Chapter 361 Returning Hometown

Chapter 361 Returning Hometown

Xiao Mo walked over and said with a smile: "Yingbao, I can meet you everywhere. You are not at home. Why are you coming to Jingzhou again?"

"I came here with my second senior brother," Ying Bao said.

Zhang Min echoed from the side: "Junior sister wants to help us defend Jingzhou, so she came with me."

Xiao Mo glanced at Zhang Min and said nothing. He turned around and spoke to Zhou Wuchang: "Master Zhou, Jingzhou is out of danger. It's time for us to go to Tokyo for assistance."

Master Zhou: "The city of Tokyo has become an empty city. Your Majesty has set off for Shu. It is meaningless for us to go to Tokyo at this time, wasting people and money."

"The Holy One did not go to Shu. The one who went to Shu was the king."

Xiao Mo: "That Pei Tianshi has gained a lot of attention in the capital. At this time, he actually gave the emperor an idea and asked the imperial court to send troops to attack King Cheng, saying that King Cheng wanted to rebel."

Zhou Wuchang sneered: "Pei Shi didn't just say this, he also said that I, Zhou, am an accomplice of King Cheng."

Xiao Mo touched his nose and said, "Your Majesty is not a stupid person, so how can you trust him completely?"

Zhou Wuchang smiled: "I can't tell for sure. Xiao Mo, if you want to go back to Beijing, you can go back by yourself. I have no position or power. I'm just a monk. I'd better not get involved in your affairs."

This Xiao Mo is very ambitious, and he probably wants to take this opportunity to do something big.

He has no interest in the affairs of the court, no matter who of the Xiao family and Murong family becomes the emperor, he is just an idle cloud and wild crane, going wherever he goes, but if they are unfavorable to him, he also has a way to protect himself.

Xiao Mo thought for a while and said, "Master Zhou, can you hand over the manpower of the surrounding military camps to me? The Jurchens have surrounded Tokyo City, and the Grand Master has written a letter ordering me to go to the capital to escort them."

"I am not in charge of the manpower of the military camp. Commander Xiao should discuss this matter with Prefect Zhang."

Before Zhou Wuchang came to Jingzhou, he did not bring any manpower. He only contacted the surrounding military camps when he arrived at the border of Jingzhou.

Many of the generals in these military camps were his former subordinates, so he was able to recruit one or two thousand people to come to the rescue in a short period of time.

On the way, they happened to meet Xiao Mo and Chu Yan's team again, so they came together.

Thanks to their help, Jingzhou was saved.

Now Xiao Mo wanted to borrow people to expand his team. Zhou Wuchang was not willing to do so at first, but thinking that those military camps belonged to the imperial court, he couldn't stop him.

Governor Zhang actually had no control over those military camps. The imperial court valued literature over military affairs, but all military camps were mercenaries directly supervised by the imperial court. Whether the governor or the prefect, they had no right to mobilize the strength of the military camps, which also resulted in a shortage of soldiers to defend the city.

Now Xiao Mo wants to use these people from the military garrison. They either have the imperial order of the tiger talisman, or they have personal relationships with the generals and hire them at a high price.

He has neither and can only rely on Zhou Wuchang's influence.

But until the discussion reached the end, Zhou Wuchang didn't let go.

The reason is that these soldiers must stay in Jingzhou City to guard the city until the Jurchens return to their hometown.

Ying Bao didn't know what Master and Xiao Mo had to talk about. After returning to the room, she started to pack her things and prepare to go home with Master.

After this incident, Zhang Min decided to stay in Jingzhou with his parents.

But Mrs. Zhang firmly disagreed and asked him to leave with Zhou Wuchang.

Reluctantly, Zhang Min said goodbye to his parents and sisters in tears three days later.

Going home this time, Yingbao and his younger brother took a carriage, Master and Huzi took another, and the second senior brother and the eldest brother served as the coachmen of the two carriages respectively.

It was already July and the weather was very hot. Ying Bao and her brother were sweating profusely in the covered carriage.

