Cowardly Stepmother Dressed As the Hero

Refuse Rongcheng, at the city gate.

Geer delivered a prepared bag of silver ingots to the sergeant of the city guard. The sergeant weighed the bag, then smiled at Geer, and waved his hand to signal them to leave.

Qi You raised the collar around his neck, covering his mouth and nose.

He led the horse and slowly followed the man in front, out of the abused streets of Jirong City.

Going west for nearly three miles, they diverted to the south, moving in the direction of Changling.

After it got dark, Qi You knocked on a wooden box on the carriage.

The little beggar who was hiding in the wooden box opened the lid slightly, and looked around for a while with his eyes exposed, and found that there was no danger, so he opened the lid completely.

Qi You waited under the car and followed him and several other children who were hidden in boxes.

"Have you been in bed for a day, do you feel uncomfortable?" He asked while putting the little beggars on the ground.

The little beggar shook his head, moved his hands and feet, and grinned: "It's not uncomfortable."

The first child who begged Qi You for food was the leader of this group of little beggars. The Sheng Dynasty people in the city of rejecting Rong, once they are old, will either be caught and used as slaves, or they will be beaten to death by the Rong people. Only these children who are too lazy to deal with can live freely.

The little beggar has not been officially named yet, and Zhang Wangxiang has always called him Adi.

After all these people were taken down, Qi You took them to the fire and distributed them hot wheat cakes and drinking water.

The little beggars leaned against the fire and ate quietly.

Geer came over and gave Qi You a small letterbox the size of a finger.

He is a typical adult Rong man, with slightly curly hair and deep eye sockets, and the little beggars are very afraid of him.

Geer didn't care, and even turned around on purpose before leaving, opening his mouth and making a face at them.

The little beggars sitting next to Qi You fell back one by one, sparsely shouting from their mouths.

Geer was satisfied, flipped his hair and turned away.

Qi You read the secret letter from Changling, rubbed the cloth, and threw it into the bonfire burning in front of him.

Adi, the little beggar, came over to him.

Probably Qi You gave them food before, so they were not afraid of Qi You, who was also tall and tall.

"Is he also your subordinate?" Adi asked with wide eyes.

Qi You nodded and continued to bake the wheat cake in his hand.

Adi moved his **** towards his position: "He is a soldier."

Qi You glanced at him and said, "Hmm".

"Is he your slave?" Adi asked again.

Qi You shook his head: "No, he is my subordinate."

"Can Rong people also be subordinates?" Adi was very strange, he didn't seem to understand such a thing.

Qi You nodded: "Yes."

He tried to explain: "In fact, Sheng Chao is no different from Rong people. As long as they are properly managed, anyone can become a subordinate."

Adi retorted and asked: "Then, can my brother and the others also be the subordinates of the Rong people?"

Qi You shook his head.

He said: "The Rong people are arrogant, and there is no way to treat the Sheng Chao people equally. This is doomed that they can only form a master-slave relationship, and there is no way to truly conquer people's hearts."

After a pause, he added: "Actually, many people from Sheng Chao are the same."

Adi ignorantly took a bite of the wheat cake in his hand.

"But, my sister said that all the soldiers in the army are tigers and leopards." After a while, he said again, "You have to be careful about that soldier, he... he's very fierce!"

Qi You twitched the corners of his mouth and shouted towards Geer, who was not far away: "Geer, this place is too close to Jurong City. It's your team to keep vigil tonight. Pay attention to the movement in the northeast."

Geer nodded and saluted, "Yes, don't worry."

After giving the order, Qi You turned his head to the little beggar and said, "Tigers and leopards are also good at it. If you retreat because of their fangs and claws, you will never be able to borrow their strength and agility."

Adi shrank his neck and nodded.

After eating, Qi You distributed blankets to the little beggars and asked them to sleep around the fire.

This trip back home was smoother than Qi You imagined. They walked for several days on the road without encountering any strange movement.

On this day, they came to the Ale tribe where Zhang's family lived.

Among the Ale people, the "inn" originally planned by the Zhang family has already opened. Although the "inn" is just a few plain Rong bags, it is much more comfortable than spending the night outside.

Fengfan slept in the open for several days, and Qi You decided to take a night’s rest in the Ale tribe considering the state of the little beggars in the team.

When they arrived, the 15th market had passed, and there were no other Rong people in the Ale tribe. Geer went to negotiate with the Ale people, and quickly settled on three or four rooms.

