In February of the fifth year of the reign of the King of Chu, in Zhongyangli, Fengyi, Pei County, in a small courtyard with two entrances, there was a big mulberry tree like a garden cover, and under the shade of the tree, a father and son were confronting each other, and the atmosphere was quite tense.

Liu Ji, a thirty-three-year-old bachelor with a thick beard tied in his hair and a thick beard, first looked at the piju on the ground who was disemboweled by a copper cone, and then looked up at his puffed old father Liu Taigong, and smiled.

"My father, if you are angry, just hit me, why bother to take this bow to vent your anger, I bought it for thirty ant nose money in the Yi market, what a pity......"

Mrs. Liu's appearance is somewhat similar to Liu Ji, both have prominent foreheads, high nose bridges, and are also a talent when he was young, but now when he is old, his beard is gray, but he has not yet reached the age of crutches, and when the weather is fine, he can still work in the field with his son Liu Zhong.

The old Liu family used to be a doctor of the Wei State, and only moved to Fengyi forty years ago, although it has long been not the home of Zhong Ming Dingshi, but there are two hectares of fertile land, a five-acre house, raising dogs and bi, if you take care of it carefully, the family has no problem with food and clothing, and Mrs. Liu can even marry a concubine.

But now, when he reached the age when he should have teased his grandson, he couldn't stop, all because of his unsuccessful third son Liu Ji......

"No, Xiaozi!"

Mrs. Liu was so angry that he sat on the threshold, he had just gone home with his second son to plant rice, but found that Liu Ji, who had not seen anyone when he was working, was taking the boy from Tongli to have fun.

Keju is Qi Chuqingxia's favorite game, Liu Ji is skilled, Keju is full of flowers, those teenagers who are more than ten years younger than him will only use brute force to kick blindly, fly up with one kick, and actually smash all the jars in the yard!

When the teenagers saw that there was trouble, they scattered in a hurry, and Liu Yuan in the house scolded this group of cubs while coming out to clean up distressedly, but Liu Ji didn't take it seriously and laughed there.

Mrs. Liu was angry and didn't fight anywhere, so she punctured Liu Ji's skin bow, and scolded: "Liu Ji, are you the old man's own son?" I'm idle all day, and I'm not half like me! ”

Liu Ji couldn't help but smile and looked at his mother.

Liu Yuan on the side didn't like to hear this, she got up and crossed her waist, and scolded Mrs. Liu: "Liu Ang, didn't you fight cocks and bow in Zhongyang all day long when you were young?" I think it's the most like you, just a few seasons! ”

Mrs. Liu was revealed, and his voice was a little lower: "It was when I was young, and when I was in my twenties, I was also engaged in farming." Who is like this unscrupulous son, who is thirty years old, and is still messing with a middle-aged boy who is more than ten years younger than him. The year before last, he cheekily asked me for thousands of dollars, saying that he was going to Weidi to do big things, but what was the result? When I went, I was empty-handed, and when I came back, I lost my scabbard! That's the big thing you're talking about!? ”

"Forget it." Seeing that her husband was bringing up the old matter again, Liu Yuan hurriedly played a round and beckoned them to dinner.

There are four people at the dinner table, because the eldest brother Liu Bo died early, the second brother Liu Zhong has been separated, and the younger brother Liu Jiao went out to study.

"It's still meatless today."

Liu Ji looked at the simple food a little critically, thoughtfully, since Qin and Chu started the war in Huaibei a few months ago, the abundance of border towns has also become nervous, and the Chu government has asked them to hand in twice as much grain than in previous years.

Mrs. Liu was still angry, don't turn around and be too lazy to look at Liu Ji, while Liu Yuan doted on her son to fill her meal, and also persuaded bitterly:

"Ji'er, what your father said is not unreasonable, I asked someone to be a matchmaker for you, I heard that you still have nothing to do, and you don't want to marry a daughter. If it goes on like this, will it be possible not to marry? Why don't you learn from your middle brother and help the family with farming? ”

Liu Ji's face was not red and his heart was not beating: "Ji is born out of nature and does not like farming." ”

To be honest, he actually looks down on his second brother who is stingy and courageless, and only knows how to dig in the soil.

"Then do you want to learn from your brother and go on a study tour?"

