Father Han Gaozu

Longxi County.

The autumn wind in Chang'an is very refreshing after drinking, but this is only true for those gentlemen who are carrying flagons. In Longxi, especially for those who are serving, the autumn wind is extremely bleak.

The corvee service of the great Han will not be carried out in the autumn. This is to avoid delaying farming and mulberry, but there are exceptions. Prisoners, son-in-laws, and merchants are not subject to this restriction. The Wudu earthquake destroyed most roads, and temples needed Timely maintenance, and these people who have been serving corvee almost all year round are naturally called to Longxi again.

Those prisoners are used to it. After being sentenced, they will spend their lives in this endless corvee. Some have been sentenced to three or four years, which is more comfortable, and some simply serve life in corvee. Although the laws of the DPRK have weakened corporal punishment and reduced corvée, but in the matter of oppressing prisoners, it is still in the same line as Daqin.

It's hard not to doubt that the main reason why the big man abolished corporal punishment was that there were not enough manpower for the infrastructure.Prisoners with able-bodied limbs are naturally more useful than disabled prisoners.

On a road from Wudu to Longxi, falling rocks and cross-logs piled up the road, and the original track was broken and collapsed. Tens of thousands of people repaired here. They cleaned up the sundries on the road and removed the damaged ones. Severe wooden tracks are then re-laid.

There were officials riding steeds, shuttling back and forth around them, and soldiers gathered in the distance, holding strong crossbows, staring at them.

Several peasants struggled to lift the big stone, and as they shouted and exerted force, the stone was constantly turned by them, and gradually moved away from the road. These were different from the prisoners in shackles not far away. Most of them were It is a merchant and a son-in-law.

Although opening a business has released many restrictions on merchants, the priority of corvee has not changed. After all, they do not need to go to farm in autumn. When the roads are seriously damaged, Lu Qing directly summons those merchants to start work, and the merchants also I dare not say anything more.

When they were exhausted and collapsed on the edge of the stone, a soldier came forward with a wooden barrel. Here was their meal. Everyone gathered to eat together. This was much better than in the past, after all, there was no food in the past.

"Maifan. It's Maifan again, why is it always Maifan?!"

A merchant grimaced and complained in a low voice. It was obvious that this merchant must be very rich, and he was not used to eating this kind of food.

Several businessmen around him couldn't help complaining. Among these people, there was a young man who said he was a young man, but he had a vicissitudes of life on his face, and even had stubble on his skin. , and turned dark and rough, although he was young, but standing among these people, he looked like the most mature coward.

He wolfed down the wheat and rice, ate the food before everyone else, and then sat down to rest. They didn't have much time to rest.

Seeing that the merchants were still complaining and eating their meals with distressed faces, he couldn't help but said, "You can be content with what you have. This place is much better than the one in Tongguan. We didn't even have rice when we built canals there. Eat, eat some winter vegetables to satisfy your hunger on weekdays.”…

His voice was hoarse, mature and steady.

The merchant was taken aback, looking at his appearance, but he was a little unsure of his age, "It's close to Chang'an, why is the food worse than here?"

"Over there, construction starts in winter, and there is nothing to eat. Let me tell you, Liang Guo has the worst food. When I went to Liang Guo to dig a flood discharge channel, I thought it would be better there. Unexpectedly, Liang Guo The country is so rich, and they don’t prepare any meals during the corvée, so the corvees bring their own food. I was hungry there for two days before I could eat.”

"The best one might be the Tang Kingdom. The Tang Kingdom provides meat. You can eat pork every two days, and mutton once every five days. It's so delicious."

"The Zhao country is the worst. The mines in the Zhao country are all privately contracted. Those people don't care about your life or death at all. They just want you to do more work. They beat you all day long. They have a better attitude than these officials. It's even worse.」

Listening to the young man's narration, those merchants were a little at a loss, and the leader couldn't help asking: "Do you dare to ask how old you are this year?"

