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Wang Shizhen, who was sweating profusely, rushed to the government from the military training school, and Song Xiaofei had already received a "kidnapping ticket" sent by Zhu Honglan, the main content of which was a propaganda leaflet of "taking foreign religion and protecting Jiangshan":

There was no rain, the ground was scorched and dry, and it was all churches that angered the sky.

Men are indecent, women commit adultery, the dragon king is angry, and it does not rain.

Persuade the people to turn back violently, not believe in God, and sacrifice to their ancestors.

The foreign devils are all eliminated, and the Qing Dynasty will unify the Jingjiang River.

At the end of the letter, Zhu Honglan asked Song Xiaofei to posthumously recognize his brother as a righteous man in the name of the government, and lift the ban on Shandong boxers.

Song Xiaofei asked the messenger to go back and tell Zhu Honglan that the ban on Shandong boxers had been reported to the imperial court, and it would take time to lift it, and he would go to Erlong Mountain to negotiate with Zhu Honglan in person.

Wang Shizhen saw Song Xiaofei and admitted his mistake repeatedly: "Today, a batch of Krupp artillery was transported to Jinan, and Pastor Li said that he would go back as soon as he went, and he was busy with military affairs, so he did not accompany him personally, and he deserved death." ”

Song Xiaofei said: "The matter has come to this point, you go to Duan Qirui and ask him to bring five hundred artillery to block the various intersections of Erlong Mountain." ”

Wang Shizhen took the order and left. After a while, Xu Shichang, Tan Sitong, Dadao Wang Wu, Shandong political envoy Zhang Renjun and others heard about the kidnapping of Timothy Li and Xi Muqing, and they also hurried over.

Song Xiaofei asked Zhang Renjun, "Do you know the person Zhu Honglan?" ”

Zhang Renjun replied: "Xiaguan has heard that this person has been practicing boxing since he was a child. is a boxer, once set up in Da Li Zhuang. He also often practices medicine and sells medicine in the countryside, and his popularity is not bad. It may be that foreigners often give Western medicine to disaster victims for free. Angered him. ”

Song Xiaofei said: "Does he still have family? ”

Zhang Renjun said: "There is an old mother who is over 80 years old and lives in Da Li Zhuang. ”

Song Xiaofei said: "You quickly send someone to invite Mrs. Zhu to the mansion with eight sedan chairs." ”

Hearing Song Xiaofei say that he wanted to enter Erlong Mountain to negotiate with Zhu Honglan, he said: "Lord Governor, don't do it, I escorted the dart car a few years ago, and I passed by Erlong Mountain, this mountain is a lonely mountain, the mountain is high and the road is dangerous, and there is only a sheep intestine path. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and if the officers and men of the brigade drive over, it is easy to be exposed. ”

Song Xiaofei said: "Pastor Li and Miss Xi are still in Erlong Mountain, and I didn't plan to send a large team of people over. ”

Tan Si heard the same and said, "What about the safety of adults?" There are more than 100 bandits on the mountain, and we can't let the adults take this risk, so I'd better go up the mountain and talk to them. ”

Song Xiaofei said: "It is estimated that I will have to go in person to settle this matter, even if it is the tiger's den in Longtan, I have to break through." ”

The fifth king of the great sword said, "Lord Governor." I'm more experienced in dealing with bandits, so let me follow you up the mountain. ”

When Song Xiaofei heard this, he said, "This is very good." We took the old mother with the vermilion lantern up the mountain, and there really had to be five brothers of King Lao. ”

When Song Xiaofei and the three of them were about to set off, Wang Shizhen had already rushed back: "I have drawn a map of all the dangers in Erlong Mountain. Please take a look. Duan Qirui has already brought eight heavy artillery pieces to surround Erlong Mountain, as long as the adults go down the mountain. We will immediately set foot on Erlong Mountain. With that, he presented a topographical map of Erlong Mountain.

Erlong Mountain in Shandong is in the southwest of Shandong. In that year, there was a great drought, and by April there was not a single green leaf, and the bare hills, white and hard stones stood up, looking like the skin of an albino patient from a distance.

Zhu Honglan has a very filial temperament, and he was very surprised to hear that Song Xiaofei took his old mother to the mountain to negotiate, but he didn't expect Song Xiaofei, a big official, to have such courage, so he discussed with Liu Shiduan, the second leader of the Big Knife Society, and promised to let them go up the mountain, but they were not allowed to bring a single soldier.

Song Xiaofei and Dadao Wang Wu walked five or six miles of mountain roads and reached the top of the mountain. Dadao Wang Wu dressed as an inconspicuous domestic servant, wearing a black short-sleeved horse coat, and walked like a fly with the old lady of the Zhu family on his back. The three of them walked to the old nest of Erlong Mountain, and not long after the vermilion lantern went up the mountain, there were several temporary grass and wood houses.

Zhu Honglan wrapped in a red scarf on his head is a Shandong man, he is in his early forties, with a big beard, a tall figure, and thick arms. However, when this Shandong man saw his mother, he couldn't help but plop down and kneel on the ground, crying: "The child is unfilial, and you have been wronged, has the government embarrassed you?" ”

Zhu Honglan's mother's cheeks also dripped a few lines of turbid tears, her old eyes were dizzy, her eyes were not good, she stepped forward to help Zhu Honglan, kept touching her son's face and said, "Son, I have not been wronged for my mother." I went to the governor's mansion from Da Li Zhuang, and I lived to this age for my mother, or the first time I sat in a sedan chair! On the way up the mountain, the governor also arranged for his subordinates to carry me up. ”

Zhu Honglan was originally a peasant, and he didn't dare to hate the government, he had seen the biggest official before, that is, the local magistrate, but now he saw that the governor of a province was standing in front of him with justice and awe, and he didn't embarrass his wife, and he felt a little more grateful and awe to Song Xiaofei in his heart.

