The eldest grandson Hong lived at home for three days, and during these three days, he helped his parents do a lot of things, repairing the leaky roof, rebuilding the fence on the courtyard wall that had been damaged by the heavy rain, cleaning the house, bringing some gifts to visit the neighbors, in short, he is doing everything that a filial son can do.

The rocks in the river have been dredged clean, there is nothing to do in the fields in winter, and the rare leisure of the farmer in the year is at this time, the New Year is approaching, and every household is cleaning the house, planning for the next year, this is the custom, no matter how poor the family is.

Changsun Hao and Changsun Jin also stayed at home and talked to Changsun Hong about some things in the city, they had not entered the city for a long time, and they didn't know as much about many things as Changsun Hong.

"Martial arts? So Chen Yu is a student in the martial arts school in the capital? The eldest grandson said: "Sheng Changgong's disciple? ”

"Yes, he said that my fighting fist is very similar to his Taizu Changquan, but it is not as authentic as his."

"Fart!" The eldest grandson Jin was angry, he was squatting on the stone mill, jumped down all of a sudden, and his face was red: "Our family's fighting boxing is unparalleled in the world, it is my family's ancestors, and I have never learned other boxing techniques for hundreds of years, what is his long boxing?" ”

"Be quiet! Let my father hear it, know that you taught me martial arts, and I'm going to make trouble again. Changsun Hong hurriedly made a silent gesture and looked into the room, fortunately, Changsun Hao went in to drink water, and he shouldn't have heard it.

Changsun Jin was still indignant, the long scar on his face was particularly clear because of his excitement, he lowered his voice a little, and said angrily: "The next time you run into him, you must beat this rabbit cub down for me!" If you dare to look down on our family's ancestral boxing skills, you can't spare him! ”

The eldest grandson Hong said with a smile: "Dissipate your anger, second uncle, he has already returned to the capital, and I don't know what year and month it will be when we meet next time." ”

"That's not going to work either! This kid has no one in his eyes, thinking that he is superior in the capital. Fart! The forbidden army in the capital, how powerful it is, is not a bunch of fists and embroidered legs, and the clothes and armor are brightly dressed, and none of them are useful in a fight. The eldest grandson Jin was angry, and muttered and complained: "When did you fight with Xia Guo, which time was not our army killed?" The forbidden army beats the side drum on the side, and runs away when the situation is not right, how can it have the appearance of a strong army? Hum! ”

Seeing that he was getting angrier and angrier the more he talked, Changsun Hong hurriedly interrupted and said with a smile: "Second uncle, speaking of the Xia Kingdom, I heard in the state city that there are Mongols rising in the north, and they have been very powerful in the north over the years, and they have beaten the Xia Kingdom to the ground, and even the Jin Kingdom does not dare to touch them, have you ever seen the Mongols?" ”

"Mongols?" Changsun Jin was really taken away, and shook his head after thinking about it: "I haven't seen it, but I've heard that when I was at the border pass a few years ago, there were often people who fled from the extreme northwest on Qin Fenglu, and I learned from them that there were Mongols who established a large tribe in the north of the desert, controlling 100,000 strings, which was very large-scale, and the battle was as sharp as a wind, sweeping the grasslands invincible." But this is all heard of, and we have never encountered it. ”

Changsun Hong nodded, it was not surprising that the official army of the Great Song Dynasty had not fought with the Mongols before. Because between the two, from Mobei to the Northeast, separated by the vast lands of Northern Liao, Western Xia and Jin, there is no place to meet. Genghis Khan's southern expedition to the north and south, before the Great Song Dynasty Jiading period was focused on the west, for the same steppe tribes of Jin and Xia, out of various considerations, did not make up their minds to attack, but expanded to the west, laying a huge territory, that is, the predecessor of the four khanates.

It is ridiculous to think that the Southern Song Dynasty had almost no concept of such a brave and good cavalry and archery army, which was almost unparalleled in the world, and had no idea about it, but it was not surprising from the way and speed of information dissemination at that time.

Therefore, Changsun Hong said that Mongolia controlled 100,000 strings, which really thought of the Mongols as a bit simple, during the Baoqing period of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Mongols did only have an army of more than 200,000 people, but their servant army was nearly 500,000, and their combat effectiveness was not weak.

"By the way, second uncle, have you been to Xuzhou?" Eldest Sun Hong asked again.

"Xuzhou?" The eldest grandson Jin scratched the back of his head: "Isn't it close to Dali?" I heard that it was a place where barbarians lived, but I haven't been there. ”

"Where haven't you been?" A rough voice came, and the two looked back to see that Changsun Hao was walking over with a scoop of water and a smile.

"Xuzhou, Erlang mentioned Xuzhou, I haven't been there." The eldest grandson entered the road.