They are really curious, this young man has the vicissitudes of life that do not belong to this age, and he talks about the corvee situation in various countries. He looks like a civilian man who has worked in corvee for many years, and his words are quite different, very knowledgeable, no He looks like an ordinary person, and how old is he?
The younger generation smiled wryly, "Eighteen this year."

"I started to do corvée at the age of 14, and worked in various northern countries for almost four years."

"Four years? That's four times of corvée? That's not much."

"No, not four times. I have participated in corvee service sixteen times. Every season is corvée, and I have never rested throughout the year."

The merchants were even more surprised. Looking at his hands and feet, they said, "You are not a prisoner either? Why did you serve corvee for four years without a break?"

"I made some mistakes when I was young, and I was punished by the nobles. Let's not talk about this, you eat quickly, depending on the weather, it may rain later, and when it rains, you will be more tired when you work. Remember to walk more. Otherwise, I will be frozen to death when I was in Yan Kingdom."

The merchants were a little skeptical at first, but when the sky really rained, the merchants were convinced of this young man who was about the same age as their son. People around, listening to his arrangements.

This young man is very insightful in corvee service, he knows how to save effort, how to survive, and even how to formulate.

He is very dissatisfied with the current corvee.

"This senior official who issued corvee, it seems that he doesn't understand corvee. He asked all of us to clean up together. Isn't this a waste? It should be divided into several parts, and then cleaned separately, and at the same time arrange people to repair them in the rear, so that the It saves time and effort.”

Sure enough, within a few days, after the county came to investigate, the corvee method really changed as the young man said.

The longer the merchants spent with him, the more curious they became.

"What kind of person did you offend? Four years of corvée, even the crime of theft is only three years of corvée! Besides, you were not yet fifteen at the time, what kind of punishment is this?"...

The young man shook his head and never said much in this regard.

On this day, a group of people and horses passed the road, and there were knights clearing the way ahead, so that these corvettes got out of the way and stood on both sides, while the nobles were sitting in the carriage, and the mighty team came from a distance, and they didn't know it. Where to go, the merchants just watched this scene and speculated one after another.

"Which Chihou is this? Such a grand occasion?"

"Liu Jun, you have seen a lot, maybe you can see it?"

"Look at that carriage. It shouldn't be the Marquis of Che. It should be the Sheriff. From there, it's probably the Sheriff of Shu County. Let me think about it. It should be the son of Marquis Yingyin...I don't know what to call it. remembered."

The merchants were stunned and admired him even more.

"You must have served very powerful people before, right? Was it from the county? Or was it from the county?"

"No, it's just that the more you see it, the better you get to know each other."

The passing of this group of people only became their talk for a few days, and they were soon forgotten by them. The road was gradually cleaned up. Unfortunately, there are not a hundred or fifty roads that need to be repaired like this. It will take about three or four. It will take years to repair it.

The road is about to be completed, the businessmen are getting more and more happy, and they will be able to go home soon. They often talk about the situation at home, but the young man is silent. However, his face has long since lost excitement and resentment. It's all gone, he's numb.

After working in corvee for four consecutive years and participating in [-] projects, ordinary people only do it once a year, and they died twice.

Moreover, the law is currently being revised and it is considered that it is enough for ordinary people to serve corvee once in a lifetime. In his case, it is a lifetime of corvée for more than a dozen people.

After suffering so much and suffering so much, he has already seen through everything. Now he is a very skilled civilian husband, and he can no longer see the slightest appearance of the past.

On this day, they rested as usual again, but many cavalrymen appeared in the distance. As soon as these cavalrymen arrived, the officials who were still showing off their power just now rushed up to meet them, with smiles all over their faces, bent down, and almost turned their heads Low to the crotch.

Those knights looked very arrogant, asking loudly what, and soon, the officials began to look through the roster, and when everyone was watching them secretly, the knights walked towards this direction, those few The merchant suddenly panicked.

