Old Madam Lu listened to Old Madam Yu's words. She was satisfied, but she hadn't forgotten that she was asking for more than that. Adding a few more people to patrol at night, or saying hello to the Pingyang Mansion is just a means of warning, and in Guzhuang, which is not surrounded by a solid outer wall, once a large number of rioters attack, I am afraid that it will not be able to support even a quarter of an hour, even if someone finds out in advance, or if the officers and soldiers of the Pingyang Mansion can arrive in the shortest possible time afterwards, it will not help. After all, most of the residents of Gu Zhuang are unarmed ordinary people, even if they are Gu clansmen, not all families can live in large mansions, with towering courtyard walls and thick door panels to slightly resist foreign invasion, not to mention that there are a large number of tenant farmers, merchants, craftsmen and servants on the village?

However, she looked at the faces of Old Madam Yu and Liu Gu, and then looked at the Duan family and the others with different expressions on the side, and still swallowed these words back. What she wants is to put all kinds of arrangements in case of emergency, not after repeatedly making suggestions, because some narrow-minded junior is confused in order to fight for a breath. As a result, this major event fell into the void.

Mrs. Lu only said a few words of gossip, and then left very neatly. Wen Yi got up and walked outside from the moment she opened her mouth to say the tenth word, and when she passed by Liu Dongxing's side, she secretly glanced at him, but because of others, she could only stop and keep walking out.

Liu Dongxing's eyes darkened, but he quickly recovered his spirits, and he could hear that the two wives of the Gu family in the other room were also resigning. Eight out of ten wives and grandmothers of these large families are good things, although they consider themselves virtuous and virtuous, chaste and self-controlled, and always hold the stand of a dignified lady in front of others, but when they have nothing to do, they love to pay attention to the gossip of relatives and friends. Their departure meant that another wave of rumors about his background would spread throughout Gu Zhuang in the next few days. Although the marriage was not finalized, he was a little frustrated, but when he thought of what expression would appear on the second aunt's face, this frustration was immediately swept away!

The people in the long house did not stay in the house, and Mrs. Lu and Wen Yi soon returned to their homes. Wen Yi looked at her grandmother's face, and called out with some hesitation: "Grandmother, just ......" She blushed, then bit her lip and lowered her head, not daring to finish her words.

Old Madam Lu glanced up at her, remained silent, and just instructed Shi Nan: "Go and tell your father, go to the second room and invite the fourth master to come over." I have important matters to discuss with him. Be quick! Heather took the order and left, and another big girl, Otter, brought tea up, quietly glanced at the two masters, and then retreated lightly.

Old Madam Lu drank tea calmly, Wen Yi tightly pulled the handkerchief in her hand, and her heart beat faster and faster. She wanted to know what her grandmother thought of the affair, but she didn't dare to ask directly, but her grandmother didn't react at all, so she couldn't guess if she wanted to.

Mrs. Lu put down the tea bowl, quickly glanced at her granddaughter, and sighed in her heart. She was not satisfied with this family matter, and she was always wary, when she was in Xuanle Hall, she just said those words in front of everyone and in the way of the old woman's face, just an expedient measure. The granddaughter has only passed her fourteenth birthday not long ago, and there are still two or three years before she really gets married, she has to look at it carefully to determine whether Liu Dongxing is a good match for her granddaughter.

Come to think of it. She then spoke: "When your fourth uncle comes, I will discuss a good matter with him, and I am afraid that I will start preparing for the vigilance arrangement." Our family is one of the six halls of the lineage, so naturally we have to contribute, you go back to check the servants in the family, all the young and strong men, who do not have any errands in hand, are all drawn out in case of emergency, and then arrange for powerful servants to keep vigil in shifts in each courtyard. If you don't know anything, come and ask me again, or you can ask Zhongda. ”

Wen Yi couldn't say whether she was disappointed or what she was in her heart, but she also knew that the vigilance was a big thing, so she bowed her head and answered, exited the room, sighed softly under the porch, and then cheered up and went to work.

The fourth master Gu Yizheng came soon, his image in the clan is very good, although some people secretly say that he sells his reputation or pretends to be famous, but it is undeniable that he has always been very polite in front of his elders, and people can't find thorns.

He talked with Mrs. Lu for a full hour, Wen Yi didn't know what they talked about, only knew that after she arranged everything, when she went to report to her grandmother, the fourth uncle said to her with a smile: "There are few men in your family, only two young men are selected to participate in the night patrol, and all the gates must be strictly watched." Let the people below be vigilant at night. Although your house is small and not as eye-catching as others, the loss is that the courtyard wall that was repaired later cannot be compared with the thick wall of the ancestral house in the early years. ”

Wen Yi listened to nonsense, and it wasn't until the next day, when the whole Gu Zhuang was lively, that she understood what the fourth uncle meant.

