Chapter 1530
The Final Battle, Something's Wrong
Chapter 1530 The Final Battle, Something's Wrong
Dong dong qiang!
"The groom has brought the bride home!"
After a lively scene, the young man from the Song family brought his bride back.
Si Pei hurriedly finished the mixed stew in his bowl, wiped his mouth twice, took out his notebook, and called to the members of the recording club: "Let's go, let's hurry up and do the recording!"
The group quickly finished eating and got up to take notes.
After documenting the entire special wedding banquet, Si Pei and his entourage took their leave: "Uncle Song, groom, we still have official business to attend to, so we won't stay any longer. Farewell, everyone!"
After saying this, they retreated, taking a carriage to a small village near Mushan Mountain, where they found the Gao family.
Since Si Pei began keeping wartime records, fearing that paper records could not be preserved, he used the ancient method of burning and recording.
The Gao family in Huangtao Town ran a brick and pottery business. When the old soldiers from the Gao family and Qin family's medicinal herb workshop learned about this, they volunteered to take on the task of recording the pottery firing and the bronze and iron casting, in order to preserve the historical facts of the wartime period.
"Wow, it smells so good! Master Gao, are you also making a reunion dinner?" Si Pei smelled the rich aroma of food as soon as he entered the small estate.
"Haha, yes, all the families have arrived and are preparing a grand feast together. They will take turns eating the reunion meal starting at noon. The workshop will not be shut down, so Young Master Pei can rest assured." Master Gao and his sons came out to greet them.
Because the Gao family and the old soldiers relied on the Xue and Qin families and had skills, they were able to retreat with the Qin family and avoid infection. So far, no of their relatives have died from the disease.
But the Gao family was happy to follow everyone to fight this decisive battle... Given the general trend, the Gao family was too lazy to scheme for survival, so they simply followed their grand ambitions, saving trouble and not letting down this land.
“Young Master Pei, fellow students, come on, Old Gao will take you to see the fired bricks and pottery record books.”
Gao Dongjia led Si Pei and the others to a large house.
The room was filled with stacks of pottery pages... which are thick, fired pottery shards with writing on them, like pages of a book, hence the name pottery pages.
Inside the large house were many literate scholars, all members of a folk record-keeping society. They were responsible for checking and organizing the pottery pages. After confirming that there were no errors, they packed the pages into boxes in an orderly manner according to their numbers. Once the boxes were full, they were set aside to wait for the pit to be dug and buried.
"Thank you for your hard work, fellow members." Si Pei bowed to the members.
The group leader returned the greeting with a smile, saying, "It's no trouble at all. The names of each of our members have been engraved and put into a box to be preserved for future generations."
"We'll be remembered in history, all the hard work will be worth it, haha." The other members echoed, showing no signs of impending doom, only a triumphant air of having contributed to the world.
One member even whispered, "I'm good at stone carving. I'll carve a message on a piece of blue brick and leave it for future generations. Hehe, if future generations see it, they'll definitely remember me, their ancestor."
"No, Xu Weigeng, what kind of outrageous things have you written for posterity? Tell us the truth, don't embarrass us!" The head of the recording team was getting impatient, almost grabbing Xu Weigeng by the neck and shaking him.
Xu Weigeng said, "Don't worry, Brother Ban Tou. I've always been steady and reliable. Besides, we are the ancestors of our descendants. Most of the messages are from our elders. I won't embarrass you. Don't worry."
He added, "That batch of pottery sheets has already been buried."
The implication is that even if you ask me to take it out now, I can't take it unless I dig it up.
But if it's been buried with great difficulty and the surface has been covered up, who would bother to dig it out?
The recorder was speechless. "That Xu guy is a real scoundrel. But this is a great idea! I'll quickly record a passage to leave for future generations, so they can admire the brilliance of this ancestor!"
