Crimson Dawn

Chapter 48

Hebei is far drier than Jiangnan. There should have been a wind a few days ago, and there was a lot of dust on the floor and table of Pang Zi's house.Chen Ke didn't care about this.Anyway, jeans are resistant to dirt, so Chen Ke sat down on the dusty stool.He still likes the dry autumn days in the north. The tigers are very fierce in autumn, but when the wind blows in the house, it is very cool and comfortable.

Pang Zi in the main seat is not tall, about 170, thin, muscular, with sharp eyes, and looks like he was born in martial arts.Contrary to the cold and vigilant attitude when they first met, Pang Zi immediately became enthusiastic when he learned that Chen Ke was sent by Wu Xingchen.

There was no tea, and white water was poured into a ceramic bowl with a small gap. Chen Ke was really thirsty, so he picked up the bowl and drank it up in a few sips.Wiping the water from the corner of his mouth, Chen Ke said, "More."

Pang Zi fed Chen Kexu, and then asked, "How is Brother Wu?"

"He's fine. Here's a letter from him." Chen Ke took out the letter from his backpack.

Pang Zi took the envelope, but his eyes fell on the zipper of the travel backpack.This kind of thing that opened as soon as it was opened and closed as soon as it was pulled, especially the sound when it was opened, attracted Pang Zi's attention.This thing looks much more convenient than the package.

However, Pang Zi is also the leading figure of one side, although he is curious, he still gets down to business first.He tore open the envelope and read Wu Xingchen's letter.

Wu Xingchen can read and write, especially after joining the party organization, Chen Ke also gave Wu Xingchen special cultural remedial classes.In other words, Chen Ke and Wu Xingchen learned to write traditional characters together.Therefore, the letter Wu Xingchen wrote to Pang Zi was still free of typos.

"Brother Wu has improved since he joined the Revolutionary Party. I don't know many words in this letter." Pang Zi smiled after reading the letter, "Mr. Chen, Brother Wu said you are a Revolutionary Party, but is it true?"

Chen Ke said with a smile, "Brother Wu is also a revolutionary party now. We all belong to the same party."

Pang Zi smacked his lips after hearing this, "Mr. Chen, Brother Wu said in the letter that he will come to me in a few days. Let you two say hello first. It's definitely not coming to our place after traveling thousands of miles from Shanghai. It's as simple as saying hello."

There was no one else in the room. To be on the safe side, Chen Ke lowered his voice, "Brother Wu should have said in the letter what we were going to do. I haven't read the letter, but Brother Wu said that Brother Pang is going to make a fuss. We just came here on a special trip.”

"Trust me, Brother Wu said it was that old boy Chen Xinglian who said that," Pang Zi said with a smile, "Chen's surname is not a good thing."

Hearing Sang's accusation against Huai, Chen Tianhua's face changed slightly, but Chen Ke didn't feel it at all.Instead, he asked with great interest: "Brother Pang, have you suffered a lot from scholars before?"

Seeing that Chen Ke could hear the voice of his own words, Pang Zi said bitterly: "In the year of Gengzi, the imperial court sent some scholars to cheat us in Boxing Boxing. That one loss is enough. Twice more times, I am Little life is gone."

"Brother Pang is worried that if I come to poke you this time to make a fuss, then I will stick to you for nothing?" Chen Ke laughed.

"Then why did Mr. Chen come to my place? Is he still in the gang?" Pang Zi asked tit for tat.

Chen Ke replied seriously: "I came to Hebei Province to hire some people. Why did I come to see Brother Pang? Brother Wu said let us take a look, so I came. If Brother Pang wanted to make a scene, I would like to advise Brother Pang not to act in a hurry."

After hearing this, Pang Zi was unmoved and refused to answer.Everyone was silent for a while, and Chen Ke asked: "Brother Pang, I don't know if there is an inn in Gaojiazhai."

"Since we're here, I naturally want to arrange accommodation for the two of you. This Mr. Chen's words are too outlandish." Pang Zi said so, but there was no enthusiasm on Pang Zi's face.He picked up the letter and read it again, then got up and took the two of them to the wing.There was only an earthen kang in the wing room, and Pang Zi came over with a straw mat and got a quilt for the two of them.

"The two seem to be enjoying the blessings, let's make do."

Chen Ke scratched his head. He was on a boat or a train these days, so he couldn't take a good bath. "Is there a place where I can take a bath, Brother Pang?"

