Chapter 793 Hometown Feelings

Chapter 793 Hometown Feelings

Chapter 793 Hometown Feelings
The eleventh month of the lunar calendar is also known as "Mid-Winter".

Generally speaking, this is the month with less farming work, and it is also the month when the government soldiers and peasant soldiers would train. But this year, there was no training, and there was no call at all, because the higher-ups did not distribute food and pickles, so it was cancelled.

Everyone was happy with this.

Who would have the energy to practice when they don't even have enough food to eat? It's better to save some energy and see if there is any farm work at home that needs help.

The river is frozen.

The child stood by the river and stepped on the water cautiously with his toes, but soon the peasant woman grabbed his ears and started crying loudly.

A group of women used stones to break the thin ice and started washing vegetables.

Another group of women tried the river water and found it too cold, so they carried wooden basins and shamelessly went to draw water from other people's wells.

"No need for porridge this year?" Four or five women sitting around the well chattered to the host.

"No need." The head wife Zhang sighed and said, "When the King of Liang came to Bianliang, all the Longxiang Prefectures sent food over, saying it was a 'loan', but I don't know if they have returned it."

"My family also contributed grain, oh." Another woman, Li, who was washing vegetables, said, "King Liang gave this big cabbage, but took away ten hu of grain, and it was the best corn. Oh, I almost couldn't breathe at that time."

"When Prince Liang came to inspect a few years ago, you said that he looked stronger than the average man and must be very strong," joked the woman, Mrs. He.

There was another round of laughter.

Amid the laughter and noise, bucket after bucket of water was hoisted up to repeatedly wash the cabbages, turnips, mallow, and mustard greens that had just been picked from the fields, some of which were even covered with white frost.

Making salty pickles in October and November is an old tradition.

A few years ago, when grain was relatively abundant, a new cooking method was introduced from Yi Yang and Luo Yang. It was to soak the winter vegetables in salt water for three days, then add the clear juice from the porridge to make the pickles ferment and become sour, which tasted better.

Another way is to soak it directly in salt water. The color is not as golden, but relatively green and not as sour.

Salted pickles are a very important food. When going to war, they are an important source of salt supplement for the army, along with fermented black beans. They are also eaten as a side dish with rice, and are consumed in great quantities.

"There are tens of thousands of hungry people here. Has anyone said we can buy people?" asked the woman, Mrs. Li, while washing vegetables.

"Maybe someone is willing to sell it." Zhang thought for a while and said.

She didn't ask why.

If there were any families in Henan who could have enough food at that time, the soldiers in the government were one of them - although the soldiers in the government could not have enough food, the family of the soldier in the government had no problem because the grain could not be collected from them.

There were too many hungry people coming from Hebei, and it didn't cost much food to buy one person. To put it bluntly, they bought people to save them, and it was not an exaggeration.

"Splash!" Another bucket of well water was drawn up, bubbling with hot steam.

At this time, a woman with a red face from the cold came outside the door and looked at the people in the yard timidly.

Zhang walked up to her, took her hand, and asked a few questions in a low voice.

The woman did not seem to be from Jin. She spoke and gestured, and her face became even redder with anxiety.

"Okay, I'll teach you." Zhang understood and led her straight in. She placed a small stool next to the well and motioned for her to sit down.

The woman nodded repeatedly, very happy, and then brought in the basket of turnips that was outside the door.

"Ten families of Xianbei people came up the ditch ahead." Zhang explained to the other women, "They are civilians."

The women suddenly realized what was going on and realized that it was no wonder that the person was a stranger.

In the past few years, even a dozen Wuhuan families were resettled. I heard that they were slaves of some high-ranking Hu official who were released and became registered civilians.

They were not palace soldiers, but civilians living near Longxiang Palace.

As for why they were dispersed and settled near the gathering place of the palace soldiers, they didn't know. Maybe they wanted to keep an eye on these Hu people. After all, the palace soldiers were good at fighting.

This Xianbei woman did not wear that ridiculous tall hat, and the clothes she wore were almost the same as theirs. If she didn't open her mouth, you really wouldn't know that she was a Hu person.

It seems that we are here to learn how to make salted pickles today?

When a stranger came, everyone stopped talking and washed the vegetables in silence.

Zhang was quite enthusiastic. She first took out the smaller turnips from the woman's basket, leaving only the big ones, and then taught the woman how to wash and cut them.

After finishing all this, he pulled the woman to the big water vat in her house, first opened the lid, then took out the large stone that was pressing on the salted pickles, and kept talking, basically teaching the Xianbei woman how to tie, how to place, how to soak, how to seal, etc.

The Xianbei woman listened very carefully, but judging from the confused look in her eyes, it seemed that she didn't understand much.

Zhang deliberately slowed down her speech and repeated it in detail.

