Ma Dezhong wants to go back to his hometown, in fact, it is most convenient to land from Haizhou, or simply go from the canal, which is not far from his hometown.

But he didn't think about it in advance, but he heard that there was an opportunity to go to Shandong to carry out a mission, and as soon as he inquired, he had enough time to go back to his hometown, so he took the initiative to ask Ying.

From Jiaozhou to Yanzhou, the distance in a straight line is not far. But you have to go through a large mountainous area. Due to the continuous natural and man-made disasters in Shandong, there are now a large number of Xiangma bandits.

If you really have to go directly through the mountains, the road is dangerous and unsafe.

Ma Dezhong was originally ready to follow the trend and turn southwest when he arrived in Qingzhou. But after a conversation with Feng Xiaonian, the envoy of Jinyiwei, he changed his mind and prepared to take his subordinates in a straight line through the mountains.

From Jiaozhou, they were about to separate, and early in the morning, everyone came to say goodbye to Ma Dezhong.

Feng Xiaonian was drunk last night, and although he got up, his spirit was still a little sluggish.

"Brother Ma, last night's events have been arranged, Lin Matou and they are already waiting at the post station outside the city. You don't have to worry about them when you go, but try to bring them all back when you return. ”

Because he is Zhu Zhanji's pro-army and not a high-ranking general, Ma Dezhong has no prejudice against Jinyiwei. Seeing Feng Xiaonian's politeness, he returned the salute and said: "Please rest assured, since you are acting with me, I, Ma Dezhong, will regard them as comrades-in-arms and will never leave a brother." ”

He led ten men down to the post station on the west side of the city, where eleven tall horses had been prepared for them, and they were already fed, so that they did not need to look for fodder on the way.

In addition to these horses, there were fourteen officers and men in naval uniforms, only ten of them were real navy, and the other four were investigators of the Jinyi Guard.

They were in charge of surveying the South Road and ascertaining the local grain distribution in Shandong, and they would go further than Ma Dezhong and the others, all the way through Shandong to Jining in the southwest.

At this time, there were twenty-five people in the group. They are all elite in the army, and they carry muskets, so they don't have to be afraid of small bandits at all.

Therefore, they are ready to go directly to Zhucheng, through Yiyuan, to Laiwu, and through Tai'an, which can save half of the time.

It is easy to say in other places that Yiyuan is the largest and most numerous place in Shandong, and there are also the most bandits.

Jin Yiwei walked from there this time, in addition to investigating the case, he also shouldered the task of surveying the terrain.

Shandong has now built a cement road, but the line from Jiaozhou to Laiwu has not been repaired, only Anqiu County has a section of cement road.

Before noon, a group of 25 people arrived at Jingzhi, an ancient town in Shandong, which is also the birthplace of sorghum burning in Shandong.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court has vigorously seized rice winemaking, but Jingzhi has become more and more prosperous because it mainly uses sorghum as the main raw material for winemaking.

The liquor here sells well all over the country, and even the capital has liquor sold here.

However, thanks to the large amount of rice shipped back from Nanyang in recent years, some of the rice brewing has been liberalized, and as long as the Ming Dynasty is willing to spend money, there is still wine to drink.

"Mr. Ma, Jingzhi also has a post station, we might as well rest here, by the way, one person buys a few catties of sorghum here to burn, the galloping horse is cold, and it can also keep out the cold."

Ma Dezhong smiled generously: "Tang Zongqi is more familiar with this area, so he will take us to an authentic workshop, and don't fight with me for the silver to buy wine." ”

They don't have to rest, but the horses can't. It is impossible for the post station here to have more than 20 horses for them to change, and it is not possible to change horses until Laiwu, so it is necessary to save some horsepower.

What's more, it was freezing on this day, although they brought dry food, but they could go to the post station to drink a bowl of hot soup, and people would be much more comfortable.

After resting in Jingzhi, all the water bags carried by everyone were emptied, exchanged for fine wine, and then continued to set off.

Before dark, everyone arrived at Jiangyu, which is located in the northeast of Yishan, which is the gateway to Yishan.

