Chapter Forty-Nine: The Ancient City of a Thousand Years is Plagued by Disasters and Difficulties

The county seat of Lin'an County. Long An Street. Small teahouse.

"Little Liuzi is getting married again? No, I've never heard of it. If the little sixth son gets married, it will be a big event in the county, and we won't know it. However, it would not be surprising if he secretly married another woman in Beiping, Tianjin, or somewhere else. Do you think, Xiao Liuzi is a child of a wealthy family and a rich family, how can there be no women around? He grew up in a pile of women. ”

"Will my husband be like that? I don't believe it, so let's not talk about it. Uncle Gen, why didn't those people in the pharmacy tell me where Francis is now? ”

"yes, I don't get it either. Miss Tian, I was thinking about the chaotic world of wars everywhere now, you suddenly came to confess your relatives with your children recklessly, they didn't know your background, and they didn't know that Xiao Liuzi was marrying his own daughter outside, so they were all scared. Xiao Liuzi is not here, how dare they recognize you and take you in? ”

"So, what should I do? I can't find my husband, my daughter can't find her father, how will we live in the future? Uncle Gen, you must help me? ”

"Me? How can I help you? I'm not from the Fang family. ”

"Huh? Uncle Gen, didn't you say it just now? Can you help me find the person I'm looking for? How? Did you forget about it for a while? Uncle Lao Gen, you help the weak and help others, accumulate virtue and do good, you are merciful and compassionate, Buddha heart is kind and righteous, no matter what, please help me, if you don't help me, my children and I really have no way to live. ”

"Look at what you said, where is it so evil? Miss Tian, you can go back to Peking first

Why don't you go out to find a man when the war is in chaos? ”

"Uncle Gen, let me tell you the truth. Francisis and I were not married, from the beginning of our friendship to living together, my parents have always been firmly against it, and then I gave birth to a daughter, and my parents kicked me out of the house and never let me go home again. I, I'm desperate now, so I have to bring my child to Francis Ferguson. ”

"Oh, I see. Miss Tian, dare you and Xiao Liuzi first got along in private, then eloped to Yehe, and finally stole the seeds of evil. Hum! This immoral, immoral and bad breed of little six sons is really a bastard and a bad animal! ”

"Uncle Gen, how can you say that about Francis? It's ugly. Let me tell you that the two of us really love each other and want to grow old, and it is only because of my parents' resolute opposition that we are like today. Alas, what's the use of talking about that now? Uncle Gen, please help me find Francis anyway, okay? ”

"Grandpa, grandpa, I'm looking for Dad." Tian Yuanxiu's daughter begged with tears in her eyes.

Tian Yuanxiu hugged her daughter distressedly, and her voice trembled to coax and comfort:

"Niuniu, don't cry. Grandpa will definitely help us find Dad. ”

"Alas! Miss Tian, you are such a poor child, and your daughter is even more pitiful. Good! I'll help you, but there is one thing, you have to promise me first, and if you don't promise me, I won't help you. ”

"As long as you can help me find Francis, I will agree to any conditions you make. Uncle Gen, tell me quickly, what are the conditions? ”

"Okay, I said, if I help you find Xiao Liuzi, you are not allowed to tell him or anyone that I told you, is it true? Miss Tian? ”

"Good. Uncle Gen, I promise you, I won't tell anyone, promise not to say!. ”

"Let me tell you, Miss Tian, you take the child to Xiao Liuzi's house at No. 29 Longqing Street to look for him, won't you be able to find him?"

