Chapter 145

There is a market town twenty-five miles away from the west gate of the capital, called Xishan Station. As the name suggests, this is a post station, for the messengers and messengers who come and go to the capital to change horses or rest and bathe when entering and leaving the capital, over time, the people gather, the inn shops gather, the people of the four miles and eight towns also spontaneously form a small bazaar here, the official road is adjacent to the place, and gradually becomes quite a climate.

And because it is very close to the capital, but the house land is not a star and a half compared with the capital, so gradually some people open up the manor here as another courtyard, which is not only convenient for the capital, but also can avoid the densely populated people of the Beijing city, the land is expensive, and the house is even more beautiful, and it is extremely livable.

There is a village in the north of Xishanyi, called Hujia Village, the people in the village take farming as their business, they are very poor, when the post station is prosperous, the people of this village except for the old and young and several poor people, the people with a little brain have chosen to move to the market town to live, or do business, or serve the big households, the mountain village is also lonely and empty, and it is becoming dilapidated.

But there is a blue brick compound between this large pile of thatched mud houses that is quite eye-catching, and that is the manor of Hu Dahai in Meng Xiaosi's mouth outside Beijing.

It's not accurate to say that it's a manor, Hu Dahai is a person from this Hujia Village, this should be called his hometown, Hu Dahai was evil in farming when he was young, and he didn't want to follow his father and brother to live at home with his face to the loess and his back to the sky, and he was beaten and scolded by his father and went out to Beijing as a gangster. After committing a lot of murder and arson, the gangsters of the year also mixed up like people, and relied on the pit of Fucaifang to abduct and deceive, and accumulated a lot of ill-gotten gains.

This person is quite good at winning people's hearts, there are more than 20 loyal gangsters under his hands, last year, the red-faced old man of Xianyifang, which was adjacent to Fucaifang, saw that he was small, and wanted to invade the territory, but he was encouraged by Hu Dahai's brothers to start a long street fight against more than 70 people with more than 20 people.

As the old saying goes, wealth does not return to his hometown like a brocade clothes at night, Hu Dahai is famous, so he naturally wants to go back to his hometown to show off, not because he wants his father and brother to live a good life, but to let his father and brother who scolded him for nothing see if he has no interest, so he did not hesitate to spend more than 100 taels of silver to build a big mansion in his hometown, and set up more than a dozen tables of banquets to invite the villagers to come to eat and drink, but he didn't invite his father and brother, what he wanted was the effect of chilling them.

Of course, Hu Dahai naturally has other uses for building a house, and his years of hard work experience tell him that the cunning rabbit needs to have three caves, especially for himself who relies on extraordinary means to live in Beijing, and there must always be a place to avoid the limelight when he commits a crime; Based on Hu Dahai's experience, as long as he does not get caught on the spot, he will hide for three or five months in a big case, and he will be calm in a small case for one or two decades.

A few months ago, when the Five Cities Terracotta Division launched a large-scale cleanup of the neighborhood idlers and ruffians, he escaped the net of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division through this method, and few people knew his origin, so this hiding place was also known to others, and only three people knew about this nest until now, one is the brother who worships the handle, one is the dog-headed master Qian Sitong who has a lot of ghost ideas, and the other is a woman named Lanxiang who is a good friend in Beijing, and the rest of his brothers don't know.

Now the mountain village is populated, but it is what Hu Dahai wants to see, and this Zhuangzi is his secret nest.

……

Song Nan rode a horse and galloped on the official road, the Xishan Station in front of him was in sight, Ye Fanggu next to him was still dressed in men's clothes and followed closely behind him, Li Daniu and Meng Xiaosi each rode a horse to follow behind, and the four of them were all dressed as ordinary businessmen, in order not to startle the snake.

Twenty-five miles of official road said that it was not close, and it took nearly an hour to arrive at the eastern suburb of Xishanyi, Song Nan stopped his horse and asked Meng Xiaosi, who had caught up: "How far is the village?" ”

Meng Xiao's face was like earth, and the bump on the horse made his chest that was kicked yesterday ache faintly, but he didn't dare to say a word, and took a few breaths and said: "Back to Song Qianhu, the villain doesn't know how far the road is, last night I got drunk Master Qian and asked for a long time to know that the road is in a village called Hujiazhuang near the left of this Xishan Station, and I really don't know where the location is." ”

Song Nan sighed and said: "Look at you, you can't support it anymore, so let's do it, you stay in the town in front of you to rest, just stay on the side of the road at the east end and keep an eye on it, in case you miss that guy, let's go and inquire, don't run around or run around, only you ask if you show your whereabouts." ”

Meng Xiaosi hurriedly thanked him: "This has saved the villain's life, thank you Song Qianhu for taking care of it, the villain's chest is bruised and bruised, and the bumps all the way will kill me immediately, the three of you go to investigate, I will stare with my eyes wide open." ”

Song Nan nodded in agreement, and was about to shoot his horse and rush to the market town, when Meng Xiaosi suddenly shouted: "Song Qianhu." ”

Song Nan said: "What? ”

Meng Xiaosi said: "No...... What, villain...... The villain wants to remind Song Qianhu that Hu Dahai is very strong, this guy will definitely be arrested and resist, he still has a bird gun on hand, that thing is not a joke, it will open the skin when it hits the body; According to the villain's intentions, it is better to find out the place and bring more people to take him. ”

Song Nan was stunned for a moment and said, "Bird? Isn't this a firearm that only exists in the military? How can the people have this thing? ”

Meng Xiaosi said: "Song Qianhu, there is money in this world that can make ghosts grind, as long as there is money, what can't you get?" The soldiers in the Beijing camp gambled and drank and were desperate, and many people stole blades and arms to exchange for money. ”

