As night fell, all the houses in Fort Weizhen lit up white curling smoke. The smell of dinner began to waft through the air. Faintly, you can still smell the cry of the doll. It is estimated that the doll of which family refused to eat and was beaten by her parents. There were also cries of different sizes, with different names. This is the parents of each family, standing in front of the house and calling for their children to come back for dinner. Weizhen Fort is not a big place, and if you roar casually, the whole Weizhen Fort can hear it.

The heavy fortress door also began to close slowly, and the three huge iron latches all fell into the grooves. The military household in charge of duty also began to nap on the castle tower. They have to take a nap in the first half of the night, and only in the second half of the night do they have the energy to observe the movements around them. For the sake of the safety of Weizhen Fort, the military households on duty did not dare to slack off in the slightest. Otherwise, it is not only himself who will be buried, but also his whole family, and the entire Weizhen Fort.

Although night has fallen, the inside of Fort Weizhen is still quite lively. Especially during this period of time, many soldiers of Niujiaodun earned silver taels for white flowers by killing Tartars, and later got the money and grain that had been owed for a long time, and the living standard of the entire Weizhen Fort also rose. The children can basically fill their stomachs, and the adults don't need to get up in the middle of the night to drink raw water to satisfy their hunger.

The standard of living in Fort Wytown has improved, as evidenced by the frequency of rat infestations. In the past, the food of every household in Weizhen Fort was hidden to death, and there was nothing in the garbage that could satisfy hunger. In such an environment, it is almost impossible for rats to survive. But now, once in a while, rats can be seen scurrying around. Of course, if there are rats, there will naturally be cats. As a result, cat and mouse have become a common scenery in Weizhen Fort recently.

There are still a lot of children playing around the barn. They don't have any toys, only the simplest jumping rope, throwing stones, or stacking arhats, or eagles catching chickens. Most of the girls are playing with skipping rope, and most of the boys are playing with eagles and catching chickens. As time went on, children were called back to their homes for dinner, and the number of children around the threshing floor became smaller and smaller. However, Niuniu, Da Nan, and Xiao Nan are still there.

The Xu family's dinner has always been very late, which is a habit that has been developed before. The main purpose is to eat late, so as to avoid being hungry at night, and to get up and drink raw water. Now that the conditions are good, they haven't changed for a while. In addition, the Xu family has the advantage of having dinner late, that is, if Xu Xingxia suddenly comes back, he can also eat with them. Although Xu Xingxia rarely returns, the hope of the family has not been broken.

"Da Da Da!"

Suddenly, there was a dense sound of horses' hooves outside.

The military household in charge of guarding the fort gate tonight is Chen Shouwang's father, Chen Denglong. Hearing the sound of horses' hooves outside, he hurriedly poked his head out from behind the castle tower and watched the movement outside. The moonlight tonight is good, and you can see hundreds of feet away. He soon saw a group of Ming cavalry with bright armor appearing in his sight, many of them wearing white cloaks, which looked quite eye-catching in the moonlight. He took a closer look, and it was Xu Xingxia who took the lead. Chen Denglong's originally nervous heart suddenly put down.

Xu Xingxia came back from Niujiaodun. The affairs over there have been basically dealt with. For the rest of the year, he should be in charge of Fort Will. He led the white-clothed army to the front of Fort Weizhen and stopped his horses. Gao Meng shouted upwards: "We are the defenders of Niujiaodun, please open the gate of the fort." ”

Chen Denglong hurriedly called several nearby military households, and everyone opened the fort gate together and let Xu Xingxia and others in. When they had all entered, they closed the gate again, fastened the iron latch, and checked it again and again to make sure that there was no problem, and then left the gate.

Xu Xingxia was very satisfied with Chen Denglong's carefulness, and said calmly: "Uncle Chen, when everyone is on duty, is everyone as meticulous as you?" ”

Chen Denglong said with a smile: "This is related to my net worth and surname, how can I be careless?" ”

Xu Xingxia nodded and said with satisfaction: "Yes, we have to take care of ourselves, we can't expect others, everyone has worked hard." ”

Chen Denglong said with a smile: "It's rare for a hundred households to come back to Weizhen Fort once, your hard work is real." I heard you killed a gang of horse thieves today. Those hateful horse thieves should also be taught a lesson, and they will know all day long that they are harming us ordinary people. ”

Xu Xingxia smiled and asked casually, "Wang Baihu's body, was it sent back to Weizhen Fort?" Did anyone else come and say anything? ”

Chen Denglong shook his head, slowly restrained his smile and said, "No, I will send it directly to Pingyu City." Wang Baihu's family members also moved to Pingyu City with them. ”

For Wang Shoulu, there are few military households in Weizhenbao who like it. This guy is usually always a fox and a tiger, and he shows off the identity of Zhang Qiuqing, a deputy thousand households, all day long, as if he is already a deputy thousand households. Now that Wang Shoulu has died at the hands of the horse thief, the soldiers are only happy, not sad. After Wang Shoulu died, it happened that Xu Xingxia was in charge of Weizhen Fort, which was exactly what most of the military households wanted to see.

