The Soldier of the Red Mansion

Chapter 306 Farewell
Early in the morning.

Shi Ping walked through a narrow alley and turned into the bustling main street.

Flanked by high walls on both sides, only a narrow sliver of sunlight seeps through. Early-rising housewives, carrying wooden basins, line up at the communal well in the corner to draw water. The "thump-thump" sound of the wooden buckets hitting the well rim and the wet sounds of their conversations are full of the texture of life.

I just went to see it, and the general's new house is very nice.

There's a well in the courtyard for their own use, so there's no need to queue here. Taking advantage of the few days off, Shi Ping plans to go back to Hexi Camp to visit Old Shi.

As I passed by the food stalls on the street, I smelled a wonderful aroma.

"Boss, how much is the roast chicken?"

Shi Ping patted his pockets, intending to take back a roast chicken and a pot of wine; Old Shi would surely be pleased.

Shi Ping planned to take a boat back.

Tongzhou has indeed become much more prosperous and bustling in recent years, but it has also become a mixed bag. Among the many vendors doing business, quite a few have resorted to dishonest and shady practices. On the other hand, most business people in the capital are stable and dare not tarnish their reputation.

"One hundred and twenty coins." The shopkeeper, seeing a customer come to him, immediately forced a smile, even though the young man was just an ordinary person.

"So expensive!"

Shi Ping frowned and exclaimed, "Are you trying to bully us outsiders?"

The shop owner waved his hands repeatedly, afraid that the customer would leave, and explained with a bitter face.

"For some reason, fewer cattle and sheep have been transported to the capital from Xuanda in the past two years, which has caused the price of cattle and sheep in the capital to rise sharply. People can't afford to eat cattle and sheep, so more people are eating chicken and duck, which has also caused the price of chicken and duck to rise."

We're a small business, relying on regular customers, whether they're local or from out of town. We can't afford to overcharge; that would ruin our reputation.

After the boss's explanation, Shi Ping understood somewhat.

It's a case of one person being full so the whole family isn't hungry. These guards are considered first-class, receiving a monthly military salary of two taels of silver. Shi Ping isn't stingy; he's just worried about being taken advantage of.

After figuring out the reason, Shi Ping readily took out 120 coins.

The owner wrapped the roast chicken in lotus leaves, tied it with a thin hemp rope to resemble a flower, leaving a loop so it could be carried by hand.

Shi Ping took the roast chicken and said with a smile before leaving, "Chicken and duck prices have gone up, the boss is making a fortune too."

"Who said that."

"Guest, you don't understand."

The boss started talking, complaining, "We're a small business. The price of chicken and duck has gone up, and we can't just raise it anytime, otherwise customers won't eat it. If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to raise prices. They've gone up so much that if we don't, we'll be selling at a loss."

Strange to say.

Shi Ping didn't understand these things before, but after traveling to many places in the past few years, he suddenly understands what his boss says as soon as he hears it, and he can even know things that his boss doesn't.

The price of cattle and sheep has risen because Juzhongchang, located outside Datong Pass, has kept most of the cattle and sheep in its hands and used them to lend to herders.

"Business is tough for us shop owners, but many people are rushing to raise sheep, chickens, and ducks," the shop owner said enviously.

Seeing the boss's appearance, Shi Ping couldn't bear it.

"The price of beef and mutton will only rise in the next two years. After that, just wait and see, I guarantee that the price of beef and mutton will drop. So don't get greedy and blindly do things you don't understand."

"You know so much, sir."

The food stall owner chuckled, his face dismissive.

Shi Ping didn't care whether he listened or not. He just thought of the general and said proudly, "My general said that doing business is risky. You can't just see the benefits and not see the risks. Otherwise, you'll lose everything and it will be too late to cry."

The restaurant owner had intended to follow suit, but before he even started, he was "cursed."

I'm not feeling very happy.

Since they were guests of their own, they simply ignored them.

Shi Ping also left with a smile.

Due to siltation and insufficient water supply, the Jishuitan in the capital city was very deep during the Yuan Dynasty, allowing large ships to navigate. However, by the early Ming Dynasty, water supply was insufficient and siltation had increased.

Therefore, most of the cargo ships and merchant ships on the canal changed their destination to Tongzhou, leaving only a small number of passenger ships behind.