Hearing such a request, Pang Zi suddenly smiled maliciously, "Taking a bath? There is a river in the east of the village, you can go there to wash."

"Thank you." Chen Ke didn't care.

"Since the two gentlemen don't care, please do as you please." After finishing speaking, Pang Zi went out.

After tidying up the bed a little, Chen Ke and Chen Tianhua took soap and towels, and as soon as they left the courtyard, they saw a bunch of children watching around the courtyard.I saw two people coming out.The dolls scattered at first, and then hid behind something, or stood far away and looked at the two strange adults.In their bright eyes, some are curious and puzzled.Not long after going east, Chen Ke felt that someone was pulling the skirt behind him, and when he turned his head, a doll ran away quickly, screaming.His little friends all smiled.Very happy.Before the doll ran far, other children tried to run over, but Chen Ke glared at them, but they stood on the ground, not daring to act rashly.But as soon as Chen Ke turned around, it didn't take long for the children to continue the game.

Life in the countryside is like this these days, and the scope of everyone's activities is so small.It is a big rarity to come from outside.Not to mention people who dress differently.Not only the dolls, but also many adults were watching the two strangers, and everyone whispered and commented on the two.Occasionally, a girl and daughter-in-law from a certain family would go out or come to meet them. When they saw Chen Ke and the others, they immediately hid aside as if they were frightened.Chen Ke didn't bother to take care of these things. If he went to the countryside in the future, such things should be absolutely uncommon.Just get used to it.His attention was on the surrounding scenery.

This is a common village in the north, with yellow adobe courtyard walls, and even the walls of the houses are mostly adobe walls.Pang Zi's house is quite grand, with tiles on the main roof, and many houses have thick thatched roofs.Looking in from the half-closed gate or the top of the low wall, most of the yards are hung with threaded corn.There were also bundles of sorghum stalks piled up against the wall.The occasional strings of dried peppers that can be seen add a lot of joy to the yard.The door god was pasted on the old wooden door, and the colorful paper was a little whitish in the wind and rain, and the statue of the god on it was already blurred.The air is mixed with the smell of various plants, animals, and dust.

In such a dilapidated atmosphere, Chen Tianhua said: "This village looks pretty good."

After hearing this, Chen Ke really didn't know how to answer. In all fairness, rural areas are like this.Not to mention 1905, even 90 years later in 1995, the rural areas in the north that Chen Ke had seen may not have really changed much.

Spotless wooden floors, white walls, large French doors on the balcony, fabric sofas, and European-style double-layer curtains.Cities may need it.In the countryside, Chen Ke may not really feel much interest in it.Chen Ke has also seen quite a few villages. In comparison, this village at least looks pretty good.At least in the evening, there is smoke in every family, and parents start urging their children to eat.Just now he happily followed Chen Ke and Chen Tianhua's children, running back to his home one by one like birds returning to the forest.Perhaps because of outsiders, many families closed their doors tightly after calling their children back.

In October, the evening wind is already chilly.Walking side by side on the empty dirt road outside the village, Chen Tianhua saw no one was around, so he asked, "What does Brother Pang think of us?"

"People in the Boxers hate foreigners the most. Now there are Manchus. It is said that they especially hate fake foreign devils. When we were in Beijing, some of them lost their heads because they didn't have a pen. This Brother Pang is already very polite to us. gone."

"The Boxers are so vicious in Beijing?" Chen Tianhua didn't believe Chen Ke's words.

"What kind of prince was the leader at that time. I forgot which one it was. That guy represented a group of people who hated the Westernization Movement. It is nothing unusual to instigate such a thing."

After hearing this explanation, Chen Tianhua remained silent for a while.Although he was used to Chen Ke's way of looking at problems, Chen Tianhua felt very wrong with this sharp evaluation. "Wen Qing, don't you seem to never get angry because of these perverse actions?"

"Of course I was angry, but I am not angry anymore. They will definitely do this. When we liberate China, they should lock up these people and kill those who should be beheaded. Apart from this, we have nothing else to do. easy to do."

"That's all there is to it." Chen Tianhua replied.

After walking for a while, I finally saw the river Pang Zi mentioned.Chen Ke believes that this river must be different from later generations, and there is absolutely no industrial wastewater or civil wastewater mixed in it.Sure enough, as Chen Ke thought, the river bed has a lot of sand, and the river water is relatively clear.Autumn is here, and the temperature has dropped a lot.The river water is higher than the air temperature.Take a nice bath.It was completely dark.

