Traveling through time and space to become a concubine's daughter, leading the whole village to

Xu Miao became interested when he heard about Hanjia Village: "Acheng, did you say that Hanjia Village was found?"

"Still near your barracks?"

Zhou Jicheng nodded quickly: "The guards will go and ask for your safety. They are near the northern barracks, more than 20 miles away."

"I didn't get any specific information about the village. I only found out the exact location of Hanjia Village. They said it wasn't a big village, with maybe 40 or 50 households."

Zhou Jicheng looked up at Xu Miao and said, "The guards said that Hanjia Village seems to be quite poor. Most of the people who live there are from outside who don't have a permit."

Xu Miao didn't care much about the situation in the village. No matter what happened to Hanjia Village, it would be her home in the future.

Zhou Jicheng later told Xu Miao that the northern barracks were two days' ride away from Dingzhou City. Once they got there, they would be at the real border, separated from the barbarians by a river. The river froze in winter, making it the easiest time for the barbarians to invade.

Therefore, most of the soldiers in Dingzhou City were sent to the border, and there are not many guards guarding Dingzhou City now.

He also told Xu Miao about General Liu and Mrs. Liu.

General Liu had two sons and one daughter, all of whom stayed in the capital. Neither of his two sons inherited General Liu's legacy, so they both served as civil servants in the court.

After the three children got married, Mrs. Liu moved from the capital to the northern border to live with General Liu.

They have lived in the northern border for more than ten years. The young couple have been companions for old age, and the couple has a good relationship in their twilight years.

General Liu's house is just two streets away from Zhou Jicheng's house. It was Mrs. Liu who helped Zhou Jicheng buy this house. She wanted it to be closer to General Liu's house so that she could take care of Zhou Jicheng.

After Xu Miao and Zhou Jicheng finished their lunch, they both said they wanted to take a rest.

Zhou Jicheng was tired after a night of traveling, and he had been wanting to have a good sleep.

Xu Miao slept peacefully last night, but still felt tired and wanted to continue sleeping.

Xu Miao and Zhou Jicheng didn't get up to eat dinner. It was not until Xu Miao woke up early the next morning that he felt he had fully recovered.

Chun'er was waiting at Xu Miao's door early in the morning. When she heard Xu Miao waking up, she hurried in to help Xu Miao wash up.

"Second Miss, I went out for a stroll with Mother Zhao yesterday afternoon. Many things in Dingzhou City are different from those in the capital, and they look very strange."

"Mother Zhao said that many of these things are from the barbarians. Some brave people secretly smuggled them back to Dingzhou City to sell them."

"Look, I bought a bracelet to wear for fun. Miss, if you have nothing to do later, go out for a walk."

After Chun'er finished speaking, she showed Xu Miao the exotic bracelet on her hand.

"I don't know what it's made of, but it looks so colorful and cheerful. Second Miss, isn't it beautiful?"

Chun'er shared with Xu Miao with a smile, and then she skillfully helped Xu Miao make the bed and get dressed.

After a while, Mrs. Zhao brought breakfast and told Xu Miao that Zhou Jicheng had disappeared early in the morning and was called to the barracks by the guards without saying a word.

Just after Xu Miao and the others had finished breakfast, they heard Wang Rui's wife come to tell Xu Miao: "Miss Xu, Madam Liu sent someone to take you to her house and asked if it would be convenient for you to go out now."

Xu Miao: Didn't we say we were going to General Liu's residence for dinner tonight? Why did you send someone over so early?

Xu Miao wanted to wait a while after breakfast and go to the street to see if there were any suitable gifts to buy for Mrs. Liu.

Unexpectedly, Mrs. Liu sent someone to pick me up early in the morning.

Before Xu Miao left, he asked Uncle Fu, "Uncle Fu, does the Major General's Mansion have any suitable gifts? I'd like to borrow some to give to Madam Liu."

Uncle Fu smiled and shook his head: "Miss Xu, don't worry, Madam Liu is very kind."

"There's really nothing suitable in the Young General's Mansion to give to Madam Liu."

Zhou Jicheng rarely comes back to stay for a few days throughout the year, so how could he leave any gifts here?