A group of them wore military uniforms and came to this remote town, which naturally attracted a burst of chickens and dogs.

The local post guards were hospitable, and even the lieutenant chief and the inspection department came to visit in person.

Ma Dezhong and the others did not come forward, and let Tang Chun, the general banner of the Jinyi Guard, communicate with them in the name of visiting relatives and sailors.

When asked about Nanyang rice, I haven't seen it here for more than half a year, which makes everyone's hearts sink.

In Jiaozhou, everything is still normal, but when you enter the inland, you haven't seen Nanyang rice for several months.

However, because there was no disaster here, and because the people here are dependent on the mountains, although the life of the people here is a little harder, it will not be unbearable.

The road on the second day was the most dangerous, although one person and one horse, light car and simple follow, but because it was all mountain roads, they only walked a hundred miles in a day, and arrived at Yiyuan in the evening.

After two days of tossing and turning on the road, everyone was a little tired. However, the personnel of the four Jinyi guards still did not rest, and contacted local personnel overnight to investigate the people's situation.

The county seat here is not as good as a small town outside the mountain, but after all, there are court officials, and there is also a hundred households in the west of the city.

Tang Chun contacted the local Jinyi Wei Xiaoqi, but found that the situation here was more serious than he thought.

Because in the past few years, except for a batch of disaster relief grain transported by the imperial court in the fifteenth year of Yongle, no grain has been transported at all since then.

On the official documents of the imperial court, although there is an immigration letter issued, it is consistent with what Lin San said, and they only allow people to immigrate to the northwest.

This situation made Tang Chun worried, this was not a state or a county, but most of the entire Shandong, which did not follow the will of the imperial court.

And outside the mountains here, many outside world situations are not known at all, let alone know that the imperial court has been transporting grain to Shandong for three consecutive years.

As for the promise that the people would pay taxes with work, most of the people did not know about it at all.

I don't know if the situation will be better when I get to a big city like Laiwu and Tai'an.

But the subsequent journey disappointed him, whether it was Laiwu or Tai'an, the situation was similar.

The whole of Shandong seems to have a black curtain, blocking the light of the imperial court, so that the people are still living in darkness.

Tang Chun had been active in Jiaodong and Jiaozhou, mainly responsible for monitoring the local generals. He never imagined that in the inland area, it would be so dark!

What went wrong? Why don't those officials want the people to live well?

He didn't dare to speculate, so he could only record what he saw and heard.

After four days of traveling, Ma Dezhong finally returned to his hometown after a long absence. All his memories of his hometown have long been blurred, and he only remembers Majia Village in the east of the city, where his parents were buried in the south of the village south of the Si River, under a hillside.

"Brother Ma, this is back to your hometown, do you live in the county seat today, or go home directly?"

Ma Dezhong smiled bitterly and said: "I can't even remember where the village I live in, and I have no relatives in my hometown, so I still stay in the county seat for one night and make plans tomorrow." ”

"Do you remember the name of the village?"

Ma Dezhong nodded. "It's something you can't forget. Tang Zongqi, I have been on the road for days, I am looking for a restaurant today, you and my brother have a good drink, and it is better to repair it for a day tomorrow. ”

Tang Chun shook his head and said, "This understanding is shocking. This Shandong does not seem to be the territory of my Ming Dynasty, and the officials at all levels are in their own way, and they don't pay attention to the laws of the imperial court at all. Now this Qufu is not far from Yanzhou City, I want to rush to Yanzhou tonight, so I can only wait for the return journey to accompany me. ”

Although Ma Dezhong didn't know about Jinyiwei's investigation, he also knew that they were burdened with heavy responsibilities, unlike himself who just went back to his hometown to visit relatives this time.

And he also knew a little about the situation along the way, knowing that this was a big case, and he didn't dare to delay Tang Chun's trip.

He nodded and said: "After three days, I will send my brother to wait for you at this North Gate ferry every day, but I can only wait for you for three days at most, and I must return to Jiaodong within half a month." ”

"I know, you don't need to send someone here to blow the cold wind, you just need to settle down and give an account of the city gate order, they don't dare to neglect the official duties of our Jinyi Guard."

