In the winter of this year, the Huaidong area was extremely cold, and it had just entered the wax moon, and dense and fine snowflakes fell from the sky. Especially in the south of Huaishui, looking at the plains, without shelter, facing the sea in the east, it belongs to the temperate monsoon climate, and the four seasons have always been distinct, but such heavy snow is also rare for more than ten years.

Winter snow is very good for agricultural production, snow can isolate the cold air from the outside world, and give winter wheat some protection - but Huainan is mainly planted with rice, and the planting range of wheat is very small, so it can be left alone. And after the snow melts, the nitrogen contained in it can enhance soil fertility, and can also freeze to death many overwintering pests, although the ancients did not know why, but after years of experience accumulation, for the benefit of winter snow, or generally understood.

It is said that the elders of the tun reclamation land therefore offered tribute to the county government, thanking the government for their benevolence and virtue, so that they could be blessed by heaven and bring down snow. Han Confucianism said that "heaven and man are one", so it must be the work of the ruler to adjust the wind and rain, and the disaster must be due to the lack of virtue of the politicians, and the peasants should have looked at the sky to eat, but they were distorted to watch the government to eat—in this case, how dare you disrespect the government, do not pay taxes, and should not be recruited?

But for Bian Yan, the commander of Guangling County, the winter snow also caused him a lot of trouble, because the heavy snow covered the fields and obscured the roads, making the march of the troops carrying grain to Zhongzhou Henan slow. The slower the road, the more food you will eat on the road, and the cost will increase by more than 40% inside and out......

Bian Yan frowned all day long, hoping that after Pei made the Jun soldiers enter Henan, he could mobilize a lot of grain on the spot, and he didn't have to rely on Xuzhou for supply and transportation, otherwise, once the grain transportation was poor, resulting in defeat, wouldn't he Bian Wangzhi become a sinner through the ages?

It's just that Xun Song and Pengcheng Xiangxiong Yuan, who are temporarily taking pictures of Pi political affairs, are also sad and busy - although the snow in Huaibei is not as big as in Huainan, it will also play a certain role in hindering transportation after all, which is something that no one expected before the expedition.

However, for ordinary people, most of them do not have such troubles. Originally, the winter was cold, and the poor people easily did not go out, so how much impact can it have on their lives if it does not snow? As for the rich and noble, they have their own charcoal at home to keep warm, and they can wear fur to keep out the cold when they go out, although the vehicle is not easy to gallop on the snow, but there is not much hindrance to riding a horse. And for the Huainan area, such a heavy snow is rare to see in ten years, the sky and the earth are vast, wrapped in silver, clear and white, it is really a beautiful scenery, it is worth taking a closer look.

For example, at this moment, outside Huaiyin City, near the junction of Huaishui and Surabaya, a splendid curtain has been erected, which is enough to shelter from the cold wind. In the middle of the curtain, the snow has been swept away, and there is a large copper stove that is thick enough to burn smokeless incense charcoal, and the heat is steaming, and it is as warm as spring. The ground next to the copper stove was covered with thick felt, on which not only were a few cases and other things placed, but also a young girl wrapped in a white fox fur was sleeping soundly.

The girl was not tall and short among her peers, but her limbs were well-proportioned and did not appear to be stubby. It can be described in a word that is not so appropriate, called "specific and subtle", the girl looks extremely delicate in terms of posture, limbs, and appearance, she lies on her side on the felt, the white fox fur is wrapped very tightly, but a pair of white jade feet without socks are stretched out - it can be seen that there is a charcoal stove next to it, and the fox fur is on the body, in fact, it does not feel cold.

Toward dusk, the maiden at last awoke, stretched her limbs, stretched out her hand and rubbed her eyes, and looked around, and there was no second person in the tent—the soldiers who were guarding them stood naturally outside the tent, and no one dared to be summoned, and no one dared to enter. But where did all the servants go?

Feeling confused, she listened to the sound of horses' hooves outside the tent—because she had returned from stepping on snow, the sound of hooves was muffled, and she did not hear it until it was very close. The girl got up as soon as she got up, and before she could think about what she should do, she heard a crisp voice outside the curtain: "Is the cat still sleeping?" ”

The girl quickly responded: "Wake up, wake up early." He hurriedly raised his hands and rubbed his hole, then ran to the felt side, put on his shoes, lifted the curtain, and ran towards the voice in a hurry.

The knight who spoke was not dressed much, except for a leopard-skin jacket over his single coat, and his head was combed in a high bun, and his forehead was warmed by mink. She carried a horse bow and a quiver around her waist, a reins in her right hand, and a gray hare with an arrow in her left hand.

