Han Xiufeng's hometown is not on Zoumagang, but at the foot of Ciyun Mountain, about seven miles northwest of Zoumagang.

Because his heart was like an arrow, Han Xiufeng didn't want to go along the official road first, and then turn back to Ciyun from the path he used to take before, so as soon as he entered the boundary of Ba County, he asked a villager, planning to take a shortcut to go home. I never wanted to leave the official road and then walked and got lost at the door of my house!

The peaks are stacked, the ancient trees are towering, the mountain roads are twisted and curved, and even the southeast and northwest can not be distinguished.

Just when Han Xiufeng couldn't regret it and wanted to lead everyone back, Chen Bufu, who was exploring the way ahead, found that there was cooking smoke in front of him. Having smoke means that there is a house, which means that you can find someone to ask for directions, so you can move on. I didn't expect to see a bamboo forest when I got closer, and there was a temple behind the bamboo forest.

Second Master Fei thought that he had taken the wrong way and was going to the temple in front of him to spend the night, but Han Xiufeng said excitedly: "It's here, it's finally here, we're not wrong!" ”

Qin'er has been to Ciyun's hometown twice, and how she doesn't look like when she came before with the baby in her arms, she can't help but say, "But I can't see people around......"

"You came from a walking horse, and now we are from Bishan, and we are taking a shortcut." Han Xiufeng motioned to his eldest son to hold on to the saddle, and explained while leading the horse: "The reason why our hometown is called Ciyun is because it is located at the foot of Ciyun Mountain. The reason why Tsz Yun Mountain is called Tsz Yun Mountain is because there is a Tsz Yun Temple on the mountain, which is the temple in front. When I was a child, my eldest brother brought me here once, but I couldn't remember it after too much time. Now that I think about it, I know where I'm going. ”

Second Master Fei subconsciously asked, "Why are you leaving?" ”

"Go forward first, there is a fork in the road without reaching the mountain gate of Ciyun Temple, follow the fork in the road down the mountain, and walk to the foot of the mountain."

"Fourth master, there is really a road ahead, and the road down the mountain is much easier to walk than the road here!"

"I'm not wrong," Han Xiufeng looked at Chen Hu, Chen Bupanic and the others happily, and explained: "The monks of Ciyun Temple want to go down the mountain to make fate, and the villagers under the mountain want to go up the mountain to burn incense, and there are many people walking, and this road is naturally easier to walk than the road we came over." ”

"It's finally here, it's all the way." Qin'er finally breathed a sigh of relief, and looked for the village she remembered.

However, the road down the mountain is covered with pines, green and mist, surrounded by mountains and forests, and the sky is dark, so I can't see anything clearly. In this way, I walked nearly three more incense sticks, turned two or three corners, and suddenly opened up in front of me, only to see that there were fifty or sixty families living at the foot of the mountain, and a pond not far from the mountain pass was particularly conspicuous in the hazy twilight.

Qin'er hugged the baby tightly and said excitedly: "Come to think of it, it's really here!" Fourth brother, the mountain pass is the entrance of the village, and I came from the entrance of the village with my father last time! ”

After leaving his hometown for too long, and the changes in his hometown were not one or two points, Han Xiufeng felt very strange, and looked down for a while without finding the three thatched houses he once lived in, and asked embarrassedly: "Qin'er, where is our home?" ”

"There, right behind the pond!"

"Oh, I see." Only then did Han Xiufeng remember that his hometown had been rebuilt, and even built an ancestral hall.

It is not easy for the villagers to make some money, usually reluctant to light the lamp, sleep very early, from the back mountain into the village to the door of the road, did not see a person, until I confirmed with Qin'er that the house in front of me is my own, went up and patted the knocker, only to hear the familiar and somewhat unfamiliar voice of the eldest brother from inside.

"Who's coming."

"Big brother, it's me, my fourth baby, I'm back."

"Four babies!" Han Da thought he had heard it wrong, pulled out the deadbolt and opened the door, and saw Han Xiufeng standing in front of him with a dog's egg, and he was stunned for a while.

"Big brother, it's really me."

"What about the eldest brother, eldest brother, mother and sister-in-law?" Qin'er hugged the baby and couldn't help but step forward and ask.

"It's really four babies, if you really come back, you can be counted as back!" Han Da finally came to his senses, and hurriedly turned around and shouted: "Master Duan, Master Duan, the four babies are back, they are all back......"

The mansion that had taken advantage of the opportunity suddenly boiled, Duan Jiqing hurriedly ran out, and the Xu family ran out with Han Xiufeng's mother. To Han Xiufeng's surprise, the three big families in the village, Xu Yunshan, Wang Jingcheng and Chen Huagui, were also there, scrambling to say hello, and then helping to greet Fei Erye, Gao Yunfeng, Chen Hu and other attachés, helping to call those mothers-in-law in the village to hurry up and help cook rice, and call the descendants in the village to hurry over and help unload things.

Confirming that the son-in-law was really delayed because Qin'er gave birth to a baby on the road, and confirming that his daughter and little grandchild were safe, Duan Jiqing was excited and burst into tears, and then thought of why Han Xiufeng came back, so he quickly asked his wife and mother-in-law to hand over the two little grandsons to Han Xiufeng and Qin'er, and then called Han Da and went to the ancestral hall next door to kowtow to Han Yugui.

The Han family ancestral hall has three entrances inside and outside, which is really not magnificent compared to the ancestral halls of those big families outside, but it must be the most magnificent in Ciyun.

I don't know if I've cried, and I don't know if it's been several months since I received the bad news, looking at the portrait of his father in a five-grade official uniform and the tablet under the portrait, Han Xiufeng's heart was suddenly not particularly uncomfortable, but he was very sorry, and at the same time felt that everything around him was so unfamiliar, and the whole person became in a trance.