Song Xiaofei said at this time: "Vermilion lantern, this governor has long heard that you have a filial temperament, but people's hearts are flesh and blood, and I will not use the indiscriminate means of using your eighty-year-old mother as a hostage." If you have any grievances, you can go to the governor's yamen to find me, why should you go up to the mountains and become a bandit? You are willing to fall into the company of Yue Migong, Duan Er's blind man and the like? ”

Yue Migong and Duan Er were the notorious bandit leaders in the southwest of Shandong at that time, gathering grass, robbing the rich, robbing the rich but not helping the poor, the people were greatly disturbed, the bandits' reputation was stinky for thousands of miles, and the people of Shandong hated them to the bone. Zhu Honglan asked: "Our two brothers are loyal and courageous, and they are all loyal and courageous, and they exterminate foreigners for the common people, but the government is in trouble with us everywhere. ”

Song Xiaofei replied: "The ban on fists is the will of the imperial court, and it is impossible for this official to abolish it all at once now. However, the official has read your post, there is no rain in the sky, the ground is scorched and dry, and it is all the church that provokes the sky, if all the foreigners are driven away, it will rain in the sky, and the official will do this a long time ago. It is right for you to say that you do not believe in God and sacrifice to your ancestors, but believing in religion is the freedom of the people and the government must not interfere with it, and this is true of all countries. The official will never favor foreign religions, today in September Gengzi, the birthday of the Confucian saint, the official will also go to the Confucian Temple in Qufu with thousands of local squires to worship. ”

Where did Zhu Honglan understand the great principle of religious freedom, but when he heard Song Xiaofei say that he was going to worship Kong, he added some impression points, and said: "My lord is wise!" Since my lord has brought my mother up the mountain, I can let one of them go back. Look at the foreign devil and Miss Jiao, you choose one and take it away! ”

Song Xiaofei hesitated in his heart, who to choose? Choose Xi Muqing, put Timothy Li on the mountain, in case something goes wrong, not only will he lose a good friend, but it may also cause international disputes, but it is too unsafe to put Xi Muqing, a little girl like a flower, on the mountain, so he said: "This official can make your brother a righteous man, and after you go down the mountain, this official can not blame the past, you let both of them go!" ”

Zhu Honglan said: "No, then I can't explain to my brothers!" ”

Song Xiaofei said: "It's better to let the two of them go, and the official stays on the mountain as hostages, so that the court may agree to your request to open your fist soon!" ”

Zhu Honglan was hesitating, and a small minion stumbled from outside the grass hall, and said, "Oh no, the big boss, the foreigner and the young lady were rescued!" ”

It turned out that after the fifth king of the big sword carried the mother of the vermilion lantern up the mountain, he shouted to go to the thatched house, and the two little minions who looked at him were quickly stuck in the neck with one hand, and said the place where Timothy Lee and Xi Muqing were imprisoned: the stable in the backyard was transformed into a special cell.

King Five of the Great Knife knocked them unconscious, grabbed a knife and went straight to the stable in the backyard. At that time, it was lunch time, and five or six little minions wrapped in red cloth put their knives on the ground, drinking and eating, how did they know that a martial arts master was approaching.

I saw a black shadow flash in, this person was the murderous Great Sword King Five!

"Who? Who are you? The leader put down his chopsticks and shouted, his question was superfluous, and before he finished asking, his head was cut off with a knife, rolling out five or six meters away on the ground like a ball, and his body fell to the ground with a bang. Seeing this, several other minions were about to pick up the knife on the ground, but before they could see the face of the man in black, their bodies were like sandbags that had been kicked in, and they flew into the earthen wall, knocking a new wall out of two large holes, and then, like a tiger that had just come out of the cage, kicked on the half-meter-thick earthen wall, and half of the wall of the stable collapsed.

The Big Knife King Five rescued Timothy Li and Xi Muqing among them, a group of boxers rushed to hear the news and blocked their way, the Big Sword King Wu took a deep breath and motioned to Timothy Li and Xi Muqing to hide behind them. He roared and reported his name: Big Sword King Five!

"I've heard that the five knives of the Great Sword King are as fast as lightning, but there are many of us, and there are divine help, iron cloth shirts to protect the body, what are you afraid of? On it together. "The third master of Erlong Mountain rushed over and pounced with a knife.

The fifth king of the big knife stood still, not moving, just when the three masters were about to arrive, he waved the big knife in his hand, only to see a flash of white light, and the three masters fell to the ground in an instant, with a knife in the chest, half of the intestines were exposed, and blood flowed all over the ground. Then, the five kings of the big sword soared into the air, flew up with two feet, and kicked at the waists of the two minions who rushed forward, so fast that no one could dodge.

Another group of people rushed over, the big knife king wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, clenched the knife, his already arrogant and cold eyes, it was particularly sharp, he rushed to the crowd with a horizontal knife, like a wolf into the flock, in the blink of an eye, a crying father shouted his mother, the little minions in front fled to the back in horror, knocked down his companions and used his hands and feet, crawled over them and fled. The five Great Sword Kings only felt that the air in front of them was all red. After a fierce battle, the Great Sword King Wu fought his way out and took Timothy Li and Xi Muqing down the mountain, which was the task given to him by Song Xiaofei! (To be continued......)