After Xu Miao took Chun'er and followed the maid from the Liu Mansion for a while, they arrived at General Liu's mansion.

Xu Miao thought that General Liu's mansion should be a noble family, but he didn't expect that Liu's mansion was just a small courtyard with two entrances.

It is much more spacious than the small courtyard that Xu Miao lives in the capital. There are not too many miscellaneous things in the courtyard, and it is kept tidy.

Xu Miao followed the maid from the Liu Mansion to the backyard and saw an old lady with a kind face in her sixties standing at the door in a cloth dress with a smile on her face.

Seeing this, Xu Miao hurried forward to greet her: "Xu Miao greets Madam Liu, Madam Liu, how are you?"

Madam Liu smiled and pulled Xu Miao up: "Miss Xu, get up quickly. I have nothing to do and want to see you sooner. So I sent someone to pick you up from Acheng Mansion early. Have you had breakfast? Did you rest well?"

Xu Miao quickly replied, "Madam, I've already had breakfast and rested. I just came in a hurry and didn't have time to bring you a gift."

Xu Miao felt that it was a bit rude to come here empty-handed.

"Hey, stop being so polite. I don't need anything, I just want to see you sooner."

Xu Miao looked at Madam Liu, and Madam Liu also looked at Xu Miao secretly.

Seeing Xu Miao wearing the clothes she had sent her before, with her hair neatly tied on top of her head and a refreshing look all over her body, Mrs. Liu was secretly happy.

When Xu Miao followed Madam Liu into the house, Madam Liu began to ask Xu Miao about what was happening in the capital.

"Is Madam Dingguo all right? When I was in the capital, I was very close to Madam Dingguo's mother. I used to hold her and play with her when I was little."

"But she was still young at that time, so she probably doesn't remember anything."

Xu Miao didn't expect that Madam Liu had such a connection with the wife of Duke Dingguo. It seems that the families in the capital are really complicated.

With the topic of Duke Dingguo's wife coming up, Xu Miao and Madam Liu started chatting about what had happened in the capital in recent years.

Mrs. Liu probably hadn't been back to the capital for a long time, so she listened to Xu Miao's story with great interest.

When she heard Xu Miao's story about Zhang Ruyi marrying into a barbarian tribe at the Empress Dowager's banquet, Madam Liu frowned and said, "I wonder if this girl from the Zhang family is smart. If she were, she would know how important the Northern Frontier is to her."

"General Liu and his men have met the tribal leader she's going to marry. He's different from those barbarians who only know how to burn, kill, and plunder every day."

"That tribal leader is a sensible man. He's always advocated for peace with the Great Zhou. He wants to establish a border market with the Great Zhou. With normal trade at the market, there will be fewer barbarians coming to the Great Zhou to steal food and medicine."

The barbarians were short of medical care and medicine, and especially food. In recent years, every time they came to the border of the Great Zhou, it was to rob them of food and medicine.

They really didn't dare to think about territorial expansion. The main reason was that they were frightened by General Liu and General Huqi in the past few years and they had never recovered.

Xu Miao didn't understand these things, so he asked Mrs. Liu and found out that the tribe Zhang Ruyi was going to marry was not far from the northern border.

That tribal leader had secretly stayed in the Great Zhou for a few years many years ago and had learned a lot of the Great Zhou's methods of governing the country.

He spoke fluent Da Zhou dialect. If it weren't for his majestic appearance, he would be a foreigner at first glance. He might not want to go back to the tribe.

When he returned to his own tribe, he had grown it up within a few years and was now quite famous among the barbarians.

Because he has always advocated for peace with the Great Zhou, he has had several private contacts with General Liu and others, hoping that there could be a smart person who could continue to mediate.

It may be able to better speed up the development of border trade, but I don’t know if Zhang Ruyi can realize this.

If that tribe and the Great Zhou could maintain good relations, it would be of great benefit to the war in the northern border.

After hearing this, Xu Miao realized that this was not a typical example of a student studying abroad who wanted to change the face of his motherland after returning.

Xu Miao didn't dare mention Zhang Ruyi's character to Mrs. Liu, and Xu Miao didn't know what Zhang Ruyi would be like if she really married into the tribe.