The sun hung red in the eastern sky, today is September 24th, the weather is still a good day with wind and sunshine like yesterday, Liu Fan, Uncle Su and Dong Zi plus Ma Qiang, Hai Xiancun, five people set off from Liangzhou early in the morning, because Ma Qiang and Hai Xiancun are also from Chengnan Zhuang, so they also brought the two together, and returned to their hometowns to meet their relatives by the way.

Five people, five horses, and seven pack horses walked on the official road paved with bluestones, and there was also quite a momentum.

Due to the continuous wars in the northwest region in recent years, the official road from Liangzhou to Jincheng Mansion has been repaired every year, and more than a dozen horses are all good horses in the army, and the group set off from the morning at the right time to rush non-stop, and it has been about an hour or so to the three poles in the sun, and it has almost run 30 miles.

There was a small town in front, and a few pergolas selling water were set up on the side of the road, and a few people saw that the horses were already sweating slightly, so they chose a pergola and asked for a few catties of cooked meat, and each person had a large bowl of wide noodles, and by the way, the horses also rested.

As soon as he sat down, he didn't have time to drink a sip of tea soup, and in a blink of an eye, he saw a small man dressed in a strong costume standing in front of several people, raised his hand to Liu Fan and said, "Dare to ask Your Excellency is General Liu Fan Liu?" ”

Several people were shocked in their hearts, "This person is so fast." ”

Liu Fan saw that this person was a little familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it for a while, although he was puzzled, but he said calmly: "Exactly, I don't know what advice Brother Tai has?" ”

I only heard the other party reply: "I don't dare, but someone asked me to bring a few words to General Liu, and asked the general to borrow a step to speak." ”

Dong Zi, Uncle Su and others had already seen that this person had martial arts, and at this time, they invited Liu Fan to leave alone, and they had already moved their hands to the hilt of the knife on their waists.

But the other party didn't even look at it, just laughed casually: "General Liu became famous in the battle of Ganzhou City, and defeated the Khitan army of 200,000 in the construction of the camp, so heroic that he is still afraid of the invitation of just one person?" ”

Liu Fan motioned with his eyes that Dong Zi and the others were okay, got up and walked with the people to a poplar tree ten steps away from the tea shed.

The other party continued: "It stands to reason that General Liu and Zai Xia are two people, General Liu is a young hero, admired by the world, but he lives in the dark below, and he does even more shady deeds, but I don't know why, when I heard what General Liu did, I still sincerely felt admiration, maybe I may still have a trace of conscience in my hard heart." ”

"Don't talk nonsense, I was entrusted by my employer to bring a sentence to General Liu, and I ask General Liu to remember: 'General Xie raised his noble hand and lived the life of my family, and I will always remember the general's kindness, and he will be rewarded well when he has the opportunity in the future.

"Also, I also want to say a few words to General Liu, thank General Liu for using your treasure knife to cut the iron lock, so that I have less than forty or fifty lives, as a thank you, please accept this knife, although I heard that the general has benevolence and righteousness, and has saved people in danger many times, but there are unsightly deeds in this society, good people are not necessarily free of trouble, if the general encounters something difficult to solve from the table in the future, please put this knife on the cashier of Liangzhou Yihong Courtyard and attach what needs to be done, There will be people who will risk their lives to fulfill the general's instructions. ”

Liu Fan put the knife in his hand into his arms, and saw the figure of the other party disappearing like a bird in his eyes, thinking that Yihongyuan was still close to this passer-by, and there was more of an indescribable feeling in his heart, and he didn't know if his choice was appropriate for some things.

But I remembered that I was just a newly promoted Sima Duwei, with no roots and no foundation, and there were a large group of people around me who needed to sacrifice their lives to maintain, so what could I do if I didn't choose so, so I had to helplessly shake my head and lead the pack horse back to Uncle Su and the others.

After that, the journey went smoothly, and when I arrived at the camp of the Jincheng Army in Fucheng around midnight on the evening of the third day, the soldiers of the first battalion who had stayed here to be in charge of the training of recruits were preparing for dinner.

