Chapter 2: Ying Ke (1)

When he returned home, Cheng Xiaojiu immediately told his mother that he and Ermao were going to recruit Xiangyong. He knew that his mother didn't want him to engage in this kind of industry where he was eating with a knife, so he tried to use it as easily and tactfully as possible. But after the words fell, the expression on his mother's face still surprised him.

It was a mixture of helplessness and disappointment, desolate and lonely. The moonlight of the summer night shines through the unobstructed window lattice, and the water pours down on the mother's face, illuminating the disappointment and unwillingness hidden in every wrinkle very clearly. Cheng Xiaojiu didn't dare to face his mother's face, slowly lowered his head, and added tentatively: "I have inquired, Xiangyong is not a cheap business, and he can continue to participate in the imperial examination in the future." Guantao is a lower county, there is no county, and the county commander is a civil official, and he doesn't know how to lead the troops, so the training will not be too strict. I go to the school during the day to meet the mao, and I can go home at night to review my studies, and I will definitely not delay the next imperial examination! Besides, the more I know a few figures in the officialdom, the more opportunities I will have to be recommended for the next imperial examination! ”

He babbled and said, lest his mother speak out and stop him. Cheng Zhu listened quietly, without inserting a word from beginning to end. Not even a cough, not a sigh. Cheng Xiaojiu soon couldn't say any more, raised his head, and looked at his mother with very humble eyes, he saw that the white hair on his mother's forehead was swept by the night breeze, and the stars reflected the moonlight. Every gray hair is the result of the family's hard work, and for more than ten years, every time he grows up, the gray hair on his mother's sideburns has increased a little.

He quickly lowered his head again and announced that he had changed his mind, "If my mother is afraid that I will encounter risks, then I will go to Yaxing tomorrow and let Ermao go to recruit Xiangyong alone?" Anyway, Xiang Yong's treatment is not very good? Not necessarily more than being a bodyguard! ”

Cheng Zhu shook his head gently, as if he had just understood Cheng Xiaojiu's meaning, and slowly spoke, "If you want to go, you can go to be a village warrior, so you don't have to go far away." It's just that you should be careful, although the county government is small, it is also an officialdom! ”

"I listen to you, and I will never provoke right and wrong!" Cheng Xiaojiu heard that his mother's tone had softened, and he hurriedly smiled and promised.

"Of course I believe you won't cause trouble!" Cheng Zhu sighed softly, and a little smile appeared on his face, "When you grow up, you should have an opinion on everything." Mother shouldn't interfere too much! ”

"Mother, where are you!" Cheng Xiaojiu moved to his mother's side, salivating and 'protesting', "No matter how big I grow, aren't they all your sons?" If you think I shouldn't do anything, just say yes. I'm sure not against your will! ”

"You kid, how old are you!" Cheng Zhu was amused by the lazy expression on his son's face, and stretched out his hand to poke Xiao Jiu's forehead, "Go, my mother won't stop you." After all, our family is not as good as before, otherwise, my mother will not let you go to be a little follower for the officials anyway! ”

Probably remembering the past grandeur of the Cheng family, she sighed again and lowered her voice to advise, "But you must remember that don't be strong, and don't be bullied." There are gods three feet up, what people have done, although God does not speak, but he can see clearly! ”

"Well, I definitely won't do anything ashamed of the ancestors of the Cheng family!" Cheng Xiaojiu nodded solemnly.

"The point is, you have to learn to protect yourself!" Cheng Zhu shook his head and smiled again.

"Don't worry, three or five ordinary men may not be my opponents!" Cheng Xiaojiu flexed his arms hard, and the muscles on his big arms immediately swelled up, filling half of his sleeves.

"If you really hurt people, you need to use your strength! You kid ,....," Cheng Zhu added with a smile. Halfway through her words, she had already seen her son rummaging through boxes and cabinets to sort out the outfits he was going to wear tomorrow morning, shook his head, and swallowed the rest of the words back into his stomach.

She knew that no matter how much she wasted at this time, her son would not be able to understand. This has nothing to do with whether the son is filial to himself or not, the young man has the ambition to be a Qingyun, and the life experience of his parents is just a fetter for them at this time. It is only when they are touched that they are reminded of the nagging and long-winded old talk that was once tiresome and contemptuous. will suddenly understand that many trap parents have already reminded them, but because they were too angry at the time, they forgot all about it after turning around.

