Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 33 2.10

Volume Two

2.10 If life is just like the first sight

Just as Zhou Yang expected, the Xue family was on guard all the way, almost on tenterhooks, but nothing happened. In addition, they were in a hurry the whole way, even if they didn't dare to take a boat and were worried about the ambush on the river, everyone It was still much faster than usual. After more than ten days, the large group of people arrived at Jinling on March [-]th.

Different from the tense atmosphere of the Xue family, Zhou Yang was actually very relaxed. On the one hand, he guessed that there was no big problem. On the other hand, and the main reason was that the Li family brothers kept vigil throughout the entire journey. The strength of the two shocked the Xue family, especially after seeing their ten-jin hexagonal steel mace.

Even Xue Tu is envious of this. He is also an old man who has traveled all over the world. He naturally knows the characteristics of this kind of people. They have low IQ and are easy to win over. As long as they are treated sincerely and raised well, they will provide them with flawless things. Loyalty, for example, when facing a killer, even if the two brothers had never killed anyone before, they would not hesitate to take action after receiving Zhou Yang's order, because with their IQ, it was difficult for them to understand what fear meant.

Moreover, Zhou Yang's journey was not in vain. There were still several masters in the Xue Family Nursing Home. Under Xue Tu's orders, they had no reservations in discussing and giving advice to Zhou Yang, especially in riding and shooting. If Dongfang Bing was They are "orthodox" masters, and these Xue family nurses are experts in "wild roads". The comparison between the two sides has allowed him to improve a lot in less than half a month.

Of course, Xue Tu will not hurry along the way, but initiates a relationship to contact all the White Lotus Sect lines that can be found, and gradually sees the clue, that is, no matter which branch of the White Lotus Sect, it will not recognize it this time. It's just a one-time attack on him. If everyone says it's not the case, then there must be something wrong with it.

"Huh——" Xue Tu sat down on the chair of the Grand Master in the main hall of the Xue family, obviously pretending to be calm. "You have worked hard on this journey, little brother Zhou. Now that you are back, there will naturally be no other problems. Please Don’t worry, I’ll keep my promise, I’ve just arranged for my servants to prepare the prescription.”

Probably considering the presence of Zhou Yang, an outsider, he arranged for someone to go home to report the news as soon as he entered Jinling. Therefore, when he entered, he did not encounter any greetings or family members, but he passed the brazier and took a shower and changed clothes before he arranged for Zhou Yang to come home. Meeting in the main hall was enough to give him face, but because he was rushing all the way, Xue Tu didn't look good even after cleaning up.

"Mr. Xue is too famous. Nothing happened along the way. The junior just flattered himself and didn't help much. I really dare not mention anything." Zhou Yang stood up with a smile and saluted, playing with the idea of ​​retreating. Jin, among all the people on the road, he is actually the most relaxed, with the Li family brothers close to protect him, and alternately riding horses and riding cars, it is indeed a lot of consumption, but it is not a big problem.

"Little brother Zhou, don't worry about trivial matters." Xue Tu waved his hand lightly, not caring about the cost, "Just coming all the way, I also saw the grace of the two Li family. Unfortunately, they The best bodyguards are hard to come by!"

"Speaking of bodyguards protecting the courtyard, this junior is indeed a little confused." Zhou Yang was really curious, "It stands to reason that the Xue family is a big businessman in the world, and the Xue family is a prominent family in the south of the Yangtze River, but when Mr. "

"Trash." Xue Tu's face sank suddenly, but he obviously didn't want to mention it, "Forget it, just take it as a lesson to gain wisdom, and this time I just let the old man prepare it, but it's a pity that these things don't last for a while. We will be able to improve it, so let’s change it slowly.”

"Speaking of which, I have a suggestion." Zhou Yang's heart moved, and he remembered a question that he had always been curious about but couldn't find the answer to. He took the opportunity to bring it with him, "When I was in Nanyang, I saw many Westerners with sharp firearms. , a powerful master who has practiced martial arts since childhood, but can't resist a small lead bullet or iron sand, is really a sharp weapon in the world.

But after the junior returned to China, he never saw such weapons again. He only heard that one of the three elite battalions of the imperial court, the Shenji Battalion, was mostly trained in firearms, but it was never seen here by Mr. Xue. Why?Logically speaking, if Mr. Xue wants to improve the level of his guards, firearms should be a good choice. "

"I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint my little brother. This firearm is not as sharp as you said." Xue Tu shook his head and waved to Zhang Dehui, who was waiting at the door, asking him to go down and make arrangements. Then he continued, "As far as I know, Although the firearms are powerful, they are extremely slow to launch and reload, and they are too delicate, so they are basically useless in case of wind and rain.

Although the Shenji Battalion is mostly trained in firearms, the main method is artillery, such as the Tiger Crouching Cannon, the Folang Machine, and the most powerful General Cannon. There are also the Swarm of Bees, Divine Fire Flying Crows, and even Ten Thousand Enemies and Gunpowder Cans inherited from the previous Ming Dynasty. , in the event of war, they mainly focus on attacking and supporting, and have no independent combat capability, so they rank last among the three battalions. "

"Master, the things are here." Just as he was saying this, Zhang Dehui, who had just left the house, had already arrived at the door with two strong men dressed as guards. However, they did not come in directly, but bowed and asked for instructions.

