On the ninth day of the first lunar month in 1648, Anqing Wharf has come out of the atmosphere of the New Year and resumed its usual busyness.

An ordinary steam merchant ship moored at the dock did not attract much attention. When more than a dozen sturdy men walked down from the boat, some people began to think that the people on the boat must not be simple, because these dozen men obviously did not look like the nursing homes of large families, how could there be nursing homes with a long cloth bag on their backs?

A girl who was too beautiful to talk helped a tightly wrapped young woman with a baby in her arms to step out of the boat, and the beautiful girl began to attract the attention of many people.

Then a young man in his early thirties came out of the cabin, accompanied by a young man in his twenties, and the two of them did not get off the boat immediately when they got out of the cabin, but stood at the bow of the boat and looked at the whole pier.

"Chief, it's my first time in Anqing, and the Anqing Wharf is really good."

The young man who spoke was Wang Qiang, and this group of people was needless to say that it was Luo Jian and his party.

Before the Chinese New Year, Luo Jian told Shi Kefa that he wanted to go back to his hometown to have a look, Shi Kefa was a little reluctant, after the year, there were more things in the government than, and Luo Jian's departure, Shi Kefa's shoulders were too stressful.

Liu Lan found Shi Kefa and talked to him for a while, "Brother Shi, you just let him find what he wants to protect." Liu Lan's words touched Shi Kefa, and after pondering for a long time, Shi Kefa finally agreed.

Wang Qiang returned to Nanjing a year ago, and Liu Lan wanted to handle Liu Weimin and his marriage after the year.

"Yes, when I hit Anqing the year before last, this wharf was still dilapidated, and the construction of Anqing in recent years is still very good." Luo Jian took Wang Qiang's words and said.

Four or five people greeted Luo Jian and the others, and after a brief greeting, the four or five people led Luo Jian and the others directly to a courtyard on the dock.

These men were sent by Rifford to fight the front station. They had already rented a small courtyard on the wharf, and the carriage and horses were ready, and after lunch here, Luo Jian and his party were ready to rush directly to Huaining County, which was not too far from Anqing City.

Although Luo Jian didn't want to disturb Anqing because of private matters, the goal of the group was indeed not small. It soon attracted the attention of the third division of the garrison Anqing.

By the time Li Benshen sent someone to the small courtyard by the dock, Luo Jian and his party had already set off.

"It must be the Metropolitan Governor himself, I have to go and see the Metropolitan Governor." Li Benshen listened to the description of his subordinates and reacted.

There were a lot of pedestrians on the road, seeing that they were carrying them in their hands and carrying them on their shoulders, Luo Jian knew that this was a lot of people who were still walking relatives. Luo Jian reined in his horse, looking at the familiar scene, Luo Jian remembered the scene when he was a child and went to relatives with his parents during the New Year.

Luo Jian turned over and dismounted. handed over the horses to Zhao Quan, who came up, and walked among the villagers.

Listening to the familiar but not fully intelligible local accent, Luo Jian also spoke the local dialect of his hometown.

Maybe Luo Jian's accent was mixed with too many accents from other places, and the villagers looked at Luo Jian curiously and resistantly, this group of people were all riding high-headed horses and sitting in beautiful carriages, and they were not ordinary people at first glance.

Luo Jian took the two- or three-year-old child in the arms of an aunt, "Auntie." This is your grandson, right? It's so good-looking. ”

Xing'er jumped out of the carriage and handed Luo Jian a bag of sugar.

Luo Jian and Xing'er's movements narrowed the distance between them and the villagers. The walking people gathered around.

Luo Jian talked to the villagers all the way, asking carefully how his life is now, whether he can eat enough, and the familiar local voice makes Luo Jian feel a deep sense of satisfaction.

"Xinghua, you also went to relatives like this when you were a child, right?" Liu Lan poked her head out of the carriage window and asked.

"yes, you have to go like this every year!" Luo Jian sighed.

A hurried sound of horses' hooves came from behind. The pedestrians on the road gave way to the side of the road, Zhao Quan and the guards suddenly became nervous, and more than a dozen guards stopped in the middle of the road, and the cloth bag behind them was also moved to their chests.

More than a dozen galloping horses stopped at a great distance, and the people on the horses turned over and rushed towards Luo Jian and his party.

Zhao Quan had already recognized that it was Li Benshen and the others who rushed over. ran to Luo Jian's ear and muttered a few words, Luo Jian called Wang Qiang over to explain, and then turned his head and continued to chat with the villagers.

Wang Qiang stepped forward to stop Li Benshen and the others, and said a few words to Li Benshen, Li Benshen and the others saluted in the direction where Luo Jian was standing, and then turned over and returned in the direction of Anqing.

"You're a big official in the city who came to Weifu for a private visit, right?" A middle-aged citizen looked at Luo Jian hesitantly and asked, the scene that happened just now made everyone feel more and more that Luo Jian's group of people was not simple.

"Hehe, I'm not a big official, I just work in the government." Luo Jian said with a smile.

At a three-way intersection, Luo Jian returned the child he was holding to his aunt, said goodbye to most of the villagers, and the group walked in another direction.

