Wang Huan said leisurely: "I look at the small officials with extraordinary faces and vigorous skills, they must be famous families, in this Kuizhou Mansion, how many people dare to call them famous?" Only after Ma Yuan, the general of Han Fubo, and the hereditary consolation of Shizhu made Ma Qiancheng a door, so I boldly speculate that the petty official must be Ma Wannian, the son of Ma Xianglin, the general of the Great Ming Hussars. ”

Ma Wannian was suddenly surprised, and then laughed and said: "Sure enough, it is worthy of Xiao Zhuge , Uncle Li Tingyu didn't talk nonsense, I didn't believe it just now, but now I believe it." ”

Wang Huan said modestly: "Ma Gongzi praised it falsely. ”

Although Ma Wannian is not very old, he is very similar to his father Ma Xianglin, with a straightforward temperament, speaking of Li Tingyu, and then said gloomily: "It's a pity that Uncle Li sacrificed his life in Dabie Mountain to take righteousness, and I can never see him again." ”

Wang Huan and the others were also sad when they heard this, and they were about to pause together, but Ma Wannian was happy again: "But Senator Wang came to the stone pillar safely, but it is the luck of the stone pillar, my grandmother heard that the Senate will arrive today, and ordered me to wait here early, let's not delay here, come with me." ”

Ma Wannian's mood is changing, and Wang Huan can't keep up with his rhythm anymore, but when he heard that his grandmother sent him, he was happy in his heart, who was Ma Wannian's grandmother? It is Qin Liangyu, the current Shizhu Xuan Envoy, when the second rank of the dynasty, the chief military officer of the SC, and the dazzling one of the stars in the late Ming Dynasty, she actually asked her grandson to greet her at the dock, which was a little flattered.

So Wang Huan and the others hurriedly followed Ma Wannian ashore, and as soon as they came to the wharf, the crowd standing on the wharf was hula, and immediately knelt on the ground, shouting: "Thank you Lord Wang for saving my son back to his hometown!" ”

The shouts were overwhelming, and a few old men, with the support of their families, staggered forward and kowtowed to Wang Huan to thank him, where did Wang Huan receive such a big gift, he hurriedly helped him up with both hands, and kept saying: "Hurry up, please get up, it's time to torture Wang Huan." ”

Ma Wannian said in a deep voice on the side: "These are the families of the soldiers you brought back from Yangzhou, they originally thought that their relatives had died in a foreign country, but they didn't expect that there would be a day of goodbye, and they were inexplicably grateful for your kindness, and they heard that you were coming, and they walked dozens of miles in the morning." ”

When Zu Bian saw this scene, he sighed with emotion and said to Wang Huan: "The world is difficult and dangerous, but the people of Shizhu are so simple, it is really rare." ”

Wang Huan nodded again and again, clasped his fists at the people all over the ground, and kept shouting: "Don't dare to be, don't dare to be, please get up quickly." ”

People stood up and thanked them constantly, sincerely expressing their gratitude in simple language, this deep tear made Wang Huan really feel that he had done a good deed, and even Xu Goudan and Chen Ergou behind him also puffed up their chests, as if they had become adults at this moment.

Ma Wannian's subordinates opened the way, leading Wang Huan and others to the streets of the town, there were already horses ready, Ma Wannian was worried that Wang Huan and the three would not be able to ride horses, so he called a two-wheeled carriage intimately, let Wang Huan and the three of them sit on, and he and Zubian and others rode together, and the group entered the town, and the people behind still followed, chanting "Thank you Wang Sen" and the like.

Xituo Town is not big, it is also a small street, the carriage passes through the town in an instant, drives on the official road, the stone pillar is located in the middle of nowhere, the official road naturally can not be compared with Wuchang Road, Jingzhou Road and other roads, it is much narrower and simpler, it is a mud road, no more than five feet wide, barely able to allow a carriage to pass, the road is full of ruts, potholes, sitting in the carriage, it is much more uncomfortable than riding a horse, the three of Wang Huan are like sitting in the cradle, shaking non-stop, Wang Huan swayed like a pendulum, almost got motion sickness and vomited, and hurriedly pulled the curtain, Take a look at the scenery outside the car.

I saw the carriage galloping among the lofty mountains, and as far as the eye could see, there were mountains and slopes everywhere, and the mountains were deep. Occasionally, I see a flat land in the mountains, where houses gather and converge into a village. On the hillside, there are terraced fields built one by one, there are rice and wheat fields planted, as far as the eye can see, the mountains are full of layers of fields, many farmers support the plough and drive the oxen, the hoe and the rake, busy in the field, the terraced fields follow the mountain, become several layers up and down, the head of the person on the next layer is the heel of the person on the previous layer, the construction is wonderful, it is incredible.

