Li Guo was overjoyed, "Second uncle, there is finally a family." He came to the front of the house with Li Hongji in his arms, and saw a middle-aged man in a thick cotton coat, who was sweeping the snow in front of the door with a broom, "Uncle......"

The man stopped what he was doing, "You ......"

"Uncle, we are passers-by, because we were chased by a strong man, we accidentally fell into the water, and our whole bodies were soaked, and we wanted to ask my uncle for some clothes," Li Guo saw that the man hesitated, so he took out the road guide from his arms, "Uncle, we are good people, this is my road guide." ”

The man may not be literate or look at the guide, but the doubt in his eyes has obviously subsided, and his mouth is still trembling, "This ......"

Li Hongji took out some broken silver from his arms, "Uncle, these are the money to buy clothes, do you see enough?" ”

"Enough is enough," the middle-aged man took the silver, immediately smiled, threw away the big broom in his hand, led the two into the room, and sat on a long wooden bench, "Wait a minute, you two, I'll go get the clothes." ”

After a while, the man came out of the back room, holding a large hug of clothes in his hand, followed by a woman, the woman was kind and kind-eyed, and her appearance was quite thoughtful, looking at her age, it should be his mother-in-law, she glanced at Li Hongji's uncle and nephew, "The little brother has been in the water for a long time, right?" ”

Li Hongji nodded, "It's almost midnight, I can't find anyone at night, and I don't have any clothes to change." ”

"Oh?" The woman sighed and looked at Li Hongji's shivering appearance, "I've been frozen for a long time, even if I change my clothes, I will inevitably get sick," and turned her face to the man and said, "Boss, let's be good people to the end, just boil some hot water, let the little brother take a hot bath, and drink some ginger soup...... In this kind of weather, once you get sick, I'm afraid you will ......"

"Thank you, Auntie, thank you, Auntie!" Li Guo was so excited that he almost knelt down.

"You're welcome, when you're out of the house, who doesn't have a time when you're in trouble?" The woman sighed faintly, turned around and was about to go to the side room, but stopped again, turned around and said: "Although the clothes on the little brother's body are soaked, they are still hot, don't take them off for the time being, go to the roast fire first, there will be some hot water." ”

The man obediently led Li Hongji and Li Guo into the room on the west side, where their bedroom should have a large firewood brazier under the kang, he squatted down and dragged the hot wood-burning brazier out, "The two little brothers bake the fire first, warm and warm!" ”

"Thank you, uncle!" Li Hongji moved a small square stool, sat down by the wood brazier, and baked with his hands on the firewood, which Li Guo did too.

The man took an iron hook and turned over the firewood a few times, and suddenly the heat wave was rolling, Li Hongji's hands were in the heat wave, but he didn't feel the slightest, but he didn't dare to get too close for fear of being burned by the fire.

After about half a pillar of incense, her hand finally had a feeling of warmth, and the woman happened to enter the room, holding a porcelain bowl in her hand, and a mist came out of the bowl, "Little brother drink some ginger soup first, and wait for the body to be warmer, so that you can take a bath!" ”

"Thank you, Auntie!" Li Hongji took the ginger soup and was about to pour it in three or two bites, his stomach was not only cold, but also hungry.

"Little brother, slow down, beware of burning your throat!" The woman hurriedly stopped, "After drinking the ginger soup, you can take a bath." ”

This hot bath, coupled with a bowl of ginger soup just now, Li Hongji suddenly felt that his whole body was transparent, and his body was also stretched, he lay in the wooden barrel, refusing to get up for a long time, if it wasn't for the hot water in the wooden barrel slowly cooling down, he really wished he would lie down forever.

Putting on dry clothes, Li Hongji took out the sundries he carried with him from the original wet clothes, the silver and fire folds were still there, and when he touched the treasures that had been hidden in his chest, he was immediately stunned: the white paper was soaked in cold water, and it was rubbed by the clothes when he was in a hurry, and it was already torn.

Li Hongji unfolded the white paper little by little, and the outer layer had turned into a ball of pulp, where could he still find half a complete text? Fortunately, although the pages were wet, the handwriting was still clear, and he spread out these blank papers and collected them closely, but in his mouth, he greeted the eighteenth generation of the ancestors of the officers and soldiers of Qingshui Fort one by one.

The woman had already prepared lunch, which was not hearty, but it was full, a basket of mixed grains, a plate of Chinese cabbage, and a large plate of steaming spicy soup.

Li Hongji wanted to pay for the meal again, but the woman refused to ask for it, "Everyone has a moment when they are away from home, if we people can't help each other, who will help us?" ”

Li Hongji empathizes, yes, they are all disadvantaged groups, and they must first learn to help their own people, and he is no longer polite, he picks up a nest head, and talks with this couple while eating.

"Where are you going, little brother?" The woman didn't eat, she leaned behind her man and watched the three men gobble it up.

"Ganzhou, we are going to Ganzhou to join relatives." Li Hongji said vaguely that he did not intend to deceive this kind-hearted couple, but with his current status as a fugitive, he must not tell the truth, so he had to pass by, and it was not a lie and deception.

