When Lian'er saw the old man, she couldn't help but be both happy and sad, recalling the past, full of emotion. The brothers were also elated, as if they had seen the backbone of the Lord.

At first, after Zhu Honglan and other leaders were killed one after another, these people fled in all directions, and many of them were arrested back to the government, but these 200 people escaped the layers of the government and escaped, but although they temporarily saved their lives, they did not dare to show up on the rivers and lakes again, so they went incognito and started this robbery.

But they have always been chivalrous, and they do not bully the weak people, but specialize in robbing the rich and helping the poor, so their reputation has always been good, and even when many people encounter the strong and the oppression of the government and are cornered, they are the ones who lend a hand and draw their swords to help.

After that, everyone built a cottage in this deep mountain and dense forest, and gathered together. ZP County also sent officials and troops to suppress bandits, but because of the dangerous terrain of the cottages, it was no worse than Bijiawa, and there were two cottages, so the officials and troops not only failed to suppress the bandits, but they became bigger and bigger.

The Daixi River winds out between the two mountains, and on the west side of the river is a horseshoe-shaped mountain, which is almost impossible to climb from behind, and the only way into the mountain is the valley where the horseshoe is hollowed, and the entrance of the cottage is the deepest part of the depression. Just imagine, if the official army storms the cottage, it must first attack the entrance of the cottage that is low and easy to enter, but with this hoof-shaped terrain, it is very difficult for you to be able to put a posture in front of the cottage. Because there are two sides of this horse's hooves on all sides, these Boxers have built earthen walls and stone walls on them, and the walls are full of shooting ports, if someone enters the gate of the cottage, they will inevitably shoot from all directions, and it is simply a live target.

The other cottage is on the east side of the river, not built on the mountain, but directly on the top of the mountain, and there is only a narrow ridge passage with the outside world.

What's more, the place where the two cottages can be seen is the beach of the Daixi River, and it is clear what is going on at a glance, and it is impossible for the officers and soldiers to launch a surprise attack; Moreover, the two cottages echo each other from afar, and these more than 200 people are guarding the village, even if the army of 5,000 people has nothing to do with it.

Moreover, it is also a very crucial point, that is, since the defeat of the Boxers, these brothers have also thought about why they failed, one of which is that they did not use the firearms of foreigners, so after the establishment of the cottage, they bought arms everywhere, and even smuggled them to them by foreigners, plus the seizure from the government, now they have at least dozens of guns and tens of thousands of bullets. Lian'er came to the cottage in Hexi, and saw a Gatling heavy machine gun, but there were only about 100 bullets, but even so, a ZP county was beyond the reach of a single ZP county.

The county magistrate reported to the imperial court many times, but how could the imperial court have the strength to manage these grass cowards, and every time he blamed the ZP county government for its ineffective suppression of bandits, and even the bandits of 200 people were helpless. The county magistrate knew that it was useless to report, but instead complained about it, so he stopped reporting it, but just wrote lies to deceive the prefect and governor. But that's not the case at all, but there are many brothers who have been arrested, such as Lu Xiaoliu this time, but the oppressed people who have no way to live have joined one after another, and the strength of Shangzhai has increased instead of decreasing.

Lian'er was surrounded and returned to the cottage in Hexi, and all the brothers also set up a feast and drank together. Qiu Laokui, as the leader of the two villages, waved his hand and said to everyone:

"Brothers, I think many of us are brothers who were born and died together back then, when we followed the leader of the vermilion lantern, raised the banner of 'helping the Qing to destroy the foreign', and attacked the foreigners, I didn't expect to be betrayed by the court in the end, now only everyone is still there, Zhu Leader and others have died, but today we see hope again, that is our aunt and grandmother!"

Saying that, Qiu Laokui glanced at Lian'er, and then said: "This is our senior sister of Leader Zhu, Uncle Lian'er, everyone calls it Grandma!" ”

So the brothers raised their glasses and shouted "Grandma". Lian'er couldn't help but feel a little ashamed, but at this time, she felt that her senior brother Zhu Honglan was still alive, so she also stood up, picked up the wine glass and drank it all, and the brothers couldn't help shouting "good" and "happy".