Xu Xingxia nodded casually. Wang Shoulu's family moved to Pingyu City, obviously wanting to avoid their own edge, or they wanted to borrow the hand of their boss to avenge Wang Shoulu. They must have smelled something from this incident. It is estimated that this matter cannot be simply concluded. In the future, you have to continue to be careful.

Counting with his fingers, there are really a lot of enemies he Xu Xingxia has offended. Qianhu and Deputy Qianhu are not to mention for the time being, and even the sons of the governor and the chief military officer are also offended. Deng Rubai, the commander of the guard who was sandwiched in the middle, even if he favored himself a little, the estimated extent was very limited. He's not a responsible person. Mrs. Lin's side, the line hasn't been set up yet. If you want to protect yourself, you have to rely on your own ability.

Xu Xingxia is not worried that his boss will send troops to deal with him, which is unlikely. The current town of Ningxia can be said to be a piece of dry firewood and withered grass, as long as there is a little spark, it can burn a fire to the sky. Because of the long-term arrears of food and wages, the tolerance of military households has almost reached the limit. As long as someone rises up and takes the lead, the trend of disobedience will definitely become more and more intense. I guess the top is also aware of this, and will not make a big move.

Frankly speaking, if the upper authorities really sent an army to encircle and suppress themselves and force themselves to be cornered, Xu Xingxia would not mind taking the lead in the reverse. The elite army of the Ming Dynasty, as well as the treasury reserves, were all emptied by the time of the three major expeditions of Wanli. The current imperial court has no cattle like Zhang Juzheng, and it is impossible to revive the dynasty. The strength of the imperial court can only decline further. It is still possible to succeed in rebellion. Besides, it is better to snatch it yourself than to let the splendid rivers and mountains fall into the hands of Houjin Tartar in the end.

Of course, this is the last resort. If there was a better way, Xu Xingxia didn't want to really rebel. It's not that I don't dare, it's that I don't If you rebel yourself, the northwest region will definitely be in ruins, not to mention anything else, the dead must be counted in at least one million. It is the most basic common sense that the army is everywhere and there is no grass.

Xu Xingxia is not a bodhisattva, nor is he a soft-hearted person, but he doesn't want to make life miserable because of his own thoughts. No matter how loud and justified the banner of rebellion is, the final result will definitely be that the thousands of miles of rivers and mountains across the country will be filled with white bones and a sea of blood. In the end, it is the ordinary people who suffer.

After pondering for a while, Xu Xingxia calmed down and said to the people around him: "Okay, when you're home, let's go back." I guess your parents are waiting for you to eat. Everyone has worked hard these days, so let's have a good rest tonight. If you don't have anything to eat at home, come to my house, let's get some noodles to eat, the big fat meat is enough. ”

The soldiers of the white-clothed army all laughed and left. These days, they are practicing day and night, and they are indeed tired. It was great to have a rare night's rest and to be able to be with my family. Chi Hu, Mao Shisan and others, because they have no family, will stay on duty in Niujiaodun tonight, and those who have families have all returned to Weizhenbao. Yu Lijun's home is in Pingyu City, and he also went back to Pingyu City overnight.

Xu Xingxia only walked a few steps when he saw Niuniu, Da Nan, and Xiao Nan playing in the barnyard. Playing with them, there are also a few little girls of about the same age. Niuniu is probably too fascinated by playing, and she doesn't have a warm welcome for her brother to come back. Or maybe he didn't expect his brother to come back at this time. Xu Xingxia shouted: "Hi! Niuniu, Da Nan, Xiao Nan, go home for dinner! ”

Niuniu really didn't notice that her brother was back. Hearing the scream, she hurriedly turned around, and when she saw that it was her brother, she hurriedly ran over, and suddenly threw herself into Xu Xingxia's arms, and said beautifully: "Brother, why are you free to come back?" Or come back so late? We thought it was a big official! ”

Xu Xingxia deliberately said with a straight face: "Little girl, she is lying again, obviously she is playful, and she said that she didn't see it." Hmph, I won't buy you halva candy. ”

Niuniu took out a piece of crisp candy from her arms, shook it proudly in front of Xu Xingxia, and said smugly: "You don't need to buy it, I have it myself." ”

After that, remove the oiled paper on the outside of the halva candy, put it in a small mouth, and chew it deliciously. In order to express her dissatisfaction with Xu Xingxia, she also deliberately dangled the halva candy in front of Xu Xingxia. The little girl is very resistant to her brother's little girl's film, and what she hopes for most is that she can grow up quickly.

(To be continued)