Second, it's the middle of winter, and it's icy and snowy outside. The cold climate is not conducive to combat, not to mention the long distance to unfamiliar territory, which makes the war even more difficult.

Third, they all said that the soldiers and horses had not moved, and the grain and grass went first. Hezhou has been plundered by Tartars over the years, forced taxes by local officials in various names, and natural and man-made disasters have caused trouble, and the people have to escape to other places in order to make a living, so it is conceivable that there will be absolutely no food in their hands. Although this year's autumn harvest has filled the granaries of the people's homes. But the tax is still very heavy, if you keep enough for the next year's good seeds, and then repay the good seeds owed when you sow this spring, the family can barely eat half full, and no one will die of hunger. The people are still too busy to take care of themselves, and where will they get the surplus food to supply the soldiers on the front line?

Moreover, although there is food on the border, it is only enough to sustain the army for two or three months, and if there is a war, it is obvious that the war will not end in two or three months. Moreover, most of the food needed by the army was transported from Jiangnan and other places, and all the time was delayed in the back and forth, and then they wanted to attack the Tartars, but at that time the news had leaked, the time had been lost, and they could not attack again.

Xu Erlang refuted the "attack on the Tartars" one by one in his heart, but he only said it in his heart, and did not say it to Li Hehui.

Li Hehui didn't know this truth, but he was a courtier, and he could be stronger than this human emperor.

Since Emperor Yunwen raised this matter and handed it over to him, he had made up his mind. Whether he approves of it or not, he can only do what he is told.

Xu Erlang sighed silently in his heart: His Majesty has been mediocre since he ascended the throne, and he is afraid that he is worried about leaving a bad reputation after a hundred years, so he is eager to consolidate his imperial power and defend his reputation through World War I. But this is really whimsical.

The Tartars are strong and strong, far from being able to fight if they want to. What is the value of a mere victory in a battle? Instead of angering those unreasonable villains, and then letting their army overwhelm the border, causing turmoil in the country and country, it is better to take the opportunity to recuperate. When the people are rich and the army is trained, it is not too late to counterattack.

Xu Erlang and Li Hehui both had thoughts in their hearts, but they tacitly agreed not to say a word. Instead, Li Hehui talked about the history of patrolling the border.

"This time, I was entrusted with the important task of the two old imperial historians of the Imperial Historical Observatory." Those two root Miao Hong, they came out of the Yushitai, unlike him, they were from the Hanlin Academy and were temporarily plugged in.

This is also for the sake of him being the emperor's nephew, and for the sake of the emperor's support for this trip, those two turned a blind eye to his appearance, otherwise, they would have to spray him to death in a book.

The two adults are really not young, but they are both loyal to the Great Qi Dynasty. And because they have been upright all their lives, they have never played tricks on matters related to the people of their family and country, so they were named one and the other.

As for Li Hehui, he is naturally also a deputy history, and the official history is not his turn. If you want to make a proper history, you have to wait for a few more decades.

He also said, "Both adults are old, one is in his fifties, and the other is long past the age of no doubt. They are in good health, but after all, they are old, and because of the severe cold all the way to Hezhou, they still have a lot of preparation to do. "It is preliminarily estimated that they will not be able to set off within three or five days, and with the stop-and-go on the road, it is already the limit to arrive in half a month. So now he still has a lot of free time. But when the two imperial historians came, it was not good for him to always run to the same prefect's mansion.

Thinking of this, Li Hehui's sense of urgency is even better, if he can't say that Tong Shiheng will marry Pian Pian to him in the past half a month, and can't let Pian Pian nod to the relationship between the two, then his trip will be in vain.

Li Hehui immediately stopped and saluted Xu Erlang in a dignified manner, "Shiheng, I said something like that once, and now I want to say it again." I love Pianpiao, I want to be in harmony with her, and I hope Shiheng will approve of you. ”

Xu Erlang: He doesn't want to agree!

Xu Erlang, who experienced the mood of marrying a girl in advance, looked very unpleasant at the moment, and his mood was even more unbeautiful. So he pulled Li Hehui up, "We'll talk about this later, let's talk about your going to the border." Since the excuse you gave in the court was to leave a few days in advance to see the real situation at the border, it is impossible to say that you will not go now. Besides, some officials in the Rivers State officialdom want to visit you...... This one is not busy, you can take a break. The most important thing now is that you have to make a trip to the border. Even if it is a show, you must do it well, so that the matter will not be known afterwards, and then you will neglect your official duties and deceive the king......"

Li Hehui sighed faintly, glanced at his best friend, and closed his eyes in pain.