The son born to Mrs. Liu's concubine Li is called Liu Jiao, who is good at reading by nature and is well-known in the city.

Although Fengpei is called "Western Chu", it is very good to be Confucian because it is close to Zou Lu. Young people learning Confucianism is also a way out, and if they are better, they will be invited by the county magistrate Yin of Chu State to be a doorman, no matter how bad it is, they can also do funerals for people and get some spare money to spend. And Liu Ji learned literacy with his father in Yizhong when he was young, and in his mother's opinion, as long as his son works hard, he will definitely be able to succeed, and it will not be worse than that little concubine!

Unexpectedly, Liu Ji was even more disgusted, he hated Confucianism the most, when he was a ranger, he saw those poor and sour Confucians in Pei County, he would definitely snatch their high Confucian crowns and pee inside!

"Otherwise, go and be a businessman? Or slaughter dogs and drink, if you need capital, I still have some money to spare......"

Fengpei, like Chendi, is through the goods of fish and salt, so there are many businessmen among the people, and there is no excessive discrimination against people who do business, which is also a way out.

Mrs. Liu on the side spat out: "Let him go to the wine and slaughter the dog, I'm afraid he has to get drunk and eat enough first?" ”

Hearing this, Liu Ji couldn't help it, and handed the finished rice bowl to his mother: "Mother, wait for this period to pass and then think of a way out for me, I just want to hide at home now, if I show up rashly, maybe I will be arrested by the government, and I will be forced to defend the city like Ah Wan next door!" ”

Lu Juan is a neighbor of Liu Ji's family, and the two were born on the same day, the same month, the same year, and the villagers congratulated the two families with sheep wine, and coaxed the two to be brothers.

When the two grew up, they were brothers and sisters, and they also worshiped a master in Yizhong to learn literacy, and they respected and loved each other as classmates. Later, they also worked as rangers together, Lu Juan often followed Liu Ji's ass as a younger brother, Liu Ji made an accident, and Chu officials came to find someone, so they often went to Lu Juan's house to hide.

But this time, Lu Juan was not clever enough, and was caught by the people who came to arrest Ding Zhuang in the spring, tied to a straw rope, and escorted to the Fengyi military camp, saying that they wanted to make them soldiers and defend the city against the enemy......

"Which enemy is it? This small Fengyi only needs five hundred Qin soldiers to easily take it! If the Qin army comes with 3,000 people, it can sweep through Pei County and enter Surabaya......"

Although Liu Ji spoke Chu dialect and wore Chu clothes, he had no loyalty to the king of Chu and Yin Xiaozhi of Peixian County, he had seen the world, and when he saw the collapse of Wei under the offensive of the Qin army, he knew at that time that he could not hide from the abundance of water with Wei Di.

So when he came back, he didn't want to do anything, study, or do business? What is it for? The world is about to change! No matter what he has done in the past two years, sooner or later he will have to overturn it and start over, and he will only wait for the day when the world will be turned upside down!

At this moment, there was an inquiry outside.

"Liu Jike?"

……

Hearing someone calling his name outside, Liu Ji was excited, put the rice bowl that had not eaten on the ground, and the whole person ran to the barn, and Mrs. Liu couldn't care about being angry, and waited for his son to hide, and then opened the door slowly, but saw that there was a small official in a red clothes outside......

Mrs. Liu is also a person with a head and a face in the middle, but when he saw that he was just the most humble young official, he refused with a straight face: "Liu Ji is not here, and I don't know where that unscrupulous son has gone, whether he is dead or alive!" Look elsewhere! ”

The little official at the door stretched his head in, looked at Liu Yuan and Li Shi, who were a little nervous, and then looked at the four pairs of bowls and daggers on the case, how could he not know what was going on? He smiled and said, "Gong Liu, don't you remember me?" I'm Ren Ao from Pei County! It's Liu Ji's friend, he once came to the house with him for dinner, got drunk, and was driven by you with a broom......"

"It was Liu Ji who told me personally, saying that he was at home, so I came here to find him if I had something."

Mrs. Liu hesitated for a moment, and when he saw that this person was indeed kind-faced, he let him enter the door and shouted into the courtyard, Liu Ji immediately jumped out of the straw pile where he was hiding, and despite the fact that his head was full of rice straw, he greeted him with laughter and hugged the little official.

