Wang Huan's heart was upset, and he hurriedly took the old man's hand, came to a big stone on the side of the road, asked him to sit down, and said softly: "Boss, sit down first, and slowly talk to me in detail, why is Chongqing not a place where people live?" ”

The old man sat on the stone with half his buttocks, thanked Wang Huan in fear, and gasped for breath with his cane, trembling with a long sigh: "Alas~~!" Lord Wang, the little old man's surname is Zhang, the ancestral home is in Chongqing Mansion, the ancestral house is on the edge of Chaotianmen, generations of business, relying on the north and south, buying and selling leather goods for a living, these years, also accumulated some family property fame, in Chongqing City can be regarded as a solid home, my eldest son also learned to write hyphenation, the year before the examination of Xiucai, the glory of the ancestors, is the first one of my Zhang family in a hundred years, the neighbors are envious of the tight. ”

Wang Huan saw that the more he talked, the more proud he became, and faintly had the intention of tearing up a long conversation, and hurriedly interjected: "My father-in-law's family is prosperous, which is gratifying, but why did it fall to such a point?" ”

This sentence suddenly pulled the old man back from his past happiness, and a mist appeared in the muddy old man's eyes, and he shouted in a sad voice: "It's that hateful thief and soldier!" ”

He shouted sadly, emotionally, and he didn't realize it, these words dragged Wang Huan together and scolded him, Ma Xintian and Chen Xiang, who were standing beside Wang Huan, changed their faces, and they were about to scold when they took a step forward, but Wang Huan gently stretched out his hand to stop them, shook their heads and stopped the movements of the two.

The family members of the old man Zhang who were kneeling next to him were so frightened that their faces turned white, and the misfortune came out of their mouths, the timid trembled, and the bold ones couldn't stop peeking at Wang Huan's face, for fear that this young adult, who was also an officer and soldier of the imperial court, would be furious when he heard it, and he would draw a knife and cut people without saying a word.

Wang Huan looked indifferent with honor and disgrace, and still kindly took Zhang Laohan's hand and sat on the stone to listen quietly.

"The year before last, the thief entered Sichuan and occupied my Chongqing Mansion, my family has a lot of plates, and I can't give up my ancestors' family business, so I took the risk to stay in the city and became a thief. The thieves opened a government in the city, but it was very kind, and issued a notice to reassure the people, asking the merchants to operate as usual, not to disturb the people and residents, so that I gradually settled down, and felt that after this thief called the king and widow, it was very different from the previous style, although it was a big rebellion, but it was not guilty of the people in the autumn. ”

Zhang Lao Chinese brought the vicissitudes of life and sadness, and said slowly: "After a year like this, after Ramadan this year, the officers and soldiers of the court came back, and the chief soldier Zeng Ying drove away the thieves and recovered the city of Chongqing. When Wang Shi entered the city, the people in the city put incense for Baiguo, and welcomed the little old man with the whole family, which was also among them. ”

"It's a pity that the officers and soldiers entered the city less than ten days before they issued a decree." Zhang Laohan said that he was sad, his face became more and more sad, and he choked up: "It is necessary to strictly investigate whether the residents who did not flee during the occupation of the city by the thieves were suspected of being bandits." My lord, the thieves have taken possession of the city, our people are unarmed, and the officers and soldiers have fled in one go, what can we do? Staying in the city just to survive, who would dare to go to the bandits, as soon as this decree came out, it was on the surface to investigate the internal response of the bandits, but secretly it was for the sake of tyrannical accumulation of people's wealth! ”

"The official messenger took a group of hooligans, who were familiar with the way to investigate the rich families in the city, entered the door and sat down in the hall, shouting to bring the money, otherwise they would have to be chained and sent to the prison to survive and not to die, and the family members had to kowtow and give gifts to a large sum of silver to catch people. But this official sent away a batch of batches, sent away today and came back tomorrow, every other time to ask for silver taels, Rao is thousands of family wealth, but also can not withstand such exploitation, Chongqing City because of the destruction of countless people, countless people because they can't come up with money, the door is locked, silent corpses in the wild, not even the person who collects the corpse. ”

Wang Huan frowned angrily, and said in a deep voice: "If it's such a mess, Zeng Ying doesn't care?" ”

