Go to ancient times and engage in construction

In a small remote village in the country of Lu with only twenty households, a dozen or so people left the village with three mule carts of food, and there were bursts of suppressed cries from the village.

"My son, the food has been taken away from the family, how can we live until next spring!" A woman in her forties cried bitterly while hugging a three-year-old boy.

At the open place of the dilapidated door, squatted a man with wrinkled forehead, he held his head and said nothing.A thin woman in her twenties hid in the corner of the room and looked at the two blankly.

"Is this everyone Zhou?" A tall, well-dressed slender man looked around in front of the family's broken gate.

"I'm Zhou Da, my boss, who are you looking for?" The man squatting at the door raised his head and stood up listlessly.

"This is Hu, who was entrusted by Zhou Cheng to find his family." This tall and thin man was a Hu merchant who was entrusted by Zhou Cheng. He came to Lu State to find Zhou Cheng's family and took them to Nanbu.

"Cheng'er? My boss knows about my Cheng'er?" The woman holding the young child stopped crying, and her face turned into surprise.

"Your Zhou Cheng is now a Huben. Huben, who is the director of Nanbu, is the famous governor of Luoyan. Do you know the governor of Luoyan?" Merchant Hu sat on a stone bench that Zhou Dawei brought for him, and said Stone benches are actually relatively flat stones that can be used as benches.

"Governor Luoyan? I don't know." Zhou Cheng's parents shook their heads together.The name of Zheng Yuming's Luoyan has been spread to the Lu country, but it is only spread among the nobles of the Lu king's capital. Zhou Cheng's family is just a small remote village here. Don't talk about Zheng and Chu, it is what happened to the Lu country. The villagers in the small village walking around outside don't know either.

Hu Merchant immediately crackled and explained Zheng Yuming and Chu Chaohui's deeds in Wu Wangdu, and he was talking happily, and the child in Zhou's wife's arms began to cry.

"Dear grandma, eat, Xiaobao wants to eat!"

Mother Zhou looked down at the child with embarrassment. "Little treasure, wait for your mother to make millet for you to eat."

"No, dear, Xiaobao is hungry, Xiaobao wants to eat now." The young boy ignored Zhou's wife's coaxing, still crying for food.

Zhou's wife saw that she couldn't coax the young children, so she could only turn to the Hu merchant, with hope on her face: "My family, Zhou Cheng, has become a tiger, did you...have you asked the owner to bring money back?"

Zhou Da who was next to him heard this, and his eyes lit up immediately. The food of the people in the village had just been collected by the feudal nobles. The Zhou family had no other food except a urn of millet buried in the soil in the backyard. There were four people in the family. Facing the situation of starving to death, if the second son asked someone to send money back, they would not starve to death.

"Oh! I forgot the business. You pack up and go to Zhou Cheng with Hu." The merchant Hu slapped his head. He was so busy talking about the governor of Luoyan that he forgot Zhou Cheng's commission.

"Where is my son?" Zhou Da and his wife looked at each other.

"In the country of Wu, in Nanport of the country of Wu, that's a good place. People there eat dry rice and meat, wear brocade and silk, and live in brick houses."

Zhou Da opened his mouth: "Eat dry rice and meat?" He choked and spit: "Are you full?"

"Why don't you be full! Of course you are full!" Hu merchant looked at the slobbering Zhou family, and raised his head: "Your family, Zhou Cheng, is going to pick you up to enjoy the blessings. Are you going or not? In order to come here Just a little word of mouth, I rode a mule for two days to get here, if you don’t leave this time, no one will take you there in the future.”

"Go! Go! Definitely go!" Zhou Cheng's parents agreed.

"Well, you will go to the Hu's shop in Lincheng to find Hu in four days." Seeing that the task was half completed, the Hu merchant stood up and prepared to leave, but after seeing the impoverished house of Zhou's family and Zhou Cheng's parents looking anxiously, Then he took out a cloth bag from his arms and put it in Zhou Da's hand: "Zhou Cheng asked Hu to bring it to you. Remember, Hu will wait for you in Lincheng for six days. If you don't come for six days, Hu won't wait any longer. Before the end of the year, we have to hurry up and go to Nanbu to do business."

