The setting sun took away the heat of the day, and the cool breeze crossed the mountains, gently brushed through the green bamboo forest, and swept to the small hillside where Xu Ping lived, bringing the long-awaited coolness.

The courtyard was full of people, and the remaining soldiers were sorting out the loot.

Xu Ping stood in front of the door, looking at the busy people with one hand on his waist. Today was the second battle he had fought in this world, and it was easier than the first night when he attacked Kegoro and his gang of thieves. This is the proper meaning, if this can be a loss, Xu Ping should think carefully about his IQ, whether it is suitable to participate in the fight and killing. For example, the manpower of Hexian County is stronger than that of Chungju, and the other strengths are far superior, with mental calculation or unintentional, and there are more than 200 more soldiers to help, just like adults beating children, they should not suffer a little loss.

"The general verdict, one hundred and fifty yuan, ten sheep, and fifty bottles of wine are ready."

Li Kongmu, who was on duty here, came over to report. As Xu Ping's direct subordinates, Duan, Zheng, and Li Kongmu were on duty by Xu Ping's side, and the other two handled daily affairs in the Tongju Hall in Yongzhou City.

Xu Ping responded and said to Li Kongmu: "Call Chen Dutou over." ”

Li Kongmu took the order, and after a while, he brought back a big man with a whole body, and the big man came to Xu Ping and saluted with his crossed hands: "Chen Liang, the head of the subordinate inspection village, has seen the general judgment!" ”

"Excuse me. Today, thanks to the lives of the officers and soldiers in the inspection village, you have struck out the Chungju barbarians who are making trouble. I have prepared some small gifts here, you can take them back to the inspection village, and let Zhang Patrol distribute them to his brothers. In the future, I will write to the transfer envoy and give a reward. ”

Chen Liang was full of joy and hurriedly thanked him.

Xu Ping said: "It's going to get dark soon, I won't leave you here, take your things and return to the inspection village quickly, Zhang Inspector is afraid that he will be in a hurry." Be careful on the road and don't get into an accident. ”

Chen Liang received the order and turned around and left excitedly.

Xu Ping sighed, the army of the Great Song Dynasty is really, alas, it has to be fed with money all the time. After today's battle, Xu Ping pretended to be stupid and didn't give a reward, but it would inevitably make the officers and soldiers complain, and they wouldn't want to use it in the future. As soon as the battle was over, he took the initiative to inform Zhang Rong to send someone to follow him back to receive the reward, and Chen Dutou followed him with more than 20 people.

In the battle this afternoon, there were not many booty, but more than 150 barbarians were captured, and Xu Pingquan took them back to his residence, and he was not going to let them go back in the future, so they were all scattered and assigned to his own production team for labor. Compared with Chungju, he is like heaven to ordinary barbarians, and he is not afraid that they will sneak back, this kind of thing has not happened yet.

Xiuxiu was fine, and walked around the crowd with Gao Daquan and Tan Hu to see if there were any interesting and strange things. It's a pity that the barbarians came out to grab things today, and there is really nothing rare.

Xu Ping watched the night gradually soak the earth, and ordered Li Kongmu to prepare wine and meat. The soldiers who inspected the village had food, drink and money after the battle, and he did not treat his subordinates badly.

"Oh my God, my God, how is there a person in this basket?!"

Xiuxiu's voice suddenly came from the crowd, and she felt frightened.

Xu Ping walked forward quickly, took a torch from the crowd, came to Xiuxiu's side, and held the torch to shine into a large bamboo basket in front of her.

This is a large backpack commonly used by people in the mountains, the lid is lifted and thrown aside, and a young girl in the basket is looking around curiously. The girl's hair was unkempt, and the scars on her face were mixed with blood and dirt, and she couldn't see her true face, only a pair of eyes that were big and bright. Xu Ping's torch shone over, and the girl's gaze crossed the torch and met Xu Ping's eyes, with panic in her eyes and more curiosity.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Liu Xiaomei, and I am Chungju Tituo."

Liu Xiaomei looked left and right, and asked Xu Ping again: "This is not Zhongzhou, right?" I heard that there was a war in the afternoon, probably not in Chungju. ”

"This is Ruhe County."

This little girl has a surname and a name, so she is not a barbarian. Ordinary people in the mountains have no surnames, and their names are casually taken as Ah San Ah Si, Ah Niu Ah Shui, and the patron's name will not be called a mix. She also knew that emphasizing that she was a Tita, that is, an ordinary person, and not a slave of anyone's house, should know the difference very well. Theoretically speaking, the private servant government will not take care of it, and the ordinary people still have a reason for the Great Song Dynasty to intervene. Of course, this is also theoretical, but in practice, in order to prevent conflicts with the barbarian chieftains, the people and government of the state do not pay attention to it.

