Chapter 13, Light and Seven Years

One day in early October of the seventh year, just after noon, the thick fog was gradually dissipating.

In the countryside plain outside the northeast of Xu Wu County, Zu Zhao and the children of 30 or 40 ancestors stationed on a slightly raised mound. Together with Zu Zhao, all the children are white horses, and all white horses are nearly seven feet tall horses. Such a situation is quite solemn and honorable. In fact, today, Zu Zhao was ordered by his grandfather to welcome a group of distinguished guests from the Gongsun family from Xuantong County.

Gongsun's servant arrived in Xu Wuxian two days ago and first submitted his business card and informed him of the relevant reception matters, so that the ancestors could make some points in advance. Although Gongsun, the head of the family, may not be able to go with him because of his busy duties, after all, he is the governor of a county, and the whole family must be more or less more attentive.

Zu Zhao is the eldest son of the Zu family. This visit of the Gongsun family is specifically for in-laws. Naturally, he has to come to greet him in person. For Zu Zhao, he is not very willing to have this marriage at present, but on the one hand, he has the order of the elders of the family, and on the other hand, he also needs to consider the interests of the Taishou Mansion of Xuantong County. In the final analysis, he has to make some appearances. Perhaps in the upcoming troubled times, we may be able to use the help of this Gongsun Taishou.

At this time, Zu Ji, one of the attendants, looked far away and said uncontrollably, "Isn't it said that they have arrived in Lingzhi County? Xu Wu, who came to Lingzhi, is only 60 miles. Why is there no one yet?

Zu Zhao didn't have time to speak, and Zu Zhan, the eldest son of the third uncle who accompanied him, laughed and said, "What do you think of the Taishou Mansion? There must be no need to be a stage for entry and exit. There are more than ten cars, large and small. I'm afraid that there will be more than 50 or 60 people. How can they run like us? Let's be more patient."

Zu Ji Bai sighed boredly.

Zuzu Zhao just smiled indifferently and did not say much. He now has to think more about how to face this visit of the Gongsun family. Many philosophers have said big principles such as "personal emotions are small and the overall situation is important", but it is not easy to let a person completely let go of his personal feelings, otherwise people are not human.

Before long, Zu Ji leaned over again and asked Zu Zhao with a little hesitation, "Sir, then... Do you have to go to Xihe Bridge to practice horses with Zhang Wenyi and others this afternoon?"

Zu Zhao turned his head and looked at Zu Ji, with almost no hesitation on his face. He said bluntly, "Practicing is to persevere. How can there be no day. In order to wait for the guests of the Gongsun family here, I have abandoned the scene of studying in the morning, and I can't do nothing all day long.

Zu Ji nodded repeatedly and said excitedly, "That's great. Yesterday, I made an appointment with Zhang and had another fight with him this afternoon. I was worried that if I couldn't go, I would let the boy say that I was afraid of him.

Zu Zhao smiled and said, "It's enough to compete until the point. Don't make a big fight for a move, remember?"

Zu Jiying came down.

Since the last test shot with Zhang Yuan at Xihe Bridge, Zu Zhao's reputation has gradually spread among the market rangers. Although Zhang Yuan was robbed of the limelight by Zu Zhao, he was a reasonable and elegant person and did not argue about winning or losing this match. Not only that, he also set up a banquet the next day to invite Zu Zhao and Zu Ji to show their relationship. After drinking, he took the initiative to discuss with Zu Zhao about preparing for thieves this year.

Although it is still early to prepare for thieves, the county government issued official documents in mid-November in previous years, and then organized the pavilions and townships to prepare for relevant training and defense. However, it is not a bad thing to organize training in advance. An idle rangers like Zu Zhao's privileged son and Zhang Yuan do not need to work in agriculture. It is better to get together to practice horses and practice martial arts than to be idle.

In the past seven or eight days, Zu Zhao has been leading the idle children of Benzhuang to Xihe Bridge every afternoon to practice horses with a group of young people gathered by Zhang Yuan and Zhang Yu. There is no fixed number of children in the Zu family, sometimes many and sometimes few. Those who can insist on participating are basically the same rich children as Zu Zhao. Zhang Yuan and Zhang Pre brought many members of the Zhang family in Anyangting, but more of them were rangers from nearby towns. Fortunately, these rangers have their own seats, unlike those pure scoundrels, so the two groups of people can still ensure a certain harmony.

is nominally "horse training". In fact, these days are basically playing, or racing, or wrestling, which is completely more like an outing. Zu Zhao hardly talked about the words "preparing for theft" and "practice". Instead, he encouraged his children to actively participate in the game, so that even Zhang Yuan couldn't figure out what he was thinking.

Of course, all this is in Zu Zhao's calculation.

"Big son, look!"

In the distance, a son of an ancestor pointed to the east and shouted.