The two sides made an appointment to meet, and Tang Chun and the others did not enter the city, but went directly to the official road in the west of the city and rushed towards Yanzhou.

Seeing them leave, Ma Dezhong looked back at the city wall of Qufu in the distance and sighed softly. "Let's find an inn to stay in the advanced city."

"Head, what about the horse?"

"Let's spend your own money to raise it first, and you don't have to trouble the post station."

He left home when he was eight or nine years old, and Ma Dezhong's impression of his hometown was already very vague.

At the city gate, the survey was registered, and the city gate Xiaoling was very surprised to see that Ma Dezhong was a local, but he also became extremely enthusiastic. personally took them to find a large inn and asked Xiao Er to serve the horses.

At this time, it was already evening, and this little order was not afraid that some officials would enter the city and take them to busy with them. He was a man with an extremely sharp mouth, and it took him almost a few words to get everything done.

Ma Dezhong didn't do it, and pulled him to dinner with him to show his gratitude.

This small order did not shirk, and ordered a banquet that was not sumptuous according to the number of people, but it did not lose face, and then he talked about it in detail.

I learned that Ma Dezhong left home when he was young, this time he was returning to his hometown to visit relatives, and he also wanted to move his parents' graves to Beijing.

He asked Ma Dezhong to take out a copper coin of fifty, stuffed it into Xiao Er, and asked him to go directly to the coffin shop to buy back the incense candle papyrus.

As for the village that has been blurred in Ma Dezhong's memory, he, a local, is very clear, and in a few words, he helped Ma Dezhong recall some details and determine the location.

Ma Dezhong is not afraid of his bad intentions, this is the county seat, there is a county office, patrolling. This is the hometown of Confucius and Mencius, and there is a thousand households stationed in the north of the city.

There were eleven big men of them, and they also carried muskets, and the general forces did not dare to do anything at all.

Ma Dezhong suspected that the other party was the county government's bag to inquire, and he was above board, so he told the truth, went back and forth with the other party, and asked what he wanted to know.

Before the curfew, they sent each other away, leaving one of them to watch the night, and the others all went to the kang, and then gave each other wound medicine.

They were navy, and although they had been taught to ride horses, their riding skills were average. For several days, the inner thighs were all worn out.

After four days of traveling, they arrived at their destination today, relaxed, and everyone drank again, and they felt sleepy when they arrived.

Moreover, I have lived in a post station for a few days, and the conditions of the post station are very poor, most of them are covered with firewood on the mud kang, the quilts are shabby, and there are flocks of fleas.

I lived in a restaurant today, and the conditions were much better, and several brothers fell asleep without taking off their clothes.

Early the next morning, Ma Dezhong took a group of brothers to have breakfast first.

Xiao Er helped them buy incense and candles yesterday, and this morning he bought a pig's head from the butcher again, as well as sacrificial snacks and dried fruits.

Ma Dezhong paid the money, and with a feeling of returning home, he went out of the city proudly and headed for the east of the city.

The village of his hometown is called Huangzhuang, which is only five or six miles away from the county seat, and when he was a child, he felt that this road was extremely far away, but now, it is only a quarter of an hour to arrive.

With Xiaoling's guidance yesterday, he didn't touch the wrong position, and some memories in his impressions were also seduced by the familiar scenery in front of him.

Huangzhuang is not small, this village has hundreds of households, five or six hundred people. The village is called Huangzhuang, which is naturally dominated by the surname Huang, and their Ma family only has a dozen households, which is a small surname.

However, the ancestors of the Ma family were born in martial arts, and more than a dozen of their families made a living from performing arts. Regardless of men, women and children, they have all practiced martial arts since childhood, but no one dares to bully them casually.

If it weren't for the fact that he had been a child since he was a child, he was once taken into the den of water thieves, and he would have been left with no bones left.

Instead of entering the village, he went straight south from a path next to the village and came to the bottom of a hillside.