"Boss, I will never keep you waiting." Zhou Da promised while holding the cloth bag tightly.

"This is for your children to eat." The merchant Hu took out a yellow paper package from his pocket and handed it to Zhou's wife, who then stuffed the package into the crying toddler.

Mrs. Zhou and his wife stood at the door and watched the Hu merchants leave, then hurried back to the mud house, closed the broken door, and opened the cloth bag to check.

"Ah! It's gold! So much gold!" Zhou's wife exclaimed, ten pieces of gold were wrapped in a cloth bag.

"It's really gold!" Zhou Da took a piece of gold and put it in his mouth and bit it hard with his teeth, but found that he couldn't bite.

"My son, we have so much gold, can we not leave?"

"Fool! We still owe the adults taxes. Can we keep the gold if we don't take it?" Zhou Da scolded his wife, not to mention that the place in Nanbu is so rich. go to defect.Here, the land is cultivated every year, and the harvest is not harvested every year. The grain that must be handed over to the Lord Lord every year cannot be reduced at all. Even with a bumper harvest, the Zhou family couldn't pay all the taxes owed, not to mention how to live until next year's summer harvest is a very difficult problem.

"Woooo! It's not delicious!" The young child next to him suddenly cried.

Zhou's wife looked back and saw that the young boy was spitting out yellow paper from his mouth. The paper bag that was in the young boy's hand had already been in the hand of the thin woman, who was biting the paper bag.

"Stupid girl! You're robbing your son, Xiaobao, for something to eat?" Zhou's wife snatched the paper bag with her hands.

"Bah! Bah! Mom! This food is not tasty." The thin woman also spit out yellow paper like a child. This yellow paper is rough paper produced in Dacheng, which is specially used for packaging things, um, Nan Bu villagers also use it to wipe their butts.

"It's not delicious?" Zhou's wife was suspicious, she tore some yellow paper and put it in her mouth, sure enough, it tasted bitter.

"What's inside?" Zhou Da took the paper bag from his wife and found that the paper bag was bulging, and there seemed to be something different inside. He opened the paper and found a long stick with the same color as the paper inside. I took a small stick and chewed it in my mouth, and found it soft and sweet.

"Delicious!" Zhou Da picked up one and stuffed it into the toddler's mouth. The toddler chewed a few times and felt a taste that he had never experienced before. Ten times sweeter.

Zhou's wife ate a small stick, only to realize that she ate the wrong thing just now.

"Delicious! Delicious!" Silly girl obviously couldn't stop eating. She stuffed her mouth full and wanted to grab it with both hands, but she was slapped hard by Zhou's wife.

The yellow paper package that Hu merchants handed to young children contained dried sweet potatoes, which is a delicious snack unique to Nanbu. Hu merchants especially like this kind of snacks. Although the price of dried sweet potatoes is very high, Hu merchants always buy I bought a few catties and took it with me. Seeing the crying children of the Zhou family, the Hu merchant handed the unfinished dried potatoes to the children. The people of the Zhou family had never seen paper before, and mistakenly ate paper as food. Get up and make a big oolong.

"Girl, let's pack up quickly. We'll hit the road early tomorrow morning and go to Cheng'er's place early." Zhou Da wiped his mouth. The dried sweet potatoes left by the Hu merchants were only about half a catty, and the four of the Zhou family shared a share. There is not much for one person, and Zhou Da is still enjoying himself.

"Silly girl, follow me to pack my things!" Zhou's wife stood up straight.

"Where are you going?" The silly girl stared at the few dried sweet potatoes in the hands of the young boy. The young boy ate slowly, and Zhou Da gave the young boy the most dried sweet potatoes. After the three adults finished eating, the young boy eat half.

'Snapped! Zhou's wife slapped the silly girl on the back of the head. "Stupid woman! Don't covet your son's stuff. We're going where the good stuff is."

Silly girl shrank her head after being slapped by Zhou's wife. She was very afraid of Zhou's wife, but when she heard that she was going to a place with dried sweet potatoes, she immediately smiled again.This silly girl is brother Zhou Cheng's wife, she is a bit dull and not very bright.

