lying down

The weather in December is bitterly cold.That Lord Sun didn't even bother to show his face, he just covered his face with the dark clouds all over the sky, not knowing what he was going to do.

The hunters in Panshan Village tightened the collars of their coats that were worn black and shiny, and tucked in their winter coats that had holes in them, trying to keep out the cold and embarrassment.Those with wives drank hot soup, those without wives gulped their saliva, rolled up their sleeves and stomped their feet, stepping on the thick but footless snow in twos and threes to gather towards the wheat threshing ground in the village.

As usual, every fifth day of the first month of this month is the day when the Zhang family in Panshan Village purchases furs. For the rare skin or quantity requested by the family, a few pennies can't be lost, and the savings can be used for a season's expenses.

Even though this is the first year of Zhenguan, for Panshan Village, a small village belonging to Yunzhou, Daoyun Prefecture, Hedong, the succession of the new emperor has not changed their lives.A black iron pot, six or seven broken bowls, two wooden boxes, and some broken stools and tables are the belongings of most of the villagers in this mountain village.

Of course, there must be exceptions in everything, Zhang Dashan in the village can't compare.There are red clay walls in people's homes, two courtyards, green tiles on the roof, and owls kissing the roof ridge.According to the butler of Zhang Shan's family, that's how big families in the city behave like this.Whether it is or not is unknown.But in the eyes of most Panshan villagers, it is definitely a symbol of the ancestors smoking green smoke and lingering blessings.

Panshan Village is a poor place, with few fields and poor land, so one year's hard work may not necessarily produce much, and the Turkic dogs from the north will come and sweep it from time to time.Last year, I also heard that the two Turkic Khans led an army of [-] to occupy Jingzhou, and then advanced to martial arts, even the capital Chang'an was under martial law.How can this Panshan village, a small border state village, avoid the Turkic invasion of the border.

What?Isn't there a Great Wall on Yunzhou?Yes, but there is always a way around, isn't it?The Yunzhou of the Tang Dynasty borders the East Turks, and there are many mountains and wild ridges in both places. There are not a hundred shortcuts, but there are eighty.This year is the new emperor succeeding to the throne, there is no major turmoil on the surface, but the ups and downs in the dark are indispensable.Just like the Yunzhou government soldiers, they drilled tightly, but dared not move.The top is nervous, even if the Turks invade the border on a small scale, without the governor and general Kanqi issuing amulets, no soldier will even think about moving.

Although suffering is hard, people will never lose hope in life. Even if they add a brocade jacket next year, marry a daughter-in-law the next year, and have grandchildren in the future, that would be good.

No, early in the morning, all the hunters in Panshan Village rushed to see the reward for this year's fur purchases by the Zhang family, to see if there was any good money to be made this year.

The hunters hadn't reached the threshing ground, but the excitement of going out was gone.Just look at the threshing field has already squatted more than a dozen people, dressed similarly, among them there are a few young dolls whose chins have just sprouted, wearing the ragged jackets of some adults in the family, pretending to be adults to make up the number.There are less than a hundred households in this Panshan village, how many people are needed to grab this piece of fat bought by the Zhang family?Fortunately, there is no need to line up here. Zhang Tuzi, the old housekeeper of the Zhang family, naturally won’t let these dolls go hunting in the mountains.

Everyone tightened their torn jackets tightly, not because they were afraid that the hole would be shabby;Just straighten your back and straighten your waist, and wear a tight jacket to show off your figure, so that the housekeeper of the Zhang family will take a fancy to it after a while, and it is reasonable to buy a better fur and earn a few more money.

"Qilang, why are you in such a hurry, at this hour, I'm afraid that the housekeeper of the Zhang family has not got up yet, so he hastened to catch the northwest wind?" The person who spoke was a woman, about 25 or [-] years old, She has a rosy melon-seeded face, half-moon eyebrows, and a cloud of hair behind her back.The floral jacket on the upper body and the thick linen trousers on the lower body are faintly white. It seems that they have been worn for a long time and washed a lot, and they are old.There is a hunting bow slung across his shoulders, a pot of arrows by his waist, and a small hunting knife hanging beside him, exuding a sassy spirit.