On the hillside is the ancestral grave of the Huang family, their Ma family is an outsider, there is no ancestral cemetery, and the dead are buried casually.

When his mother died, she was buried in a corner under the hillside, where no arable land was occupied. When his father died, he was buried directly next to his mother's grave.

The scenery in front of him became more and more familiar, it was the most familiar scenery in his memory, and he will never forget it for the rest of his life.

The road was getting narrower and narrower, and there was no way forward, so Ma Dezhong jumped off his horse, tied the reins of his horse to the dagger, and then stuck the dagger in the ridge by the side of the road.

The others did the same as he did, and tied their horses well. "Rice, don't tie the horse to the wheat field, you will pay for eating the wheat seedlings, and the horse will have diarrhea if you eat it."

Rice's surname is rice, and his father gave him this name in the hope that he would not go hungry when he grew up. Now he can eat three bowls of rice in one meal, which can be regarded as a dream come true.

He took the incense and candles, the pig's head, and the dried fruit from his horse, and the people walked forward together.

But the scenery in front of me has changed, and I don't know when a ditch was built here to enclose a large area of fertile land.

Ma Dezhong didn't care about it at first, but the more he walked, the more he felt wrong.

The hillside is still there, and the grove is still there, but what about the grave?

The pig's head in his hand fell, but he didn't care, and dropped the thing in his other hand and ran forward as fast as he could.

The grave, which was originally located on the corner of the hillside, is gone......

It's gone......

Ma Dezhong's heart ached, his eyes were a little glazed, and he rubbed his eyes. There is indeed no grave, and the original place where his father and mother were buried has become a ditch......

He fell to his knees at once, his fists slammed into the ground, and tears flowed from his eyes. "Daddy......, mother......"

The others also realized that something was wrong, and the originally relaxed atmosphere became depressed, and hurriedly ran over. "Head, what's wrong?"

With a wave of his long arm, Ma Dezhong swept away the brother in front of him who was blocking his view. He stood up, ran to the location of his parents' grave in his memory, walked back and forth a few times, and couldn't help but let out a roar. "Ah......h

As the caravan circled the village, they were spotted by someone in the village.

If it is peaceful today, only a few bandits are infested. However, Qufu is the hometown of Confucius and Mencius, and the emperors of all dynasties have paid special attention to maintaining the peace here.

There are bandits in other places, but Qufu has not seen bandits for many years.

And most of the thieves are poor haha, where can one person and one horse be so luxurious.

Lizheng Huang Shuyong heard the news from the villagers, so he sent two people to see the situation.

When the two villagers approached with a cower, and before they could figure out how to come forward to ask questions, they saw the leader cry out as if he had gone crazy.

They ran back a few steps, but when they saw the old and young masters at the entrance of the village, they could only muster up their courage and approach in fear.

Although there are soldiers in front of you, soldiers are sometimes more terrible than bandits!

In the social structure of the East, where ancestor worship is the norm, there have always been two major hatreds among the people that cannot be resolved.

One is the oppression and harm of his ancestors, such as digging up ancestral graves and killing his father.

The other is the oppression and harm to its inheritance, such as cutting off children and grandchildren.

These two hatreds have run through the history of the East and have evolved into countless historical stories, large and small.

In the Ming Dynasty, whether it is digging the grave of the ancestors or cutting off the children and grandchildren, the hatred that evolves is endless, and even the judgment of the government on this kind of hatred is based on human nature.

In the Ming Dynasty, even stealing is a capital crime, but if his father is killed, his son will take revenge, and there is no death penalty.

The same is true of digging ancestral graves.

Because today's society still believes in becoming gods, immortals, and ghosts after death.

When a grave is dug up, it is equivalent to cutting off the life of another life.

Ma Dezhong was a little at a loss for a while after venting, in his heart, the only thing he cared about in his hometown was his parents' tombs, and he had always wanted to move his parents' tombs to the capital.

But now that he has returned, he has not even seen the graves of his parents......