"No. 29 Longqing Street, I remember. Uncle Gen, thank you. I'll get ready first, and I'll take my kids with me in two days. When I find Francis, we will thank you as a family. Where do you live? Where can I find you? ”

"No thanks. Ouch! No! Miss Tian, you can't go to No. 29 Longqing Street, which is the front gate and the main gate of the Fang family's compound. You'll have to take the kids through the back door. ”

"Go through the back door? Uncle Gen, why is that? ”

"I'll tell you. The Fang family, which is one of the richest families in Lin'an County, is one of the best families in the entire North China. You and Xiao Liuzi gave birth to a child privately before they got married, his parents must not know, and now you take the child to the door to recognize your relatives, isn't this equivalent to slapping the face of the Fang family and tarnishing the reputation of the Fang family? Therefore, in order to be able to recognize your relatives smoothly, you can't take your children to the front door when you go to Fang's house, you can only go through the back door quietly and secretly. Miss Tian, you have to remember. ”

"Hey, I remember, thank you Uncle Gen, I'll try it in a few days."

"Miss Tian, when you go to the Fang family, you can't be so stunned as today, the Fang family is a big family, but you have to understand the rules and etiquette. You'll have to figure out how to talk to your hometown. If you don't mind, you have to let people bang out. ”

"Thank you, Uncle Gen, I remember everything." Tian Yuanxiu got up to leave. ”

"Miss Tian, don't be in a hurry to leave, I haven't finished speaking. You heard me say that if you don't find Xiao Liuzi when you get to Fang's house, you should hurry out of the city and go south, and go to Shengcang Village to find it first. Some time ago, the Japanese devils swept and surrounded the Eighth Route Army in Shengcang Village. Later, I heard that the Eighth Route Army had rushed out and moved to Shuihe Village. If you don't find Xiao Liuzi in Shengcang Village, you can go south-west to Shuihe Village to find it. I guess he might have gone to Shuihe Village too, and he should be able to find it when he gets there. ”

"Morikura Village? Shuihe Village? Uncle Lao Gen, now that the soldiers are fighting everywhere, why doesn't he hide in the county seat and stay at home in those two villages? ”

"Let me tell you, Xiao Liuzi is now the company commander of the Eighth Route Army, and you will be able to find him when you inquire about the company commander when you go to Shuihe Village. You're right. ”

"Oh? Francis joined the Eighth Route Army? That's great! I must look for him, I must find him, and my child and I will have something to rely on in the future. Uncle Gen, thank you. ”

Lin'an Town. Yongan Inn. Boss Xu stood at the counter, flipping through the account books and making calculations. Looking at the operating loss figures in the ledger, the more he calculated, the more annoyed he became.

Stone carried two baskets of fresh seasonal vegetables into the inn hall. He put down his flat shoulder, rubbed his somewhat sore shoulders, took off his big straw hat and said while fanning his face:

"Boss, the dishes you asked for have been delivered, you can't give credit this time, you even gave me a piece of the dishes you sent last time, and I can have an explanation with the owner."

Boss Xu was taken aback when he heard this, looked up and saw that it was a stone, put down the account book and abacus and walked out of the counter, walked to the door and looked around vigilantly, then turned around and walked to the stone and asked in a whisper, "Stone, why did you come here at this time?" You don't want to die? In the past few days, the devils and spies have been strictly investigated, and a lot of people have been arrested, aren't you going to ......"

Stone put the straw hat on the counter and whispered, "yes." I've seen it all. The streets are full of devils and detectives, like mad dogs. I walked here from the south gate of the town and was interrogated four times. Uncle, what's going on in town? ”

"Isn't that a big deal? You really shouldn't be here at this time. ”

"Uncle, I came to you for something important, if you don't come, you can't do it."

Boss Xu looked up and looked out the door: "Okay, you come upstairs with me." Xiao Anzi, pick up the dishes to the kitchen first, and then stare at the counter. ”

