Zhou Chun poured Li Yanqing a full glass of wine, and then the housekeeper came in with more than a dozen dishes, but it was arranged by Zhou Chun's wife, Li Yanqing tasted the wine, the wine was really good, so he drank the wine and sighed slightly: "I haven't drunk such a good wine for almost a year!" ”

"By the way, it seems that you can't drink alcohol in the army."

"No, I drank a lot when I was treating the three armies, but they are all milk wine of the Tangut people, and the taste is very fishy, and there is no mellow taste of this good wine at all."

"I've also heard about the war in Western Xia, it seems that the two sides negotiated peace, and I can't figure out who took advantage, but it's good for Western Xia to be a minister."

Li Yanqing shook his head, "The Western Xia ministers are only external, they are still emperors internally, and it is actually meaningless to negotiate peace, just to find a reason for a truce." ”

"But the truce is very important to us magistrates! You don't know how much pressure we have been under in the past two years, the people's taxes are as heavy as a mountain, the household tax and the field tax have doubled, how many families have been forced to sell their fields and go bankrupt, two months ago I went to the countryside to collect military rations, and almost provoked a popular uprising in Tangbei Township, in fact, I don't want to persecute the peasants so much, but there is no way, the amount of money and grain pressed down above must be completed, this is still the money and grain assessment other than taxes, we have to dismiss the official if we can't finish it, and many bankrupt farmers have abandoned their wives and children to become bandits. ”

Speaking of bandits, Li Yanqing wanted to continue to deepen the topic, and he muttered: "I heard that the Liangshan bandits have entered the Daimyo's Mansion? ”

Zhou Chun nodded, "Just over a month ago, I heard that Lu Junyi wanted to avenge the destruction of the Gate, so he led five thousand Liangshan troops into the Daimyo Mansion and killed all the officials of Wei County. ”

"The Liangshan army has no intention of attacking Xiangzhou!"

"This is not true, the court is very angry, the Son of Heaven allocated 30,000 troops to the Daimyo Mansion to suppress bandits, I heard that now Liang Zhongshu personally led 30,000 troops in Bozhou near the Yellow River in Gaotang County and the main force of the Liangshan Army to confront us, thousands of miles away from us, in fact, our threat is not the Liangshan Army, but the bandits over there in Fushan."

"Brother Zhou, let's talk about it specifically!"

"Two bandit leaders one is called Tao Jun, the other is called Jia Jin, the two gathered five or six hundred bandits to occupy Fushan as the king, I heard that these two people have a Liangshan background, repeatedly led the army down the mountain to loot the county, last month, three hundred bandits killed into Xiangzhou and ransacked Lin Xi County, and many people died! Now all counties are training village soldiers and organizing bow and arrow clubs to protect themselves. ”

"You say they have a Liangshan background?" Li Yanqing was stunned.

"I heard that it was Lu Junyi's apprentice, I guessed that Liangshan wanted to establish a foundation in Taihang Mountain, so he sent some of his subordinates out, at least these two bandit leaders came from Yunzhou."

Li Yanqing said for a while: "That Jia Jin has died in my hands." ”

Zhou Chun was stunned, "How come?" ”

Li Yanqing told in detail about the night attack he suffered in Handan County, and finally said: "Although I have torn up the registration of the hotel, and I also ask Zhang Zhizhou not to reveal my identity, I am afraid that the secret will not be kept, and I am not afraid of anything, but in case Tangyin County is implicated by me and is retaliated by Tao Jun's army, I will really feel guilty." ”

"I don't think I have to worry about this, Tangyin is in the southernmost part of Xiangzhou, and it is a plain with convenient transportation, unlike Lin Xi County, which is far away in the mountains, Tao Jun wants to kill us, I'm afraid they won't be able to pass the pass in Anyang County, and besides, they are only a few hundred, Xiangzhou has a thousand Xiang troops, and there are five hundred township soldiers in our county, I think we can protect ourselves."

Li Yanqing nodded, he also felt that he was too worried, even if these two people were Lu Junyi's apprentices, Lu Junyi would at least give himself a face.

The two drank a few more glasses of wine, Li Yanqing got up to say goodbye, Zhou Chun sent him out of the door, and said with a smile: "In a few days, I will also go to the countryside to Lushan Town, and we will have another drink when the time comes." ”

"Good! The younger brother is the east, please have a drink. ”

Li Yanqing turned over on his horse, hugged his fists and said with a smile: "Say goodbye to my sister-in-law for me, if she has a family letter, I can send it to my family for her by the way when I enter Beijing." ”

"Thank you!"

