Just when Duan Dazhang was drinking happily with the Sun family brothers, one hundred and ten slender men shouted and pulled six big boats up the current and pulled them to Tangjiatuo downstream of Chaotianmen.

The man standing at the bow of the boat frowned slightly, and said to a family member guarding the side: "Go and ask Master Du, please ask Master Du to negotiate with them." ”

"Yes." The family responded, and turned around and leaned into the cabin.

After a while, a military attache dressed in official uniform got out of the cabin, took the official hat from the hands of his entourage, stood beside the man who looked neither like a scholar nor a businessman, and stared at the few Cha Yong who came over with a boat, and asked: "Which yamen are you from, why do you want to stop this official's boat!" ”

The tea warriors of the Baojia Bureau were stunned, they didn't expect that it was the official ship that was stopped, and they didn't know how to reply, a scribe sitting in the boat quickly stood up, squeezed to the bow of the boat and bowed, and then arched his hand and asked: "My lord, the little one is the assistant member of the Lijin Bureau, and he was ordered by the county lord to set up a card here." Dare to ask the old man with his surname, what is the business trip to my Ba County, and the small one should hurry up and report to the county. ”

They have all arrived at the door of the house, but they were stopped by a group of twitches, and they are not locals listening to the accent, Du San is really too lazy to take care of them.

The family member with a terrifying and hideous scar on his face just now reacted, and immediately shouted at the top of his throat: "My lord's surname is Du, his name is Wei Fang, his official residence is the fourth grade, and he is the rank of Jiadu!" My lord was ordered by Xiang Rongxiang, the minister in charge of military affairs in Jiangnan, to escort the bones of the children of Ba County who died on the battlefield back to their hometown for burial, and they didn't hurry up! ”

The scribe had heard of Xiang Rong a long time ago, but he was deeply suspicious of the identity of Du San and others, after all, the Sichuan River had been obstructed for a long time due to the long-haired chaos, and Xiang Rongzheng led the troops to quell the chaos in Liangjiang, and it was not easy to transport the bones of the Sichuan soldiers who died in the battle in Liangjiang back to his hometown, so he bowed down again and saluted: "Little Li Yuanchang visited Master Du and dared to ask Master Du if he could let the little one get on the boat to take a look." ”

Du San was furious, and asked with a gloomy face, "What do you want to see?" ”

"Master Du forgives his sins, he has a small responsibility, and he really can't let you go if he doesn't understand it."

"Do you have to get on board?"

"I'm afraid I can't get on the boat, this is an errand assigned by the county, Master Du, can you not be embarrassed."

This is Ba County, not Guazhou or Jiangning, Du San, who has been worried all the way, and pretended to be a turtle with a shrunken head all the way, how could he be afraid of a scribe who is not even an official, and his face suddenly changed: "Brothers, copy guys!" Aim at the master, if anyone dares to get on the boat, he will be killed! ”

"Yes!" Scarface relented, and immediately took out a flag and waved it at the boats behind him.

After a while, dozens of green battalion soldiers came out of the cabin, some with knives, some with spears, and some even opened bows and arrows to aim at those tea warriors on the shore.

Li Yuanchang is not a scribe, just a bookkeeper, because the owner has become a gentry of the Lijin Bureau, so he followed this errand of pulling a penny, and when he saw the posture, he was suddenly frightened, and hurriedly said: "Master Du forgives his sins, the small one has eyes and does not know Mount Tai, and the small one will make way for those slender men." ”

"It's really a toast and don't eat and drink, just be so bold and set up a card draw!" Du San snorted coldly, turned around and motioned to the accompanying soldiers to put away their weapons.

……

The news spread quickly, and before the ship of Du San and others arrived at Nanjimen, the military attachés of Chongqing Town, such as the general soldier, deputy general, and staff general, received the news and rushed to the dock with the battalion's Du Si, guerrilla, and Qian Zong.

Du San didn't talk about it in the Tang family's Tuolika, he really escorted the bones of his brothers who died in battle back on the order of Xiang Rong, the minister of the Qin Mission, and there were more than 40 coffins on six boats, and he even carried an official document stamped with the Great Seal of the Qin Mission!

Many of the Sichuan soldiers who had quelled the chaos in Liangjiang had been transferred from various battalions in Chongqing Town, and when they watched the coffins being carried ashore by the porters, the old and weak women and children in the camp began to cry loudly, crying in the dark, regardless of whether the coffins were lying in their relatives or not. As a result, this cry attracted more people to watch, and the city was empty.

Duan Jiqing, who had just returned to the county seat from Zoumagang, also received the news, and was hesitating whether to take a look, when Guan Bantou came to the door with three people in a hurry.

"Duan Jingcheng, look who's back!"

"Changsheng greets Uncle Duan!"

Duan Jiqing hurriedly helped Pan Er up, looked at Pan Er and asked with tears in his eyes, "Immortal...... It's really immortal, when did you come back? ”

Seeing Duan Jiqing again, thinking that he would never see his father again, Pan Er couldn't control it, and said with tears in his eyes: "I left to come back as soon as I received your old letter, and I originally planned to come back by land, but Lord Guo said that Shandong is making trouble with long hair, and Henan is making trouble with bandits, and I am worried that this road is not easy to walk, so I will go to Shanghai to take a sand boat to Tianjin, from Tianjin to Zhili, and then go to Shaanxi along the official road of Jingxi, and come back from the 'Beida Road'."

