Rolling smoke, bursts of kicking sounds. Dogs barking, roosters crowing, the morning bell ringing. The sky was just beginning to turn red, the grass was growing. Who was in a hurry? Flying like a rainbow.
"Jia! Jia! "
Five horses, five people. The horses galloped like meteors, the people bent their bows, leaving a trail of dust on the road. The person in front urged the horse from time to time and shouted to open the road.
"Urgent report, eight hundred li, get out of the way."
The people in Sanshui County who had just come out to set up a stall heard this voice and dodged to the sides of the road. Many people had a frightened expression. How many years had it been since they heard an urgent report from eight hundred li? What happened? Was there going to be a big war?
"Quick, go back and call my second son. Take out the leather armor at home." An old man who thought there was going to be a war stopped looking at his stall and called the old woman next to him. He was going to go back home to prepare things for his second son to serve the country.
The person on the horse may have noticed that the people's expressions were not right, so he had to change his words: "Good news, eight hundred li, get out of the way."
The people who were about to go home stopped and became more confused. How could an urgent report be used to report good news?
The person on the horse didn't care what others thought, as long as they didn't think there was going to be a war. He urged the horse to run as fast as he could. After an hour, they arrived at a post house. There were already horses waiting for them to change. The five people jumped off the horse, held a token in their hand, and changed horses.
In seventy-five minutes, it took the five people only seventy-five minutes to get from Sanshui County Yamen to Zhangjia Zhuangzi. There was still a quarter of an hour left.
"Sanshui County Yamen Runner Chen Dong wants to see Cavalry Officer Yun." The person in the lead jumped off his horse and came to the outside of the Zhang Family's courtyard. He knocked on the door twice, and before the gatekeeper could ask him anything, he shouted loudly. After shouting this sentence, he stood there with a happy and excited expression on his face, and then stood there and waited.
The four people behind him were also happy. They tidied up their clothes and stood as still as possible, waiting for the person inside to come out and congratulate them again.
The gatekeeper was confused. Hearing the voice outside, it was familiar. It was the yamen runner, but who was Cavalry Officer Yun? Why are you shouting at Zhangjia Zhuangzi?
It was good to know that they were acquaintances. The gatekeeper opened the door first and let the five yamen runners in. He then turned around and ran to the housekeeper's courtyard.
Fortunately, when he had not run too far away, that Chen Dong added, "Accept the imperial edict," so he knew what to say.
After a while, Zhangjia Zhuangzi, old and young, all came out of the house and changed into new clothes. Old Master Zhangjia walked over. Before he could say anything, Chen Dong spoke first.
"Old Master, congratulations, congratulations. The imperial edict from the imperial court was supposed to arrive in the prefecture, but Lord Zhou had someone send it to the yamen in the middle of the night. We didn't stop at all and sent it here. Commandant of the Cloud Cavalry. The Emperor conferred the title of Commandant of the Cloud Cavalry to Brother Yongcheng, Rank Seven. Also, Brother Wang Gong and Brother Wang Gutu of the Wang Family are conferred the title of Commandant of the Cloud Cavalry, Rank Seven."
As he spoke, Chen Dong was about to give the imperial edict to Old Master Zhang. Zhang Xiaobao's father, Zhang Yongcheng, could only wait aside. Although the title was conferred on him, he was the head of the family. At critical moments in the family, he didn't have the final say.
But Old Master Zhang didn't accept it. He first arranged for the five of them to rest in the living room while he ordered the servants to bathe and change clothes. Then he took the imperial edict and called his son to the side. He asked Qinian to kneel down and accept the edict. After that, he went to the ancestral hall at home to burn incense for the ancestors.
The Old Master was very excited. He burned incense and cried at the same time. Sometimes he said that he was relieved to see his ancestors, and sometimes he said that the Zhang family had a descendant. He rambled incoherently for an hour before he came out with red eyes. When he remembered that the Wang family was also waiting for him, he hurried over with five yamen runners.
The Wang Family also went through a lot of trouble. They took out a lot of money and gave it to the five yamen runners. They also took out 30 catties of dried wood ears from Zhang Xiaobao's storeroom and asked the yamen runners to take them back and share them.
This time, the two Zhuangzi villages gained a lot. Not only did they get official positions, but they also took back 100 households in Zhangjia Zhuangzi's village and gave 300 households 2,400 mu of land. The Wang Family directly gave 200 households 1,600 mu of land to Zhuangzi. They were considered small officials, but they were given a large amount of land.
At this time, the two Zhuangzi villagers also received the news that their master's family had been conferred an official position by the imperial court and had a lot of land. They ran to the grocery store and bought a lot of firecrackers. With a crackling sound, they set off the firecrackers.
The restaurant Between the Clouds and the Water announced on the spot that the drinks would be free for the next three days. The people who came to watch the scholars solve the questions were very happy.