When the women who were washing vegetables by the well saw this, they also gathered around. At first they watched the fun from the sidelines, and gradually some of them began to give instructions. There was even one particularly enthusiastic person who said she would take her to her home to show her how it was done.

After the Xianbei woman slowly understood what was going on, she felt moved. She muttered something incoherently and then ran quickly back home.

A moment later, he came running over again, panting, holding a black hare in his hand.

The hare was frozen stiff and had arrow wounds on its body.

The Xianbei woman gestured a few times and said a few words.

After listening carefully, Zhang said to everyone, "She rode her family's horse to shoot this rabbit in the wild and gave it to us."

When the women heard this, they became even happier.

After some discussion, some people went to get seasonings, some went to get winter bamboo shoots, and they prepared a pot of stew for everyone to share.

As they were talking, snowflakes began to fall outside.

After the winter month comes the twelfth month, and after the twelfth month comes the Chinese New Year, and the festive atmosphere becomes more and more intense.

Festivals and related customs are definitely an important part of culture.

This Xianbei woman was one of the 20,000 troops that Duan Mobo led from Youzhou to the south.

After several years of struggle, he finally released more than 500 tribesmen and handed them over to the counties of Chenliu County for resettlement. For this, he received a batch of cloth as compensation.

The five hundred Xianbei families who were dispersed and resettled lived together with the Jin people. Over time, their customs and habits would slowly change. After all, people tend to follow the herd.

After two generations, almost no one would mention their Xianbei identity anymore. Unless there was another chaos in the Central Plains, the Xianbei people would move south in large numbers and reawaken their national consciousness. Otherwise, they would be like a drop of water merging into a river, and eventually become part of it.

Today's scene is just a beginning.

******
Pingqiu Longxiang Mansion, Feng family.

There was a shallow scar on Feng Bachi's forehead, and his face was full of flesh and his appearance was fierce, which made him look even more terrifying.

In the surprise attack behind enemy lines, they captured and killed more than 12,000 men, women and children, and also lost more than half of their own men. Was it worth it?

Doesn't sound like much value.

Those who can go deep behind enemy lines are good men, brave and hard-working, with excellent equipment, and exchanging one for five is a big loss. But that's not the way it is said.

Huo Qubing led the most elite cavalry of the Western Han Dynasty in the first battle in Hexi. The troops led by other generals were inferior to his. As a result, 7,000 of the 10,000 most capable warriors with the best equipment died, and the result was only 8,000 to 9,000 people from the Xiongnu vassal tribes, including a large number of the elderly, women and children. It was a terrible loss.

But the Han Dynasty could afford the loss. Even if they injured some of the Huns themselves, they could still wear them out.

Da Jin can afford the loss. The Luoyan Army, the Yicong Army, and the Fubing can all recruit new soldiers and improve their organizations. With the old bringing up the new, their combat effectiveness will be restored in two or three years.

Of course, all of the above are from the perspective of King Liang and high-ranking officials and generals. For a junior officer like Feng Bachi, it is not so wonderful, because in the eyes of high-ranking officials, you are the part that can be lost and restored.

But he doesn't care much about it.

People who fight for their lives on the battlefield won’t think so much.

After thinking so much, I no longer dare to fight for my life.

His brain works differently from yours.

After he luckily survived and returned home safely, his wife Han was almost scared to death and cried for a long time.

Feng Bachi's first thought was "She has me in her heart", and he was overjoyed.

Now that several months have passed, everything has calmed down.

After visiting his old brother who was unable to return home, Feng Bachi walked along the ridge of the field and returned home.

The soldiers were called together to help his family carry the wood.

The wood was bought from Bianliang, and the source was the giant pine trees that were washed down from the Taihang Mountains during last year's flood.

Han was very capable in managing the family business. She bought a lot of wood from second-hand dealers in Bianliang and prepared to expand the house.

His house was bought from the tyrant Li Hu, and it included an eight-acre pond, four hundred and thirty-six acres of farmland, thirteen farmhands, thirty houses, and nineteen oxen. Now it has been slightly expanded.

In addition, Han gave birth to a son and a daughter, and the family has grown. The couple is not very old, and they will probably have children in the future, so they must consider it in advance.

By the way, Li Hu took his sons and nephews to the west to join General Shao Shen, but he died in the attack on Shaanxi City and did not get an official position.

A wealthy family that had dominated the village for three generations fell apart.

Now, the Feng family is the largest in this area, and it seems to be a new powerful family. But this family has only been around for a few years, and one cannot help but sigh at how drastically the situation has changed.

"Brother-in-law." When a young man arrived at the door of the house, he saw Feng Bachi and immediately bowed.

Feng Ba Chi nodded and asked, "Are you used to living here?"

"My brother-in-law's family is pretty good." The boy replied shyly.

Feng Bachi's vanity suddenly exploded and he couldn't stop grinning.