"It turned out that Ren Ao was here!"

Ren Ao also met Liu Ji when he followed Wang Ling as a light man in Pei County, and was a small official in the county Yin Mansion, although he was a official, he was very righteous, and he had a great appetite for Liu Ji, and the two formed a friendship.

He invited Ren Ao to sit down for dinner, and habitually said: "Good wine and good meat......

After speaking, I remembered that this was a home, not a wine store, so I had to touch my beard awkwardly and ask my mother to pour some water.

Ren Ao is not like Liu Ji's group of light chivalrous little brothers in Fengyi, who came to eat and drink, he said to Liu Ji quite seriously: "I came to Fengyi this time, but it is official business. ”

"Oh?" Liu Ji was astute and also reacted: "Could it be that the county is going to levy grain again?" ”

"Yes! Luzuo family, each household has to pay two stone of grain! Lu Right House, ranging from 5 to 10 stones! ”

When Mrs. Liu on the side heard this, she immediately jumped up: "Five stones? After handing over this grain, my family will eat soil! ”

Of course, this is an exaggeration, their family is a small landlord, no matter how difficult it is, there are still dozens of stones of grain stored at home, but this is the third time since October last year, the third time that the grain has been levied, and the collection is more than one time, I wish to pull out every grain of excess grain in the people's homes! Liu Ji's family has to live a tight life, and those poor households in the city are afraid that they will really eat soil like a disaster year.

"It seems that the military rations on the front line are in an emergency, and they can't hold it anymore."

"That's right, I've heard that in Huaibei and Huainan, almost every household has to send one or two men to the front line, either as soldiers or to transport grain, because the Qin State has gathered hundreds of thousands of troops."

In this way, almost one-tenth of the population of Chu has been pulled to the front line, 500,000 people, plus livestock, have to eat nearly one million stone of grain every month, although the state of Chu is rich, but the warehouse is becoming more and more empty, the king of Chu is anxious, first from the feudal monarch to ask for food, it is still not enough, now can only think of a way from the people.

But the people are also difficult, almost all the men of the right age in the family have been pulled to the front line, or they are nearby soldiers to defend the city, and in February, the farmers are busy, and they can only work in the fields by the old people and women, which is already miserable, and now the king of Chu has ordered the counties to search for grain, which is really worse.

Spring planting has been delayed, and the summer harvest is still far away.

"I look at this Great Chu State, it's going to be finished!"

Liu Ji did not grit his teeth and feel heartbroken like ordinary people, but smiled.

From two years ago, he knew that there would definitely be such a day!

In turn, he advised Ren Ao to stop working for the county Yin and go home early to hide, Ren Ao had already had this thought. Abundant people, in the past hundred years, have changed their nationality three times between Song, Wei, and Chu, almost once a generation, so the concept of nationality is extremely weak.

Just when Liu Ji and Ren Ao were discussing the current situation, the door of Liu Ji's house was knocked again!

And this time, it was knocked very quickly! It's really a bit like an official coming to catch people!

Liu Ji hurriedly went to hide in the barn again, but Mrs. Liu impatiently went to open the door.

"Who is it?"

As soon as the door opened, it was a Chu pawn wearing armor, but losing his weapon, and his face was full of anxiety, knocking on the door while looking inside and out, and it seemed that there was also a mess.

Mrs. Liu was taken aback: "Ah Juan? Shouldn't you be a soldier in the city? ”

"Gong Liu! What kind of city are you still guarding? ”

Lu Xuan's face was full of anxiety, and shouted: "The Qin army has come in, the black pressure is overwhelming, and it can't be stopped at all, only a wave of arrows was shot at the head of the city, and Doctor Yi took the lead in running away, and we also fled, fortunately, I listened to what Brother Ji told me before, and ran away when I saw that the situation was not good!" Otherwise, he would have become a Qin captive, and he would never see Liu Gong and Brother Ji again! ”

……

In mid-February, Xiang Yan, who was in the camp of Huaibei, also received the news that the Qin army had entered the Kou, Fengpei had fallen, and Ludi and Pengcheng were in an emergency, and his face couldn't help but change.

"Could it be that Wang Jian deliberately lured the main force of my army to stay here? But the south defends and the north attacks, wanting to sweep the east? ”