Early the next morning, except for the brothers from the Ministry of Science and Technology, all the people from other departments set off to return to their residences. Because of the farthest distance, when Wang Kunjun and the others arrived at the "Qingyuan", it was already three or four o'clock in the afternoon. Wang Kunjun returned to his small courtyard, first went to Han Qingwen's side to see the mother and daughter, played with little Wang Qi for a while, and told Han Qingwen, who has been relatively weak since giving birth, to pay more attention to rest, and insisted on taking medicine according to the prescription prescribed by Doctor Xue, and then went to Zhang Xiaofei's room.

Seeing that Wang Kunjun was back, Zhang Xiaofei asked Xiaoyahuan to prepare dinner, and asked about the "Liangyuan" meeting - she did not attend this meeting because she had to take care of the children and take into account Han Qingwen's feelings. Wang Kunjun briefly introduced the content of the meeting to Zhang Xiaofei and the list of people who went to Kaifeng this time. When Zhang Xiaofei heard that Lin Xiaoyu's name was on the list, she was very happy and praised her husband's ability. And Wang Kunjun, who was praised by his wife, naturally took advantage of the situation to sell himself and boast again.

The couple joked for a while, and Wang Kunjun teased little Wang Huan for a while. After Xiao Yahuan put dinner on the table, Wang Kunjun explained some things to Zhang Xiaofei after he left while eating.

Wang Kunjun said: "I am afraid that the time will not be short, and it will take more than a month and two months to go back and forth on the road." In addition, after arriving in Kaifeng, I don't know how much time it will take to see Chai Rong, and the New Year will definitely be spent outside. I have already consulted with several other brothers in the committee, and this year's New Year, everyone gathered at the 'Quiet Garden'. When the time comes, you will have to bother to organize the brothers here and go to the city for the New Year together, so that there will be no accidents. In addition, Qingwen's body is relatively weak, so you should take care of it more. ”

Zhang Xiaofei nodded when she heard this, and said, "You can rest assured about this, the brothers are not children anymore, and they will definitely not cause me trouble." Moreover, the old twenty-five and twenty-eight will also help me, and there will be no problems. You don't have to worry about Sister Qingwen's side, I will take good care of her. When it comes to you, you have to be careful when you go out, after all, there are more than a thousand miles of land in Kaifeng. ”

Wang Kunjun said: "Don't worry, with so many brothers following, I will be fine." ”

Speaking of this, Wang Kunjun paused for a moment before continuing: "There is one more thing. Although there is a big brother sitting here, and a temporary committee was elected at the enlarged meeting of the committee yesterday, the main energy of the eldest brother is still on the side of the 'Liangyuan', at most, he is more attentive to the Feilong Village, which is relatively close, and he will pay less attention to other aspects. There are relatively few people on the side of the 'Jingyuan', except for the people from the security department, they are just children, there shouldn't be any problems, and the most complicated ones are the 'Qingyuan' and Youzhou City. On the way back, I discussed with the seventh, twenty-fifth and twenty-eighth, and planned to let the twenty-eighth go to Youzhou City to assist the tenth and fourteenth in their work there. 'Qingyuan' needs you to take a lot of trouble to help Lao Twenty-five manage the house. If there is any major event, you must notify us in time. ”

After hearing this, Zhang Xiaofei asked a little puzzled: "It's no problem for me to help Lao Twenty-five manage 'Qingyuan', anyway, I am usually in charge of the daily affairs in this house." It's just that the main place where I can play a role is in the house, and it's not very convenient to deal with outsiders. When the time comes, it will have to be the other brothers who will come forward.

When it comes to dealing with outsiders, the old twenty-five is far inferior to the old twenty-eight. But you just let the old twenty-eight go to Youzhou City, and leave the old twenty-five behind. I don't understand this, since the old fourteen has been appointed as a temporary member, and with his ability, he can be in charge of Youzhou alone, so let him be fully responsible for the affairs of Youzhou, isn't it over, weishenme still wants to let the old twenty-eight go to Youzhou to help him? ”

Zhang Xiaofei's question was expected by Wang Kunjun, and he explained: "Yes, as you said, the old fourteen does have the ability to take charge of himself. It's just that his ability is limited to doing business, and his ability in other aspects is worse. He used his shrewdness in business, underestimating the sinister social environment of this era, and loved to show off his ability to do business. If someone with ulterior motives finds out about this, they will likely use it to find out about the team. ,

In the past, it was better, with Lao Shi reminding and guiding by the side, and the supervision of the committee, there would not be any major problems. Now that he has been appointed as a temporary commissioner, his identity has changed, and no one can say whether he will listen to Lao Shi's opinions as before. The eldest brother is busy with things and may not always be able to pay attention to his performance. A few of us are far away in Kaifeng, and we can't reach it. If you don't send Lao Twenty-eight, a brother of the same level, to restrain him, maybe something will go wrong. ”

After listening to Wang Kunjun's explanation, Zhang Xiaofei understood the reason and said: "I see. I usually see that Lao Fourteen is very good at doing business, and I thought that he must be an 'old Jianghu' and 'old fritter', but I didn't expect him to be a showy person. If his character is not restrained, it is really reassuring. I hope the old twenty-eight can control him, and I hope that no one will beat his mind until you come back. ”

"I hope so," Wang Kunjun couldn't help but sigh.

