This is Mengshan.

Not only Chen Shu, but also Song Jiaoren, Yu Youren, Zhou Xuexi and others are in awe of this mountain. Since the success of the Mengshan army in raising troops against the Qing Dynasty, Mengshan, a mountain in the mountains of Lunan with no name, has become a famous mountain in the world.

Along the "high-grade" highway from Jinan to Yizhou, the cavalry battalion transferred by Feng Guozhu escorted Long Qian and his party to Mengyin and went directly to Mengshan.

Unlike the awe of Song Jiaoren and others, Feng Guozhu, Cao Minzhong, and Lian Shupeng are nostalgic. Since the beginning of 1900, after the Mengshan Army completed the whole army and left Mengshan, this mountain that has been entrenched by Xiangma for many years has lost its permanent population, and the Guangming Temple has been empty.

There is a road up the mountain from Mengyin. At the beginning, the main force of Mengshanzhai led by the Sun Dewang brothers was from this road to break through the mountain and even destroy the whole army in Zhongfu. Cao Kun, the opponent at the beginning, is now the commander of the National Defense Force, and his comrades-in-arms who once lived and died together were either killed, defected, or imprisoned, but the former opponents became comrades-in-arms.

Ten years is just a wave in the long river of history, but it is enough to make the parties sigh and chew. Cao Minzhong, who was holding the hand of the second child of the Long family and walking up the mountain, couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

"Uncle Cao, have you walked this way?" Xinghua, who grew up in the city, climbed the mountain for the first time and was excited.

"Walk through."

"My dad walked too?"

"No, not really."

"Why do you have it and he doesn't?"

Chen Shu, who followed behind, was also quite interested.

"Your father stayed on the mountain to cover our retreat, but we were ambushed by the official army. The team was broken up, and I was lucky enough to escape back to the mountains and become your soldier. After that, we won after won. Cao Minzhong picked up Xinghua and put it around his neck, "For the Mengshan army, this road is the road of failure." You're still young, and you'll understand it in the future. Cao Minzhong remembered Zhou Yi, he followed the injured Zhou Yi back to Mengshan and joined the eighth and sixth teams led by Long Qian. The Mengshan Army was officially established.

"Brother Cao. How many of you were there? Chen Shu panted and followed.

"Hehe, there are less than 300 people at full capacity. The commander told us, "Oh, it's coming up." See the bunker? It was the easternmost checkpoint. The commander gathered us and said. From today. We are not ringing horses, but the army, the Mengshan army! Where do I understand the difference between the army and the ringing horse? I just thought about it. Can we not break up? Can you live? Ha ha. ”

Chen Shu also laughed, "Brother Cao, when will you have confidence?" ”

"Actually, it's not yet to open Zhengjiazhuang. The commander reorganized the army in Mengshan, set a lot of rules and regulations, and even took a bath in the thatched house, many people were troublesome, but I thought that following the commander would become a big thing! Hehe, that's ten years, isn't Lao Cao very discerning? ”

Chen Shu rarely saw Cao Minzhong's demeanor. Cao Minzhong, who is known as the "King of Cao Yan", rarely sees smiling faces now, let alone joking, "Minister Cao can also joke?" ”

"Alas," Cao Minzhong sighed, the smile on his face gone.

The horses were ready-made, but Long Qian, who was walking in front, had been walking with Song Jiaoren, Feng Guozhu and the others, and they were walking faster and faster, leaving Chen Shu and the others behind.

"This is Dongzhai. The brigade was empty after its defeat. Later, Guan was captured by the officers and soldiers from Maoyang Town, "Cao Minzhong became a volunteer commentator for Chen Shu, and Yu Youren, who had been walking with them, listened attentively, "Hehe, Shi Dashou, Liang Huada, Zhang Yulin, who else is coming, it was our prisoners at that time, Du Sanli reprimanded them all day long, haha." As if remembering some funny story, Cao Minzhong laughed happily.

In the past six months, Yu Youren has almost known the senior generals of the National Defense Army, and has dealt with Shi Dashou and Zhang Yulin, but he does not know that the current commander of the Northern Military Region, the governor of Fengtian Province, was once a prisoner of the Mengshan Army.

"Brother Cao, where did he live at the time?" Chen Shu asked.

"Over there, we all live over there."

"You let him go. Still thinking about being a soldier, what can you do without hardship? Chen Shu hugged her son off Cao Minzhong's shoulder, and Xinghua immediately jumped up and chased after his father.

"I can't imagine that Commander Shi has suffered here." Chen Shu muttered.

"I didn't suffer any crimes, but I just did some work. Da Shou was the first to apply to join us, and in terms of vision, he was much better than his old boss Cao Kun. Ha ha. ”

Continuing to the west along the mountain road, I saw the dark red wall of the Guangming Temple from a distance, and Long Qian and his party were talking to someone in front of the temple gate.