"Bring it here!" Xue Tu nodded, and the three of them quickly entered the main hall, "I can tell that the 'firearm' that the little brother is referring to should be the fire blunderbuss in front of you. Unfortunately, it is really difficult to use, Da Zhou During the founding of the People's Republic of China, they fought bloody battles with the puppet Qing Dynasty. In the early days, they relied on sharp crossbows and fierce artillery to fight against cavalry. This was also the predecessor of the Shenji Battalion. On the other hand, this fire blunderbuss, although its lethality is far greater than that of crossbows, is extremely slow to reload. The rate of fire is very poor, and there is a danger of exploding the barrel. Although there are still equipments to this day, they are mainly used by the armies on the nine sides for defense. The troops in the interior generally only have a small amount, and they are usually stored in the warehouse to eat dust. The Great Zhou Dynasty It has been a hundred years of peace, and it has been a long time since I heard of any large-scale use of firearms in warfare."

"If it's a firearm like this, what Mr. Xue said is indeed correct." He stood up and took the long blunderbuss from one of the guards. He glanced at the one-and-a-half-foot short blunderbuss in the hand of another guard. Zhou Yang looked at it briefly. He shook his head helplessly, "Not to mention killing the enemy, if this thing doesn't hurt yourself, it's only God's fault.

You can see less obvious trachoma in the gun tube, but it is very long. The total length of more than six feet makes it inconvenient to carry, and the weight is even more exaggerated. The caliber is not large, presumably in order to achieve better results by adding a long tube and a small caliber. accuracy, but this will inevitably bring difficulty in loading and insufficient power.

In addition, the medicine pool is only half a finger deep, but it is still open. It is impossible to use it when it is windy or rainy. In addition, there is no shoulder rest on the end of the long gun, so you can only aim it by hand, but with this long gun The weight of the gun makes it impossible for anyone to hold it for a long time, so they can only fire it quickly. The hit depends entirely on the character, so it is really useless. "

"Hahaha, it seems that little brother Zhou is indeed well-informed." Xue Tu smiled and nodded. When he saw a maid arriving at the door, he waved him away and turned to Zhou Yang and said, "It happens to be noon. I have prepared a family dinner, so I will treat it as a blessing for my little brother, so don’t worry about the matter of bodyguards protecting the courtyard."

"It's a gift from the elders. I don't dare to say goodbye. The younger generation is bothering me!" Zhou Yang stood up and bowed in agreement.

Since it was a family banquet, it was naturally impossible to hold it in the main hall. Zhou Yang didn't have such a big face, and followed Xue Tu all the way into the backyard, talking and laughing. There were no maidservants along the way, obviously arranged to avoid it, until the main hall of the backyard, but saw a table Eight cold and eight hot side dishes, sixteen main dishes and two large take-away meals have been set up, and a rather dignified and beautiful lady is standing at the door with a smile.

"Junior has seen Madam!" This dress cannot be that of a concubine. Even if it is a "family banquet", it is not the concubine's turn to serve, so the person in front of me can only be Xue Tu's first wife and Xue Baochai and Xue Pan's biological mother , Aunt Xue, the mistress of the Xue family who appears a lot in the original work.

"You're welcome, little brother. Please don't take it personally if it's a bit of a trivial meal!" Mrs. Xue smiled politely and extended her hand to signal Zhou Yang to come in. "I heard the master mentioned it in the letter earlier. It is indeed better to meet today than to be famous. Little brother Zhou is worthy of it. He is a martial arts star who can be the husband of high school students, which makes the family worried!"

"Madam, you are overly praised, this junior is just a fluke!" Zhou Yang naturally knew what to say at this time. Although Xue Pan was indeed a waste, this could only be said by them, not to mention that he had already seen the young man standing inside. , judging from the posture, it was Xue Pan, and there was a screen partition in the corner of the main hall. After Mrs. Xue greeted her, she went behind the screen, where there was a faint figure.

"Okay, we are all a family, why are you so polite!" Xue Tu smiled and greeted the boy to sit down, and introduced the young man with a curious face, "This is the little dog Pan'er, I gave him the cousin Wenlong at the beginning of the year; Get up, you are all born in 32 in Longwu, but little brother Zhou looks younger."

"I've met Brother Wenlong!" Zhou Yang was stunned for a moment. He really didn't expect that he was the same age as Xue Pan. "I heard Manager Zhang mention it a long time ago. When I saw him today, he really lived up to his reputation."

"Ah? Lao Zhang mentioned me?" Unfortunately, as soon as he opened his mouth, the whole problem was exposed. Didn't you see that Xue Tu couldn't keep the smile on his face, "That's good, little brother Xue Pan, I have met Brother Zhou !”

"Sit!" The apple of my eye, hahaha!"

"Little sister has seen Brother Zhou!" The voice was obviously shy. The girl in front of him reminded Zhou Yang again of the startling glimpse he had when he first arrived in this world, but until today, he had never really seen her, and looking at her His attitude showed that he clearly recognized himself.

With a face like the full moon, eyes like autumn water, a faint smile, and a timid bow, Xue Baochai's demeanor made him feel shocked again. Together with the maid standing half a step behind with a smile, who must be Ying'er, her arrival seemed to be... A bright lamp made the whole living room a little brighter.

"I've met Sister Xue!" Fortunately, after being baptized by the Internet for generations to come, Zhou Yang was not embarrassed by the little girl who was just in junior high school in front of him, but the feeling in his heart coincided with the famous song "Drinking Water" "Ci" - If life were just like the first time we met
(End of this chapter)