Chapter 075

Don't look at Sun Yuanhua, who has now compromised with Cheng Shijie and relented.

Cheng Shijie also knows very well that as long as Sun Yuanhua is given a chance, as long as Cheng Shijie falls into the hands of Sun Yuanhua, it is not as simple as drinking millet porridge for a few days and sleeping in the utility room for a few days.

Sun Yuanhua is actually a proud person, he has never lost such a big person in his life. Since the second year of the Apocalypse, the defense of Liaodong has been tight, and he has presented two strategies to the imperial court, namely "Preparing for Beijing" and "Defending the Border", which have been valued by the imperial court. At that time, Sun Chengzong, the secretary of the Ministry of War, went out of the town of Jiliao Governor, and he accompanied the army counselor in military affairs, which was the outstanding.

In ten years, he has become a second-rank governor from a person, and has achieved a ceiling that countless officials cannot reach in their lifetimes, and in ten years, no matter what kind of wind and rain he has experienced, he has never given up his reserve and pride.

Wei Zhongxian, who has the power in the world, and his father-in-law Wei never let him bow his head, and when it was time to be scared, he would not be cowardly at all. Jane is in the emperor's heart, what can the smash hit Yuan Chonghuan do, he still doesn't like him.

From Sun Chengzong to Yuan Chonghuan, they all regard him as their right-hand man. In the second year of Chongzhen, Jiannu broke through the pass and threatened the capital, in the predicament of isolation inside and outside the pass, Sun Yuanhua united the soldiers, with the help of Western cannons, the garrison of eight cities and twenty-four forts stood still. He advocated taking Quang Ninh as the front line and taking the initiative to attack Jiannu. When all the Ming officials were afraid of Jiannu like a tiger, he was sophisticated and calm, and he was free to sway, which has always been praised by everyone inside and outside the government and the opposition.

However, Sun Yuanhua, who is like the pride of the sky, has now been shattered by an incredible accident. He couldn't imagine that Cheng Shijie of the Ning Navy with only 3,000 soldiers, no, no, this was not Cheng Shijie's plan, the real mastermind was the Song dwarf who was less than four feet tall.

He never thought of how Song Xiance could control Penglai Water City and Dengzhou, a military town garrisoned by more than 20,000 land and water troops, overnight.

Even if he didn't know how to be watery, he didn't panic when he fell into the icy seawater, and in the face of the Quang Ninh front line where Jiannu attacked and arrows rained down, he didn't move like a mountain, and he was thrown into the utility room directly, and he felt fear for the first time in his life.

Until he saw Cheng Shijie with a sincere smile on his face again, out of his own instinct, Sun Yuanhua felt that Cheng Shijie didn't want to hurt himself.

The reason why he didn't want to hurt himself was actually very simple, he wanted to get more out of his hands. Sun Yuanhua knew from the first moment he saw Cheng Shijie that no matter whether it was morning or night, Cheng Shijie would definitely come to him for negotiations.

Sun Yuanhua is also very confident that he will take the initiative. So in this case, he behaved very toughly, and it was a pity that Cheng Shijie was such a scoundrel.

The body of more than 200 catties is pressed on his small body of more than 100 catties, is this what people do?

A big man actually howled and cried in front of him, is this something that the lord of an army can do?

Sun Yuanhua didn't want Cheng Shijie to succeed easily, and he didn't want to compromise easily, but unfortunately, people are not as good as heaven.

Relatively speaking, Cheng Shijie adheres to principles and bottom lines, and Kong Youde and the Dongjiang Army are the most impossible factors to control.

The balance of two benefits is greater, and the lesser of two evils!

Under this principle, Sun Yuanhua could only compromise with Cheng Shijie first and solve the problem of the rebellion of Kong Youde and the Dongjiang Army first.

At this time, Cheng Shijie did not get carried away, he is now sober in the world, he believes that Sun Yuanhua will never forget the insult and pain this time, and one day, when he is ready for everything, he will definitely take revenge.

As long as Cheng Shijie falls into his hands, it will definitely not be as simple as drinking millet porridge for a few days and sleeping in the utility room for a few days.

As the deputy director of the office of the agency, Cheng Shijie is very familiar with the way of thinking of the leader's boss, on the surface, Cheng Shijie was wronged this time, he really didn't know, however, the boss and the leader absolutely did not believe that Cheng Shijie was innocent, at least Cheng Shijie had made similar plans and deployments.

Otherwise, Ning Haijun would not have easily taken Dengzhou City and successfully controlled Dengzhou City.

Leaders don't need evidence, it's enough for them to have a suspicion.

In the past, Ninghai Prefecture was the blessed land of the Ninghai Navy, and Ninghai Prefecture could also be used for development, but the problem is that now Ninghai Prefecture can not stay any longer, and if it stays any longer, it will be a dead end.

Sun Yuanhua didn't even need to make any big moves, he only needed to do one thing, tear up the promise he made with him, cancel the power of the Ning Navy to reclaim wasteland, and the Ning Navy, who could no longer get the land, would immediately fall apart.

Even if he pinched his nose and accepted this promise for the sake of his own face, he would really dismember Ning Haijun, find an idle person to raise Cheng Shijie, and rise and descend secretly, whether it was to throw him to Dengzhou Wei, or to Shandong to command the envoy Yamen, or Shandong Bei Du Si, he would call the heavens and the earth not spiritual.

As for the words, the mirror is broken and reunited, and the conflict is turned into a jade silk.

Don't even think about it, it's simply impossible.

In the relationship between the leader and his subordinates, it is like the relationship between men and women, once cheating, it will never be trusted again.

During this period of time, Cheng Shijie has actually been thinking about where Ning Haijun and him should go, and this unexpected mutiny completely disrupted his plan.

Cheng Shijie took the teapot and poured a cup of tea for Sun Yuanhua.

Sun Yuanhua said lightly: "Master Cheng doesn't need to be so courteous, just say it, what do you want!" ”

Cheng Shijie said with a smile: "Lord Futai, although you have a teacher who is a scholar of the Ministry of Rites, you must be a smart person from a person to a second-class official in ten years. ”

"What do you want to say?

Sun Yuanhua smiled faintly: "Is it still useful to pat yourself now?" ”

"Lord Futai, then, Cheng Mou said it directly. The Ning Navy did not mutiny, and there was no rebellion! ”

"And then!"

"Four days ago, Zhang Tao, the general of the Dengzhou Army, suddenly launched a rebellion, and tens of thousands of Li Shu in Dengzhou City will be destroyed, Lord Futai, you are wise and decisive, and you have seen thousands of miles, and decisively ordered the Ning Navy to garrison Cheng Shijie, that is, under the leadership of the army to quell the rebellion, Cheng Shijie led the Ning Navy with two thousand tigers, and after a fierce fight, the traitor Zhang Tao's department was completely annihilated!"

Cheng Shijie said this, and said in a deep voice: "Afterwards, after your investigation by Lord Futai, it was found that ten days ago, Zhang Tao, the general of the Dengzhou Army, had a conflict with Zhang Huairen, the grandson of Zhang Mengli of the Zhang clan in Laiyang, in Laiyang County, Zhang Tao was wantonly insulted by Zhang Huairen, and seized Zhang Tao's concubine, in front of Zhang Tao, Zhang Huairen forcibly occupied Zhang Tao's concubine Chen, Zhang Tao was extremely angry, and then led his troops to raid the ancestral house of the Zhang family in Laiyang, slaughtering more than 600 people of the Zhang family in Laiyang. Zhang Tao knew that he would die, so he deliberately launched a rebellion in Dengzhou, preparing to seize the ships of the sailors of Penglai Water City and flee to ......the sea after taking Dengzhou.

Cheng Shijie said it lightly, but Sun Yuanhua was shocked when he heard it.

Cheng Shijie didn't dare to admit that Ning Haijun launched this mutiny, he had expected that Zhang Tao was the only Dengzhou military general who died in this mutiny, and the dead man could not open his mouth to defend himself, and he also expected to frame Zhang Tao, but what he didn't expect at all was that Cheng Shijie actually slaughtered the Zhang family in Laiyang.

Although it is said that during his tenure as the governor of Denglai, Sun Yuanhua dealt a heavy hand to the local tyrants, but he never did anything to destroy people's families.

This smiling tiger is too ruthless.

"In order to avoid Lord Futai's repentance, now please write a notice to the people, explain the matter of Zhang Tao's mutiny to the people clearly, and announce the matter in nine counties and one state in Dengzhou Prefecture, five counties and two prefectures in Laizhou Prefecture, and thirteen counties and two prefectures in Qingzhou Prefecture.