Then Qiu Laokui said: "I, Qiu Laokui, led everyone out to run for their lives, to be honest, let everyone suffer a lot, now that I see my aunt and grandmother, my burden is suddenly relaxed, I built yì let my aunt and grandmother be our leader, do you have any objections?" ”

Now in the cottage, although there are many local people who have joined the gang, but Shizhi ** is still the subordinate of Zhu Honglan and other leaders back then, and naturally unanimously supports Lian'er as the leader, and those who don't know the details hear such a high voice, so they naturally dare not object.

But Lian'er was taken aback, hurriedly got up, and motioned for everyone to calm down, so the whole hall was silent. Lian'er looked at Qiu Laokui and said:

"Senior nephew Qiu, although I am my senior brother's fellow junior sister, but after all, I am a woman, and my ability has been abandoned for a long time, and I don't have that ability to lead everyone again; Moreover, do you remember the Qin Zhihong who was arrested in Senior Brother Benming's house last time? is Senior Brother Zhu's cousin, who is now my husband, and he is also a disciple of my uncle Zhao Sanduo, and our family settled in Hedong Village. Now, I am already a wife and mother, so naturally I can't ask about the affairs of the rivers and lakes. ”

Only then did Qiu Laokui understand the reason why he saw his uncle Lian'er here, and he kept wondering on the way, but because of his seniority, he never asked. At this time, Qiu Laokui asked Lian'er:

"Grandma, you're talking about Gongzi Qin!"

Lian'er nodded, after all, Qiu Laokui knew how Qin Lian and the two met, so he was a little shy when asked, so he didn't answer.

Qiu Laokui laughed and said, "I see! I have long seen that Qin Gongzi is not an idle person, and that night I deceived the leader of Yu and the leader of the king, as well as your aunt and grandmother, and also helped us lay down the Xu family building, I can see that Qin Gongzi is the dragon and phoenix among people. Oh, by the way, since it is Old Man Zhao's disciple, we should also call Uncle Qin yes, guilty of sin, I will punish myself. As he spoke, he filled his glass and drank it all.

Lian'er naturally knew that Qiu Laokui was saying flattery, but she knew that Qiu Laokui didn't say it against his heart. At this time, Qiu Laokui wondered again:

"Then I don't know why my aunt and grandmother are walking alone in the deep mountains and old forests this time?"

So Lian'er carefully said the antecedents, of course, the experience of these years will not be finished for a while, so Lian'er just told the two of them in Hedong Village, how they were falsely accused by the Zhang family, and how they were recognized by Lu Xiaoliu, who was arrested by the county government.

At this time, there was a commotion in the hall, and they all scolded Lu Xiaoliu for being greedy for life and afraid of death, and Qiu Laokui was even more angry, but suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly asked:

"Then Uncle Qin is okay, right?"

Lian'er said: "Lu Xiaoliu has never seen Qin Zhihong from beginning to end, so he is still safe and sound. ”

Qiu Laokui then said solemnly: "Grandma, you say, what should we do now, we all listen to you!" ”

Lian'er was grateful, and said: "I thank you in advance, I don't think I can go back to reunite with my husband now, but I have to send a letter to Qin Zhihong first, let him know my whereabouts, and then let's take a look at the rest." ”

Qiu Laokui said: "This is easy to do, we have a contact point at the foot of the mountain, and I will ask my cronies to bring a message to Uncle Qin." ”

Lian'er nodded and thanked again and again, no more than elaborate.

Turned back to Hedong Village, the county lord heard that the four officials went to arrest Lian'er, but they were knocked over two and ran away, he was really angry, at this time the old man of the Zhang family sent a small list to the county master's house to meet, the county master was originally disdainful of the small list, but because of the face of the old man Zhang, he let him in.