And a group of his subordinates are all brothers who were born and died with him, otherwise they would not have wasted their vacations and accompanied him to Shandong.

They originally wanted to return their heads to their hometowns in beautiful clothes, but now they can't even find their ancestral graves.

So they were now even more excited than Ma Dezhong, comforting him one by one, and even more clamoring to avenge him.

Hearing the revenge, Ma Dezhong gradually came to his senses, this matter has not yet been determined, is it because he dug a ditch and directly destroyed the tomb, or did he move the grave for his father and mother......

He cheered up, got up to wipe away his tears, and returned to the place where he remembered his parents' tomb, only to see that his grandfather's tomb was still there because of its slightly higher position.

A glimmer of hope welled up in his heart......

"Hey, two fellows, come here."

Ma Dezhong heard the shouts of his subordinates, turned his head to look, and the two villagers approached with a cower.

Neither of these two people, Ma Dezhong, had any impression, and one of them boldly asked: "Ladies and gentlemen, what are you doing in our poor country?" ”

Ma Dezhong took a deep breath and asked, "There were two tombs here a few years ago, why aren't they there now?" ”

In the face of a group of military masters, the two middle-aged men did not dare to be arrogant, and the man who asked said: "Repair the canal and dig it." ”

Ma Dezhong's heart was cold, and he asked, "Didn't move the grave?" ”

"His family is dead, and there is no descendant, who will move his grave!"

"Then who built this canal? Didn't pay for the grave relocation? ”

Seeing that Ma Dezhong's face was calm, not like a wicked person, the other man was also emboldened at this time, and hurriedly said, "Does the Yansheng Mansion know?" This is our Qufu, no, the first-class family of the entire Ming Dynasty. More than half of the land in Qufu belongs to the Yansheng Gong's family, and in this Shandong, there is the land of the Yansheng Gongjia everywhere. Only his family can have such a large area of land, and they can also build a canal for watering. ”

Ma Dezhong's tone became calmer and calmer, and he asked, "Since it is the Yansheng Prince's family, why do you act without regard for etiquette and morality?" ”

"You ...... Master Jun, Yansheng Mansion is also what you can say? Be careful! This official mansion, this Manchu Dynasty civil and military, even the emperor is towards his family, don't get into trouble. ”

Another man said: "It is said that his family paid for it, but the government organized the government to recruit people to build the canal. ”

Ma Dezhong heard a hint of strangeness and asked, "You said that the canal was built by the government?" ”

"Of course, this Yan Shenggong is a nobleman, and if he wants to repair the canal, of course the government has to contribute. I've been working for a month. ”

Rice said on the side: "This official labor is for the purpose of building canals, roads, and transporting grain and grass, how can it build water canals for a family?" ”

Although many details have not yet been clarified, Ma Dezhong only feels that the Yansheng Mansion that is high in his heart has fallen into the dust with a bang.

In the past, he could proudly tell his colleagues that he and Confucius were fellow countrymen, but now, he only felt at a loss, and he did not have the slightest glory to be proud of.

Why did Confucius, a saint who was revered as a sub-saint, fall to this point by his descendants?

And what should he do?

Do you want to go to Confucius to find justice?

Thinking that Sunan often said that the eldest husband did something and did not do something, Ma Dezhong made up his mind.

This is the tomb of his parents being dug up, how can he be a turtle with a shrunken head because of the power of Confucius?

If you are ashamed of being a son of man, how will you become a father in the future!

However, he is not an uninformed villager, he has traveled half the world, and of course he knows that he must find out the facts first.

He looked at the village not far away, and he didn't want to come into contact with his own people. Since his house was taken and his land was taken, he did not consider them kinsman.

But now, you have to ask them about it. Anyway, they should know more about it.

If you can find the bones of your parents, try to find them.

He looked up at the sky and calmed down for a while before he spoke, "Let's enter the village." ”

(I didn't dare to write, but I wanted to write again, and my heart was entangled, which led to Kavin's awesomeness.) ）

(https:)

Please remember that the first domain name of this book is:. Mobile version reading URL: