In the peachy and willow-green March, Rude's sudden death was long. He was bedridden for several months, and his condition deteriorated, and after the beginning of spring, he ran out of oil. Tang Shun, who diagnosed and treated his illness, shook his head when he talked to Ouyang Xuan many times about his condition, telling him that Lu Dezhi was terminally ill and his time was short. In life, there is one death. Although Ouyang Xuan was mentally prepared for this, the news of Lu Dezhi's death still shocked him, making him at a loss for a while when he was giving instructions on the official documents, and the ink dripping from the quill pen wet a large piece of letter paper. After staying for a long time, he asked the messenger about the burial date, and then instructed Xia Xiaogen beside him to adjust his work schedule. No matter how busy he was, he would send Ruud's coffin up the mountain.

For Ouyang Xuan, Lu Dezhi is not only a colleague nor an elder, but also a master and a father. Rude is kind-hearted and advocates the way of Confucius and Mencius to practice the words of the sage, sometimes it seems pedantic or even antiquarian, while Ouyang Xuan's style is generally tougher or even radical, but the two get along extremely harmoniously. On the surface, the two people do not have the same ideas, and there are differences in methods and paths in governance, but in essence they are the same kind of people. Therefore, Ouyang Xuan was saddened by Lu Dezhi's death, he not only lost his elders, but also lost an important partner in the anti-Mongolian cause. Also in grief were the high-level leaders of the Thunderbolt Army, Li Shuang, Huang Dagen, Cao Ergou and others couldn't help but burst into tears when they remembered his kindness to the fleeing grain collection team. In their view, Lu Dezhi devoted himself to the education and medical development of the Perak Army, advocated charity, and organized village sages to help the poor and the poor.

Although Ouyang Xuan understood everyone's grief, he still agreed to Lu Wen'an's request to handle the funeral from Jane. Not only because this is Rudezhi's last words, but also because this is the consistent philosophy of the Thunderbolts. At present, although the anti-Mongolian cause has made certain achievements, it has not reached the point of sitting back and relaxing. Instead of investing energy in weddings, funerals, and ushering in the send-off, it is better to put these manpower and material resources into production and the fight against Mongolia. More importantly, the Perak Army advocates the concept of equality, and cannot engage in special activities or even personality cults because of meritorious service. The so-called political style drives the people's style, and only when the top brass of the Perak Army set an example can the military and the people form a good atmosphere. Of course, in order to commend the military and civilians who have made great contributions, Ouyang Xuan proposed the establishment of a meritorious pavilion system at the joint meeting of the military and the government, and those who have made major meritorious contributions can be included in the meritorious pavilion for future generations to pay tribute to after their deaths, and the names and tablets of Lu Dezhi and others are the first batch. The proposal was adopted without any suspense.

On a rainy morning, Ouyang Xuan set off for Liuliba. According to Rude's last wishes, he will be buried here. In fact, Lu Dezhi was not a native of Liuliba, his ancestral home was in the plain of Chongqing Mansion at the foot of the mountain, and his family lived here to escape the Mongol sword. The people of Han and Qiang in the mountains were grateful for their selfless efforts to organize righteous schools and elected him as the owner of the village. Rudezhi placed the place where the fallen leaves returned to their roots in Liuliba, which shows his deep affection for this place. Like Lu Dezhi, Ouyang Xuan also has a deep affection for Liuliba, the place where the Thunderbolt Army started, but because of his extremely busy affairs, he has rarely come to Liuliba since the Thunderbolt Army's headquarters moved to Chongqing Mansion. Only two or three times, also because of the inspection of the construction of industrial and mining in the mountains,

This time to Liuliba, Ouyang Xuan chose to take the land route, saying that he was lightly armed, but there were also 14 people and more than 30 horses in the group. In addition to the accompanying guard squad, there were also Xia Xiaogen and two scribes. Because Ouyang Xuan had a lot of affairs, he was ready to return within two days. Chongqing Mansion to Liuliba has about 100 miles, even if it takes a day to go by horse, it takes a day to come back, the itinerary is extremely tight, so one person and two horses are prepared. When he settled down to rest on the way, Ouyang Xuan also had to deal with official business, and Xia Xiaogen and the scribe who accompanied him accompanied him because they assisted in handling government affairs, and for this reason, they were accompanied by two pack horses carrying office supplies.

