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Chapter 248 Descendants of the Qi Family Army
Outside Changjiazhai.

The old man got off his horse twenty steps away, and he came to Zhang Cheng and the others on foot, turned over and worshiped directly: "My little man Chang Tianshun, the unknown general is here, and he is late to greet you, and I hope you will forgive me."

Seeing this, Zhang Cheng hurriedly got up to meet him, helped him up, and said, "Hehe, the old village master, please get up quickly. This general came on a sudden spur of the moment today. I hope the old village master can't blame him."

The old man named Chang Tianshun got up and said in a hurry: "General, don't insult the old man. In front of the general, how can you call the village master? If the general doesn't dislike it, just call the old man by his name."

"Hey, the elders are respected, Zhang Cheng is a person who doesn't know how to be polite, since the old village master said so, why don't we call you old man Chang?"

Zhang Cheng replied very politely.

"The general is too polite. Since the general is interested, the little old man happens to have some game here. Dare to invite the general to rest in the village, taste the wild game in the mountains, and taste the wine brewed by the little old man." Chang Tianshun kindly invited.

Faced with the old man Chang's invitation, Zhang Cheng was not very surprised. After all, there were more than [-] knights coming out here casually. If he wanted to take down the Chang family village, how could he come without pawns.

Thinking that the old man Chang can be the leader of the whole village, he should have this point in his eyes. As the saying goes, in the face of strong people, there is only courteous and thoughtful hospitality. Could it be possible to force provocations and dig his own grave?

Afterwards, the old man Chang introduced the four riders who came together with Zhang Cheng, and the three riders were the three who came out just now. He called the four riders to get off their horses and said to them, "Come and see the general."

Hearing the words, those people also stepped forward quickly, and the old man Chang introduced a few people. The one who accompanied the old man in his early 30s was his eldest son, Chang Zhengxiong.

The man who came out to spread the word just now was his third son, named Chang Zhengbiao, in his twenties, and the other two were his nephews, one named Chang Zhengfei and the other named Chang Zhengcheng.

The four of them came and knelt down on the ground, met with Zhang Cheng and others, and walked up the mountain path on foot. After less than a hundred steps, they suddenly became enlightened.

It turns out that this mountain road is a mountain pass, turn right and it is dozens of steps wide. A hundred steps ahead is a mountain gate made of chaotic stones, with a double wooden door in the middle.

As the gate opened, Zhang Cheng found after entering the Changjiazhai that there was a long gorge inside the gate of the village, with very steep sides on both sides, and the middle was only more than 20 steps wide.

If someone came to attack this mountain stronghold, even if they broke the first wooden gate in front, the rear would be even more cruel. Although the second mountain gate is less than a hundred steps away, compared with the previous one, this mountain gate is carefully built , appearing very tidy.

Zhang Cheng guessed that the wooden door here must also be very strong. When he got closer, he saw that this wooden door was actually made of a whole thick log, which was indeed consistent with Zhang Cheng's guess.

After entering the mountain gate, the eyes suddenly opened up. The first thing I saw was a square, facing the mountain gate, and within a certain distance of the mountain gate, there were almost no buildings, only a few archery towers on both sides.

These archery towers are actually built inside the gable wall, they are all higher than the gable wall, and they are very strong. If there are people who are good at archery guarding these archery towers, not only can they shoot and kill the enemies who attack the gable wall, even if an enemy rushes into the mountain gate, Can't escape their shooting.

If it is well-prepared, it is no wonder that a small village can stand on its own for a long time in this troubled world, and even the fierce bandits around it dare not attack it.

Zhao Shihu beside him also said in amazement: "Hey, even if there are thousands of soldiers and horses, I'm afraid they can't be captured easily."

"Ha ha……"

Zhang Cheng smiled, and he said: "What's the use of thousands of soldiers and horses? They can't be used at all on this narrow mountain road. If there is enough food, it is almost impossible to attack this stronghold."

After finishing speaking, he turned his head and said to Chang Tianshun: "To build such a cottage, Mr. Chang must be a man who knows how to fight!"

Chang Tianshun said with a smile: "The general is absurd, the old man is just a hunter, this cottage was built by the generation of the old man's grandfather."

Zhang Cheng is also relieved, such a cottage can't be built overnight, it must have been accumulated for decades, but the person who chose this place and designed this cottage in the first place, I'm afraid it is not easy!

At that moment, he asked Chang Tianshun: "Old man, can you show me around."

"Why not!"

After he finished speaking, he turned around and ordered: "Zhengxiong and Zhengbiao, both of you, hurry up and prepare the food and drink. I'll take General Zhang and the others around."

Zhang Cheng also ordered the guards not to follow, the old man Chang hurriedly called back his third son Chang Zhengbiao, and told him to accompany Liu Jinhai and other guards to rest in the front mountain hall first.

Chang Tianshun led Zhang Cheng and others as they walked and introduced the situation of the village. In the middle of the village is the mountain hall, a large courtyard with four entrances, and the front one is used for business meetings.

The second entrance was originally for entertaining guests. Over the years, few guests have been able to enter Changjiazhai, and they have basically never used it. The third and fourth entrances in the back are for Chang Tianshun's own use.

Behind the mountain hall is the ancestral hall, with warehouses on both sides, and on both sides of the mountain hall are the houses of the Chang family. In this village, there are not only people with the Chang surname, but also people with the Zhou and Yu surnames.

According to the old man Chang, the stockade here was built by a group of fleeing soldiers, and they are all descendants of the Qi family army.

It turned out that in the mutiny in Jizhou more than 40 years ago, a dozen of them were killed under the leadership of the team officer Chang Kuan, but they dared not return to their original places, fearing that the government would chase them down and endanger the tribe.

He took his family and fled all the way along the Yanshan Mountains until they reached this place. Seeing that there were less than ten mountain families living in the valley, they didn't want to escape any more, so they settled here.

Among them, the Chang family consisted of three brothers, and the second child was Chang Kuan. Everyone was headed by him. Later, several people left here to find other livelihoods. Only these three surnames were left to settle here. For three generations, the Chang family has served as the head of the village and is the master of the house.

"Hey, Qi's army has fought in all directions for the country, and has made countless achievements. It is the most capable army in the country, but it has ended up like this. How can it not be heartbreaking!" Zhang Cheng couldn't help sighing after hearing what happened.

Not only Zhang Cheng, Chen Zhong, Zhao Shihu, Sun Dashan and others heard the details of the Jizhou mutiny for the first time, and their performance was even more shocking, with incredible expressions on their faces.

Zhao Shihu said even more bitterly: "There are layers of deductions, and there are officials and soldiers suffering everywhere. If it weren't for this, I wouldn't have risked selling that private salt back then, and I wouldn't have deserted because of it."

Zhang Cheng turned around and looked at them, and said loudly: "Don't worry, I will definitely reward and punish you clearly, and I will try my best to raise money and food. As long as I have something to eat, your food and rewards will never be short."

(End of this chapter)