Ordinary happy life

Chapter 120 War

Although Zhang Dayong did not tell Lin Qin that something might happen in the border area, he told Village Chief Li about it.

After listening to Zhang Dayong's words, Village Chief Li couldn't stand upright and sat down on a stool. He couldn't recover for a long time. After finally coming back to his senses, Village Chief Li grabbed Zhang Dayong's hand and asked, "Yongzi, everything you said is true. This is not something you can just joke about."

 The look in Village Chief Li's eyes at this time He was full of hope, as if he hoped that Zhang Dayong could tell him that everything was a joke.

"Uncle, do you think I have the guts to joke about this?" Zhang Dayong actually didn't understand Village Chief Li's panic. Yes, it was panic. Isn't everything just a possibility? It might not happen. Even if a war does occur, although they are close to the border, they have not yet reached the border. Unless the entire border is lost, there will definitely be no problems on their side. In this case, why is Village Chief Li so afraid.

Village Chief Li seemed to see the doubts in Zhang Dayong's heart, and sighed heavily and said, "You may not know, Yongzi, but there was actually a large-scale war on the border more than 30 years ago. That battle lasted three full days. Years, countless people have died."

Thirty years ago, not to mention that Zhang Dayong was not born yet, even his parents were not married yet, so naturally he didn't know, and said with a little doubt, "Uncle, what happened to that war? Have you???"

"You should still remember the arrest of young men ten years ago, right?" Village Chief Li did not immediately answer Zhang Dayong's words but mentioned the arrest of young men ten years ago.

Ten years ago, Zhang Dayong was already sixteen and a grown man, so he naturally remembered it.

"Of course I remember. It seemed that the imperial court did not have enough people to repair the border city, so it had to forcibly arrest young men. Our village was arrested more than 20 times, and none of them came back." Zhang Dayong's tone was much lower, and it was obvious that he was not in a good mood. very good.

No matter what, they all belong to the same village. They knew that they might not come back once they left, but they had no choice but to watch them being taken away. That period could be said to be the time when the atmosphere in the No. 1 Scholar Village was at its lowest.

"You know about the recruitment of strong men ten years ago, but did you know that when the border war broke out more than thirty years ago, many people in our village were forcibly recruited. In the first year of the war, it had little impact on our village, but then The imperial court lost several battles in one year and lost a lot of troops. It had to recruit young people from various places to fight. At that time, nearly one-third of the young people in our village were forcibly recruited, and they never came back." Li Cun His eyes were filled with tears, his fists were clenched, and his whole body was shaking, obviously he was very excited.

Zhang Dayong's pupils dilated a lot after listening to Village Chief Li's story. He was really shocked. What is the concept of one-third of the village being young people? There are currently about a thousand people in Zhuangyuan Village, and young people account for about 500 of them. Thirty years ago, even if there was no such number, there would still be eight or nine hundred people. Even if there were one-third less young people, there would still be at least one or two hundred people.

What is the concept of one or two hundred people? Some small villages only have so many people. If one or two hundred young people are taken away from a small village, it will directly destroy the village.

"Uncle, everything you said is true???" Now it was Zhang Dayong's turn to be in disbelief.

Village Chief Li showed a tired smile on his face and said, "What do you think? This can be found in the village records. I just hope that this incident at the border is just a false alarm. If it happens again, our village will not know about it." Can you please cheer up again?"

After those young people were taken away, the whole village lost their laughter and laughter for nearly half a year. Although they knew that they would not be able to come back after they were taken away, everyone still prayed for a miracle from God. After receiving the news that the war was over, the villagers who had young people taken away from their homes in the village looked at the entrance of the village with hope, hoping that one day the young people who had been taken away would reappear at the entrance of the village.

One day passed, two days passed, and until half a month passed, the villagers finally broke their extravagant hopes. On that day, the entire village was hung with white cloth, and cries of pain were heard from almost every house. Village Chief Li's family also had one. Village Chief Li's youngest uncle was taken away that year and never came back. Not long after the white cloth was hung up, his grandmother also left because of this incident.

It took three or four years for the damage caused to Zhuangyuan Village by that war to gradually subside, and everyone's lives returned to peace. With great difficulty, everyone slowly forgot the hurt of that year. Who could bear it if it happened again.

Zhang Dayong looked solemn and said nothing. He also hoped that it was just a false alarm. The damage caused by the war was too great, whether it was for people in small villages or frontiers.

In order to find out the truth of the matter, Zhang Dayong and Village Chief Li took turns going to the town every now and then to inquire about the news. The town seemed to know nothing and continued to live its own small life, but Zhang Dayong and Village Chief Li found that the town servants were no longer as lazy as they were at the beginning, and their faces were solemn, and their eyes scanning the surrounding people became sharper. As if they were looking for something, this phenomenon made Zhang Dayong and Village Chief Li feel a little bit in their hearts.

