Cao Hao set off from the capital on the eighteenth day of the first month and arrived at Zhangjiakou at noon on the third day. The left-wing ranch of Taifu Temple to go to Zhangjiakou has to go three hundred miles north to arrive.

During the 300-mile journey, there were no big places, only two small post stations that served as temporary stops.

Cao Hao rested in Zhangjiakou for a long time and bought a lot of dry food.

It's not yet outside, but the weather here is already much colder than in the capital. Even if Cao Hao was wearing big wool clothes, he couldn't help but feel cold.

Because this time it was a fast horse, and everyone didn't have much luggage, Cao Hao was afraid that the weather outside his mouth would be colder, but it would take ten days and a half months to turn around, so he asked Xiao Man to take the two of them to the city to buy fur clothes.

When Xiaoman and the others came back from the city, they were accompanied by another acquaintance, that is, Cui Fei, the foreign manager of King Jian's Mansion.

This is not the first time I have met Cui Fei in Zhangjiakou, Cao Hao met him here in April last year when he first served as the Taifu Siqing and went to the ranch with Tang Zhiyu.

The last time I saw him, it was just a face-to-face response; Seeing him this time, Cao Hao was a little happy.

King Jian's Mansion has a big pot Zhuangzi in Yizhou, which sells wine all year round. I heard that he also brought private salt to Mongolia, which is not what Cao Hao cares about.

Since it is outside the long-distance running gate, it is specified that the situation in Mongolia is known.

After Cui Fei finished asking for peace, Cao Hao asked him about the situation outside his mouth.

Cui Fei listened, shook his head, and said with a little embarrassment: "Master Cao, why is the little one stranded in Zhangjiakou, he has been fighting here for many years, and it is not because of the snow disaster outside the mouth." The snow on this road is three feet thick, it is really difficult, I wanted to sell more wine before the year, but I was stranded in Zhangjiakou. Fortunately, the weather is so cold that there are many people who drink alcohol to keep out the cold, and they sell it slowly, and it will be better when spring begins. ”

In the end, he couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "That's all the little ones say, not to mention anything else, there are a lot of herdsmen who have fled to Zhangjiakou recently, and the price of rice in this city has risen several times." Even if the snow melts, those old Mongolians who have died of livestock are afraid that they will drink the northwest wind, where will there be anything to drink in exchange for wine? ”

One foot in the Qing Dynasty was about the same as one foot in later generations, not to mention three feet of snow, or one and a half feet of snow, which was a fatal natural disaster for both the pasture and the Mongols.

At this time, there was no such thing as "captive house feeding". Whether it is the pasture of the imperial court or the ordinary Mongolian people, it is a form of grazing.

The snow is so thick that the grass is buried deeply, and it is not uncommon for livestock to starve to death without enough to eat.

Although he didn't see it with his own eyes, Cui Fei didn't have the need to be blind, Cao Hao listened to it, and sighed in his heart.

Isn't this a roof leak that rains overnight? Originally, the northwest had been ready to move in the past two years, and it was about to come to the time to use troops. There was no silver in the treasury, and the horse farm outside the fortress suffered another heavy snowstorm.

It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, even if she wants to send troops to quell the rebellion, this is thousands of miles away, if there are not enough war horses, then everything is empty talk.

I vaguely remember that the fourteenth elder brother was ordered to go on the expedition in the fifty-seventh or eighth year of Kangxi, and he was still in the northwest when Kangxi died, and it was three or four years of hard work during this period.

Devoted the whole country to quell a rebellion against a tribe, but fought for three or four years, I don't know if it was because of the lack of horses?

Cui Fei saw that Cao Hao was silent, bowed down and asked: "Cao Ye is going out on a business trip, so you have to prepare for a good life, not to mention anything else, this dark gauze has to be pulled a few feet, otherwise your eyes can't stand it in the snow." A few years ago, the little one braved the snow to send wine to the nearest tribe, and he hurt his eye, and it took several days to recover, so he was blind. ”

Cao Hao thanked him for his kind reminder, said a few more words, and asked someone to send off the guests.

In addition to buying fur clothes and felt boots for everyone, Xiaoman also bought a lot of soft leather that had been nitrated for everyone to use as leggings and knee pads.

The next time, the snow lived and the sky was clear.

