Autumn is getting stronger, and the cold wind in the west is beginning to bite. Uncle Shen sat in the mud, letting the cold wind blow his clothes and hair and beard to sway, and the skin on his hands and face hurt.

Looking at the land that still belongs to him, he is very frustrated and reluctant.

Twenty acres of land that I finally got my hands on, could it be that I had to give up without cultivating it once?

At the beginning of the year, the whole family moved from Nanyang after hardship, and by then they had missed the spring sowing, and now although it was the season to sow winter wheat, and other families were busy, Uncle Shen could no longer sow the seeds of hope in the fields.

Only a few vegetables have been planted on the corners of this land, and the rest has always been barren.

The family has quietly packed their bags, ready to leave this place where they have lived for less than a year, and embark on a distant journey again, going south to Nanyang or Shangyong to join the clansmen.

If it weren't for the eldest son Shen Chou who hadn't recovered from his injuries, if it weren't for the fact that there was still a trace of unwillingness in his heart, Uncle Shen's family might have set off on the road.

After Pang De and Yang Qiu opened their banners and purged the thieves and appeased the thieves in the neighboring counties, the rebellion finally gradually subsided, and other places were not necessarily more peaceful than Xiliang, and the reason why Uncle Shen was forced to leave was not the military disaster, but the reason why he did not hesitate to give up the fields, leave the new homeland and risk death to move thousands of miles again was very simple - the dozen or so horses that his family grazed for the government in order to earn a living were all robbed by the thieves.

The rebellion came so suddenly, some of the people who saw the opportunity quickly fled to the county and county to avoid the disaster, and some died on the road and in the county.

God is pitiful, at that time, in order to stop the thieves who rushed into the house from seizing the horse, Uncle Shen was also whipped a few times on his back. His eldest son, Shen Chou, was struck on the head by thieves with the hilt of a knife. I fainted at that time.

Thieves are too vicious. If he continued to entangle, the family was worried about his life, and he hugged his eldest son who fainted to death with his wife, but Uncle Shen didn't dare to continue to speak.

This time, not only were all the horses grazing for the government snatched, but the three sheep raised by his family did not escape the poisonous hands, and all fell into the belly of the thieves.

The only thing to be thankful for is that Uncle Shen himself is old, and his eldest son, Shen Chou, is underage. There were no men in the family who could be caught and joined the thief army, so no one died.

At that time, more than a dozen of the strong people who did not flee from Tongtun were forcibly requisitioned by the thieves, and it was not until the recent chaos gradually subsided that seven or eight people finally had to flee for their lives and returned, and the rest could never come back.

Thinking of the painful cries of the women and children of the victims, the dazzling white of filial piety, and the corpseless grave pile that he helped to erect, it is indeed fortunate that the family did not lose any life, but the damned, plagued traitor snatched the official horse, but it was also the pain that Uncle Shen's small family could not bear.

When he took over the errand of herding horses, Uncle Shen only thought that the money given by the government was enough to support the family. The conditions for horse grazing were also very relaxed: if the horses were to die of illness or plague, the losses would be borne by the government. No need for Uncle Shen to compensate; If it is lost, stolen, or injured, the loss shall be compensated by the horse herder to the government, and the amount of grain shall be 30 stone per horse.

This batch of official horses grazing in the Xiliang folk were all captured from the Qiangqi and Xiliang coalition forces, and they could be used for combat horses.

In his hometown of Nanyang, the price of war horses has always been high, and Uncle Shen also knows that even in Xiliang, the price of a horse with thirty stones of grain is pressed by the government, and it can't be lower, it is not a normal market price at all, but he is afraid that he and other small people will accidentally lose one or two, and they can't afford to compensate.

The compensation price for the horses given by the government is very benevolent, but for a small family like Uncle Shen, if more than a dozen horses are lost at once, and the grain of 400 stone is also astronomical, how can they afford to pay for it? Twenty acres of land are cultivated as usual, even if the wind and rain are smooth every year, the family of seven people saves food and uses it to the extreme, and after paying taxes every year, there can be a maximum of three or five stone surplus grain, and it will take nearly a hundred years to pay off this account!

No one expected that such a large-scale mess would happen in Xiliang again, and the contract was not thorough, how should the horses stolen by the thieves be counted? Not counting theft, such a big loss is borne by the government?

With such a catastrophe as the Juzhou Rebellion, it is indeed not the responsibility of a small wrangler like Uncle Shen to lose official horses, but in the face of the government that has been feared by the small people since ancient times, is it possible that Uncle Shen can still be reasonable? Go for a bargain?

Moreover, he Uncle Shen has no responsibility? There is not only one family of horse herders, and those who risk driving their horses to the city in advance are not all as unlucky as his family, and many of them have also protected the official horses.

If Uncle Shen doesn't have to pay compensation for losing his horse like this, what about those who risk their lives to keep their horses?

Therefore, even Uncle Shen himself knows that if he doesn't pay, he can't say it.

Lose, can't afford to pay.

After the rebellion gradually subsided, after the county officials were able to operate, they began to count the losses in the chaos, and a total of more than 3,000 officials and horses in each county were robbed by thieves, so much loss was greatly involved, not to mention that the Xiliang County was too guarded, and even Jia Xu, the left army division who was still presiding over the rebellion in Lingju, did not dare to make a decision easily, so he could only wait for the news to reach Luoyang, and Deng Ji personally decided.

However, this back and forth took a long time, and no results have been reported back so far. For Uncle Shen, every day of waiting is extremely tormenting, and the future seems to be predictably bleak and miserable, if the whole family does not want to bear this huge debt, they can only quietly pack up and flee all the way.

