Sui and Tang Dynasty Generals

Chapter 2: The uncle who is preparing to do something big

"Mother, father hasn't come back yet?"

When he returned to his home garden, he saw his mother standing in the yard with a wooden stick. Fu Zihou looked outside the garden and saw the figures of people passing by from time to time through the wooden fence and looking into the garden. He turned to his mother and asked softly.

"Not yet, come into the house! Your uncle is back!"

Fu Zihou's mother, Mrs. Tao, was nearly 40 years old and dressed in cloth. When she saw Fu Zihou coming back, she nodded to Mr. Liu, and seeing that Fu Zihou's hair was a little messy, she raised her hand and gently smoothed it.

While speaking and acting, Tao never forgot to keep her eyes on the occasional passers-by outside the garden.

Looking at this scene, Fu Zihou has long been accustomed to it. In these troubled times, one must always be wary of outsiders, even if they are your neighbors for many years.

The reason why the Fu family moved here a few years ago was because of their cousin Fu Zhi’s newly married wife, Tai, who had just married into the Fu family at that time. One day, Tai saw a little girl of seven or eight years old standing outside the door, looking at her with pleading eyes. Finally, Tai, who felt a little bit reluctant, forgot her aunt Zhang’s instructions and secretly gave some food to the little girl.

Fu Zihou still cannot forget that night. If his father and Old Liu had not returned home that night, his grandfather, his aunt Zhang, his mother Tao, his cousins and their wives, and Fu Zihou would have all been killed by those hungry people.

Finally, I saw my father with swords in his hands and Old Liu returning home, and my father promised to hand over all the food. Only then did those refugees, who looked like they wanted to "eat people", slowly leave in the night.

Those people came once and they would definitely come a second time, so before dawn the next day, the Fu family members who had not slept all night hurriedly left the place where they had lived for many years.

After experiencing this incident, both my cousin's wife Tai, my cousin Fu Zihou, and they all had a clear understanding of refugees, and finally understood why Aung said that in troubled times, refugees are the most terrifying.

They were harmed by famine and officials, and they dared not retaliate against the officials. Instead, they would harm others like them without any scruples.

Originally, Grandfather, Aunt Zhang, and cousins all wanted to live in Wanqiu City, the seat of government. However, Fu Zihou's father was worried that Fu Zhi and Fu Zihou would be drafted into military service, so Grandfather and Aunt Zhang's family gave up the idea and moved to this village. In order to prevent such a thing from happening again, the elderly Liu stayed at home as a servant.

"Then mother, Hou'er will go in and see uncle first."

Hearing that his uncle had returned home, Fu Zihou felt Tao's calloused hands playing with his hair, and his heart was filled with warmth.

One thousand four hundred years later, he is an orphan without parents, and is raised by his grandmother. Only after having experienced loss and the feeling of being unable to obtain, will he understand how precious the hand that is gently caressing him at this moment is.

After Tao nodded, Fu Zihou and Old Liu turned around and went into the house.

inside the house.

There were messy wooden furniture everywhere, and even the beams looked bent and old. After moving into the village, the Fu family no longer lived the same life as before.

When Fu Zihou entered the house, he saw the old man with gray hair sitting on a few uneven wooden boards, talking to a man in his early forties. His aunt Zhang and cousin were sitting next to the man.

When they saw Fu Zihou and Old Liu coming back, not only A-weng and his companions, but also his cousin's wife Tai, who was serving porridge nearby, all looked over.

"Uncle!"

Fu Zihou stepped forward and saluted his uncle Fu Hong.

Fu Zihou did not have much good feelings towards his uncle. The reason was that his uncle used the money earned by his father with great difficulty, and at the same time he despised his father's business identity, which made him lose face when making friends outside and being questioned by others.

Although his uncle's behavior was different from that of his grandfather and two uncles, it still left Fu Zihou with some resentment.

Since ancient times, the four classes of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans have been divided into three groups, with merchants at the end. During the Qin and Han dynasties, whether it was corvée or coolie labor, merchants were the first group to be arrested. No matter how rich they were, they could not ride in a carriage at will.

Hundreds of years have passed, and although merchants are no longer the first to be arrested and forced to perform labor service, they are still not welcome. Not only did the imperial examination of the Sui Dynasty clearly stipulate that merchants and their descendants were not allowed to take the exam, but even ordinary people were quite prejudiced against merchants and their descendants.

