Sui and Tang Dynasty Generals

Chapter 1 The Fool on the Ridge and the Scholar Who Just Arrived in the Village
"Why is that man so sneaky? Is he trying to steal food from the fields?"

"where?"

"That!"

"Hey, don't worry about that man. You don't understand since you just got here. That man is called Fu Zihou, the son of Erlang of the Fu family. He is thirteen years old this year. He was born with a brain problem and is a fool. Every summer, he gets up early and goes to the fields late, saying that there are mountains of gold and silver in the fields! Don't worry about him. People in the village say that it is retribution for his father to become a businessman..."

Outside a large village, on a path beside a field, three men holding swords were chatting, their eyes fixed on a figure walking in the weeds not far away.

"How pitiful! I heard that the Fu family used to be well-off, how come someone suddenly became a businessman?"

"Who knows? Anyway, all businessmen are bad people!"

"Let's go, ignore that idiot..."

As one man shook his head, the three continued to inspect the fields.

After the three men left, the man who was considered a fool in the eyes of the three men scratched his messy hair next to the plowed field, then sat down on the grass beside the ridge and lay down.

"Oh! One in thirty thousand, it will take a long time to find it by one person, not to mention that we have to go to the southernmost part to find the one in three hundred thousand! Oh my God, I give up!"

Fu Zihou closed his eyes. His face, scratched by the grass, was full of fatigue and his eyes were filled with despair.

Even Fu Zihou couldn't remember how many years it had been. Since more than 1,400 years later, when he returned to the Daye period, Fu Zihou had never given up on "rice", this world-class weapon.

But relying on one person alone is too slim!

His dream of holding the "Gu Ben", becoming a great contributor to the prosperous Zhenguan era, and gaining fame and fortune once and for all, was probably a long way off.

As for telling it to others and letting more people search together, given Fu Zihou's age, he would either continue to be laughed at as a fool or be regarded as a person who spread rumors to confuse the public.

In short, no one has a good ending!

To this day, Fu Zihou still remembers the worried looks in his parents' eyes when his elderly father and mother heard what he said.

"Do I really have to go to Taiyuan in two years? But I have no status or background. Not to mention the backgrounds of those people, even my words don't carry much weight!"

"The world is in chaos right now. We are not short of scholars who can speak eloquently, nor are we short of counselors who can offer brilliant ideas. What we really lack are 'righteous men' who can speak out their ideas without being caught by the other side and used to prove their loyalty to the court! Not to mention, what reasons can we use to convince our parents!"

As Fu Zihou was thinking, he pulled up a small grass from behind him and put it in his mouth. Only when there was no one around could he relax like this.

In this era, appearance is very important, not to mention that the Fu family is a declining poor family.

"Young Patriarch!!!"

Suddenly, a faint shout was heard in the distance. Fu Zihou came to his senses and heard what seemed to be Old Liu's voice. He stood up and then saw an elderly figure looking around at the entrance of the village.

"Mr. Liu! Here!"

Fu Zihou stood up, patted his butt, and finally looked around at the farmland unwillingly.

"Bah! I won't serve you anymore!"

After saying that, Fu Zihou threw away the grass in his mouth and left the ridge without looking back.

After a while, he returned to the village entrance and looked at the villagers who occasionally passed by. They all looked at him with strange eyes. Fu Zihou had already gotten used to it.

"Young Patriarch, the world is in chaos right now, with thieves everywhere. When you are outside, remember to be careful!"

An elderly man in his sixties holding a sword came up to Fu Zihou and spoke softly. His words were both a reminder and a concern.

He is only thirteen years old, with tiny scratches all over his slightly tender face. As a servant of Fu Rui, the second son of the Fu family, Old Liu knows very well that the young master is definitely not a fool as the villagers say.

It was just a rumor spread by his aunt at first, and then exaggerated by word of mouth among the villagers.