Eldest Sun Hao glanced at his son strangely, sat down on the grinding plate, handed the water ladle to the two of them to drink, and said, "What are you asking for?" There are all barbarians over there, they don't have access to the royal road, and the officials don't care about them, it's a remote mountainous area isolated from the world, poor mountains and bad waters, poorer than us here. ”

"Where is it close to Dali? Our paper mill is marketed all over the world, and there are merchants in Dali, so I inquired. "Eldest Sun Hongdao, of course, he is lying.

That night, Duan Wu of the nursing hospital mentioned Xuzhou, which made him think, this place is a barbarian land, it has never been conquered by outsiders, of course, no one wants to conquer, there is a miasma everywhere, ordinary people were either sick or unaccustomed to the soil and water in the past, poor and not much population, the land is extremely barren, what to rob for? As long as the barbarians do not rebel, he will be left to fend for himself.

Isn't this a heaven-sent haven?

In the memory of the previous life, after Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty, he didn't pay attention to Xuzhou, the natives just served the table, and they were too lazy to care, the Mongols were all northerners, and they were not used to the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, not to mention the miasma in the mountains?

Life may be a little harder, but it doesn't matter if you have money.

"It is very close to Dali, from Shimen Fan to Santai Mountain, it is Dali country." Eldest Sun Hao said: "I haven't been there either, but I've heard that someone on Qinfeng Road used to do jade trading, and they happened to be familiar with me, and I heard about it." ”

He thought about it for a while, and said to Changsun Hong with a smile: "Erlang, don't think about doing business over there in your paper mill, you can't find a few people who can write in Xuzhou Sanfan, I'm afraid you won't be able to make money there." ”

Changsun Hong also smiled and said, "It's just a transit, mainly to sell it to Dali." ”

The three of them were all joking, talking about old news and things, and passing the time in their leisure time.

On the third night, it was Chinese New Year's Eve.

The Chinese New Year's Eve in Lijia Village, of course, is not as lively as the rich land, nor is there the joy of people coming and going in the city, and the mountain village is simple, except for the red lanterns hung out by Li Xian's family, other households only light up oil lamps to keep the year, and the hazy light is exceptionally bright in the silent mountains, like stars twinkling on the inky earth.

The eldest grandson's family, like other families in Lijia Village, cut down bamboo from the mountain early and prepared it in the courtyard. The family had dinner in the house, Zhang's specially cooked a piece of meat brought back by Changsun Hong, this meal was eaten happily, and drank a little wine, this wine is even worse than Ran Daqi's wine, I don't know what it is brewed, and the eldest Sun Hong drank it straight to the neck, and the heart said that he took this to disinfect with Lin Lingzi, and it was lucky that he didn't get a life.

At midnight, the eldest grandson brother went to the yard, lit a fire, and threw the bamboo cut into sections into the fire, and the bamboo burned in the fire, making a burst of "crackling" explosion, which is the firecracker, which means to expel bad luck and hope for happiness in the coming year.

The whole Lijia Village is used with this kind of firecrackers, the popping sound is not loud but very warm, the children in the village can sleep very late tonight, running around in the village cheering, going to each family to beg for food, the eldest grandson Baozheng's family is naturally a must-go, one to show respect, second, people know that the son of the Baozheng family came back from the county and brought goods for many years.

Changsun Hao also smiled and distributed maltose and other things, one small piece at a time, about one bite to swallow, but the child who got it was overjoyed, put it in his mouth and sipped it, and cherished it extraordinarily.

The eldest grandson Hong lay on the grinding plate in the courtyard, listening to the family chatting in his ears, and the bamboo in the firelight burst out from time to time a spark, making a sound, mixed with the sound of firecrackers outside, making the quiet night of the mountain village a little noisy.

Not long after, from the direction of the Li family, there was a burst of firecrackers that was obviously different from other poor households, much louder, Changsun Hong knew that this was most likely a real firecracker, wrapped in gunpowder with paper, and the sound made after ignition.

Real firecrackers are expensive, few people use them, only the rich can set them off, and there are children outside the door who run in that direction, chirping and thinking it is very novel.

The eldest grandson turned back from the door stupidly, the child just now didn't even want maltose and turned around and ran, going to Li Xian's house to watch the excitement, which made him very boring.

Changsun Jin laughed loudly, so Changsun Hao got angry and said that there would be no sugar. After a while, another child came to the door, but he still ran to the door, smiling and grinning.

Changsun Hong looked at all this, his eyes flickered, as if he was thinking about something, and looked up at the sky, the bright moon accompanied by the stars, the Milky Way jade belt was like a studded sky, overlooking the earth, like a god who ruled the world, and the twelve-year-old Changsun Hong looked at each other.

The second year of Baoqing in the Great Song Dynasty passed in this way in the crackling sound of bamboo knots.

(End of chapter)