Thinking of Zhao Erguan's kind reminder, the wine in Li Mao's mouth began to be bitter. The Great Sui Dynasty had regulations prohibiting the conscription of the old and weak into the army, and also forbade the conscription of the only son of the family to join the army. But those are all stipulated by the old emperor, to put it mildly, when the old emperor was alive, the new emperor didn't take his regulations seriously, not to mention that the old emperor has been dead for so many years!

No matter how bitter or reluctant you are, there are still some things that must be done. There is no escaping from it, and the more you escape, the more panicked you will be when it comes to the end. Li Mao sighed, gently put down the wine glass, and said to his son, who was eating heavily: "At the beginning of next month, there is a caravan going to Saiwai, led by an old acquaintance of mine, surnamed Sun ........"

"Uh-huh!" Li Xu agreed absentmindedly, holding a large bowl of mutton soup in one hand and grabbing only half of the Hu cake in the other. Li Zhang's felt sorry for his son, and kept gently persuading him beside him: "Slow down, slow down, don't choke, there's more in the pot!" ”

"The leader of the team is called Sun Anzu, an old acquaintance of mine. I think you're getting older, so it's time to go out and see what's in the market! Li Mao was ruthless, lowered his head and said loudly.

"Well, I haven't seen a caravan look like yet!" Li Xu put down the bowl and replied briskly. Suddenly, he understood what his father meant, his eyes widened, and he murmured, "Dad, you, you mean .......!" ”

"Dad is getting older, I want you to run out of the plug for me!" Li Mao didn't dare to look into his son's eyes, and tried to repeat his meaning in a gentle tone.

"I, my strategy is the best in the school. I, I can write the entire Analects silently! I'm ......" Half of the Hu Cake in Li Xu's hand fell to the ground. At this time yesterday, my father was still discussing with himself whether to take the Ming Sutra or the Jinshi examination, but today, he has become a merchant who goes out of the Sai for him.

That wasn't his dream! In Li Xu's dream, there have been those who have been admitted to the Jinshi to stand in the court, and there have also been those who have held a lance on a horse to dominate the field, and the most common dream is to wear an official uniform with a household groove, buy a big house on the edge of the county school in Shanggu County, and take their parents in, and they can eat and drink, and they can also let Zhao Er be in charge, and Yang Lao Bald Man These scenes are bowing down to their ears. In the dreams of all the teenagers, only he did not become a businessman like his father, running around the country every year, and he couldn't get a few dollars in the sun and rain, and he was bullied by the government, the elders of the clan, and the local ruffians.

And once he became a businessman, according to the practice of the Great Sui Dynasty, he automatically gave up his identity as a child of a good family, and he would never be able to participate in the imperial examination again.

"Dad, Dad, this is no way!" Lao Li Mao faced his son's gaze shamelessly and dodged to explain.

Li Xu looked at his father and never believed this answer. Although the family is poor, it can be regarded as rich compared to the extreme poverty in the neighborhood. There is no need to give a gift money to the teacher to study in the county school, and the government usually provides students with two meals a day. Although there was little grease in that meal, if it weren't for the need to help my mother with household chores, I could almost stay in school and only go home once a month for dinner.......

Li Zhang was silent, turned around, and kept wiping away tears. The son is not ignorant, it is precisely because he is so sensible that it is extremely difficult for parents to make such a big decision for him. If there is no damn Goryeo, if the emperor doesn't always think about the ...... of Siyibin. That's all things she can't control, and now, the only thing she can do is her son.

"It's not like there is no money at home for you! When the war is about to be fought, Shanggu County draws one by one, and all the children of good families bring their own armor and weapons to join the army. Dad wants you to avoid the jam for the reason of business, and then come back to take care of your mother when the army is pulled out in the next year! Li Mao couldn't bear the pressure in his heart, and finally decided to tell the truth. Although forcing his son to be a deserter is not a glorious act, this reason can be somewhat explained by people than letting his son misunderstand that he is burying his future in order to save money.

"I don't go outside the Saiwai, I will be a soldier when I am a soldier, and I will be famous but I will take ...... right away!" Li Xu heard his father tell the real reason, and a stone in his heart immediately fell to the ground, and he said nonchalantly.

"Smack!" A burning pain in his cheeks interrupted him. His father, who had always been amiable, stood up and slapped him in the face. In an instant, Li Mao's old face, which was full of wrinkles from wind and frost and time, turned blue-black, pricked up his eyes, and scolded loudly: "Shut up, take fame right away." You stared wide-eyed, hundreds of households in the same township, which family had come back alive to take fame! In the eighteenth year of the emperor's expedition to the east, he went to 300,000 and died 299,000......"

"Well, what do you do with you!" Li Zhang's threw himself over and hugged his son in his arms. wanted to comfort his son, but before he could speak, tears fell all over his face.