"Ganzhou? It's still far away, I'm afraid it's close to a thousand miles," the man handed half of the nest to the woman, and then said: "Ganzhou seems to be all military households, how can the little brother go there?" ”

"Hey," Li Hongji swallowed the nest head in his mouth and sighed, "My hometown has suffered from a great drought, thousands of miles of red land, and there is no harvest of crops, so I have no choice but to go to Ganzhou to try my luck." ”

"But Ganzhou is not a good place to go, I heard that the fertile land is limited," the woman interjected, "I'm afraid the food there is not enough for the soldiers to eat, the two little brothers are strong, it is better to go to the south to see." ”

"South? But there are no acquaintances in the south, who will give up the fertile land there? Li Hongji shook his head, "If we go to Ganzhou, if it doesn't work, we will join the army, it's better than being starved to death in our hometown!" ”

The woman sighed, but she was just an ordinary person, and the food was barely enough to eat, so she was really powerless to help Li Hongji and them, so she had to sigh with her.

The man heard that Li Hongji had never been to Ganzhou, so he briefly talked about the route to the west, "From here to Ganzhou, it is generally along the Zhuanglang River, from the hollow west of Lenglongling, you take the road guide, take the east bank avenue, along the way are military fort post stations, the west bank is the mountains and mountains, and now it is the frozen period, it is difficult for ordinary people to walk." ”

"What if you have a guide?" The woman gave her man a blank look, "Most of the post stations have been demolished, it is a military fort, which one is not a goose plucking?" If you really want to go over from the military fort, the silver on the two little brothers, nothing is left, it is still a trivial matter, I am afraid that they will have to pay off their debts, hey, these soldiers are even more vicious than the Mongols! ”

The woman took away the smile that had been hanging on her face, "Two little brothers, the Yellow River is frozen at the moment, and all paths are passable, so it is better to go further west, there are pastures south of Maya Mountain, there are many herdsmen there, in case the dry food and water are not enough, you can also ask the herdsmen for some." ”

"Auntie, is the west of the Zhuanglang River a Mongolian pasture?" Li Hongji was shocked in his heart, could it be that the Mongols had already occupied the eastern part of the Hexi Corridor?

"Little brother is confused, will the Mongols be so kind to give you food and water?" The woman smiled again: "This is the ranch of the Han people, which is specially used to raise war horses for the imperial court." ”

Li Hongji then remembered that he had read in the novel before, in order to deal with the nomads in the north, the Ming court also learned from them to start raising horses, but there was very little pasture on the land of the Ming Dynasty, mainly Liaodong, Hetao and Huangshui, but at this time, the Ming national strength declined, and gradually lost the excellent grassland of the frontier, first the Jurchens rose in Liaodong, and then the Mongols seized the Hetao, the pastures of the Ming Dynasty, only the original most inconspicuous Huangshui Basin remained.

The Li family used to be a horse breeder appointed by the imperial court, Li Shouzhong did not need to pay other taxes in addition to raising horses for the imperial court, Li Hongji has been with horses since he was a child, how much he hopes to have a batch of his own war horses, so that the westward journey will be much faster, but he knows that this is impossible, although he only has a hundred taels of silver in his pocket, not to mention that he and Li Guo need two horses, even one can not be bought.

With the current price of war horses, a hundred taels of silver can only buy an old horse and a sick horse at most, and it is still priceless, no matter how weak the horse is, it is better than a mule and a donkey, and the war horse is a strategic resource of the imperial court, even if the ordinary people have silver, no one dares to sell it.

"Thank you, Auntie, that's it, let's go on this grassland."

The man explained the specific path, and finally said: "Just pass the watershed, and then go west to the avenue." ”

Li Hongji ate and drank to his heart's content, and Li Guo said goodbye to the unknown couple with a thousand thanks, and continued westward, in order to avoid the military forts along the way, they crossed the Yellow River and the Zhuanglang River from the north of Lanzhou, and then crossed the vast grassland, and came to the foot of Maya Mountain.

There is a military fort under the mountain, but the city wall is already gray-black, the city gate can not be seen, only some remnants of the wall remain, obviously abandoned for some years, ask the herdsmen, it is the military city of the Han Dynasty - the ancient city of Anmen.

Li Hongji and Li Guo rested in the corner of the ancient city of Anmen that night, and the next morning, they began to climb the watershed.

The watershed is actually a ridge, the ridge is full of rocks, almost no grass, and on both sides there are broken peaks and cliffs, not to mention people, not even rabbits want to climb over.

At this time, Liangzhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou to the west of the watershed until Jiayuguan are under the control of the Ming military guard, which is the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty, and there is no military fort built on the ridge, and there are no soldiers stationed, in fact, on such a cliff, it is impossible to build a military fort at all.

Li Hongji looked left and right, found that there is only a hole in the middle can be passed, after entering the hole, there is a narrow stone road in the center, cars and horses can pass, want to come to the Ming Dynasty's military supplies, are transported to the northwest from this stone road, but the stone road is wide and narrow, sometimes up and sometimes down, zigzag and round, and is blocked by the boulder, twisting and turning, if a few boulders in the middle can be removed, the road will be smooth.

The two went down the watershed, there was already an official road in the west, it was almost noon at this time, Li Guo took out the dry food he was carrying, the two filled their stomachs, and went west along the official road.