Mengshan Army

Chenjiaya is not comparable to Zhengjiazhuang, but it should be regarded as a big village in the southern Shandong mountainous area, with more than two hundred households. A dilapidated green brick wall surrounds the village on the sunny hillside, with four east-west streets. And a north-south street divides Zhuangzi into a chessboard shape, and the layout is fairly neat.There are two village gates, the main gate faces south, facing the direction of Zhengjiazhuang, and there is another gate facing west, which is usually closed more often than opened.

The scene in Zhuangzi is always the same, only the sound of reciting from the private school in the wing room of Chen’s ancestral hall gave Chen Chao some joy. He listened carefully to the children’s reciting in front of the half-open door, and then turned to the village. Walking towards the door, he heard the sound of arguing from a long distance away. Chen Chao quickened his pace and saw two Zhuang Ding who were guarding the gate of the village arguing with two strangers, surrounded by more than a dozen neighbors watching the excitement. .

"Why are you arguing?" Super Chen asked loudly before he came to the front.

"Reporting to the owner of the villa, the two of us thought that they were not authentic, so we didn't let them enter the village..." A short and thick Zhuang Ding, who was carrying a bird on his back, reported.

"Haha, this little brother is so unreasonable. I just want to see the architectural style of Guizhuang. Why is it not authentic?"

Chen Chao cast his eyes on the speaking guest.Oh, what a big man: He is more than five and a half feet tall, wearing a blue cloth jacket, holding a package in his left hand, and an oil-paper umbrella in his right hand.Looking up, I saw that this man had a dark complexion, big ears, and a fluffy beard, which made him look more heroic. The big man wore a straw hat with the brim pressed down very low, but Super Chen still saw the pair of Bright eyes.

There was a handsome man standing behind the big man, who looked young, and kept hiding himself behind the big man, Super Chen didn't see the man's appearance and clothes clearly.

"Well, don't be rude." Super Chen shouted back Zhuang Ding, turned to the big man and asked, "Why did you come into my Chenjiaya, sir?" Super Chen shouted back Zhuang Ding, and asked the guest politely.

The Chenjiaya built on the hillside seldom had visitors. Folks from all over the world came to visit the Chenjiaya with their relatives to go to the market. It was rare for people who were obviously foreigners to enter the village. No wonder Zhuang Ding questioned him.

"Oh, it's not surprising that he called you the owner of the villa. I'm disrespectful. I came to Shandong from the capital to travel all the way to the south of Shandong. I heard that the Chenjiaya's architecture is simple and majestic. It's quite natural. I can't help yearning for it. One Sure enough. I wanted to go to the village to see what happened, but I didn’t expect you, Zhuang Ding, to think that I was not authentic..." The big man spoke with a Beijing accent.

Super Chen looked at the guests, and the guests also looked at Super Chen.Seeing the man called the owner of the village, he was in his thirties, with a medium build, wearing a washed and yellowed white coarse cloth sweater and a pair of black cloth trousers, a pair of mille-soled cloth shoes, and holding a Plantain fan.There was a long thick black braid behind his head, and the tip of the braid reached the knees.Look at the face again, with slender eyes, shaved chin, and only a well-trimmed beard on the upper lip.

The big man's explanation was clear and clear. Some of the villagers who watched the excitement could understand Yanjing's official dialect, so they laughed.Chen Chao, who has always been kind to others, also smiled, "I see. I don't know your name, sir? Is that little brother your companion?"

"Don't dare, in Xialongqian, the word Tuisi. His surname is Jiang Mingyun, he is my cousin, and he will accompany me on a trip. He is young and has not yet taken his name." The big man spoke elegantly, which made Chen Chao feel kind.

"Oh, so it's Mr. Long, please come in." Super Chen stretched out his hand as a gesture of invitation, "May I ask Mr. Long, where did you hear the name of Chen Jiaya?"

"Master, please. Mr. Long once studied abroad and specialized in my study of Chinese construction. I am ashamed to say that my Chinese method of construction has to be taught by foreigners. It is really embarrassing. I returned to China the year before last and determined to learn from Xu Hongzu who was in the late Ming Dynasty." , traveled all over the country. But he did it to see the beauty of the scenery, but I did it to see the beauty of folk construction. A few days ago in Jinan, when it came to the folk customs and architecture of Lunan, I couldn’t help but feel itchy, so I brought a My nephew came to Lunan, and in Feixian County, he heard that Guizhuang was built on the hillside with a unique style, so he came here. Haha."

"I see." Super Chen nodded, no doubt about him, "Since Mr. Long is a student of construction, then I will accompany the guests to visit Zhuangzi."

So Chen Chao personally accompanied Long Qian and Jiang Yun, entered Zhuangzi from the gate of the village, and headed south all the way.

Entering the gate of the village, there is another gate 50 meters away, which is oriented to the southeast. No wonder you couldn't see the inside when you stood at the gate of the village just now.The village wall is one, but only a compound wall was built near the gate of the village.The small Chenjiaya actually had an urn structure similar to a big city, and Long Qian couldn't help but praise it from the bottom of his heart.

Seeing Long Qian's expression, Chen Chao also felt complacent, "Which country is Mr. Long studying in?"

"Oh, America. I think the owner of the estate is also a well-educated person, and he must know the name of America."

"Of course I know, Shandong is full of missionaries, nine out of ten are missionaries from America, Germany and England..."

"Well, are there any religious believers in Guizhuang?"

Chen Chao had a look of color on his face, "Qilu is the homeland of sages. China has its own holy religion. Why learn from those barbarians? Although there are many churches nearby, I, Chen Jiaya, are all Confucian believers. Go and believe in those foreign religions."

"I admire you."