Sun Yuanhua looked at Cheng Shijie and was angry in his heart, but the problem is that this matter is related to his future, and he can not care about his own future, or even his life. But the problem is that as one of the few capable leaders of the West French Party, he is even more afraid that this matter will affect his teacher Xu Guangqi.

That's the deadliest thing. He is very clear about Shandong's problems, and now Kong Youde has reversed, and his Denglai New Army, Navy Division, Dengzhou Wei and Shandong Beiwei Dusi have all been locked up in Dengzhou City by Cheng Shijie's people and cannot move.

If there is no army to suppress it quickly, Kong Youde's department will snowball, expanding rapidly.

Although he is very angry now, for the sake of the overall situation, for the sake of the West French Party, for the sake of the teacher, he has to endure it.

Even, Sun Yuanhua pretended to be relaxed, and smiled faintly: "Is it that simple?" You now have the upper hand, even if you want to go to the city of Zhou, you have to consider this constitution! ”

"Look, Lord Futai, you still don't believe Cheng, this matter really has nothing to do with Cheng!"

"Tell me, what more do you want?"

"Cheng wants a name!"

"Nominally? What name? ”

"Please order Lord Futai to move Ninghai Town to Liaonan!"

"What?"

Sun Yuanhua suddenly got up: "What did you say?" ”

"Lord Futai, now in Ninghai Prefecture, Ning Haijun can't stay any longer. Cheng thought about it, Lord Futai lost such a big face, no matter what, even if Cheng dug it out, you won't believe Cheng's innocence! ”

Cheng Shijie said with a wry smile: "Cheng Mou has the only way to go now, kill to southern Liaoning, and survive in death!" ”

Cheng Shijie's choice at this time is to think about win-win cooperation with Sun Yuanhua, rather than taking advantage of it. The main problem is that even if Sun Yuanhua is released, Sun Yuanhua will not remember his affection, and the revenge will definitely be revenged.

But the problem is that Sun Yuanhua is not a pure person, he has his own ties, that is, the West French Party, that is, Xu Guangqi's hard work.

As Xu Guangqi's best student at present, the cadre of the West French Party, Sun Yuanhua's greatest wish is to push his teacher into the cabinet and become the cabinet minister of the Ming Dynasty.

It can be said that Sun Yuanhua was one of the leaders of the Westernization Movement in the Ming Dynasty.

However, the West French Party is not like the Qin Party, the Jin Party, or even the Chu Party, let alone the Donglin Party, which is in full swing, and if Xu Guangqi wants to be pushed into the cabinet, he must have dazzling military achievements.

However, Sun Yuanhua's relationship with Guan Ningjun doomed him to be unable to win over Guan Ningjun, because Guan Ningjun was already a behemoth, and it was not something that he could win over as a governor.

Ning Haijun did not launch a mutiny, and Cheng Shijie's set of rhetoric can be explained completely. As for the truth, who knows, does it matter?

Sun Yuanhua guessed that Cheng Shijie was not a bloodthirsty and murderous person, saying that Zhang Tao slaughtered more than 600 people from Zhang's family, Sun Yuanhua didn't believe this, he believed even more that Cheng Shijie had hollowed out the wealth of the Zhang family in Laiyang, so that Cheng Shijie had the strength to expand the army and have the means to seize southern Liaoning.

Why is it that in history, on October 28, the fourth year of Chongzhen, Zu Dashou descended to Emperor Taiji, and Sun Yuanhua also sent Kong Youde to Liaodong by land?

Because Sun Yuanhua is a person who knows soldiers, he is not the kind of nerd who talks about soldiers on paper.

On the surface, Huang Taiji led an army of 50,000, including the three months before and after Dalinghe City, and achieved great results, annihilating more than 14,000 elites of the Guanning army in three battles, and annihilating more than 40,000 men and horses under Zhang Chun's command, and forcing down the only 11,683 remaining 30,000 officers under Zu Dashou, and achieved great results.

This is actually just a superficial phenomenon, and if you look at the surface of the flowers, you will definitely find that Huang Taiji actually did not take advantage of it this time.

What is really cheap, is food, is ordnance, is territory.

