The return journey took more than twice as long as when he came, and in the total of sixteen days of marching, Wu Ming's regiment, which was responsible for the task of the rear of the whole division, was extremely easy.

When he arrived in Fuzhou for a short rest, Wu Ming, who had obtained Yu Jishi's consent, led a platoon to Shangrao to handle all the affairs that needed to be handled properly, and then sent Zhang Dongning to lead a squad of brothers to follow the convoy of five accident vehicles and supplies to help drag five accident vehicles and supplies from the military station, and drive directly to Quzhou.

During the two days of waiting for the main force, Wu Ming went to see Wang Daohan, came back and thought about it, and the next morning he put on a colonel uniform of the Central Army, bought rich gifts, and only took his adjutant Han Tiecheng to Huanggu Town.

Today's Wu Ming has a neat mustache on his upper lip, the whole person is more and more majestic, and his temperament is calm, it is difficult for people who are not familiar with him to recognize him, so when he rode into Huanggu Town, the villagers just looked at him from a distance with respectful eyes, and no one recognized the majestic soldier on the spotted horse, which was the Wu Shan man who lowered his head and carried a charcoal yam back then.

Chen Jiyao and Chen Sanye were very shocked when they saw Wu Ming, Chen Sanye was quickly so excited that his face was flushed, he hurriedly served the best tea, and ran to the back room in person, telling his subordinates to cook and set up wine.

Chen Jiyao was even more excited, seeing Wu Ming standing in front of his eldest son's posthumous photo, staring motionless for a long time, he couldn't help but wipe his tears frequently, and his heart was filled with joy and sorrow, although Wu Ming still called him Mr. Chen, but he was content.

The eldest lady knew that Wu Ming had arrived, and she had been promoted to colonel, so she closed the door and lay down in a fit of anger. The second wife unfortunately died after the Spring Festival, and Chen Jiyao is now only taken care of by the well-behaved and polite third wife.

During lunch, Wu Ming briefly told Chen Jiyao about his participation in the encirclement and suppression operation, and after a bottle of good wine, he heard the third wife ask about his military rank, and made a rare joke:

"I don't know what's going on with Lu Dao, the younger generation and Mr. Chen are all related to Chairman Jiang...... The junior colonel was promoted by the order of Chairman Chiang himself. ”

Chen Jiyao was so happy: "Have you made a great contribution?" ”

Wu Ming shook his head, and then nodded: "Before, it was to recover the lost territory and make meritorious contributions, but later it was surrounded by the Red Army, and the territory occupied was lost again...... If it is said that it is a merit to be able to bring 1,000 brothers out of the siege of more than 5,000 Red Army, it can be regarded as a meritorious service. ”

Chen Jiyao was startled, and the third wife was so frightened that she covered her towering chest, and asked fearfully after a while, "It's not hurt, is it?" ”

Wu Ming subconsciously looked at the hand that had healed: "It's not hurt, this time I return to western Zhejiang, I'm afraid I won't have to participate in the encirclement and suppression in the future, at least we won't need for a year, and some of my officers and soldiers are over thirty years old and have not started a family, and they have to be discharged after they go back, so they have to recruit new soldiers and train again, and they won't need a year." ”

"That's good, that's good...... Are you, your wife? Chen Jiyao asked.

Wu Ming nodded: "It's not bad, she is a graduate of Hangzhou Zhijiang University, and now she runs a quilt factory in Changshan's home, she does a good job, and she also likes to do it...... By the way, I have to thank you, now the coal in Shangrao and Guangfeng in Jiangxi Province is eighty percent purchased by our Maoliangwu Chamber of Commerce, I heard that the profit is not good, I don't know what the opinions of several shareholders here are, or what are the requirements? ”

Chen Jiyao smiled with satisfaction: "Where is there any other request?" Several old guys are very content, and they all say that the Maoliangwu Chamber of Commerce is benevolent, righteous and trustworthy, and everyone is very relieved. ”

Wu Ming explained the main purpose of this trip: "There is something to tell the seniors, although Finance Minister Song Ziwen quit in a fit of anger, he will soon return to Nanjing, and after he returns, he has carried out a few years of currency reform, that is, the plan to abolish the silver dollar copper yuan and circulate legal tender, will be implemented in advance." ”

"In this way, coupled with the growing call for the implementation of the silver standard monetary policy in the United States, silver may appreciate sharply in the next six months to a year, and gold will fall in price, how to deal with it to avoid losses, presumably a group of old-timers know better than the younger generation......"

"Please pay more attention to this matter, it is definitely not groundless, my eldest brother Fang Youchun is a cadre under Mr. Chen Lifu, the Organization Minister of the Central Party Department, so I know the policy of the Central Committee.