Jiang Yun followed Long Qian, looking around with thieves' eyes, trying to remember the topography of Chenjiaya in his mind, and he couldn't help laughing secretly when he heard Long Qian praise the goose-like Mr. Chen.

Long Qian entered the Neizhai Gate, and saw that the entire Zhuangzi had a pattern of high in the north and low in the south. A stone road leads to the north. The houses on both sides are mostly built of stone, and there are few brick houses. The courtyard walls of most village households are It is built with slabs and stones, and there is no courtyard door. If you look directly in, you can see that the doors and windows of the house where you live are old, smoky, and look very poor and dilapidated.Although I thought this place was supposed to be rich, it was actually poor. In order to save money when it was built, the stones all over the mountains and plains were free of money anyway.

In the middle of Zhuangzi, there is a street narrower than the north-south street leading to the east and west sides. With a thought, he turned and walked west along the west street.

Chen Chao said with a smile, "Mr. Long is worthy of being an expert in architecture. You look good. There are only two village gates in this village, and the other one is on the west side. But the gate is dilapidated, so you don't need to look at it."

Long Qian sighed, "To tell the truth, Master Chen, I have traveled to the two provinces of Zhili and Shanxi in the past year, and I have seen some ancient houses and ancient towns with exquisite layout and great protection value. What makes me feel emotional is that brilliant It’s all in the past, and the treasures of the past are already showing signs of dilapidation today. If they are not repaired, I’m afraid that in another three to fifty years, many villages and ancient towns worth studying will disappear.”

This was exactly Chen Chao's heart disease.The Chen family is the largest and richest household in Chenjiaya. Forty percent of the arable land in Zhuangzi belongs to the Chen family, and the only workshop in Zhuangzi—the tofu workshop is also Chen Chao's property.Compared with Zhengjiazhuang, Chenjiaya looks shabby.

Since Chen Chao took over as the owner of the village from his father, he wanted to raise money to repair the extremely damaged West Village Wall and West Village Gate, but his personal strength was limited, and the farmers couldn't even afford the money.The past few years have been really bad. There is no drought or flood, and there is no good weather every year.Not to mention the bad times, there are more and more miscellaneous items other than the government's official tax, and the peasants who make a living from farming are thankful for their stomachs. How can they spare money to build the wall.In the end, it was Chen Chao who paid 340 taels of silver to repair the most severely collapsed wall of the village. As for the gate of the village, forget it.

Chen Chao remembers the situation of Xizhai Gate when he was a child. At that time, when people from Chenjiaya left Zhuangzi, they mostly went through the West Gate. It collapsed in a heavy wind and rain. For this reason, the father who had already started coughing up blood cried a lot.He knew that his father cried not only for the collapse of the Ximen Tower, but also for the fall of his family...

Walking through Zhuangzi once is only enough for two meals.Before Super Chen could speak, Long Qian seemed to have read what was on Super Chen's mind, "I have traveled all the way from Fei County, and all the older Zhuangzi have built walls. Thinking about the domestic and foreign troubles in the past few decades, the security situation must be very serious. Not good. As for the wall, my opinion is that most of the Zhuangzi’s beauty was destroyed by the construction of the wall. But your Zhuangzi has improved a lot because of the wall. The main reason is that the ancestors of Guizhuang adapted to local conditions. Zhuangzi has built a harmonious whole with nature, and the greatest contribution is the wall. Just imagine, if there is no such a dilapidated wall to enclose Zhuangzi, from a distance, it must not be as magnificent as it is now. If it is cold weapon With this era, such a structure, and such an arrangement, as long as there is a good owner to organize the young and strong, even if there are three or five thousand strong disciples, there will be no way to do anything to your village."

"Hmm, the era of cold weapons?" Super Chen, who was praised and delighted, was a little annoyed when he heard it.

"Of course. With the level of modern military equipment, Guizhuang's Zhaiqiang Zhailou, if it is from a defensive point of view, is just to embolden yourself, as long as a cannon is placed there," Long Qian pointed in the direction of Zhengjiazhuang. , "With all due respect, Guizhuang needs to counterattack desperately to destroy the artillery, and all that remains is to open the door and surrender."

Jiang Yun thought that the owner of the Chen village would be angry when he heard this, but he sighed, "You are right. However, three years ago, our village teamed up with Zhengjiazhuang and Bai Wei to defeat the Baodu Gu bandit The attack of the brigade. Afterwards, Zhengjiazhuang, oh, the Dazhuangzi across the way, the field coach they hired who knows how to fight soldiers once said that if the bandits had brought guns, Zhengjiazhuang would not be able to defend it. For this reason, the rich and powerful Zhengjiazhuang purchased three bronze cannons..."

However, Long Qian did not answer Chen Chao's topic of discussing military affairs. He pointed to a place, "I think this is the ancestral hall of Guizhuang." Long Qian walked a few steps to the door, "It turns out that there is a private school inside. Ah, education is a major issue related to the future of the nation, what Master Chen has done makes Long admire him very much."

"Education is a major event related to the future of the nation... Well said, he is indeed a hero who has stayed abroad." Chen Chao savored Long Qian's words, "Please go in and have a look."

"No, don't disturb the children's studies."

"Ah, since Mr. Long has studied abroad in the United States, and has such insightful views on education, can you tell me something about the advantages and disadvantages of Western education?" This is something that Chen Chao has always been thinking about, and he really wants to ask for advice on this. people.

"Chen Zhuangzhu asked Long a big question." Long Qian turned around and thought for a while, "Where do we start?"

"Oh, Mr. Long and I hit it off right away, it's better than this." Super Chen stopped Long Qian, "My house is very close to here, please come to the humble house for a cup of tea, and we can talk slowly."