When the 50,000 army besieged Dalinghe City, how much food did it need to consume every day? As long as you know a little about military affairs, you can calculate that during the war, a war horse needs to eat thirty catties of forage every day, plus five catties of concentrate. For more than three months, three thousand forages and five hundred catties of concentrate are needed.

This is just a war horse, how many war horses are in the hands of Huang Taiji? At least 50,000 horses.

A soldier needs three liters of food a day, and more than 50,000 soldiers need 1,500 stone a day, and 150,000 stone in more than 100 days.

Where did Huang Taiji get so much grain and grass?

Although some of them were captured from the Ming army, whether it was the Guanning army or the Ming army under Zhang Chun, the supplies carried by them did not exceed half a month, and this war was more paid than gained.

That is to say, at this time, Emperor Taiji is the time when the surface scenery is actually weak, otherwise Sun Yuanhua would not have ordered Kong Youde to lead more than 1,000 people to Liaodong, which is to build a slave to be weak and take advantage of the cold.

"Cheng is guilty, please also ask Lord Futai to allow Cheng and Ning Navy officers to make meritorious contributions."

Sun Yuanhua saw the reality of Huang Taiji, and Cheng Shijie was on the shoulders of the historical giant, and he pushed back to Huang Taiji who was very weak at this time.

You must know that if Huang Taiji has the strength, the Guanning army has suffered heavy losses, and Zhang Chun's more than 40,000 soldiers and horses have been annihilated, Jinzhou City has only more than 10,000 defenders, and in the case of frustration and low morale of the defeated army, he took advantage of the victory to pursue and take the important town of Jinzhou, isn't it a good thing for Jiannu?

However, Huang Taiji knew his own business, and he didn't dare to bet.

Hearing Cheng Shijie's suggestion, Sun Yuanhua was really moved.

Cheng Shijie is willing to take the initiative to attack southern Liaoning, if he wins, the credit is his, if he loses, Cheng Shijie really dies in the hands of Jiannu, then he deserves it.

"Quasi-...... Finish! ”

Sun Yuanhua was very excited in his heart, and remained silent on the surface: "What else do you want?" ”

"Lord Futai is really a smart man!"

Cheng Shijie said with a smile: "If the name is not right, it is not good, and if it is not good, it is difficult to succeed, Cheng is a garrison of the Ning Navy, and does not have the power to conquer one side, since the Dongjiang Army took office, the Dongjiang Army has been in chaos within the Dongjiang Army, and the generals are centrifuged, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, Chen Shishi, Li Jiucheng, Shen Shikui and others defected to Futai, which shows that Huanglong is unable to subdue the military heart of the Dongjiang Army. ”

"Impossible, the appointment and dismissal of the general soldier of a town is not something that can be appointed by the governor of this constitution!"

"Lord Futai don't want to tell Cheng, Mao Wenlong, the garrison of Sanyang, relied on the merit of Dongjiang Town Fort to be promoted to the general soldier of the Dongjiang Army by Yuan Keli, the then governor of Denglai, Yuan Linren, Cheng Mou, the garrison of the Ning Navy, why can't he be the chief soldier of Dongjiang Town?"

"What's your credit?"

"Is it enough to quell the rebellion of Kong Youde?"

Sun Yuanhua sighed and said, "At this time, Dengzhou City was also looted by you, right?" What is left of this constitution? ”

"Of course there is leftover, you are still the governor of Dengzhou!"

Compromise is like that, the clothes of a chaste martyr, as long as you take off the first one, it will be easier below.

When Sun Yuanhua couldn't bear Cheng Shijie's weight of more than 200 catties, he chose to compromise, and the result was already caused. Compromise will become a habit, Sun Yuanhua began to compromise, and in the end, he was made an empty shelf by Cheng Shijie.

At this time, Sun Yuanhua's descendants, that is, the 6,500 elites of the Denglai New Army, Cheng Shijie will definitely not leave it to Sun Yuanhua, he needs to reorganize the Dengzhou New Army, as well as the Dengzhou Water Division.

As for the group of wine bags and rice bags in Dengzhou Wei and the command of the Yamen in Shandong Beidusi, Cheng Shijie didn't like it, and he didn't accept garbage.

As Sun Yuanhua wrote the Anmin notice, Cheng Shijie asked people to copy more than 50 copies, sign the name of Sun Yuanhua and Governor Sun, and stamp the big seal of his right capital imperial history, the military department squire, and the governor of Denglai.

