After hearing this, the county magistrate felt relieved physically and mentally. He was worried that this person was an old-fashioned person and would make it difficult for him to get off the stage. He did not expect that this person was so enlightened.
When he was happy, he glanced at the two people behind him. Since these two people came in with this person, they have remained silent from beginning to end. Even when the government officials were about to arrest them, the two of them looked calm and indifferent.
Apart from anything else, this concentration alone is not something ordinary people can have.
"Who are these two?" the county magistrate asked towards the person he was talking about, Zhao Xiandi.
The leader also took the opportunity to raise his hand and explained to the county magistrate: "These two are the villain's colleagues. Please help them make a special trip to protect the villain. After the villain has settled down, they will go back to report to the Marquis of Zhenhai. "
"Oh? That's it, that's it..." The county magistrate smiled and nodded in agreement, feeling even more afraid in his heart. Fortunately, his idea of capturing these three people just now was not successful, otherwise when the time comes, these two people have not returned for a long time, and they might even recruit the Marquis of Zhenhai.
"Sir, can the grain chief's official certificate be given to a villain?" The leader couldn't help but remind him when he saw the county magistrate asking questions, but did not mention the position of grain chief, which he was most concerned about.
The county magistrate suddenly came to his senses and said sheepishly: "Of course, of course, dear brother, please wait for a moment."
After saying that, he turned back and winked at the master sitting beside him.
The master nodded quickly, lowered his head and wrote quickly at his desk. After a while, a fresh official certificate of grain chief came out.
The ink is dried, the seal is stamped, and the county magistrate personally delivers the official certificate to the leader.
He smiled and said: "From now on, you are the grain chief here. Don't worry, the current grain chief will immediately send someone to inform him and tell him to get out."
Although the current grain chief is technically Lord Taishan of the county magistrate, it is obvious that Lord Taishan is nothing in front of an official.
As long as he is still in the official position of county magistrate, Master Taishan can have as much as he wants, but he only has one official title. If it is lost, it is really gone.
"Thank you, sir." The leader respectfully took the official certificate with both hands. He was so excited that his hands were shaking a little while holding the official certificate.
The county magistrate just smiled faintly and said nothing more. Instead, he said enthusiastically: "I and my virtuous brother hit it off right away. Why don't you let me serve as the host today, which can be regarded as picking up the favor for your virtuous brother?"
Hearing the words, the leader bowed again and gave a salute, and said with a hint of regret: "Thank you for your kindness, sir. Originally, I shouldn't have touched your face. But I am eager to return home, and I don't want to delay for a moment. Please invite me, sir." Forgive me. How about waiting for the villain to go back and settle down, and then personally prepare wine to apologize to the adults?"
The county magistrate was naturally a little unhappy after being refuted, but since this person had said so, he couldn't care less.
After getting their official certificates, the three of them immediately went to the county office and rushed towards their hometown in their memories without stopping.
After the three people left, the county magistrate waved the crowd away. No matter what you say today, he, the county magistrate, is a little embarrassed. Fortunately, he is embarrassed because of the Marquis of Zhenhai, and no one dares to say anything about him.
Everyone also knew that the county prince was in a bad mood today, and they left one by one with a muffled sound of wind blowing at their feet, fearing that the county prince would remember them.
When the magistrate returned to the back hall, he subconsciously wanted to walk towards his concubine's yard, but before he could take a step forward, he suddenly paused in mid-air.
The maid who was walking in front noticed that the magistrate had not followed, so she couldn't help but look back and looked strangely, and asked in confusion: "Master?"
The county magistrate took his steps back and asked calmly: "Is Madam here today? I'm going to go there."
"Yes, sir, please come here." The maid didn't understand why the master, who used to be unable to be called by the lady, suddenly mentioned that he wanted to go to the lady's yard.
However, she kept her identity as a maid in mind and would not ask any questions about things that the master did not say.
The three people surnamed Zhao ran all the way. After crossing a small hillside, the sight of faint smoke appeared in front of everyone.