When the ancestors of the Gu family established their homes, they did not only consider the residence of their descendants, but also thought about the issue of external defense in addition to the ancestral halls, schools, warehouses and other ancillary buildings. However, because this is a village, not a town, and because it is located in a peaceful area, the defenses are not on the surface. Of course, that's only for the buildings that were originally built.

Wen Yi watched from a distance as more than a dozen Zhuang Ding jointly lifted a heavy black wooden strip three zhang long and one foot square from the small door, moved it to the intersection on the periphery of the nine main houses, and stacked it with more than 20 wooden strips of the same size and length, stacked one by one, and then combined with thick wooden planks and large iron nails made of fine iron to form a heavy wooden wall one foot thick. Considering that people had to pass through here, the wooden wall did not close, leaving a gap half a foot wide. Every night, after the first shift (19 o'clock in the evening), it is blocked with thick wooden planks and guarded by special personnel.

Wen Yi turned around and asked her grandmother, "Can this work?" It's thick, but it's a wooden wall, and if you set it on fire, or cut it with a sharp weapon......"

Old Madam Lu said lightly: "It is not ordinary wood, it has been painted with several layers of special black lacquer, it is not afraid of water and fire, and the knife is constantly chopping, and I want to deal with it, unless it is sawed for an hour with the sharpest and strongest wooden saw." to cut it off at the waist. It is not easy to cut it off with a thick wooden beam, just like a large army dealing with a city gate during a siege, and it is enough to resist for a while. After a pause, he lamented again: "After a hundred years, the ancestors were thoughtful, but the younger generations lived up to the kindness of the ancestors." More than a dozen of the rough wood in the long house were used to make the beams of the new house, and the wooden boards and iron nails in the second room were also ruined and unusable! The five rooms were simply sawn and made into matches! Fortunately, when Sanfang moved out that year, they left all their wood, but it was piled up in the corner and no one knew! Otherwise, I'm afraid that there won't be enough of so many intersections. And our ......," she sighed, "but fortunately I had the wood brought back when they took the house, otherwise it would have been ruined." Now it is only enough to make a single wall, which is half the difference between the two-foot-thick wall ordered by the ancestors......"

Wen Yi was silent, she never knew that these "debris" piled up in her backyard turned out to be so proven. It's a pity, Gu Zhuang has been in peace for a hundred years, and these defense facilities left by the ancestors have long been forgotten, no wonder the grandmother is only willing to go to the old lady Yu to say it, now in Gu Zhuang, except for these old people, the juniors don't even know about the existence of this kind of thing, right?

She glanced at her grandmother: "What did the fourth uncle say...... The walls of our home...... Does it matter? "The house of Xuanhetang has been divided, only the courtyard wall in front is still the thick wall when it was built at the beginning of the year, and the others are blue brick walls that were added later, which are used to separate the courtyard, but it is far less solid than the old wall.

Old Madam Lu smiled faintly: "We are surrounded by houses, how can it be so easy?" Then go and find some sturdy planks, thicken a few doors, and send men to guard them day and night, that is. This is fate, we have done everything we can, and the rest depends on the will of God. ”

Although Mrs. Lu said that it depended on the will of God, Wen Yi deeply felt that manpower was also very important.

Gu Zhuang, obviously not everyone agreed with Mrs. Lu's opinion. Those who are willing to raise their vigilance and guard against possible bandits. The wooden walls can only protect the nine main houses, and those houses built later, as well as the shops and houses in the former village, are not within the scope of protection, so the villagers just looked at the black walls and discussed with some curiosity, but the Gu clan people who were under protection thought that this kind of measure was a big fuss and hindered their normal life. Some people complained that the gaps in the wooden walls were too narrow, making it difficult for horse-drawn carriages to enter and exit; Some people think that the small door of the wooden wall is closed too early at night, so that they are locked outside the wall when they return home after socializing and having fun outside; Others feel that the trees on hot days have thick walls to block the wind, and they have to endure the heat at home. Some people even think that this wooden wall is black, and the black crows are blocking the road, which is really unlucky.

In such a complaint, the six rooms are under a lot of pressure, although others don't say anything in person, but behind their backs there is a lot of talk about the six old ladies are old and love to toss, a few thieves in the village around the mouth, she made the whole village uneasy. At the beginning, this kind of criticism was only mentioned by a few people, but after a few days, even the big gossip about whether the "clan nephew" that the third aunt's wife, Liu Gu, brought with her when she returned to her parents' house to save her relatives, was the "eldest son" or the de facto "eldest grandson" of the older generation, could not satisfy people's idleness. They were discussing in private, what was the reason why the six old ladies suddenly made such a fuss? And the fourth master actually went along with her wishes, what kind of idea did he have?! There are rumors that the eldest master is in trouble in the capital, and even wrote a secret letter back, hinting that he wants to pass the patriarch's position to the second room, and the fourth master does this, and the long room is silent, does it mean anything?