With a bottle of wine in his left hand and a bag of roast chicken in his right, Shi Ping had already arrived near Jishuitan. He could see the dock in the distance and couldn't help but stretch his pace.

"stop."

Passing a street corner.

Several ragged, beggar-like teenagers blocked Shi Ping's way.

The older one was only thirteen or fourteen years old, and the younger one was only seven or eight. They were all dirty and surrounded Shi Ping from both sides, so they seemed to have some experience.

Shi Ping was stunned and asked, "What?"

"Leave your things behind."

The boy in the lead shouted.

Shi Ping suddenly realized what was going on and couldn't help but laugh.

Give me that lotus leaf chicken.

The boy in the lead gripped the wooden stick in his hand and threatened again, speaking fiercely.

The other children looked nervously at Shi Ping.

Shi Ping nodded and walked towards the wall. Everyone surrounded him, afraid that he would run away. Before anyone could ask, Shi Ping took the initiative to put the lotus leaf chicken and a pot of wine in the corner of the wall.

Seeing this, one of the older boys said, "Take out the money too."

"What do you want? Just food."

The boy in the lead cursed.

"He still has some manners," Shi Ping nodded secretly.

The older child didn't take it seriously and reached out to grab Shi Ping.

Shi Ping dodged, grabbed the man's hand, and pulled him along, sending him flying. The man crashed into the wall with a light but not heavy thud, letting out a "ouch," which startled everyone.

The older child quickly turned around, looking angrily at Shi Ping. Seeing that he was not injured, he stopped grabbing and instead picked up the wooden stick in his hand and hit Shi Ping.

"It's not going to be paid back."

After he shouted, the children around him rushed forward.

The leader of the group tried to stop them, but things had already gotten chaotic, and no one was listening to him anymore.

When Shi Ping saw the stick heading towards his head, his eyes flashed with ferocity. He kicked the stick away, making it taller than his head, and then kicked the man in the chin. The man fell to the ground stiffly, without even having time to utter a sound.

In no time, they took down several people.

Now nobody dared to go up.

Seeing this, the boy in the lead shouted and went forward.

"You didn't go up just now, are you going up now?" Shi Ping laughed and stepped aside.

The boy in the lead brandished a wooden stick and shouted, "Leave the chicken in your pocket and we'll let you go."

Seeing that the man was stubborn and unyielding, Shi Ping no longer held back and punched him in the eye socket. The boy covered his eye and staggered back a few steps, unable to recover from the pain for a long time.

Unexpectedly, this person was so powerful that many children ran away without any sense of loyalty, while a few hid in the distance, watching the boy with concern.

"You go."

The boy was convinced and stepped aside.

Shi Ping joked, "Aren't you afraid I'll drag you to the authorities?"

Upon hearing the report to the authorities, the children in the distance scattered and ran away.

The young man didn't move, and sneered, "Go to the yamen and report to the authorities. Let's see if those lazybones will even listen to you."

Shi Ping noticed that this person was a few years younger than him. When he was this person's age, he was still eating lice with Old Man Shi. Yet this person seemed to be more sensible than him, which made Shi Ping feel a sense of goodwill towards him.

Thinking about what this person had just done, Shi Ping asked curiously, "Where are your family members?"

"All dead."

The boy spoke numbly, his voice devoid of any emotion when he mentioned his parents' death.

Upon hearing this, Shi Ping felt even more favorably toward this person.

Perhaps out of a sense of shared suffering, Shi Ping took the initiative to say, "My parents are also dead."

The boy looked surprised.

He carefully examined Shi Ping. Although he was dressed plainly, he was very clean. He had only just realized how firm and hard the flesh under Shi Ping's clothes was when he was hit by him. When he punched Shi Ping, his own fist hurt instead.

“You still have family, but I have no one left.”

Seeing that the other party had misunderstood, Shi Ping did not explain, but asked a few more questions. It turned out that they were disaster victims from Shandong.

Shandong is experiencing a disaster.

They even started a White Lotus Rebellion.

Not only are government officials afraid of something going wrong, but many disaster victims are also afraid of something going wrong.

The boy's parents led their family to flee the famine in the capital region, thinking that since the capital was under the emperor's nose, there would surely be a way to survive.

In reality, there have been refugees fleeing to the capital every year over the years, so they have become immune to it. On the contrary, the influx of refugees has brought many harms to the capital region, leading to various places in the capital region not allowing refugees to enter the city.