The two people nearby saw the man named Zhao stopped on the hillside, and they couldn't help but look sideways at him.
One of them looked at the countryside below the mountain, then looked back at the person named Zhao, grinned and said: "Brother Zhao, is this your hometown? There are mountains, water, and a lot of fields. It is really a good place. "
"Yes, this is our hometown." Tears welled up in Brother Zhao's eyes again, and he almost burst into tears.
From the day he left with the rebels, he never thought that he would be able to return here one day. Even, as time went by, his memory of his hometown began to become blurry. But the moment he stood here, although this place did not correspond to the hometown in his memory, the strong feeling of being bound by life was extremely familiar.
Without confirmation, he was sure that this was his hometown.
"Let's go and sit at our house." Brother Zhao smiled sadly at the two of them.
"Okay!" The two of them were also happy for Brother Zhao.
Arriving at the entrance of the village, Brother Zhao couldn't help but slow down and look around with his eyes, as if he wanted to find familiar places and people.
"Who are you...looking for?" The village was still relatively closed. When they saw three outsiders arriving, several young people immediately surrounded them and blocked their way.
The young man carefully guarded the three people. In order to prevent the three people from coming with bad intentions, he also sent someone to go back and notify the others.
Brother Zhao chuckled and was about to ask.
A hesitant voice suddenly appeared next to him, saying suspiciously: "You...are you Brother Zhao..."
"Third Uncle, do you know this person?" After hearing this, the young man beside Third Uncle quickly turned around and asked, relaxing his guard against the three of them.
The third uncle did not answer the young man next to him. Instead, he stared at Brother Zhao, looking left and right.
Brother Zhao was also surprised that someone still knew him after he had been away for almost thirty years. Looking back at this person, a childhood playmate appeared in Brother Zhao's memory. He pointed at him with a trembling finger and tried to ask: "You...are you a black cow?"
"I am Hei Niu, Brother Zhao is really you~" After saying that, tears filled his eyes with excitement, and he quickly stepped forward and hugged each other.
The other villagers looked at each other in confusion. They didn't expect that the strangers would turn into villagers?
Hei Niu and Brother Zhao were excited for a moment before they separated. Seeing each other's excited eyes, both of them couldn't help but feel emotional.
"Brother Zhao, where have you been for so many years? Everyone still thinks... they think you are no longer here?"
Brother Zhao smiled flatteringly, but he couldn't explain it to Hei Niu, so he said, "It's a long story. By the way, how are you doing at home?"
Hei Niu's expression suddenly froze when he heard this, then he nodded and smiled: "It's okay, it's okay. Your father is still there, and your brother is too. It's just... your mother passed away two years ago... ....”
Brother Zhao's expression darkened when he heard this, but he had already made preparations before coming. When he left home, it was during the chaotic times of the late Yuan Dynasty. Even he was in a precarious situation, and he didn't know how long he could survive. Now that he heard that the whole family could survive the troubled times, it was God's blessing, and he had nothing to feel sad about.
Seeing the sadness on his face, Hei Niu wanted to change his words and comfort him: "Your brother has been married a long time ago. The child is already a teenager. He is a great young man."
"Brother is married? The child is a teenager? Very good, very good." Sure enough, when Brother Zhao heard Hei Niu mention his family affairs, his attention turned to his younger brother's child, his nephew. above.
"Of course, you have not only a nephew, but also a niece." Hei Niu said with emotion.
After he came to his senses, he raised his hand and patted his forehead, and said angrily: "Look at us being so confused, you should go back and have a look first. Your home is right next to the village. Let's take you back."
"Thank you very much." Brother Zhao also wanted to go back quickly. It would be much more convenient to have Hei Niu leading the way, so he gave him a bow.
Seeing the hurried reply, Hei Niu scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and said, "Brother Zhao is so polite, let's go."
With Hei Niu taking the lead, he led the group towards Brother Zhao's home. The whole village exploded like boiling water in a pot.
The news that "the boss of the Zhao family is back..." spread like wildfire and soon spread throughout the village.