The road was a little narrow, and the chariot came down and led the horse to walk carefully, but fortunately, the carriage that Lai Fu had asked him to find was not wide, otherwise the road would have been impossible to walk.

Luo Jian also handed over the horse to the guards and walked with Wang Qiang. It was already late, and there was a small town in front of them, and Luo Jian and the others found an inn in the town to stay for one night.

The inn is not big, but it is very clean, after dinner, Luo Jian found the shopkeeper and inquired carefully for a while, only to know that this town is not far from his former hometown, and it is only seven or eight miles to walk on the small road, and the main road has to go around a big circle, about twenty miles.

This night, Luo Jian slept very steadily, and Xiao Luo Ting was also extremely competitive, and he didn't cry all night, Liu Lan felt a little magical.

Because of the carriage, Luo Jian's group had to take the main road, walked for more than two hours, and finally arrived at the township, but the township was not in a place that Luo Jian was familiar with, his hometown was still four or five miles away from here, and the carriage could not go, Luo Jian wanted Liu Lan to stay in the township to rest, but Liu Lan insisted on going to see it, and Luo Jian could only follow her.

People say that they are more timid in their hometowns, but this sentence is not suitable for Luo Jian. There are no people familiar with Luo Jian here, and there are no familiar roads, just unchanged mountains and rivers. Looking at the hill that was not high in the distance, Luo Jian stood on a hillside and watched for a long time.

"Xinghua, have you found a familiar feeling?" Liu Lan came over and gently grabbed Luo Jian's arm, and Wang Qiang and Xing'er, who was holding Luo Ting, also walked over together.

"Look at that mountain, I don't know how many times I climbed it when I was a child, there was a gun tower built by the Japanese army invading China at that time, and then a big reservoir was built under the mountain, and with this reservoir, the people in my hometown really didn't go hungry." Luo Jian pointed to the rolling hills in front of him and said.

The mountains are still those mountains, but the water is not the water, and the people are not the people.

Luo Jian didn't go to the nearby village, and only found a place that was vaguely his hometown, which was only judged from the general terrain.

There are no familiar small pine forests, no familiar ponds and paths, and no big maple tree next to the old house, and his hometown is so strange in Luo Jian's eyes.

Sitting alone on an overgrown hill at the head of the village, Luo Jian was a little depressed, and wanted to go back to his hometown to find his roots, but found that he was still like duckweed.

"Xinghua, are you a little disappointed?" Liu Lan walked over softly and asked.

Luo Jian didn't speak, and only nodded slightly.

"Xinghua, are you a little obsessed? I grew up in the city, I don't have a deep impression of my father's hometown in the countryside, I went back with my father several times when I was a child, and every time I went back, I found that my hometown was changing, and it was getting better little by little. ”

Luo Jian raised his head and wanted to say something, but Liu Lan stepped forward and gently covered his mouth, and then said:

"Isn't what we need to do now is to make sure that there will be no more artillery towers on this mountain that invade China? Doesn't it just make the mountains and water more beautiful? Isn't it also to make the lives of the people living in these mountains and rivers better? ”

Luo Jian gently helped Liu Lan to sit down beside him, looking at Liu Lan with not only love, but also a kind of respect, he thanked God for sending Liu Lan to his side, if she didn't accompany him, it was really unclear whether he could hold on.

"Xinghua, although you didn't grow up on this land, and Ting'er was also born in Nanjing, I will tell Ting'er that this is his hometown, the place where his ancestors have lived for generations, and this landscape has raised him."

The two men talked softly, and more than a dozen children ran out of the village, the eldest was eleven or twelve years old, and the younger was only three or four years old, and a group of people from outside the village attracted them, and all of them came to look at them, and the children were wearing linen clothes, and some of them could be seen to be old clothes worn by adults.

The arrival of the children in the village made Luo Jian turn his attention from the mountains and rivers to the village, which was almost full of thatched houses, which Luo Jian had seen before, which he saw on the road when he was in college, but were soon replaced by brick houses.

Wang Qiang took a bag from the back of one of the guards and took out a large bag of sugar from the bag, which Xing'er had prepared in the city of Nanjing.

"Children, come and eat candy." Wang Qiang greeted the children with a smile.

The tall Wang Qiang made the children a little scared, Wang Qiang squatted down, grabbed a handful of candy in his hand and greeted the youngest little boy with a snot.

couldn't stand the temptation of sugar, the children all ran over, and Wang Qiang gave the candy to the children one by one.

"Kid, do you go to school?" Wang Qiang asked the eldest boy.

The boy shook his head, obviously not understanding Wang Qiang's words.

"Little girl, did you go to school?" Luo Jian walked over, bent down and asked in the vernacular dialect.

The boy understood this time, looked at Luo Jian, and shook his head again.

Luo Jian was a little surprised, and asked the boy again, only to know that most of the children in the village did not go to school, and he had to help the family work at the age of eleven or twelve.

The situation asked from the child's mouth made Luo Jian a little angry and a little lost, and some of the original sense of accomplishment was shattered by the children's intermittent words.

In the past three years, I have worked hard and struggled with everyone, what has it brought to this era? If the four of them really want to go back to the original time and space, in which direction will this era develop? Will the folks in my hometown still be as poor and backward as they are now? (To be continued.) )