Zu Zhao lifted the reins, pulled the mount two steps forward, and looked up. A group of brigades gradually appeared on the eastern horizon, led by six or seven knights riding on high-headed horses. Whether it is the knight's dress or the accessories of the pony sitting down, they are all remarkable and luxurious. As the brigade gets closer and closer, it can be further seen that all the carriages are full of double carriages, and even the drivers are full of dignity. At the rear of the convoy, there were also more than 30 handymen, most of whom followed on foot, and a few were responsible for taking care of the carriages loaded with sundries.

The children of the ancestors cheered up one after another and consciously listed the formation on the mound. Although they don't often see such a illustrious show, at least they are from a family of generals, and their confidence is naturally indispensable.

After a while, the brigade finally slowly came to the mound. Several knights led up first, holding their heads high one by one, as if they were deliberately competing with the children of the ancestral family.

"Are you under the patriarchal general of Xu Wuxian County?" The leading knight was in his early 30s, and his dress was slightly different from others. He had a black satin shawl, fluttering in the wind, showing his dignity. From his strong and capable voice, it can be guessed that the other party should be from a military background.

"In Xia Zuzhao, I was ordered by my ancestors to welcome the guests of Xuantong County here. Haven't you asked your name yet?" Zu Zhao held his fist on the horse's back and saluted, regardless of his words and manners.

"Oh? It turned out that Mr. Zu came to welcome him in person, which was really polite. Someone is the eunuch of Xuantou County, who is not engaged in Chunyupei, and escorted his family to visit Xu Wu under the order of Lord Gongsun Taishou. The leading knight still maintained an arrogant attitude, but also showed some courtesy to Zu Zhao.

"It's been a hard journey." Zu Zhao laughed politely.

After a while, the first carriage in the rear came. An elderly man in gorgeous clothes walked out of the carriage with the help of two servants and walked slowly to the top of the mound. The elderly are over 50 years old and have a yellow face. Although they are still a little energetic, they still can't stop the traces of aging.

The leader Knight Chunyu Pei jumped off the horse and took two steps back to meet the elder. Seeing this, Zu Zhao knew that the elder must be a person with a status in the Gongsun family, and nine out of ten were also representatives of the trip, and he immediately turned over and dismounted.

"Zongzi, this is the uncle of Gongsun Taishou. Gongsun Taishou couldn't go there because of his official business, so he had to be represented by his uncle and chief. Chunyupei introduced to Zu Zhao.

"The ancestor is polite, old Gongsun Zhi." The old man bowed in an old tone.

"The younger generation has met Mr. Gongsun. Such a long journey made the old gentleman bumpy. As Zu Zhao spoke, he bowed to the old man Gongsun as a junior.

Where, where. Yesterday, in Lingzhi County, I heard that Mr. Zu's feat of repelling Hu thieves not long ago, but made Longcheng fly away. He didn't teach Huma to live in the Yinshan Mountain. He was so bold and really strong in the prestige of my big man. I can't wait to see the appearance of the young hero as soon as possible. Today, the ancestor came to welcome him in person. How can the old man feel more honored? The old man Gongsun said enthusiastically.

"The old gentleman said a lot. Now that noon has just passed, the humble house has prepared a banquet, and I would like to invite the old gentleman and you to take a few more steps. Zu Zhao said modestly. He felt very kind to the enthusiasm of Mr. Gongsun Zhi, but he did not lose his job too much and always maintained a courtesy and distance.

"There is Mr. Lao Zu leading the way." The old man Gongsun nodded repeatedly.

Zu Zhao followed Chun Yupei to send the old man Gongsun back to the carriage, and then got on their horses and led the Gongsun family brigade to the county.

On the way back to the county, the children of the ancestors led the way, and Zu Zhao followed the side of the old man's carriage as the host. The old man Gongsun simply picked up the curtain of the car, talked about some gossip with Zu Zhao from time to time through the window, talked about the bow and horse, and talked about the scriptures. Although the topic changed frequently, Zu Zhao could still feel that the other party was looking into his details about his in-laws. For these side-by-side interrogations, he did not make a simple and realistic answer.

In addition, another carriage immediately behind Gongsun's carriage also attracted Zu Zhao's attention. He saw in the corner of his eyes that the curtain of the second carriage was often raised, and a figure seemed to peep through the window. Although this is not a big deal, it is just that Gongsun's family is a famous official and eunuch, and the family members should be rules and abide by etiquette, which is somewhat strange.

So when he arrived at the foot of the county, he took a special look at the second carriage as the team turned to the official road. Through the curtain that had just been lifted, he saw a teenager with a headscarf sitting in the car. The other party seemed to find something and quickly put down the curtain, so he couldn't look too carefully. On the next road, the curtain was never lifted again.