Chapter 2: Journey

In a daze, Li Yan was pushed awake. When he opened his eyes, he saw that it was his fourth sister Li Xiaozhu. His third brother was no longer beside him. His fourth sister looked at him with red and swollen eyes and said, "Fifth brother, the village chief is here. Dad asked you to get up and go over."

Li Yan didn't sleep much last night. He didn't fall asleep until the rooster crowed several times. He sat up and said to his fourth sister, "Fourth sister, I'll go now."

Li Xiaozhu didn't move, still looking at him reluctantly.

Li Yan smiled and said, "Fourth sister, there's no need to be like this. I will come back to see you next time during the Chinese New Year, but I don't know if you will be at home by then."

Li Xiaozhu was stunned, then blushed and said, "You're just being funny," and then turned and went out.

Li Yan looked at his fourth sister's back and couldn't help but sigh softly. He didn't believe what he said. When he came back for the Chinese New Year next time, although it was already late summer and early autumn, he didn't know what would happen next year or the year after next, let alone what would happen in half a year.

After a simple wash, Li Yan came to the front room, where five people were sitting, including his father, mother, third brother, fourth sister, and a strong man in his forties. The strong man sat on a slightly taller and larger chair. He had a square face, a full beard, and was wearing a short-sleeved hunter's suit. He didn't look cold in the early morning of early autumn in the mountain village. He had knotty muscles, but he looked imposing sitting there.

Seeing Li Yan coming in, he smiled and said, "Li Yan, you got up a little late."

Li Yan came to the strong man, bowed and said, "Uncle Guoxin, good morning!"

The strong man's name was Li Guoxin. He was the village chief. In addition to farming, he was also a good hunter. He often led the young and strong men in the village to hunt outside the mountains. The locust plague in the past two years was also thanks to him. This made the life in the village better than in other villages, at least no one starved to death.

Li Guoxin looked at Li Yan, then at Li Yan's mother, Li Wei and Li Xiaozhu, and said, "Originally, I was going to the county town in two days. The second son of the Laoshan family and the eldest son of the Li Tian family in the village were going to the county town to work as kitchen helpers and blacksmith apprentices, and asked me to send them there and give them a certificate. Last night, Chang Bo came to my house and told me about Li Yan, so I decided to leave today."

r>  Li Yan's father's name is Li Chang, and the villagers call him Chang Bo. Li Guoxin looked at everyone again and continued, "In fact, I also talked to Chang Bo yesterday. Let Li Yan go to the county town to work like them. This is a safe job, but I have to explain this. Young men like you are definitely inexperienced in working, and you must start as an apprentice. First, apprentices have to pay fees, and second, apprentices have to do all kinds of work and sign a contract. If something happens during the apprenticeship, the master will not compensate anything. But Chang Bo still decided to let Li Yan go to the army to eat food."

This is actually mainly about money. Li Yan's family doesn't have much money. Although the apprenticeship fee is only 500 wen, for a family of five with only about 50 wen a month, this is nearly a year's expenditure, which is definitely not affordable. The second reason is that apprenticeship is very hard, there is no personal freedom, and there is no dignity before learning. It is common for the master to beat or kill the apprentice.

Chang Bo looked at Li Yan and said, "Let's do it this way."

Then he smiled at the village chief and said, "This time I have to trouble Guo Xin."

Upon hearing this, Li Yanniang, with red and swollen eyes, hurriedly said to the village chief, "Are you leaving today?"

The village chief nodded and said, "Yes, although conscription is a common thing now, someone in the village came back from the county yesterday and said that Marshal Hong had already started conscription yesterday morning. This time, the soldiers may be the city guards. This kind of guards usually protect the families of officials in the city and guard the granaries and armories in the city. They usually don't encounter any battles, so it will take two or three days at the latest. It should be full."

Li Yanniang was anxious when she heard this, "Ah, there is still a war?" Li Xiaozhu also looked at Li Guoxin anxiously.

