Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 95: Cleaning up the Golden Bowl

The sun is blazing like fire, and the crops in the fields are half burnt. The farmer's heart is boiling, and the prince is fanning himself.

Although July is scorching hot, the weather in Lianglu, Shandong is far from cool as the autumn harvest approaches. Especially after several consecutive days of sunny days, the temperature has soared to the point where agricultural activities can only be carried out in the morning and evening.

But even so, farmers working in the fields still hope that the sunny days can last longer. After all, when millet and beans are ripe, a continuous heavy rain may reduce crop yields by 30% to 40%.

This is another kind of "poor man with thin clothes on his body, worried about the cheap coal and wishing for cold weather".

It was just around ten o'clock in the morning when the sun was getting higher. The farmers who were tending the crops in the fields were working with hoes on their shoulders when they suddenly noticed several knights in short and tight clothes slowly approaching on the official road along the Shu River.

The farmers who were originally walking slowly quickly quickened their pace and dispersed.

"Why is this happening again?" A female knight dressed as a man in the middle of the cavalry frowned, clearly a little anxious. "Why are they running away again?"

A local man nearby, who was obviously the guide, smirked and said, "Don't be offended, Third Lady. We country folk are timid and used to the brutality of the Jin... Jin thieves, so when we see warriors, we quickly give way. Please forgive me, Third Lady."

The female knight had just been complaining casually, but she hadn't expected this man to be so humble, and she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

"Don't be sarcastic, sir. Don't talk about these peasants who suffer in the north. Even with our backgrounds, wouldn't we have avoided dozens of soldiers in the Song Dynasty?" A young man in an iron crotch jacket scolded the female knight in a low voice, then turned to the leader and said gently, "My little sister has a quick temper. She's usually arrogant at home, but she doesn't have any bad intentions."

"No problem, no problem." The guide also breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Wei Sheng, the commander-in-chief, was really good at raising children. His adopted son, the eldest son Liu Huai, was extremely brave, while the second son Wei Jiao was so gentle and elegant. Even his daughter, Wei Rujun, although she talked more, had some talents in paperwork.

After Wei Jiao comforted the guide, he took off the veil hanging on the side of the horse's neck and handed it to Wei Rujun: "Ajun, the sun is high, put on the veil."

This kind of hat is usually made of soap yarn (black yarn), with a wide brim around it and a drooping silk net or thin silk under the brim. It is long enough to reach the neck to cover the face. It can protect against the sun and dust. It can be said to be a must-have for women on long-distance travel these days.

Wei Rujun curled his lips and gestured on his body: "Second brother, I am dressed like a man and wearing a veil is out of place. I won't wear it."

"Then you'll become a charcoal head."

"I am a charcoal-headed person, so what? Brother Aye, do you think I am not worthy of your kindness?"

Wei Jiao held up his veil and sighed pretentiously, "Who doesn't like fair-skinned women? Take the young lady from Wang Shilong's family, for example. She's only 28 this year and is about to get married. I've seen her from afar, and she's truly a lady from a wealthy family, dazzlingly fair."

Wei Rujun curled his lips: "What's the matter, do you want to kiss me, second brother?"

Wei Jiao quickly shook his head: "How is that possible? The Wang family is a powerful family in Haizhou, and Wang Shilong is under the command of the eldest brother. If they want to marry, they must marry with the real head of the family."

Wei Rujun: "Ah? Could it be that they want Grandpa to remarry? My father is already over 40, marrying a 16-year-old woman is too absurd."

Wei Jiao rolled his eyes and patted his little sister on the head. "You're usually pretty smart, why are you so stupid now?"

Wei Rujun's eyes rolled, and then he exploded with anger: "This Wang guy is really blind. Grandpa didn't even change my eldest brother's surname when he adopted him. What's the meaning? Can't they see it?"

"It's free to try." Wei Jiao held up his veil. "Besides, we've only just taken Haizhou now. If we can continue our unstoppable advance, more and more powerful people will want to marry into our family."

"Give it to me." Wei Rujun snatched the veil and put it on carefully, but she didn't say anything more about marriage: "Can you really be unstoppable in the future?" She regretted it after she said it. As Wei Sheng's biological daughter, saying such words would shake the morale of the army.

Sure enough, after hearing these words, several knights who were originally listening to the quarrel between the Wei brothers and sisters all turned their ears.

Wei Jiao also understood the situation and said immediately, "That's why we must do our best to complete the task and allow Grandpa and his men to achieve unstoppable success."

After making bold statements, one still has to work down to earth. As they were talking, the group had already walked into a village.

The village wasn't very big, with only about fifty or sixty households. It was called Weigou Village. Originally, the village was quite quiet, but after these dozen riders entered, everything quickly became chaotic.

The guide didn't care and went straight to a decent-looking blue brick and tile house in the village. He dismounted and knocked on the door, shouting, "An Baozheng, is An Baozheng here?"

After a while, a man came out. He was indeed a strong man in his thirties with a full beard. He first looked at Wei Jiao and others on the steps, obviously a little wary, but then he saw the guide and relaxed a little.

He hurried forward, grabbed the guide's arm, and called out his name: "Fu Deshou, what are you doing? Are you blaming me for kicking you out of the village, so you want revenge? Don't you think that with the dirty things you've done, if you don't leave, even your parents will be implicated!"

The guide, whose full name was Fu Deshou, chuckled and said, "An Baozheng, I'm not a coward. I naturally know what will happen if I hit Mr. Sun's brother-in-law. My family is safe and sound thanks to An Baozheng. This is truly a good thing. If they were really bandits, how would I dare to bring them into the village? My grandparents are still in the village!"

As the village head, An Kui was naturally not as rough as he appeared. Hearing this, he calmed down a little: "Who are these heroes? What brings them to this small Weigou Village?"

Before Fu Deshou could answer, Wei Jiao spoke out in a resounding voice: "Come and divide the land."

The security guard suddenly realized something and hurriedly asked, "Whose land are you here to divide?"

It's no wonder he was nervous. The crops were about to mature, and it was related to the food supply for the next year. If these bigwigs came to seize the villagers' fields, there would be a big mess immediately.

Don't say it's impossible. In recent years, the Jin Kingdom has done this kind of thing many times, seizing land and distributing it to the Meng'an Mouke households.

Do you really think that Geng Jing was able to gather so many people to revolt just by his mouth?
"Of course, whoever has the most land will get it, and whoever has the least will get it." Wei Jiao continued in a clear voice, "My loyal and righteous army has come here to fulfill the sixteen words 'expel the Tartars, restore China, establish laws and regulations, and save the people.' Now that we have driven out the Tartars, we must naturally save the people."

Poor An Kui, although he had some knowledge, he was only a village headman after all, and had never seen such a scene.

He wanted to ask which army the Loyal Army was, and he seemed to hear the word "Northern Expedition" in a trance. However, he was immediately shocked by the sixteen-character Northern Expedition Program. His lips moved for a long time, and he only uttered a word of great concern.

"Seventy percent of the village's land belongs to Mr. Sun. He doesn't..."

An Kui was stuck before he could finish his words. He only saw someone behind Wei Jiao picking up something from a bamboo basket tied to the side of the horse's butt.

It was the head of Sun Mengchong, a local tyrant in Haizhou.

Wei Rujun, already irritated by the sun, pointed his whip at the lime-wrapped head that still stank and shouted, "Mr. Sun, if you have any objections, Security Officer, quickly notify the entire village to come here and divide the land according to the number of people. We have to finish it today!"

An Kui became more and more stunned.

(End of this chapter)