A round of red sun has risen on the pole, the sun casts countless points of light on the snow, no matter from which direction, you can feel a few cold lights, the north wind blows like a mad blow the branches trembling, although these fallen leaves of the dead branches can not cover the sun, but the temperature in the mountains is still very low, the snow is also a little bit of accumulation of hard, feet on it, make a "coo" sound.

Today is the last day of the year, the Gao brothers did not go into the mountains to hunt, and rarely rested at home for a day, while Liu and Gao Guiying have been busy with this day's meals since early in the morning, whether poor or rich, the main meal on Chinese New Year's Eve is sloppy.

After a simple breakfast, Gao Ligong gave the entire front room to Liu and Gao Guiying, and ran to the west wing of the back room to chat with Li Hongji.

Gao Ligong threw the topic to Li Hongji, "Hongji, after the new yuan, what are your plans?" ”

"What does the eldest brother mean ......" Gao Ligong's question was so abrupt that Li Hongji didn't know how to answer it for a while.

"Now that the snow is closing the mountain, a lot of things will be backlogged, once the spring begins, the weather will be warmer, everything will be normal, and the yamen will resume work," Gao Ligong paused and continued: "You are taken away from the county government prison, and I will say goodbye, thinking of the usual relationship between you and me, Hulushan will not be safe at that time." ”

"Big brother, I understand," Li Hongji nodded solemnly, "After the new yuan, my injuries should be completely healed, and I will leave Hulushan at that time." ”

Gao Yigong frowned, looked at his eldest brother with some dissatisfaction, and wanted to say something, but still didn't speak.

"Hongji, I'm not driving you away, we are brothers, and now we are a family." Gao Ligong didn't care about Gao Yigong's reaction, but he looked at Li Hongji.

"I know that eldest brother doesn't mean that," Li Hongji smiled, "I left Hulu Mountain to find Ai Zhao to settle the grievances between us." ”

Although what Li Hongji said was more vague, how could Gao Ligong not understand? But he didn't stop Li Hongji, once the grudge between Li Hongji and Ai Zhao deepened, he had no way out except to rebel, "Hongji, do you want us to help?" ”

Li Hongji shook his head slowly, "No, big brother, the Ai Zhao family has a big business, and there are not a few guards, but it is difficult to approach when there are too many people, and it is not easy to get out." ”

"Brother-in-law, when the time comes, we will go together, many people will have more strength," Gao Yigong suddenly came to his senses, and he never lagged behind in the fights, so he hurriedly said: "Doesn't my brother-in-law regard us as his own?" ”

Gao Ligong glared at him fiercely, and the meaning was very clear: What kind of coaxing are you kidding? How far to go!

"Yigong, it is precisely because I regard you as my own that I won't let you go," Li Hongji nodded, throwing a grateful smile at Gao Yigong, "I said that this is dangerous, unlike the usual fights, you will definitely not accept it, but I went to Ai Zhao this time, that is, with your brothers, in broad daylight, there must be only a loss, and now the eldest brother is no longer on duty in the prison, among us, no matter who misses and is thrown into prison, it will be difficult to get out." ”

Li Hongji didn't wait for Gao Yigong to object, and continued: "Since you want to hide in the shadows, the fewer the number of people, the better, but when the time comes, I can't help but guard against Ai Zhao's poisonous hands." ”

"That's natural, I will sharpen the waist knife quickly, and ensure that the knife goes down, and the blood will be splashed in five steps......" Gao Yigong became more and more energetic the more he spoke, and he couldn't help but dance with his hands, and suddenly found that his eldest brother was glaring fiercely, swallowing the second half of the sentence alive, and lowered his head again, not daring to look at his eldest brother's eyes.

"Haha, it's really a refreshing person!" Li Hongji became more and more fond of this local ranger.

"That's it, brother-in-law, if I ......" Gao Yigong saw his eldest brother's unusual face again, and quickly got up and ran, "You talk, I'll go and see what delicious the second sister has made...... "

Gao Ligong shook his head and smiled, "If you don't grow up, you know that you will talk nonsense and cause trouble, and sooner or later you will cause trouble!" ”

Li Hongji said in his heart: The Gao family saved themselves, and the chaos they caused was not small, and they didn't care about messing with a few more things, it was a big deal to go away to kill officials and rebel.

"Hongji, after breaking the matter of Ai Zhao, Li Jiazhan will definitely not be able to stay, what do you think in the future?" Seeing that Li Hongji was reluctant to express his plans, Gao Ligong was a little anxious, according to his thoughts, it was best to join him and go to his uncle Gao Yingxiang, so that the family could still be together, even if they fought with officers and soldiers, they would take care of it more.

"Big brother, to be honest, I haven't thought about it yet, in this world, poor people can't live," Li Hongji first gave Gao Ligong a reassurance, indicating his determination and general direction, "Wait for the matter of Ai Zhao to be broken, and then take Jin Er out, and then sum up with the eldest brother, I am now full of the shadow of Ai Zhao, and I don't know to what extent it will be broken, if this matter is not over, my heart will not be settled at all." ”

This is also reasonable, if you can't hit Ai Zhao hard, you can't swallow the breath in your heart, and it is very likely that you will continue to fight with Ai Zhao, so it's still a little far away to talk about plans now.