Although Uncle Su and Liu Fan and their entourage did not know the captain in charge, after several people reported to their homes and showed their waist cards, several officers immediately warmly welcomed the five people into the camp, and the captain even immediately gathered the soldiers of the whole battalion to line up to welcome Liu Fan and others, who had earned enough face for the Jincheng Army in this year's war with the Khitans.

After having a very sumptuous dinner in the barracks, the lieutenant arranged for someone to boil several large pots of hot water, so that the few people who were hurrying non-stop and continuously took a hot bath beautifully, as if even the fatigue of the long-distance journey in the past few days had been washed away, and the overnight stay in the barracks without being on duty also made a few people sleep well.

The next day, when the captain surnamed Zhu set off, he insisted on sending a sentry to escort Liu Fan and others to Didao County, from Jincheng Mansion to Didao County, it was also a hundred and ten miles away, and the group set off from the morning to Shen Zhengshi for more than three hours in a row, Didao County was already in sight, and the escorted sentry soldiers saw that the task had been completed, and they also said goodbye.

After resting in the county seat for a while, the group rushed out of the county seat from the south gate to Chengnanzhuang Village, and the distance of three or four miles was in a blink of an eye.

The golden autumn sun hangs warmly in the western sky, a clear river flows slowly to the east, separating the county town in the distance from the large villages in the south, and a mountain range in the distance stretches from west to east, and the river runs parallel to the east, the sunset sweeps through the valleys, the sparkling spots of light are scattered, the lush trees and mountains are woven into a dazzling and colorful golden carpet, and the ridges are crossed from the mountains to the river, and between the two ridges there is a natural formation of a paradise-like small villages, The smoke curling in the village, the smell of chickens and dogs, and the soft singing of the woman pounding clothes by the river constitute a beautiful idyllic painting.

A simple wooden bridge leads to the other side of the river, connecting the quiet village to the outside world, and tall horses step on the wooden bridge with their heads held high, and the old wooden bridge squeaks in protest.

This small movement immediately attracted the attention of several young girls working on the opposite side and a group of children who were playing in the water, and one by one they stopped, stood up and looked this way. Uncle Su, who was walking next to him, was already full of excitement, and shouted in a trembling voice: "Ah Hui and Lingling don't know their father?" ”

A girl who looked to be roughly sixteen or seventeen years old was stunned for a moment, and then ran quickly to the wooden bridge, followed by three girls who looked smaller.

When the group got off the bridge, the girl who ran at the front was already full of tears, and said intermittently: "Daddy...... You can come back, my mother and we look forward to the stars and the moon, and count the days of your departure with our fingers every day. As he spoke, tears began to rain down.

Dong Zi shouted to the girl who looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old in the back: "Jin'er, how is Daddy?" ”

The girl named Jin'er was also full of tears, ran over and hugged Liu Fan's shoulders and cried softly: "Big brother, second brother, you are back, my father and mother are afraid of you every day, and my mother can't sleep every night when you think about you......"

Not only Uncle Su, Liu Fan and Dong Zi couldn't control their tears, but Ma Qiang and Hai Xiancun in the back also burst into tears.

Liu Fan stretched out his hand to help Jin'er wipe her tears, and at the same time picked up the little girl who was always holding Jin'er and looked like she was only eight or nine years old and said, "Are you Chenchen?" Remember your brothers? Why don't you speak? ”

I saw that the little girl shook her head, and then immediately nodded again, and whispered: "Chenchen remembers the two elder brothers, because my father and mother have to talk about you every day, big brother, don't you leave your father and mother again, okay, my mother always cries when she talks about you." ”

"Okay, let's go home first, and we'll never be separated again."

Liu Fan saw that Uncle Su was also hugging the girl named Lingling, who was about eleven or twelve years old behind Ah Hui, and was babbling something.

At this time, Jin'er and Ah Hui had finished saluting everyone separately, and turned back to get the clothes that were being washed. ”

Liu Fan said to Uncle Su, Ma Qiang, and Hai Xiancun: "Uncle, there are a lot of things to do these days, I won't go to your house today, I will go to see my aunt early tomorrow morning, and we will go to Ma Qiang and Xiaohai's house together in the afternoon, and we will take time to see the family of the fallen brother." You and your aunt should also discuss it as soon as possible, and this time you will move your aunt and sisters to Liangzhou together. ”

After saying all this, several people said goodbye at the intersection.