In Fu Zihou's eyes, compared to others who looked down on his father, his uncle, who used the most of his father's money, should not look down on his father. After all, it was his father who supported the whole family, including his uncle.

"Mr. Liu!"

Fu Hong stood up and saluted to Mr. Liu. After Mr. Liu returned the salute, he looked at Fu Zihou and nodded in response.

"time to eat!"

At this time, my cousin's wife Tai also brought a few bowls of hot porridge, placed them on the ground, and served them to several people.

"Mr. Liu, come and eat!"

Aunt Zhang had a very snobbish face, but after seeing Mr. Liu, she came forward enthusiastically and motioned for Mr. Liu to sit down. If it weren't for the fact that Aunt Zhang was most opposed to Mr. Liu coming to the house when she first met her, I would have thought that Aunt Zhang was a hospitable person.

"Mr. Liu, you eat first. I'll wait for my mother to eat together!"

Fu Zihou turned and said to Mr. Liu.

They were afraid that someone might break into the garden, so someone had to guard the garden every time they ate, so this matter fell on my aunt Zhang, my mother Tao, and my cousin Tai.

As for the night, my cousins Fu Zhi and Fu Zihou would take turns guarding the first and second half of the night.

"Grandfather, uncle, aunt, cousin, and cousin's wife, you eat first!"

Fu Zihou raised his hand, bowed, then left the room, closed the door, and went outside to his mother, Mrs. Tao.

Although it is almost September, the air is already a little chilly. I heard from my father and mother that when Grandfather was a child, it would get cold earlier, but now it is much better.

"Mother, why are you unhappy?"

Fu Zihou glanced behind him, then looked at Tao in a low voice.

From the initial strangers to the contact, when I fell ill and had a cold for the first time, I looked at Tao, who stayed by my side from morning to night, sitting at the head of the bed with red eyes, and the man in his forties, who would touch his forehead from time to time before sleeping.

Father and mother, these two titles were integrated into Fu Zihou's heart for the first time, and over the years, they have become ingrained in his bones.

"Why aren't you eating again?"

Mrs. Tao looked at her son with displeasure, but there was indescribable doting in her eyes. It is said that sons often anger their mothers, but compared to her two married daughters, her youngest son had been sensible since he was young and knew how to feel sorry for his mother.

"It won't taste good if I don't eat with my mother!"

Fu Zihou said with a smile, then took the stick from Tao and watched it for his mother, then looked behind him and then looked at Tao.

"Mother, just now I saw that uncle's lips were dry and his face looked very bad. He must have been hungry for a long time. Did he come home to ask for money?" Fu Zihou asked curiously in a low voice.

Fu Zihou had seen such things more than once. He had seen his father, who worked selflessly, complain. When he greeted his uncle just now, Fu Zihou guessed that his uncle had not eaten for a long time and was probably eating tree bark on the way home.

This is not an exaggeration. It seems that the period before the Sui Dynasty was praised as a prosperous era, but that was only for the imperial court and the scholar-official families. For the common people, the Sui Dynasty's oppression of the people was even worse than that of other dynasties.

During other turbulent times and uprisings, the biggest headache for the rebels was the need to continuously steal food. But in the Sui Dynasty, let alone taking down one of the several large granaries, there was enough food to feed hundreds of thousands of people for several years. Even the charity granaries set up in various cities by the Sui Dynasty and managed by the government were enough to provide all the rebels with food and clothing as long as they were taken down.

Fu Zihou still remembers that according to later calculations, the granaries built during the Sui Dynasty each held 8,000 shi of grain, and there were 3,000 granaries, totaling 24 million shi, which is in the unit of ten thousand!

Where does this food come from?

What is even more frightening is that in the Sui Dynasty, taxes were still collected every year in various places based on the land registered by the Ministry of Households. The amount of taxes was unprecedented in terms of the records of the land registered by the Ministry of Households.

Under such circumstances, it was obvious that my uncle had spent all his money and had a hard time making ends meet outside, so he returned home dejectedly. It would be a miracle if he could find anything to eat on the way.

"Keep your voice down!"

Tao looked inside the house worriedly, then looked at her son unhappily, feeling helpless. Her son was sensible in every way, but he was too sensible, which caused headaches for her and her husband.

In the generation of Fu Zihou's great-grandfather, the Fu family was still a well-known family in the county. However, after the great-grandfather passed away, Aweng's other brothers also died early. By the time of Aweng, the Fu family had declined. In order to take care of the family, her husband has been doing business over the years.

