Mu Zaohua walked past rows of village houses with tiled roofs and brick walls.

Even outside the city of Yanzhou, in the fields of the Lu Palace, the Yasukuni General's Mansion and other clan members, such brick houses are uncommon.

On the wooden door of the fence arch guard, there are neat ink letters.

"Rice is like oxtail flowers like eggs", "Autumn comes to Jibei far away from the sky", and so on.

Jibei, that is, cotton, has now become the main crop planted in Zhengjiazhuang Zhuangmen.

Mu Zaohua felt that she had come to a world that was more strange than Liaoyang and Yanzhou later, not as military fortresses as military fortresses, and not as prosperous as the prince's fiefdoms, but the bodies of the civilians here, from their faces to their limbs, were not timid, numb or slippery.

Of course, because of the loss of a leader just now, this world of farming has a joyful atmosphere.

Mu Zaohua walked through the courtyard of Zheng Shoukuan, the young man in the courtyard had just finished getting married, but there was no happy word on the courtyard door, and there was no colorful silk hanging under the eaves, Mu Zaohua only saw the smoke of the birds and birds rising from the morning stove, and only heard the intermittent dialogue between young men and women.

She continued to walk away from the coast, she passed by the training ground and the test artillery field in Zhengjiazhuang, she mustered up her courage and looked up at the bell tower.

The day seemed to turn into night in an instant, and Mu Zaohua imagined the picture of Wu Gongzi ringing the alarm bell in the middle of the night.

The life of the person in the spring boudoir dream ends at that moment.

Now that more than a month has passed, Wu Gongzi's body should have begun to decay in the coffin underground.

Mu Zaohua continued to walk down the hillside.

It was piled up by the farmers during their slack time as a grave mountain.

Mrs. Zheng said that the grave mountain is as important as the cotton field and the salt pit, and it must be kept firmly and decently, so as not to pour in the sea water and wash away the bones of everyone.

Mu Zaohua climbed up the grave mountain, bypassed the martyr's shrine that had just been piled up, and came to the plum tree that had been transplanted again.

Mu Zaohua stared at the person in front of the tombstone, watching her methodically open the high-legged pottery, place rice cakes, zongzi, and dried fruits on it, pour a glass of wine, and take out a bowl of white fish soup from the food basket.

Wu Gongzi loves to eat fish.

Mu Zaohua clearly remembered that when she was in Zhenjiang and went to receive the reward after catching the person who cheated the insurance with Chen Sanni, she heard Wu Gongzi talking to Mrs. Zheng about "river knife" and "sea knife".

The situation in front of him is like a scene from the past, just two people talking, yin and yang.

Zheng Haizhu turned his head: "It's the Dragon Boat Festival, how can there be a river knife, I asked General Xiao Xu to catch a billfish, which is also delicious." ”

looked at Mu Zaohua's complexion again, and asked in a harmonious voice: "Chongming is damp, Meiji is more difficult than Zhenjiang, did you sleep well last night?" ”

Mu Zaohua shook her head: "It's not good, I've been dreaming of Wu Gongzi." ”

"Did he talk to you?"

"No, I can't catch up with him," Mu Zaohua squatted down and picked off a few locks of unpleasant weeds, but said frankly, "Madame knows, when Gongzi was alive, he was like the moon in the sky, and I couldn't reach it." ”

Zheng Haizhu looked at the plum tree in front of the grave and said: "Bond is actually the same as you and me, they are ordinary people, with love and hatred, seven emotions and six desires. ”

"But he's dead," Mu Zaohua became angry, "I never believe in ghosts and gods and reincarnation, and when a person dies, he is dead." Mrs. Zheng, I am indeed not worthy of Wu Gongzi, but as long as he lives, at least, I can still see him and hear him speak from time to time. But now, now......"

Mu Zaohua grinned and began to cry.

It's just that no matter how intensely I cried, I didn't hug the tombstone.

And then there is the heartbroken woman, who still cares about her self-esteem, and after understanding the origin of the plum tree, she can cry ugly, but she will not lose her temper.

Zheng Haizhu let her cry, and she stood up, carried the food box and went to a new grave nearby.

There's Aya buried in it.

That night, after Tong Fengnian shot Wu Bangde, Aya struggled fiercely and refused to be taken to the beach to get on the boat. Tong Fengnian, who was anxious to leave the island with a small cannon, may have been afraid that his subordinates would be interrogated by Yue, so he didn't dare to kill Aya's mother and daughter, so he simply gave up on them.

After Aya saw Zheng Haizhu, she told what she knew and experienced, including the reason why she was threatened with her daughter's life and deceived into opening the access to the artillery range.

Soon, Huang Zunsu's Songjiang Bingyong and Xu Yilong's young sailor returned with a feather and reported that the Jurchen's boat had not been intercepted.

"Don't hate her," Zheng Haizhu turned back to Wu Bangde's grave and said to Mu Zaohua, "The one who really should be hated is the Jurchens, the carpenter Ahsan who doesn't know which descendant of Nurhachi, the traitor I guess is surnamed Tong, and Han Xiying." However, people's hearts are turbid and their knowledge is high, and I am always afraid that Xiaodoubao will live in the eyes of the farmers in the future, so I want to send the baby to Yan Xuanfu in Taiwan and be accompanied by the daughter of their couple. ”

Mu Zaohua stopped her tears at this moment and began to burn paper.

