Mu Zaohua walked past rows of village houses that had been replaced with tile roofs and built with brick walls.
Even outside Yanzhou City, in Prince Lu's Mansion, General Jingguo's Mansion and the fields of other clan members, such brick and tile houses are not common.
There are neat ink characters on the wooden door guarding the fence.
"The rice is like an oxtail and the flowers are like an egg", "Autumn comes and the flowers are as far as the sky", and so on.
Jibei, that is, cotton, is now the main crop grown by households in Zhengjiazhuang.
Mu Zaohua felt that she had arrived in a world that was more novel than Liaoyang back then and Yanzhou later. It was not as fiercely contested as a military fortress, not as prosperous as a prince's fiefdom, but the civilians here, from their appearance to their limbs, were
But they are not timid, insensitive or cunning.
Of course, because a leader had just been lost, the joyful atmosphere in this busy farming world was dimmed.
Mu Zaohua walked through the courtyard of the young village owner Zheng Shoukuan. The young man in the courtyard had just gotten married, but there were no happy words on the courtyard door and no colorful silk hanging under the eaves. Mu Zaohua only saw the smoke of birds rising from the morning stove.
, only the intermittent conversations of young men and women were heard.
She continued walking away from the coast. She passed the military training ground and gun test range in Zhengjiazhuang. She mustered up her courage and looked up at the bell tower.
The day seemed to turn into night in an instant. Mu Zaohua imagined the scene of Mr. Wu ringing the alarm bell that night.
People's lives in Spring Boudoir Dream end at that moment.
Now more than a month has passed, Master Wu's body should have begun to rot in the coffin underground.
Mu Zaohua continued walking up the hillside.
They were piled up by farmers during their slack time as a tomb.
Life is like life, and everyone has their end one day. Mrs. Zheng said that graveyards are as important as cotton fields and salt pits. They must be maintained securely and decently to prevent seawater from pouring in and washing away everyone's bones.
Mu Zaohua climbed up the tomb hill, bypassed the Temple of the Martyrs where the ground stakes had just been dug, 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 lay out the tall pottery, place rice cakes, rice dumplings, and dried fruits on top, pour a glass of wine, and take out a bowl of white fish soup from the food basket.
Mr. Wu loves to eat fish.
Mu Zaohua clearly remembered that in Zhenjiang, when she and Chen Sanni went to collect the reward after catching the person who cheated the insurance company, she heard Mr. Wu talking to Mrs. Zheng about "Jiang Dao" and "Hai Dao". She initially thought it was
The name of Weapon was later revealed to be a kind of delicious fish.
The situation in front of me is just like the scene in the past, but the two people talking to each other have different paths.
Zheng Haizhu turned around and said, "It's the Dragon Boat Festival. Where can I find Jiangdao? I asked General Xu to catch a fish that's quite delicious."
Then he looked at Mu Zaohua's face and asked harmoniously: "The humidity in Chongming is heavy, and the plum season is even more difficult than in Zhenjiang. Did you sleep well last night?"
Mu Zaohua shook his head: "No, I keep dreaming about Mr. Wu."
"Did he talk to you?"
"No, I can't catch up with him," Mu Zaohua squatted down and picked off a few weeds that were not pleasing to the eye, but Yousheng said frankly, "Madam knows that when the young master is alive, he is like the bright moon in the sky to me. I am enough
Not available."
Zheng Haizhu looked at the plum tree in front of the grave and said: "Bond is actually just like you and me. We are ordinary people, with love, hate, obsession, anger, and seven emotions and six desires."
"But he is dead," Mu Zaohua gasped, "I never believe in ghosts and gods or reincarnation. When a person dies, he is dead. Madam Zheng, I am indeed not worthy of Mr. Wu, but as long as he lives, at least, I will still
I can often see him and hear him speak. But now, now..."
Mu Zaohua grinned and started crying.
However, no matter how hard I cried, I didn't hug the tombstone.
The heartbroken woman is still worried about her self-esteem. After understanding the origin of the plum tree, she can cry ugly, but she will not lose her composure.
Zheng Haizhu let her cry while she stood up, picked up the food box and went to a new grave nearby.
Aya is buried inside.
That night, after Tong Fengnian shot Wu Bondang, Aya struggled fiercely and refused to be taken to the seaside and boarded a boat. Tong Fengnian, who was eager to leave the island with the cannon, may have been afraid that his men would be interrogated by Yue Tuo, so he did not dare to kill Aya's mother.
Women, simply give up on them.
After Aya met Zheng Haizhu, she told everything she knew and experienced, including the whole story of how her daughter's life was threatened and how she was deceived into opening the gun range's access control.
Soon, Huang Zunsu's Songjiang soldiers and Xu Yilong's young navy returned in vain and reported that they had not intercepted the Jurchens' ship. After hearing this, Aya found an excuse to let Hua Er, a girl from the Liao people, go back to the house with a small bean bag, and then suddenly pulled it out.
He took a sword from a soldier and killed himself.
"Don't hate her," Zheng Haizhu turned back to Wu Bondang's grave and said to Mu Zaohua, "The ones who should really be hated are the Jurchens, the carpenter Ah Shan who is a descendant of Nurhaci, and the traitor from that family whose surname I guess is Tong.
, and Han Xiying. However, people's hearts may be pure and their knowledge may be different. I am always afraid that Xiaodou Bao will live in the eyes of the villagers in the future, so I thought about sending the baby to Yan Xuanfu in Taiwan to be with their couple.