When Mrs. Zhang led people over to entertain, she recognized Qi You and others in the team, but she was very smart, and she quickly calmed down after being surprised, and only treated them as ordinary guests.

At dusk, the carriages and horses were all set up, and the Ale people brought roasted meat and boiled goat milk for them.

As soon as Geer got out of the tent, he smelled a strange aroma, and followed the smell and took two steps forward.

Qi You hadn't come yet, and everyone gathered in a crowd and dared not move, but they all stared at the food on the wooden table.

Geer took a closer look, only to realize that what attracted him was actually the common barbecue outside the Great Wall. He swallowed: "Tsk, what does this taste like?"

Beside him, one of his subordinates replied: "It was sent by the people from the Ale tribe, and I don't know how to bake it. It smells so tempting!"

"Ala?" Geer scratched his face.

Zhang's husband is from the Ale nationality. When he was still alive, these Rong men often gathered together for barbecues. Recalling this, Geer was a little puzzled: "I have tasted Gu Ge's craftsmanship, and it's just average."

He looked at the large plate of barbecued meat: "He didn't mention anything delicious in the clan."

Everyone shook their heads, indicating that they did not understand.

Soon, Qi You came out. When he saw the crowd around him, he whispered, "Eat it."

The soldiers got permission, and then they started.

The roast meat of the Ale people is cut into large pieces, which is the custom of the Rong people. At this time, the barbecued meat inserted on the wooden bar is charred on the outside and tender on the inside, and the surface is evenly sprinkled with a thin layer of spices.

As soon as Geer took a bite, he exclaimed, "Delicious!"

The people around didn't have time to agree with him at all, and they all buried themselves in the food.

The fragrant barbecue is paired with the salty milk tea characteristic of the Rong nationality, and these Rong nationality men can't stop eating.

The little beggars who had been eating bean cakes and wheat cakes for several days were also given a little barbecue, and their mouths were full of oil at this time.

It just so happened that a man from the Ale tribe brought them a second plate of meat, and Geer grabbed him and asked, "Hey, little brother, how did you make this barbecue? Why is it so delicious?"

He used the Rong language.

The other party also replied in Rong language: "It's delicious! Hehe! This is the 'secret' of our Ale tribe. Our current inn relies on this to defeat the other tribes next to it. How can I tell you? "

Geer snorted: "It's so stingy!"

He said, "I know, you have come up with new spices, haven't you? Traded them in Changling Market?"

He pondered that if he really bought it at Changling, he would have to stock up on it himself, so that he could enjoy the addiction at any time in the future.

The Ala man shook his head and said proudly: "Of course not, how can such a good thing be easily bought in the market?"

"Where did that come from?" Geer was a little confused.

The Ale tribe laughed twice, didn't answer, and just walked away.

Beside, Qi San heard their conversation.

This time on the mission to the Great Wall, Qi You selected people who could understand the Rong language. Qi San understood Geer's doubts, pondered for a moment, and then said a little uncertainly: "These things... won't be made by the princess again?"

In fact, it is not difficult to guess if you think about it.

There are only two ways for the Ale people to trade. If it is not in the Changling market, it can only be purchased from Cannes.

And the Ale nationality man said that things cannot be "easy to buy", which proves that things are not freely available in Cannes.

Based on these details, it is easy to determine who they are dealing with.

For a time, except for the little beggars who were in the situation, everyone turned their attention to Qi You, who was eating meat silently.

Qi You raised his head, and they quickly retracted their eyes.

Naturally, Qi You could understand everyone's conversations, and he also felt that Qi San's reasoning was reasonable.

Now these subordinates have a look of "My lord, why didn't you take out some good things in your house to share with the big guys earlier, but sent them to a small tribe like the Ale tribe", which made him confused. .

Now that others are outside the Great Wall, like these people, they have no idea what Cao Mi has come up with!

As a husband, he was even more wronged by three points than them!

In this way, it was obviously a delicious dinner, but the King of Bei'an was suffocated.

After a dinner that left everyone unsatisfied, night came as promised.

Qi You was about to rest, but Qi San and Geer came over.

The three called their subordinates to take the wind and found a hidden corner to talk.

Qi San began to talk about the news he received after dark.

