Chapter 61: The Cui family has changed

962 A.D. (the third year of Jianlong) December 18 (lunar calendar)

Time flies, almost a month has passed, and the construction of the island is in full swing, and some progress has been made on all fronts.

In the afternoon, on the beach, the escort team and the children were training in a queue, and now the two teams are very neat, shouting slogans on the beach and constantly changing formations, a bit like the army of later generations.

Zhao Zizhong and An Dalang looked at them expressionlessly, and after a while, Zhao Zizhong said: "The queue should be fine, and the training of individual martial arts will begin in three days, and the troops are divided into pikemen, sword and shield soldiers, and crossbow soldiers." Let everyone choose freely, and then you will teach them, there are not many tricks, and the pikemen will practice a move, straight stab. The same goes for sword and shield soldiers, which is to block with a shield first, and then slash out. ”

He thought for a while, "With this arrangement, I get up every morning to run in the mountains, practice personal martial arts in the morning, train in battle formations in the afternoon, and learn literacy in the evening." ”

An Dalang nodded, "It's okay to arrange it this way, how to carry out the battle formation training in the afternoon?" ”

"It's the pikemen at the front, followed by the sword and shield soldiers, and finally the crossbowmen."

"Well, I used to train in the army in the north, and I almost trained like this, and the most important thing in the battle formation is military discipline, even if there is a rain of guns and arrows in front, you must keep the formation unchaotic."

"That's why I train them in a queue. In order to train an iron-clad army, it is very important to cultivate the willpower of soldiers. Platoon training allows soldiers to maintain their formation, which is very useful on the battlefield. ”

Zhao Zizhong paused, and then said: "There is a man in my hometown who said in the art of war, 'Fighting after battle, the art of war is constant, the use is wonderful, and it is one heart. That is to say, the battle formation is very important. ”

An Dalang said in surprise: "This is too incisive, who said it?" ”

"His name is Yue Wumu, but unfortunately he has passed away." An Dalang sighed again and again, deeply regretting that he could not get acquainted with such a art of war. Zhao Zizhong smiled secretly, Yue Fei would have to be born for more than a hundred years! Where to find it now?

At this time, An Dalang saw three people running over, and he stabbed Zhao Zizhong, "Big brother, someone is coming." ”

Zhao Zi looked at it again, it was Cui Hong, who had not appeared for a long time, with two guards. He greeted him and hugged his fists and said, "Steward Cui, I haven't seen you for a long time, why do you have time to come here today?" ”

Cui Hong's face was solemn, he hurriedly saluted, and then pulled Zhao Zizhong away, and said, "Mr. Zhao, I have something urgent to find you, let's find a place where no one is." He turned around and shouted, "Da Lang, you also follow, I have something to ask you for help." ”

The three of them came to the open and uninhabited place by the sea, and Cui Hong said solemnly: "The Cui family may have an accident, I found some clues, I felt that something was wrong, so I told the head of the family, but he didn't care." So I came to the island immediately, hoping that Mr. Zhao would have a way. ”

Zhao Zi looked at him very worried, and it didn't look like he was cheating, so he said: "Don't worry, Steward Cui, say it and listen to it, let's figure it out together." ”

Cui Hong calmed down for a while and said slowly: "In the past few days, there have been some people in several rooms of the Cui family who are connecting with each other, as if they are going to do something. I bought off one of the servants of the third room, and according to him, it seems that the people of the third room united with the people of the other rooms to attack the head of the family at the Cui family meeting held on the 26th of the lunar month. As for the details, this servant does not know. ”

Zhao Zizhong's face changed, "You said the Cui Family Conference, what's going on?" ”

"The Cui family holds a meeting every year on the twenty-sixth day of the lunar month with the participation of all the speakers, and some of the elders of the Cui family, the elders, senior treasurers, and stewards must attend. It is mainly to summarize the operation of the year, calculate the accounts and dividends. ”

"Is something wrong this year?"

"I've heard some people talking about how the houses are dissatisfied with the head of the house. They said that the auction had made a huge profit, but the Cui family only got 10%, and each house said that it was too little. In addition, the head of the family exchanged a huge amount of money for supplies and transported them to the island. This made each house very dissatisfied, thinking that it did not take care of the interests of the Cui family, but handed over the business to outsiders. I am also not satisfied with your brothers, who think that the construction of this small island is purely unnecessary and a waste of money. ”

Cui Hong took a breath and continued: "So I think someone wants to attack the head of the family, as for what method to take, I can't inquire." My eldest sister-in-law is the head of the family, and he has no offspring, so I am worried that the head of the family will be in danger. ”

Zhao Zi nodded emphatically, "What Steward Cui said is very reasonable, your family master may indeed be in danger, and the wealth is moving!" I'll go back and gather my brothers to discuss, and try to bring people out as soon as possible, and you go to rest now, and we will have a meeting together later. ”

He said to An Dalang again: "You go to Boris now, I will go to find Lao Wei and Da Lei, and we will gather in the archives room after a while." ”

An Dalang immediately ran away, and Zhao Zizhong ran to the north of the island.

An hour later, the six brothers, plus Cui Hong, Cui Zhaorong, Fan Jinchun, Hu Shuiyang, and the backbone of the island, gathered in the archives and began to discuss behind closed doors.