Now the only person the Fu family can count on is Uncle Houer, the only educated person in the family.

She and her husband thought that after their eldest brother became successful, her husband would give up business and turn to farming, so that their son could follow his eldest brother and have a chance to succeed and no longer be looked down upon.

However, because the eldest brother was dissatisfied with her husband, her son also disliked her brother very much.

"Hou'er, we may have to move again soon!"

Tao looked at the closed door behind her and then looked outside the garden. Seeing no one, she sighed softly and saw the puzzled look in her son Fu Zihou's eyes.

Thinking of her son's understanding, Tao did not hide anything and raised her hand to touch Fu Zihou's cheek.

"Your uncle hasn't said what it is specifically about yet. He just said that he is going to do something big this time. Once it's done, your father won't have to keep running around outside."

As she spoke, Tao's eyes turned red.

If possible, who would be willing to let their son be inferior to others? Who would be willing to see their father and brother scolding their beloved like that?

What's more, the Fuji family once produced a county magistrate.

"event?"

When Fu Zihou heard what Tao said, he frowned slightly and wondered what the mysterious event about his uncle might be that his mother had mentioned.

Soon afterwards, Fu Zihou thought of his uncle's running around in recent years and his uncle's character. Fu Zihou was almost certain that his uncle was preparing to take the money and follow others in a rebellion.

This is the big crime of beheading!

What a worrying uncle!

Fu Zihou sighed inwardly, knowing that the decisions on major matters fell on his father and uncle. His mother basically listened to his father, so after guessing what his uncle meant, he didn't say much.

After hearing his mother Tao's instructions not to tell anyone else, Fu Zihou nodded.

If my uncle really wanted to rebel, he would definitely wait for my father to come back, take more money from him, and then go and ask my father himself.

………………

Under the night.

A small fire was lit in the yard. Under the thick smoke were two or three large logs. Although the large logs did not produce very big flames, the charcoal underneath could emit continuous warmth and dispel the cold.

Cousin Fu Zhi, who was in charge of the second half of the night, had already gone to bed, and Fu Zihou was sitting alone in the yard.

Recalling that his uncle talked with Mr. Liu until late at night, Fu Zihou was basically certain that his guess was correct.

My uncle has lofty ambitions and is not the kind of person who would settle for farming. In these chaotic times, it is impossible for him to stay at home and suffer.

"In the first month of the eleventh year of the Sui Dynasty, Yan Xuanzheng started an uprising. In the second month of the eleventh year of the Sui Dynasty, Wang Xuba, Wei Daoer, and Yang Zhongxu started an uprising. In the seventh month, Zhang Qixu started an uprising..."

Fu Zihou had not studied history deeply, but he vaguely remembered that compared with the eighth, ninth, and tenth years of the Sui Dynasty, when there were large-scale uprisings every month or even several times, the eleventh year of Daye was much better.

It was obvious that my uncle had made up his mind this time. Although I didn't know whether he was truly appreciated or fooled, he couldn't be stopped after all.

Fu Zihou, who has seen all kinds of faces, knows that when it comes to so-called "wealth" and "benefits", anyone who stands in the way can be turned from a relative into an enemy.

"Is it Wei Qilin in October, or Lu Mingyue or Li Zitong? There is a high probability that my uncle is one of these people..."

Fu Zihou held a small wooden stick, held the fire with the tip, sighed, and was not too worried about his uncle. Although his uncle was not very capable, he was a first-rate person when it came to escaping.

The world is in chaos now. As long as you are not too famous, with the power of the Sui Dynasty to control the people, as long as you flee to the north, no one can catch you.

"It's going to rain heavily again in two days!"

Fu Zihou raised his head and looked at the sky.

Perhaps it was the soul of two lives that made Fu Zihou's intuition extremely sharp. No matter it was raining, sunny, or even snowing, he could sense it in advance. On the night when he was surrounded, Fu Zihou had a bad premonition in advance, so he blocked the door and thus bought a lot of time.

Fu Zihou did not tell his parents about this matter. After all, intuition is something mysterious. If his parents were too concerned, he would be confused and might even ask someone to exorcise the evil spirit for him out of worry and panic.

Looking at the starry sky and thinking of his uncle's actions, Fu Zihou was also thinking back to the scholar he saw today who had come to accept a new disciple.

Liu Zhiyuan!
Could it be that person? Calculating the time, it does fit.

(End of this chapter)