"Luo Ke has confirmed the identity of the person who came." Qi San handed the note to Qi You: "The Rong family who is going to Jirong City is nominally a prince of the Rong family. In fact, the royal family is now the most prestigious. The successor, the prince, will also follow along in the team.

"In the case of Changling Market before, we chose to cooperate with Danba to cut off other illegal trading routes.

"Danba is not from the eldest prince's side. This action caused great losses to the eldest prince's interests, so he made a special trip this time to find a way to solve this matter."

Qi You nodded.

He turned to Geer and asked, "With what you know about the Rong royal family, how would they want to solve this matter."

Geer clenched his fists and said bitterly, "The eldest prince is a cruel villain who doesn't believe his words!"

After scolding, he resisted his anger and gritted his teeth and replied: "My lord, I guess that the generals who are in charge of guarding the area near Changling are not all from the eldest prince.

"He came by himself, most likely to convince other people to let them break our current transaction agreement and make border trade a mess again. In this way, his people can fish in troubled waters and regain a lot of gold from trade. silver."

Qi San frowned: "This is troublesome.

"If he can really persuade these people to turn to him, as long as the Rong clan guarding this area prohibits those outside the fortress from coming, or attacking the caravan, then the market at Changling...the market will be difficult to maintain."

He knew that the Changling Market was obtained by Qi You using half the army's salary as a bargaining chip, and he also knew that the army could get huge profits from Changlin Market every month, so he was very concerned about things that threatened the existence of the market.

Qi You snorted coldly, "I can't let his plan succeed."

Qi San and Geer nodded.

Qi San thought for a while, and directly suggested: "Luo Ke said in the letter that what the eldest prince wants to come over is a secret, and not many people in the Rong family know about it. It's also the eldest prince's party that is about to arrive at Jirong City. The general received the news.

"My subordinates feel that we should go to Danba. Danba's allegiance is not the eldest prince. He was able to agree to the deal before. After knowing the eldest prince's movements, he must have a way to settle this incident."

Geer frowned and added: "Maybe...not really."

Qi San looked at him: "How do you say?"

Geer rubbed his hands and replied: 'I said just now that the eldest prince is the most prestigious heir today, and he hates Sheng Chao extremely, and every time he advocates looting and wars.

"And he's crazy and likes to do risky things.

"The incident this time can attract him to come quietly, which obviously violates his bottom line. If he insists on sabotaging the border deal, then... the things that Danba can do is estimated to be very limited."

Hearing this, Qi San pursed his lips and stopped talking.

The three stood in the corner, all frowning in thought.

After a long while, Qi You said, "Let's go back to reject Rong."

"Ah?" Qi San and Geer raised their heads and looked at him in surprise.

Qi You calmly said: "I remember that the old Rong King had many sons, but now only the eldest prince is the most powerful, right?"

Gal nodded.

Qi You raised the corner of his mouth and said, "Return to reject the Rong, make the appearance of a rebellion, and wait for the opportunity to assassinate the eldest prince. In this way, not only can the transaction be prevented from being destroyed, but also the internal chaos of the Rong clan can be caused."

Qi San and Geer took a deep breath.

Qi San reacted first, he thought about it, and affirmed: "My lord, this is indeed a good opportunity, but... it's too dangerous!"

He took a deep breath: "This matter, the subordinates will lead Geer back to do it, and you will go back to Changling to take charge of the overall situation."

Qi You laughed: "Changling now has Lei Li in charge, and Feng Ping has Chen He, so I don't need to go back on purpose."

Seeing that Qi San had to persuade him again, he frowned and said, "That's how things are decided."

After thinking about it, he added: "Qi San, tomorrow you will send a team of people to send those little beggars back first, we will take the motorcade back and let those people send the little beggars back, and then quickly chase after them. come up.

"Ger, you contact the people we stayed in Jirong City and let them and Luo Ke pay close attention to the recent changes in the city, but don't act rashly. Don't communicate with this side during this time, and we'll talk about it when we go back."

Seeing that he had made up his mind, the two of them stopped persuading him, nodded and answered "yes", then turned around and went back to make their own arrangements after salute.

After a good night's sleep, the caravan left the Ale tribe and separated again in an open space.

Little Qier's younger brother realized later that Qi You was not going to go with them, so he grabbed the corner of his clothes with some worry: "Aren't you going with us, Changling?"

Qi You nodded.

He said: "Go south for a maximum of two days and you will reach Changling, and these people will send you there.