Although Brother Zhao and the three of them were only wearing cotton clothes, their energy and spirit were intimidating to ordinary villagers.
In the capital, cotton clothes seem to be worn only by ordinary people, but anyone with some wealth will try their best to get some silk to wear. However, don’t think that everyone in the world can afford cotton clothes. In this county, cotton clothes are still high-end goods that are beyond the reach of most people. Many of them have only worn linen throughout their lives, not even cotton.
Not to mention silk and satin, most people wouldn't even dare to think about it, not to mention having the chance to wear it.
Before the group of people reached the door of Brother Zhao's house, Hei Niu raised his voice and shouted loudly: "Uncle Zhao, Uncle Zhao..."
"Who is it? Is it the Black Bull?" An old voice came from inside the dilapidated house.
This house is really dilapidated. The mud brick walls have been crisscrossed by ravines washed away by rain. In some places, you can even see the inside of the house from outside. Every once in a while outside the wall, there are logs of wood supporting the wall diagonally, as if they are trying their best to keep the wall from falling. The original courtyard wall has disappeared, and only a shallow protruding mark is left on the ground to show where the courtyard wall once was. A simple fence circled the yard and was only chest high. It was precisely because of this that Hei Niu's shouting outside just now was able to penetrate into the house.
With a creak, the old wooden door was opened, and an old man walked out holding half a dry branch.
The moment Brother Zhao saw the old man, his expression suddenly froze. The whole person seemed to be unaware of the outside world, and walked towards the old man uncontrollably step by step.
The moment Lao Zhu saw Brother Zhao, his eyes widened, as if he couldn't believe it, and seemed to think he was dreaming.
Everyone else held their breath when they saw this. Except for the slight sound of the mountain peaks brushing against the branches, there was no sound here.
"Dad...the child is unfilial!" Brother Zhao suddenly ran a few steps and knelt down in front of the old man.
The old man was still very conscious. He stretched out his hand to touch Brother Zhao's head and kept saying: "It will be good to come back, it will be good to come back..."
"Grandpa, who is here?" A young female voice came from the house. Not long after, a girl in shabby clothes and bare feet on the cold soil ran to the door and stuck her head out to look.
"It's your uncle, your uncle is back..." The old man replied with tears streaming down his face, holding back his cries.
"Uncle?" The little girl felt both familiar and unfamiliar with this title.
She had met all the uncles of other playmates, but she had never met her own uncle.
Seeing that Brother Zhao and his son recognized each other, Heiniu didn't want to be disturbed, so he asked the others to leave, leaving only the other two people from Shanzi Camp behind.
"Boss, who are these two?" Father Zhao asked, looking at the two of them.
Brother Zhao then calmed down his emotions, wiped his hands from left to right, and explained with a smile: "They are my son's brothers in the army, and they are the ones who specially escorted my son back."
"Son, have you joined the army?" When he heard the word "military", he was shocked to see his father.
"Yes, my son used to be in Shanzi Camp." Brother Zhao nodded affirmatively.
"That's...that's okay, that's okay." Dad sighed.
Good iron cannot be hammered into nails, and a good man cannot be a soldier. Although you become a military household when you become a soldier, you can grow grain on military land without having to pay taxes. However, since the Ming Dynasty fought for many years, soldiers had to prepare their own war horses and weapons, so most of the income from military fields had to be invested in it. After all, it is not as cost-effective to pay taxes on growing grains.
Of course, this is when the people only pay the taxes stipulated by Lao Zhu. Usually, when people pay taxes, a large amount will be withheld by the grain chief and the county. When this amount is bad, it may even exceed the taxes paid to the court.
In addition, no one from a military household dared to provoke him, so even if he came to his father, he would not know whether his son becoming a military household was a good thing or a bad thing.
However, with the current situation of the Zhao family, the poor are almost unable to solve the problem, and there is no difference between military households and civilian households.
Brother Zhao's younger brother, sister-in-law, and nephew were all busy in the fields. When they got the news that their eldest brother was back, the three of them hurried back.
