Globe Trekker

Chapter 42
Although the wooden passenger boat going down the river has no mechanical power, due to the recent abundant rainfall and rapid water flow, it arrived at the terminal at Zhaoxian Town Wharf at [-]:[-] pm.

The three of Wu Ming and the two guarding brothers did not stop, but there was no passenger ship to go to Changshan County at this time, so they could only use the carriage of the three Dayang Chartered Cars and Horses, and finally entered Changshan County as night fell.

Changshan was established in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It was called Dingyang County at that time. The county seat was not the current Tianma Town, but the ancient town of Zhaoxian just disembarked in the east. It was renamed Xin'an County in the Southern Song Dynasty, and changed to Changshan in the Yuan Dynasty. The county was named after the county seat. There is Changshan in the south.

After thousands of years of war, the county town has long since lost its city walls, but the government has set up checkpoints at the entrances to the city, and they have to pay when entering the city. As long as each person pays five copper coins for any identity certificate or road record, those officers and soldiers reeking of alcohol will ignore you.

The carriage passed through the checkpoint and entered the stone-paved street. Wu Ming suddenly remembered that Mrs. Fang with a big belly and the two old people in the cave. The deputy commander of the major general of the Western Zhejiang Security Command and the head of the Changshan security regiment also said a lot about Changzhou, Quzhou and his own family. Wu Ming clearly remembered that the two old people were the parents of Mrs. Fang, surnamed Zhang, who lived in the north of Shangrao. Dexing County.

After graduating from Hangzhou Normal School eight years ago, Sister-in-law Fang married Fang Youchun, who was stationed in Hangzhou at that time, and became the Fang Zhang family. The husband of the deputy commander and head of Changshan security team returned to his hometown Changshan until the beginning of the year when her husband was framed and imprisoned.

Entering Changshan County at this moment, Wu Ming thought of this, and was quite worried. He wondered if Mrs. Fang had redeemed her husband, and roughly calculated that she should have given birth to a child three months ago.

"Guests, Yulongsheng Hotel has arrived!"

The coachman reined in the horse and reminded him loudly, got out of the car and stood aside cheerfully, taking the three oceans paid by Lu Kuiyuan and bowing again and again, with a very enthusiastic attitude.

The two brothers who followed the guard had already paid quickly and entered the inn without waiting for Wu Ming's order. Seeing the two of them having a friendly conversation with the clerk at the counter, Wu Ming guessed that these two brothers who specially followed the caravan Familiar with this inn, it is estimated that Li Kun, the third master, lived here when he came to Changshan.

"Sixth brother, just open two rooms, don't bother me, Kui Yuan and I will share one room, and I will ask for a pack of cigarettes, 'Three Forts' will do."

Wu Ming stopped the two brothers from arranging a separate room for themselves. After looking around, he found that the inn was not small. He followed the shop assistant who led the way into the wide yard at the back, and saw the exquisite rockery in the middle and the flowers and plants planted around it. , the ground and corridors are clean, and the environment is very quiet, it's a good place.

The two brothers asked Wu Ming and the others for a suite on the second floor. There was an Eight Immortals table in the middle of the nearly ten-square-meter living room, and carefully framed calligraphy and paintings hung on the wall. There are bamboo mats, calligraphy and paintings hanging on the wall, there is a simple coat rack by the door, and there is a desk in front of the bed. The overall feeling is simple and comfortable.

Wu Ming went downstairs to take a shower and came back, and found that the Eight Immortals table in the middle of the living room had already set up exquisite dishes, and there was also a bottle of famous wine "Qianjiangchun" produced in Quzhou.

Since Wu Ming didn't intend to regard banditry as his profession, and he didn't want everyone to call him the Fourth Master or the Fourth Brother, the brothers finally came up with a compromise, regardless of their age, they respectfully called Wu Ming "Brother Ming", The children were all called "Uncle Ming" like Lei Peng, so the sixth child asked respectfully after finishing his report, "What else can Brother Ming tell you?"

"Add two chairs and have a drink together."

After Wu Ming finished speaking, he went to the coat hook to hang up the towel. The two brothers who thought they were servants and dared not sit at the same table were very moved. Temperament, although he doesn't talk much to unfamiliar people and doesn't usually have a smiling face, but he values ​​love, righteousness and generosity, and never puts on airs, but if you don't listen to him, he won't treat you well no matter who you are complexion.

After eating and drinking, the waiter came to clean up. The two brothers said goodbye and returned to the room on the first floor. Wu Ming held a cup of fragrant tea and smoked a cigarette, and began to ask the two apprentices who came back from the shower how they felt along the way.

