Traveling through time and space to become a child, supporting the family by catching fish and shrim

"Sir, please spare my life. That girl...is not dead. She has been sent to the countryside." Huafu was afraid of being beaten, so he quickly explained.

The county magistrate said coldly, "The countryside? Which one specifically?"

"Tell me, and I'll send someone to look for it."

"Found it, you two are acquitted."

"If you can't find it, your crime will be even more serious!"

Huafu opened his mouth, unable to answer.

The county magistrate slammed the gavel and shouted angrily, "You have taken human life lightly, and now you are deceiving our superiors. You two, father and son, are truly unforgivable!"

"Come here, give him thirty lashes!"

"Then he will be thrown into prison and executed in the autumn!"

The Hua father and son collapsed to the ground, completely lost in thought.

Upon seeing this, Chen Lang immediately said, "Sir, please wait a moment!"

"They haven't explained the whereabouts of my sister yet."

"Where the hell did you two hide my sister? Tell me!"

Hua Fu looked at Chen Lang and suddenly laughed, a particularly creepy laugh.

"We're both going to die anyway, so if we take a little girl with us to be buried with us, we won't be lonely in the underworld."

"You'll never find her in your lifetime!"

Chen Lang was so angry that he wanted to beat up the father and son, but was stopped by the bailiff. A moment later, screams of the father and son were heard outside the court. After about a cup of tea, the screams stopped, leaving only the muffled "bang bang" sound of wooden boards hitting people.

After the father and son were carried away, Chen Lang was also pulled away from the county government office by Xu Fei.

Seeing that Chen Lang was in a low mood, Xu Fei took him to a roadside snack stall and sat down to rest.

"Brother Chen, you've done everything you should have done. If you can't find the person, it can only be said to be God's will."

"Besides, your family treated you like that, and you're still willing to come out and look for them. You've done your utmost to be kind."

Chen Lang smiled helplessly and said, "Even if you lose a dog or a cat, you'll be sad for a while, let alone a living person."

"But like you said, maybe all this is God's will."

Xu Fei said, "Brother Chen, what are you going to do next? Are you going to stay here and gather information, or..."

Chen Lang said: "Of course I'm going home. My wife and children are waiting for me at home."

"Let's go now, we can reach the post station before dark."

"If you're hungry, I have some braised beef in my bag. You can eat it on the way."

Xu Fei said, "Don't be anxious, Brother Chen. It's so hard to come to Linshui, but you're going back without even going for a stroll. How boring."

"Let's take a walk and buy some Linshui specialties for my sister-in-law and Guoguo. This trip won't be in vain."

Chen Lang looked around and said, "What good things can there be in this shabby place?"

Xu Fei smiled: "Brother Chen, you have a deep misunderstanding of Linshui County."

Chen Lang shrugged. "Am I wrong? Forget about anything else. Just look at the streets. They're not even as wide as the ones in Nanhe County."

Xu Fei said, "Brother Chen only knows one side of the story. There's a reason why the streets in Linshui County are so narrow."

Chen Lang said: "Oh? Tell me about it."

Xu Fei said, "Linshui was not originally a county, but a trading post."

[咖場, a place established by the ancient Central Plains dynasties to trade with nomadic peoples outside the Great Wall].

"In the early days of our dynasty, the Liao Kingdom in the north frequently invaded the south, causing great suffering to the people living on the border. At the time, our dynasty was busy pacifying the south and had no time to care about the nomadic people in the north. Following the advice of our ministers, we signed a contract with the Liao Kingdom."

"In addition to paying large amounts of tribute, cloth, and brocade to the Liao Kingdom, we also established sixteen trading posts on the border to trade with the Liao Kingdom."

"After that, the two countries entered a period of stability for about ten years, and the scale of Linshui's trading post gradually expanded. Back then, the streets of Linshui were much wider than they are now."

"But twenty-three years ago, the Liao monarch unilaterally broke the contract and brazenly sent troops south, burning, killing, and looting along our border. Sixteen trading posts bore the brunt of the attack and were completely destroyed."

"After the war ended and the two countries resumed peace talks, trade resumed. However, since then, the streets of Linshui County have become narrower."

"Because the narrow streets not only restrain the Northern Liao cavalry, but also make it easier for ordinary people to hide and even launch sneak attacks."

“This custom continues to this day.”

Chen Lang suddenly realized, "So that's how it is. I'm just too ignorant."

"But Brother Xu is younger than me, how could he know so much?"

Xu Fei said, "My teacher told me that he was a medical officer accompanying the army in the great battle twenty-three years ago."

At this point, Xu Fei sighed, "Teacher always feels regretful when talking about the war twenty-three years ago."

"If it weren't for the emperor's incompetence and the corrupt officials in power, twenty-three years ago, our dynasty would have had a great chance of resolving the hidden danger of Northern Liao in one fell swoop."

"The Liao Kingdom has been making some moves again in the past two years. If war breaks out again, the common people will suffer."

Chen Lang asked: "Why do you say that?"

Xu Fei said, "The commander of Guangling Prefecture at the time was Li Shirong, the General of the Left Guard and the Grand Commander of Qinzhou. The Zhongwu Army under his command was the most powerful army in our dynasty."

"The Liao Kingdom mobilized its entire nation's military and divided them into three routes to march south. The other two routes advanced smoothly, but the Liao army that took the Qinzhou route suffered heavy losses and was driven back outside the Great Wall."

"Just then, Northern Liao's Eastern Route Army approached the capital, and His Majesty ordered the Grand Commander to return to the capital. However, the Grand Commander did not do so. Instead, he led the Zhongwu Army and marched directly into the heart of Northern Liao!"

Hearing this, Chen Lang couldn't help but clap his hands in approval: "This problem-solving idea is unbeatable."

"If the entire Northern Liao army attacks, their hinterland will inevitably be left empty. If they do not want to be destroyed, the Liao army must retreat!"

"But these two Liao armies have already penetrated deep into our dynasty. It's not easy to retreat. The defenders along the way are constantly harassing us. There's a high probability that we can wipe them out completely."

"By then, the Grand Commander's Zhongwu Army will be able to completely annihilate the Liao Kingdom's heartland and resolve the hidden dangers in the north in one fell swoop."

Xu Fei said, "It is said that this is what the Grand Commander wrote in his memorial to His Majesty."

"The capital city has high walls and thick supplies, so it can easily drag on for several months or even half a year. This period of time is enough for the Grand Commander to turn the Liao Kingdom upside down."

"However, this plan to completely resolve the Liao Kingdom failed to materialize."

"The treacherous factions at court believe the Grand Commander's refusal to return to support him is a pretext for ascending the throne. The idea of resolving the Northern Liao issue is just an excuse; he simply wants to wait until the capital falls before ascending the throne in Guangling Prefecture."

"His Majesty was furious and issued twelve golden orders, forcing the Grand Commander to return to the capital and even holding his family hostage."

"The Grand Commander had no choice but to do as he was told."

"After returning to Guangling Prefecture, the Grand Commander was apprehended. The eunuch who delivered the imperial decree read out the twenty charges against him on the spot, stripped him of his military power, and escorted him back to the capital."

"On his way back to the capital, he was attacked by unknown forces. The Grand Commander managed to survive, but his wife disappeared."

Chen Lang sighed and said, "This force...I'm afraid it's the Grand Commander's men. They launched a surprise attack to save him."

"After all, if we return to Beijing, our whole family will be in trouble."