At present, the Cheng family can get their hands on it, but it is just a kudzu cloth knee-length narrow sleeve short beat, a pair of fine linen pants, a pair of thick-soled fast boots and a black hat. They are all old things used by Cheng Xiaojiu's father back then, and the color has long faded, so there is no need to worry about violating the system. These clothes were originally kept for Cheng Xiaojiu to wear when he grew up, so they looked a little too fat, and Cheng Zhu was reluctant to cut and redo them, so he used needles to connect the surplus parts with needles overnight, so he barely made them look a little neat.

Despite this, Cheng Xiaojiu's dress has stood out among the more than 1,000 strong men who came to the county government to apply. Even his good friend Wang Ermao was reluctant to stand too close to him, looked at his bare feet, and then looked at the boots on his good friend's feet, and kept sourly and ridiculed: "Little Brother Jiu, are you planning to go on a blind date today?" Dressed so neatly? If I were the county lord, I would definitely be the first to order you. Nothing else, just dress up like this, tsk, where is this Xiangyong, the captain must have such momentum! ”

"Don't be verbose, follow me in a while!" Cheng Xiaojiu stretched out his hand and poked Ermao, and stuffed a few pieces of black stuff into the palm of the other party's hand, "Chew it first, top of your strength!" ”

"What, uh-huh!" Wang Ermao paused for a moment, then felt the oiliness in his palm, lowered his head, and quickly stuffed a piece of dried meat into his mouth. The long-lost aroma of meat made his mouth water, and between breaths, he had swallowed all the pieces of meat into his stomach.

There was an immediate warm feeling in the stomach and intestines, which filled the whole body with energy. He walked a few steps quickly, put his hand on Cheng Xiaojiu's shoulder, lowered his voice and asked, "Where did you get the dried meat, Brother Xiaojiu, the dried meat you made is really fragrant." What kind of meat? I don't think I've ever eaten this big! ”

"Long worm, I caught it by the moonlight last night!" Cheng Xiaojiu glanced at Ermao and quickly hooked his chin, "Don't vomit, you can only have strength if you eat meat." If there is no oil and water in the stomach, it will definitely not be able to lift the spirits! ”

Wang Ermao stretched out his hand to cover his mouth, and tried his best to suppress the discomfort in his stomach and intestines. The children of poor families are not so particular, and things like voles and frogs are delicious in his eyes. But this slippery and spitting core viper is the most feared thing for children in the north. He said to eat, and it itched all over his body when he thought about it.

"Follow me, don't be pushed behind!" Cheng Xiaojiu smiled proudly and continued to take Wang Ermao to drill forward from the gap in the crowd. Both of them got up to apply for the job as soon as the day was shining, but they were still lagging behind. Fortunately, at this moment, the officials in the yamen have not yet come, and with the chaotic strength of the crowd, they still have a chance to infiltrate the front row.

The plain and empty entrance was crowded with strong men who came to apply. It's not easy to find food to eat these days, so everyone has taken the initiative to ignore the risks that Dang Xiangyong may face. As for the legendary cannibalistic Zhang Jin, he said that there is definitely no hunger more terrible at present, at least before he arrives, and those who become rural warriors will still have the opportunity to eat white rice for a few days.

Contrary to the bustle on the side of the recruits, there has been no movement at the entrance of the yamen. A recruitment notice written on a piece of yellow paper was posted on the wall next to the side door, and the big characters were dazzling by the morning sun.

"You say, Master Lin won't take everyone to relieve his boredom!" Dizzy from the summer sun, a strong man asked his companion in a hoarse voice.

"Then why don't you hurry up and find something to do elsewhere!" A series of "advice" sounds immediately came to mind. "Go back, Yu Laosi, maybe there is a big job on the dock today!" "That's right, Fourth Master, I saw Uncle Li from Yaxing looking for you all over the city!"

"you, you want to trick me into leaving, you have one less rival, no way!" The strong man known as Yu Laosi rolled up his arms and sleeves and responded with a smile, "Who can eat this bowl of rice, everyone has real skills." If you want me to make way for Yu Laosi, I promise, but my fist doesn't agree! ”

"Well, the fourth brother is a good boxer, maybe he can be a general in the future!" Everyone was bored and continued to make fun of Yu Laosi.

"If I really had the ability to be a general, I would have gone to recruit Xiaoguo a long time ago! Hehe" Yu Laosi was a soft and hard hob meat, patted his neck, and said with a smile: "Our head can eat a few bowls of dry rice, we know for ourselves." Be a townsman, just to mix those three buckets of rice. Whoever feeds me is full, I will do it for whomever I want. Anyway, it's all hard work, and it's the same thing how you sell it! ”

"Fourth brother's words are true!" The strong men laughed again, and they all turned their heads sideways, discussing with the people around them that the treatment on the list was a little bit of a possibility. Three buckets of rice is not much, but it is enough to feed four or five people! The county lord has always been ruled by inaction, and he has been in the museum for so many years, and he has never done anything.