However, although the terraces are good, they are limited to the scarcity of flat land and have to do it, limited by the fertility of the soil, the grain yield planted on it is not high, the fertile fields in the south of the Yangtze River can yield about two stones per mu, and the terraced fields can only produce one stone per mu.

The peasants and women in the fields are all dressed in sackcloth, and most of the villages are thatched huts and shacks, and there are few brick houses and tiled buildings.

Chen Ergou and Xu Goudan grew up in the south of the Yangtze River, where have they seen such a wonderful field structure, they opened their eyes wide and praised loudly, and they couldn't stop looking at it with novelty. And Wang Huan came from later generations, and naturally saw the terraced fields, it is not surprising, but he sighed in his heart, and felt that what Li Tingyu said before was really good, the stone pillar is located in the mountainous area, the transportation is inconvenient, and it was called a barbarian land in ancient times, the land is barren, the population is sparse, and it is not the foundation of the eloquent and strategic.

However, the people of this era only know one and do not know the other, but most of the mountainous areas contain rich mineral veins and hundreds of millions of underground wealth. However, it is limited to prospecting methods, and many precious metal veins are buried deep underground and unknown.

But Wang Huan knows that in this important mountain, where there are gold mines, where there are silver mines, where there are iron mines, lime mines, he knows everything well, which is also an important reason why he is full of confidence to make a fortune in the mountains.

During the Wanli period, the imperial court sent mine supervisors out of the world, all over the world, in fact, it was also the idea of finding income from the underground, but unfortunately those mine supervisors were greedy and incompetent, and they had a great ability to loot people's wealth, but they didn't know anything about exploring the pulse of mining, guarding the gold mountain and crying poor, wasting huge natural wealth in vain.

Wang Huan looked at the mountains outside the car, thinking about his future plans, and before he knew it, the car had run a long way, and after turning the mountains, he revealed Shizhu County, which was located at the bottom of the mountain valley.

I thought that the Xuanwei Division Yamen was in the county, but when I arrived, I found that there was no city wall in Shizhu County, and the whole county town was built directly in the flat land at the bottom of the valley.

Ma Wannian rode the horse to lead the way, did not enter the city with the carriage, turned a corner on the official road, followed a road up the mountain, and ran onto a mountain road adjacent to the edge of the city.

The mountain road circled, but it still allowed the carriage to gallop, and the road had to be built flat, and in a short time, the carriage stopped in front of a cottage gatehouse.

"Here we are, Senator Wang, this is the city of Tusi where my grandmother lives." Ma Wannian jumped off the horse and took Wang Huan off the carriage with a smile.

Wang Huan and the three of them only felt that the bones of their bodies were scattered, and they climbed out of the carriage tremblingly, and as soon as they stood firm, they felt that their eyes lit up, and they couldn't help exclaiming: "What a magnificent gatehouse!" ”

There is a big gatehouse in front of you, towering majestically, and the walls on both sides are tall and stretching out. The gatehouse is wooden, more than eight zhang high, four zhang wide, tall and magnificent, the city gate of many big cities and giant castles is huge, the city tower is hollow and carved, the eaves are warped, magnificent, there are more than ten big flags on the trees on the city wall on both sides, the word "Qin" embroidered on it is huge, only this one place, the prestige of the stone pillar to comfort the envoy is undoubtedly revealed.

Zu Bian also felt solemn, and couldn't help but praise in a low voice: "This Tusi City is more atmospheric than the gate of my Shenyang City in Liaodong." ”

Ma Wannian listened, proudly said: "My grandmother has been a horse all her life, and has been rewarded countless times by the imperial court. ”

He led a few people, passed through the gatehouse, bypassed the shadow wall, and then passed through the square in front of the hall, and came to the front of the hall of the consolation envoy, there were countless leather armor sergeants standing along the way, one by one, with a protruding chest and belly, without squinting, an image of a warrior, Ma Wannian also changed his smile and smiled, put on a solemn face, and shouted loudly to the hall: "Li Tingyu's Senator Wang Huan and his party have arrived!" ”

Along the stone steps in front of the hall, Wang Huan came to the lobby, the lobby is spacious, supported by several giant pillars surrounded by one person, in the center of a huge "tiger" calligraphy hung on the wall, calligraphy dragon flying phoenix dance, a word is written vividly, but it seems that there is really an awe-inspiring tiger spirit rushing to the face. On both sides of the lobby, there were several chairs, and there was one person sitting on the left and right, but Wang Huan didn't pay attention to them at all, and his attention was all focused on the old man who was sitting on the Taishi chair under the word "tiger", who was gray-haired but not angry.

She is Qin Liangyu.