The real Fu Zihou in the Fu family has been sensible since childhood and never makes his parents worry.

However, seeing Fu Zihou's disheveled clothes and weeds on his hair, Old Liu actually didn't understand why the young master was so obsessed with farming.

"Well, I won't go there anymore!"

Fu Zihou nodded, sighed, and felt a little lonely.

"Wait a minute, Mr. Liu. I need to clear the weeds. Otherwise, my mother will scold me again!"

After he finished speaking, he saw the elderly Mr. Liu also raised his hand to help remove the weeds on his head, and Fu Zihou did not refuse.

Old Liu was once a swordsman. When he was young, it was the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the world was in turmoil. The young Old Liu dreamed of learning all the skills, leading the army to end the troubled times, pacify the world, defeat foreign invaders in the north, and make his name go down in history.

So after Liu Lao's father passed away, the young Liu Lao spent all his family's money to seek teachers everywhere and study martial arts. However, after ten years of hard training, when he was ready to show his skills, he never thought that the Sui Dynasty would flourish and the world would be stable!!!

Even the Turks in the north were torn apart without fighting under the strategy of the famous Sui general Changsun Sheng. The war continued, and all tribes, big or small and humble, feared the Sui Dynasty and regarded it as their master... More than 20 years passed, and when the world was in chaos again, Old Liu, who had devoted his life to studying martial arts, found that he had lost his former vigor.

During the past twenty years, the squandering of his family wealth when he was young had sown the seeds of disaster. In order to survive, Mr. Liu had to work for wealthy families, and over the past few decades, he had already suffered a lot of hidden injuries.

It was not until three years ago that Yang Guang, the current emperor of the Sui Dynasty, ordered the recruitment of soldiers to conquer Goguryeo. The unwilling Liu decided to try again, so he took a gamble and joined the army.

As a result, Fu Zihou's father saved Mr. Liu's life in the cold winter.

Due to his hidden illness and the bumps along the way, after the Sui army was defeated, Liu Lao was unable to follow the army back to the Central Plains.

Perhaps he was heartbroken, but in order to repay the life-saving grace, Old Liu did not despise the fact that Fu Zihou's father was a businessman, and he always stayed in the Fu family. Over the past three years, on the pretext of repaying the grace, he did not take the title of master and apprentice, but he always taught Fu Zihou martial arts wholeheartedly, among which swordsmanship, archery, and horse lance were the most important.

However, compared to the talent and hope that Liu Lao saw in Fu Zihou, Fu Zihou had no intention of taking up the horse to pacify the world. This made Liu Lao sigh repeatedly every time he persuaded Fu Zihou to join the Sui Dynasty as a general and lead troops to make merit, and he bluntly said that he didn't understand what Fu Zihou's future ambitions were.

White clouds are floating in the sky.

By the time Fu Zihou and Liu Lao cleared the weeds and returned to the village, it was almost sunset. Although it was called a village, there were no less than a thousand households living in it, and outsiders kept moving in.

Since Yang Guang succeeded to the throne as emperor, he raised troops and mobilized the people, with millions of people dying every year. Rebellions had already broken out all over the country. Fortunately, the Sui Dynasty had famous generals and aristocratic families such as Zhang Xutuo of the Zhang family, the Zhou family, and Lai Huer's clan to suppress them.

However, although the country existed, the people fled everywhere to avoid conscription and famine.

The village where Fu Zihou lived was named Zhao because the head of the village was a relative of Zhao Tuo, the prefect of Huaiyang. In other words, he was related to Zhao Tuo. As a result, the village had only dozens of households at the beginning, but within just two or three years, it gradually grew into a village with more than a thousand households.

"Have you heard? The emperor is besieged by the Turks in Yanmen!"

"Is this true? How is this possible? When did the Turks become so bold?"

"Is this true? The county officials are issuing an imperial decree to mobilize troops to the north. I heard that the rewards are..."