Unexpectedly, he rushed to Shanghai to find Su Jueming, who was the family member of the fourth brother who had received him in Taizhou before, only to know that he had just received a letter from the fourth brother, and only then did he know that there were traitors in Tongzi, and his hometown was not peaceful. He and Master Xue and Master Liu are discussing how to do what the fourth brother explained......"

Duan Jiqing saw that Pan Er was talking and wanted to stop talking, so he simply asked Guan Bantou to help greet Pan Er's entourage, so he led Pan Er into the study, brought him to the door and asked eagerly: "Changsheng, are you talking about Xue Huan, Master Xue and Master Liu Cunhou?" ”

"Exactly."

Pan Er wiped away his tears and said in a choked voice: "The fourth brother is worried about the safety of his hometown, so he sent urgent mail to Master Xue, Master Liu, and Wu Jianzhang, who were quelling the chaos in Shanghai, and asked them to find a way to buy 200 foreign guns and 5,000 catties of gunpowder and lead. Wu Jianzhang was very helpful, and helped him buy 260 foreign guns and more than 6,000 catties of gunpowder and lead from a French trading house in France. ”

"Where's the guns and gunpowder?" Duan Jiqing asked.

"It's shipped back." Pan Er took a deep breath and continued: "My hometown is not peaceful, Master Xue is as anxious as Master Liu, I was going to transfer fifty soldiers from the battalion and let me lead those soldiers to send back guns and gunpowder lead, but Du San happened to arrive in Shanghai, so I asked Du San and Du San to lead fifty fellow villagers to escort the bones of the brothers killed in the war back to their hometowns for burial.

This road is not easy to walk, so I can only take the foreigner's boat, but I didn't expect those foreigners to do business with Changmao all the way. In Guazhou, Jiangning and other places where long hair is entrenched, I stayed for fourteen days! We were so frightened that we didn't dare to show our heads, so we could only hide our official uniforms and customs guards in coffins, let alone go ashore. Just followed the foreigner's ship to Wuchang, and then changed ships, hired porters, and then changed ships......"

Of the more than forty coffins, only twenty had bones in them.

After confirming that the remaining coffins were full of foreign guns, and the gunpowder and lead were well hidden, Duan Jiqing finally breathed a sigh of relief, thought about it and asked, "Why are you all home, Zhixing hasn't arrived home yet?" ”

"Qin'er's sister-in-law was born in these two months, don't you know?"

"Qin'er is pregnant, Qin'er is about to give birth!"

"That's what the fourth brother said to Master Xue and Master Liu in the letter, he didn't know that I would go to Shanghai first, so he didn't give me the letter."

"I see, hey, I should have thought of it." Finally having the news of his son-in-law and daughter, Duan Jiqing's mood suddenly improved, weighed it and patted Pan Er's arm and said: "Du Weifang is waiting for news in the right camp office, right, virtuous nephew, it's inconvenient for me to show my face, and I have to bother you to run away, let him quickly send the foreign guns and gunpowder and lead away." ”

"What are you going to do when you send away the horse, isn't the fourth brother going to come back for a group practice?" Pan Er asked puzzled.

"Those scholars in Ba County are not happy, and they can't speak clearly for a while, you listen to me first, not to mention that you have to go back to Magang to fulfill your father's filial piety, transport the guns and gunpowder and lead back first, and wait for your fourth brother to get home." Duan Jiqing paused, and added: "You go over first, I'll pack up and go directly to the horse, go to the horse gang and other aspirations!" ”

"Okay, I'll listen to your master, I'll go to the Right Camp Office to find Du San."

"By the way, the two shops that your father and I co-opened before his death are in Nanjimen, your eldest brother and sister-in-law are taking care of them there, you and your brother and sister-in-law have been separated for several years, and by the way, go to say hello to them, I estimate that they will go back to your hometown with you. After all, your brother is the eldest son, and he is indispensable for such a big event as going to the grave to pay respects. ”

"Okay, then I'll go first."

……

Seeing Pan Er away together, Guan Bantou asked eagerly: "Duan Jingcheng, Pan Er is back, Zhixing said in the letter that the righteous brother Du Weifang is also back, why haven't Zhixing and Qin'er arrived home today?" ”

"Qin'er is pregnant, and she was born in these two months, so she was delayed on the road." Thinking that his daughter almost lost her life when she gave birth to a dog, Duan Jiqing hurriedly fetched water, washed her hands and face, and then ran to the desk to put incense on her clothes, praying that Guanyin Bodhisattva and the ancestors of the Han family would bless Qin'er's mother and son safely.

Guan Bantou bowed to him, and said with a wry smile: "Duan Jingcheng, when Pan Er was looking for me just now, the county master also received the news that he escorted the bones of the children killed in the war in Ba County back to his hometown, let me ask if you are free, if you are free, can you help ask Master Gong, Master Cui and Master Yang, can you donate some silver to buy a piece of land, so that you can bury those martyred Ba County children, so that you can make a water and land dojo for those martyred Ba County children for a few days." ”

Duan Jiqing pondered for a moment, then turned around and said, "We should contribute money and efforts to this kind of accumulation of virtue and good deeds, but it is not my turn to gather the gentry." If I guessed correctly, the county master didn't want me to take the lead, but wanted to meet me and probe my tone. ”

"The four babies help with the group training?"

"What else can there be other than this, you just say that I came back to get a change of clothes, and I have to go back to the horse in a while. As for raising money to buy land to bury the bones of the dead in the war and raising money to invite monks and Taoists to run water and land dojos, Zhixing and I will donate as much as they donate. ”

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