Zhou Da and his wife had six children, only the second and third, and the third was Zhou Cheng.Because the state of Lu was at war with the state of Qi all the year round, and the troops were not enough, they summoned the nobles from all over the country to bring their private soldiers to join the war. The nobles took strong men everywhere in their fiefs to serve as auxiliary soldiers. The auxiliary soldiers were like slaves. They had to carry luggage when marching, and had no protection when fighting. , When it comes to the battlefield, it is cannon fodder, so the losses are heavy. After the nobles fight a battle, they have to catch a strong man to replenish them.Five years ago, Zhou Cheng's elder brother failed to return after being taken away. Zhou Cheng's parents were afraid that their second adult son would also suffer bad luck, so they let Zhou Cheng escape from the state of Lu.

Zhou Cheng's elder brother had just married Sha Niu when he was arrested, and Sha Niu became pregnant a year after her husband left. Counting the time, it is of course impossible for this child to belong to Zhou Cheng's elder brother. Sha Niu herself does not know who it is. It's a bachelor in the village, maybe a local shopkeeper.

Before Sha Niu became pregnant with the wild species, Zhou Cheng had already fled. The news of Zhou Cheng's elder brother's death on the battlefield just came back. Zhou Da and his wife were grieved, and regarded the child in Sha Niu's stomach as a treasure, hoping that Sha Niu would give birth to a baby for their Zhou family. Baby boy, after all, Zhou Cheng is a fugitive and can't come back. If the silly girl gives birth to a baby boy, it will be the only incense for their Zhou family.After Xiaobao was born, Zhou's couple raised Xiaobao as their lifeblood, and the silly girl was not passed on because of her son.

Hu traders used to transport some local specialties of Lu from Lincheng to Nanbu. The profits of selling local products to Nanbu were very thin, and they could only earn back some travel expenses. However, by transporting Zhou Cheng's family to Nanbu, Hu traders could earn money. A hundred gold, this amount is equal to the profit he made once he purchased goods from Nanbu and sold them in the State of Lu, so the Hu merchant simply did not purchase local specialties this time. His main profit from the business was the sale of goods from Nanbu to the State of Lu.

Five days later, Zhou Da led more than [-] people, large and small, to find the Hu merchant.

"This... this... these are all Zhou's family?" Hu merchant remembered that Zhou Cheng told him that there were four people in the family including parents, brother and sister-in-law. He didn't see brother Zhou Cheng five days ago, but there was an extra child. As soon as the day passed, the Zhou family had thirty more people?

"This is my cousin's house, this is my two brothers-in-law's house, and this is my cousin's house." Zhou Da had a bitter face, and he had no choice but to bid farewell to relatives who heard the Zhou family wanted to say goodbye. After going to a place where there are cooked rice and meat to eat, they all yearned for it very much. When they heard that Zhou Cheng was still working as a tiger in that place, they all offered to go with them, because their life in Ludi was also difficult.

Merchant Hu wiped his chin with a troubled expression on his face. With so many people, the travel expenses will increase a lot.

"This is for you." Zhou Da took out the travel expenses sent by Zhou Cheng and handed it to the Hu merchant. In Zhou Da's heart, ten gold is a lot of money, enough for so many of them to go to his son. It is not clear at all how far it is to Wu Guo and how many roads to walk.

Merchant Hu looked at the ten gold that Zhou Da handed him, and suddenly his heart moved. The agreement between Zhou Cheng and him was that if he helped Zhou Cheng bring back a relative, he would be paid twenty gold. Zhou Cheng included his elder brother in the count. , thinking that there are at most five people in the family.Now Zhou Cheng has [-] more relatives, but it is an extra [-] gold remuneration!

The Hu merchant found it profitable, so he generously agreed, and hired two mule carts with more than ten gold to carry the group of ragged people, so that these people could save the pain of walking.