As Wu Ming's questions became more and more tricky, the two young men who were traveling for the first time were dumbfounded, stuttering and unable to answer the last sentence.

Wu Ming then patiently explained, such as "Why do I want you to remember the number of guards at the gate of the city", "Why do you need to check the street where the inn is located", "When you go down to take a bath, you should pay attention to whether there is a back door, watchmen, the height of the wall and Surrounding environment" and so on, seized the opportunity of the two people entering the city for the first time to instill their ideas in them, and put forward a series of strict requirements, and analyzed the principles that must be followed one by one.

In the end, the two innocent young guys were obedient, secretly regretting their ignorance and carelessness, and they lay down on the bed with one eye open.

The next morning, they went to the front hall together to finish their breakfast. Under the guidance of the two brothers, Wu Ming and the three went directly to the county government office, entered the county government office compound and asked the specific location of the civil affairs department. Wu Ming signaled everyone to wait in the yard, alone Entering the middle courtyard, Dafangfang went straight to the second section chief's office in the left wing.

The forty-something civil affairs section chief of Changshan County had just arrived and was enjoying the good tea made by his subordinates. He raised his eyes and saw a handsome young man standing at the door and bowing slightly. Ironed flat, neat fit, looks very pleasing to the eye.

After a little hesitation, the section chief motioned his subordinates to leave, and nodded majestically to Wu Ming: "Come in and talk about something."

Wu Ming came to the desk and bowed slightly: "Hi Section Chief Huang! The student is from Maoliangwu in the north of the city. The civil affairs department of the county government has taken the liberty of coming here today to wait for news, it is really disturbing!"

The chunky Section Chief Huang scratched his hairless head: "Mao Liangwu? Mao Liangwu? Oh, oh! I remember, a person named Li came to your village a few days ago, right? Oops! Poor! Years of plagues, people and animals are dying, the people of Maoliangwu are suffering!"

"Yes, one-fifth of the people in the village survived by luck. This year, they dared to summon the scattered tribesmen to go back to rebuild their homes and bury the bones to worship the ancestral graves. After the students saw the notice published by the special agency, they asked the old people in the village to know. Our Maoliangwu Since the Republic of China, there has been no population and land registration, so I reminded the elders in the village to handle it as soon as possible according to the law. Today, the students took the liberty to come here again to inquire about the situation, and I kindly ask the elders to take care of them." Wu Ming spoke very respectfully.

Section Chief Huang made a sudden look: "Well, I know about this, but according to the regulations, our civil affairs department still needs to send people to verify it, and our civil affairs department has too few staff, even the 42 villages around Zhaoxian Town The registration and verification work has not been completed, and Maoliangwu, the northernmost part of the county, will not be available for a while! Haha, young man, this matter may have to be... "

Section Chief Huang stopped suddenly, staring at Wu Ming's bright yellow twelve taels of gold bars that he quickly placed on the table, which could be worth four hundred oceans according to the market value. He was silent for a moment, and when he raised his head, there was a kind smile on his face: "Oh! You, you, you!"

Wu Ming quickly explained: "A mere gift is not a respect. The students want to buy a small steamer back from the provincial capital these days, so that it will be convenient for the elders in the village to transport food, farm tools, and sell local products to improve their lives. But now the bandits are being suppressed. The rebellion spread throughout the three provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Fujian, and the governments and armies of various places have set up water and land checkpoints. Even our Changshan City has more soldiers, but the students have not obtained ID cards, so it is difficult to move a single step!"

Chief Huang nodded frequently: "Yes! This matter really cannot be delayed. How many people and how much land do you report in your village?"

"Back to seniors, due to successive years of plague, there are only 96 people left in the village, men, women and children, and the land is only [-] mu." Wu Ming replied.

"Oh! What a crime! How about this, there are not many people, I will give orders later, and you can come and get back the identity certificates of the whole village around four o'clock in the afternoon... However, as for the land, it involves reissuing It will take some time to send people to conduct on-the-spot surveys on issues such as land deeds and tax collection, and the land deeds will only be issued after approval, do you understand?" Section Chief Huang looked at Wu Ming kindly.

Wu Ming bowed knowingly to express his gratitude: "The junior understands, it should be, thank you senior!"

"Haha! Alright, then you can come this afternoon. I'll tell the people below that you can just go to the window of the office next door to get the certificate. It's convenient for you and yourself!"

"Thank you! The seniors are busy with work, so the juniors won't bother you. Goodbye!"

"It's easy to say, easy to say, haha!"

(End of this chapter)