The Perak Army attaches great importance to the infrastructure construction of the area, so the originally abandoned official roads have been repaired and leveled, and post stations have been restored along the route. Under the whip of the horse, the group arrived at Jiangqu Township at three o'clock in the morning, and Ouyang Xuan ordered people to rest here. At present, Jiangqu Township has built a simple temporary bridge, which can cross the river quickly, without waiting for the ferry, and the horses' foot strength is still sufficient, why stop when the schedule is tight, which makes Xia Xiaogen want to stop and stop. But when he saw Ouyang Xuan standing on the shore looking at the reeds in the distance and pondering, he understood his intentions. The high-level leaders of the Perak Army knew that Ouyang Xuan had been rescued by the old man Wang Da by the riverside, and met the grain requisition team on the way to Yongkang County, thus starting the magnificent journey of the Thunderbolt Army created.

To Ouyang Xuan's relief, since the old man Wang was taken to live in the mountains, because he was well fed and warmly dressed, and he didn't have to live the days of fear before, his body was much tougher than before. The mountain people also have great respect for Wang Da, and they are grateful to him for saving Brother Xuan, so that everyone has a peaceful life at the moment. After staying for a while, the group continued to the northwest, arriving at the town of Yokohara at noon. At this time, the town of Hengyuan was already quite large-scale, although it was still not as good as before the invasion of the Mongolian army, but there was also a faint shadow of the prosperity of the past. Ouyang Xuan didn't want to disturb the people, so he didn't enter the town, but went straight to the Hengyuan Fort on the other side of the river. Since the establishment of Guankou Village, it has become a barrier west of the Jinma River together with Sandushui Fortress and Xinjin City, and the role of Hengyuan Fort has been greatly reduced, and only one company is stationed in the city at present, mainly to prevent spies and Mongolian rangers. After the commander of the garrison company saw the official document presented by Xia Xiaogen, he hurriedly welcomed Ouyang Xuan and his party in.

After replenishing water and regaining strength, the group changed horses and continued to move forward. The road from Yokohara Fort to Liuliba is a mountainous road, and although it has been widened a lot later, it is still difficult to travel. Ouyang Xuan ordered to slow down the speed to prevent the rugged mountain road from damaging the horse's hooves, so it was not too early to arrive at Wanjiabao, and it was even twilight when he arrived at Liuliba. Lu Wen'an, who had arrived two days earlier, saw that their group was sleepy and tired, so he arranged for everyone to have dinner. After a day of tossing on horseback, Ouyang Xuan did not feel sleepy, and on the one hand, he also recalled the bits and pieces of Lu Dezhi. On the other hand, the arsenal of Liuliba is still brightly lit, working overtime for production, tinkling and knocking. Since the arsenals in Pengzhou and Jiading were put into operation, the production capacity of the Liuliba Arsenal has been insignificant compared to them, and the production costs have remained high due to the inconvenience of transportation. In addition to the fact that this is the place where the Thunderbolt Army arose, it is also because the wild beasts in the mountains are becoming plagued again, and now that a large number of people in the mountains have moved to the plains, it is difficult to deal with a large number of breeding beasts without firearms.

On the second day, Ouyang Xuan and Lu Wenan carried Lu Dezhi's ashes to the highest mountain in Liuliba, and both of them burst into tears along the way. The location of the tomb is facing the east, which is the Chongqing Mansion where the headquarters of the Thunderbolt Army is located, which is also Lu Dezhi's last wish. According to his words, even if he leaves, he must also watch the development and growth of the Thunderbolt Army.