I can only leave, and what kind of land to plant!

A lifetime of poor ghosts, these twenty acres of land, in the end, there is still no blessing to enjoy, with their own humility and weakness, no matter how much unwillingness, reluctance can be?

With such pain and sadness, Uncle Shen has been sitting in the autumn wind, his body is cold, but it is not as cold as his heart.

It wasn't until the second half of the morning that a familiar acquaintance finished today's farming and was about to return home, and when he passed by, he saw it and called several times before he woke him up.

Listlessly, I walked back to Tunzhong and arrived home.

A few little ones had no heart and lungs and didn't know where to run to play crazy, the eldest son who was recuperating on the couch was still tired of having no strength, and the old wife was alone in the back room to wipe her tears.

Hearing the sound of Uncle Shen entering the door, the old wife cheered up, wiped away her tears, and complained to him: "Morning food and no return? There is food left on the stove. ”

Uncle Shen squatted down against the wall, bowed his head and said quietly, and the old wife said carefully: "At noon, someone from the pavilion came and summoned you to the pavilion." ”

Uncle Shen "swished" and startled again.

At this time, what can happen?

Tunchang Wanggu unfortunately died in the chaos, the government has not had time to send a new tun chief to take office, this tun is Jiatun, and the pavilion is together, and the civil affairs are temporarily represented by the pavilion.

The thief's rebellion came too suddenly, and the government failed to organize the people to avoid the chaos in time, and when it spread to Gaoping County, Yan Bo led the small officials in the pavilion such as Youdu, gathered nearly 100 strong, and kept wandering around the thief army to attack and kill non-stop, and from time to time sent people to pass all kinds of news into the city, even when the traitor army besieged the county town, he never gave up.

I heard that in this turmoil, the pavilion chief Yan Bo personally cut off no less than six or seven heads of the traitorous party, and now that Chaoping has returned to serve temporarily, he may be promoted sooner or later, which has become more and more terrifying.

The pavilion called each other, thinking that it was possible to meet this pavilion chief who killed thieves like chickens, and Uncle Shen, who was about to abscond for fear of debts, suddenly felt empty, and hurriedly got up and went out, and the old wife told him to eat first and then go, but he turned a deaf ear.

Walking outside the pavilion alone, he didn't dare to go in, grinding and chirping for a long time, until Yan Bo led the three elders and others out.

Uncle Shen was startled, and Uncle Yan also saw him and said, "I will summon you at noon, how can you arrive at this time?" ”

Uncle Shen couldn't answer, so Uncle Yan turned his head to the three elders first: "Let's wait for one or two." ”

didn't let Uncle Shen enter the door, just at the door of the pavilion, Uncle Yan said to him: "You wait for the loss of the official horse's house, Luoyang has already reached a conclusion, and the loss should be compensated by the government." ”

Hearing this, Uncle Shen closed his eyes in pain, and the last unwilling to be broken, and people should be relieved, but he only felt that all his strength was drained, and he was almost unstable on his feet.

Yan Bo continued: "However, the government has also had this matter, and Deng Gong has passed the word that the compensation should be halved......"

Before he finished speaking, Uncle Shen didn't know where he got the courage, and suddenly opened his mouth to interrupt him: "I can't afford to pay it back if it's halved!" ”

This sound was almost roared, and the spittle flew to the other party's face.

Yan Bo actually nodded and agreed with his words: "Yes! Therefore, Deng Gong still has a benevolent government, this time to ask for the horses seized by the thieves, if the counties have lost their official horses from the thief, they are allowed to shepherd three or five mares, only this time there is no salary to pay, and when the mares are born, a horse can be worth a horse, if it has to be paid for five years, it will be done! ”

Hey!

Uncle Shen suspected that he had heard it wrong, not to mention that the arrears were halved, and he was allowed to raise official horses again, and use the foals born by official horses to offset the big horses owed, so simple, the so-called big problem before his own family did not exist?

Such a good thing is unbelievable, Uncle Shen is still excited and speechless, and Uncle Yan said: "If you lose your official horse, you can't pay for the horse again, and the food can be temporarily borrowed by the government, and it can be repaid within three years old; Those who owe the official horses and horses that cannot be paid off within five years of age will be compensated at the price of ten stones of grain and one horse! ”

After Yan Bo finished speaking in one breath, seeing that Uncle Shen was already stupid, he stretched out his hand and gently pushed: "Do you understand?" ”

Uncle Shen came back to his senses and didn't care about anything, but tears suddenly fell in strings, which frightened Uncle Yan.

Before he could say anything to consol him, Uncle Shen bent his knees, his body was already kneeling, his forehead was dead on the ground, he wanted to say some words of gratitude, but he couldn't say a word, his mouth would only howl "whining", the more he screamed, the more sad he became, and finally all the tears and snot were on his face.

It took a long time for Uncle Yan and the three elders in the pavilion to pull Uncle Shen up, persuade a few words, and stop his excitement.

After Uncle Shen calmed down, a few people had something else to do, so they said goodbye and left.

Uncle Shen stood in place for a while, looking at the sky, looking at the houses in the tunzhong, and looking at the people coming and going.

All of a sudden, the world seems to be the same as it was before.

After a long time, I suddenly remembered something, and I was busy jumping home like a child.

Far away from home, he tore open his throat and called out to his old wife and children: "Yaye! Prepare wheat seeds ~ make up for winter ploughing ~ " (To be continued.) )