After the couple finished eating, Wang Kunjun drank tea and digested the food, and said, "By the way, there is still something I need your help with." ”

"What's the matter?" Zhang Xiaofei asked.

"That's right," Wang Kunjun explained, "On the way back just now, Lao Qi also told me one thing, which is about your master Yu Qingzi. According to Lao Qi, in his memory, this year, that is, in the second year of Hou Zhou Xiande, Chai Rong should have carried out an action to destroy the temple and force the monks to return to the laity in the Hou Zhou in order to solve the problem of labor shortage. Although the target of this operation should be mainly monks and nuns, Taoist priests may not be able to do it alone.

You also know that we have fostered people in Yuqingguan. It just so happens that you should be able to pass by Damao Mountain when you go to Kaifeng this time, so Lao Qi hopes that you can write a letter to Uncle Yuqingzi, first, to greet her old man, and second, to ask about the situation of the foster caregiver. When the time comes, we will stay near Mt. Damao for a few days and send people up the mountain to deliver a letter to visit. If Uncle Shi is okay, it's fine, and if there is something, let's make arrangements again. ”

As soon as Zhang Xiaofei heard that Chai Rong had such a move, she immediately became worried, she still had a lot of feelings for Yu Qingzi and the senior sisters, so she complained: "This old seventh is really, since I know that there is such a thing, weishenme will not say it for a long time." It wasn't until the end of the year that he said that if something really happened to the master, the senior sisters, and the junior sisters, I just couldn't help if I wanted to. ”

Seeing that his wife was unhappy, Wang Kunjun hurriedly excused his brother and said: "This can't be blamed on him, he is usually too busy with work, and it is inevitable that he doesn't remember some things for a while." Besides, if something really happened to Uncle Yu Qingzi, the fourth brother should have gotten the news a long time ago and told us. Until now, there is no news from the fourth brother's uncle, which means that everything is normal and nothing major has happened. ”

After listening to Wang Kunjun's words, Zhang Xiaofei was a little relieved, and hurriedly asked Yahuan to prepare paper and pencils, and immediately began to write a letter to the master.

In the next two days, the entire crossing team was preparing for the departure of the "South Pilgrimage Delegation". According to the resolution of the "Liangyuan" meeting, the Ministry of Science and Technology not only urgently processed five monoculars for the delegation, but also made five imitation Tang horizontal knives with the most high-quality Haode steel under the command of Wende, adding a gift category for the delegation.

As the main part of the gift to Chai Rong, the material management department selected 12 flintlock pistols made of steel from the existing inventory, as well as the matching 1,200 lead bullets and propellants, and also prepared about 200 catties of black powder for the delegation.

In addition, in order to smoothly pass through the checkpoints on the road, the Ministry of Commerce and Trade quickly purchased a large number of leather goods, medicinal materials and other northern specialties according to the requirements of the committee, so as to provide necessary cover for the delegation to dress up as a caravan.

After two days of work, everything was in place, and the Committee decided that the delegation would be on its way on the 20th. In order not to be too conspicuous, the members of the delegation did not get together, but made an appointment for a time and a place to meet, set off from their own accommodations, and met again on the way.

On the morning of November 20 of the fifth year of the Liao Ying calendar (the second year of Zhou Xiande), six carriages and more than ten horses were lined up outside the gate of "Qingyuan", and the families and servants in the house moved all kinds of goods and luggage to the car one by one. Inside the gate, the brothers and family members who stayed behind were saying goodbye to their relatives who were about to leave the road. ,

After some advice and please, in the instructions of "take care all the way" and "go early and return early", Wang Kunjun Zuihou boarded the carriage one by one, left the "Qingyuan" with the brothers, and went to the assembly point outside the city.

The convoy went out of the south gate of Liangxiang, and traveled about ten miles, and Wang Feng, who was in the first place on horseback, saw the official road not far in front of him, and the brothers from "Jingyuan", "Liangyuan" and Feilongzhai were figure. He urged the convoy to move quickly, and at the same time took the lead to meet it.

The people waiting obviously also saw Wang Feng, and Xu Shao'an, who was in the lead, instructed the guards behind him to prepare to adjust the goods on the car, and also greeted him.

After the two teams met on the side of the road, the two sides exchanged pleasantries, and then they all left the official road and went to the woods on the side to adjust the goods.

Xu Shao'an and his side had three carriages, which were loaded with horizontal knives, flintlock pistols, ammunition and black powder. The guards unloaded these things, as well as all kinds of goods and luggage from the wagons of the "Qingyuan" convoy, and then used the normal goods and luggage to cover and conceal these weapons as necessary, and then loaded them into six carriages, while the remaining three carriages were specially used to carry people. Although the team provided horses for all members of the delegation, including the escorts, three carriages were prepared for them to ride, taking into account that some of the crossers were not used to riding.

After a lot of tossing, all the goods and luggage were finally sorted out, and the guards got on the car and the horse, and in the shout of Wang Kunjun's "departure", this huge team of 59 people, 9 cars and 64 horses finally embarked on the journey south, heading towards Kaifeng City, which was thousands of miles away.

);