She muttered a little calmly: "Don't hide it from Madame, when I landed on the island, I listened to a few villagers' discussions, and I was indeed a little uncomfortable. But as soon as I saw Xiaodoubao, the baby threw herself into my arms and cried, saying that my mother had gone to the north, why hadn't she come back, and where would I have any thoughts about her, but I felt that she was too pitiful, and I didn't know how to feel sorry for her. ”

Zheng Haizhu nodded.

After the Battle of Fushun and the temporary calm of Liaodong, Mu Zaohua and Aya boarded the spy station of the trading company in Yanzhou side by side for a while.

Zheng Haizhu hesitated for a moment and said tentatively: "Then, or, let Xiaodoubao follow you to Yanzhou?" ”

Mu Zaohua raised her eyes: "Madam, I don't want to go back to Yanzhou myself, I want to go to Hetuala." ”

……

A few days later, Xu Yilong came to Zheng Haizhu's yard.

"What Madame asked for the month before last, Brother Yan asked the boat to deliver it."

"Let's bring it in." Zheng Haizhu stared at the box and said.

The box is not small, but it is not a padlock, but a labyrinth of holes carved out of the lid with multiple wooden strips embedded in the slots. Zheng Haizhu and Yan Siqi agreed on a set of sequential passwords to be unlocked, and each memorized it by heart.

When Zheng Haizhu sent Xu Yilong out of the courtyard, he asked: "The people on the boat also told us about the recent situation on both sides of the Fujian Sea, right?" Guerrilla Xu is okay."

"Xu Guerrilla" is Xu Yilong's father, Xu Xinsu. As a close confidant of Yu Zhigao, the chief soldier of the Fujian Naval Division, after making meritorious contributions in the Minghe Naval Battle, Xu Xinsu was like Zheng Haizhu who was named the wife of the Imperial Order, and also won the title of "Praise Painting Guerrilla" of the Fujian Naval Division. Zanhua guerrillas are not real guerrilla generals, they cannot lead troops, similar to the identity of a staff officer.

Xu Yilong said respectfully: "With Mrs. Lao's concern, my father is doing well." Governor Shang and Master Yu are also in harmony with each other. However, Yan Xuanfu's department had some minor problems. ”

"Did Liu Xiang make Brother Yan angry?"

"Huh? Madame already knows? ”

Zheng Haizhu said frankly: "I guess, when I was beating the red hair, I met that Liu Xiang. Yilong, I don't care if he used to be an errand boy under Li Dan with your father, but now that you follow me, I will treat you as a nephew. I will tell you directly, our sailor, don't associate with this Liu Xiang in the future, this person's heart is not right. ”

Xu Yilong's face was solemn, but he turned his mouth to a close salutation: "Yilong respectfully follows his aunt's teachings. Well, my aunt really has the wisdom to know people, this time I heard someone over there say that Yan Xuanfu punished Liu Xiang's military salary, because he was selling on the island, what kind of Ah Drift mother paste was sold. ”

Zheng Haizhu said in his heart, a greedy pirate like Liu Xiang is far less than a heroic figure like Yan Siqi who knows how to distinguish between interests and disadvantages, and it is expected that there will be such a day.

She then said with a grim look in her eyes: "I see! Brother Yan is still soft-hearted, he should directly remove his military power and drive him out of Taiwan! A dragon, that A Piao mother, is a kind of poppy paste from overseas, poisonous, and very addictive, after eating the limbs weak, don't say that the battle on the sea and land will be lost, it is a civilian man, and since then he can't have people, cut off children and grandchildren, and women will give birth to freaks if they suck it, so we Chongming must not have this thing come in. ”

Xu Yilong was terrified when he heard it.

Fujian is a place where he has been blessed by the Longqing switch and opened his eyes to the ocean, but when he was in Xiamen, he had never heard of such a terrible foreign product.

But Yan Siqi and Zheng Haizhu are both elders whom he admires the most, and of course he believes in them.

"Auntie," said the young general, "Yilong will definitely strictly investigate the daily habits of sailors in the future, don't let this Ah Piao mother ruin the brothers." ”

"Okay, you can go back to training."

After Xu Yilong left with his entourage, Mu Zaohua appeared from the back room.

Zheng Haizhu's fingers flew over, moving the wooden strip, and for a moment he only heard the sound of "stuck", and the most critical copper core of the box bounced up.

】

Mu Zaohua walked to the box.

Zheng Haizhu took out a tin can and opened it, twisting a black paste from the silk package.

"Jujube flower, this is Ah Piaomu, which can also be called opium."

Mu Zaohua smelled a smell of urine and almost wanted to gag.

She instinctively turned her head away, but quickly turned back and stared at the opium paste.

She knew that she would be dealing with it for years to come.

Zheng Haizhu bowed down again and took out a wooden pole from the box, and said slowly: "And this, you also have to take it to Hetuala, the lair of the Jurchens." ”

Mu Zaohua took it and stroked the shiny pipe.

She showed a grim smile: "Mrs. Zheng, Mang Gurtai likes the shisha from the west of Mongolia, this opium smoke, he will definitely be fascinated quickly." ”