"They take my letter, and when they get to the city, someone will pick you up."

Adi buried his head and was silent for a while, then said, "I, I'm a little scared."

"What are you afraid of?" Qi You looked at him puzzled.

Xiao Qi'er said, "Are they all from Sheng Dynasty? Like us? Then...then they..."

So what are they like? What's the difference with the Rong people? Will they scold us and drive us away?

These questions, following him all the way, he never dared to ask them easily.

In the past, on the territory of the Rong tribe, they regarded Sheng Dynasty as the other side where they could gain a new life. As long as they fled to the other side, life would not have to be so hard.

But in fact, when the time came to really come to the shore, some undiscovered worries emerged.

He was afraid to discover that the other side was not as beautiful as he thought, but at that time, there would be no other side that could give them hope and motivation to keep on living.

Xiao Qier didn't say anything, but Qi You could understand his thoughts.

He gently touched the top of Xiao Qi'er's hair, and comforted: "Don't worry, it won't."

The little beggar raised his head.

Qi You added: "Some people from the Sheng Dynasty are indeed similar to the Rong people who persecuted you, and even... maybe even more brutal than them."

What he said was exactly what Xiao Qi'er was worried about, and Xiao Qi'er shivered in fear.

"But..." Qi You looked into his eyes, "If you are weak, no matter where you go, you will be bullied. It makes no difference whether you are dealing with people from the Sheng Dynasty or from the Rong tribe.

"At Changling, at least you are not inferior.

"Cherish the opportunity that Luo Ke and your brother risked their lives to get for you. After arriving at Changling, live a good life and turn yourself into a strong man who doesn't need to hide, you know?"

Xiao Qi'er closed his eyes hard, squeezed the tears from his eyes, and nodded firmly.

Qi San tied the reins to the last horse and waved at Qi You.

Qi You nodded and said to Xiao Qi'er, "Go ahead."

Adi looked up at him, seized the last chance, and asked, "What about you, where are you going?"

Qi You got on his horse and said, "Go and bring back your brother and the rest of the Sheng Chao people who fell outside the fortress..."

Before he could finish speaking, he had already set off with the team with the horse's belly between them.

Adi stood there blankly.

It was still early in the morning, and the sun was shining in the east, but he felt that the direction in which Qi You and others were leaving was even more dazzling.

——

"...He finally held a long sword and stabbed the enemy to death with a snap!" Qi Ran cheered while holding the comic strip in his hand.

Cao Mi smiled, nodded and said, "Yeah! Yes!"

This is a new comic strip from the paper mill.

Since the establishment of the paper mill, printing has been moved from the palace.

Zhang Mao and Liu Ge spent more than half a year in the paper mill, and finally handed over a batch of high-quality white paper at the end of this autumn.

Although in terms of quality, these papers are not much different from those available in the market, but the production cycle of this batch of paper from Cao Mi Paper Mill is short, and the cost has been suppressed to a very low level. Profitable space.

Cao Mi thought about it for a while, and then asked them to cooperate with printing technology to print a batch of cheap books.

As for the comic strip, she made it experimentally to satisfy the interests of several of her children.

The drawings are very simple, and Qi Linger, who doesn't even need to draw paper, can do it. Liu Ge just found a painter and made it.

But maybe this kind of story-telling has never happened in this era. From the perspective of Cao Mi's modern people, these comic strips are not that interesting.

After the thing was printed, Qi Rui and Qi An put it down after watching it for two days, only the third child was very surprised, which meant that he couldn't put it down.

However, being able to conquer a small fat pier, Cao Mi also felt satisfied.

But she hadn't been happy for long. After reading the story, Qi Ran turned her head and said, "Mother, don't you think this hero is too ugly!"

Cao Mi snorted, "Is it too ugly? Well... it's the first edition after all, and there is indeed room for improvement. Well... Mother let them draw something nicer next time?"

Qi Ran shook his head.

He said: "No... I just think that big heroes don't look like this!"

"Huh?" Cao Mi was a little strange, "What should that look like?"

Xiao Pangdun held his chin and thought for a while, and after a while he shouted, "It should be like Daddy!"

He recalled the appearance of Qi You when he arrived at Changling: "Wearing armor, riding a big red horse, and a long silver spear on his back! It's amazing!"

Following his words, Cao Mi couldn't help but recall the experience of Changling during that time.

