to repair it. ”

Erlang said: "Yes, her younger brother is only eleven years old, if he is in the army, Daddy will definitely be arrested, and the family is sad about it." If you move to Henan, we won't say, who knows! ”

Zhu You couldn't help but smile bitterly when he heard this: "Silly boy, this is Xiongzhou, we are two subordinate households, how many families are there, the yamen is clear, how can it be wrong?" For a moment, the matter could not be done. ”

Erlang couldn't help but have a bitter face when he heard this, and picked up a cup of tea.

After thinking for a while, Zhu You said, "However, you don't have to be sad about this. I heard people say that last year, the imperial court destroyed the party, and this year it defeated the Khitan on Hedong Road, and the imperial court became angry and fought against the Khitan again. When the time comes, who cares about these things! ”

Erlang couldn't help but shake his head when he heard this: "Second uncle, we have been here for decades, and it is the Khitans who have the upper hand, how can there be a war?" It's like us two losers, Emperor Taizong was exempted from taxes, and the Khitans immediately levied it, which one said anything? ”

"You don't understand, it's not like it used to be. Du Taiwei of the imperial court trained tens of thousands of horses in Suizhou, defeated the Khitan several times in succession, killed the Khitan lord, and opened up the river meandering road thousands of miles away. Captain Du used his soldiers like a god, never defeated, and even destroyed the party last year. Now that Taiwei Du is working as a privy envoy in the imperial court and has trained soldiers, how can he not come to recover Yanyun? ”

Zhu You spoke up, raised the teacup, and drank the tea in the cup.

Jiro is an ordinary country boy, where have you heard of these things? Listening to the second uncle's lively talk, he told him to listen to himself.

Zhu You said: "Wait a minute, I'll cook the meat I bought, and I'll tell you later." If it weren't for our two subordinate households, the court would not allow me to join the army as a government officer, and I would like to join the army and fight for an official and a half position in the battle array. ”

So saying, he got up, went outside to the vegetable garden, plucked two turnips, and cooked them with the meat. Zhu You lives alone, and he doesn't know how to cook, so he just cut large pieces and put them in the pot.

Erlang drank tea and watched the second uncle busy there, thinking about what he just said. If the imperial court can really restore Yanyun in the north, this matter of its own will really be solved. At that time, they belonged to the same country, and where were these rules.

Xiongzhou was originally the Waqiao Pass of Zhuozhou, and Zhou Shizu Chai Rong went north, took here, and established Xiongzhou as a new one. Under the jurisdiction of Guixin, Rongcheng two counties, all of which govern the city of Xiongzhou. These two counties only have the name of the county, but they are actually a county of Zhi, and they are all attached to Guo County in Xiongzhou.

The Song and Khitan were bounded by the Juma River, and Rongcheng and Guixin County both crossed the Juma River, which was actually shared by the Khitan and the Northern Song Dynasty. The land north of the Yishui River and south of the Juma River is under the joint management of the two countries. The Song Dynasty was in charge of administrative affairs and errand labor, while the Khitan collected taxes and also levied errand labor. These people are known as the two losers, and they are both surrounded by the two countries and subject to many restrictions.

The Zhu You brothers belonged to the two losing households, but the errand returned to the Song Dynasty and only lost rent to the Khitan. In order to prevent these people from doing Khitan work, the Song Dynasty did not allow them to move casually, nor did they allow them to marry Khitan women.

The two losers are relatively special, and the households on both sides of the Juma River often come and go. It is precisely because of this that by chance, Zhu Erlang got acquainted with the little lady Qin in the north. It's just that the two want to get married, and it's not that easy.