246 General’s Tomb
At this moment, the Hu Family Village was bustling.
Village Chief Hu had gathered a few young men to investigate the waterfall at the back of the mountain.
The crops in the village had been taken care of, and the land that should be plowed had been plowed. Now they could just wait for two more rounds of rainfall before planting the seeds of a new season.
It was unknown if it was just a misconception, but after harvesting the spring crops, the fertility of their land increased.
Actually, the land in Hu Family Village overall was not big enough so every family had a little less land. The quality of the grain seeds was also not good to begin with. Although they had abundant water, their land was not fertile.
The crops harvested every year were less than that of other villages. In addition, their village chief was stubborn. As long as a child was seven years old, they had to be registered.
As a result, they had to pay more taxes. Hence as time passed, their Hu Family Village became poorer and poorer.
There were also people who expressed their dissatisfaction and asked the village chief not to register so many people and to distribute more land to them.
Even so, Village Chief Hu said no.
“Our ancestors are great generals. They’re upright heroes. How can we play tricks? Aren’t we letting our ancestors down!”
Even Old Master Hu and the others supported Village Chief Hu’s decision very much. This was also a rule that the previous village chiefs had adhered to.
Everyone was helpless, but the rules of the ancestors were indeed not easy to break. This was not a bad habit, so they could only endure it.
Although they were the poorest village in town, they had never been poorer than the Old Wang family.
Even Old man Wang’s family did not complain, registered every child in the household and paid a huge head tax every year. What else could they say?
The only time they benefited from this practice was when the Imperial Envoy had come to deliver disaster relief crops. Because their household register was relatively perfect, they had obtained a huge sum.
Two days ago, they even received all the compensation from Shanyang Village. This was a complete surprise.
They had previously heard that Shanyang Village was forced to move to an unknown area.
They thought that Shanyang Village would not return the money they owed them. They did not expect things to take such a turn. This money could even be received at the same time as the harvest.
Back then, the injured people had each received at least five taels of silver.
In addition, Village Chief Hu divided the other compensation amounts equally to appease everyone. Everyone thus received money according to their household register, including children who were only one or two years old.
As well as the conscription service that Shanyang Village had offset for them, according to the usual damage caused by conscription, each family could save two taels of silver each time. Although they did not get to hold the money in their hands, they did not have to send anyone out. It was extremely worth it.
As well as the spring tax that they no longer had to pay.
All the benefits were given to them for free. How could everyone not be happy?
“Perhaps it’s because of the divine rain at the beginning of the year that made our soil fertile. When planting the second batch of seeds in autumn, don’t plant them so densely. Half of the fields should be left empty this year. Next year, we’ll plant the other half.” the old farmer said. “Now that we have enough food, don’t over use the fields.”
In the past, they would plant all the seeds in spring and autumn. It was not because they were hardworking, but because if they did not do that, the harvest would be even more insufficient. Even if they worked themselves to death every day, they would still have to starve for a period of time.
Now, it was completely different.
Everyone was overjoyed.
When they heard that Ah Yu and the others seemed to have found the general’s tomb behind the mountain, the villagers felt relieved.
This was definitely a blessing brought by the Blessed Child!
The harvest season was originally the time when everyone was the most grateful. Everything they did was exciting.
When they heard that the village chief wanted to organize people to explore the waterfall behind the mountain, everyone could not hold their excitement and followed.
The mountain path for several miles was smooth and flat.
When they arrived at the waterfall, the young people did not wait for Village Chief Hu to call them and climbed down the waterfall to the rocks themselves.
Soon, they realized that there was a gap in the middle of the waterfall.
A young man covered in sweat ran over and shouted in surprise, “Village Chief! There’s really a tomb here. It’s a huge tomb!”
The tomb hidden behind the waterfall was huge. Outside was a tombstone engraved with some records of the deceased’s years of life and deeds. On the outermost area, there was a set of armor.
However, the young man did not recognize the words on the tombstone.
The most literate person in the village was Old Master Hu, but Old Master Hu was old and could not climb the waterfall.
If he climbed for a while, he might end up in the tomb instead.
Everyone looked at each other.
At this moment, Third Aunt’s third son said, “Even though I cannot read, I know how to write a little. Let me go in and sketch out the words inside.”
Third Aunt’s third son ran around all year round. When he returned this time, he originally wanted to leave, but when he saw that the food at home was abundant, he naturally stayed in the village to help.
Later on, after the harvest, Third Aunt Hu thought about how she had once caused the Wang Family to be in trouble because of her nonsense.
She had purposely asked her third son to stay at home. She wanted to spend a few months washing his mind and letting him know how to help to keep secrets before letting him out.
Her third son’s name was Hu Zhengnian. He was a very energetic young man.
Hu Zhengnian immediately ran back to the village and got a pen and paper from Old Master Hu. He sealed the pen and paper into a bamboo tube and returned to enter the waterfall.
After he copied the words inside, Old Master Hu’s expression changed drastically when he read the contents.
“This-it’s really the great general’s tomb!”
The ancestors of Hu Family Village had produced a great general in the past. This was the information that had been passed down by the older generation, but it had never been confirmed.
Now, the living evidence was right in front of them.
The tomb behind the waterfall was very intact so they only took out the set of armor.
Unexpectedly, after removing the rust on the outside of the armor, he saw a few engraved words inside.
[Heaven’s blessing uncovered in the snow, prosperous path.]
When everyone heard these words, they were confused and did not understand what it meant.
Old Master Hu: “!!!”
Perhaps the word Chang (prosperous) was the Chang of the Great Chang Nation.
He wondered if that was what it meant.
But if that was the case, this matter would be huge.
Seeing that Old Master Hu’s expression was not right, Village Chief Hu sent everyone away. After returning to the village, he asked everyone to get ready to build a general’s shrine.
In the future, they would worship the General in the village.
Everyone was especially enthusiastic about this. They even felt that perhaps they could survive many disasters this time because of the protection of the heroic spirit of the Great General.
After everyone dispersed, Old Master Hu gathered the respected old men in the village.
“Perhaps Ah Yu’s arrival in our village was not a coincidence.”
[Heaven’s blessing uncovered in the snow, prosperous path.]
When it snowed, Heaven’s blessing would descend. If one chose the right path, they would prosper.
After Old Master Hu roughly interpreted the words, he only said this sentence.
The elders looked at each other, confused.
However, Village Chief Hu said, “Then should we tell the Wang Family about this?”
“Of course,” Old Master Hu said. “We have to inform Zhu Zi and his wife, especially Zhu Zi’s wife.”
In Old Master Hu’s opinion, the most intelligent person in the Wang Family was not Zhu Zi or Wang Chuangui, but Zhu Zi’s wife.
At this moment, Little Ah Yu, who everyone was worried about, encountered a crisis.