She coughed and nodded, "Yes, indeed."

After sorting out her thoughts, she suddenly remembered another thing, and asked Dongli, "Dongli, what about Liu Ge and the others? The paper has been developed. Has he and Zhang Mao come back?"

Dong Li said: "The princess is looking for them, but what is the urgent order?"

Cao Mi said: "I was still worried about how to say the story of the comic strip, but when I reminded it, I felt that I could draw a few stories from Changling based on the prince."

This kind of story can not only make the soldiers guarding the frontier of the King of Bei'an memorable, but also more educational, much better than the heroic stories that Cao Mi made up by himself.

Dong Li answered honestly, "Liu Jiang went back to Rongguang Villa.

"Previously, they screened out a group of students according to your instructions. During this time, Master Zhou Xue, Master Yu Liang and others stayed in the villa to teach and learn with them."

"Well, that's what it is." Cao Mi nodded, "It doesn't matter, I just write a letter and send it to the paper mill.

"Now that the paper mill is on the track, they don't need to watch the comics in person. Let them stay in Rongguang Villa and take the opportunity to rest for a while."

Dong Li smiled and said, "Where can I relax?

"My maid remembers that some time ago, Nanxi wrote to say that you have given Zhou Xuefuzi and the others several topics, and they are busy taking the students to experiment one by one.

"Now that Craftsman Liu and Craftsman Zhang have passed by, it's time to help."

Cao Mi rarely blushed.

She cultivated Zhou Xue's group, and always felt that theory should be combined with practice.

Therefore, when the Fengdeng Building was built before, they asked their group of female masters to help with some theoretical calculations and guidance.

The matter of Feng Denglou came to an end, and in order to continue to cultivate their abilities, she found a lot of topics to hand in.

In fact, she is not in a hurry to give any results from Zhou Xue. After all, the subjects of those masters have only been learned from the high school side, and because Cao Mi is busy, he has rarely taught them any more, and he only gives the textbooks to them. In the past, let this group of geniuses teach themselves.

But she still felt very happy to hear the positive attitude of Zhou Xue and his party.

Qi Ran, who was standing beside her, suddenly pointed out the window and shouted, "Mother, it's snowing, look!"

Cao Mi followed the tips of his fingers and looked through the half-opened window, and suddenly found thin snowflakes falling outside.

The first snow of this winter fell without warning.

Dong Li was afraid of the snow and cold, so he wanted to close the window, but Cao Mi stopped him.

She hugged Little Fatty in her arms and said, "It's okay, let's have a while, it's rare to see Chuxue, so it's just a reward."

Dong Li nodded when he heard the words, and stood back again.

Cao Mi looked at the snow, turned several corners in his mind, and suddenly asked, "Did we send clothes for the winter to the prince before?"

She murmured: "It's snowing, and the border is even harder. Fortunately, the soldiers have changed into woolen sweaters this year, but... it's always hard to guard outside."

Dong Li replied: "Send it.

"Princess, have you forgotten? Half a month ago, the team in the house set off and sent some new rice and new dishes that were collected this year.

"Ah... and the barbecue powder that was newly made in the kitchen, I also sent several cans."

She smiled and added: "My lord will come back for the Chinese New Year in previous years, and it is estimated that this year he will start preparing for his return. If you are worried, you might as well write a letter and ask Qi Liu to find someone to send it to the lord and ask him about his return. date?"

"Huh?" Cao Mi raised his eyebrows, "If he wants to come back, he will come back. What's the use of my writing?"

Dong Li dared to tease: "Maybe the lord saw the letter from the princess' family, knew what the princess was thinking about, and couldn't wait to rush back, maybe!"

Cao Mi blushed for a while, and retorted: "What nonsense, I didn't want him to come back soon.

"I... I'm just, just asking as usual."

Qi Ran in her arms raised her head and asked, "Mother, why are you blushing?"

Cao Mi grabbed his chubby face and said, "No."

On the couch, the mother and son were laughing and making trouble. The cold wind whipped around their window lattice, and then howled to the north, wrapped in ice slag, blowing across Qi You's face.

The young King of Bei'an took the reins and looked at Jurong City in front of him.

The author has something to say: thanks to the little angel who irrigated the nutrient solution: 20 bottles of vine; 10 bottles of Xueluo, haley2910; 4 bottles of Tangli; 1 bottle of Chen Zijing;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!