When Xu Ping saw that she heard that she had left Zhongzhou, her eyes brightened, and she turned to Xiuxiu and said, "You go find two sturdy women, carry the basket to the house, change the girl's clothes and come out to talk." ”

Liu Xiaomei was not only covered with injuries, but also had blurred flesh and blood on her body, obviously suffering a heavy punishment, and it was a little indecent to help her out in front of a group of big men.

Xiuxiu looked at Liu Xiaomei's face full of panic, Xu Ping said it twice before she heard it clearly, and ran out of the door.

The custom of the barbarians is that women work, although Xu Ping used the collective organization to forcibly change the laziness of the men under him, the women's diligence is still retained, and the men do some textile work, and there are women's residences around here.

Liu Xiaomei in the basket kept looking at Xu Ping, not very panicked, her eyes were a little curious, and there was a kind of eagerness, a desire for life.

"You're an official in the state?" Liu Xiaomei asked Xu Ping.

"I'm a general judge in Yongzhou."

Liu Xiaomei was a little puzzled: "What kind of official is the general judge?" ”

Xu Ping didn't know how to answer, Taizu set up a general judgment to monitor Zhizhou, but now although the relationship between Zhitong and Tongzhou is not so sharp, the meaning of Jianzhou is still there, the Song people do not shy away from it, but the barbarians may not understand.

Huang Tianbiao saw that there were people around here, and he also squeezed over, so he said to Liu Xiaomei: "The general judgment is another Zhizhou in our Yongzhou City, an official who is younger than the Zhizhou official. ”

He can say this, but the people under Xu Ping can't say it so bluntly.

Liu Xiaomei looked at Xu Ping, and her eyes brightened: "It turned out to be a big official, so will you send me back to Zhongzhou?" - I'm not going back! ”

Xu Ping didn't know the cause and effect of her matter, so he had to answer vaguely: "You are Tituo, and you are a common man under the imperial court, as long as you are not a traitor, no one will force you." ”

Xiuxiu took the three women all the way back, ran to the basket and bent over to breathe, and said, "The official ordered to carry the basket to the house and change the clothes of this little lady." - Little lady, let's take you to change your clothes, wash your body too, and I'll have medicine for you to put on it. ”

Liu Xiaomei opened her mouth to say something, but finally closed her mouth and didn't say anything, and Xiuxiu led someone to carry the basket to the house with her.

Xu Ping beckoned Huang Tianbiao to follow, and when he got to the front of the house, he asked him, "Is there anyone surnamed Liu in Zhongzhou?" ”

"Yes, it is said that during the Tang Dynasty, there was a plague epidemic in this vicinity, and a medical officer collected medicine to heal the people and saved many people. In order to commemorate his kindness, after the medical officer left, the people who followed him to practice medicine gave themselves the surname Liu. This surname is found in several nearby states, but it is not a big surname. ”

The origin of the surname of the barbarians is complex, some of them have been passed down for a long time since ancient times, such as the surname Huang, and some of them are converted from Zhuang dialect to Chinese, such as Wei Zhuang dialect originally meaning buffalo, and the original meaning of Nong surname is forest. There are many people with Han surnames, which are even more difficult to study, some are from teachers, some are from officials, and many are from doctors. And the last source is not a time and a place, some just happen to have the same surname, and it doesn't matter.

Xu Ping asked Huang Tianbiao what he meant, because he was afraid that Liu Xiaomei's ancestor was originally a Han Chinese, and for various reasons, he entered the barbarian area, and after a long time, he became a Han barbarian. Since the Qin and Han dynasties of the Central Plains Dynasty to operate the southwest, there are a lot of Han people living in various barbarian areas, the time is long, some have been assimilated by the barbarians, the Song Dynasty called these people Han barbarians, the largest scale in the southwest of Tibet, the settlement is not small.

There are Han barbarians in the southwest and Han Hu in the northwest, and the meaning of the barbarian Hu is partly the meaning of unenlightened, and it does not refer only to the nation. The policies of these Han barbarians and Han Hu and the Song Dynasty are different from those of the original barbarians, and they are also under the rule of the imperial court, one is the reformed people, and the other is the Ming people, and they have different political treatment. If Liu Xiaomei is a Han barbarian, Xu Ping will also take care of the big trouble for her, and this majesty of the Central Plains Dynasty is still there. If it is a Bunsen barbarian, then the specific matter is analyzed on a case-by-case basis, and it must be subject to the constraints of the national policy.

It was completely dark, the loot was sorted out, and there was nothing of value, Xu Ping asked Li Kongmu to command the receipt of the curry, and then slowly deal with it in the future.

More than a dozen torches were lit in the courtyard, illuminating as bright as day. Rows of tables and stools were set up under the lights, and large bowls of wine and large pieces of meat came up to celebrate today's war.

