Sui and Tang Dynasty Generals

Chapter 18: Xie Shudu and Xie Shufang

Wanqiu City.

As a thousand-year-old city, its long historical background is often overlooked in later generations.

Many people only think of Chang'an and Luoyang, but they don't know that as early as the period of Taihao Fuxi, Taihao Fuxi, the head of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, established his capital in Wanqiu. Therefore, Wanqiu is also one of the early birthplaces of civilization.

Later in the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou appointed Shun's descendant Gui Man as the king of the State of Chen and also established the capital here.

The Chu State during the Warring States Period, the Zhang Chu regime during the peasant uprising at the end of the Qin Dynasty, and the Chen State during the Three Kingdoms Period all endowed this capital with extraordinary significance.

"From where?"

At the gate of the city, soldiers of the Sui Dynasty were checking the people coming in and out. Their eyes were full of impatience and their tone was quite unfriendly.

When facing the soldiers guarding the city, the common people could only bend and nod humbly and express their intentions, for fear of offending these Sui Dynasty soldiers, who would not only prevent them from entering the city but also arrest them.

Outside the crowd queuing to enter the city, after the Zhao brothers and the Fu family arrived, the Fu family was still preparing to queue up to enter the city. Unexpectedly, the Zhao brothers directly told the Fu family that they didn't need to queue up, as they knew the soldiers guarding the city and they just needed to follow them.

Seeing this, the Fu family members, who had a long journey to travel and did not want to delay too long, did not refuse.

As Fu Zihou walked, he glanced at the people waiting to enter the city and saw densely packed people lined up in four rows, stretching for hundreds of steps.

"Why are there so many people today?"

"Who knows? It's been a whole day..."

Seeing the Zhao brothers with their entourage, the soldiers guarding the city all knew the Zhao brothers, so one of the soldiers stepped forward to greet the two brothers. When he heard the Zhao brothers' puzzled questions, he shook his head helplessly.

When Fu Zihou heard what the Zhao brothers and the soldiers guarding the city said, he immediately frowned.

"What's wrong? Young Patriarch!"

Old Liu noticed that Fu Zihou looked a little serious, so he looked around but found nothing wrong.

"fine!"

Fu Zihou glanced at Mr. Liu and shook his head.

But Old Liu was familiar with Fu Zihou and knew that Fu Zihou felt that there were too many people here and too many eyes, so he suppressed his doubts and followed Fu Zihou.

"Where are they going?"

When the soldiers guarding the city saw the Zhao brothers saying that the people from the Fu family behind them were all villagers, they did not check them. However, when they saw the large and small bags of luggage of the Fu family, they still asked a question.

"Going far away to seek refuge with distant relatives! Life is not easy these days!"

Zhao Han explained with a smile.

When the soldiers guarding the city heard what Zhao Han said, they looked at the apologetic smiles of the old man from the Fu family and Zhang and Tao, and then glanced at the young Tai. For some reason, they felt that the expressions of this old man and the two women, one big and one small, were vaguely unnatural, but since the Zhao brothers had spoken, he didn't want to make things difficult for them, and nodded to indicate that they should go in.

The soldiers guarding the city all knew that the two Zhao brothers were relatives of the county magistrate. Moreover, today was the Xie family's wedding banquet, and the Zhao brothers must have come to attend the banquet. To offend the Zhao brothers would only bring trouble to themselves.

"Thank you!"

Aong expressed his gratitude repeatedly, and then, with Tai's support, he walked towards the city.

Tao, Liu Lao, Fu Zhi and Fu Zihou also hurriedly followed behind.

The happiest person was Zhang, who was walking at the end. At this moment, looking at the people queuing up to enter the city behind her, the smile on Zhang's face was so bright.

Ever since the Fu family's decline, Zhang has almost forgotten the last time she was looked at with such envy.

Perhaps it was the day when she married into the Fu family and held a banquet. It seemed like it was only that day. Later, Erlang Fu Rui went to do business, and even the villagers looked at her strangely. Zhang was full of resentment in the past, but she couldn't vent it.

soon.

When the Fu family members walked through the city gate, Tao and Aong looked at each other and finally breathed a sigh of relief. They had just seen the soldiers guarding the city. When they thought of the dead bodies in their home, they always felt guilty. Looking at Tai, the girl dared to let go slightly.

"Zihou, we two brothers will go with you to get the circular later!"

The brothers Zhao Han and Zhao Gu walked behind and said to Fu Zihou.