Beside the knight, surrounded by servants—they had all been greeted a long time ago—the girl unceremoniously squeezed into the crowd, and curts: "The lady has finally returned." ”

"Lady" is the slave's name for the master's mother, this horse knight, is the lord of a state here Pei Gai's newly married wife Xun - Pei Gai privately called his name, called "Xun Guan Niang".

Xun Guanniang handed the dead rabbit in her hand to a servant, then dismounted and strode into the tent. The girl followed closely, waiting for Xun Guanniang to take off her shoes and board the felt, and then hurriedly unfolded the white fox fur and draped it on her body for the main mother: "The lady sweats on a horse, and she must prevent the wind and cold." Xun Guanniang waved her hand and dusted off the fox fur, and said with a smile: "There is charcoal fire roasting, how can it be cold?" It's a cat, and if you don't move, you should wear more clothes to go out. ”

This maid known as "Mao'er" was originally Xun Guanniang's dowry maid, and in Xun Song's vision, she should take the responsibility of "concubine" - of course, she is too young to worry. In a broad sense, "媵" refers to a person who is married, whether male or female; In its narrow sense, it only refers to the substitute for marrying a daughter - in ancient times, nobles married daughters, often with sisters or nieces, which is equivalent to buying one and getting one free, so as to consolidate the good of the two races; As for the common people, they don't pay attention to this, and the two girls or even more female relatives marry the same person? That has to be raised by my uncle.

So when it comes to identity, this "cat" is not an ordinary maid, and she is naturally a head taller than the marryman.

"Cat" is delicate, lazy, sensitive, and indeed cat-like, but that's not where her name comes from, but simply because she has the surname Cat. The cat is not a Chinese surname, but a barbarian surname in the southern part of Jingzhou and parts of Xiangzhou, and those barbarians are said to have been called after the "three seedlings" in ancient times, so they took "cat" as their surname - because at that time, the words cat, meow, and Miao were homophonic.

The pronunciation is Miao, but it is written as a cat, why is this so, even if it is as knowledgeable as Xun Song or even Pei Gai, I can't understand it. It may be due to the habitual contempt of the Chinese scholars for foreign races, and they deliberately added a "pig" next to it, saying that they are not human, and they are like beasts - in ancient times, there were "lynx", and in later generations, there were "bucks" (Zhuang), "Qi" (Yao), etc., all of which mean this. Of course, it may also be the name of the Chinese character proposed by the Miao people themselves, because at that time the domestic cat had just been introduced to the Central Plains, and it was not popular, the so-called "cat", or its large genus and species "raccoon", mostly referred to wild small cats, that thing was not only not cute, but also very fierce.

Mao'er's father is the patriarch of a barbarian tribe in the south of Jingzhou, thinking that Xun Song had just entered Jing and fought with the local tyrants, so Mao led people to help, and later died in battle to save Xun Song. Xun Song therefore accepted his orphan girl into the house as a maid, but he supported his daughter as his own - Xun Guanniang also regarded the cat as his sister.

This time, the cat saw the snowfall, and she was very surprised - before entering Xun Mansion, she had lived in the south of the Yangtze River for a long time, and she had never seen a few snows in her life, let alone so big - so she pestered Xun Guanniang to come to the suburbs to watch the snow. But when she really got out of the city, Xun Guanniang, who originally wanted to change her old habits and be a quiet and gentle housewife from now on, finally couldn't hold back her temperament, and galloped out to hunt; The cat soon got tired of the snow, and just curled up by the charcoal stove and snoozed......

Therefore, Xun Guanniang asked her: "Isn't the snow scene outside?" The cat pouted and said, "At first, it looked very good, but after a long time, it was just like that, or it was dazzling...... Lady, let's hurry back to the city. ”

A middle-aged servant who followed up also bowed his hand and said, "Please return to the city quickly, don't sleep outside the city." ”

This servant's name is Pei Fu, who has served the main branch of Wenxi Pei's family for generations, and later followed Pei Gai's brother Pei Song to Pengguan to lobby Chen Wu, after Pei Song was killed, he struggled to survive, and only then did he get the opportunity to come to Huaiyin and return to Pei. It is because Pei should look at Pei Fu differently, although he has no official name, he is already the housekeeper of the Pei family, since Xun Guanniang married into the Pei family, the time is not long, and it is inconvenient to treat Pei Fu like an ordinary slave.

So she smiled: "Let me breathe, and go back." ”

Pei Fu boldly advised: "Actually...... Erlang is not here, the lady should not go out lightly, and riding a horse to shoot and hunt is not what everyone should do as a ......housewife."

Pei Fu has also said this more than once, Xun Guanniang is a little long-winded - besides, she really hates the times, as a woman, this can't be done, and that shouldn't be done - so she deliberately picked a small mistake in Pei Fu's words, straightened his face, and reprimanded him harshly: "The eldest brother has died, and now my husband is the master of the Pei family, why do you still call him 'Erlang'?" ”

Pei Fu was stunned for a moment, and quickly apologized: "It's used to it, the lady forgives her sins." Looking left and right, he changed the topic: "Since the lady is allowed to return, and take a break, the villain goes out to arrange a car." He hurried backwards and came out of the curtain.