Out of Zhangjiakou, Wei Hei raised his vigilance by twelve points.

But when he arrived at the endless snowfield, he was a little relieved. Except for the clear blue sky, it was snow-white, as if everything in heaven and earth had disappeared, and even the road became blurred.

Between heaven and earth, only these few small black dots galloped towards the north.

The snow on both sides of the road is more than three feet thick, if not three feet thick. Even on the road, the horses are a little difficult to run.

Starting from Zhangjiakou at dawn, until noon, it is estimated that he did not travel dozens of miles. I can't complain that Cui Fei can't sell alcohol, such a road, if it is a carriage, it won't last long.

The horse could not run, the body could not move, and the man lost his heat.

It was Cao Hao, sitting on horseback, and he also felt a little numb in his hands and feet. He handed the reins to his left hand, and with his right hand he took out his pocket watch from the front placket, opened it, and saw that it was already two o'clock in the afternoon (half past eleven in the morning).

Cao Hao took the reins of his horse and beckoned everyone to take a nap.

Although the food bought was kept in a cowhide bag and was not frozen, it was all cold.

Just cold beef, nibbling on cold baked cakes, just the cold water in this water bag, it's really hard to eat.

Fortunately, after listening to Cui Fei's words, he knew that it was cold outside, except for the water bag, everyone was on the horse with a wine bag. After two sips of spirits, it warmed up a lot.

After the sharp fight, everyone got up and got on the horse again, and now the big guy is looking forward to arriving at the small post station on the way early and drinking a bowl of hot porridge.

After walking more than ten miles, we reached a fork in the road.

Due to the heavy snow and the lack of people walking around, the road surface here is not as conspicuous as before.

When Cao Hao saw it, he couldn't help but be a little worried, what if there was no way to ride this horse? On this big snowy lake, there is not even a person who asks?

What are you afraid of, what are you afraid of. I don't know if it was covered with fresh snow or if the wind blew the heavy snow, but the road was completely covered and there was no trace to be seen.

As far as the eye can see, it is all white, and there is not even a coordinate. Fortunately, the sun was sinking in the west, and when I looked at the head, I also estimated the general direction in my heart.

Three hundred miles from Zhangjiakou to the middle of the Harani Dunjing where the left wing pasture of Taifu Temple is located, Cao Hao has been back and forth once, and remembers the road.

There are two post stations on the way, one is a hundred miles out of Zhangjiakou, and the other is one hundred and eighty miles away.

According to Cao Hao's memory, from this fork in the road to the right, it will take more than 20 miles to reach the small post station outside. Therefore, he did not panic and followed the general direction.

This walk is nearly two hours, it is already the golden wuxi fall, and at dusk, it is estimated that there are twenty miles to travel, but there is still no shadow of the post station.

Cao Hao felt that something was wrong, so he let out a "sigh", reined in the reins of the horse, and looked around. Although he didn't want to admit it, he couldn't see any buildings in front of him, and he couldn't see any people.

Everyone, it seems that they are lost.

Wei Hei looked up at the sky, and his face was a little heavy in the originally blue sky, and he didn't know when the thick clouds would roll up. The wind was blowing, and it was getting stronger, so that the clouds were gradually thickening.

The sound of the wind gradually became sharper, whistling by, and the faces of people hurt.

It seems that in an instant, the sky suddenly darkened, and the "woo" wind rolled up the snowflakes in the sky, and the blizzard came...... * Beijing, Lanyuan, Shangfang.

Seeing that it was about to enter February, it was time to cut new clothes, and Li asked someone to find out a few good horses in the warehouse, thinking of tailoring clothes for the ladies in the house.

Therefore, Chu Yu was called, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law discussed the distribution of materials.

Tianyou and the little brother Hengsheng sat opposite each other, with a few clay figures in the middle, playing happily, "giggling" and laughing.

This flag family lives, the most important face is when to change, what clothes to change, what materials to use, are all particular, and there can be no mistakes, otherwise it will make people laugh.

There is an old saying, "It is better to wear it than to wear it wrong", otherwise, you will be regarded as "two-five-eyed" and "half-crazy".

In the first month, when it is warm and cold, you should wear the garments of gray squirrels, silver rats, and pearl furs.

February is the early spring season, and when it gets warmer, you have to wear "nano silk", that is, two layers of silk with a very thin cotton or camel hair in between.