The situation worsened; unable to beg for food and drink, his parents, siblings, and other relatives passed away one after another starting two years ago.

I've cried all my tears out.

The boy stopped crying and started looking for opportunities to survive. Later, he helped vegetable vendors push their carts into the city every morning.

The vegetable vendor didn't want him, but the boy didn't want anything and worked for free for an hour or two every day. After three to five months, the vegetable vendor finally took pity on him and took the boy into the city.

The capital is, after all, the capital.

Although beggars are not allowed to enter the city, there are always more people than problems. Once they are in the city, begging becomes much easier.

Shi Ping was used to seeing this all the way.

Putting aside other things, many of the newly arrived herdsmen from outside Datong Pass had their entire families slaughtered by the Hu people, and they also suffered humiliation and abuse before they died. It's just that Shi Ping found the young man in front of him very pleasing to the eye.

"Do you want to join the army?"

"Yes," the boy said without hesitation.

Soldiers are poor, but at least they have food to eat, which is better than begging.

“Follow me, but I’m telling you beforehand, it’s not guaranteed to work out.” Shi Ping wasn’t sure, so he added, “But even if it doesn’t work out, I’ll provide you with meals for a few days so you won’t have come for nothing.”

"Row."

The young man readily agreed.

The courtyard in the east of the city.

A family moved in, and the neighbors on both sides of the alley already knew that their new neighbor was a military officer.

Although this area isn't the most prestigious part of the city's east side, the alleyways here are lined with three-courtyard houses, belonging to at least successful merchants, making it relatively quiet.

Originally, we only planned to invite five or six people, but in the end we invited two families, both of whom were refugees from Shandong.

One household has four members, and another has five.

The family came all the way from Shandong by begging, and yet they managed to survive in such good health. Wang Xin knew without asking how much faith and dedication they had faced, and how much effort they had put in.

yard.

The youngest child in both families was only six years old, but despite being only six, he stood very sensibly beside the adults.

Wang Xin said gently, "Don't worry about anything else. Just do your job well. You can stay with me for the rest of your life and live a peaceful life with your family. If you don't want to stay with me anymore, just give me a call and I'll send you some travel expenses."

Everyone was on edge for more than half a month.

Many people came, and we gave them a lot of instructions.

The whole family had finally found a place to stay, and without anyone's prompting, they would act carefully. Knowing that they were to see the master today, everyone couldn't help but feel nervous.

They were terrified that they had done something wrong that would displease the master and cause him to kick their family out.

I never expected the old man to be so young and so amiable.

However, no one dared to underestimate them.

The master is still a military officer, so young yet so capable.

Without the elderly, they wouldn't be able to survive.

There were two women and three men, including a pair of cousins, the younger of whom was only eighteen or nineteen years old and unmarried, followed by two girls and two boys.

The young men did odd jobs: one was in charge of the kitchen, one was in charge of the stables, two women were in charge of washing clothes and buying groceries, two girls helped in the inner room, and two boys helped in the outer room.

Qingwen was teaching the two girls how to do things, but she was also impatient. When she saw that the two girls were stupid, she got so angry that her face turned red.

The two girls were so scared that tears streamed down their faces.

"I didn't say anything about you, why are you crying?" Qingwen said in a fit of frustration.

"Let them take their time; there's no rush."

Ping'er smiled.

After moving to the new home, Ping'er was the first to adapt, aside from the initial discomfort, and she started smiling more often.

Ping'er was naturally kind-hearted, and with someone to rely on, she became even more peaceful in her speech and actions.

Qingwen's temper had improved considerably, and she could only sigh.

The two little girls stopped crying.

Wang Xin visited the new house briefly, then left and didn't return home until evening.

She had a meal with Ping'er and Qingwen.

Both families lived in houses facing the street. The back room was empty, and the younger men were assigned to guard it. The east and west wing rooms were also empty. Wang Xin and Ping'er slept in the main room, but Ping'er's room was the east wing room.

Qingwen lived in the outer room of the main house, and also had her own separate room in the east wing.

The other two girls share a room.

Wang Xin also had personal guards.

The imperial court had regulations on how many personal guards a general could have. Wang Xin only brought twelve men with him when he returned to the capital this time.

Even when Wang Xin was not in the capital, his room would be guarded by four personal guards who would take turns coming to see him every day.

