On the official road, it is sparsely populated. The sound of the mule cart walking "click" was heard far away.

In the groves on both sides of the road, there are people flickering from time to time.

Huo Wu and his son drove a mule cart and walked in front, while the Haw Par brothers and Niu Qing drove a mule cart behind.

When there was nothing to do on the road, the father and son chatted.

"Dad, let's go directly to Dongshan Temple?"

"Well, let's go over and take a look first, see if your third uncle comes out!"

"The third uncle is a monk, what about the eldest uncle and the second uncle?"

"Your uncle died of illness seven years ago, and your second uncle ran away with someone to run a business......

"Then only the eldest aunt is left in the grandmother's house?"

Huo Wu shook his head and said, "After your uncle is gone, your aunt took your cousin back to her parents' house." Your cousin is three years older than you, and he is also a young man this year! ”

Huo Bao listened, only feeling weird.

Or does it sound familiar? This is the business of my uncle's family, not the business of Zhu Baba's family?

The Haw Par brothers and Niu Qing drove the mule cart, following behind Huo Wu's father and son, looking at the groves on both sides of the road, all worried.

Jinling to Quyang is only a hundred or ten miles away, but the last time I walked was really restless.

This time the road was indeed smooth, and there were occasional peeps on both sides of the road, and no one went to the official road to rob.

The ones that are too peaceful are not like Quyang.

Whether it is the boatman's words or the disappearing ferry tea shed, it shows that Jiangbei is uneasy, but it seems to have calmed down again.

"That's not right!" Both father and son had a guess.

When it was dark, and when I arrived outside Quyang County, I saw that the city gate was not closed, and the officers and soldiers wearing iron armor were guarding the gate, not the white-shirted soldiers in sackcloth.

Officers and soldiers regained Quyang.

The mule cart was too dazzling, so the Huo family did not enter the city, but spent the night in the woods outside the county seat.

The next day, Huo Wu arranged a few small cars to watch the car, and he took his son to walk into the county seat.

In the county, there is no prosperity in the past, there are not many pedestrians on the road, and the shops on both sides are sparsely opened.

Huo Wu's father and son went directly to Huo Er's cloth village, the shop was sealed, and there was no one in sight. went to Huo Er's residence again, and the iron general guarded the door, and the family was nowhere to be found.

Looking at the neighbors again, the houses that lock the doors like this are not one or two households.

The father and son quietly inquired and learned that when the white-shirted army withdrew from Quyang, they took away many people. I just don't know if Huo Er's family was taken away or left by themselves.

The Dongshan Temple that the father and son are going to is in the northeast of Quyang County, passing by Nanshan Village.

Whether it is Dongshan or Nanshan, the Black Python Mountain Range at the junction of Quyang and Lingshui is leaning on the back.

The mule cart walked for half a day and arrived at Nanshan Village.

It has only been ten days since he fled from Nanshan Village, but it is like a world away.

Nanshan Village, where there was only an empty yard left, seemed to have been ravaged, there was no good house, there were broken tiles everywhere, and there were some traces of burning.

The courtyard that Huo Wujia had burned before was mixed in it, but it was not eye-catching.

"They are all bastards who lack morality, they pry the iron pot, why do they burn the house?" Everyone inspected the two dilapidated courtyards, and Huo Bao said indignantly.

"It can't be the guy who blocked the way last time, right?" Niu Qing guessed.

"How many of them are there? Even if you want an iron pot, one bite is not enough for two mouthfuls, and there is no good place to toss the village! Huo Bao shook his head.

Huo Bao picked up the half-horned iron piece mixed in the soil culture and looked at it.

This piece of iron is a fragment of an iron pot, and there is black ash on the back.

"Those people don't want iron pots, they want iron! In addition to the iron pot, the remaining iron tools from each family should not be found. Huo Bao said to everyone.

Everyone went to look through two places, and sure enough, whether it was a hoe, a sickle, or a plow, all that was touched by the iron was the wooden handle and the wooden handle, and the iron was gone.