Song Nan nodded and said, "I thought that this time I should be able to capture someone, but now it seems that it is quite dangerous." ”

Meng Xiaosi hesitated: "Why don't you think about it in the long run?" ”

Song Nan asked Ye Fanggu beside him, "What do you say?" Why don't we go back and bring more people? It's not easy to mess with, and if this guy goes crazy and hurts any of the three of us, I'll regret it. ”

Ye Fanggu said disapprenously: "Don't be afraid, it's not that I haven't seen the bird, look at his iron sand is fast or my sword is fast, that thing can only be fired one at a time, and after it is fired, it has to be loaded with ammunition and tamped, it is not a problem at all, and there is no accurate head thirty steps away, what is there to be afraid of." ”

Song Nan thought for a while and said, "It's better not to take this risk, I've seen the firecracker, and I used it when I was fighting with the Tartars in Ulzhou, but it's not as useless as you said." ”

Ye Fanggu said: "You are so timid, if you want to go back, you go back, see that I take that guy back alone." ”

Song Nan saw that she was stubborn, how could she let her take risks alone, so he said: "In this case, everything is at my orders, if you don't listen to me, I don't allow you to take risks." ”

Ye Fanggu smiled and said, "Cheng, look at you scared, you are not afraid of the big cow." ”

Song Nan said: "I'm not cowardly, the fire gun erupted without a trace, but unlike the fight with a knife and a gun, if you take a shot, although it won't kill you, but it's not a joke when you're covered in iron sand embedded in the flesh; It's okay if you get shot in the face and become a marijuana face, will it be dead? ”

Ye Fanggu was stunned for a moment, and she was really a little weak-hearted, if she was shot into marijuana skin, it would be better to die.

Meng Xiaosi interjected: "Yes, Hu Dahai likes to hit people in the face with a bird, once there was a street fire, I saw someone beaten all over the face, although he didn't die, after being healed, he was not a ghost or a ghost, who was scared to death at night when he was in front of him; A handsome descendant like you Ye Sanjiao, if this face is ruined, it is not worth it. ”

Ye Fanggu said angrily: "Shut your dog's mouth, what are you doing?" If you talk more, I'll kick you twice. ”

Meng Xiaosi was so frightened that he quickly shut up, shrunk aside and stopped talking, with a slight look of regret on his face.

Song Nan saw it in his eyes and said with a smile: "That's it, just in case, let's secretly explore a good place to act at the opportunity, and if it doesn't work, we will go back and call a few thick-skinned military remnants to do things, and you can also bring a few rattan shields, then you won't be afraid." ”

Ye Fanggu nodded and said, "Listen to you." ”

Song Nan and the three of them went to the town separately to ask for directions, and Meng Xiaosi quickly left and the three of them turned over and dismounted in front of the first tavern in the east of the town, their bodies were extremely smart, and they couldn't see the sharp pain in their chests at all; Song Nan and the three of them inquired for a while, and met in the middle of the town, and got exactly the same news, Hujiazhuang is five or six miles north of the town, but it is all a small road, and the horses cannot ride.

Song Nan didn't plan to ride a horse either, it would be too noticeable, so the three of them deposited their horses in an inn and walked north along the path out of the town; In the past few days, the wind has been beautiful, and most of the snow on the fields has melted, and only a shallow layer of snow can be seen in the shade.

The trail is also muddy due to the melting of snow, and the people who toss in the deep ditch and mud on the dirt road two feet wide are exhausted, such a road is naturally not able to ride a horse, but there are traces of ruts on the road, Song Nan knows that it is a kind of folk commonly used wheelbarrow in and out of the traces.

After a few miles of walking for almost half an hour, I saw bare tree tips rising from the recesses of two hills, and it was almost noon, and a few wisps of cooking smoke rose from the bushes, and I must have reached the village soon.

The three of them did not dare to enter the village rashly, and looked along the edge of the village from afar, the village was dilapidated, there were not many houses, and there were not many people to see, the three of them quietly approached the south of the village, and saw an old man in tattered clothes carrying a dung basket walking around the village, and the three of them approached quietly, and the old man heard the movement, looked up at the three people, his eyes were dull, and the corners of his eyes were full of filth.

"Uncle, is this Hujiazhuang?" Song Nan asked.

The old man raised his eyebrows sideways and asked loudly, "What?" The back of the ear, inaudible. ”

Song Nan was startled, and wanted to ask for directions quietly, but he didn't expect the old man to be so loud, busy checking left and right, and saw the heads of several villagers dressed as people poking out of several adobe houses not far away, looking curiously in this way, and the dog of one family also barked wildly when he saw strangers.

Song Nan was anxious, and leaned into the old man's ear and asked loudly, "Dare to ask if this is Hujiazhuang?" ”

The old man let out a loud voice and said, "The land is barren? Yes, a flood in the summer and a drought in the autumn, can it not be a famine? ”

Li Daniu was anxious, stepped forward and said loudly: "Is there a person named Hu Dahai in your Zhuangzi?" ”

Song Nan exclaimed badly, hurriedly stopped, but it was too late, as soon as this sentence came out, he heard the doors of several houses on the left and near the door clanging and closing, and a figure flashed from the backyard of the nearest family, and hurriedly went straight to the village.

Song Nan gritted his teeth and waved his hand: "Keep up." ”

The three of them quickly followed, and the man looked back and ran wildly, and when he came to a clearing, the man suddenly shouted, "Coming, coming!" ”

(I'm sorry for taking a day off tomorrow.) ）