The person walking next to her was a man in his thirties, about five or six feet tall, with thick eyebrows and a square face, and a moderate build, but the hand holding the black hunting fork was covered with blue veins and scars intertwined, which made him look amazing. People startled.Hearing the strange woman next to him, he turned his head and grinned: "Yun Niang, I'm not in a hurry, I'm just worried that if it's too late, this year's procurement will be blind. You know, her body... ", after speaking, his face was sad.

When the woman named "Yun Niang" heard this, Liu Mei frowned and said: "Qilang, I know, you should relax, we husband and wife have taken the head of the procurement today, and earn some money. The money is for my mother to treat her illness. My mother will be fine."

Qilang just sighed and nodded, but the fork in his hand trembled slightly, obviously exerting force, and his hand turned white.

Nearly twenty men gathered in the threshing field, all farting and chatting there, squatting, standing, covering their ears and stomping their feet, gathered together in groups of three or four, guessing what to buy this year Come down and say something interesting by the way.Before the old butler of this family came, everyone was in a peaceful state of mind, and their faces were more or less red, whether they were frozen or excited.Grinning his mouth and showing his yellow teeth, he talked to each other, and the spittle stars flew back and forth, but the early morning effort was not wasted.

Not far from the threshing field stood a dilapidated earthen temple. Although the earthen temple was small in the early years, the incense never stopped.In the next few years, everyone in the village found that burning a few more sticks of incense and adding a few more sips of oil did not exchange for a few more buckets of grain in the field, and did not stop the Turkic dog from hunting the grass. The girls and the grandmothers all reached a consensus: this small temple dedicated to unknown gods is just an idle decoration, and it is not useful.

A gust of wind blew up, and the half-leaved temple door creaked and swayed, and the blown leaves and dead grass on the ground in the temple swirled and floated into the temple.Blowing people who sleep on their side all over their faces.The man was squatting, and he could only see the back, but he was dressed strangely. Inside his upper body was a sleeveless thin fir made of unknown material, and on the outside was a big sack with three holes dug out from the bottom of the sack. , with a head and two arms protruding from the middle, and a finger-thick hemp rope tied around his waist.Inside the lower body is also a pair of mustache trousers made of unknown material, light blue and light blue dyed very evenly, there are small pieces of sacks tied around the bare arms and knees, and a pair of indescribable shoes are worn on the feet.Just like a beggar.

When the broken leaves and dry grass in the temple were blown over, his body trembled, and he curled up inside again, but one hand patted the dirt on his head and face one after another.

"Damn, it's so noisy so early in the morning that it won't let anyone sleep!" The man didn't seem to care about the grass blades flying around, but only disliked the noise of the threshing field not far away.Trembling again, the man jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, slightly opened his eyes, glanced at the temple, walked to a corner in two or three steps, unbuttoned his pants and began to urinate.

"Woo~" He sighed contentedly, and it ended with the steaming urine, and his brows that had been wrinkled all night were relieved.

Turning around the corset, first turning the stiff neck, the sound of "quack" came from the muscles and bones of the neck, and then stretched his arms vigorously, just as he was satisfied, another violent cold wind blew, and the broken body The snow fell on the roof one after another, and its head got into his neck. He was shivering from the cold, so he quickly wrapped himself in a sack and sat on the ground.

At this moment, I can see his whole appearance clearly. He has close-fitting short hair, star eyebrows and sharp eyes, a straight nose and thick lips, and bronze-colored healthy skin. How weird.

He sat on the ground, picked up a few pieces of dead grass and put them under his buttocks, picked up the wooden sticks beside him and picked the extinguished fire, only occasionally a few sparks buried deep in it burst out, but more ashes were buried by the cold The wind blows.

"Bah, bah~" He spat out the ashes in his mouth, moved his butt to the leeward side, touched his deflated stomach, shook his head and smiled wryly.Just thinking about how to solve the problem of hunger and fullness in his stomach today, he heard the sound of "creaking, creaking" on the snow outside the temple gate, two footsteps, one light and one heavy, when he heard this, he already knew who it was coming......

Note 1: Owl Kiss is a kind of decoration on both ends of the roof ridge of a house. Owl Kiss in wooden buildings in Tang Dynasty is generally shaped like an owl beak or an owl tail.

Note 2: Tang Yichi is about 30 centimeters now.