It's not an ordinary homeless person entering the village, most of them are rebellious whiteshirts.

Quyang was "recovered", and if the white-shirted army withdrew in the direction of Lingshui, it happened to pass through Nanshan Village.

Dongshan Temple is on the edge of Lingshui County, and everyone will encounter the white-shirted army if they continue to go north.

"The whiteshirts don't kill the people, I don't know if we can meet them?" Huo Bao was curious, and he was a little eager to try.

Although he has not dealt with the White Shirt Army, the Buddha of Invincible Buddha has preached in Huainan Road for many years, and everyone has heard of it. There are many believers among the people, some of them have become monks directly, and some have begun to eat long fasts at home.

Compared with those officers and soldiers who slaughtered the people as lambs, these believers who fasted and recited Buddha naturally made people feel close and unguarded.

"Didn't stop you from joining the White Shirts? Can't even hold a small county town, and the white-shirted army can't grow! Niu Qing spoke quickly.

Huo Bao hurriedly shook his head: "I didn't think about voting for them, I just thought that they could really occupy Huainan, who would have thought that it would be unhelpful!" ”

From Nanshan Village to Dongshan Temple more than 30 miles, but it is a mountain road, and there are two mountains in the middle, the Huo family and his party rested in Nanshan Village for one night, and set off for Dongshan Temple early the next morning.

Set off at dawn, and after noon, we arrived at Dongshan Temple.

Dongshan Temple is just a small local temple, and there is not even a mountain gate.

When he saw someone coming, he came out to greet an old monk with white eyebrows and beard.

The third disciple was in the temple for seven years, and he was not officially ordained, but he was just a small novice.

Hearing that it was a relative of the third apprentice, the old monk did not hide it, and said directly: "I received a letter three days ago, and then I went down the mountain." ”

As for who came from the letter, and where the third disciple went, the old monk couldn't say.

Everyone came and returned with excitement, the huge Huainan Road, who knows where the three disciples went.

Huo Bao remembered a few coincidences, if the founding ancestor in the Red Mansion was really set according to Zhu Baba, then he might have defected to his fellow villagers in the army of his future father-in-law.

can correspond to Guo Zixing, the marshal of the Red Turban Army at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, but there is a candidate, that is, the well-known Liu Fangshuai who occupied Bozhou a few days ago.

Bozhou is 500 miles away from Chuzhou, and the whole territory is controlled by the white-shirted army, and it is not easy to go there smoothly to find people. In addition, it is just a guess without a beginning or an end, and it may be that the previous coincidences are just coincidences, and the third disciple is the third apprentice, not a reflection of Zhu Baba.

Huo Bao was still entangled, and Huo Wu was already looking around.

Going out from the front of Dongshan Temple, it is a north-south road.

The Huo family and his entourage came from the south, and they didn't meet the apprentices, so maybe they just missed it; Another possibility is that Tu San went north and went to Lingshui County.

No matter which side you choose to chase, it's been three days, and it's hard to say whether you can catch up.

Huo Wu frowned and pondered for half an hour, and pointed in a direction: "Enter the mountain!" ”

Everyone was surprised, and Huo Bao hurriedly said, "Fifth grandfather, ...... in the mountains There are bandits in the mountains, and I heard that there are several villages! ”

Even if it is a small village, it has to be dozens of people, don't these people go into the mountains to deliver food to people?

"I have an old friend from Python Village, where are we going." Huo Wu said casually.

A few teenagers relaxed and got into the mule cart with a little curiosity.

Huo Bao couldn't help but go to see his father, his father seemed to be really not an ordinary butcher, this "old friend" is really a lot, there are rich maritime merchants in Jinling, and there are mountain bandits in front of him.

Huo Wu drove the mule cart, noticed his son's gaze, and said in a low voice: "Didn't you remind Jia Er to recruit more people before?" Dad thought about it, we should also find someone! ”