Then, Cheng Shijie took his henchmen of the Ning Navy, first entered the Denglai New Army camp, and gathered all the officers to serve as Western foreign instructors.

Facing all the soldiers, Cheng Shijie read out Sun Yuanhua's appointment to him, of course, it was not the general of the Dongjiang Army, but the deputy general of the second rank, Cheng Shijie will lead the Denglai New Army as a deputy general, and lead the Denglai New Army to attack southern Liaoning.

The formation of the new army of Denlai was actually very simple, but it was based on the Spanish phalanx, although at this time, his mercenary instructors were mostly Portuguese.

Cheng Shijie also figured out that Spain at this time was the real empire on which the sun never set, and the king of Spain, Felipe IV, the king of the Habsburg dynasty of Spain, was known as the "king of the earth". He was King of Portugal, Emperor of Mexico, King of Hungary, Archduke of Austria, King of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperor, and Grand Duke of Italy, occupying almost half of Europe.

The problem, however, was that the Habsburg dynasty did not unite itself, and although he was the king and grand duke of so many countries, he did not unite them.

However, at this time, although the armada of the Spanish Empire was destroyed, it was still the most powerful country in the world.

Sun Yuanhua organized the Denglai New Army into three regiments, each of which had five companies under its jurisdiction, each with 300 men each, plus a regimental headquarters and directly subordinate troops, and about 1,800 people were organized into a musket regiment.

Three musket regiments and an artillery regiment have 88 field artillery pieces under their jurisdiction, with a total of more than 6,000 troops.

Both the regimental commanders and the staff of the new army in Denglai were all Westerners, and in addition to the twenty-seven officers, there were more than a hundred craftsmen who were responsible for the repair and maintenance of artillery.

Until the order was read out, the officers of the Denglai New Army repeatedly checked the order, and the handwriting on it was written by Sun Yuanhua himself, and it was not only stamped with his official seal, but also with a private seal, which means that this order was true.

As a mercenary, he is not as greedy for power as officers in other armies, and directly handles the handover with Cheng Shijie.

The news spread, and the officers and men of the new army of Denglai were blown up.

"How is this possible?"

"Didn't the Ning Navy mutiny?"

"How did he become our commander?"

"This Cheng Shijie won't be the illegitimate son of the governor, right?"

"The age is not right, our governor is fifty years old, and this Cheng is thirty-five years old!"

"It's not surprising that a fifteen-year-old who got married early had a son!"

"The old man hugged his grandson at the age of thirty-seven!"

"It's possible!"

"But Master Cheng and Master Sun look different!"

"It is also possible that the offspring is like its mother!"

With the handover completed, Cheng Shijie said: "Bring it in!" ”

Several large carts drove into the barracks.

Cheng Shijie directly opened a large box, only to see the silver light flashing inside.

Seeing the silver, the eyes of the soldiers of the new army of Denglai straightened.

"All the people in the army, you will increase your military salary by two dollars on the original basis in the future!"

Cheng Shijie already knew that the soldiers of the Denglai New Army could get a tael of silver every month, but with the rapid rise in the value of food in Dengzhou, these soldiers felt the pressure of life.

Although there are not many coins of silver, isn't it for nothing?

With the opening of the silver road, Cheng Shijie's reorganization of the Denglai New Army was smooth.

The staff of twenty-seven Western officers was retained, and of course, they were no longer the staff of the new army of Denglai, but the staff of the Ning navy. After all, at this time, the Ning Navy was the grass platform team, while the Denglai New Army was a professional army in the true sense.

Sun Yuanhua just believed too much in the Spanish army and technology, Spain's navy was strong, but the army, on land their musket regiment, the Ning Navy crossbowmen could shoot them down.

The second is that these Western officers are just professional mercenaries, and their professional ethics are still there, and they did not fight to the death with Kong Youde in history, and it is likely that Kong Youde also adopted this method.

Cheng Shijie carried out a rapid reorganization of the Denglai New Army, and directly used the establishment of the Ning Navy, with 12 people as a team and four teams as a sentry.

Four posts and five teams have a total of 260 people as a seat, and there is a total of 100 people.

Four divisions are one general, and one general is set up. 1,000 people per total.