He swore that if he had a daughter in the future, he would make it so difficult for his son-in-law......

Li Hehui set off for the border two days later, along with Xu Erlang.

Xu Erlang has not been here a few times since he received the secret protection inside the Tartars and knew that the Tartars were in turmoil and would not go south this year. Now it's a good time to take this opportunity to come and see how the people here are doing after the snowstorm.

The two parted on the border, Li Hehui was escorted by a column of guards to the Hezhou military camp under the jurisdiction of General Guide, while Xu Erlang watched the fields and farmers of the border households.

Xu Erlang informed Jin Niang when he left, saying that it would be a day or two for a short time, and a long time for three or five days, and he would definitely come back.

When Jin Niang heard this, she was worried that he would regain her illness one after another, so she said "no hurry" and asked them to slowly get busy with their official duties, and when everything was over, it would not be too late to come back by carriage.

Xu Erlang responded, but as for whether he would do it, Jin Niang didn't know.

Outside, it was cold and snowy, and Jin Niang continued to be her confinement. However, now that it has entered the lunar month, the New Year's gifts to the capital and Pingyang should be prepared to be sent out, otherwise it will not be able to catch up with the New Year later.

When Jin Niang thought of the New Year's gift, she asked people to call Pian Pian over and asked Pian Pian to prepare gifts for going everywhere.

Pian Pian has also helped her sister-in-law with New Year's gifts in the past, and she is also a skilled worker in this matter. However, the relationship between the second brother and the various families changes every year, especially with some officials in the court, who can't be better earlier, but now they need to avoid being alienated; Earlier, it was just a faint friendship, but now the ceremony has to be more intimate. In addition, although the second brother is now released, they are also under the jurisdiction of the servants of the Ministry of Officials and the Shangshu of the Ministry of Officials, and their promotions are also under their control, so these people are not easy to offend, so they should also prepare gifts for these people......

In this way, there are countless things that need to be marked, which makes Jinniang and Pian Pian anxious.

I was busy with this matter for two days, and I barely had a clue, but Jinniang was about to vomit in front of the list in the warehouse.

In the past two days, she has turned over and over the list of the warehouse, so that when she dreams, it is this list that runs behind her, which makes her tired and anxious, and she is worried that this thing will not be removed if it is attached to her.

Now, those congratulatory gifts from other places have almost been prepared, but it is the New Year's gift of these officials in Hezhou officialdom, and she still has to ponder it.

However, the big head has been completed, and Hezhou is a small head, and because Xu Erlang is considered "one person under ten thousand people" in Hezhou, even if there is any difference in her gifts, others will not say anything, so the pressure is reduced!

Pian Pian looked at the items that were sketched by her sister-in-law, and she was also relieved. But then I felt distressed again. These things are all going to be sent out, and this time they are sent out, the treasury in the house will be reduced by five or six or one-half, which makes her feel distressed more than digging out Pianpian's heart.

To be reasonable, she is a small money fan. She was glad to carry something in her own storeroom, but it would kill her if she was to bleed profusely and take something out.

Although her brother and sister-in-law's things are not hers, they are also her own. Just give it to someone else, Pian Pian is distressed and can't breathe.

Not only Pianpiao, but even Changle and Xiaoyu'er, who came in later, couldn't help but cover their chests when they saw the hooks one by one.

Xiao Yu'er even said impulsively, "Mother, send out so many things, will our family still live?" "Aren't you going to eat soil next year?

Don't!

That's too miserable!

Xiao Yu'er was frightened by the pictures that might appear in the future.

Jin Niang glanced at the daughter of the drama spirit, and patted Changle's little hand soothingly, "Don't worry, the family has sent out more, and the more it has been taken back." You relax, after all, our family's life is getting better and better, not getting worse, and not being so poor that your sisters can't even afford the flowers they wear on their heads. ”

Several girls have black faces at the same time, and the flowers on their heads are only worth a few dollars! It's not worth any money, okay? Sisters-in-law/aunts/mothers-in-law use this as a comparison, and they are more worried about the family's financial situation!

Jin Niang saw that it was self-defeating, so she smiled, and then said, "I'm serious, there is really no shortage of silver flowers in our house now." A few of you put your hearts back in your stomachs, and An Ansheng will live your own life. You see, the things on this bill are all brought from the capital to Hezhou, and the filial piety of these officials in Hezhou. We don't have only this one account book, but four or five more. For example, the full moon of triplets this time, the family received a lot of gifts. You know, those salutes took up several rooms before they were placed. So our family has a thick background, don't worry that one day you will become a little flower child, let you go to the street to beg for food. ”

This is really more and more unreasonable.

