Due to the exploits of resisting the sneak attack of the Xianbei people a few days ago, everyone in Baoji Village was rewarded with two hanging money from the county order. And Zhao Hong, as the chief, got an extra three hangings. Coming to Shiyi City to serve as a laborer also made a lot of money by the way, and this unexpected harvest made the people of Baoji Village overjoyed, so they began to buy some luxury goods. But luxury goods are for this era, such as salt, wine, silk, which can only be regarded as ordinary daily necessities in later generations.

At the same time, Zhao Hong asked Cao Peng to collect the Zhuang Ding's respective weapons, such as firewood knives and kitchen knives. After all, these daily life utensils are not professional weapons, and their killing effect is relatively limited. Cao Peng was responsible for bringing all these iron tools to the blacksmith's shop, where they were smelted as iron and made into sharp short swords, that is, long daggers. In addition, in addition to the processing fee, Zhao Hong bought ten long daggers from the blacksmith shop as spare weapons, after all, weapons are prepared, and if you want to buy high-quality weapons when you leave Shiyi City, even if you have money, there is no place to buy them.

Zhao Hong's use of the short sword as the standard weapon of the Zhuang Ding of Baoji Zhai is well considered, and the reason is that in the case of the general equipment of the subordinates, whether it is a long-pole blade gun, halberd, or a short knife, axe, etc., in actual combat, it will be blocked by the door panel, so as not to directly pose a serious threat to the person of the Zhuang Ding. Judging from the experience of several battles, most of the hand-to-hand combat with the enemy takes place on the left and right sides of the door panels. In this kind of hand-to-hand combat, slashing in such a small space is definitely not up to speed, and there is often not enough space to slash.

In this environment, the direct piercing attack of a short weapon is undoubtedly the most appropriate way to attack, because it has the fastest speed and the greatest lethality. The so-called slashing and stabbing to death, assassination is the most advantageous means of attack, so Zhao Hong decided to unify into a short sword, that is, a long dagger.

Cao Peng, as a blacksmith, is in charge of this matter, which can effectively ensure the quality of weapons.

After giving his subordinates a holiday, Zhao Hong went shopping along the commercial area of Shiyi by himself. Walking to an intersection, Zhao Hong clasped his hands into fists and asked a plainly dressed passer-by. "This big brother, where is the grocery store that sells rouge gouache?"

"You turn that street, and you're twenty paces north."

"Thank you."

Zhao Hong quickly arrived at the door of the store, and when he looked up, he saw an apricot-yellow flag flying high, with the name of the grocery store written on it. Immediately, Zhao Hong crossed the threshold and entered the grocery store, which was full of all kinds of daily necessities.

In this era, there are very few cosmetics counters, such as Watsons under "Hutchison Whampoa", and there is no need to think about the high-end cosmetics monopoly.

I don't know how about opening a cosmetics counter business in the city? Zhao Hong began to be a little distracted for a while, at this time, can a cosmetics chain also build a company as big as "Changjiang Industrial"? For a time, Zhao Hong started Li Ka-shing's second daydream.

"What do you need, this guest officer?" A call woke Zhao Hong up from the dream of the plastic flower king, and it turned out that the shopkeeper had been stunned when he saw Zhao Hong, and hurriedly greeted him and asked.

Zhao Hong didn't answer him, but walked with his head up, and walked around along the items on display in the grocery store on his own.

"I want a pack of rouge and gouache." Zhao Hong said with a smile on his face.

"Good Ratcha!" Soon the shopkeeper handed over the wrapped rouge gouache to Zhao Hong. Just as Zhao Hong turned around to leave, the appearance of a step shook made him deeply attracted.

The intricately carved step shakes, and the front end hangs down a string of tassels. And there is a delicate peony flower carved on the wood, and the petals are stacked layer by layer, as if they are in full bloom. What's even more amazing is that this butterfly is carved in the wooden peony flower, this butterfly stretches its wings, as if it is about to spread its wings and fly high.

"Showcase, how much is this step? I want it. ”

"Guest officer, this is not for sale, this is for my mother-in-law. She took it off today and forgot to take it back, so she left it here. As he spoke, the shopkeeper shook the step into his arms.

"I'm willing to pay a high price." Zhao Hong said in a firm tone.

"If I sell it, I guess I will be scolded to death by my mother-in-law." The shopkeeper with a helpless expression waved his hand at Zhao Hong, and at the same time his head shook like a rattle.

"Three hundred wen!" Zhao Hong spit out these three heavily, and at the same time he stretched out three fingers to gesture to the shopkeeper.

"I think you must have bought it back and brought it to your lady in the house to please her, right?" The shopkeeper's face suddenly showed a bright smile.

Zhao Hong just smiled and didn't answer.

"There aren't many husbands like you who love a lady so much, so I'll sell it to you without permission." Then the smile on the shopkeeper's face retracted and was replaced by a bitter gourd face. The shopkeeper sighed heavily, and then he looked down at the ground, as if he had received a great grievance.

