Pu County, Hedong.

Pei Yong led the thin horse back to his house, when he participated in the battle of Heyang, when the Zhao army and the navy attacked, he escaped to Zhongtan City to save his life, but the two domestic servants he brought away, only one was still alive, and the other was hit by the ballista on the Zhao army's battleship when he was running on the pontoon bridge and fell into the Yellow River.

The family house in Pu County is an old house, by the river in the east of Pu County, there are 100 acres of fields at home, and 10 acres of paddy fields, these are not open fields, but real Yongye fields, when Pei Yong's grandfather was in the office, the Pei family at that time was more or less a local Haojian.

But now that Pei Yong has returned home, he can see a depression on the road, and the fields are barren and overgrown with weeds.

Pei Yong had a bad premonition, and when he arrived at the door, he saw his eldest brother squatting on the stone steps from a distance.

"Pei Song holds the horse!"

Pei Yong commanded the house slave, and he ran to the front of the house and said loudly: "Big brother, I'm back!" ”

Brother Pei Yong was stunned, and when he saw that it was his own brother, he was overjoyed and hugged Pei Yong.

Pei Yong said: "Big brother, we didn't fight well this time, I didn't fight for the Pei family, and I didn't get Sanguan and Xuntian for our family like my father." ”

Brother Pei Yong soothed: "What to say, it will be good to come back with good arms and legs, and it is better to come back alive than anything, my mother has been thinking about you for the past few days." ”

"Is my mother in good health?"

Brother Pei Yong didn't speak, Pei Yong saw his brother's expression, stepped forward and asked, "What's wrong, mother?" ”

Brother Pei Yong sighed and squatted heavily on the ground again.

"What about the second brother? Why isn't he there? ”

The eldest brother listened and said, "The second brother went to the market and changed some medicine for my mother." ”

Brother Pei Yong looked into the distance, and only Pei Song was leading the horse. asked: "Little Songzi, why didn't you see him?" ”

"It's gone." Pei Yong lowered his head and replied.

Brother Pei Yong patted Pei Yong on the shoulder and said, "Don't be sad. It's good that you can come back, this time to fight Zhao Jun. I've heard that there are a lot of people gone. Let's go into the house. ”

Pei Yong walked into the house, the Pei family's house was purchased by his grandfather, in strict accordance with the layout of the front hall and the back house at that time, the two main houses were behind the hall, and there was a small courtyard behind. The left and right wings are inhabited by the tenants of the Zhou family and their families, but now it seems that these rooms are empty and unoccupied.

"This ...... Big brother, what's going on? ”

Brother Pei Yong walked to Pei Yong's side and shed tears: "It's scattered, it's all scattered, this time it's going out." In order to get together a war horse and a pack horse, as well as the two armors and staff on your body, the family borrowed money from the pledge store, and hoped to harvest this autumn and use the harvest in the field to repay the money, but you also know that this year's year is not good, and the harvest in the field has been checked a lot, and the pledge warehouse has come to collect debts. Took advantage of the situation and took 30 acres of our land. There are also ten acres of paddy fields, and my mother is also sick because of this. ”

Pei Yong was furious when he heard this: "Where is this truth?" ”

When Brother Pei Yong heard this, he hurriedly covered Pei Yong's mouth and said, "Be quiet, don't let my mother hear it, you don't know the quality library yet." We can afford to mess with it. ”

Pei Song's voice came from outside while speaking: "Erlangjun, you're back." ”

Pei Yong immediately ran to the door when he heard this, and the person who came was Pei Song's second brother, and the three brothers saw each other with a mixture of joy and sorrow. At that moment, the three of them went to see their mother together. The wife of the eldest brother and the second brother cooked, and the family happily ate a Chinese meal.

At that time, the meal had just been eaten. I heard the sound of banging on the door outside, and the three brothers of the Pei family went out together. It turned out to be the captain of the Orichong Mansion.

Pei Jialang said politely at the moment: "The general came just in time, come to our house for a light meal." ”

"Excuse me." This fold Chong lieutenant looks like he doesn't get in with oil and salt.

Captain Zhichong said to the three brothers at the moment: "The imperial court has strengthened the Pujin Ferry Guard, and the Son of Heaven has ordered the army to serve, or draw one of the three dings, and your Pei family has three dings, and you still want to take a mouthful." ”

Hearing this, the three brothers were stunned. Brother Pei Yong said: "My brother has just returned home from the army, and this military service has just passed, how can he have military service to serve?" ”

Captain Zhi Chong sneered: "What do you know, this is an order from the imperial court, you don't understand, go directly to Chang'an to ask the Son of Heaven." When you come here, as long as you are in the military, you can only listen to me. ”

The second brother Pei Yong hurriedly said: "General, our family is really in difficulty, you see that the third brother has just experienced a big war in Heyang, and it was easy to pick up a life, and when he returned home, my Pei family also broke a house slave, and now I want someone from my Pei family to serve in the military, isn't this embarrassing for us?" Ask the general to be forgiving. ”

Captain Zhi Chong said arrogantly: "Don't say that you are with me so much, this is the order of the Son of Heaven, the situation is so bad this year, which family has no difficulties, the Zhou family of Sanliqiao, you know?" When he conquered Heyang this year, Wuding drew two, and his family's San Lang Jun and Wu Lang Jun all went to Heyang, but San Lang Jun was gone, Wu Lang Jun was cut off by Zhao Gou's arm and became a waste person, and now there are three Ding left, but the order is given, and the three Ding are drawn one, and his family still has someone to guard Pujin City. There's no way, this is the rule, I'm not a good deed, everyone is tolerant, who will replace the court? ”

This sentence was so good that the three brothers of the Pei family were speechless, although the Li Tang Mansion soldiers could be exempted from the family's taxes, but in fact it was not helpful at all, because the armor and staff of the government soldiers, as well as pack horses and war horses, were all to be prepared by themselves, and just preparing a war horse was enough for most of the family wealth of the general and solid family.

Therefore, the government soldiers fought wars, mainly relying on the income captured on the battlefield, as well as the merits of the war, the honorable fields rewarded by the imperial court and the scattered officials awarded.

However, the morale of the government soldiers is mainly limited to the situation of winning battles all the time, such as this time to conquer Zhao, the army of Li Tang North Road can almost be said to be defeated, it can be said that there is no capture at all, and there are very few rewards for war achievements. Therefore, after Pei Yong returned home, he faced his father and brother with a ashamed face because he did not get the merits.

After Captain Zhichong left, the three brothers of the Pei family fell into silence. The eldest brother and the second brother didn't speak, and the sister-in-law was crying there, complaining that the eldest brother was useless. The sister-in-law turned out to be a solid family in the east of the city, and after marrying the honest and mediocre eldest brother, she had enough say in the family.

The last time I served in the military, I was said to be the eldest brother, but the sister-in-law insisted on playing tricks and denying it, and wanted to push it to the Pei family's Erlangjun, but Erlangjun's Hun family is also a powerful person, and the family was noisy, and in the end, Pei Yong took the initiative to undertake military service for the two brothers.

And this time for military service, according to reason, Pei Yong has already been there once, and it is Pei Yong's turn to be the eldest or second brother.

But Pei Yong saw this scene at home, the eldest sister-in-law was crying and scolding, and the second sister-in-law was tinkering in the kitchen, deliberately making the sound of the dishes and chopsticks louder. Not to be outdone, the sister-in-law began to scold Sang and reprimand her three-year-old nephew.

Thinking of his mother who was bedridden in the room, Pei Yong stood up and said, "Forget it, eldest brother and second brother, this time it's still me who goes!" (To be continued......)