After putting incense, kowtowing, and burning paper, I returned to the main courtyard surrounded by everyone.

Duan Jiqing led him around inside and out, and finally stopped in front of the gatehouse, and sighed lightly: "Speaking of which, your father is still weak, he doesn't live in so many big houses inside, he has to live in the gatehouse, and he doesn't feel at ease if he doesn't stare at the door." As a result, the earth dragon turned over, and the other houses did not collapse, but the row at the door collapsed......"

Zhang was afraid that the younger son would blame the eldest son and the second son, so he wiped his tears and choked and said: "Fourth baby, don't blame your eldest brother and second brother, and don't blame your eldest sister-in-law and second sister-in-law, this is all fate." ”

"Mother, why should I blame them, just tell you, it's all fate." Han Xiufeng took a deep breath, turned around and asked, "Big brother, what about the second brother and second sister-in-law?" ”

"They're in the city, and the babies are all in the city."

Duan Jiqing reacted and hurriedly talked about what had happened at home and even in the city in the past few months.

Han Xiufeng didn't expect that Cui Huanzhang, Yang Yiqing and other gentry were all waiting for him to come back, nor did he expect Pan Er to come back before him, and he didn't expect Du San to help send foreign guns and gunpowder and lead back in the name of escorting the bones of his brothers who died in the war back to his hometown.

Looking at his son-in-law's thoughtful appearance, Duan Jiqing continued: "Changsheng is waiting for you while guarding filial piety in Zoumagang, and forty-one of the dozens of soldiers brought back by Du San from Jiangsu also followed. Master Liu Cunhou asked Changsheng to bring you a letter, didn't you come back at that time, I opened it and read it.

It turned out that Master Liu was worried about the safety of his hometown, so that those forty-one soldiers would follow you in the future, and there would be no need to go back to Jiangsu. There are also more than a dozen soldiers who are Du San's subordinates, and they are all in the county seat with Du San now. Du San came here once a few days ago, saying that Jiangsu's money is easy to make, and he wants to make more money while he can earn it, and he plans to go to Jiangsu after you come back. ”

"He's not waiting for me to come back, he's waiting for the silver."

"Silver for selling foreign guns and gunpowder lead?"

"It should be."

Duan Jiqing pulled Han Xiufeng aside and said in a low voice: "I asked Changsheng, and Changsheng said that those foreign guns are not expensive in Shanghai, and when they bought them, they used silver dollars, and the silver seems to be more than sixty taels and one rods." Two hundred and sixty strokes is fifteen thousand six hundred taels, and the gunpowder pencil seems to be less than three thousand taels, and the sum is less than twenty thousand taels anyway. ”

"Dad, have you ever inquired about how much silver a foreign gun like the one sent back by Du San and Changsheng is in Ba County?" Han Xiufeng asked with his arms crossed.

"I really inquired, and I heard those officials and masters who passed by our Ba County to go to Guizhou to quell the chaos said that the kind of foreign guns lit with arquebuses cost more than 100 taels and 1 guns, and the kind of foreign guns you bought from Shanghai cost 200 taels of silver each, and even if you have silver, you can't buy it."

Han Xiufeng muttered: "Tomorrow I will go to my father's grave first, and then I will go into the city to visit Daotai and Futai in a few days." ”

Duan Jiqing asked in surprise, "Into the city?" ”

"Dad, I know what you're worried about, but there are some things you can't dodge." Han Xiufeng thought about it, and said meaningfully: "What's more, Du San is waiting for me, I'll hurry up and get some silver for him to take back, I can't let those friends in Shanghai help and have to post it upside down." ”

Duan Jiqing reacted and couldn't help asking, "Zhixing, are you going to sell those foreign guns to Lord Cao and Master Du?" ”

"It's not sold to the Provincial Department and the government office, but to the Baojia Bureau."

Han Xiufeng touched the corners of his mouth, and continued: "And it doesn't sell them all, only one hundred and sixty foreign guns and three thousand catties of gunpowder and lead." We have to keep the remaining 100 foreign guns and 3,000 catties of gunpowder and lead, no one knows if the gang of thieves in Tongzi will kill them, no one can rely on themselves these years, otherwise those bandits will kill us and we will protect our family. ”

"Zhixing, so you really plan to hold a group exercise?"

"Liu Cunhou sent more than 40 brothers to me, and I brought back a few brothers from the capital, not to mention that the emperor also issued an edict, and it can't be done. But I didn't think about how big it was, I just wanted to run a small group. After doing it, it can not only deal with the emperor, but also protect the territory and the people. ”

"What should Cui Huanzhang and Yang Yiqing do over there?"

"You can rest assured that I will not get involved in their affairs, nor will I offend them."

"Okay, now that you have an idea, I don't have to worry about that anymore."

……

As he was talking, Han Da and the three big families in the village shouted for supper, and Han Xiufeng found that the courtyard was full of people.

Thinking that his father-in-law had said in a letter that Xu Yunshan, Wang Jingcheng and Chen Huagui and other villagers had taken care of the Han family in the past two years, Han Xiufeng hurriedly asked Second Master Fei to take out the sugar, candied fruit and other food specially bought on the way and distribute them to the babies who came to see the excitement.

The descendants of the village, the eldest girl and the little daughter-in-law have the same gifts as the lonely and widowed old people, and yesterday they bought more than 100 pieces of cloth, more than 200 catties of brown sugar and more than 400 catties of salt in the cloth village of Laifengyi, and let the eldest brother and sister-in-law and Xu Yunshan, Wang Jingcheng and Chen Huagui, the three respected big families, help to divide it.