The eastern sky has just been brightened, and the old man of Zhaoqu got up early and went down to the field with a sickle, although he is the head of Wulietong, but unless something big happens in the mountain, he can come forward to deal with it, and he has no privileges at other times, and he also has to work in the field every day, otherwise his little grandson will not have fragrant rice to eat.

It is a kind of organization within the Li nationality, in fact, it is similar to the tribe on the grassland, a mountain or dozens or dozens of households gathered together, mainly composed of blood relations, each mountain has a fixed territory, the personnel within the mountain can only operate in their own territory, once the behavior of crossing the border occurs, it is likely to cause a fight, in addition, if there is a conflict within the mountain, it is generally mediated by the head of the mountain.

The old man of Zhaoqu carried a sickle to his rice field, took off the straw sandals and went down to the field, now the rice has grown to knee height, and there is not much work in the field, the old man of Zhaoqu mainly cut the weeds in the rice field, and then took it home to feed the pigs, but unfortunately the fish in the paddy field are still too small, otherwise you can catch a few and go home to make steamed fish for your little grandson to eat.

The old man of Zhaoqu is sixty-two years old this year, although he is not very old in the eyes of later generations, but the environment in Hainan is harsh, especially the living conditions of the Li people are even worse, and an epidemic may wipe out a mountain, not to mention that some minor diseases and poisonous snakes and beasts can also kill people, so the old man like Zhaoqu can live to be more than sixty years old, and he is already the oldest person in the entire mountain, and it is precisely because of this that he can do the position of the head of the mountain.

There are more than 300 households in the whole mountain, and there are thousands of people in total, which also makes them have a better piece of land. In addition, the land in other places is also relatively fertile, and a random sprinkling of rice seeds in the ground every year is enough for all the people to eat and drink.

The old man of Zhaoqu has lived for such an age, he thinks that he has already seen through the world, and he is also very satisfied with the current life, although Wu Lietong cannot be said to dominate one side under his leadership, but at least no one in the vicinity dares to provoke them. In addition, he gave birth to five sons and six daughters in his life, although two sons and three daughters did not grow up, some died of illness, some were bitten to death by wild beasts in the mountains, but the rest have grown up, all the daughters are married, and the sons are all married, and his youngest son also gave birth to a little grandson last year, which is very cute and chubby. The old man of Zhaoqu likes to be bad, and he can't wait to hold his grandson every day, and now the child finally has teeth and can eat, and he is busy preparing more delicious food for his little grandson, and he must make him grow tall and strong, so that he will not be bullied when he grows up.

As soon as he thought of his little grandson at home, the old man Zhaoqu felt that his heart was hot, and the speed of his subordinates' work accelerated again. Let's go back early and hug my little grandson.

However, just when the old man of Zhaoqu was about to finish cutting the weeds of a paddy field, he suddenly saw a figure stumbling from the ridge. While running, he shouted loudly: "Dad~Dad~, you ...... Hurry up and go back, the Han officials are here! ”

Hearing this voice, the old man Zhaoqu, who was not very good-looking, immediately knew that the person who came was his youngest son, and among his three sons who grew up alive, he loved this little son the most. Although according to the customs of the Li people, the son will be separated from his father after he gets married, but the old man of Zhaoqu insisted that his younger son live together by himself, and usually helped him take care of the child, which provoked his other two sons to say that he was partial.

"The great official of the Han people? Is that Song Zhixian here again? The old man Zhaoqu asked a little unconcernedly. They belong to Wenchang County, Qiongzhou, the county magistrate of Wenchang County is surnamed Song, Zhaoqu old man has been to the county seat to see each other before, and the Song magistrate often comes down to visit, so the two are quite familiar.

"No...... No, this time it was not Song Zhixian, but Song Zhixian accompanied a big official, and a group of other people came, I don't think it looks like an ordinary Han person. The youngest son of the old man Zhaoqu explained anxiously, if only Song Zhixian came alone, he would not be so anxious, the key is to look at Song Zhixian's appearance, those people are obviously higher than Song Zhixian's status, so he ran to his father in such a panic.

Hearing that the person who came was higher than Song Zhixian's identity, the old man of Zhaoqu was also startled, and hurriedly threw down the sickle and ran back with his son, although their Li people often clashed with the Han people, but the old man of Zhaoqu knew that their Li people were nothing in the eyes of the Great Song Dynasty, so they usually made trouble with ordinary Han people, but they must not neglect those Han officials, otherwise they may bring disaster to the whole country.

Of course, not all the Li people are as afraid of the officials of the Great Song Dynasty as the old Han of Zhaoqu, for example, the old Han of Zhaoqu knows that some of the old men in the west never take the Great Song Dynasty in their eyes, nominally they accept the rule of the Great Song Dynasty, but what should they do behind their backs, and they do not cooperate with the orders of the Great Song court, and even some people still want to drive the Han people out of Qiongzhou, and then let the Li occupy the entire Qiongzhou to stand on their own, for this ridiculous idea The old Han of Zhaoqu has always scoffed, because he knows that if they really dare to do this, It's like bringing the Li people of Qiongzhou to the edge of a cliff, and if you are not careful, you will break the whole clan.