"Hey! I'm sure I'll be scolded by my mother-in-law when I go back. ”

……

Walking on the way back to the barracks, Zhao Hong was holding two packs of rouge gouache in one hand and the peony he had just bought in the other. In the final analysis, in the face of Pavilion Chief Qin's promise, the wavering that had been shaken was a lingering shadow in Zhao Hong's heart, and Zhao Hong, who had always felt guilty, subconsciously brought gifts to Qin Mi and coaxed her to be happy as if he was atoning for his sins. Zhao Hong felt that bringing Qin Mi so many things that girls liked would definitely please her, which could be regarded as more or less able to compensate for the guilt he felt about her in his heart.

A few days later, after the county magistrate learned the news that the Xianbei people had gone away, Shiyi City finally opened the city gates and allowed pedestrians to enter and exit freely.

Just when the people of Baoji Village drove ox carts out of the east city gate. Suddenly, I found that there was a group of people around the east city gate. Curious, the crowd jumped out of the ox cart and drove it to the open space near the city. Zhao Hong also walked forward with everyone to watch, and there were advertisements for recruiting soldiers posted in the city gate hole.

"It turned out that it was Sima Zhangyang, the acting agent of the Xiyuan Army, who was ordered by the general He Jin to recruit soldiers in Jinyang, the county of Taiyuan County." Zhao Hong turned around and told his subordinates the contents of the recruitment notice.

"Taiyuan County is not too far away, I heard others say that this Shiyi City goes west over Jingcheng Mountain, and along Jingcheng Road until it reaches the Jinshui side." Cao Peng held his chin in one hand and replied to Zhao Hong with a slightly thoughtful expression.

"A safe and secure life, but who runs so far to be a soldier. Maybe he'll die one day! Liu Song stretched out a finger and pointed to the recruitment notice, and began to complain about the publicity of recruiting troops in Jinyang. That's the outcasts who can't survive, so I'm not going to do it! And Li Yong, Wang Ming and others looked at the notice and were noncommittal.

The laborers went out of the eastern gate, and they drove the ox-carts along the official road to the southeast. Walking on the road back to Baoji Village, although the road is still the road when it came, it is completely different along the way.

When he came, as the grain collection team passed along the official road, Zhao Hong saw that it was cooking smoke, men ploughing and women weaving, and fishing songs answered each other. And on the way back? There is not a single intact village, it is full of looted and burned villages, some of which are still emitting black smoke. The strong man of Baoji Village parked his ox cart on the side of the road and approached a ransacked village.

There is not a single living person left in the village. The village was littered with corpses lying on their backs, men, women and children. The young women who died were even more miserable, naked and in shambles. The village is also infested with wild dogs, which bite the already fragmented corpses even more.

This scene made everyone's faces heavy, and one of the mutilated corpses had seen a lot on the road, but so many villages were slaughtered and destroyed, and it was the first time that everyone had seen this kind of scene. So what is going on with Baoji Village now? This question couldn't help but rise in everyone's hearts, and they began to worry about the safety of Qibaoji Village.

Zhao Hong saw that everyone's faces were not good, and he barely squeezed out a smile on his face, comforting everyone:

"These villages are relatively close to the city of Shiyi, so they will be looted. Our Baoji Village is far away from Shiyi City, so there should be nothing to do. ”

Even Zhao Hong himself doesn't believe these words, the Xianbei people are all cavalry. A two-and-a-half-day journey for an ox cart like Zhao Hong is more than enough for a horse in one day, and the possibility of Xianbei people reaching Baoji Village is also very high.

However, just as a drowning person will desperately pull on a life-saving straw, self-hypnotic people will believe lies as long as there is a glimmer of hope, so they listen to the long words, and their faces look more or less beautiful.

"If the Xianbei people dare to touch my father's mother's hair," Wang Ming's face was indignant, and his right hand holding the short sword became a little spasmodic, "I will kill them all, and leave no one behind!" With that, Wang Ming plunged his short sword deep into the soil beside him.

Zhao Hong looked at Wang Ming's facial features that were a little distorted by anger, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart, "What a child who is still immature!" ”。

If the Xianbei people were so easy to deal with, there would not have been tens of thousands of elite Han army buried bones in the desert more than ten years ago, and the white bones on the grassland have not yet converged.

"May Marx bless!" Zhao Hong also patted his chest, and the atheist began to pray secretly again, praying that Baoji Village would escape, and praying that Qin Mi would be safe and sound.

After leaving the looted village, no one in the ox cart convoy spoke, everyone was preoccupied, just silently whipped the oxen pulling the cart, and the first day passed.

Not long after the departure on the morning of the next day, the convoy was stopped by more than seven or eight homeless displaced people, all of whom were young and middle-aged men, who knelt down on the side of the road and kowtowed to the ground.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the village where the villain is located was unfortunately ransacked by the Xianbei people, and the family was killed by this group of beasts."