phoenix knot

Chapter 61 Master Chang's Slap

Around the Qingming Festival, I planted melons and beans, and after the first wave of spring plowing, I just planted soybeans.

The real busy farming is harvesting wheat around the Dragon Boat Festival. The whole year’s harvest depends on the wheat. The north is not like Jiangnan. The early rice harvest is not good, so you can replant late rice. Guangdong and Guangxi are busy with farming all year round. There is a saying that Huguang is familiar, and the world is full.However, after harvesting this crop of wheat in Beidi, the buckwheat, rice, sorghum, and soybeans that will be planted next cannot match the harvest of this season's wheat.There was a disaster in Huguang last year, and the food there could not be transported to the border. If we want to have enough food, we have to rely on our own hands.

The white disaster in spring, this year’s wheat harvest is not good, and countless cattle and sheep froze to death in Mongolians outside Yanmen Pass. They are even more short of food. I can risk my life.

From Liaodong to the foot of Helan Mountain, the Great Wall has been repaired and repaired, but not all openings can be sealed, and wolves will come out of those broken openings to bite people.

No grain is grown on Taihang Mountain, and the bandits on the mountain are also eyeing it.

The wheat in the field was snatched as soon as it was harvested and before it entered the city. Half of the people were required to work and the other half to guard the grain.

When Dong Liu was patrolling the battlements of Yanmen Pass, he had been looking toward the north worriedly, and his soldiers were still cursing, blaming the officer for making them carry logs to chop firewood for his young wife every day, and not teach any real kung fu.

The head of the hundred households who hid in the kiln and refused to come out, and even sent bribes, was previously taken by Master Chang Qinghe, the commander of the Dragon and Tiger Guards, and beheaded at the edge of the Yanmenguan school, and the three armies watched.Dong Yiming was slapped, and Chang Qinghe reprimanded him for three crimes. One was that he had no ability to take people away. It's a connoisseur of swords, bows, swords and halberds, none of the eighteen martial arts can do it well, it's just a mob.

That being the case, let Dong Yiming's men continue to run, and when the Mongols come, let's see if they can outrun their horses. More than 1000 people were fined to run around Songcheng every day. Dong Yiming was at the head of the team, and they didn't have to take care of the wheat harvesting.

Dong Liu was blamed by his soldiers and died.

When Dong Liu came home that day, half of his face was swollen like a steamed bun. Although he wanted to show it to others, it didn't take a few strokes for Su Mingyue to see the clue.

After applying the medicine, Su Mingyue patted the table and raised her eyebrows, "The emperor won't bring such a thing when he beats you! This surname is so daring!"

Dong Liu quickly covered her mouth, for fear that the neighbors would listen.

"If you want me to say, the surname Chang is underestimated."

Su Mingyue couldn't believe it, and said coldly, "I think you've been slapped and addicted?"

"The person surnamed Han beat me, and this Mr. Chang beat me for different reasons and different positions. I used to be in the army, and no one was in charge of me. I was the only one who beat others, and no one else beat me. Today I Thinking about it, if I were an officer and he was a subordinate, I’m afraid I’d be punished with thirty army sticks. I think he’s being extra merciful in giving me a slap today.”

Su Mingyue looked carefully at his unswollen face on the other side, worried, "Did he fall in love with you?"

"Nothing! We women are the most sensitive. Anyone who likes himself knows it very well. If he doesn't know it, he must be pretending to be stupid."

Su Mingyue continued to worry, "But you are a man now, a handsome Confucian general. Those men in the army, not to mention manly, are not manly. They have been at the border for many years, and when they see sows, they are like Diaochan. , seeing you like this, why don't you just jump straight up?"

"My lady is worrying too much!" Dong Liu hugged her onto the kang, buried her head in the bed, and listened to the sound of the fetus in her womb, "Oh, you kicked me! Did you feel it?"

Su Mingyue naturally felt it. For the first time, she felt the joy of being a mother in her heart, but the matter of Chang Qinghe slapping her husband-in-law couldn't be explained away, so let it be.She had always known that Dong Liu would not answer the question, and then talked about his tricks, "Since Mr. Chang is extra merciful, how can you accept his love?"