Pian Pian Changle and Xiao Yu'er looked at Jin Niang speechlessly, and finally the three of them sighed in unison, not looking for anger here, and went out to find the triplets after saluting Jin Niang.

Jin Niang didn't know that she was disliked.

She's sleepy right now.

Because she was in a hurry to give out the New Year's gift, she was busy day and night for two days, and now she feels poor in spirit, and her eyes are a little painful.

Jin Niang regretted it, she shouldn't have thought about getting things done quickly, just hurry up, she should listen to Pianpian's words and do it slowly. As a result, she has been doing it for almost forty days after the confinement, and she doesn't care as much as before. It's good now, my eyes hurt.

Buddha blessed, don't leave sequelae behind the eyes. Otherwise, she could really regret it for the rest of her life.

Jin Niang pulled up the quilt and fell asleep after lying down for a while. Qinghe and Qinggu heard that there was no sound and came in to take a look, and when they saw that their wife was sleeping soundly, they lowered the curtain on the bed, and then closed the door lightly and walked out.

The trio in the cubicle are teasing the triplets.

Changqi was still the least asleep of the three, and the girl cried when she woke up, making the two brothers howl together.

Finally, the grandmother hugged and fed and fell asleep again, so Pianpian patted Changqi gently, "You little villain, you have a bigger temper than your little aunt." ”

Changle and Xiao Yu'er are also related, "Is she having a big temper, she is not right-hearted and messing around." Tsk, she's still so young, so 'spicy', so abrasive, when she grows up, can the three of us be her opponents? ”

Pianpian's face stiffened, her youngest niece, she was still so young that she revealed the essence of the "big demon king", so now she began to teach her to "respect the old and love the young" and "sympathize with the elders", I don't know if it's too late?

……

Xu Erlang and Li Hehui returned to the mansion on the fifth day of going out, their faces were as usual, and outsiders couldn't see their joy and anger.

However, as Xu Erlang's pillow person, Jin Niang can see that he is in a bad mood. So she thought about it and asked, "The people on the border, life is very hard, right?" ”

Xu Erlang wiped his face with a hot towel and took a sip of hot tea before saying, "Almost every family only has one or two thin bedding to keep out the cold, and the food is all wild vegetables. ”

In fact, the reality is even worse than what Xu Erlang said. Most people have one or two thin bedding to keep out the cold, but there are many more people who can't even afford to buy thin bedding. The family huddled together and kept warm with straw. If it weren't for the felling of trees and the burning of firewood in the house, I don't know how many people would have froze to death.

As for the wild vegetable mush, this is already a good meal. Many families can barely eat one meal a day this year after saving enough grain for the coming year. Just this meal, I only grabbed a handful of corn the size of the child's palm, which is a wild vegetable, and it is not enough, so I have to save and put it inside. It is said to be a big pot of vegetable porridge, but in fact, most of the pot is water. In this way, those children still ate a lot of food, as if it were the best delicacy in the world.

But no matter how "delicious" it is, where can you fill your stomach with just such a meal a day? What about nutrition?

Therefore, when they walked into ten households, all of them were yellow-skinned and thin, and they were not human-shaped, and there must have been eight or nine of them who were hungry. As soon as he walked around, his heart burned in a circle, and the guilt of not being able to feed and clothe the people at once almost swallowed him.

Even if he returned and calmed down all the way, he still remembered that Xu Erlang was still enthusiastic, and he couldn't wait to go to the yamen to convene the officials now, set a plan for next year, and start to implement it.

He sat like this for a long time, and his tense spirit slowly improved. Looking up and seeing Jin Niang looking at him worriedly, she couldn't help but hold her finger in front of her, kissed her lightly a few times and said, "I'm scared of you, right?" ”

Jin Niang shook her head, "I haven't seen what you look like, am I afraid?" "Besides, no matter how much you lose your mind, you won't hurt me, and I still have this self-confidence, so I'm even more afraid of you.

Jin Niang held Xu Erlang's hand with her backhand and said word by word, "Erlang, I know the hardships of the people, you feel guilty, and your heart is like fire." But you must know that without you, these people would not have survived even this autumn. It is not easy for you to save so many lives, and if you work harder in the future, you may not be able to save more lives, and you may not be able to keep them all fed and clothed. Of course, the process is definitely harder and the journey is longer. But you don't rush, take it one step at a time, take it slowly. The life of the people on the border will get better little by little, and I will always be with you. So, don't be too self-conscious. ”

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