Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 71 Going Home
When the news of the Tartar army's approaching reached Yingtian, the people in the city were still panicked for a while. But after hearing the news that the defenders had won a battle today, the people made a fuss in the streets in the morning, but by the afternoon the city had returned to its normal state.

Looking at the scene before him, Zhou Xiancai suddenly felt as if he was in another world.

Today, the Duke allowed these selected people to go home for half a day, so that he had the opportunity to experience such feelings under the stimulation of two completely different scenes.

The common people only knew that the Tartars came and retreated, but these militiamen knew exactly how tense the situation was in the morning.

The beacon fire was lit, and nobles from all walks of life entered the camp one after another. Afterwards, no one knew what the nobles had discussed, but their camp was pulled up to the inner city wall.

In fact, at that time he just felt nervous and did not realize how urgent the situation was.

This is not surprising, as he had only been in the military camp for four or five days, and had to stop training for half a day because he was selected to be transferred to another place.

Up to now, he only roughly knew that the lighting of the beacon fire meant the presence of the enemy, but he was not quite sure what the different numbers and colors represented.

If he had not seen with his own eyes Lord Xu holding the white silk and entering the city wall, he might have been like the other people in the city, only knowing that there was military intelligence but not knowing what it meant.

But it doesn't matter. The Tartars have been repelled by Your Highness anyway, and they won't dare to come and seize the city in such a brazen manner again.

"Sir! It's unfair!"

Just when Zhou Xiancai passed by the Yingtian Prefecture Yamen, a burst of crying and shouting came from the tall gate of the Yamen Yamen.

"Old man Chen! Your case has long been closed. How dare you come here and make a scene again? Do you really think that the Ming Dynasty law cannot punish you?"

Old man Chen?
Zhou Xiancai didn't want to waste time here, but when he heard the name, he couldn't help but squeeze into the crowd.

He didn't know this old man Chen, but he knew that he lived only two streets away from his home.

The reasons were, firstly, that old man Chen's son was a well-known knight, and secondly, that the case was a very big deal.

Old Man Chen's son is named Chen Xiuzhi. He loves making friends and often does things to stand up for the weak, so he has gained a reputation as a hero over the years.

It's a pity that such a righteous man was beaten to death on the street last year.

Zhou Xiancai didn't know the details of the situation, but based on his common sense, it was probably that Chen Xiuzhi encountered a tough guy when he was standing up for the weak.

Afterwards, Old Man Chen also published lawsuits everywhere, but many major events happened in the past year, and this minor case was gradually forgotten.

After watching for a while, Zhou Xian only saw Old Man Chen crying and pleading, but there was no sign of the court going to court. He realized that there would be no further developments in the matter and hurried home.

"Dad!" Zhou Xiancai's figure had just appeared at the street corner when he heard his son's shout: "Mom! Dad is back!"

Looking at the figure running back home, Zhou Xiancai suddenly felt a warm feeling in his heart, and then the words that his son Xiaoqi often said echoed in his mind:
"My parents and my wife are all in the city. We are afraid of death, but who can we rely on?"

These words were said to have come from His Highness's mouth. Although Zhou Xiancai had not heard them with his own ears, he believed them firmly.

It has nothing to do with the truth or not, it just depends on his willingness to believe it.

After calming himself down, Zhou Xian strode into the alley, but he was stopped by his neighbors after only a few steps.

"Uncle Zhou, have you met His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?" This is the neighbor's kid.

"Xiancai, I heard that Your Highness killed several Tartars personally. Is that true?" This was the childhood friend who grew up with him.

"Erwa, do you think we can stop the Tartars?" This was the elder man in the alley.

"Uncle, can you really earn so much money and food in a month?" This was the woman next door.

These questions were so strange and tricky that Zhou Xiancai really didn't know how to answer them. He could only make perfunctory responses with "hmm" and "ah" and then escape into his home.

"Master, are you okay?"

When he entered the house, he was greeted by the worried face of his wife. Usually, the couple quarreled and argued with each other, but at this moment, she was the only one who thought of comforting him first.

Some people may think that a woman has to rely on a man to live, so she cares about his safety, but who can say that this care does not contain years of accumulated feelings?

"Nothing. The battle took place in the outer city. I just followed the Duke and several other adults to the inner city for a walk."

"Oh~~, the head of the family can even keep up with the Duke~~." Hearing that Zhou Xiancai was fine, the woman's tone immediately became teasing. Zhou Xiancai seemed to be accustomed to this way of conversation. He chuckled twice and took the bag in his hand to the kitchen.

"You should save these grains. We can't liberate this city in a short time."

Only then did Mrs. Zhou's eyes turn to the big bag that Zhou Xiancai was carrying. With years of experience, she could tell something was wrong at a glance.

"Didn't you say 3 dou? Why so many?"

"Since your boss is strong and healthy, he was assigned to another battalion, and his salary was increased a bit."

After hearing Zhou Xiancai's explanation, the woman's face was still filled with joy and pride at first, but after a moment she became like a madman and just put the grain into the bag with her hands.

"We don't want this food! We don't want it!"

"You are crazy!"

Seeing this, Zhou Xiancai was a little annoyed. He pushed his wife aside and began to carefully pick up the food that was blown outside.

At this time of year, food is life. He really couldn't understand what was wrong with this woman and why she would scatter such good food all over the ground.

"Ordinary civilians only get three dou, why do you get so much?" At this point, the woman seemed to be more determined in her thoughts, and her voice became tearful: "You must have been chosen as the first to climb the mountain to get so much! We don't want this food!"

"What nonsense! We are here to defend the city, why should we go first?"

Zhou Xiancai's tone was still stern, but he did not push away the woman who threw herself on him.

“Dad~~~~.”

The couple's quarrel frightened the child so much that he started crying.

Zhou Xiancai was about to hug the baby, but the woman still clung to him tightly, muttering, "We don't want it anymore, we don't want it anymore."

In this situation, he had no other choice but to open his arms and wait for the child to enter his arms. Then he embraced the child and said softly, "Don't be afraid. Dad and mom are not quarreling."

After a while, the baby stopped crying and the woman's mood stabilized.

At this point he understood why his wife was making such a fuss, but even so he didn't know what to say.

These grains are certainly not the so-called "life-buying money", but if you look closely, they are not far from it.

How could he not know that attacking the enemy camp at night would be extremely risky and far less safe than training in the main camp? But if Yingtian City was breached, who would be able to survive?

"Don't worry, I'll be fine."

Several book friends have raised questions about the aged mustard greens marinade, so I’ll talk about it here as an additional explanation.

1. This medicine comes from "Compendium of Materia Medica" and was once circulated in Changzhou. Its efficacy has been described in the text, so I will not repeat it.

Taking into account the distance between Changzhou and Nanjing and the difficulty of making aged mustard greens marinade, the author believes that this is not considered a golden finger.

2. This medicine is for drinking, not for injection.

3. The allergic reaction to penicillin is mainly because its chemical bonds are easily broken and has nothing to do with whether it is purified.

4. Aged mustard greens marinade cannot be regarded as penicillin in the modern sense, but I agree with the encyclopedia's definition of it as a penicillin drug discovered in ancient China, because judging from its production process and efficacy, it undoubtedly contains a certain concentration of penicillin.

5. It is natural that Fleming discovered the compound penicillin, but this does not mean that ancient China did not use drugs containing penicillin.

This point needs to be distinguished.

In addition, I don’t have too many requirements for my books, just one thing: the people, objects, and events that appear must stand up to scrutiny and must be reasonable.

I will never use the inexplicable golden finger.

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(End of this chapter)