When the people from the Ge Family in Zhuangzi heard the commotion, they all came out to take a look. Some of the people who worked in the restaurant told the Ge Family's villagers. They were happy, but also a little disappointed. Why didn't their master's family get conferred an official position?
The two Zhuangzi families suddenly had 400 more households than before. They only had 200 households in total. Now that they had 500 households, they would naturally let the current villagers move to one of them. Based on how the two master's families treated the villagers, the autumn rent would be reduced by a lot.
The first thing that came to mind was whether their family could enter the Zhang Family or the Wang Family. Even if the master's family didn't give them a reduction in rent, it was fine even if it was a little less. Their children could eat the food prepared by the master's family when they went to school. They didn't need to bring food from their own family.
The food that their own family brought couldn't compare to the food that the master's family gave them. A few days ago, when their children came home, they said that they saw the master's food and felt embarrassed to take out their own food.
*****
Luochuan County, the ranch.
From time to time, the sound of snoring could be heard from the various tents. The children didn't usually snore, but this time, it was more frequent. Everyone was exhausted. After two days of continuous travel, they finally knew what it meant to be unwell.
Of the 135 people who came, only 100 were left. Thirty-two people left. On the first day, 14 people left. On the second day, 18 people left. There were people of both ages who left.
Pomegranate and another servant girl took turns to guard Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. An oil lamp swayed gently. Pomegranate held a fan in her hand and gently fanned the two young masters.
Looking at the two people's cute appearance when they were sleeping, Pomegranate couldn't wait to kiss each of them. Last night, the young master and the young lady actually came back more than half an hour earlier than the third person. Later on, even Li Chengdu of the Li family couldn't keep up with them.
At that time, she was accompanied by the other three people. Thinking of the envious eyes around her, she couldn't help but feel happy. Wasn't the survival training in the wild a competition between these children? A twelve-year-old child couldn't even compare with the young master and young lady who were less than three years old. Comparisons were odious.
"Sister Pomegranate, it's going to be dawn soon. Is it my turn?" Just when Pomegranate was thinking about something, the servant girl who was sleeping next to her opened her eyes and looked at the light coming in through the gap of the tent. She asked Pomegranate.
"No, I'm not sleepy. I'm happy. No one can compare with our young master and young lady. If we win one more time this year, we can rest. The older ones still have to run for a few days. They may not be able to finish it. Yesterday, I saw several children cry because of tiredness."
Pomegranate refused the suggestion of changing people. She gently waved the fan with the other hand with a proud look on her face.
The servant girl thought for a while and didn't continue to sleep. She got up and prepared to serve the young master and young lady for a while.
At this time, there was a sound of shouting, hooves, and neighing outside the camp. This time, there was no need to wake up the children. The children in the tent didn't have a good rest. They felt uncomfortable sleeping in a different environment. At home, they slept on the couch, but here, they could only sleep on the carpet. They would be awakened by the slightest noise.
One by one, they got out of the tent with sleepy eyes. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan also heard the noise. They didn't know what happened, so they got up and looked out through the gap of the tent door.
After a short while, the commotion stopped. A person came out from there, followed by two horses and two people leading the horses.
"Congratulations, Young Master Zhang. The people from the Sanshui County yamen said they want to see you. Young Master's father was made a Cloud Cavalry Officer, and the Wang family also got a Wu Cavalry Officer. These two yamen runners are here to report."
"Oh, thank you, Young Master Li. Please bring them here." Zhang Xiaobao looked at Li Cheng and listened to his words. His calm mind finally fluctuated. He didn't care about these things. He only cared about his family, but his family cared about these things.
"Young Master, I am …"
"You are Song Yang, Yamen Runner Song. You came so far to report. You must be tired. How is Auntie? I don't know if that thing is true or … " Zhang Xiaobao had a good memory. Usually, as long as he met someone, he could remember it. He asked but didn't say the rest.
"It's true. Young Master, it's true. Are you going back soon? Good, good, everything is good. My family is not bad. Thank you, Zhang family. They eat good food, wear good clothes, and the child is strong. "
Song Yang suddenly felt that the tiredness of riding a fast horse was gone in the blink of an eye. The young master was so young, so he knew about his family's affairs. His family must have told him.
He also had a wife who had just given birth to a child at home. The Zhang family's farmstead had also sent a lot of things. Just that big bag of apricot plums alone was worth at least five hundred copper coins. Adding everything else together, seven or eight taels of silver might not even be enough.
The child was also taken care of by the doctor invited by the family. How could he repay this kindness? He could only help Zhangjia Zhuangzi. That was why he rushed over to report.
"Really? Young Master, let's go back. This is good. We don't have to worry about the 100 coins being taken back. Master is an official. I will be the official's maid in the future. "
Pomegranate was also listening. Hearing that her master was an official, even if she didn't know how high the position was, she still cheered and couldn't help but say what was in her heart.
"Okay, let's go back. Wang Juan, get on the horse." Zhang Xiaobao got a positive answer. He didn't care about the survival in the wild anymore. He called Wang Juan and stood beside the horse.
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