While speaking, the father and son had already arrived at the entrance of the village.

Dongshan Village is the largest village in the area, with more than 100 households.

The old house of the Xu family is at the head of the village, which is a three-room three-entry pattern, with thatched houses, pigstys and cattle pens in front of and behind the house, and the whole layout is full of rural atmosphere.

There was already an ear report that God had sent back the news of Xu Yingwei's return to his hometown in advance.

So not only the family, but the whole village came to see the excitement.

Nothing else, just because Xu Yingwei is the first Xiucai duke of the Xu family in the past two hundred years, and he also went to Xuzhou with the edict of King Qin, which is a big event for such a remote mountain village, and it is rare to see it in a hundred years.

So when I heard that Xiucai Gong was going home, the whole village poured to the entrance of the village to see the excitement.

Xu Yingwei's family is the youngest, so he hurriedly stepped forward to greet them one by one, the third prince, the seventh uncle, and the third uncle came down in a circle, and finally saw all the elders, and finally came to a pretty young woman holding a child.

This young woman is obviously from a scholarly background, and she has a bookish atmosphere.

"Husband." The young woman bent her knees and said to the child in her arms, "Call Daddy." ”

The child in his arms was about three or four years old, and he shouted timidly to Xu Yingwei: "Daddy." ”

"Whoa." Xu Yingwei agreed, and then reached out to take the child from the young woman's arms.

Xu Shiyi, who was next to him, frowned slightly, and said, "Youzhen, a gentleman is a distant son and a grandson." ”

"Dad, those ancient rites are outdated." Xu Yingwei said indifferently, "Today, when the saint gets along with the crown prince, King Ding and King Yong, he is not bound by the ancient rites, and their father and son are affectionate, and the child thinks it is very good." ”

After speaking, Xu Yingwei also gently scraped his son's little nose, and his son immediately let out a giggle.

Xu Shiyi's brows became more and more frowned, but he couldn't say anything more, he couldn't say that the saint was doing something wrong today, right?

Then, two young men who looked a little similar to Xu Yingwei came forward to salute, the one standing on the left looked eighteen or nineteen years old, tall and strong, and the one on the right was a little smaller, wearing a Confucian shirt, and was still a child, but these two people were Xu Yingwei's second brother Xu Yinglong and third brother Xu Yingxiong.

"Brother." The two brothers solemnly saluted Xu Yingwei.

Xu Yingwei returned the salute and helped the two younger brothers up one by one.

Then, under the envious gaze of the villagers, the family returned home.

When he got home, Xu Yingwei took out the gifts prepared in advance and distributed them one by one.

For his father, he prepared a cane, for his second brother he was for a horse chopping knife, for his third brother was for the four treasures of the study, for his wife was a box of rouge, and even for his son, a delicate wooden horse.

"Dad, where is my mother?" Xu Yingwei took out a piece of silk and asked, "Why didn't you see it?" ”

"I'm back to my parents' house." Xu Shiyi said with a surging expression, "I said that I would come back after a while." ”

The second and third brothers next to him gave Xu Yingwei a look, Xu Yingwei felt a little funny, and said in his heart that he was already at this age, and he was still fighting.

Dinner was quickly prepared, and the family gathered around the table for dinner.

Xu Yinglong couldn't let go of the horse chopping knife given to him by his eldest brother, and he refused to even put it down for dinner.

"Second child, you're eating, what are you doing with this thing?" Xu Shiyi scolded angrily, "I know how to dance knives and guns every day, and I don't know how to do some work for the family." ”

After finishing speaking, he reproached Xu Yingwei and said, "You too, why did you give him the whole knife?" ”

"Big brother, did you buy this knife from Nanjing?" Xu Yinglong ignored his father's nagging and asked Xu Yingwei, "How many taels of silver did you spend?" ”

"Second brother, this knife is not bought."

Xu Yingwei shook his head and said, "I captured it from the battlefield, Jiannu's knife." ”

This horse chopping knife was really captured from the battlefield, and it was captured by Xu Yingwei himself.

"Really? Have you ever killed Jiannu with your own hands? Xu Yinglong's eyes showed a strange look, and he said eagerly, "Big brother, tell me the story of the war?" I want to hear it. ”

Xu Shiyi's face showed a look of surprise.

He really didn't expect that his son would actually go to the battlefield.

and also had a life-and-death fight with Jiannu, and also killed Jiannu.

In this way, isn't my son Confucius a waist knife, both civil and military?

Thinking of this, Xu Shiyi suddenly felt an inexplicable pride in his heart.

After eating, not long after the family chatted, the chiefs, chiefs and elders of each village came to Dongshan Village one after another and gathered in the ancestral hall at the entrance of the village, which is also the ancestral hall of the Xu family.

Xu Shiyi took Xu Yingwei into the ancestral hall at the end.

Xu Yingwei was another gift, who made their family young.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you have seen the situation this year." Xu Shiyi sat on the main seat in the middle and said in a deep voice, "There hasn't been a drop of rain for two months in a row, and the crops in the field are about to die. ”

"Alas, who says it's not, I'm afraid there will be another famine this year."

"Your big village is better, but our people on the mountain are more troublesome."

