Liu Jun estimated that this was just a small group of thieves, and he might have just wanted to make a surprise attack and grab a vote while Macheng County was unprepared.

And when they saw that Macheng had been prepared and sent someone to pay severance pay, they would definitely think that their whereabouts had been discovered earlier, and Macheng had been prepared. Of course, the most important thing is that the thief's strength is not strong, otherwise you don't care about thirty-seven twenty-one, just kill it directly.

Even if you don't hit your county, you have to grab a few manors and township markets in the countryside, as the so-called thief does not go empty.

"I'm worried that if the bandits find out that we are singing about an empty city, I'm afraid that they will go and return, so it's better to leave this place as soon as possible." Liu Jun lost a gift of one hundred taels of silver, but he saved his life, and he was not too depressed, he said to the old man.

"Well, the old man plans to go back to the county seat, and his nephew will go back with him?"

After thinking about it, Liu Jun still refused, he still wanted to go to Liu's house immediately, after all, the future is important.

"Where are you going?"

"The old lady of the Liu family in Suokouhe has a birthday, and a certain is going to celebrate his birthday."

"I see, in this way, the property that the virtuous nephew gave to the bandit just now should have been a birthday gift prepared by you, so wouldn't you have no birthday gift?"

Liu Jun spread his hands and smiled bitterly, "Let's find one or two more gifts then." ”

The old man looked at Liu Jun and suddenly said, "Today is thanks to the virtuous nephew, so let's do it, I happen to have a calligraphy and painting, which was originally given by an old friend, and I happened to carry it with me today, so it is better to give it to the virtuous nephew and use it as a congratulatory gift." ”

The scribe next to the old man frowned and said in a low voice, "Master, that painting is not easy to get, it is worth a thousand gold, isn't it okay to give it away so easily?" ”

"Money and wealth are all things outside the body, why can't we be reluctant, not to mention that if it is not for the wisdom of the nephew to retreat from the thief today, we don't know if this thing will fall into the hands of the thief." The old man said, and asked his attendant to fetch a long box, and when he opened it, there was a scroll inside.

Liu Jun didn't hear the conversation between the scribe and the old man, he didn't know that this painting was precious, he was embarrassed to open the scroll in front of him, but just pushed it three times, and finally the old man was sincere, so he accepted it. I thought it was just an ordinary painting, but I thought it could replace the lost gift as a birthday gift, so I accepted it.

"Say goodbye, he will meet sooner!" The old man said goodbye to Liu Jun very freely.

The old man left with his entourage, Liu Jun thought about buying more than 100 trowels for the dozens of fleeing Xiangyang people, and then said goodbye and left on the road.

There were no accidents along the way, and in the afternoon, Liu Jun had already arrived at Liu's house in Suokouhe.

The Suokou River is twenty-five miles west of the county, and it is named after the intersection of mountains and rivers such as locks. Here is surrounded by green mountains, the middle field is open, two small rivers of clear water to the southeast, the southeast of the Turtle Mountain and the Pavilion Mountain and the water are connected to protect a field of Lingxiu, if it is said that the mountains and rivers hide the dragon to gather qi, then the mountains and rivers here intersect like the state of gold locking a hundred treasures, lock it tightly in the belly of the basin.

The ancestral house of the Liu family is located here.

The Liu family of Suokouhe is not only one of the four major families in Macheng, but also in the entire eastern Hubei Province, the entire Huguang, and even the entire late Ming Dynasty.

Only Chu is talented, and eastern Hubei is the most.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty had a total of more than 20,000 scholars, including more than 1,500 people in Huguang, and nearly 400 people in nine counties of Huangzhou Prefecture, including 136 Jinshi in Macheng County, not including Wujinshi, the number is the first in Huguang, and it is known as the hometown of Jinshi.

The first Jinshi of Macheng in the Ming Dynasty was from the Liu family of Suokouhe.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Liu family of Suokouhe successively produced forty-nine lifters and twenty civil and military scholars.