"Naturally, he should be devoted to his duties and serve the imperial court!" Dong Liu bowed his hands, but unfortunately his clothes were disheveled, and with a flirty mustache, he didn't look like a Mr. Qiuba, but like a gangster in a Goulan courtyard.

Su Mingyue pulled off his beard, causing him to "ow".

Lianxiang and Hongling Cailian were eating melon seeds in the outer room. Lianxiang also took a book and read it in the northern dialect. Hongling Cailian was learning with her.Hearing this cry, the three girls rolled their eyes in unison.

Hong Ling said: "Didn't you not drink the soup today? Why is my voice still broken."

Cailian couldn't help worrying, "She won't have this voice from now on, will she?"

Lianxiang said: "That's a pity, although she can't sing, but her voice is pretty nice."

Hong Ling said: "Miss said, then there is no need to worry, as long as you don't drink the decoction and take it for a while, your throat will slowly recover."

Under the careful care of the lady, Dong Liu's face quickly recovered and turned back into the handsome Dong Liuye.

On this day, the wheat harvesting team went out, and the Mongols suddenly appeared from some unknown direction, and went around to Songcheng to grab the wheat. There were not many people who came, but more than 30 riders, but they rushed over on horseback and scattered. The grain harvesting team was wiped out, and there were countless casualties.

Chang Qinghe got the news and rushed over from Yanmen Pass, inspecting the dead and wounded soldiers in the field, blowing his beard and staring in anger.At this time, Dong Yiming rode a horse and led dozens of his infantry to ambush at a pass in the west of the city. He first stopped the Mongols with a horse rope, then stepped forward and stabbed them with guns. Finally, he took back the food and slaughtered them. After defeating the Mongols, they also seized 42 Mongolian horses, [-] sabers, and several other bows, arrows, and daggers.

Dong Yiming's men were not injured.

The few veterans who had returned home from illness were not allowed to go home, so they squatted under the counter counting the trophies on the side of the school grounds, wiping their noses and looking at the colorful face of the Commander of the Dragon and Tiger Guards.

"Dong Yiming, Dong Zhongjin, Dong Liu, it's interesting, huh?" Chang Qinghe looked at Dong Liu in the distance uncertainly, followed by his confidant Li Mingtang. "You said that this man was promoted by relying on the shelter of his family, and he has not made any military exploits?"

"I've read his letter of recommendation and letter of appointment to Songcheng. The rhetoric is gorgeous but it doesn't hurt. To put it bluntly, he hasn't made a single military exploit that can be called a name. It's probably because of the glory of others." Li Mingtang moved closer to him. Whisper report.

"The way he trains soldiers reminds me of someone."

"You think so too?"

"Did he not work under that man?"

"No." Li Mingtang shook his head, "The letter of recommendation said that he has been raising horses and training soldiers in Yangguan, because the lady was pregnant a few years ago and couldn't withstand the wind and sand outside the pass, so he asked to be transferred to Yanmen Pass."

"Yangguan... It's far enough away, his going up the peak is really reasonable." Chang Qinghe nuzzled, "You should meet him more often, and get to know the bottom of this person."

"Won't your lord meet him personally?"

"Not yet." After a pause, Chang Qinghe said again, "Is that guy still squatting in the kiln?"

"It's strange to say that the people I sent to investigate didn't see him, and the old bustard said he didn't know such a person."

"Stupid!" Chang Qinghe rolled his eyes at him, "The old bustard can tell you the truth? Go check it out."

"I asked Dong Liu to investigate, he is not one of us, maybe the other party will not be wary of him."

Chang Qinghe sneered, "Will he go shopping in brothels?"

Li Mingtang was overwhelmed by the question, "On the first day, I asked several other thousand households to ask him out, but he refused. The subordinates made up another excuse to trick him, but he still refused."

"I heard that his wife is ashamed of the fish and the wild goose?"

Li Mingtang said: "I haven't seen it, the soldiers under him have seen it, and said it is very beautiful."