Fu Zihou nodded gratefully, then thought of the words of the soldiers guarding the city and decided to ask them. Unexpectedly, before he could open his mouth, the group arrived in the city. When they saw the bustling streets for the first time, his aunt, mother, and cousin's wife were all stunned in place, their eyes full of amazement.

“This city is so huge!!!”

As Tai couldn't help but sigh, Fu Zihou looked at the street in front of him and saw the endless street of shops, which was a bit unexpected.

No wonder it is a thousand-year-old city!

Looking at the densely packed houses and the businesses on the streets, Fu Zihou finally understood why no other city in Huaiyang could replace Wanqiu.

There is simply no way to replace this!

"Hey! Isn't that Xie Shufang and Xie Shudu?"

"Uncle Fang!!!"

Suddenly he heard the conversation between the Zhao brothers next to him. Fu Zihou looked at Zhao Gu who was raising his hand and shouting with joy. He followed Zhao Gu's line of sight and saw a group of people sitting under a pavilion not far away. The leaders were all wearing silk clothes, and among them were two teenagers who were about the same age as himself.

"Mr. Fu, Aunt, please wait a moment. We two brothers will be there for a while!"

Zhao Han spoke to Fu Lao and others with excitement and guilt, and then when he saw Fu Lao nodded, he quickly turned around and walked towards the pavilion.

"Someone from the Xie family?"

Zhang watched the Zhao brothers leave with a look of curiosity.

The same was true for Tai. She married into the Fu family at a young age, and she rarely saw young men from noble families wearing silk clothes, so she couldn't help but take a few more glances.

Fu Zihou had no intention of paying attention to the Xie family at this time. It is important for people to know themselves. The Fu family is not even as good as the Zhao family now, let alone the Xie family. Instead of paying attention to those people from unattainable aristocratic families, it is better to pay attention to the people who entered the city today.

"Zihou, what are you looking at?"

Tao watched her son looking around, and then looked outside the city gate. She didn't know what her son was doing, so she asked.

"It's okay! Mother!"

Fu Zihou shook his head at his mother, and then continued to look at the city gate. "It's probably his first time to come to such a big city with such a high city. He's curious. Ignore him..."

Tao wanted to say something, but Zhang told her not to worry.

Only Old Liu had been paying attention to Fu Zihou's actions. When he saw Fu Zihou's expression, although he didn't know why, he vaguely felt that Fu Zihou must have noticed something.

Inside the city gate, Fu Zihou, who had been standing there watching the people coming in and out of the city, watched the gate for a long time and finally noticed something unusual.

Among the many civilians, some men looked timid when faced with interrogation by the soldiers at the city gate. After the interrogation, the moment they entered the city gate, they fell silent and there was something wrong with their steps.

The soldiers outside the city behind him were checking and did not notice it, but Fu Zihou saw it clearly. Occasionally, after a man entered the city gate, he would instinctively look back at the soldiers guarding the city.

Most people probably wouldn't think much of these actions, just like Fu Zihou standing here now. In the eyes of others, they all think that Fu Zihou is waiting for his relatives outside the city.

But Fu Zihou was different. If Fu Zihou remembered correctly, in this month of this year, in addition to Wei Qilin from Pengcheng, there was another person who also gathered a crowd to start an uprising, and his momentum was several times that of Wei Qilin.

The location is in Xiangcheng County and Huaiyang County.

"Could it be true?"

Fu Zihou frowned and looked around.

In December of last year, a rebel army of more than 100,000 men stationed in Zhu'a and confronted the Sui army of 10,000 led by Zhang Xutuo, a famous general of the Sui Dynasty, for more than ten days. Seeing that food and grass were insufficient, Zhang Xutuo devised a plan to lure the rebels to attack. Eventually the rebels fell into the trap and were defeated. Only the rebel leader escaped with hundreds of elite cavalry.

All along, Fu Zihou thought that the rebel leader would first attack Xiangcheng County in the west after he started another uprising, but it seems that the other party's target is very likely to be Huaiyang County, and this Wanqiu City.

Moreover, they specially chose the day of Xie family’s wedding!

"Sure enough, none of those who dare to start a rebellion are timid!"

Fu Zihou sighed and said that as a prominent family in the county, the marriage between the Xie family and the Yang family would surely attract congratulations from other noble families.

The rebel leader most likely would not dare to kill, and would not kill, these people from prominent families, but he could use the capture of Huaiyang County to demonstrate the strength of his troops to all the prominent families, and then win over more prominent families from all over the country to help.