My wife's family was only a side branch of the Anping Han family. After the disaster, they could no longer hold on, so a group of relatives quickly packed up their belongings and food, and rode a ox cart south to Pingqiu to seek refuge with Feng Bachi. They had only arrived a few days ago.

"Study hard." Feng Bachi acted like a brother-in-law and warned him, "Don't be like me, your brother-in-law. I can't read a single word. If the position of Longxiong Mansion's Chief Historian is vacant, it won't be my turn."

"Isn't my brother-in-law going to be a deputy general?" asked the young man.

"Don't talk nonsense. Hu Heizi just got lost. If he comes back, he can still be a deputy general." Feng Bachi sighed when talking about this.

For this battle, Pingqiu Longxiang Prefecture dispatched 300 people, which were the troops led by him. They were equipped with a deputy general and a chief historian to lead the team. As a result, neither of them came back. One was injured and unable to move, so he was abandoned, and the other was intercepted and separated by the Xianbei people outside Tianchi and his whereabouts are unknown.

In the end, it was Feng Bachi who gathered the remaining troops and retreated to Tianchi with the support of the Jie cavalry.

War is cruel, but it is also a stepping stone for warriors to rise.

The deputy general and the chief secretary of the military division are both eighth-rank officials. Now that they are vacant, Feng Bachi has a great chance and may be appointed before the New Year.

For now, his family is still very weak.

Born as a refugee, he has lost his parents and brothers, and his two children are still very young. He is the mainstay of the family. If he fails to come back like his two former bosses, the family will fall into ruin.

Feng Bachi's situation is actually the same as that of Liang Wang Shao Xun. He rose too quickly, had weak foundation and unstable base.

He is the epitome of the new military elite.

"I heard from you that you are going to Shilou after the New Year?" Feng Bachi suddenly thought of something and asked.

"Yes." The young man replied, "I have studied poetry and literature for ten years, so I am qualified to teach the Hu people to read."

"Shilou County was established only a few years ago. There is nothing here, and there are a lot of mountain barbarians. Do you really want to go there? You are the son of a famous family after all. If it doesn't work out, just settle down in Pingqiu. Your brother-in-law will go to Longxiang Prefecture to make changes, and your family will be exempted from taxes and labor service. Just study hard." Feng Bachi couldn't help but say.

The young man shook his head and said dejectedly, "Anping has suffered disasters for three years, and my family business has been destroyed. I might as well try my luck in Shilou. Your Majesty has appointed county doctors and county teachers in places with strong Hu culture. There must be a purpose for this. Maybe this is a way out."

There are different classes within a noble family, and there is competition. The life of children born from side branches and concubines is not as good as imagined.

There are only so many quotas for filial and honest officials in a county. Several county families are competing for the quota, and the number of quotas allocated to a family is very limited. Then they decide internally who to allocate the quota to.

The quota for official positions through family connections must also be allocated internally. Furthermore, the merits of the Hebei gentry were not great, so how could they have many opportunities to enter the government through family connections?

As for the recruitment of high-ranking officials, it depends on how many people from Hebei are serving as officials at the central government and even at the prefecture and county levels.

There are many high-ranking officials from Hebei, so they will recruit more scholars from Hebei. But now - it's difficult!

The most intuitive example is Taiwei Wang Yan.

Whoever he says something good about, that person will be recruited by a high-ranking official.

Over the past few decades, he had accumulated countless favors and manipulated so many officials that it was shocking to even mention them. As a result, a large number of Qingxu scholars moved closer to him, and gradually formed a huge political group.

There was originally a Lu Zidao in Hebei, but unfortunately his fame was far inferior to Wang Yan's. In addition, he was known for being narrow-minded and partisan, so he was useless outside Hebei, and his ability to operate an official position was far inferior to Wang Yan's.

There is a faint call in Hebei now that if all else fails, the Cui family of Qinghe should be allowed to take over, and the Lu family of Fanyang should give way to others. This is evident from the situation.

The Anping Han family does not have a high status in Hebei. As a descendant of a side branch, don't expect the family to give you much help.

The best way is to use the Anping Han family's reputation and rely on one's own abilities, social circles and even a little bit of luck to gain the appreciation of senior officials. Taiyuan Wen Qiao is a good example. He was appreciated by Wang Yan and made friends with Liang Wangfei's brother Yu Liang, and thus rose to fame overnight.

If all else fails, find a way to find a teacher and expand your network.

Unfortunately, neither of these two routes worked for him, so he could only try his luck in the newly established counties and towns where the Hu people gathered.

Feng Bachi didn't quite understand the tricks played by the gentry, but he knew one thing: it was very difficult for people of poor background to climb up, whether in civil or military fields.

If King Liang did not tear open the dark iron curtain and open up an upward path for the lower-level literati and military men, they would never have a chance to rise.

In the final analysis, people like them have to band together to support King Liang, otherwise the world will still be dominated by people like Wang Yan.

(End of this chapter)