So, Ying Bao took out an iced peach from the cave and handed it to her brother.

The peaches are boiled with rock sugar and taste sweet and sour.

The second senior brother, who was sitting on the shaft of the carriage driving the carriage, suddenly turned his head to take a look and asked, "What do you want to eat? I want it too."

Ying Bao had no choice but to take out a bowl of iced peaches and give it to him.

Zhang Min ate the ice drink happily, correcting the carriage from time to time, and it returned to its previous appearance.

Huzi, who was sitting in the previous carriage, was leaning against the small window behind the carriage shed. When he stretched his head and saw this scene, he couldn't help shouting: "You are actually eating alone?"

He turned to Zhou Wuchang, who closed his eyes and rested his mind, and said, "Master, stop the car quickly, the three of them are eating alone in the back."

So, the two carriages stopped in an open area.

Huzi jumped out of the carriage and ran to Yingbao quickly: "Yingbao, what did you give them to eat? Master and I don't have anything."

Ying Bao turned around and took out three bowls of iced peaches from the basket behind her, "Here, they are for you and my master and senior brother."

Huzi then beamed with joy and headed to the carriage ahead with the ice bowl in hand.

Zhang Min and Zhou Hao got out of the car, fed and watered the horses, rested for a while, and then continued on their way.

When encountering county towns and market towns, the two cars went in for repairs.

But there are many refugees on this road, all of whom are traveling with their families.

Sometimes Zhou Wichang would stop the car and chat with them.

When he learned that they had to flee due to drought in their hometown, Zhou Wuchang asked Yingbao how to get them out of trouble.

How could Yingbao know?

In this northern region, we basically rely on the weather for our livelihood.

Even where they live, once flooding occurs, there will be no harvest for half a year.

But the taxes from the imperial court will not be less at all, and they still have to be paid.

Zhou Wuchang's little apprentice was at a loss, so he didn't ask any more questions, turned around, got in the car, and left.

They followed the official road, passed countless villages and several cities, and finally returned to Qinchuan County in July.

The county town is now very lively, and gorgeous carriages are often seen on the streets.

Yingbao was very curious and asked her cousin when she returned to the shop.

Seeing that his cousins ​​were back, Jiang Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, "Those are all those who escaped from the capital. We can't provoke them."

Then he asked: "What happened to you? Where have you gone? My third uncle and my second uncle are all very anxious."

Yingbao didn't dare to talk about what happened in Jingzhou, so she said easily: "Second Senior Brother wants to go home for a visit, so we will accompany him. Why don't you come back well now? Tell us how is your family?" Already?"

Jiang Chengdao: "My family is all well. Wei Zhan and his mother have also come and live in our village. There is also Mrs. Wen and her son and daughter, who are also living in our village now."

In fact, not only these families live in Dongchen Village, but also some aristocratic families went to Nanpo and bought land at a high price to build houses, saying they wanted to build individual courtyards.

However, that was what the people of Xichen Village did. They sold their low-grade fields on the southern slope to outsiders at high prices and let those people build houses.

"Mrs. Wen is here too?" Yingbao was very happy to hear that both Mrs. Wen and Sister Wen were here.

He said to Jiang Wu and Hu Zi, "We will go back tomorrow."

Master and two senior brothers will also return tomorrow. Master said that he will live in Dongchen Village for a while and learn to grow pepper and cotton from his father.

"You guys give it a few days, then Xiaojie will take a break and you can come together." Jiang Cheng said.

Yingbao: "Okay."

Jiang Cheng paused for a while, then quietly said to his little cousin: "Let me tell you something, my uncle is dead, and the concubine came to my aunt to make trouble and asked her for money for burial."

Ying Bao twitched her eyes: "Where's aunt? Did she give you money?"

"I don't know. Today, my aunt took Yuying Hongxiao and the others to keep a vigil. She probably won't be back at night."

Jiang Cheng peeled an apple with a knife and handed it to his little cousin, then continued peeling the second one: "Zhang Yukun is a bastard enough. He actually thinks that his father is dead and his mother should give him burial money."