The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 206 The Value of My Brother

Agang has many brothers in his family, unlike Abia who has no brothers or sisters except his mother.

So as soon as he got home, his brothers surrounded him like hungry wolves.

They were not very concerned about the reward of two hundred taels of wealth that Agang had given them, because it was earned by the brothers through thick and thin. It would be a favor to give them some, and it would be their duty not to give them any.

What they were coveting were the six Burmese girls that Agang brought back.

There is actually no shortage of women in Ha Tien. Khmers fight with each other all year round, and there are many villages with more women than men.

But the Han people in Ha Tien were not very willing to marry them.

Because behind these women there is often a village or tribe.

If you marry one, you will have a large group of poor relatives. They will not only come to ask for money every few days, but they will come every day. No one can stand it.

Moreover, Ha Tien's rule was not very stable to begin with, and it often clashed with the Khmer people over issues such as taxation and conscription.

Therefore, most of the Han people, who could barely be considered in a ruling position, were reluctant to marry the Khmers. Firstly, it would lower their status, and secondly, it would avoid getting into trouble.

In their marriages, Mingxiang people are naturally the first choice. Han people from outside are also in high demand, but their numbers are small. Annan and Siamese women also do not account for a large proportion for various reasons.

So among Agang, an older brother and four younger brothers, only the third one was able to find a wife because of his good looks and strong body.

The rest, especially the eldest brother, is about to turn thirty and is still single.

Seeing his brother's eager eyes, A Gang laughed out loud, "Brother, who do you like? I'll make the decision. I'll let you spend your wedding night today."

"Really?" The eldest brother jumped up and said, "Second brother, you can't regret it!"

While still asking whether it was true or not, the eldest brother did not slow down at all. He looked left and right and immediately selected a Burmese girl in the middle.

She has big feet and hands. When you open her hands, you can see calluses from years of farm work. Her figure is perfect. Her waist is almost as thick as her shoulders, and her butt is as big as a millstone. She is strong and fertile.

The eldest brother grinned, and the more he looked at her, the more satisfied he became. "That's good. She can work in the fields and give birth to babies. With her, mother can have a lot of ease."

The parents nodded with satisfaction. A girl who is capable of working and has no troubles is the first choice for a farmer's family to marry.

Agang was also very satisfied. His brother was still as filial as ever. Seeing his brother reluctant to leave after choosing, Agang grabbed his arm.

"Why are you in such a hurry, big brother? Choose another one. And the cow and calf outside the door are what I bought with the king's reward. I'll give them to you as well."

"What else? Second brother, this...this is too much!"

The eldest brother was so excited that he almost fainted. He was trembling and swaying from side to side in front of Agang, and his face looked like Guan Erye in the temple.

"But I have a condition." A Gang said seriously without laughing. He pulled the third brother who was already married over.

"Third brother, I won't give this girl to you, lest my sister-in-law scold me to death behind my back."

As he spoke, the third son's wife smiled awkwardly. Her eyes were indeed murderous just now.

"Take twenty rolls of Songjiang cloth from the oxcart, one roll of brocade, and a pair of gold bracelets for your younger sister-in-law."

The third son's wife felt even more embarrassed when she heard what her uncle Agang said, but she couldn't hide the smile on her face.

For a farming family like theirs, Songjiang cloth is a luxury item, not to mention silk and gold bracelets.

"But I have a request." As he said that, Agang knelt down in front of his parents.

"Father, Mother, I brought back several hundred taels of silver worth of valuables, and I'm leaving them all for you.

But loyalty and filial piety cannot be fulfilled at the same time. From this day forward, my life is sold to the king. From now on, it will be up to my eldest brother and third brother to fulfill my filial duties to my elder brothers."

Only then did Agang's mother realize that her son had to leave after returning this time, and tears immediately came to her eyes.

"My son, this is hundreds of taels of silver. Our family has enough food and drink. Why do you still want to go hunting? Just stay at home and farm."

Before Agang could say anything, his father stamped his foot and said, "You have a lot of hair but little knowledge. What future can you have with farming? You'll be working hard all your life, facing the earth and back to the sky. You can't even afford a meal of meat or a drink of wine."

"A'er, don't listen to your mother. If she hadn't pulled me back then, I would have gone with your uncle and his family long ago, eating meat with big mouthfuls and drinking wine with big bowls, I don't know how happy I was."

It seems that the gene that makes Agang dare to fight to the death when he is full of passion is passed down from here.

Agang does have an uncle, but he has never met him. It is said that he once did a no-cost business at sea and is now mining for gold in Borneo.

But having said that, Agang still saw a flash of worry in his father's eyes.

He nodded and comforted his parents, "I figured it out on the way back. If everyone gets the king's favor and just wants to go home and farm, who will protect us?

If no one serves as a soldier, no one wields swords or fires muskets, then in the future it won't be us robbing others, but others robbing us. So since my son has followed the king and received his grace, he must follow him to the end."

If Mo Zibu was here, he would definitely give twenty likes to Agang's words, but Agang's other three brothers didn't care at all about what he said.

Now there were four girls left, just enough for each of the four brothers to get one. They were even discussing who would marry whom. However, Agang was not ready to divide the girls. He turned around and looked at his three brothers, "You can eat meat and drink wine, but I won't share this with you."

The fifth brother, who was usually the most rebellious, stiffened his neck and said, "Why? The eldest brother has two, but we don't have any. Second brother, you are biased."