From Lu to Tang, and from Tang to Wu, Hu merchants have been walking for six or seven years. The joints on the road have been opened long ago, and there has been no problem in Lu State. Tighten up, the nobles of the Tang Kingdom finally realized the impact of the loss of population on the land, and began to prevent farmers from leaving the land.Because the Hu merchants were from the Lu country, the number of people was recorded on the customs certificate, and the soldiers of the Tang country Huben did not stop them. Some Tang people who spontaneously wanted to go to the southern port of the Wu country were stopped after being discovered by Huben, and some civilians who resisted were arrested. Grab the mine and dig it.

Zhou Dashen hugged his grandson and sat in the mule cart, fearing that he would be stopped by Huben from going to his son's place. From the state of Lu to the state of Tang, the road was desolate, and there was an endless stream of refugees fleeing by the roadside. These victims were all blocked at the checkpoint. The cries at the checkpoint were loud.

The merchant Hu was also sweating. When he came back from Nanbu, the checkpoints on the road were not so strict. After returning to Lu State for a month, the atmosphere of checkpoint inspections on the road in Tang State changed.

Hu merchants had the foundation of the original management, and transported people to the small bay rented by Nanbu in Tang Dynasty without any danger. When they arrived at the small bay, Hu merchants found the person in charge of the wooden boat moored there, and asked the person in charge for help.The merchant Hu's own wooden boat was too small to hold more than thirty people, so he had to entrust the large wooden boat from Nanbu to carry them.The person in charge of the big wooden boat happened to be a slave in the valley. He knew Zhou Cheng, and immediately agreed to let Zhou Cheng’s family and relatives go for a ride. Family members and relatives take a ride with the wind, and will not be overcrowded.

When Zhou Cheng was looking at the Nanbu Wharf in the morning of the winter solstice, the big ship carrying his parents, silly wife, cheap nephew and relatives was sailing back. Zhou Cheng was notified by Hu traders that relatives whom he had not seen for three years had arrived.

Although Zhou Cheng knew that his relatives were coming, he couldn’t get together because the refugees on the wooden boat had to go to the refugee camp for inspection and registration, and had to eliminate parasites in the refugee camp before they were allowed to come out after being organized into a group. Usually, such a procedure would take ten days Only now can it end, even though Zhou Cheng is now the leader of 500 soldiers, he can't take his relatives away on his own initiative. If Zhou Cheng wants to reunite with his parents, he can only follow the regulations.

Zhou Cheng has no right to take his parents out of the refugee camp, but he has the privilege to see his parents. In the reception room of a refugee camp, Zhou Cheng and his family cried together.

"Call him Uncle!" Zhou Da carried Xiao Bao in front of Zhou Cheng.

"Uncle, Xiaobao, eat!" Xiaobao can't forget the taste of sweet potato fries. Although he is young, he understands that there are very delicious things in this place.

"Well, uncle will go buy it right away, Xiaobao wait a while." Zhou Cheng touched Xiaobao, and found that his nephew's facial features did not look like Zhou's family in any way.

"Buy more of those little yellow sticks." Zhou's wife first asked her son like this, but she was afraid that his son would not have coins: "Not too many, as long as each person can have three."

"Mom! Your son now has more than ten gold a month, and he can afford to eat whatever he wants." Zhou Cheng waved his hand boldly. The economy in Nanbu is more prosperous than other places, but the prices are not much different from those in poor areas. Cheng's salary is enough for a family of five to live comfortably.

After Zhou Cheng went to the store to buy a lot of food and sent it to the refugee camp for his family, he rode his horse back to the valley. Today he came to Nanbu for business and had to return to the valley before dark.Zhou Cheng, who was riding on a war horse, was full of emotions and could not be calm all the time. Looking forward to a safe and prosperous life in the future, his heart was full and satisfied. He decided to use the remaining savings to pay the down payment for the valley building, and the family will live in that kind of high-end house in the future. inside.

Mr. and Mrs. Zhou were so excited when they saw their son that they forgot to tell him that [-] other relatives came with them.Zhou Cheng paid the remuneration with Hu traders according to the agreement. Not only will he have no savings in the future, but he will also have to bear a debt of five hundred gold. Zhou Cheng will become the poorest one in the valley.