"Patriarch, looking at this situation, I'm afraid I'm going to starve to death this year, shouldn't the clan think of a way? You can't just watch the villagers starve to death, right? ”

As soon as Xu Shiyi's voice fell, there was a voice of grievances below.

"What can the clan do?" The chief of Dongshan Village said, "There are only a few acres of clan land in the clan, and this year will have a bad harvest, so even Mr. Private Acquaintance will have to be dismissed." ”

"What did you call us to do here?"

"That's it, it's more than ten miles back and forth."

"If you save your strength, you can water two more acres of land."

The chief and the chief of the armor at the bottom immediately called.

"Shut up!" Xu Shiyi took out the crutches that his son had just bought for him and stomped on the ground, he didn't need crutches at his current age, it was all for show.

Xu Shiyi's prestige in the clan is still quite high.

This shout immediately silenced the people below.

Xu Shiyi said: "I called you here this time to find a way to survive this year's famine. ”

Speaking of this, Xu Shiyi continued: "My son served King Qin last year, went to the north to fight a few battles with Jiannu, and luckily did not die and also made some small contributions, so the saint gave him some grace. ”

When everyone heard this, they immediately came to their senses: "Patriarch, what grace has the Holy God given?" ”

"That's the case, isn't the imperial court recruiting soldiers?" Xu Shiyi said, "The saint specially gave my son some places to go back to Laodong to recruit soldiers." ”

A chief asked, "Patriarch, do you recruit soldiers to eat imperial food?" ”

"I really don't know." A lieutenant sneered, "Recruiting soldiers is not only about eating the emperor's grain, but also about getting money." ”

"Really?" The eyes of dozens of armor chiefs, lieutenant chiefs, and clan elders turned to Xu Yingwei in unison, "Xiucai Gong, do you really have money to get for recruiting soldiers?" ”

"Really." Xu Yingwei nodded and said, "The monthly salary is one or two or five cents, and if you kill a slave on the battlefield, there will be another reward, a real slave will be rewarded with fifty taels of silver, and a pawn or coat will be rewarded with ten taels." ”

"Oh my God, a month's salary?" The entire ancestral hall exploded at once.

"Patriarch, choose the second child of our family, the second child of our family is as strong as an ox, and he must be a good hand in fighting."

"Xiucaigong, bring your Brother Huzi, your Brother Huzi will herd cattle with you when he is young, he can follow you as your personal companion, and he can block arrows for you at critical moments."

"Wait, this can't be done to your Dongshan Village."

"That is, this is the grace of God, and you cannot take it alone."

"Shut up!" Xu Shiyi roared again, suppressed everyone's shouting, and then said, "This is the grace of the Holy Lord to our family, not the grace of the entire Xu family, you can figure it out." ”

"If anyone shouts here again, not a single place will be given."

After a pause, he said: "However, since I Xu Shiyi became the patriarch, I have always paid attention to fairness, so this time will not be an exception, in this way, there will be thirty strong men from the big village and ten people from the small village, and I will gather at the drying field in Dongshan Village tomorrow, and my son will select 270 strong men from it and take them away, but ......"

After another pause, Xu Shiyi said again: "But don't play any tricks on me, crooked melons and bad dates like lame, blind, and deaf people still don't have four or six green skins, don't take them to make up the numbers." ”

"I just want to be strong and honest." Xu Yingwei said.

"But once hired, one tael of silver will be given on the spot, which is a special gift from God."

"Did you hear that?" Xu Shiyi's eyes swept around, and he said, "The whole grandmother is so big, I know what kind of virtue is the child of whom, don't think about the patriarch of Hulong." ”

The dozens of lieutenant chiefs, A chiefs, and clan elders present hurriedly claimed that they didn't dare.

"That's what it is." Xu Shiyi waved his hand and said domineeringly, "Let's go back." ”

After sending away a group of lieutenant chiefs, a chiefs and clan elders, Xu Shiyi suddenly became interested and said to Xu Yingwei: "Youzhen, go to the ancestral tomb mountain with your father." ”

"Dad, what are you doing going to Ancestral Tomb Mountain this big night?" Xu Yingwei was stunned.

"If you want to go, you'll go, what a word." Xu Shiyi turned around and left.

Xu Yingwei hurriedly asked Wuniu and another long-term worker to light a lantern and accompany them up the mountain.

After climbing for almost half an hour, the father and son came to a big tomb, Xu Shiyi said: "Youzhen, the ancestor of our grandmother Xu family has moved to Maodong since the Wude period of the Tang Dynasty, and it has been more than 1,000 years now. ”

After a pause, he said: "But the night before yesterday, my father had a strange dream, in which he saw a dazzling star falling from the sky and smashing on our Xu family's ancestral tomb mountain, and the entire ancestral tomb mountain was smoking. ”

"Huh." Xu Yingwei couldn't help but smile and said, "Dad, this is a good thing, the ancestral tomb is smoking." ”

"Don't laugh, Dad is serious." Xu Shiyi said, "Dad feels, this dream is likely to be on you, and you may not be able to worship the general in the future, so you have to be cautious in your words and deeds in the court, and make friends with colleagues, and the glory of our grandmother Xu is tied to you." ”