The knights ignored the others, and walked straight up to the young man, looked at him for a moment, and then bowed to see him.

"Your Highness, your corvée period has expired, we are here to take you back."

At that moment, Liu Wu was stunned.

He seemed to be hit by something, and he was in a trance for a long time, his hands trembling slightly, is this all over?Don't you have to suffer anymore?
He couldn't believe all of this. As for the surrounding merchants, they were already stunned. What did he just say? ? ?
"Your Highness??"

The knight asked again, Liu Wu was startled, feeling all kinds of feelings in his heart, but in the end, he couldn't say anything, as if something was stuck in his throat, tears kept falling from his eyes, he rubbed his eyes , said with relief: "Okay."...

The surrounding merchants looked at him in astonishment, not daring to say anything.

But Liu Wu looked at them, took off the crude gloves he made on his hands, and handed them to the leader, "Take it, when you are in the corvee, remember to make such things to avoid injuries. Then I am leaving"

"Your Highness, who are you?"

Liu Wu raised his head and said solemnly: "I am the great-great-great-grandson of the Great Emperor, the direct grandson of King Chu and Yuan, the son of the current King of Chu, Prince Liu Wu of Chu!!"

Under the escort of the knights, Liu Wu left Longxi and headed for Chang'an. Sitting in the car, for some reason, Liu Wu felt a little uncomfortable and restless. Can wear fine clothes.

But this brightly colored costume can't hide his own vicissitudes. No matter how you look at it, the clothes look a little nondescript, as if he stole them, and he can no longer find the temperament of a prince. He was an old farmer, a weather-beaten old farmer.

Just as he was heading towards Chang'an, Guan Ah, who was one step ahead, had already arrived in Chang'an.

"Ah!!!"

As soon as Guan Ah arrived outside Chang'an, he saw the Son of Heaven who came to greet him. The Son of Heaven went out to greet him. He was always treated like a prince or king, but Guan Ying didn't have this kind of treatment. Just because finally met the emperor.

He jumped out of the car, smiled and rushed towards the emperor.

The two brothers were very excited to meet each other.

The two hugged each other; Guan A, who was not tall, was held in Liu Chang's arms like a child, and Liu Chang even rubbed his head, "Why don't you grow tall?"

"My father is just that tall, where can I grow?"

As soon as Guan Ah opened his mouth, he pointed the finger at Guan Ying, living up to his status as a group of sages.

Liu Chang directly put his hands on his shoulders and hugged him intimately. Lu Lu, Zhou Yafu, Zhou Jian, Fan Shiren, Lu Zhong, Xuan Moru, Lu Tazhi and others all came to greet Guan. Ah.

It's been a long time since everyone saw each other, but this time they met, they were all in a very good mood.

"Look, we are almost complete, only a few incompetent ones are missing, Xiahou Zao is not here, I am thinking, or let Ruyinhou replace his son to toast you or something."

"Hahaha, it's easy to say, let Marquis Ruyin drive us again then!"

"Then you were hanged and beaten by your father at night, right?"

A few people laughed, Guan A was immediately surrounded by them, and walked into Chang'an, Lu Lu couldn't help but said: "You are really good, Your Majesty has transferred you to Chang'an seven or eight times in a row, but you can't be transferred. Why, did you find a concubine there? You don’t want to come back?”

"The main reason is that the distance from you to

farther away."

"You bastard!"

Everyone was chattering, and unconsciously came to the old Tang Palace, this is the old Tang Palace, the former Liu Chang's mansion, no one has lived in it for a long time, and there are only gatherings with the sages Only then will Liu Chang come with people.

Nowadays, there are many options for gathering places, but this place is clean and free of outsiders, so it is still the best choice.