“Old Xu, you’re skilled in stone carving. What a coincidence! You’ll carve this newly recorded wartime celebration onto blue bricks for posterity.” Si Pei handed him the Song family’s celebration record book and added, “All the new records submitted these past few days should be preserved by carving. There’s no time for forging.” “Yes, sir!” Xu Weigeng took the record book, handed over his other tasks to the other members, and then focused on this task.
Si Pei and his men then went to the old general's blacksmith shop to look at his copper and iron record books... Copper and iron are precious and difficult to forge, so the events recorded on copper and iron vessels are all major events of this battle.
It is also very short.
It belongs to the type of article with few words but a big impact.
"Thank you for your hard work, sirs." Si Pei thanked them and then said to Deputy General Zhao, "Commander Zhao, this place is close to the west city wall. Your Wei troops on duty need to be extra careful. Please, hold out until the work is completed."
"Young Master Si Pei, rest assured, I will guard this record preservation workshop and will never allow the preservation of wartime historical facts to be interrupted by the enemy!" Zhao, the former deputy general of Tai Zhou Prefecture, and now the chief of the Zhao army, assured him.
"Thank you for your trouble. Rest assured, the Si family will take care of your family in Taizhou Prefecture. You can fight this battle to the death without worry." Many people knew the identity of Commander Zhao.
But only Young Master Zhao knew the secret of Deputy General Zhao... that he and his son had hidden the body of Marquis Wenchang.
"Thank you, Young Master Si Pei." Deputy General Zhao was conflicted and almost told Si Pei the truth that Marquis Wenchang was killed by Commander Wen.
But Si Pei is from a prominent family, and the matter was accomplished in secrecy. Once the secret is discovered by others, the body of the Marquis of Wenchang might be destroyed.
Then the evidence is gone.
Deputy General Zhao ultimately held back and did not tell Si Pei the secret. Instead, he took advantage of his position guarding a small village, took his son, and took a batch of blue bricks to record the truth about the murder of Marquis Wenchang, the location where the body was hidden, and the burial site of the evidence. He then found a box, packed it up, dug a pit, and buried it.
Deputy General Zhao thought that if he and his son died in battle, future generations would be able to uncover the truth behind the death of Marquis Wenchang.
If we compare it with the record of the death of Marquis Wenchang in the History of Wei, doubts will emerge. If people in later generations have a lot of free time, they might search for the location where the body was hidden according to the truth recorded by the father and son, find the remains of Marquis Wenchang, and the truth of the case will be revealed.
"Father, even if future generations know the truth, it won't make any difference, will it?" Young Master Zhao felt it was a futile effort.
Deputy General Zhao scolded him: "How is it meaningless? Didn't His Majesty promote the Yong family to Duke of Yong because of the death of Marquis Wenchang? This is deceiving His Majesty's favor. We must help His Majesty get this favor back!"
"..." Young Master Zhao felt that his father's words were nonsensical and illogical.
But thinking that the final battle was coming soon, he didn't argue with his father and just went along with his father, finally fulfilling his filial duty.
Dangdang Dangdang!
"It's noon! The first group to have their reunion dinner, hurry up and put down your work and go eat!" Master Gao banged the gong, calling his employees to go and have their reunion dinner with their families.
This time of day is also when many people in the capital city are having their reunion dinner, with calls for meals coming in all directions, creating a lively and festive atmosphere.
……
Outside the city, the enemy soldier Rong's face was as black as ink... In fact, you couldn't see what his face looked like because he always wore a leather mask.
"Men, send assassins to the west city to inquire about the situation in Beida Erna. The smoke coming out of the city these past few days is strange. It's not smoke from burning houses or corpses, but normal cooking smoke!"
The enemy soldiers frequently traveled to and from the Great Wei, and knew what the smoke from the chimneys looked like when people in the Great Wei were cooking at mealtimes.
In the past, he would feel envious and moved when he saw the smoke rising from the chimneys of the Wei people, but today: "Something's not right. I need to find out quickly. Could it be that the Wei people have already conquered the plague and returned home to live normal lives?!"