Today, most of the good materials that the Li family is looking for are silk materials, and there are two fine cloths made inside.

Except for the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, who left a few pieces of silk and the two pieces of fine cloth for their own use, the others picked out the colors and sent two horses to Mr. Zhuang's yard, two horses to Tian's side, and one horse to Amethyst. There were a few decent stewards in the front yard, and each family also set aside a horse.

There are a few horses left that are slightly worse in material and given to the head maids in the Orchid Courtyard and the Wutong Garden.

After the distribution was completed, the maids carried the material and sent it everywhere.

Li touched the material left on the kang, and sighed a little: "The second wife likes to wear this begonia red dress the most, and in the early years, I can't wait for this color for four festivals a year." ”

Chu Yu saw that her mother-in-law's expression was wrong, and remembered her slightly ostentatious appearance in the Guogong Mansion yesterday, and she didn't know what to say.

After Li finished speaking, he seemed to know that he had lost his words, shook his head, and said with a smile: "Look at me, what are you doing with this?" As he spoke, he looked out the window and said, "It's dark, why hasn't the master come back?" I think there have been a lot of things going on in the yamen in the past two days, and when I come back, I mostly stay in the front yard. ”

Chu Yu looked at the muslin on the kang and remembered that her husband liked to wear cotton underwear. These two pieces of muslin can just cut two new sets.

Although the weather in Beijing is getting warmer, I heard that it is very cold in Mongolia. Chu Yu's heart was heavy, and he felt that he remembered it tightly.

After listening to her mother-in-law's words, she turned her head to look out the window, listening to the sound of the cold wind hitting the window lattice, and only felt that her heart was tight...... She was frowning when she heard a "plop" sound, and Hengsheng grunted down from the kang.

Chu Yu was so frightened that he almost lost his soul, and wanted to reach out to stop him, where could he stop it?

Hengsheng had already flipped off the kang, and at that moment, Chu Yu couldn't help but close his eyes and didn't dare to look.

Li also saw that something was wrong, and couldn't help but exclaim: "My little ancestor, this ...... What kind of arrest is this? ”

Chu Yu only felt that the blood all over his body was congealed, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Heng Sheng standing straight on the ground.

At this time, I heard the laughter of "giggles", and Tianyou replied in a milky voice: "Grandmother, grandson, brother, turn your head ......" As she spoke, she had a kang around her neck, and she had to turn down.

"Wow wow...... Mother...... Mother ......, "Although Hengsheng said that he landed on the ground with his feet just now, he didn't fall down, but after all, he was a young child who was less than two lives, and he was bluffed when he fell to the ground, and he knew that he was afraid." No, when I woke up, I cried out with a small grin.

Under this cry, it also made Chu Yu calm down, and he hurriedly got up from the kang and ran to Hengsheng.

She squatted down, touched Hengsheng's little arm, and then touched Hengsheng's calf, and only after seeing that it was indeed unharmed, she let out a long sigh.

"Wow...... Wow......" When Hengsheng saw his mother come to him, he immediately threw himself into her arms and cried loudly.

Chu Yu saw that Hengsheng's face was pale, and knew that he was bluffing, so he stretched out his hand, rubbed the back of Hengsheng's head, and coaxed loudly: "It's okay, don't be afraid, don't be afraid, let's Hengsheng want to be a general, don't be afraid......"

Tianyou sat on the edge of the kang, holding Li's arm with both hands, and when he saw Hengsheng crying heavily, he also raised his face, raised his head and asked, "Grandmother, brother...... My brother cried ......"

Li Shi thought about Fang Cai's situation, and couldn't help but be afraid for a while.

If this little kid hadn't landed on the ground first, it would ...... It's exciting to think about.

She pulled down her face, straightened Tianyou, and asked, "What's the matter, you told your brother to do a somersault?" ”

Tianyou saw that his grandmother was unhappy, nodded, and whispered: "It's a grandson, look, can it be faster than Zuo Cheng......"

"You kid, you are naughty in a different way...... Li Shi was annoyed, and said with a bluffed face: "If you fall your brother, see that your grandfather doesn't have to whip you......"

Tianyou saw that his younger brother was crying pitifully, and his grandmother and mother both changed their faces again, and they also felt that something was wrong, and their little faces drooped, and they also cried out loud......*

(To be continued)