On the way back to the village, Chen Tianhua asked Chen Ke, what would Brother Wu do before Xingchen came?

"Try to do a social survey and see the situation in this village. Anyway, I will go to the countryside in the future, and this step is absolutely indispensable." Chen Ke replied.

"Wen Qing, do you think you can really make a name for yourself in the countryside?" Although Chen Tianhua accepted Chen Ke's ideas, he still didn't believe in the rural revolution.

Chen Ke pointed to the dark surroundings, "When we came here today, we saw such a vast area. What can we do with such a vast world? The enemy's strength is weakest in the countryside, but China relies on countless Such villages are formed. As long as we can seize the leadership of these villages, there is no enemy that cannot be defeated."

"How many people does a village have? How many villages does it take to have the population of Shanghai? I think it might be better to launch an uprising in Shanghai." Chen Tianhua said.

"Shanghai has a large population. Let alone other things, even if the uprising succeeds in Shanghai, what do we eat? Where does the food come from?"

"can buy?"

"Buy? Where does the money come from?"

"It should be about the same with taxes."

"Collect taxes? Whose taxes are collected? Why do those rich people pay us taxes? The concession is the most affluent area in Shanghai. We collect taxes in the concession. What will foreigners do?" Chen Ke asked with a smile.

Chen Tianhua fell silent.Chen Ke can understand Chen Tianhua, how can such a small village squeeze out so much?And this is different from densely populated cities. It really feels so empty here. From Xingtai to here, the mules walked for almost a day.The two walked from the village to the river for more than 20 minutes.Compared with cities, rural areas are like this.A large area of ​​land is dotted with small gathering spots.There are not many people in every small village.It is absolutely impossible to support the revolution.It takes a long time just to pass the news, but to make full use of the human and material resources of these villages, what a strong organizational ability is required.Chen Ke has read some materials about how much energy the party invested in the grassroots back then, and he can understand it theoretically.After arriving in the countryside in person, Chen Ke also felt a strong sense of powerlessness.

The two returned to Pang Zi's place, but the door was closed.Knocking on the door, Pang Zi who opened the door invited the two to have dinner together.Sorghum corn bread, pickles, corn porridge.There is also less salt in the dishes, let alone oil.Crude fiber, less oil, less salt.Chen Ke remembered a joke from a friend in the past, "The food of the 60s definitely meets the so-called healthy eating standards of the 21st century."Thinking of this, Chen Ke also looked a little happy.

Pang Zi looked at Chen Kechi's high spirits and looked quite happy, but he was a little surprised. "Mr. Chen seems to be tired of eating wine and meat, and wants a change." Pang Zi said heartily.

Chen Ke was not angry either, "I never get tired of eating wine and meat."

"My hospitality is not good. There is no chicken, duck or fish. Don't be offended by Mr. Chen." Pang Zi laughed.

When Chen Ke walked through the village, he heard many chickens and ducks crowing.He suddenly remembered something, "I see we have a river here, but I don't know if we can catch earthworms, catch fish and shrimp to feed chickens and ducks."

"Of course they will be caught. Food alone is not enough for people to eat." Pang Zi replied.

"Brother Pang, there is actually a way to raise earthworms. Use horse manure and cow dung to mix straw and straw, retting like manure, and after mixing soil, raise earthworms in it. Earthworms will eat very strong and grow well. Quick. At least chickens and ducks still have enough to eat in winter. It is indeed much better than feeding grain."

This is a very common breeding technique in the time travel texts of later generations, but Chen Ke firmly believes that Pang Zi has never seen it before.It was easy to fool Pang Zi.

Sure enough, as Chen Ke said, Pang Zi sneered disapprovingly: "Mr. Chen can coax people, and he can raise earthworms?"

"Brother Pang must have caught earthworms too, so let me ask, where is the best place to catch earthworms? Is it mud, grass, or under a tree?" Chen Ke asked.

Pang Zi thought about it for a while, but he really didn't notice it.While eating, Chen Ke discussed with Pang Zi.The so-called truth became clearer and clearer. After some discussion, Pang Zi remembered that, as Chen Ke said, where there was decay, there were a lot of earthworms.Hearing Chen Ke speak in an orderly manner, it didn't seem like he was lying.Pang Zi never believed in fake foreign devils, but after listening for a while, he found that he actually believed Chen Ke's words.This is really outrageous.