Cui Hong introduced the current situation of the Cui family, and everyone was very worried. Du Dalei was the first to jump up and shouted: "I'm afraid of his bird, I'll go back with a hundred guards, whoever dares to argue with Lao Tzu, I'll smash his chrysanthemum!" ”

An Dalang said disdainfully: "Don't be so troublesome, I can go by myself, those birdmen of the Cui family, Lao Tzu alone is enough." ”

Wei Hongye said solemnly: "I don't think we should startle the snake, and don't take people back with the crowd." ”

Na Zhe followed and said: "Yes, quietly enter the village, don't shoot." ”

Zhao Zi thought about it again, "We should go to Cui's house in two groups, one bright and one dark." On the bright side, there are a few fewer to go back, mainly to enter Cui's house and protect Cui Daoshu. Secretly send more people to scatter around the Cui family and hide. If there is something, go to Cui's house in time to rescue, what do you think? ”

Everyone agreed, Cui Zhaorong stood up and said: "I think it can be like this, in a few days, the little lady will go home for the New Year, we can send a few people to follow, and we can enter the Cui family openly." ”

Zhao Zizhong immediately said: "Let Cui Xiaoniang move now, I'm worried that there will be changes later, Da Lang, you immediately pack up your weapons and armor, and set off with Cui Xiaoniang immediately." ”

Zhao Zizhong said to Fan Jinchun again: "You choose a few people with outstanding martial arts among the Cui family's guards, but they must be reliable people, let them pack up immediately, and set off with Da Lang." ”

Na Zhe asked, "How can I get Little Lady Cui to agree to leave immediately?" ”

Du Dalei said: "It's not simple, just say that his mother is seriously ill and wants to see her daughter for the last time, so he sent Steward Cui to pick her up." ”

Na Zhe hesitated, "Isn't this okay?" ”

Zhao Zizhong said categorically: "The matter is urgent, so I will do it." Steward Cui, please go and tell Little Lady Cui to let him leave immediately and don't bring anything. ”

Cui Hong agreed, and Fan Jinchun took him to find Cui Xiaoniang. Wei Hongye thought for a while, and said to Zhao Zizhong: "Let Da Lei go with him, Da Lang is a little upright and easy to be impulsive when he encounters trouble." And Da Lei doesn't look serious, but he has a lot of ideas, handles things more tactfully, and doesn't suffer losses easily, so he and Da Lang complement each other's personalities, and the two of them also have a care when they are together. ”

Everyone looked at Du Dalei, and he immediately stood up to show his loyalty: "Trust me, that's right." I must behave well, take care of Cui Daoshu, and don't let others hurt him. ”

Zhao Zizhong said solemnly: "You must be careful, you must not drink when you arrive at Cui's house, can you do it?" ”

Du Dalei immediately swore an oath, saying that he would never drink, Zhao Zi nodded emphatically, "You go and clean up quickly, remember to bring *." ”

More than an hour later, a large number of people gathered on the pier, most of them to see them off. Cui Xiaoniang said goodbye to everyone with a worried face, and took the two maids on the boat. An Dalang carried a horse lance and a big bag on his back and said to everyone: "Brothers, take care, I'm on the boat." Then he walked to the boat.

Du Dalei hugged his brothers one by one with a smile, and said, "I'll go to the mainland to live happily for a few days, don't think about me." ”

Na Zhe pouted, "You scourge, get out of here!" The island can be cleaned for a few days. ”

Zhao Zizhong said a few more words, and Du Dalei left impatiently. Cui Hong came over with five guards to say goodbye, he mysteriously pulled Zhao Zizhong aside, looked at no one around, and whispered: "Mr. Zhao, if you go to Mingzhou, go to the north of the city to find a 'Li Ji Herbal Medicine Shop', and find the proprietor after entering, his name is Li Wenliang, his cousin is my cousin, and he is very reliable." Ask him to arrange for you to stay, and then let me know. I'll go to Minnesota to meet you and plan my next move. ”

Zhao Zizhong agreed, took out a few pieces of paper from his clothes pocket, picked one, and then tore it in half, handing half of it to Cui Hong.

Cui Hong took it and took a look, there were some words written crookedly on it, this was Hu Yidao's homework yesterday, and Zhao Zizhong took it on his body to prepare for inspection. Zhao Zizhong said: "Steward Cui, you give this half of the paper to your cousin and tell him that no matter who comes, only if you take the other half together, and the handwriting is the same, the person who will go." ”

Cui Hong said: "This method is good, I will arrange it when I go back." Then he said goodbye to everyone and took the escort aboard. The ship set sail and set sail, gradually moving away. Everyone went back and went to their own busy without mentioning it.

On the boat, Du Dalei wandered around at will, and happened to run into Cui Hong, he asked, "Where is Cui Xiaoniang?" Why didn't you see her? ”

"As soon as the little lady got on the boat, she entered her cabin, and the maid said that she was crying, and no one would listen to her."

Du Dalei thought for a while, "I'll go tell her and tell her that her mother's serious illness is fake, otherwise she will have to make trouble when she arrives at Cui's house." ”