I don't know why Xu Ping felt that he was not in the mood for excitement at all, so he asked Duan Fang to call, took Gao Daquan and Tan Hu to recruit everyone, moved a chair by himself, and sat silently in front of the door.

The semi-circular moon rose, lying on the hazy mountains in the distance, shedding a cold glow, and looked curiously at the people who were shouting in the courtyard.

Xu Ping looked at the moon, and the moon looked at him mischievously, silently looking at each other.

He suddenly felt that this world was so strange, and for the first time since he came to this world, this feeling was so strong, everything around him, those familiar people, those familiar scenes, seemed to become unreachable all of a sudden. The fire was bright, but Xu Ping felt like he was sitting in the shadows, away from it all.

Xiuxiu finally walked out with Liu Xiaomei and took her hand to Xu Ping.

Liu Xiaomei stood quietly to the side, changing into Xiuxiu's new clothes, which looked a little short, but her slender figure became more and more slender, like willow branches gently swaying in the breeze. Her gaze became brighter, and although the blood marks on her face were hideous, they did not diminish the glow on her face in the slightest.

Xiuxiu's mouth couldn't stop idle, and said to Xu Ping: "Official, I know everything, I'll tell you." - Sister Liu Xiaomei, I'll tell the officials about you! ”

"She's Tita from Chungju, she is a common man, she has land at home, and she has a big buffalo, and she grows enough food for herself. This sister can also weave cloth, which is the silk cloth we wear, and she can weave many horses a year, and she can change a lot of things. Her parents are long gone, oh, she has an older brother at home,—— this brother is not a good person, he is lazy to eat, he doesn't do any work, and he likes to drink! Sold all the things in the house for wine and drank, and went to gamble for money, lost the bet, and couldn't pay it back, stole the things in her house, and finally stole all the buffaloes out and sold them! sold the buffalo, this brother went to gamble for money, and lost the bet, and there was nothing to steal and sell, so he actually sold this sister to others! This sister is beautiful, she can weave and do work, how can she be willing to sell to others like this? Tell others that she will weave the cloth to repay the money and redeem herself. My sister really redeemed herself by weaving cloth for money, and his brother - really not a human being - lost money again, and actually sold this sister to the Huang family, which is the Huang family that the officials beat in the afternoon. The Huang family's little yamen saw her beautiful and asked her to be his wife - official, let me tell you, it turns out that barbarians can marry several wives. What a bad person that Xiao Yanei was, my sister didn't want to, so she secretly ran out by herself, and was caught by Zhizhou surnamed Huang this afternoon, beat her, and locked her in a bamboo basket. Official, how bad do you say these people are? Not a good one! Officials, officials, will you send her back to Chungju? My sister said that her brother owes money to others, and she can pay it back by doing her own work, so don't you send your sister back to Chungju, okay? ”

Liu Xiaomei looked at Xu Ping, her eyes were bright, there was curiosity in it, and there was endless hope.

It is not uncommon for barbarians to marry several wives, and the king of Jiaozhi in the south has also set up many queens, and Li Foma, who has recently ascended the throne, has surpassed his predecessors, and has set up more than a dozen queens side by side, otherwise how can he be called a barbarian?

Xu Ping didn't care about this, he just looked at Liu Xiaomei, looked at the hope revealed in her curiosity, and listened to Xiuxiu tell a story that was not bizarre. Xu Ping had heard this story many times in his previous life, and with this unfamiliar story, there were always bursts of mountain songs.

This is a story that can no longer be ordinary in a world where there is no royal law and morality. No matter how this story is packaged, it always tells the impatience and beautiful hope of the people under the rule of Toast.

"Xiuxiu, you lead her to rest, I won't send her back to Chungju, she will live well here." Under the rule of the Great Song Dynasty, as long as she is unwilling, no one can sell her to others! ”

Seeing Liu Xiaomei's eyes brighten, Xu Ping finally knew why he had that strange feeling. The little girl's body was scarred, and the torture she suffered was unbearable even for a big man, but in her eyes there was only fervent hope for life, and a little curiosity about another world. There was no pain in her eyes, no hatred, no such things as they should be.

In Xu Ping's previous life, the central power went deep into these mountains, and for these slaves, there was a word called liberation. In this era, the central power came here and turned these people from private slaves to ordinary people under the rule of the imperial court, and there was a word called indoctrination.

There were no untouchables under the Great Song Dynasty, and for the first time in thousands of years. Even if this dynasty is not in a thousand ways, for the people at the bottom, this makes them grateful. Feng Zheng, as the son of a slave, can also be the prime minister, and he does not look down on his background.

Seeing Liu Xiaomei leave with Xiuxiu, the joy that exuded from his body, Xu Ping exhaled lightly, he felt for the first time that he could do something for this era and leave something behind.