Li Yanqing urged the horse to run towards the south gate, and gradually disappeared, Zhou Chun kept watching Li Yanqing go away, and then returned to the house.

.........

There was still some time before the evening, Li Yanqing arrived in Lushan Town, he came back at this time last year, Lushan Town at that time was no different from when he was a child, but in just one year, Li Yanqing suddenly found that Lushan Town had changed, many of the original houses have become shops, there was only one tavern, now it has increased to three or four, and the number of inns has also increased to three, the grocery store has become larger, and there are all kinds of stalls on both sides of the road.

Young students can be seen everywhere on the stalls on both sides, and more than a dozen students are walking into the tavern together, Li Yanqing suddenly remembered what his father had said, Lushan Academy has been upgraded to Lushan Academy.

He immediately urged the horse to run a few steps, and gradually arrived at Lushan College, it was indeed completely changed, Li Yanqing remembered that the door was a winding path, on both sides of the bamboo forest, when school was over, the path was full of all kinds of stalls, and now the whole land has been filled, the bamboo forest is still there, the filled place is full of peach trees and plum trees, and in the middle is a stone paved road, which is one foot and five feet wide, and two ox carts can be paralleled to lead to the gate.

The gate has been changed from the original old wooden door to a stone archway-style gate, with four golden characters dancing with dragons and phoenixes: 'Lushan Academy', Li Yanqing recognized it as his father's handwriting at a glance.

The dilapidated houses inside the gate have all been renovated, the playground has been widened, the large cemetery behind it has been turned into buildings, and even many houses seem to have been built on the top of Lushan Mountain.

Li Yanqing involuntarily led his horse towards the academy, and many students who walked out of the academy looked at him in surprise, none of these students Li Yanqing knew, but looking at the scale, there were at least more than a thousand people in the academy.

"Yanqing, is that you?" As soon as Li Yanqing turned around, he saw a person walking briskly behind him, it was Yao Wannian, the eldest son of Master Yao Ding.

Li Yanqing remembered that his father had said that the teachings of Lushan Academy were Yao Wannian, and he hurriedly stepped forward and saluted: "Little nephew, see Uncle Shi!" ”

Although Yao Wannian is the son of the master, he is also Yue Fei's uncle, so Li Yanqing was able to see him as a junior.

"When did you come back?"

"I just rushed back, and I haven't been home yet!"

"You must be back in time for Master's Birthday, and everyone will worship your Master tomorrow!"

Li Yanqing was stunned for a moment, he simply forgot that tomorrow was Master's death day.

．．．．．．．．

Li Yanqing's return to the old mansion really made Uncle Zhong overjoyed, he and his wife immediately cleaned up Li Yanqing's room, and asked his grandson Ah Niu to go to Lushan Town to buy a good wine and food for the little official.

At night, Li Yanqing was lying in his room, looking at the familiar roof, he slowly closed his eyes, his mind became empty, he was still reminiscing about the battlefield of Western Xia like a movie, the fight of blood and fire, the kind of tragedy of walking on the edge of life and death, it was already two months ago, you can savor it again, all the details are clear and recallable, everything is as if it happened yesterday.

Early the next morning, Li Yanqing came to his mother's grave to worship, Li Yanqing's mother's coffin was moved from Tangbei Township many years ago, and was reburied in the ancestral land not far from the house.

The tombstone is written by Li Yanqing himself, 'The Tomb of Mrs. Li of the Ding Family', and next to it is her birthday.

Although Li Yanqing has no memory of his mother in the Song Dynasty, he knows from some of the clothes and young shoes that his father kept from his childhood, and he knows that his mother poured out his love for him, which was sewn by his mother with needle and thread.

Li Yanqing knelt down in front of his mother's tomb and kowtowed three times, and muttered: "The child has lived up to his mother's expectations, he has been admitted to the imperial examination to explore flowers, and he has gone to the frontier to serve the country, worthy of the ancestors, worthy of the Great Song Dynasty, and hope that his mother will rest in peace in the spirit of heaven!" ”

He laid down the offering, lit three incense sticks, and kowtowed three more times, then stood up and stared at the tombstone silently, and after a long time, he turned and left the cemetery, and rode towards Lushan Town.