"I hope I am wrong. Otherwise, this city will be very lively!"

Fu Zihou murmured softly, looking at the bustling street behind him, with countless houses and people running everywhere.

Soon.

As the Zhao brothers came back, Fu Zihou came to his senses and noticed that the Zhao brothers brought two young men with them.

"This is Zihou! Father praised him a lot in the past! This is Xie Shudu, son of Minister Xie! This is Xie Shufang, son of Lord Xiayang!"

Zhao Han introduced the two young men he brought to Fu Zihou with a smile on his face.

"Zihou, hello to both of you!"

Fu Zihou raised his hand and saluted the two men seriously.

"Shudu meets Zihou!"

Xie Shudu, who had been walking in front and was the first to come in front of Fu Zihou, raised his hand politely to return the greeting.

Just after Xie Shudu finished speaking, the young man from the Xie family who had also arrived nearby bowed to Fu Zihou in return.

"Shufang! Meet Zihou!"

Although they are about the same age and both are from the Xie family, Xie Shufang is much stronger than Xie Shudu. And despite his young age, he has already started to grow a short beard on his face. Even though it is still thin and a bit messy, it still gives people a casual feeling.

After the two Xie brothers returned the gift, they couldn't help but start looking at the young man in front of them who was the same age as them.

Although the Zhao family is not as powerful as the Xie family, the two brothers have always respected Zhao Han's father. Even their respective fathers have said that if the Zhao family was not prominent enough, and if it were not for Zhao Han's father's character, his future achievements would not be any worse than that of the prefect Zhao Tuo.

Unfortunately, Zhao Han's father had no family background and could not stand the corruption of the Sui Dynasty, so he saved someone he shouldn't have saved, which led to him being almost imprisoned and killed. Fortunately, the Zhao family did their best to rescue him, and he retired to his hometown from then on.

Having just heard the stories told by the Zhao brothers, Xie Shudu and Xie Shufang were very curious about the young man who could receive such praise from Uncle Zhao. They wondered how this young man named Fu Zihou, who was of the same age as them, was different from them.

"The Xie family is hosting a banquet today. Zihou is acquainted with the Zhao family and happened to be in Wanqiu. Why don't you stay and go to the Xie family?"

Xie Shudu was the first to extend an invitation to Fu Zihou. In Xie Shudu's eyes, as long as he asked for an invitation, Fu Zihou would certainly not refuse. After all, for the invitation from the Xie family, let alone an unknown Fu family, even the famous families in Wanqiu City would be proud of it.

Even the younger sisters in the clan said that many women from prominent families wanted to come to the Xie Mansion tonight, but they had not received an invitation from the Xie family, so they tried every means to ask them if there was any way.

"Thank you so much for your kindness! Zihou has a family with the elderly and the weak, and the journey is long. If I have the chance one day, I will definitely come to your house to ask for water!"

Fu Zihou politely declined at first, then smiled and said that he used the shameless way of asking for water to use himself to illustrate the nobility of the Xie family.

Xie Shudu and Xie Shufang were both surprised when they heard Fu Zihou's refusal, but they couldn't help but smile when they heard Fu Zihou's next words.

"Then Shudu will prepare some fine wine and treat Zihou respectfully!"

Xie Shudu raised his hand and said.

This simple sentence made the two equally young brothers Xie Shudu and Xie Shufang instantly have a good impression of Fu Zihou.

Just now, they learned from the conversation between Zhao Han and Zhao Gu that the Fu family was just a poor family, and they invited Fu Zihou out of curiosity. Now that Fu Zihou was tactful, it was difficult for them to feel disgusted with him.

Chat for a while.

When Xie Shudu and Xie Shu saw the elders calling them over under the pavilion, they said goodbye to Fu Zihou.

Fu Zihou bowed and saw him off.

"Shufang has been practicing martial arts with his uncle in Chang'an for many years, and so has Shudu. Therefore, today's Xie family wedding banquet is hosted by the two brothers to welcome the prominent families from other places!"

Zhao Han looked at the backs of the Xie brothers as they left, his eyes full of emotion, especially when he mentioned his uncle Xie Fang, his eyes were full of longing.

"Let's go! The two of us brothers will follow Zihou to get the circular!"

Zhao Han turned and looked at Fu Zihou.

"Thank you!"

Fu Zihou raised his hand and said gratefully.

(End of this chapter)