"It's so fucking cold."
The cold winter snow lingered on the lake for several months, and the weather warmed up slightly, but the spring was as cold as in previous winters.
When the cold subsided, the summer was only warm for a few days, and then fell back to the biting autumn, and the fields were not harvested for a whole year.
Mr. Xu sat in front of the door, rubbing his hands shivering in the cold wind, estimating whether the surplus food at home was enough for food and clothing next year.
In the era of the rise of the Li family decades ago, they were not in charge of a town, and naturally they declined year by year.
After getting up and walking around the yard, Mr. Xu finished counting the grain he had left last year, and the courtyard door was knocked on loudly.
"Who is it?"
"Uncle, it's me, Gongming!"
The courtyard door was opened with a crunch, and a young man walked in, Mr. Xu twisted his beard and said in his throat:
"Gongming, come in and sit inside."
Xu Gongming entered the yard and opened his mouth and said:
"Uncle, have you heard? The main family wants to fight Shanyue, and they are recruiting soldiers in the town, and the gongs and drums have been beating for many days.
As soon as Xu San died, the Xu family immediately separated and went to the town to develop, Mr. Xu read for a few more days as the eldest son, so naturally the clan made up his mind, he looked at the young man in front of him, and did not speak for a while.
Xu Gongming, as the only spiritual aperture in the clan, now also has a second-level cultivation of fetal breath, seeing this, he was a little anxious, and said in a low voice:
"Uncle! None of the Zhu clans are as down-and-out as my family now! The Liu family has been the landlord of Jingyang since ancient times, and they are the wives and concubines of the ancestor...... Now my family wants to have a place to go, the only one is in the military!"
Mr. Xu picked up the large basin, squinted his eyes and counted the rice grains in the area, and said slowly:
"The army is the instrument of the townspeople, which of the thousand-man commanders is not surnamed Li? Don't think too easily......"
Xu Gongming sat down on a broken wooden chair, and when he heard this, he was a little depressed, and the good plan he had in his heart was disrupted by Mr. Xu's words, and he hurriedly said:
"Then the uncle gave me an idea...... This Xu is about to be handed over to me, but I can't do anything!"
Mr. Xu nodded, his gray beard trembled, and when he saw a few rat droppings coming out of the bottom of the basket, his face suddenly collapsed, and he replied:
"If you want to join the army, it is indeed a good way, uncle has no military formation, and he doesn't know anything about cultivation, but he can only teach you two words."
"First, it is loyalty."
Mr. Xu put the basket down, and finally looked serious, the wrinkles on his face were much soothed, and he said in a low voice:
"My Xu family once killed the enemy of the main family, and I have names in the ancestor and the head of the family. You must be willing to be injured, die at critical moments, offend others selflessly, and imprint this mark of loyalty in the mind of the Lord!"
Mr. Xu's words hit Xu Gongming's heartstrings like a sledgehammer, and he finally knew why his parents bluntly told him to come to find his uncle, wrote down these words, and then spoke again:
"What is the second word?"
"Second, it is stable."
Mr. Xu sat beside him, stretched out his chicken feet like a thin finger and gestured, and said in a low voice:
"Today's young master Xiu is very clear about the movements of his family, you don't seek merit in the army, you only want no faults, don't say too much when you see the main family, be silent and steady, don't make friends with people in the army, don't promote the children of the clan, and deal with it impartially, act like this for twenty years, a thousand-man captain, if you are lucky, you can break through the qi training, you can be the confidant of the main family, my Xu family also has a place in the towns!"
"Twenty years..."
Xu Gongming nodded silently, quickly opened his mouth to thank him, and talked for a long time, without saying any opinions, but just asked the questions that Li Yuanxiu might ask when he summoned him, the old man picked up the basket and answered listlessly one by one, then shook the rice basket in his hand and said impatiently:
"Roll on, don't talk too much here, hurry up and prepare your things."
Xu Gongming was choked by him for a while, knowing that the elder had a strange temperament, he thanked him repeatedly, and bowed his head thoughtfully and went out.
Mr. Xu sat in the yard for a while, looked at the rice basket in his hand, picked out a few of the rat droppings, shook the rice in the basket, and then muttered:
"But I can barely use it."
————
"Xu Gongming..."
Li Yuanxiu opened the letter sent and read it, recalled the situation of the Xu family, and said in a low voice:
"This Xu family is the first monk to join the army."
The conscription order issued by the family conveyed the news of attacking Shanyue, and they did not go out of their way to recruit them, they all pretended not to listen to what was happening outside the window, and they sang and danced on weekdays, feasted and drank, and went on outings everywhere.
"Yes."
Li Pingyi below responded, and then saw Li Yuanxiu thinking for a few breaths, flipping through the small letter in his hand several times, and whispering:
"The Xu family has also made contributions to my family, and the family has also given me opportunities in the past few decades, and my father has also mentioned it to me, but the Xu family's children and grandchildren are not up to the task, they have not been able to grasp it, and they have been living unsatisfactory."
"Xu Gongming has already gone outside."
Li Pingyi reminded, Li Yuanxiu nodded and said:
"Tell him to come up."
Not long after, a young man who looked like he was twenty-five or sixteen years old, with a sword around his waist, was quite atmospheric between his eyebrows and eyes, and looked quite honest.
"Xu Gongming has seen the young head of the family."
After saying this respectfully, Xu Gongming lowered his head and stood straight, no longer speaking.
Li Yuanxiu asked about the situation at his home, Xu Gongming answered concisely and clearly, and he didn't know whether he was prepared in advance or quick-witted, everything was answered well, Li Yuanxiu nodded slightly and said softly:
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"I'll go to the barracks tomorrow."
Xu Gongming clasped his hands, retreated with a solemn expression, and never asked what position he had gotten, and left without saying a word.
"Xu's life has been unsatisfactory all these years, but now he has a spiritual trick, it seems that if he wants to engage in the army, then give him a centurion first, and his cultivation of the second layer of fetal breath can be regarded as reusable."
The current monks in the army are basically monks from the Li family's small sect and branch lineage, the first and second layers of fetal breath are centurions, and the third and fourth layers of fetal breath are thousand-man commanders, a total of eight, plus Xu Gongming, now there are nine monks.
Li Yuanxiu thought about it, he never thought that a person would walk quickly outside the courtyard, and entered the courtyard like the wind, the clan soldiers knelt down one by one as usual, and the sound of the blades hitting the ground clanged, Li Yuanxiu saw this and hurriedly walked down, fixed his eyes, and said with joy:
"Father!"