My daughter keeps me company."
Mu Zaohua stopped crying at this moment and began to burn paper.
She calmly murmured: "To be honest with you, madam, I was a little frustrated when I heard some villagers talking about it when I landed on the island. But as soon as I saw the little bean buns, the baby threw herself into my arms and cried, saying that her mother was
It’s not like she went to the north, why hasn’t she come back? How could I have any other thoughts about her? I just feel that she is too pitiful and I don’t know how to feel sorry for her.”
Zheng Haizhu nodded.
After the Battle of Fushun and the temporary calm in Liaodong, Mu Zaohua and Aya walked side by side for a while and arrived at the trading company intelligence station in Yanzhou. She was like an aunt to Xiaodoubao. No wonder Xiaodoubao became close to her without her mother.
she.
Zheng Haizhu hesitated for a moment and then asked tentatively: "Then, or let Xiaodou Bao follow you to Yanzhou?"
Mu Zaohua raised her gaze: "Madam, I don't even want to go back to Yanzhou. I want to go to Hetuala."
…
A few days later, Xu Yilong came to Zheng Haizhu's yard.
"Brother Yan asked the ship to deliver what Madam asked for last month."
"Carry it into the house." Zheng Haizhu stared at the box and said.
The box is not small, but it does not have a padlock. Instead, a labyrinth-like groove is cut out at the lid, and multiple wooden strips are embedded in the groove. Zheng Haizhu and Yan Siqi agreed on a set of sequential codes for unlocking, and each of them memorized it by heart.
When Zheng Haizhu saw Xu Yilong out of the yard, he asked, "Did the people on the boat also talk about the current situation on both sides of the Fujian Sea? Is Xu Guerrilla okay?"
"Xu Guerrilla" is Xu Yilong's father, Xu Xinsu. As a confidant of Fujian Navy Commander-in-Chief Yu Zigao, after his meritorious service in the Minghe naval battle, Xu Xinsu, like Zheng Haizhu, was granted the title of "Emperor's Lady," and she also received the Fujian Navy's "Praise"
The title of "Hua Guerrilla". Zan Hua Guerrilla is not a real guerrilla general and cannot lead troops. He has a status similar to that of a staff officer.
Xu Yilong said respectfully: "Thank you, Madam, for your concern. My father's affairs are going well. Governor Shang and Mr. Yu are also in harmony with each other in civil and military affairs. However, Yan Xuanfu's department has encountered some minor problems."
"Did Liu Xiang make Brother Yan angry?"
"Ah? Madam already knows?"
Zheng Haizhu said frankly: "I guess, I met Liu Xiang when I was fighting against Hongmao. Yilong, I don't care if he and your father worked under Li Dan in the past. Now that you follow me, I will
You should also treat me like a nephew. Let me tell you straight, our navy must not associate with Liu Xiang in the future, he has evil intentions."
Xu Yilong looked solemn, but when he opened his mouth, he used a friendly address and said: "Yilong will follow my aunt's teachings. Well, my aunt really knows how to recognize people. This time I heard from someone over there that Yan Xuan fined Liu Xiang's military pay.
Because he sells it on the island, what kind of ointment is he selling?"
Zheng Haizhu thought to himself that greedy pirates like Liu Xiang were far inferior to heroes like Yan Siqi who knew how to measure their own interests. It was only expected that such a day would happen.
She then revealed her stern expression and said, "That's it! Brother Yan is still soft-hearted. We should directly relinquish his military power and drive him out of Taiwan! Yilong, that A Piao Mu, is a kind of poppy paste from overseas.
, poisonous, and highly addictive. After eating it, the limbs will be weak. Not to mention that the battle on sea and land will be defeated. Even civilian men will be unable to work since then, and they will have no descendants. Women who smoke it will give birth to monsters, so
We in Chongming must not allow such a thing to come in."
Xu Yilong felt horrified when he heard this.
Fujian was blessed with the Longqing Switch and opened its eyes to foreign lands, but when he was in Xiamen, he had never heard of such a terrible imported product.
But Yan Siqi and Zheng Haizhu are both elders he admires extremely, so of course he believes in them.
"Auntie," the young general said sternly, "Yilong will strictly investigate the sailors' daily habits in the future, and don't let this A Piao mother ruin our brothers."
"Okay, you can go back and train."
After Xu Yilong left with his entourage, Mu Zaohua appeared from the back room.
Zheng Haizhu's fingers flew around, moving the wooden bars. In a moment, there was a "click" sound, and the most critical copper core of the box bounced up.
】
Mu Zaohua walked to the box.
Zheng Haizhu took out a tin can, opened it, and picked up a piece of black paste from the silk package.
"Zaohua, this is A Piao Mu, it can also be called opium."
Mu Zaohua smelled the stench of urine and almost felt sick.
She instinctively turned her head away, but quickly turned back to stare at the opium paste.
She understood that in the next few years, she would be dealing with this thing all the time.
Zheng Haizhu bowed and took out a wooden pole from the box, and said slowly: "And this, you have to take it to Hetuala, the Jurchen's lair."
Mu Zaohua took it and stroked the shiny part of the pipe.
She showed a sinister smile: "Mrs. Zheng, Mang Gurtai likes the hookah coming from the west of Mongolia. He will definitely be fascinated by this opium smoke soon."