Everyone entered here; each of them sat down, just like when they were young, they brought up wine and meat one after another, regardless of whether Guan Ah had just suffered from the journey, they toasted him one after another, stuffed meat into his mouth, and everyone played Excited, Liu Chang sang a song again, and everyone danced. …

"Chen Mai's Shuzi is coming soon. Probably in the next few days."

"I heard that guy married the daughter of the Xiang family? Is it true?"

"Yes, but the surname Liu has been given to him long ago."

"Why don't you have a family yet? Among us, you seem to be the only one who hasn't had a family yet?"

"Didn't Lu also have a family?"

"Who said that Lu just has no children, he already has a family!"

Everyone chatted about homework, and the topic gradually came to Guan'a. Guan'a talked about the interesting things about Shu County, and even the Shu County under his own administration, bragging to his friends. These words can scare others, but Liu Chang knows the truth. .

"Yeah, you have managed well. After so many years, your city has not changed. However, your three governors have all been promoted to be the governor. How did you do it? If it weren't for the fact that my title has already arrived , I will follow you to do it, you know?"

"By the way, Lu, haven't you always complained that you have too little food? If you work with this guy for a few years, you are guaranteed to be promoted!"

Guan A said proudly: "This shows that I have the discerning eye to recognize talents, and I can promote useful people. When it comes to governing a country, you don't need to personally do it, you need to promote useful people. Just say, Your Majesty, Your Majesty is better than you in fighting wars." Is the Marquis of Huaiyin? Can governance be compared to the Marquis of Beiping? Can strategy be compared to the Marquis of Qu Ni?"

"sure."

Liu Chang answered very simply.

"I fought with my teacher, captured him alive many times, and often taught another teacher. If he revised the calendar, should I help him see right from wrong? As for Qu Nihou, he can't see through my strategy either!"

"Your Majesty, if you say that, it's a little bit."

The corner of Liu Chang's eyes twitched, "What's wrong?"

"A little too modest."

"How can they compare to you? It is a humiliation to you to be compared with you!"

"Hahaha, well said, come, have some wine!!"

It was late at night when the crowd got together, and Guan Ah was sent back to the mansion. Guan Ying had already guessed that this guy would be dragged out to drink by those cronies after he came back, so he didn't wait for him at all, and had already rested. Ah fell asleep like this, woke up the next day, and saw Ah's father just now.

Guan Ying and Guan Ah are different from the rest of the people. Guan Ying is not very strict with his son. This is probably because Guan Ah lost his mother very early on. Guan Ying never even married again. He is almost alone. Raising his son, Guan Ying loved his son more than Zhou Bo and the others.

At this moment, Guan Ying looked at his son with pride in his eyes.

He didn't seem to have much expectations for his son, the sheriff had already exceeded his expectations, not to mention that the sheriff had done a good job, received great love from the local people, even in the court, he was also famous.

"That's right, you did a great job in Shu County, and you didn't disappoint me."

"It's all because of Father's help. If it wasn't for the cavalry you sent, I'm afraid they wouldn't be so obedient."

"This is not the most important thing, but why don't you want to go back to Chang'an?"

"I don't have that ability. Chang'an doesn't lack someone like me. In Shu County, I can do more things."

"Okay, if you want to stay in Shu County, I won't force you, but this time you come back, you have to be a

home, and then go back, so I have nothing to do

I'm worried. "

"Family??"

Guan A was taken aback for a moment, then asked, "But who will you start a family with?"

"You don't have to worry about that, I've already made arrangements for you, and I'll help you with the wedding in a few days, yes
Now, I have to take you to meet again."

"Father, whose family is the girl from?"

"What are you afraid of, can I still harm you? This is chosen by the Empress Dowager herself."

"From the Lu family?"

"Yes, in terms of seniority, she is the great-granddaughter of Empress Lu's family."

"Oh Chong. Wait, great-grandson?? Then who is she and Lu Lu?"

"In terms of seniority, she is his granddaughter, but the age difference is not too big."

"I don't do it!!!"
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