Chang Qinghe looked back at him, "I said, don't just push hard at men, you can also pay more attention to women."

Li Mingtang stared at him, and Chang Qinghe's eyes were bigger than his, which seemed to suppress Li Mingtang's arrogance.

Chang Qinghe had just slapped Dong Liu two days ago, but now he refused to hold his nose and praise him, so he shook his cape and walked away pretending to be chic.

When he left, Li Mingtang greeted Dong Liu with a smile all over his face, saying that he had made a great contribution.

"That's Master Chang's good teaching." Dong Liu habitually cleared his throat, bowed his hands, bowed his head modestly.

"Ah, it's getting late, and I don't like to go to the camp to eat pig food. I think the restaurants in the city are noisy. I don't know how my wife's craftsmanship is? How about going to the house tonight to bother?" Zuo put a hand on Dong Liu's shoulder affectionately.

Dong Liu smiled and rebuffed straight away: "It's inconvenient." As he spoke, he skillfully broke away from Li Mingtang's restraint, and walked forward quickly, Li Mingtang even got into a fight with him, stretching out his hand as a claw to grab Dong Liu's shoulder.The two of them went through a few simple moves at the gate. Dong Liu felt that his internal strength was deep. Although the moves were very simple, they were military routines, but they were hard to parry with the mighty force.To deal with Li Mingtang, he could only win by cleverness and quickness. He suddenly pulled out the dagger from his sleeve, and the sound of the blade cutting through the air was like the "hissing" sound of a snake letter.

Li Mingtang didn't expect him to strike so fast and ruthlessly, the dagger cut his throat all at once.

"After a few tricks, are you serious?"

"Offended!" Dong Liu didn't intend to put away the dagger. The guard on duty at the gate was a little at a loss when he saw the two adults fighting.

"I said go to have a meal, if it's inconvenient, it's inconvenient, so I won't go today, and I will change it when it's convenient for you next time." Li Mingtang reckoned that he didn't dare to wipe his neck, so he pushed it with his hand, this time Without using half of his strength, he gently pushed the dagger away.

Dong Liu withdrew his dagger, "To be honest, my lady can't be seen easily by others, it's fine if the soldiers are under me, but you can't."

Li Mingtang wondered: "Why can't I?"

Dong Liudao: "In the Song Dynasty, there was a military general who was the head of the 80 forbidden army at that time. He was a great person. His wife was gentle and beautiful. They were deeply affectionate as husband and wife. They raised their eyebrows together. They were originally a couple. But someone fell in love with him. His wife wanted to occupy her, so she resorted to treacherous schemes to destroy his family, and in the end she could only become a bandit."

Li Mingtang almost jumped up, "Who do you think I am?!"

Dong Liu spread his hands, "We haven't known each other for long, so we're not familiar."

Li Mingtang felt that he had died unjustly, "To be honest, there is a reason why I haven't gotten married in my twenties."

Dong Liuming knew the reason and asked, "I would like to hear the details."

Li Mingtang said: "I have someone I like, and I've been in love for more than ten years, how could I have moved on? I thought about it, but after so many years, I got used to it, and there is no distinction between beauty and ugliness. "

Dong Liudao: "We've been in love for more than ten years, why haven't we been together?"

Li Mingtang sighed, "However Luohua intends to be ruthless. He doesn't like a big bastard like me. He likes someone else, a scholar, and he looks more handsome than me."

Dong Liu continued to gossip: "Since she is with someone else, you don't want to marry. Are your parents not in a hurry? There are three ways to be unfilial, and the worst is to have no offspring."

Li Mingtang said: "My parents are long gone, and I have no brothers or sisters. I am only single. I feed the whole family by myself. Anyway, no one cares about me. I have been wasted for so many years. Besides, I have been staying at the border. I don't think it's very important about children's personal relationship."

Dong Liudao: "Brother Li has the whole world in his heart, people like us are naturally incomparable."

Li Mingtang said: "After talking for a long time, I would like to ask my sister-in-law to prepare some food and wine, and we two brothers can talk about it in detail."

Dong Liudao: "I have to go home and ask for instructions first."