"This is it, Temple of Light. The commander lived in it. Oh, when did you live as a monk? Cao Minzhong saw two gray-robed monks with their hands folded and bowed their heads and said something, "To the south is the aggressive village, the eighth team originally lived there, and Sun Juan and the others also lived there...... There was a training ground at that time, and the soldiers were training at that time......"

"Let's go, take a look at Lushan's tomb." Long Qian said to Cao Minzhong.

Cao Minzhong's expression was solemn, and he took a few steps to follow.

Lu Shan's body was sent back and not buried in Beijing, but buried in Mengshan by Long Qian. This time, Long Qian went up the mountain not only to mourn the past, but also to pay tribute to his old comrades.

Lu Shan's tomb is in a clearing near the gate of heaven, and more than a dozen stonemasons are polishing the tombstones.

"I'll write the inscription and give it to you soon," Long Qian said to the county magistrate of Mengyin, who accompanied him up the mountain, "and it must be done better." When I die, I will come here to accompany him. ”

"President, I think the inscription is ready-made," Lu Bicheng suddenly spoke, and everyone's eyes fell on her, and there was a lot of dissatisfaction, especially Chen Shu.

"Huh?"

"The front is engraved with the tomb of General Lushan! On the back, it is good to use the seven laws of the president to commemorate the dispatch of troops to Mobei...... 'Heavenly Soldiers have reported to Liaoxi', so you might as well call it 'Heavenly Soldiers West'. Lu Bicheng talked eloquently.

"Good. The opinion is good. Do it! Long Qian immediately agreed, "One hundred and ten words, there is no way to summarize Lu Shan's achievements. Let's use that poem. 'Su Wu was the most depressed in his life, and he was dying of old age and listening to Zheng Zheng! Even if Lu Shan has the ambition to defend the country's borders, I can't let him stay alone in northern Xinjiang. This is the place where we started our troops, Lu Shan has more than once gone back to Mengshan with what I wanted, he should be satisfied with living here......" Long Qian Tiger had tears in his eyes, beckoned Wang Zhao, took the sacrifices prepared in advance, and personally led a group of civil and military officers to respectfully and solemnly pay tribute to Lu Shan.

Chen Shu thought of Lu Shan's voice and smile, and couldn't cry. Feng Guozhu, Cao Minzhong and Lian Shupeng were also quite sad.

"Brother, I swear, Tangnu Ulianghai must take it back! Your unfulfilled wishes, we will fulfill them for you! Long Qian bowed to Lu Shan's tomb again.

"President. See with your own eyes where the president was born. It's very emotional. Song Jiaoren saw that Long Qian was obsessed with the past, so he changed the topic.

"Emotion? What is Mr. Duchu's feelings? ”

"Mr. Sun once said that the tide is mighty, and if you go with it, you will prosper. If you do the opposite, you will die. Although the Mengshan Army had few soldiers and few generals. But it seized the tide of history. Do not hide from the president. I looked at Jinan's industry, Jinan's urban construction, and this cement road. Especially after looking at the place where the president's entire army is going through the military, it is no accident that the Mengshan Army has seized the world. ”

Long Qian thought for a while, "The whole army in Mengshan is an important piece of history, which allows everyone to get rid of the bad habit of ringing horses and have the basic qualities of a soldier. If we want to say that we have established lofty ideals, it was after Yuan Shikai's three sieges on me were broken, and the two sides reached a collegiate agreement to allow me to go north in the name of the Wuwei Right Army to fight a bloody battle in Gyeonggi with King Qinwang and the Eight-Nation Alliance. Witnessing the destruction of the country, the soldiers finally understood the duties of a soldier. But the battle of Xigu has damaged hundreds of elites I have trained, if they live......" Long Qian shook his head, as if he didn't want to recall the bloody battlefield back then.

"Take me to see where you lived back then," Chen Shu pulled down Long Qian's sleeve.

"Shu'er, if I walk in front of you, I will definitely be buried in Mengshan...... When I returned here, I seemed to hear the shouts and kills of the soldiers at the beginning of the training...... Because of a small mistake, I removed Lu Shan from the post of company commander, he did not complain, he was more diligent, God took my arm...... Forget it, let's go, go back to the temple and have a look. ”

"What nonsense?! When was that? Chen Shu didn't want her husband to say these sad things.

After a long time in Mengshan, a group of people went down the mountain from the original road under the escort of a large number of guards, and stayed in Mengyin County that night. The next day, Long Qian and his entourage traveled west from Mengyin to Zhengjiazhuang Avenue and returned to the old base of Zhengjiazhuang. Perhaps because of Zhou Yi, Long Qian did not enter Zhengjiazhuang, but went directly to Chenjiaya, which is adjacent to Zhengjiazhuang, and lived in Chen Chao's former residence.