Wen Yi remained silent in the turmoil, didn't say anything, just took care of the housework and served her grandmother every day as usual, and didn't even go to the boudoir side anymore, and she also found an excuse to refuse the invitation to the long room, but in her spare time, she would inquire about the girl's mother-in-law to see what rumors were outside, of course, in addition to the discussion of the behavior of her grandmother and the fourth uncle, there were also rumors about the mystery of Liu Dongxing's life experience.

Many people in Gu Zhuang have begun to suspect that the identity of the third aunt's wife, Liu Gu's family, and Uncle Liu's repeated emphasis over the years, is actually just that they put gold on their faces, and the real eldest son and eldest daughter-in-law have someone else, but they have passed away, Liu Dongxing is their orphan, and Uncle Liu's biological mother is not his father's mother, that is to say, the third aunt and wife were married to a concubine back then, I really don't know if the long house was deceived into marriage, or in order to climb the dragon and attach the phoenix, I know that the other party is a concubine and can't take care of it......

Wen Yi heard these rumors and was faintly happy for Liu Dongxing in her heart. He finally got out of that awkward situation. But then, she began to worry again, because it was also mentioned in the rumors that Mrs. Six took Miss Eight to the long room to ask for peace again.

Time came to the day before the Duanyang Festival in a blink of an eye. Because on the day when the prince returned to the banquet, the Gu family's rooms were busy with night patrols and organizing defenses, and people had no intention of going to the banquet, resulting in a little deserted at the banquet. Although the prince didn't say anything, Liu Gu felt that he had lost face, so he said something bad and persuaded him to stay for two more days, and when the Gu family went to the city to fight Jiao during the Duanyang Festival, he would put on a formal show for a day and give him practice. The son couldn't resist his uncle's enthusiasm, and he also intended to be closer to his aunt and cousin, so he was as good as a stream.

At this time, news came from the city of Pingyang that the town of Pingnan, 80 miles south of Fucheng, had been invaded by displaced people at the end of April. The leader of the exiles claimed to be the "Emperor of the Emperor", and led nearly 1,000 people to raise the banner of rebellion, claiming that he would kill all the rich and unkind, rob the rich and help the poor, and said that this year's drought was a warning from heaven, and God sent him down to punish corrupt officials and bullies. They occupied Pingnan Town for two days, burning, killing, plundering and plundering, but they did not expect to notice for a while, so they asked the officers and soldiers to kill a horse gun, broke most of the men and horses, and fled all the way to the south. The officers and soldiers pursued them all the way, and it was said that there were less than 100 people left around the bandit leader, and it would not be long before he was caught.

When Gu Zhuang heard the news, he strangely did not feel nervous, but relaxed a lot. It seems that there are rioters, and there are bandits, but that happened in Pingnan, nearly a hundred miles away from Guzhuang, and the officers and soldiers are chasing after them closely, how can those riotous people escape to Guzhuang? It can be seen that everything in Guzhuang is peaceful!

The government of Pingyang Prefecture sent most of them to Pingnan for reinforcements, and the prefect sent a secret envoy again, suggesting that Zhu Jingcheng, the prince of Dongping, and the royal palace guards should leave as soon as possible for safety. Zhu Jingcheng gave a positive reply, and Gu Jia's room had already prepared all the items needed for Jiao and was ready to be sent to the city. In order to ensure that the road was clear, the thick wooden wall was moved, and when the Duanyang Festival was done, it was to be dismantled and returned to the corner.

Seeing this, Wen Yi was secretly anxious in her heart, and immediately returned to her grandmother, and Mrs. Lu immediately invited the fourth master, Gu Yizheng, to come over and talk. Helplessly, there are many opponents in the clan, although Gu Yizheng acts as the general affairs of the clan, he is not the patriarch after all, and the long house where the patriarch is located is constantly urging openly and secretly, so he can only give in. Moreover, the news from Pingnan's side also confirmed in disguise that the bandits would not harm Gu Zhuang, but he also advised Mrs. Lu not to worry too much.

Wen Yi's ancestors and grandchildren looked at his departing figure and looked at each other silently, both a little helpless. Wen Yi smiled reluctantly: "It should be fine, don't you say...... Is there something wrong with Pingnan? Last time, they probably just came to explore the way, but when they saw that things couldn't be done, they found Pingnan ...... separately."

Mrs. Lu didn't speak.

On this night, when everyone was asleep, Gu Zhuang suddenly caught fire.