Among them, the famous ones are Liu Xun, who is the first in the world, Liu Pu, the famous minister who is the first in Jiangyou, Liu Tianhe, the secretary of the military department who is the first in the world in the imperial court, Liu Shouyou, the commander of the Jinyi Guard, Liu Qiao, the prince and the prince, Liu Chengxi, the collector who copied and printed the world's first strange book gold-bottle-plum, and Liu Tong, a famous writer.

In this part of the Suokou River, there is no one who does not know the Liu family. Even in the area of the Suokou River, the large tracts of fertile land and good land in Qianmo almost belong to the Liu family.

Liu's family has even formed a very prosperous town, much more prosperous than Xiwan. As soon as you enter, you can see the ancestral hall of the Liu family standing tall from a distance, and the plaque of the imperial gift "Jinghu Ding Clan" inscribed by Zhu Qizhen of Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty hangs proudly.

When I got closer, I saw a couplet hanging at the entrance of the ancestral hall.

"Ten generations of Yuan Kui Shixuan, nine official protection masters"

The emperor's handwritten inscription plaque, coupled with this couplet, all show the glory of the Liu family in Suokouhe.

Today, the Liu family has become a family of brocade clothes. Thinking about it makes Liu Jun excited, he is a member of this big family, once he returns to the clan, find a head office of hundreds of households in brocade clothes, fly fish clothes embroidered spring knives, and bring a group of brocade guards, how majestic it must be.

Since Huguang had an emperor back then, the people of Huguang have ascended to heaven and gained power in the court.

At the beginning, Emperor Zhengde had no children, and when he was dying, he selected the grandson of King Mingxian, and the second son of King Xingxian of Huguang Zhongxiang came to the second brother and brother to welcome the emperor as the heir to Beijing.

This lucky guy was Zhu Houxi, the later Emperor Jiajing, who reigned for forty-five years. This emperor was originally the king of Huguang domain, and then accidentally entered the throne of the emperor of Beijing, so he naturally vigorously promoted the people of Huguang, and it was since Jiajing that a large number of officials in Huguang took advantage of the situation, and it was at that time that the Liu family really rose, and established their status as a famous family in one fell swoop.

Liu Jun walked to the door of the ancestral hall of the Liu family, looked at the tall and majestic gate, and looked at the big characters inscribed by the emperor himself, and naturally gave birth to a sense of pride and yearning. But then, when he came to the door of the Liu family's mansion, he was dissipated by the noisy environment like a vegetable market and the pungent smell of sweat.

The 70th birthday of Liu Gongbao, the governor of Jinyi, is naturally a major event, not only Lu Jinxi, the magistrate of Macheng County, brought a group of officials such as the county chief bookkeeper and a large number of officials to help Zhang Luo, but all large and small families in Macheng also came to celebrate, that is, the Huangzhou Mansion Yamen and the Hubei Political Envoy Si Yamen, which also sent people to come in person to give gifts to celebrate his birthday.

I even heard that the emperor specially sent eunuchs to congratulate him on his birthday, and this glory cannot be overstated.

At the main gate of the Liu family's compound, only those high-ranking officials, as well as the children of famous families such as Mei, Li, and Zhou Dong can enter. Generally, those who come to celebrate birthdays and give gifts are not qualified, so they have to go through the side door. There was already a long queue there, and if you wanted to give gifts, you had to queue up.

Although the identity of giving gifts through the side door will not be too high, Liu Jun looked at the team and found that most of these people in line were wearing silk and satin, brocade and silk, and gold belts around their waists, all of them were either rich or expensive. The gifts they give are naturally extraordinary.

At some point, a group of young people came outside the side door, all dressed in gorgeous clothes, with gold belts around their waists, and waving folding fans, standing crookedly, pointing at the crowd queuing up for gifts. They all seem to be guests entering the house through the gate, so they always have a sense of superiority, and at this time they come together to make fun of these people who can only go through the side door to give gifts.