After hearing what his wife said, Chang Bo saw the anxious look of his fourth daughter, and slapped the table in front of him with dissatisfaction, "Didn't Guoxin say that this is the guards, guarding the city and the house, not fighting, see what you look like."

Li Xiaozhu and Li Yan's mother looked at Li Guoxin timidly. Li Guoxin looked at Chang Bo, then nodded and comforted them. Only then did they feel relieved and stopped asking questions.

Li Yan had been silent since he came in and said hello. Seeing his mother and fourth sister like this, he couldn't help but feel sad. A sour breath blocked his throat, and his eyes began to turn red. He thought that if he made money in the future, he would go home to take care of his parents and relatives, and never stay away from them. He wanted to see their satisfied smiles every day and enjoy the warmth of happiness.

In fact, although the guards don't have to participate in wars in normal times, if the war comes, if the troops are insufficient, it doesn't matter whether you are a guard or not. At least you have to go to the top of the city to defend the city. The swords, guns and arrows of the enemy during the siege are also blind. They can't tell who is the guard and who is the general, and they will shoot them all. In addition, you may have to go out of the city to meet the enemy, and then it will be a real close combat.

But the Guards were much better than other troops recruited in normal times. Li Wei on the side looked at Li Yan worriedly. He knew that things were not as simple as the village chief said.

Li Guoxin looked at Li Yan who had been silent, and said to him, "Do you have anything to ask?"

Li Yan said, "Uncle Guoxin has said that the Guards were personally recruited by Marshal Hong to guard the granaries and armories, and even to guard the homes of officials. This job is already very good and hard to come by, so I must do this job well."

After hearing this, Li Guoxin frowned slightly, thinking that Li Yan really believed everything he said, but in his heart he said, "On the way, I must talk to this kid, so that he doesn't really believe in this risk-free job."

Li Guoxin then said goodbye to Li Yan's family, "We will set off in half a quarter of an hour. This time, I will go with the three young men, and there must be no one at home to see us off. This mountain road of more than 200 miles, one person will see each family off, plus the luggage, the carriage cannot run fast, and it will be difficult to reach the destination today."

There were only two good horses in the village. After pulling the carriage and adding the weight of the four of them, it was already the limit to reach the county town before sunset.

Shortly after the sun rose, the carriage had already driven out of the village. The mountain village slowly moved away in the back. Looking at the few families still standing at the entrance of the village and the women crying in the crowd, the other two children in the carriage, who were only thirteen or fourteen years old, sobbed and kept wiping their tears.

Li Yan looked at the crying fourth sister and mother in the crowd, and the third brother who was limping and supporting his father, and was silent.

Until Li Yan got on the carriage, his third brother and father didn't say a word, but just tried to smile. His fourth sister and mother kept pulling the corners of his new coarse cloth clothes, as if they were afraid that the clothes would not be smooth. They cried and told him all kinds of things, asking him to come back to see them when he had time. There were dry food and pickles in the package, so he could eat when he was hungry.

Li Yan didn't cry, but just held back his tears. With a wave of pain in his heart, he forced a smile and waved to them, "Dad, mother, third brother, fourth sister, take care, come back next time. I'll bring you a lot of things from the city, Third Brother, take care of the family"

"Old Five, remember, remember, let's go, let's go"

"Fourth Sister, when I settle down, I'll bring you rouge and powder from the city"

"Old Five, Sister, wait, woo woo"

"Old Five" With a heart-wrenching cry, Li Yan's mother fell into the arms of the Fourth Sister

The other two families around were also crying, and the sobbing in the carriage was even louder. Li Yan could no longer control his tears and let them flow freely on his face.

The carriage finally slowly moved away, away from the place where he grew up, away from the foot of the Daqing Mountain, and away from the familiar grass and trees here. As the carriage turned a corner of the mountain, the mountain village gradually became dark and small, and finally it was no longer visible, but the crying in the village in the wind seemed to be a little louder.