Chen Jiyao attached great importance to it, and nodded heavily after thinking about it for a moment:

"I see! In addition, there is one thing you can see if you can help, Jiangxi is short of salt, more and more shortage, even the administration has no way to solve it, and you have to ask for salt-producing Zhejiang. ”

"How much?"

Wu Ming did not shirk, several of his inland river transport ships often engaged in the smuggling and trading of sea salt, transported coal to Hangzhou, and included sea salt among the materials transported on the return trip, and they did it in cooperation with several bosses of the provincial security department, so they were not afraid of problems at all.

Chen Jiyao calculated: "Five thousand catties per month is enough." ”

"Five thousand catties?"

Wu Ming looked at Chen Jiyao incredulously.

Chen Jiyao was quite nervous: "If it's too much. Half of it will do! ”

Wu Ming smiled: "You always misunderstood, not too much, but too little, you always discuss with those old guys, you can sell as much as you can every month, of course, on the premise of not causing trouble for you." ”

Chen Jiyao was determined: "If you can help, there is no problem in selling 50,000 catties a month, you can pay for the goods first, and give it at 1.5 times the official price." ”

Wu Ming waved his hand: "Just give it at the official price, there is no need to spend more money, and we won't pay taxes if we get it back." That's it, after I go back, let the people from the Maoliangwu Chamber of Commerce come to see you, you can discuss the specifics yourself, if you want to send it to Shangrao, it's no problem, my fifth regiment has military vehicles, and the border counties of the two provinces belong to the cross defense area, and it is very convenient for military vehicles to come and go, and it is safer than doing it yourself. ”

"Great, great!"

Chen Jiyao was very happy, and the third wife was also smiling.

Wu Ming asked, "How is Chen Yi?" I haven't been to Hangzhou for a long time. ”

The third lady smiled: "It's very good, the letter said that the homework is tight, and that I haven't seen you for a long time." ”

"She doesn't want to see me, does she? The little white face surnamed Dai under my command didn't forget to write to her when he was fighting. Wu Ming said with a smile.

Chen Jiyao and his wife listened to Ha Lu Ha Da Lang's laughter, and Chen Sanye and Han Tiecheng, who accompanied them, were also very happy, it seems that this family has not had such laughter for a long time.

After lunch, Wu Ming was a little drunk, and after saying goodbye, he bought incense, candles, and paper money in the grocery store in the town, and went to his mother's grave with Han Tiecheng to pay respects.

On the afternoon of 16 April, Wu Ming finally led his troops back to the camp in Changshan, and Yu Jishi and two regiments boarded more than 50 wooden boats that Wu Ming had contacted in advance, and drove directly to Quzhou under the traction of six diesel boats.

Wu Ming hurriedly held a meeting, apologetically begged Long Shaogang and the brothers in various departments who were staying at home to work hard for another week, and then put forward two proposals, which were approved by the brothers: first, tomorrow morning, all officers and soldiers in the army will be given a subsidy of 20 oceans each; Second, starting tomorrow morning, all the brothers returning from the expedition will have a six-day holiday!

After the meeting, the whole regiment gathered, announced the decision of the regiment headquarters meeting, the barracks suddenly thundered, Wu Ming walked down the review stand, told the adjutant Han Tiecheng to take a holiday, and then flew on the horse to rush home, and after meeting with his wife who had been absent for a long time, they both entered the back room and came to the two old men to say goodbye, which made the two old men happy.

Late at night, the hour had passed, and the old lady who was still respectful and very filial when she saw her son-in-law come back from promotion was very happy, and she couldn't sleep, and when she heard footsteps outside the door, she immediately called out the maid's name.

The fourteen-year-old little maid hurriedly entered the old lady's room to salute, her face flushed and she apologized.

The old lady smiled and said that she hadn't slept either, so how could she be woken up by your kitten-like footsteps? Then he called the little maid to the bedside, took the little maid's hand and asked kindly:

"You've been busy all day, why haven't you slept yet?"

The little maid lowered her head and didn't dare to raise her head, and the old lady asked in a hurry, so she replied in a low voice: "The noise that my uncle made in the house is too loud to sleep......"

The old lady laughed so much that tears came out, and it took a long time to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes, and patted the back of the little girl's hand lovingly: "What is this?" In the future, you will also get married, and after you get married, you will understand many things, hehe! ”

"But, but...... It's too scary, the young lady was called by her uncle so hard, she didn't stop from the end of dinner to just now, it was very scary, and I didn't dare to go in to persuade her. "The little maid is in a hurry.

The old lady was startled: "So long?" My God, it seems that your aunt has been suffocated these days......"