Zhang Laohan wept sadly and said, "Who cares?" It was originally instructed by the government, naturally no one cared about it, my son showed his talent and fame, couldn't bear it, regardless of the dissuasion of the little old man, he went to the front of the government to beat the drum to complain, and complained about his grievances, but he didn't even see the face of the prefect, and was driven out by a group of soap officials, saying that this was the arrangement of the chief soldier Zeng, and no one dared to care. ”

"My son was angry, but turned his head and went to the military camp of Zeng General to shout grievances, Zeng Ying's son was dignified, on the surface he treated my son with courtesy, comforted, and said that he should strictly investigate the extortion, my son was kind, and believed it to be true, but unexpectedly the front foot just walked out of the line, not more than four or five streets, the back foot was chased by a group of miscellaneous skins in the market, scolded in his mouth, committed murder on the street, beat my son to death, and hung the corpse on a high pole, and wrote with white cloth blood on his head and neck: The person who dares to make the first complaint will end."

Zhang Laohan howled and cried, and couldn't say anything about his sorrow: "Poor my son is only in his thirties, just in the prime of life, he died with hatred, that Zeng Ying still refused to give up, and the next day hundreds of officers and soldiers came to the door, framed me and other bandits, locked up my second son, robbed my family of property, smashed furniture, drove my whole family out of the door, and lived on the streets. ”

Zhang Laohan's cry was miserable and sad, everyone who heard it was moved, Chen Ergou, who changed back to his real name Chen Xiang, was stunned when he heard it, his face was full of anger, a pair of fists were clenched tightly, and he almost wanted to get out of the water, even Ma Xintian, who was moody and not sticky, his eyes were shining, and a trace of anger appeared imperceptibly in his pupils.

Occasionally, the family listened to the rumors of the villagers who returned from the stone pillar on the street, and in the stone pillar Wanshou Valley, there were Wang Dashan people who opened a warehouse to release grain and help the displaced people, and as long as the attached people were willing to work and contribute, they could have a stable life. Although my family is old and weak, but they are good people who are willing to endure hardships and can live a hard life in the valley, they must live better than their hometown when they go to the valley. As a result, along the way, I met many surrounding villagers, all of whom had the same idea as us, and we walked together, but we never wanted to meet adults here. ”

Zhang Laohan cried and said, chattering about this, throwing away the crutches, kneeling on his knees with a "poof", his whole body fell down, and he shouted in his mouth: "At this time, God has mercy, let me wait to see the majesty of the adult, please take me in, the villains must work hard and work hard, just to have a full meal, a shelter from the rain, in order to live in peace!" ”

The members of the Zhang family, who were kneeling on the side, also bowed down and begged in unison: "Ask the adults to take it in, ask the adults to take it in!" ”

Facing the head of the person lying on the ground at his feet, Chen Xiang almost burst into tears, he was born poor, he was bullied a lot when he was a child, mixed in the market, he was beaten by hooligans and miscellaneous skins when he was young, he couldn't see such a scene, his brain was hot, he took a step under his feet, and shouted in his mouth: "Okay, good, go, go, Wanshou Valley can be big......" to help.

Ma Xintian quietly pulled him back, Chen Xiang looked at him in astonishment, but saw Ma Xintian shaking his head, and spit out a sentence softly with a cold face: "Adults have their own plans!" ”

Chen Xiang patted his head, and suddenly came to his senses, secretly saying that it was dangerous, this is when adults are pretending to be forced, how can they let themselves be in the limelight? couldn't help but glance at Ma Xintian with admiration and gratitude, and said in his heart that this ginger is still old and spicy.

Wang Huan really helped Zhang Laohan with both hands with a sad expression, held his shoulders steadily, and said in a deep voice: "Okay, at the beginning of the construction of Wanshou Valley, it was the opportunity to use people, you can come, at the right time, I will send someone to take you to the valley, rest assured, Wanshou Valley is not like the cannibalistic mess, as long as you abide by the law and discipline, not only can you live a good life, but you will be able to get better and better in the future." ”

He smiled slightly, revealing a mouthful of snow-white teeth, eyebrows raised on his handsome face, and his eyes were like a crescent moon, revealing a strong joy: "And your ancestral leather business can't be so wasted!" ”