"Brother..." Although Brother Zhao has changed drastically compared to before, his younger brother can still recognize him from his vague impression.
The sister-in-law and nephew were extremely unfamiliar with Brother Zhao. They stood aside and kept looking at Brother Zhao, as if they wanted to remember him.
After the greetings, Brother Zhao followed his father into the house, but when he walked in, he saw that the bare walls were not enough to describe the embarrassment of the family. There wasn't even a stool for people to sit on. There were only a few rocks with some hay on them to serve as stools, which was better than nothing.
"The house is shabby and dirty, which makes you two laugh." Looking for my father, he looked back with some embarrassment and said to the two people in Shanzi Camp.
One of them laughed heartily and replied: "Uncle, you don't need to be outside. We and Brother Zhao are brothers of life and death. What haven't we seen on the grassland? Let alone a stone. It was impossible to sit on a stone at that time." , we can only sit on the muddy ground covered with blood. We can just sit on the ground."
The two sighed and reminisced, then sat down on the ground.
When I saw my father, I was shocked and said quickly: "That's not right, that's not right. This person is a guest. Please come over here quickly."
The two of them didn't feel uncomfortable at all while sitting on the ground. They waved their hands and said, "No, it's fine just like this."
However, it was impossible for the father to let the two sit on the ground for the first time when they came to the house. Under his constant request, the two had to change to stones.
After everyone sat down, the father seemed to have come back to his senses and asked: "I just heard you talking about the grassland? Boss, where have you been in the past few years?"
Brother Zhao was also unambiguous and said with a smile: "Going to the grassland is this year. At the beginning of spring, the Shanzi camp where my son is located went to the grassland with the Marquis of Zhenhai."
"Are you going to fight?" Dad's voice was trembling. It was obvious that he was still worried about Brother Zhao going to fight.
Brother Zhao nodded calmly.
Father Zhao wanted to continue asking Brother Zhao if it was dangerous to fight, but he suddenly came to his senses and realized that what he was asking was nonsense. Since ancient times, there has been no battle without danger. And since his son is standing in front of him alive, no matter how great the danger is, his son can survive it.
Just when it was clear that she was cold, the little girl's tender index finger touched the edge of the shield on Brother Zhao's back, and the biting coldness made her shrink involuntarily.
He asked timidly: "Uncle, is this the fault you are taking?"
Brother Zhao smiled and took off the shield, turned it over in his hand, and explained: "This is not a pot, this is a shield made of fine steel. Of course, you are right to say it is a pot, because uncle I also use it to cook things from time to time.”
"What? This thing is fine steel?" Brother Zhao's face was full of surprise. You must know that the price of fine steel is very high. In the past, a long knife forged from fine steel could be sold for twenty pieces. Although the price of long knives has dropped sharply now, the shield is so big. If it were all made of fine steel, the price would definitely be astonishingly high.
At least, he might not be able to afford it even after he sold everything in the house.
Brother Zhao directly handed the steel shield to his younger brother without much explanation. The younger brother curiously took the steel shield and held it heavily. He guessed right, it was much heavier than a long knife. He flicked his finger on the edge of the steel shield, and a crisp and sweet trembling sound suddenly filled the air.
"Good shield, good shield, brother, you have to keep it." He no longer dared to hold such a valuable thing in his hands, and quickly wanted to return it to Brother Zhao.
"What are you doing for me? Leave it alone for now. I will have very few chances to use it in the future, and there is no need to carry it on my back." Brother Zhao waved his hand to block the steel shield handed to him.
The younger brother looked at each other and glanced sideways at his father. When he saw his father nodded slightly, he put the steel shield next to him.
When the little girl saw the steel shield being taken away by her father, she wanted to go over and have a look, but was frightened to the spot by her father's look. She muttered, turned around unhappily, and looked at her uncle, and she saw another thing on her uncle's body.
The little finger stretched out again, poked at the cowhide box that Brother Zhao was about to put on, and asked in a sweet voice: "Uncle, what is this?"