"Look at that hillbilly, who looks like a piece of black charcoal, and the mud on his feet hasn't been washed yet, and he's still here to celebrate his birthday. I was embarrassed to take out my hand on that gift, two wild boars, and six pairs of golden pheasants! Hum! ”

"That's it, this should be a wedding wine in the countryside, so the gift can also be taken. Could it be that they thought the Liu family could take a fancy to them? ”

"Hahaha!"

A crowd of people laughed and talked unscrupulously about the gift-givers who were not expensive enough. There is no scruple in the words, there is no slightening of the voice, and even deliberately wants others to hear.

Liu Jun originally wanted to go to the main gate, but unfortunately he couldn't get close to the gate without an invitation. Not to mention telling them that he was a child of the Liu family who came to recognize his relatives, and in the end, he had to register as a gift from this side door before he could have a place at this birthday banquet.

The people who go through the side door to give gifts are both rich and noble, and they give lavish gifts. Of course, there are also some gifts that are just general, such as the one in front, two wild boars, six pairs of golden pheasants, this gift is actually good, that person is the head of a grange under the Liu family, in fact, it is the tenant who helps the Liu family manage the village, and it is actually not light to be able to come up with such a gift.

Soon, Liu Jun was in front of the case of the registered manager.

"Name?" The steward of the Liu family, who registered the gifts of the guests, looked like his nostrils were facing the sky, which made Liu Jun secretly happy in his heart. However, he still tried his best to restrain himself, and said, "Liu Jun, a martial artist in Xiwan Town, Xiama City." ”

"What kind of gift?"

"To congratulate the old lady on her birthday, I will send a calligraphy and painting." Liu Jun hadn't opened the calligraphy and painting, and he didn't know the specific information of the calligraphy and painting at the moment, so he had to answer like this now.

Unexpectedly, the steward glanced at Liu Jun's body, and saw that it was just an ordinary student's clothes, and there was no luxurious clothing, so his tone was slow for three points, and he snorted, "Liu Jun, a martial artist from Xiwan Town, Macheng, send a calligraphy and painting." "There is someone registered next to it.

There were bursts of ridicule from behind, "What kind of calligraphy and painting, there is not even a name, it won't be my own nonsense, just use it as a gift." Behold, this man has come to eat and drink. ”

Another person said, "Alas, Steward Liu, open that painting and take a look, let us see what kind of masterpiece it is." ”

"Yes, open it up for us to see."

The steward's face was also very ugly, this Liu Jun not only didn't show him the slightest thing, but also gave such a gift. Now when he heard the boys next to him shouting, he immediately said to the people next to him, "Didn't you hear what you distinguished guests said, open it and take a look." ”

Although this obviously offended this martial artist, it was just a small martial artist, and it was not worth mentioning compared to the group of boys in the yai opposite.

The box opened, and a painting appeared in front of everyone.

The mountains and forests stretch endlessly, Liu Jun is also the first time to see this painting, but immediately attracted by this painting, even if he is not a famous connoisseur, but he can also see that this painting is very good, very meaningful. He didn't expect the old man to give him such a good painting.

As soon as the painting was opened, it also attracted a lot of surprise, and everyone did not expect that it was such a good painting. The boys who had mocked before suddenly felt blushing, and one of them was unwilling, so he carefully looked for the flaw, not to mention, he really let him find a place.

"Xiangguang layman? Dong Qichang's paintings? How is this possible, I know Dong Xuanzai's calligraphy and painting works, but there is no such pair, well, this painting is called Guan Shan Xueji Picture, I have never heard of it. Boy, you don't have the money to give expensive gifts, you actually gave a fake painting, and stupidly sent a painting pretending to be Dong Qichang, is it really when we are all blind, is it easy to deceive the Liu family? ”

"It's a good picture." Someone said on the side.

"It's just a fake painting, what's good, it's not worth anything."

"It's really not Dong Qichang's painting?"

"I've never heard that Dong Qichang painted a picture of Guanshan Xueji, if it was really painted by Dong Qichang, someone must have recognized it."

"That's a fake painting. To congratulate Mrs. Liu on her birthday, it is really shameless to send a fake painting. ”

"This person claims to be a martial artist, maybe it's also fake!"

"Get rid of him!"

"Get out!"