After the Chen family moved into Yizhou after Long Qian served as the town guard of Yanzhou in Yizhou, Chen Chao, who had a bold temperament, handed over the ancestral house to the autonomous committee free of charge, and four villagers lived in the two courtyards of the Chen house. Until last summer, Zhang Lianfen personally instructed the Yizhou government to vacate the Chen Mansion and spent some money to restore the old view. The furniture left behind was either damaged or taken away by the residents, and Mengyin County paid for the purchase of some necessary furniture. So that the Chen Mansion has the conditions to live in. These things are neither Long Qian's orders, nor Chen Chao's orders, the cause is completely Chen Xian's words, when Ye Yanbing was still the commander of the Central Military Region, he was the absolute leader of Shandong Province, Chen Xian said to Wu Yong, who came to report on the work, can the old house of the Chen family be returned to me? Otherwise, I'll have to stay in a hotel when I go back to my hometown - I'm in a small place, and I don't even have an inn.

The local government immediately handled the matter, and the Chen family's old house was returned to the Chen family.

That night, Long Qian held a forum in Chenjiaya and learned from the representatives of the villagers in the base area about the local economic development, residents' lives, compulsory education, political party activities, and the people's governance. The symposium was arranged in advance, and Wang Zhao stood at the front. The villagers in the base area heard that Commander Long, who had sat in the imperial court, came back, and ran to tell each other, and the small bridge at the entrance of Chenjiaya and Zhengjiazhuang villages was crowded with villagers who wanted to see each other. Long Qian's car arrived, everyone shouted Commander Long, and they all rushed up, Long Qian's guard captain Kang Jiyong was very worried, beckoned the guards to pull up the cordon, and was reprimanded by Long Qian: I'm going home, they are all their own people, if I trust anyone, they are the most trusted people, and they don't even understand this? There's nothing for you here, you go and rest.

Long Qian shook hands with the villagers who rushed over one by one, showing a rare excitement. has been poured into Chen's house by the villagers, Feng Guozhu loudly said to the villagers who followed up that the commander has not eaten yet, should you let the commander rest for a while? Cheng Daniu, who led the reception, hurriedly came out to persuade the enthusiastic villagers, and the courtyard was quiet.

Dinner had already been prepared, it was an authentic "hometown meal", Long Qian was very satisfied, and praised Wang Zhao a few words. As soon as the meal was over, more than 20 "representatives" from various villages in the base area came. Led by Cheng Daniu, Chen Chao's study was crowded to the brim, and many people didn't even have a place to sit, so they just stood like that. Song Jiaoren and Yu Youren, who participated in the "symposium", were very unaccustomed to it.

In Long Qian's view, the economy of the base area has not improved, but the living standards of the residents have indeed improved, and the evidence is that a new village has appeared outside the old fort of Chenjiaya, all of which are newly built tiled houses by Chenjiaya residents. Where does the money come from? Because a large number of young people in the base area went to Yizhou and Yanzhou to work. In addition, a large number of children from the base areas who followed Long Qian to fight in the Quartet are now senior leaders of the army or the government, and they will naturally help their relatives in their hometown. The biggest official who came out of the base area was Zheng Shuangqing, who followed Lushan out of the customs. From the chief of staff of the 9th Division and the commander of the 9th Division, he rose all the way. Now he is the governor of Heilongjiang Province. His parents still live in Zhengjiazhuang, and they were not accepted by Zheng Shuangqing into the north or even Harbin.

Commander Long returned to the base area, which made the villagers very excited, and the leading figures of the surrounding ten miles and eight towns came to pay their respects to the president with gifts. Cheng Daniu is in charge. Two people from each village came to meet Long Qian. Report on the work of the base area.

Long Qian just listened. I basically didn't express my opinion, at most I asked about something in detail.

The meeting lasted until the early hours of the morning, and finally Chen Shu spoke. "Uncles and uncles, the commander hasn't slept well for a few days, is this here today? If you have something to say, let's talk about it tomorrow. ”

"Yes, Commander, rest sooner." Cheng Daniu blasted away the villagers.

"Brother Niu, I can't ask for gifts from the villagers, because it's a rule, and because I don't want to go. The base area is still very poor, and if you want to talk about gifts, I should bring them back. Long Qian instructed Kang Jiyong to return all the local products brought by the villages.

"This is the heart of the villagers, Commander, I don't care about your rules, other people's will not accept it, and the villagers in the base area will give you what you can't without." Cheng Daniu was angry. In the end, those millet, persimmons, red dates and even a few pairs of cloth shoes were left in the Chen Mansion.