Xiao Danzi banned the backyard of the county government, that is, where the county magistrate lived, and after saluting, Xiao Danzi said: "Master Yu, that Lian'er is very good at kung fu, and now he is basically sure that he is a boxer." Moreover, the villain also has a report, that is, when the villain used to talk with a long-term worker of the Qin family, he said that there were many other people's rankings in the Qin family's spiritual hall, and they were not from the Qin family's own clan at all. ”

When the county magistrate heard this information, he couldn't help but get excited, so he said: "Originally, I still thought that Old Man Yang was the former imperial court governor Yu Wei, so in this way, the old man is worth this risk, if he can't find anything, at least he is on official duty, and he won't be too faceless." Okay, you go back first, but keep my mouth shut, if the news leaks, I'll ask you! ”

Xiao Danzi naturally knew that the county master's methods were powerful, so he had to make promises. Then, Xiao Dan took out a silver ticket of two thousand taels, and continued:

"Master, this is my lord's heart, and I hope to smile."

The county magistrate's eyes suddenly lit up and said, "What does this mean?" This is also my part, and I will not be punished for nothing. ”

Xiao Danzi said with a smile: "My lord said that if this Qin family can have a recipe for the scattering of seven spirits, it must also be taken from someone else's hands, if the lord can help him bring down the Qin family and get the recipe, there will be heavy thanks in the future." ”

Qin Zhihong, Master Yang and Ziyi were very worried at home, but there was no whereabouts of Lian'er, but early the next morning, they were suddenly told that there was a person in the medicine hall who insisted on returning the medicine, saying that the medicine caught was wrong, and the guy was right several times and did not find anything wrong. Qin Zhihong wondered, if it was usual, he would have to get by, and he would have to give him a refund, but at this moment, someone made such a fuss, so he became suspicious, so he hurriedly went to the medicine hall.

The person who came really didn't really come to grab the medicine, and when Qin Zhihong called the person to the room alone and asked carefully, the person knelt down in Qin Zhihong's ear and said that Lian'er was safe now and was in Qiu Laokui's cottage. Qin Zhihong was relieved at this time, so he led the man to the medicine hall and said to the guy:

"This medicine is indeed wrong, but I don't blame you, you can return the silver to him, and reward him with another five taels of silver."

The guy wondered, but he had no choice but to do it. Qin Zhihong told Ziyi and Old Man Yang the good news, and the family was relieved.

But as soon as he returned to the house, the officers and soldiers arrived, and it was the county magistrate himself who brought people. Qin Zhihong hurriedly greeted him with a smile, and the county magistrate had not touched the details of Qin Zhihong's calling for wind and rain in the capital so far, and his words were quite polite, but he said:

"Master Qin, I wanted to ask Mrs. to ask a few words yesterday, and we wouldn't listen to a bandit's words, but Mrs. injured the official and ran away, how should I deal with this?"

Qin Zhihong hurriedly apologized: "Master, I was also clumsy and panicked yesterday, and now I don't know her whereabouts, today I wanted to deal with the matter at hand early in the morning to think about the lord to apologize, but I didn't expect you to come in person, master." ”

The county magistrate laughed dryly twice, and said: "Don't dare to be, this time I came also for official business, Mrs. escaped this time, just fell into Lu Xiaoliu's tricks, I, as the parent official of one party, have to be serious in everything to not make mistakes, so this time, I hope that Master Qin will let my people take a few casual glances at home, go through the motions, and then have an explanation with the court and the people, so as not to make irresponsible remarks to others." ”

Qin Zhihong said vaguely: "This ...... It's not a big deal, okay. ”

The county master saw Qin Zhihong's hesitant expression, so he knew that he had guessed the **, so he said to everyone: "What are you still doing in a daze, don't you go check it out quickly, go back quickly, so as not to disturb Master Qin!" ”

Qin Zhihong was just about to speak to stop him, but he saw a few soldiers immediately step forward to prevent him from resisting. In fact, Qin Zhihong was afraid of these people, but he knew in his heart that in that case, he would have no silver three hundred taels here; Besides, the whole family was going to suffer, so at this time she had to endure letting these officers and soldiers search for it.