"Here is one hundred taels of gold."

By candlelight.

Wang Xin took out ten gold ingots.

During the Ming Dynasty, a gold ingot weighed seven or ten taels. During the Zhou Dynasty, a gold ingot usually weighed ten taels. In the early Yuan Dynasty, a gold ingot weighed five taels.

It is evident that the volume of goods transported in each dynasty increased, indicating that the amount of social resources being transported was gradually increasing.

Ping'er was startled.

It's not that I've never seen money before, it's just that I've never seen Wang Xin take out so much money.

"Lord Xin."

Ping'er exclaimed in surprise.

"Keep this gold safe."

Wang Xin pushed a box of gold ingots toward Ping'er.

Ping'er did not refuse, nor did she ask where the gold came from. She whispered, "I'll guard it for you, Master."

During the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that one tael of gold was equivalent to four taels of silver. Despite this regulation, the exchange rate between gold and silver soared in the private sector. Especially after the prosperity of maritime trade, the price of silver plummeted. Today, one tael of gold can be exchanged for ten taels of silver.

"This is my military pay," Wang Xin explained, then said, "Keep this money safe, just in case."

Wang Xin took precautions.

"If I don't come back this time, this thousand taels of silver is enough for you and Qingwen to live on for the rest of your lives. If you can live in this house, you and Qingwen can stay here. Find Qingwen a good husband. If you meet a good man, don't think too much about it, just get married quickly."

"If I'm gone, even if I leave a written agreement, I'm afraid many members of the Wang clan will try to extort money from you. These people won't tolerate you, and you can't fight back. So if it really comes to that, don't fight for the house anymore. Go find Lu Zhongheng. I've told him to take good care of you. If Lu Zhongheng is unreliable, go to Yangzhou and find He Kuan. I've already written to him and asked him to settle you on Yangzhou Island."

Ping'er was stunned.

Watching the general speak eloquently, Ping'er felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave, even though it was the sweltering summer day.

This time, leaving the pass was different.

Although they had made ample preparations, they had too few men.

More than 10,000 people, most of whom were militiamen.

If Ou Yanhu attacks him first with all his might, he might be able to return with his army safely. Even if he does return, the casualties will be significant, and he himself might be in danger.

But it's a great deal.

Of the three armies, Wang Xin never counted on the Yongxing Army or the Tiancheng Army.

It all depends on who's unlucky and who runs into Ou Yanhu.

If it were him who encountered it, Wang Xin believed that the other two routes would definitely retreat.

However, if he could force Ou Yanhu to return, he would consider it a success.

His great cause has been thwarted, and now the Qiantao region has lost a large number of people. He is unable to recover from the Shenghu. In no more than three years, he will decline and will be powerless no matter how much ambition he has.

To serve in the military and fight in war.

Wang Xin initially didn't want to go to the battlefield.

Following Lin Ruhai's advice, Wang Xin went to the Salt Commissioner's Office in Yangzhou to find a job. Such a lucrative position could enrich ten generations of his family. However, upon hearing about the viciousness and cruelty of the Japanese pirates, Wang Xin couldn't help but feel uneasy.

I was a soldier in my past life, and I'll be a soldier in this life too.

This is my fate.

It's just that I wasted my life sweating in my past life, which is both a pity and a blessing.

I don't know in this lifetime.

Resisting Japanese pirates and pacifying the barbarians.

There is nothing I can refuse.

It is for the sake of all living beings.

There's no logic to it.

Over the years, so many soldiers have died under his command, and he often lectures his men with grand principles, but it can't be his turn to suffer the same fate. It turns out it was all for his own benefit.

The soldiers below, who doesn't trust themselves?

How could I let myself down?

How could we bear to extinguish the military spirit that we have painstakingly forged?

This is what I'm most proud of.

I have a clear conscience.

Those brothers who sacrificed their lives underground can rest in peace; the general they followed will never let them down.

"Woo~~"

Ping'er covered her mouth and cried silently.

Wang Xin patted Ping'er's head, but there were no words to comfort her.

There are indeed many injustices in the world, but someone always has to do something.

Things are accomplished one by one.

Instead of explaining it with grand principles.

Even the greatest people die; it's what matters that they leave behind for the world.

If I could leave behind even a trace of military spirit or a sliver of ideals for the Great Zhou, that would be more valuable than anything else.

(End of this chapter)