"Uncle Li, it seems that the situation is not good." Zhang Dayong said to Village Chief Li with a solemn expression after returning from the town again.

"It seems that the last thing you want to see has happened." Village Chief Li sighed and said. His originally straight back suddenly bent down, and his whole person looked a lot older.

Regardless of whether a war really breaks out on the border, little people like Zhang Dayong can't control it. After the situation in the town became more serious, Zhang Dayong stopped going to the town. Apart from going to the fields every day, he went up to the mountains to hunt. When he caught the prey, he did not sell it but kept it at home.

"Did something happen to Brother Dayong???" Lin Qin asked Xiaodouzi one night after putting him to sleep, leaning on Zhang Dayong's arms. Zhang Dayong glanced at Lin Qin

and said, "Why do you ask that?"

I sold it but saved it." Lin Qin counted Zhang Dayong's recent strange behaviors.

Zhang Dayong knew that he couldn't hide it, so he sighed and said, "When I went to the town some time ago, I heard a news that there might be a war on the border, so during this time I often ran to the town to find out if it was true. "

Then..." The border is very far away from Lin Qin, and the word war only exists in the stories of his elders in his life, so he cannot understand the disasters caused by war. But Lin Qin knew that people would die in war, many, many people.

"The town is now under complete martial law, and entry and exit checks are very strict. If anything goes wrong, you will be arrested and imprisoned, so I haven't been to the town recently. As for keeping those prey, it is purely to prepare for the worst. If If a war really breaks out, with the rice grains and these prey saved before, we can go out for a long time without fear of running out of food," Zhang Dayong said.

After hearing Zhang Dayong's words, Lin Qin subconsciously grasped Zhang Dayong's clothes, a trace of panic flashing across his face. He is just an ordinary husband. What he thinks about every day is how to make his man well fed and clothed, and how to make his children grow up healthily. He has nothing else to ask for. But now he is told that he may be going to war. Their side would also be implicated in the war, which made Lin Qin not afraid.

"Don't worry, even if the war does come here, I will protect you and Xiaodouzi. In fact, our place is not close to the border, so we are not very worried that the war will come here. Uncle Li and I are most afraid What's more, the imperial court will force people to serve as soldiers if they don't have enough troops." Zhang Dayong said with deep eyes.

Lin Qin became even more frightened when he heard this. He grabbed Zhang Dayong's clothes and said tremblingly, "You won't be arrested too, right?" Lin Qin couldn't imagine the image of leaving and never coming back.

Zhang Dayong saw that Lin Qin's body was trembling with fear, and he quickly stroked his back and comforted him, "It's okay, it's okay, I won't be captured. No matter how short of troops the court lacks, it's impossible to capture all the young people. It's really like that." How can the imperial court develop? Uncle Li told me that there was a compulsory conscription by the imperial court in the village more than thirty years ago. Basically, those who were recruited were several members of the family who were over 18 years old. The family of a fifty-five-year-old man. There is only one mature man in the family who will not be taken away. Don't worry, I will be fine."

Lin Qin felt a little relieved after hearing this, but then he thought that the Lin family had not yet After the family separation, Lin Dazhu and Lin Erzhu were over eighteen, and Lin Han was not yet fifty-five, so he would be eligible for military conscription.

"My father and the others..."

Although Lin Qin didn't finish what he said, Zhang Dayong still understood what he meant and sighed and said, "Uncle Li said, if the situation is not very serious, you can also use money to buy a quota. It's just a comparison. It's just expensive. If the situation is serious like the shortage of people more than thirty years ago, then even if you have money, there is nothing you can do." "Is it

okay if we separate the family now???" Lin Qin said with his eyes lit up.

Zhang Dayong shook his head and said, "Each household that meets the conditions can only have one person. Even if the eldest brother and the second brother separate, my father will definitely live with one of them, and the conditions are still met."

Lin Qin originally His bright eyes dimmed suddenly. If his family had connections, he might be able to escape the conscription through some connections. But they were ordinary people who didn't know any big shots. Lin Qin could only sincerely hope that the war would not break out.

No matter how much everyone hoped that the war would not break out, the battle on the border still started.

When the salt and oil at home were almost used up, Zhang Dayong went to the town again, and only passed the town gate after going through strict travel arrangements. After buying all the things he needed to buy, Zhang Dayong prepared to walk back with a backpack on his back. On the way, he heard many people talking about something. When he listened carefully, he vaguely heard the word "border".

Zhang Dayong subconsciously stopped and listened carefully. After listening for a while, he realized that a large-scale battle broke out on the border three days ago. The imperial court narrowly won but nearly 20,000 soldiers died. It is very likely that the imperial court will recruit troops from various places due to insufficient troops. This news made Zhang Dayong's heart completely sink to the bottom, and the most feared thing happened.