With the distraction of the conversation, the sunlight above the head and the hunger in the stomach are less difficult. Everyone waited for another two hours, and when the sun rose overhead, there was finally movement at the wide and majestic entrance of the yamen. With the sound of a piercing gong, several helpers with long whips rushed out violently.

"Stand farther away, stand farther away! You prisoners brought out of the womb! "The old man Jiang that Cheng Xiaojiu has seen is majestic, murderous, dancing with a long whip, walking among thousands of strong men as if he was in a no-man's land.

led a group of apprentices and grandchildren to force the men who came to apply for recruitment back more than a dozen steps, and only then did Jiang Yingying Shi Ran return to the steps of the yamen and stand up, shouting loudly: "Master Zunlin of the county order, all those who come to apply must have a clean family background, be upright, and have a document guarantee." In addition, those who have a disability, those who are not strong-willed, and those who are not physically energetic are not taken. Did you hear it all? ”

"Hear me clearly!" The crowd, who had already been dizzy from the sun, was eager for the recruitment to begin immediately, and responded with their voices drawn.

Master Jiang smiled and nodded, his gaze slowly roaming over everyone's faces. It can be seen that he likes this feeling of being on top very much, and after being self-absorbed for a while, he cleared his throat and shouted loudly: "Lin County has an order, all recruited strong men immediately go to the small school to sign up, and hire the best, only the best move!" ”

"Boom!" The crowd immediately boiled the pot. "The small school field is more than three miles away from here! Master Jiang?! "Someone can't believe their ears and reminds loudly. Looking back, he saw that his companions had already spread their legs, and quickly strangled the hemp rope on his stomach, and ran as fast as he could towards the small school field on the northeast side of the city.

"It's too far to rest at home! Death row prisoners brought out of the womb! The archer surnamed Jiang responded viciously, raised his head, and saw that everyone had already run away, spitting on the ground, his face full of contempt, "A group of death row prisoners, rushing to die." Hey, let's see how many full meals you can eat! ”

After scolding, he nodded and ordered the idlers to take their BMW horses, jumped on the shoulders of the little prison and jumped on the mounts, and slowly hurried to the school field to watch the excitement.

This idea of temporarily recruiting Xiang Yong originally came from the hands of his master Guo Zhutou, so the details of the archer surnamed Jiang are clear. On the surface, the conditions set forth in this conscription order were very strict, but in fact, all those who applied on the first day would be accepted by the yamen as ordered, and none of them would be left behind.

At this time, Lin Deen, the commander of Guantao County, was afraid that there were few people who came to eat grain, and he was not afraid that there were many people who came to receive rice. Although he promised each villager three buckets of rice per month, Jiang Archer knew that the number of people who had the life to eat these three buckets of rice would definitely not exceed half of them! And those who die unexpectedly are not entitled to a pension. The list of recruiting villagers in the yamen has long been clearly explained, everyone has a responsibility to defend the township, and it is all voluntary to eat food and become a soldier.

Not only that, but Jiang Archer also knew that just five days ago, that is, the day after the thunder slammed down the east city wall, Jia Zhutou, who had the best martial arts skills in the yamen, was beaten to the point of spitting blood at the city gate after teasing a woman without success. The person who injured him was said to be a father and daughter who had gone into the city to sell medicinal herbs, and the old man was nearly 50 years old, and it looked like he could fall to his death at any moment. The small one is just cardamom, and it is as bright as a lily.

When more than a dozen archers, helpers, and prisoners heard the news, they immediately got entangled and went to avenge Jia Zhutou. Everyone chased out of the city two miles outside the city with the strength of the crowd, but in Baimapo, in the east of the city, they were all overturned by the father and daughter who sold medicinal herbs with their bare hands. Fortunately, the white horse slope was too close to the city gate, and the father and daughter who sold the medicine did not dare to kill, so the gangsters picked up their lives and came back. After coming back, according to the government's wanted notice, where is the father and daughter who are ordinary people who sell medicine, it is clearly the giant Zhang Jin who said that the three masters under his command are sick and impermanent, Du Scar and his daughter, the jade-faced Rakshasa azalea!

"Death row prisoners brought out of the womb!" Thinking about the cause of the recruitment order, the archer surnamed Jiang scolded again. Five days ago, people just came to explore the reality of Tao County. The next time the Du father and daughter come to Guantao again, how can this seemingly quiet small county in front of them escape the fate of corpses all over the field and rivers of blood?