The three musket regiments of the Denlai New Army were organized into five generals.

The 88 artillery units were directly reorganized into an artillery department, with a general staff.

In the era of Sun Yuanhua, the regiment commander and deputy commander of the Dengzhou New Army were all Westerners, and the company commanders also had some Westerners.

This time it can be regarded as a great joy for all.

Sun Yuanhua had never trained the Denglai New Army on the issue of allegiance, and the Ning Navy did a very good job in this regard, but with more than 100 officers of the Ning Navy acting as instructors, the Denglai New Army was ideologically educated.

At the same time, Cheng Shijie also announced to the Denglai New Army, no, that it is now the sixth to the eleventh general of the Ning Navy, and that the 6,500 soldiers will enjoy all the benefits and benefits of the soldiers of the Ning Navy from now on.

"Soldiers, from now on, the food supply will no longer be limited, how much you can eat, how much this general will let you eat!"

Cheng Shijie was not distressed at all, the salary of the reward army was captured from Sun Yuanhua's treasury, and he took Sun Yuanhua's silver to appease the army, Cheng Shijie had no psychological burden.

"For the dead, give a pension of twenty taels of silver, and one hundred acres of land can be passed down to the family. Behead one level, reward ten acres of land, capture an enemy, reward fifteen acres of land. The silver was injured, and Ning Haijun was in charge of healing, and he was seriously injured and gave ten taels of silver."

With the promulgation of these policies and regulations, more than 6,500 officers and men of the new army and the new navy of Denglai cheered loudly.

Cheng Shijie breathed a sigh of relief, and from now on, the Denglai New Army will be surnamed Cheng.

Cheng Shijie left Shen Mingyu as the commander and was responsible for leading the new Sixth General Commander.

Of course, Cheng Shijie has no choice, there is no one available in his hands.

With the completion of the Denglai New Army, Cheng Shijie asked people to take the silver and came directly to the camp of the Penglai Water Division and the Dengzhou Water Division.

Like the barracks of the new army in Denglai, Sun Yuanhua's order was directly announced first, and then the silver opened the way, and then it was reorganized, but it was different from the army establishment.

The officers of the naval division came according to the ship, 400 gunboats, and there were only 37 people in full staff, and the same captain was at the rank of sentry commander, and enjoyed the treatment of sentry commander.

However, the five gunboats were too small, and Cheng Shijie didn't understand the naval battle anyway, so he just announced to all the officers and men that they would enjoy the treatment of the Ning Navy in the future.

The rest of the words, these sailors and soldiers know, after all, they have heard the most during this time, that is, the welfare of the Ning Navy is particularly good.

From morning to evening, Cheng Shijie initially mastered the Dengzhou Navy Division and the Dongjiang Army Navy Division, a total of more than 300 warships.

After all this, Cheng Shijie returned to the Yamen of the governor of Dengzhou City again.

"What does it feel like to be the master of Dengzhou?"

Sun Yuanhua looked at Cheng Shijie with a tired face, and his heart was dark.

"Tired...... I'm so tired! ”

Sun Yuanhua was a little proud: "You kicked Benxian away, but do you think you can sit up in this position?" ”

"Lord Futai, wronged!"

Cheng Shijie sighed and said: "Whether you believe it or not, Cheng really doesn't want to replace Lord Futai!" ”

"Say, what else do you want to do now!"

"Convict Kong Youde of rebellion, and order Cheng to suppress the rebels!"

Cheng Shijie wants to attack southern Liaoning, naturally he will not let Kong Youde wreak havoc in Shandong, no matter what, how can others be allowed to sleep soundly on the side of the couch?

What's more, it's still a big traitor.

If you don't kill Kong Youde, will you still keep it for the New Year?

PS: Say two things, last night I worked overtime until more than four o'clock in the morning, and I went back to the rental house to write more than a thousand words, I couldn't bear it, so I had to sleep. I'm very sorry, the second thing, it's a little disgusting, the second place on the fan list, changed the nickname to TX Cheng Zhiba left, I reported it, and now the original nickname of the number has been restored. The writing is not good, you can put forward opinions if you don't want to see it, you can take it off the shelves, but, don't use this way, although Lao Cheng hit the street, he would rather not give such a reward. Jokes are jokes, don't joke about your family, no one jumps out of the cracks in the stones.

(End of chapter)