"Dad-" Li Xu covered his face and screamed softly, tears the size of beans rolling down his fingers. This slap completely slapped him, and he instinctively wanted to say a few soft words to apologize to his father, but he didn't know what he was wrong. 'Gain fame but take it right away', the ancestral teachings of the clan and the teachings of the husband are like this, but this truth has become a disobedient and unfilial speech in front of his father.

Li Mao looked at his son, and then at his wife, his heart ached, and his anger disappeared without a trace in an instant. He sat back on the stool and said in frustration, "Tomorrow you have resigned to the Master, and you are ready to get out of the plug!" Your brother has already become a lonely ghost, I can't send you out again, in that way, I will die in the future, and I will not have the face to see my ancestors. ”

Hearing her husband talk about her eldest son, Li Zhang's was even more sad, hugging her son's shoulders and whimpering: "Xuzi, listen to your father!" Yes! Mother doesn't expect you to glorify your ancestors. I only hope that you will live this life peacefully, marry a daughter-in-law, and have a son. Your brother followed the tall man out of the jam back then, and he rode and ejaculated the most ....... among the three hundred people."

In Li Xu's memory, he no longer remembered his brother's appearance at all. He was only two years old in the eighteenth year of the emperor's reign, and according to his mother, he rode on his brother's neck all day long to watch soldiers. Later, my brother was also drafted into the army, and later, all I remember is my father's sigh and my mother's tears.......

Old man Yang of the county school is always so wise in Li Xu's eyes. A few days later, when he muttered that he was going to quit school and run a layman for his father, Old Master Yang immediately exclaimed, "Is there another war?" You can't even read a book? ”

"Sir, father's order, father's order is hard to disobey!" Li Xudeng's face was red, his head was lowered, and his voice was as thin as a gnat.

"No wonder, no wonder, you are an only child at home. And Ling Zun is nearly fifty years old, if you are asked to do Liaodong dry bones, your Li family will have to cut off the incense. Alas, it's a pity that you have an article, I originally wrote a letter to a few old friends, and I was going to ask them to take care of one or two after the Ming Jing test in the coming year! There was no blame in Old Master Yang's words, just an indescribable regret.

"Thank you, Mr. for your love, although the disciple is blessed, this kindness will never be forgotten!" Li Xu leaned down and reached the ground. In the past few years of study, Master Yang has taken great care of him, and I don't know how many times he has opened a small stove. From the scriptures, arithmetic to poetry and strategy, it is almost a pour-out. Even the notes written in the army when he followed Yang Sunan, the Duke of Yue, did not prohibit him, a nominal disciple, from reading them. It's just that with Li Xu's age and knowledge, he can be familiar with it when he recites it, but he really understands it, but he is not as good as one or two out of ten.

Old Master Yang waved his hand and let out a long sigh in return. "Well, your father has his own reasons for doing this. This crusade was defeated and unwon. Shengdou Xiaomin can see it, but all the princes of the court are blind! ”

"The disciple has been taught for many years, and there is no way to repay him. These jars of light wine are not worth getting drunk! Li Xu sighed and pointed to a few jars of old wine outside the courtyard and said. The success or failure of the Eastern Crusade has nothing to do with him. After today, he is no longer a child of a good family, according to the rules since the Han Dynasty, business is a cheap industry, such as the Eastern Crusade, businessmen are not qualified to discuss. After that, Old Master Yang's house, unless there was something to ask for, he could no longer visit casually as before. Otherwise, even if the old and young of the Yang family didn't drive him out, the other well-educated Confucians would laugh at the old master Yang for not being very sociable and willing to be a businessman.

Old Master Yang for this? The disciples who came to the door and took the initiative to resign have always felt that they were in love. He has been up and down for half his life, he has seen a lot of wind and waves, and he doesn't have so many fetters in his heart when he is old. smiled and said, "People say that business is a cheap business, but I have never seen it that way as a teacher. The nobility of a person depends on his heart, and his heart is expensive, even if he is a pawn of a peddler, it is difficult to hide his heroic spirit. His heart is cheap, standing on top of the temple, and he is also despicable and filthy, and his reputation is far and wide. Your cousin is given by me, and it is naturally a disciple under my name. A teacher for one day, a teacher for life. No matter whether you are a business or a thief in the future, the master will eventually be open to you! ”

"Thank you, Master, for your advice!" Li Xu lifted the hem of his robe and bowed. Since he was a child, he has read the books of sages, and the high and low of all walks of life have long been engraved in his heart like an inscription. So since he learned last night that he was unable to escape the fate of the businessman, Li Xu has been haunted by this. Old Master Yang's words were equivalent to opening a window above his head. In the sky that suddenly turned gray, he instantly saw the color of the sun.