Gao Ligong knew that Li Hongji was not a ranger and reckless like his younger brother, he said that he hadn't thought it through, he had his own reasons, no matter what, with Ai Zhao's matter, plus Gui Ying's fetters, where else could he go except for rebellion? "Hongji, I plan to go to my uncle after the new yuan."

Li Hongji naturally understood what Gao Ligong meant, this was almost a naked invitation, but the rebels in Shaanxi, including Gao Yingxiang, were difficult to achieve for a while, if it weren't for the court's softness, I am afraid that it would have been slaughtered long ago, "Big brother, where is my uncle now?" ”

"Uncle should be in the Huaiqing area, but no one can tell the specific location, I heard that the officers and soldiers are very well guarded." Gao Ligong looked at Li Hongji silently, but what he expected still didn't happen, Li Hongji narrowed his eyes, his face was unwavering, he didn't speak, just nodded.

Gao Ligong took the initiative to divert the topic and said something that was neither salty nor light, until Gao Guiying came over and asked them to eat.

The Gao family is far from a big family, the food is very tight, and there is one more mouth of Li Hongji, enough to eat is good, the Gao brothers braved the snow to go into the mountains to hunt, not to exercise their bodies, but to make up for the lack of food, but today, there is Li Hongji as a guest, and they also celebrate the New Year in the way of a large family.

Noon is a light meal, that is, an appetizer on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, but for the Gao family, today is also very rich, two whole chickens, three pounds of pork, five pounds of mutton, stewed in the same cauldron for more than an hour, until the pork and mutton are half cooked, take out the pork and lamb and a whole chicken, leave for the main meal in the evening, and the remaining old hen, continue to stew until it is fully cooked, it is a light meal at noon.

Li Hongji is a coquette, the uncle of the Gao family, who monopolized a large piece of chicken legs, Gao Yigong is also a chicken leg, but it is obviously smaller than Li Hongji's piece, two women, Liu and Gao Guiying, each is a piece of wings, plus the flesh and bone attached to the wings, the remaining chicken head, chicken butt, chicken back, chicken belly, etc., all the brains were given to Gao Ligong, the head of the family.

A large pot of soup was filled with most of it, and the rest was filled with ramen, so that five people could eat enough.

After lunch, it was time to prepare dinner, but this was a woman's business, Liu and Gao Guiying were busy, Gao Ligong stayed alone in the east wing of the front room, I don't know if he was making a summary of the previous year, or making arrangements for the next year, Gao Yigong went out early and went to find his fox friends and dogs.

Li Hongji was bored, swept another piece of snow and began to catch birds and birds to kill time, after setting up the bamboo sieve, he didn't see the birds for a while, but he remembered the matter of Ai Zhao, and after breaking off the grievances with Ai Zhao, where would he go, Gao Ligong's meaning was very clear, and he hoped that he would go to Gao Yingxiang with the people of the Gao family, but he still didn't want to go to Gao Yingxiang to guard with a knife.

After pondering for a long time, there were more birds and finches under the bamboo sieve, these birds and finches, thinking that this was a safe foraging place, and even some birds and finches fought under the bamboo sieve in order to compete for food, Li Hongji remained silent, picked up the rope and pulled it violently, the bamboo sieve fell, and the birds and birds in the net were sifted, Li Hongji visually examined, there were seven or eight turtledoves alone.

He took a cotton pouch and put the birds and finches under the bamboo sieve into the pocket one by one, and suddenly, he shook the turtledove in his hand, and tied a small piece of thin cord to its legs, and the end of the thin rope was a bamboo tube of about an inch.

"Isn't this a turtledove?"

Li Hongji looked at this "turtle dove", and it was really a little different from other turtle doves, there was obviously no circle of bright feathers on the neck, it turned out to be a carrier pigeon! He untied the bamboo tube, saw that the bamboo tube was sealed with wax, hurriedly ran to the west wing, and roasted it with a fire, the wax immediately became soft as water, and poured out the wax oil, and there was a note in it.

"The Mongolian Tumut Department is advancing eastward from the West Sea, and there is a risk of cutting off the two prefectures of Gansu and Suzhou."

The note was signed by Yang Zhaoji.

Li Hongji didn't know who Yang Zhaoji was, but this was obviously an urgent military situation, and it involved foreign races, so he didn't dare to be careless.

Holding the note in one hand, Li Hongji pondered for a long time, whether to help the imperial court and let this message pass on, or destroy it, so that the already rotten imperial court would die as soon as possible?

Which option is in your favor?

With Li Hongji's current identity, these two choices have no direct relationship with him.

After thinking for a long time, in the end it was the national righteousness that prevailed, once the Mongols occupied the southern entrance of the Hexi Corridor, then the land of Ganzhou, Suzhou, and Liangzhou may no longer belong to the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty's important town in the northwest Jiayuguan will also fall into the hands of the enemy, once the northwest loses this most important military barrier, the Mongolian cavalry can easily go south, and it is the common people of the Han nationality who will suffer at that time.

Li Hongji is still a fugitive, so he naturally can't control these military and political affairs, but he can't let such important information be ruined in his own hands because of his greed, and in the end, he resealed the bamboo tube with wax and released the carrier pigeon.