Just after returning to the village, Fu Zihou and Liu Lao heard some villagers gathered together and talked about the news they heard from the county town.

Fu Zihou walked and listened to the conversation of the villagers with a thoughtful look on his face. Fu Zihou knew better than the villagers that Yang Guang was besieged in Yanmen and finally escaped with the help of Princess Yicheng Yang's plan.

While thinking, Fu Zihou suddenly heard a sigh from beside him. Turning around, he saw the resentful look in Old Liu's eyes, which seemed helpless and a little regretful, which made Fu Zihou laugh helplessly.

"Mr. Liu, I am only thirteen! Aren't you worried about going to the battlefield? Swords have no eyes! What if something happens to me? Won't you feel guilty?"

Fu Zihou said.

Knowing about Mr. Liu's regret, Fu Zihou knew very well that Mr. Liu was eager for him to take up his weapon and mount his horse immediately, go to Yanmen to kill the enemy, make merit, and make a name for himself.

But compared to Mr. Liu, who was old and had somewhat rigid thoughts, Fu Zihou was very clear that Yang Guang was incompetent and the world was in chaos. The world had suffered from the Sui Dynasty for a long time and the Sui Dynasty was bound to fall.

To be a general of Sui means to be an enemy of the whole world!
Millions of people were killed by Yang Guang, and their orphans are scattered all over the country.

The famous generals of the Sui Dynasty were able to suppress Wang Bo, Sun Xuanya, Shi Lizhe, Hao Xiaode and other bandit leaders who had tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of soldiers under their command. However, those famous generals were unable to suppress the common people throughout the world.

Not to mention, Fu Zihou also knew that the Li family, which would succeed the Sui Dynasty in the future, was already lurking in Hedong. When Li Yuan and his second son Li Shimin went to Taiyuan in the future, the situation in Guanzhong would change.

"Young Patriarch, you are too modest! I know your martial arts very well! A hundred years ago, the fifteen-year-old Houmochen Chong followed Heba Yue and Erzhu Rong to attack Ge Rong. Later, in Jingzhou, he charged into the enemy alone and captured Wanqi Chounu alive! There are many brave generals like this in the past hundred years!"

After listening to Fu Zihou's words, Mr. Liu felt more confident than Fu Zihou and even gave Fu Zihou examples.

However, what Mr. Liu said not only failed to elicit Fu Zihou's approval, but was only met with a sigh.

"Mr. Liu, do you think I look like Hou Mochen Chong?"

Perhaps because he had said it too many times, Mr. Liu did not answer similar questions this time, but the look in his eyes remained the same.

"Ok?"

As he walked, Fu Zihou turned around and found that there seemed to be a lot of people gathered outside a wooden house in the distance. At first, Fu Zihou didn't take it seriously. After all, it was not strange to have new people in the village occasionally. However, when he looked around inadvertently, Fu Zihou found that there was a wooden sign outside the wooden house with the words "Teaching" written on it.

"Why is there a new school opening here? Which one is this? All the children in this village who want to learn to read are being taught by the previous teachers. Who else would come here?"

"Come and earn a living! Nowadays, even those who can read are afraid of going hungry! I heard that this new scholar is named Liu Zhiyuan..."

Outside the wooden house, the speaker was unintentional but the listener was intentional. Fu Zihou, who was passing by with Old Liu, heard these people talking. After two breaths, he was suddenly stunned for a moment and then stopped.

Then, with a somewhat stunned look on his face, Fu Zihou, under the puzzled gaze of Old Liu, looked at the wooden house through the gaps between the villagers, or rather, at the busy figure inside the wooden house.

"Liu Zhiyuan? Could it be..."

Fu Zihou looked a little puzzled. While he was muttering, he seemed to hear Mr. Liu asking a question. He quickly turned around and shook his head, saying that he was just curious.

But before leaving, Fu Zihou couldn't help but look at the wooden house again.

(End of this chapter)