Ah Gang grinned and suddenly grabbed the fifth brother by the neck, "The eldest brother and the third brother are here to take care of our father and mother until the end of their lives.

Boy, you are so young, but you don't dare to go to the battlefield to rob and win merits to get the king's reward?
Come, let me feel it and see if there is something missing in your crotch, or if you are not a man enough?"

"Who is not a man?" Lao Wu blushed and although he couldn't break free from Agang's big hand, he was quite unconvinced.

"If you're a man, you should go with my second brother. The battlefield is brutal, and you have the heart to let me fight alone?
They were brothers who fought tigers together. They made great military achievements, were granted titles of nobility and became high officials together.

Do you know Ah Shui from Lijia? He's already a baron in Mawlamyine, owning 4,000 acres of land and 30 tenants. He's a real lord.

What's our family name? Our surname is Mo, and we are the king's cousin. If we don't go to help the king conquer the world at this time, we will just think about getting a wife and farming. Do we have any future? "

"Four thousand acres of land and thirty tenants?" Even his father was shocked. For a family like theirs, that was the wealth they only dreamed of.

"This is still a small amount. Chen Guangtai of the Chen family has become an earl. The king directly gave him a city with seven or eight hundred households."

These words immediately shocked the brothers and made them eager to take action. The difference between being an earl and farming all his life was too great.

Ah Gang struck while the iron was hot and said to his father, "When I came back, the king said that he would soon expand the army, and whoever could recruit the most men would be able to become an official.

Dad, do you know who in our villages is the best fighter and who is the least afraid of death?

Let's take these women and cloth to his home. If he's willing to leave, the cloth and women will be left to his parents and brothers."

The eldest brother held one in each hand, feeling very happy and letting out a soft hiss.

"This one is not young! We can't marry a girl like this without five taels of silver. She's from Songjiang, and whether it's cotton or linen, it's not cheap."

"Money is nothing. As long as there are people who dare to kill, money is the least valuable on the battlefield. If you can capture a big city and defeat the enemy, you can get as much as you want."

After listening to this, my father pondered for a moment and said, "Let's go find Ah Biao now. He's in charge of the village guards during the off-season, and no one knows more about it than he does."

. . . .

Lei Ahu stood outside the crowd with two short knives on his waist, listening to the bursts of crying from Huang Wu's family, which rose and fell with the sound of gongs and drums.

He was quite familiar with Huang Wu. After all, there were only a few villages in Baima Town with many Han people, or there were only so many Han people in the entire Hexian. Naturally, he knew almost everyone of them.

He even had some conflicts with Huang Wu's family. Huang Wu had a sister, and Lei Ahu had been jealous of her for a long time. However, Huang Wu's father disliked the fact that Lei Ahu's family was not only poor, but also had several bachelors, so he was unwilling to marry her.

This was a big blow to Lei Ahu, and the two families rarely interacted after that. So when Huang Wu followed Agang to join the army last time, Lei Ahu did not go.

"What a pity, he is a man at least." Lei Ahu looked outside the door, shaking his head.

He didn't expect that when Huang Wu came back, everything had been burned to ashes.

Just when he felt it was not worth it, he heard the crying and the sound of gongs and drums stopped. A person was saying something in a rhythmic manner, but no one could understand it because the words were too literary.

But in the end he said: "I am deeply saddened. I will posthumously confer the title of Shaowei Army on him, bury him with honors, and give him 20 taels of silver to cover funeral expenses.

Huang Wu's parents, who are also the parents of this orphan, are given a special pension of five taels per year, which is distributed monthly by the town head and village elders.

Huang Wu's sister-in-law knelt on the ground and howled for a long time. When she heard that there were not only twenty taels of funeral expenses, but also five taels of pension for her parents every year, she suddenly reached out her hand and pinched her son who was burning paper money for Huang Wu one by one.

The little fat boy had cried all his tears dry, but when his mother pinched him, tears immediately flowed like a fountain and he burst into tears again.

At this time, Ah Gang, wearing a red battle jacket and a vermilion helmet with the word "Yong" on it, came over with red eyes.

"Brother Huang Wu went with me. He was braver than anyone else on the battlefield.

His death in battle is a loss to all of us Tang people. I will always remember him, and so will the king."

Then a cannon sounded, and Lei Ahu saw the most shocking scene in his life. The mayor of Baima Town, a seventh-rank official in their eyes, was personally at the front, holding a guiding banner.

Several soldiers, like Agang, wearing red battle jackets and vermilion helmets with the word "Yong" on them, carried Huang Wu's coffin, and several of them fired their muskets into the sky.

The firelight flickered in this gloomy morning, and the red-coated soldiers who came towards Lei Ahu were all in tears, as if they had lost a great man.

Lei Ahu also heard the head of the village nagging to Huang Wu's sister-in-law, saying that as long as Huang Wu's sister-in-law was willing to adopt one of her sons to Huang Wu, the king of Hexian City would be willing to give an extra one or two taels of silver every year until the child was sixteen years old.

Lei Ahu was a little dazed, he didn't know why, and then he followed a group of people and sent Huang Wu to the mountain for burial.

Looking at Huang Wu's comrades crying in front of his grave more sadly than Huang Wu's father, Lei Ahu also shed two strings of tears.

Then, when he returned home, he found that there was a new woman in the house.

His elder brother, also an old bachelor, was looking expectantly at his younger brother, nicknamed Shorty Tiger, who was a tough guy who could beat three or five people in a fight.

(End of this chapter)