Although the old man of Zhaoqu is old, there are some problems with his eyes, but his legs and feet are very neat, and he soon went to the beach with the support of his son, not far from the seaside is the place where Wulietong lives, there is a small wharf they built by the sea, which can allow some fishing boats to moor, speaking of which, nearly half of the food they eat in Wulietong comes from the sea, as for the shipbuilding and fishing skills are learned from the Han people, just from one point of view, the old Han of Zhaoqu feels that the arrival of the Han people is not a bad thing.

Although the eyes of the old man of Zhaoqu were not good, but when he came to the beach, he still saw the behemoths on the sea at a glance, although he didn't see it really in the eyes of the old man of Zhaoqu, he still guessed at once that it was a huge sea ship made by the Han Dynasty, he had seen it in the strait outside Qiongzhou City when he was young, and he heard that the sailors of the Great Song Dynasty were all on this kind of huge ship, so since he knew this, the old man of Zhaoqu had never broken away from the rule of the Great Song Dynasty, because the Great Song Dynasty was too powerful for them, It was so strong that he couldn't even think of resisting.

The old man of Zhaoqu came to the dock with a pair of cloudy eyes, and finally saw a group of people standing on the pier, among which there was an old man in official uniform, who was Song Zhixian he knew, but Song Zhixian, who had always been full of official authority before, was now full of smiles, and was accompanying another middle-aged man in official uniform to speak, but the middle-aged man was accompanied by a gorgeously dressed young man, obviously the identity of this young man was more noble than that middle-aged man, and even Song Zhixian did not dare to come forward to speak.

The old man of Zhaoqu is also a good person, and at a glance he saw that this group of people was headed by that young man, so he hurriedly stepped forward and made a big salute, and said in a loud voice in the unfamiliar Chinese: "Wulietong Zhaoqu greets all the nobles!" ”

These people who came were naturally Zhao Yan and Su Shi and others, and the middle-aged man in official uniform was Su Song, after he saw the arrival of this Wulietong, he immediately stepped forward and said: "Zhaoqutou people don't need to be polite, this official is Su Song, the governor of Qiongzhou, this time I came to Wulietong to have important things to do, and I hope that Zhaoqutou people will greatly assist!" ”

When the old man in Zhaoqu heard that the middle-aged man in front of him turned out to be the biggest official in Qiongzhou, he was also startled at the moment, and hurriedly saluted again: "It turned out to be Su Zhizhou, the little old man has admired the name of Zhizhou for a long time, if Zhizhou is useful to the villain, even if he commands, Wu Lietong will do his best to assist Zhizhou!" ”

The old man of Zhaoqu said it very beautifully, but he also had his own sense of proportion in his heart, if it was something that did not harm the interests of Wu Lietong, he would naturally do his best to help the other party, but if what Su Song said harmed the interests of their Wu Lietong, then I am sorry, at most he will not be able to work hard, after all, it is impossible for him to use the interests of Wu Lietong to please outsiders.

Hearing the old man of Zhaoqu say this, Su Song also laughed, but he didn't immediately say what it was, but turned around and discussed a few words with Zhao Yan, which made the old man Zhaoqu more curious about Zhao Yan's identity, he wanted to know the identity of the young man in front of him, why did the biggest official in Qiongzhou treat it so carefully?

Zhao Yan said a few words to Su Song, and then took two steps forward to come to the old man of Zhaoqu, looked at him a few times, and then smiled and said: "Zhaoqu Touren, it's about noon now, I heard that your Li people's bamboo tube rice is very famous, I don't know if you can let us taste it, and there are some other things, we can talk while eating." ”

Hearing that this young man didn't say anything, but was going to eat as soon as he opened his mouth, and he said the food that their Li clan entertained VIPs, which made the old man Zhaoqu stunned, but he also reacted immediately, and bent down and smiled at the moment: "This noble man is really knowledgeable, he actually knows the bamboo tube rice of our Li clan, since this is the case, then invite the nobleman into the village, and the villain will let people prepare bamboo tube rice to entertain the nobleman!" ”

Bamboo rice is not actually a unique delicacy of the Li nationality, and it is also the food of the southern ethnic minorities such as the Dai nationality, the Yao nationality, and the Hani nationality, but each ethnic group has its own practices, Zhao Yan has been to Hainan in later generations, and he has a soft spot for the bamboo tube rice of the Li nationality, and he just takes this opportunity to re-taste the delicacy of the Li nationality, of course, Zhao Yan ran so far to the southwest corner of Qiongzhou, naturally not only to taste the bamboo rice, but to prove one thing to Su Song and them. (To be continued......)