Chapter 394: Investigation in Xiayun Village!

Lu Shan and Wang Erxi were busy all the way, and almost kept rushing to Tonghua...

"It's getting late, find a place to stay first!" Lu Shan told Wang Erxi.

"Sir, won't you go back to the command center?" Wang Erxi asked in surprise. It was only ten miles away from the command center of the East Column and the Jade Emperor Pavilion of Jade Emperor Mountain. Even if you take advantage of the darkness, you can still arrive.

"No, I've been rushing for a day and I'm a little tired. I'll take a night off and go back tomorrow!" Lu Shan said.

Wang Erxi could only nod. Lu Shan was the commander, but Wang Erxi was not.

"Sir, there is a village over there. Look, the lights are still on!" It is not impossible to sleep in the wild, but if you can shelter from the wind and rain, it is better than staying in the wild.

"Well, let's go over!" Lu Shan nodded.

The village is not very big, built at the foot of the mountain, with about thirty or forty families, most of which are pitch black. Maybe it was because I had dinner early and went to bed, but only five or six families still had lights on!

It took less than a quarter of an hour for the two to enter the village.

The village was very quiet, but there seemed to be a hint of smoke in the air, which made Lu Shan smell something wrong.

"Sir, something is not right in this village!" Wang Erxi also noticed a trace of strangeness and reminded carefully.

"I know, let's find a family to ask!" Lu Shan said.

"Sir, there is a family!" Wang Erxi pointed his hand, and the lights were on in a very large yard.

"Let's go over and knock on the door!" Lu Shan got off the horse and led the horse with Wang Erxi along the village stone path.

"Sir, I'll do it!" Wang Erxi said first when he came to the door of the family.

"Well, talk to the top hat!" Lu Shan nodded.

"Dongdong..."

Wang Erxi knocked on the door and gently put the force lighter, otherwise he would crack the weak yard door with just one hit.

The heavy knocking sound immediately broke the tranquility of this small farmyard. And just after the knocking sounded, the lights in the yard suddenly disappeared. It was obvious that the owner did not seem to be happy to drink the two uninvited guests, Lu Shan and Wang Erxi.

These days, the war is in chaos, and ordinary people close their doors and sleep when it gets dark, so how dare they care about the outside world?

The family turned off the lights immediately when they heard the knock on the door, which was reasonable for this vigilance.

"Is there anyone? We missed the Amtou when we were on the way and wanted to stay overnight..." Wang Erxi shouted into it.

No sound came out.

"Sir, what should I do? I won't open the door!" Wang Erxi turned his head and said.

"I'll do it!" Lu Shan handed the reins to Wang Erxi, walked over, and knocked gently on the gate of the courtyard, "Is there anyone? I'm in Lushan, a teacher from Tonghua County Middle School. I missed Guantou because I was on the way and wanted to stay overnight. I also asked the host to make a convenient move. There are only two of us..."

More than a minute later, there was movement in the yard. The originally extinguished light lit up again, and a "creaking" sound of the door opening came out.

Immediately afterwards a slow footstep sound from far to near.

The gate of the courtyard was opened, revealing an old face full of gullies, with gray hair and a slightly hunched back!

The old man was wearing a jacket, a coat on his face, a pair of shoes full of patches, and a cigarette pole in his hand.

When he saw that there were indeed two people standing at the door, he looked around vigilantly, and then Lu Shan and Wang Erxi were wearing long robes, full of righteousness and the other was wearing short slap, looking very energetic. It was probably a pair of masters and servants, so he completely opened the gate of the courtyard: "Please come in, two of you!"

"Thank you, my uncle!" Lu Shan clasped his fists and said

"These two big guys, we don't have any forage?" The old man looked at the two war horses behind the two and said quickly.

"It's okay, we brought some, you can prepare some water!" Lu Shan hurriedly said that the war horses did not eat ordinary feed, so they carried some with them, enough to eat for the next replenishment.

"That's good, the water pipe is full, and the water tank is full!"

Lu Shan and Wang Erxi entered the yard, pulled the two horses into the empty cow pen, and then scooped water and feed.

"Old man, where are the cows in your cow pen?" Lu Shan observed. There was a smell of fresh cow dung in the cow pen. It was obvious that there was a cow living here, but the cow was gone now.

"Don't mention it, sir, let's go into the house and talk!" The old man sighed and welcomed Lu Shan and Wang Erxi into the house!

"My wife, old wife, boil water, the guest is here!"

"Yeah, here we come!" An old voice came from the inner room.

"Old man, you and the aunt live in such a big yard?" Lu Shan felt a little strange. There shouldn't be only the old couple living in such a big yard.

"It wasn't originally, now, hey..." the old man sighed again.

"Old man, do you have anything to eat here? We have been on our way for a day and haven't eaten much. Don't worry, we don't eat for nothing!" Lu Shan said, "Er Xi..."

"Old man, this is my remuneration for accommodation and meals tonight. Not much, just two oceans, you will always collect them!" Wang Erxi took out two oceans and handed them to Lu Shan, and Lu Shan handed them to the old man and said sincerely.

"Sir, this is impossible, no one can do it. When you go out, no one can encounter any difficulties. You just have a meal..." the old man refused.

"Old man, you accept it, otherwise we will be uneasy to eat and stay." Lu Shan said, putting Dayang into the old man's palm, but found that a blood mark seemed to be dragged by a rope in the middle of the old man's palm!