"Mr. Chen has cultivated land before?" Pang Zi asked.

"I haven't planted them. However, a friend of mine once raised earthworms to feed chickens, and the effect was very good."

Upon hearing this, Pang Zi immediately confirmed that Chen Ke must be lying.But just as this idea came up, Pang Zi felt hesitant.Pang Zi has also seen the world, whether he is talking nonsense, you can tell by the look on his face.Chen Ke's expression was frank. If he could deceive people like this, it can only be said that Chen Ke is really a very insidious guy.There was not much food in the first place, and it was finished quickly.Chen Ke yawned, "If there is nothing else, Brother Pang, I'll go to bed first."

After Chen Ke and Chen Tianhua fell asleep, Pang Zi carefully closed the door and returned to his room.Just now when Chen Ke went out to take a shower, Pang Zi secretly checked the backpacks left by Chen Ke and Chen Tianhua in the house.In addition to a dozen books, there are also a bunch of small bottles.All sealed tightly.All that was left was a change of clothes.Pang Zi couldn't figure out the reason for the strange zipper on the bag.But it's really convenient, one pull to open, one pull to close.

He took out Wu Xingchen's letter and read it again.The letter should have been written by Wu Xingchen.Pang Zi did invite a few old brothers over to discuss the matter of "making a fuss".That's what the letter said.The letter told Pang Zi that Chen Ke was a revolutionary party with extraordinary knowledge.Wu Xingchen thought that Chen Ke's participation should be helpful.Pang Zi knew that Wu Xingchen, like himself, hated fake foreign devils the most.I didn't expect that I hadn't seen them in the past few years, but I started to make friends with these people.It really puzzled him.

Pang Zi met Wu Xingchen in the Year of Gengzi.At that time, Jing Tingbin was also a well-known figure in Xingtai as a martial artist.As a relative, Pang Zi practiced martial arts with Jing Tingbin.In the Year of Gengzi, the Hebei Boxers came to Beijing, and Pang Zi wanted to go to Beijing with Jing Tingbin on his back to see the excitement.When he arrived in the capital, he was also a man of skill, and he also became a small boss.

At that time Wu Xingchen was the helmsman of Tiandihui Zhili, but he concealed his identity and became a leader.There are dozens of people under him, and they often meet with Pang Zi.The two hit it off very well, so Wu Xingchen told Pang Zi not to trust the imperial court.Later, before the imperial court and foreigners joined forces to suppress Yihequan, Wu Xingchen notified the brothers of each group to run away quickly.Many people didn't believe what Wu Xingchen said, but Pang Zi did.As a result, not long after the two of them fled the capital with their men, the suppression of the Boxers happened.

The two can be regarded as "famous". Pang Zi didn't dare to go home, so he simply ran to Shandong with Wu Xingchen and joined Zhao Sanduo.Zhao Sanduo led the Yihequan to launch an uprising, and the soldiers were divided into three groups.Wu Xingchen stayed in Shandong, and Pang Zi followed Zhao Sanduo back to Hebei.When Jing Tingbin and Zhao Sanduo "anti-foreign donation" proposed "sweeping and destroying foreign countries", when they launched an uprising together, Pang Zi was very active as a general.The uprising failed, Jing Tingbin was executed by Ling Chi, and Zhao Sanduo died of a hunger strike in prison.Pang Zi had to flee to Shandong.

When I arrived in Shandong, I realized that the Shandong uprising had also failed, and Yuan Shikai suppressed the Shandong uprising bloody.Wu Xingchen's whereabouts are unknown.Pang Zi had to flee to Cangzhou.It was only this year that I returned to my hometown.He has been in contact with the surviving brother in Shandong. He suddenly learned that Wu Xingchen was still alive a while ago. After the Shandong Uprising failed, Wu Xingchen fled to Shanghai.Pang Zi asked his brothers from Shandong to inform Wu Xingchen to come to him together to discuss important matters.

Unexpectedly, Wu Xingchen sent these two foreign devils here first.But Pang Zi believed that Wu Xingchen should not seek refuge with foreigners. "Forget it, anyway, according to the letter, Brother Wu will be here in two days. We'll talk about it later." Thinking of this, Pang Zi blew out the candles and fell asleep.

Chapter 48

No. 48, to URL