"Do you want to go see Zhou Yi?" Chen Shu and the others dispersed and asked her husband quietly.

"Sleep, I'm really tired."

Two miles away in the Zheng family's mansion, Zhou Yi and Zheng Chan stayed awake all night. They already knew the news of Long Qian's return to Chenjiaya. At dusk, Feng Guozhu, Cao Minzhong, and Lian Shupeng, three senior officials of the Republic, jointly came to the Zheng family's old residence to visit the deputy commander of the Mengshan Army that year. and had dinner with the Zhou couple at Zheng's house. There was no news of Long Qian's return, nor did he say whether they came by order, the topic was just about the past and their respective families. They left Zhou Yi gifts, books on tobacco and alcohol, and some money sandwiched in the books.

In the eyes of Feng Guozhu and others, Zhou Yi, who was in his prime, is no longer like a generation.

", the commander is not a small-bellied man. Even if Zhou Yi is guilty, how long has it been? After all, we've stirred a spoon in a pot. "Visiting Zhou Yi is Feng Guozhu's decision, in Jinan to determine the return to Mengshan and Zhengjiazhuang old base, Feng Guozhu ordered his subordinates to prepare gifts for Zhou Yi and his wife, dragged Cao Minzhong and Lian Shupeng over together, in the face of Lian Shupeng's question, Feng Guozhu didn't care, "I still want to persuade the commander, Feng Lun is dead, no matter what, Zhou Yi is also more meritorious than Song Jiaoren's gang, right?" Back then, you and the commander went north to King Qin, if it weren't for Zhou Yi, the base area would have been occupied by Li Chun's gang a long time ago! ”

Early the next morning, before dawn, Long Qian and his wife went out of Chenjiaya, and walked straight towards Zhengjiazhuang without calling Song, Yu and others who lived in the front yard, followed by Kang Jiyong and two guards. When entering the gate of Zhengjiazhuang, Long Qian chatted with the soldiers standing guard. Because of Zhou Yi, Zhengjiazhuang was stationed in a company of troops.

Passing by the gate of the Zheng family's old house, Long Qian just returned the salute to the soldiers who saluted, did not stop, and went towards the Zheng family ancestral hall, he wanted to take a look at the monument erected for the fallen children in the base area.

Reading silently the long list of names engraved on the back of the stone tablet, Long Qian's eyes moistened. Some vivid faces appeared in front of them, most of them died at the beginning of the establishment of the Mengshan Army, and there were far fewer people who died after the troops went south to the two lakes, "Shu'er, if I don't govern the country well, they will die in vain." ”

"It's said that the past two years have changed a lot."

"Don't listen to such compliments. At my point, it's hard to tell the truth. ”

"It's really changed a lot, and the roads in the village are paved with cement......"

"It's not the main problem, it's the income of the villagers. If it weren't for some of them going out to work, and there was a 'father-in-law's money', I don't think much has changed in life in the base area. How much money did you bring back with you? ”

"Less than 2,000."

"Go donate a little to the school, prepare a few more for me, well, six, I'll go see the martyrs' homes."

"Okay, ah, it's Zheng Chan," With the bright skylight, Chen Shu saw Zheng Chan standing at the intersection at a glance.

Long Qian walked over, "How are you?" I haven't seen each other in years. ”

"Commander," Zheng Chan endured desperately, "Commander, you're finally back, he wants to see you, okay?" ”

"Oh, okay. You go back first, and I'll go right away. ”

"Thank you," Zheng Chan fell to her knees with tears in her eyes.

"Hurry up, what is this doing? We're old friends, but we can't do that. Long Qian pulled Zheng Chan up, "Okay, let's go." ”

Entering the Zheng family's mansion, Long Qian said to Chen Shu, "You talk to Miss Zheng, I'll go see Lao Zhou." ”

Feng Guozhu and others lived in Zhengjiazhuang, they went to Chenjiaya, but heard that Long Qian came to Zhengjiazhuang, so he returned to Zhengjiazhuang with Song Jiaoren and Yu Youren, who had already gotten up, and told Song and Yu about the past when the Mengshan Army was stationed in Zhengjiazhuang to train troops and fight, and saw Kang Jiyong at the door of the Zheng family's mansion, and asked Long Qian to see Zhou Yi, Feng Guozhu said loudly, "I said that the commander would see Deputy Commander Zhou, you still don't believe it." After speaking, he said to the commander of the garrison company who rushed over, "Your task is to protect Zhou Yi, understand?" When we fought the president, you were still wearing open crotch pants. ”

The commander of the garrison company was very nervous when he suddenly saw so many big people, and he didn't actually understand the meaning of Commander Feng's explanation, but just replied vigorously, "Yes, yes!" (To be continued......)