Xun Guanniang breathed a sigh of relief, lowered her voice and said—as if she was saying to a cat, and as if she was talking to herself—"Pei's servants, just this Pei Fu talks a lot, hey, isn't the slave of the generation great?" ”

The cat smiled and comforted Xun Guanniang: "Why should the lady be angry with him? After all, the slave is a slave and a maid, Hugh said that the lady was born in Yingchuan Xun, and the family is not weaker than Hedong Pei, which is a small family, both the master and the mother, and the slave should not be endless, accusing the master of wrongdoing. But she then persuaded Xun Guanniang: "Before the lady got married, everyone, the lady (this refers to Xun Song and his wife) had advised that since she was a wife, she should no longer be as unscrupulous as when she was in the boudoir, and it was best to put away the bow and horse." ”

Xun Guanniang glanced at her: "If it weren't for you, how would I go out of the city to enjoy the snow?" ”

The cat pouted and said, "I didn't let the lady go out with a bow and arrow...... Everyone, the lady takes care of her, I hope that the lady will give birth to an heir for the Pei family as soon as possible, why has there been no movement for several months? She not only called Xun Guanniang's mother "Niangzi" according to the habit of Xun's family, but also called Xun Guanniang "Niangzi" according to the current situation.

Xun Guanniang frowned and said, "My husband is on an expedition, how can I get pregnant?" ”

The cat's eyes widened, and she was puzzled: "Why can't the lady get pregnant when he's not there?" ”

Xun Guanniang was really angry and funny, she raised her hand at the moment and made a burst on the cat's head: "For the sake of it, when you grow up, you will naturally know." As soon as the words came out, the bond with Pei Gai a few days after the marriage suddenly appeared in his mind, and he couldn't help but blush his cheeks, so don't turn his head away.

If you want to talk about the wedding night, Pei Gai's words are amazing, which makes Xun Guanniang's brain full of paste, plus gains and losses, and then becomes a husband and wife's gift, I only feel unbearable, shy and panicked, and almost no good memories are left. However, in the next few days, although the expedition was imminent, everything was cumbersome, Pei Gai stayed overnight, and after the first two days of rage - that was actually because Pei Gai had been for a long time - gradually changed to a gentle style, and Xun Guanniang had to taste the taste.

There is a saying that "a single person is easy to boil, but a widower is sad", in fact, women are the same, they don't know what it tastes like and it's just that, once they have it, it's hard to put it down. Xun Guanniang thought about it again, and she didn't dare to think about it, so she couldn't help but reach out and take out a letter from her arms that Pei Gai had sent not long ago, unfold it again, and read it.

Although Pei Gai was away on the expedition, he would also have a letter back to Huaiyin every ten days—both a letter to Xun Guanniang's family, and an official letter to Bian Yan and other people left behind—to prepare and state his march and battle. Eighty percent of the content of the family letter is narrated, only a few words of longing are added at the end of the end, the language is extremely simple, but the organization is very clear.

Xun Guanniang read the book and couldn't help but think: "Count the time, Pei Lang has entered Henan, and he is going to fight the main force of the Hu army, right?" I don't know if I have already fought when the next letter comes, and what is the outcome of the battle? If it wins, since it should take advantage of the victory to pursue, calm Heluo, and aid Guanzhong in the west, I am afraid that it will not be able to be returned before spring sowing...... If he is defeated, he may return, but if I want to return, how can I bear his defeat? And in the midst of the defeated army, I am afraid that my life will be unsuccessful...... Reading his letter, it is not like a family letter, but like a history book, listing the wars, and being well prepared, maybe in the future, you can directly pinch off the head and tail, and you can ...... for history."

was thinking wildly, so he listened to Pei Fu urging outside the tent again: "Is the lady resting enough?" The car has been prepared, and if it does not return, the city gate will be closed - and there will be a report that Bian Shou has passed through the house, and he wants to talk to the lady. ”

When Xun Guanniang heard this, her eyebrows frowned slightly: "What did Bian Shou do when he came to find me?" Could it be that ...... "Could it be that the front line suffered a defeat and the news reached Huaiyin?" I couldn't help but feel my heart beat wildly, and I hurriedly stood up.

Fortunately, Pei Fu immediately said: "The villain didn't hear it very clearly, it seems that someone came from the north, and he will reach Huaiyin, Bian Shou wants to ask the lady to meet his family first......"

"'Go first' to see his family?" Xun Guanniang was confused, "Who is it?" Is his family in Huaiyin City? ”8)