Lin'an County is located in the west of the North China Great Plain, close to the undulating, heavy mountains, steep and majestic, majestic and magnificent Taihang Mountain, looking at Inner Mongolia in the north, connecting Beiping and Tianjin in the northeast, overlooking the Bohai Sea in the east, and connecting the endless, flat and vast North China Great Plain in the south. Lin'an County has a history of more than 1,000 years, from the original villages, market towns, small towns, small counties after more than 1,000 years of gradual development, the formation of a radius of more than 100 square kilometers, with plains (more than 90 square kilometers), mountainous areas (more than 30 square kilometers) more than a dozen towns, more than 100 villages of different sizes, hundreds of thousands of people in the western part of the county. The plain area of Lin'an County is rich in high-quality wheat, rice, corn, sorghum, soybean, cotton in the western mountainous area, timber, cattle and sheep, a variety of wild fruits, all kinds of mountain goods (walnuts, hazelnuts, chestnuts, mushrooms, fungus, etc.), animal skins (wild boars, hares, wolves, etc.), there are all kinds of fatty live fish in the Tongyu River, and the lotus root and crab in the Yueming Lake are coveted. Decades ago, coal and iron ore were discovered and excavated in the mountains. All this has attracted many businessmen and ordinary people from other counties and provinces to settle down in Lin'an County to make a living. In times of peace, different people are busy in their own lives and live a peaceful and comfortable life. During times of war and turmoil, people abandoned their families and businesses, and their families, men, women and children fled to the mountains to escape the war. The defeated armies in various periods of the past dynasties, the mountain bandits and bandits wanted by the government, and the outlaws who were chased and killed by the rivers and lakes, burned and looted all the way from all over North China, captured soldiers all the way, and captured husbands fled to the mountains to hide and hide, respite and recuperate, in order to make a comeback. If there was no war, Lin'an County would have been a rich and prosperous place. However, one tragic war after another has ruthlessly pushed Lin'an County into dire straits again and again. Due to the fact that Lin'an County extends in all directions, has abundant people and has a large population, it has gradually become a battleground for soldiers. The successive rulers of Lin'an County did not hesitate to spend huge sums of money and people's power to build tall and strong cities, train soldiers, and store materials for a war.

The county seat of Lin'an County is four kilometers long from east to west and less than four kilometers wide from north to south, and it is basically a square city. On all sides, there are four two-storey double eaves gable-style roofs that are built exactly the same shape, covered with waist eaves, the city tower of flying eaves, facing five rooms, 31 meters wide, three rooms deep, 19 meters deep, and 35 meters high through the building. The lower part of the castle tower is made of gray-purple sandstone, and the upper part of the castle tower is made of gray bricks fired from fine clay. The city gate is 3.5 meters wide and 4 meters high, in the form of a semicircular arch, and the two city gates are wrapped with iron sheets, and then nailed with round-headed iron nails, which are firm and solid. The city wall around the city is about one zhang wide, and the inner and outer sides of the lower part of the city wall are all built with fine grinding and consistent specifications of lime sand strip stone and lime mortar; The middle of the city wall is filled with gravel clay, and the layers are compacted; The upper layer of the city wall was filled with lime, pebbles, and loess mixed with a triple clay that was repeatedly tamped, about half a meter thick, and a granite slab more than two inches thick was laid on the top. The city tower is tall and majestic, the city wall is high and thick and solid, and the city gate is inlaid with a whole granite slab that is more than one meter wide and more than half a meter high, and the stone slab is convex engraved with Lin An's two vigorous and vigorous Lishu characters. A long, long time ago, the buildings of the four gates of the county seat of Lin'an County were still complete, including the city tower, the arrow tower, the urn city, the tower and so on. Since there have been many wars over the centuries, some of the buildings have been destroyed in each war. After the end of the war, due to financial constraints and financial difficulties, the government was unable to restore the castle tower to its original appearance, so it had to remove the masonry of the damaged building to repair the masonry. Many residents inside and outside the city secretly demolished bricks, stone bars, and stone slabs, and turned over houses that had been burned down and collapsed during the war. The government, officials, and businessmen brazenly and openly organized large-scale demolition and transportation to build government offices and mansions. After many years, the arrow tower and the urn city were gradually demolished and demolished, and finally only four complete city towers and the surrounding city wall remained. However, can Lin'an County, a thousand-year-old city, be lucky enough to escape the current catastrophe of frequent wars?