"Old man, your hand?"

"No, it's okay, I accidentally got it!" The old man hurriedly withdrew his hand and also collected the ocean in his hand. After discovering it, he felt a little embarrassed, but he had already collected it and was reluctant to return it to the point.

There is also the hungry grandson at home, and these two pieces of ocean may be life-saving money.

Something must have happened in this village. The smell of gunpowder in the air must have been shortly after the incident, and the old man's cow disappeared, and the blood marks on his hands were clearly caused by dragging the reins.

This new injury, the old injury, can be seen at a glance by Lu Shan.

Logically speaking, this is already the core area controlled by the Eastern Column Self-Defense Forces, and the surrounding bandits should be almost cleaned up!

It cannot be done by the bandits, nor can it be done with the powerful. The Self-Defense Forces and the Eastern Range have insufficient weapons. They are forcibly confiscating the weapons in the hands of these landlords and powerful people. If they are forced to pay debts, they will not need to use guns?

Could it be?

Lu Shan had a very bad premonition, hoping that what he guessed would not become true.

"My wife, do you have noodles at home? Make a bowl of noodles for the two guests!" The old man walked towards the kitchen.

"Old man, there is only that little left in the house, so I'll give it to the tiger baby..."

"My wife, look, the two guests gave this!"

"Dayang, God is pitiful, God is pitiful to our Zhang family!"

...

It takes a while to cook, and Lu Shan talked with the old man in a word. The most talked about was naturally the harvest in the field. After all, this is what farmers care about the most.

Although Lu Shan is an orphan, he grew up in the countryside since childhood and is very aware of the difficulties of farmers' lives. Especially this is still the old China decades ago. Taxes and heavy labor have made farmers the poorest group in the world, and the vast majority of them.

Lu Shan is quite familiar with farming, but he grew up in the south, and the farming in the north is different from the south. So when the old man heard it, he said that he was a person inside the pass, and the farming outside the pass is different from the pass. Affected by the seasons, there are only one season outside the pass, while in the south, there are two seasons, or even three seasons, so the output is naturally different.

However, the land outside the pass is fertile, and the output in the first quarter is slightly higher than in some places in the south. Apart from the heavy taxes and rent given to the landlords, food and clothing can be achieved generally.

Old Man Zhang's family owned five acres of land, and then rented and planted a fifteen acres of land from the landlord of Qian. When the yield was good, his five acres of land was 300 to 400 kilograms, and when the difference was good, one or two hundred kilograms. After paying taxes, it is estimated that the grain can be left behind. If the good years are good, it will be more. Then, the 15 acres of land you rented and planted can also obtain 1,500 kilograms of grain each year.

Such a family can share more than 2,000 kilograms of grain every year, and such a family of five is actually barely eaten.

Unless there is a good year, there is basically no spare money at home all year round.

The most valuable thing in Old Man Zhang’s family is the scalper. He is already fifteen years old and is considered to be an elderly person among the cows.

It was because of this scalper that he rented and planted the Qian family's fifteen acres of land, and it was also a good paddy field.

Old Man Zhang has a son and a daughter. The daughter got married and was not too far away. She was in the neighboring village and she changed her kins!

This way of getting married is very common in rural areas. Both families have one son and one daughter, and then the two families get married. Your son marrys his daughter, and his son marrys his own daughter!

This way, the two families became even more close.

The reason why the Zhang family was able to change their brides was because of the old ox, which was less than the labor force of five people. After changing their brides, both families naturally benefited.

It was boring to just talk. Lu Shan asked Wang Erxi to take a bottle of wine, a roast chicken and a pack of peanuts, and the three of them ate around the table.

Old Man Zhang is not a fool. When he saw him take out roast chicken and white wine, he knew that he didn’t have any food, but gave him money based on this reason!

At this moment, Old Man Zhang was extremely grateful to Lu Shan, and the truth gradually became more and more during the conversation.

"Sir, this is really delicious!" Old Man Zhang sipped and said beautifully, "It's been so many years since I haven't drunk such a good wine!"

"The old man likes it, I'll leave you two bottles!" Lu Shan smiled. The villagers are the simplest. As long as you treat them sincerely, they will give you their hearts!

"No, this cannot be done, it is already lucky that I can have a chance to have a drink!"

"It's up to people to drink the wine, it doesn't matter, I have too much!" Lu Shan said with a smile.

"That old man, I'll thank you sir!"

"Erxi, take two bottles and give them to the old man, so as not to forget it tomorrow morning!" Lu Shan ordered Wang Erxi to say.

"I understand, sir!" Wang Erxi got up and went to get the wine.

"Old man, I see that your seal hall is dim, and there is a faint black air in the purple palace. It seems that there is a disaster recently?" Although Lu Shan did not have much rural work experience, he knew that in the ancient feudal society of China, secret letters have penetrated into the bones of the Chinese people. As long as it involves ghosts and gods, the more ignorant the place, the more trust it will be!

If he had time, I believe he could ask the truth from Old Man Zhang, but that was not what he wanted.

But if we use the method of ghosts and gods, we can quickly ask the truth.

"How did you know sir?" Old Man Zhang had drunk three times and a sense of enthusiasm surged, and his vigilance towards Lu Shan had long disappeared.

"I learned some of the art of face-to-face skills in my early years!" said Lu Shan's old god.
To be continued...