In the summer of the same year, a nationwide famine broke out.

Under the drought for many years, the Jing and Wei rivers have been cut off, the rivers have dried up, the ground has dried up in several counties, and the lakes that used to nourish farmland have formed pieces of rippled soil.

The ensuing disasters have left millions of people hungry and cold, displaced, and fled, and social unrest, political instability, and production failure.

At this time, the empire turned a blind eye, and the scope of the famine spread to Anyang, but the county guard Yu Anmin still exploited the people, began to hoard grain, and ordered the counties not to open granaries privately for disaster relief, but to pay taxes in full.

Liucheng.

Although it is not a hard-hit area, it has been affected by the drought, and the local people still have no harvest.

It was not long before the people were starved and famine, and then they began to gnaw on the bark of weeds and trees, and the whole city was dead and full of wailing.

The imperial court did not provide disaster relief, and Yu Anmin was even more so.

As a low-level officer, Xiao Yuan has no right to interfere in these political affairs, and can only stare dryly.

In front of the gate of the Gu Mansion.

Since the outbreak of the famine, the Gu family began to take out their own food and distribute it to the victims.

Gu Tongle is kind and charitable, and he is a good person, and his daughter Gu Xue is even more kind and gentle, and when she sees this disaster, she naturally will not sit idly by.

But the population of a city is so large, one day or two days is fine, in the long run, the victims of the disaster have heard the news and rushed to come, more and more gathered, how can the Gu family support it on their own.

Soon, Gu Tong's own old bottom was almost no longer kept, but in front of Gu's mansion, it was like a bazaar.

Before, the victims of the disaster received the food from the Gu family for free, but now the Gu family can't afford it, but people gathered here and began to blame Gu Tong.

This is the bad side of human nature, you must know that after the famine, Gu Tong just didn't take a grain of rice, which is reasonable, it is people's own.

But the victims don't think so, they think it's right.

At this time, in front of the Gu Mansion, there were not a few troublemakers, and many victims began to coax, shouting that the Gu family would smash the mansion if they didn't take out the food.

Old man Gu also shouted in front of the house: "Folks! Listen to me, folks, it's not that I don't want to help everyone, but that the Gu family really has no food! ”

"You're a liar! Your Gu family is so rich! I just don't want to take it out! "Someone started yelling.

"That's right! We smashed it here, rushed in and grabbed it ourselves! Someone started shouting.

"This, this, how is this good......" Gu Tong panicked suddenly, and the people in Gu Fuzhong hurriedly protected him and Gu Xue behind him.

At this moment, a deafening sound suddenly came from the street, and it was uniform!

It was the sound of the infantry running in unison.

Not long after, Xiao Yuan had already arrived with his army on a war horse and a whip in hand.

After coming over, he was unceremonious, and directly whipped the most noisy man, and at the same time stared around, and shouted:

"Bold! Who dares to make trouble!? ”

The whip was so fast and so hard that the man was thrown to the ground and let out a howl of pain.

Seeing the army, the other victims were also shocked, and couldn't help but start to retreat again and again.

"Spread out!" Xiao Yuan shouted again, and then commanded the army: "Protect the Gu Mansion!" Whoever dares to make trouble, don't be killed! ”

"No!" All the soldiers responded in unison, began to raise their halberds in unison, ran forward, and heavily armed.

Seeing this, where did the victims dare to make trouble, they were silent and dispersed in a hurry.

Then, Xiao Yuan turned over and dismounted, walked quickly to Gu Tong, and arched his hand and said, "Uncle." ”

"Xiao Yuan, it's hard to have you here, otherwise, the consequences will be unimaginable." Gu Tong couldn't help but say in a trembling voice.

At this time, Gu Xue also came over and shouted softly, "Brother Xiao." ”

Xiao Yuan nodded at her, and then looked at the channel: "Uncle, now the disaster is everywhere, the people are eating the bark of the tree, the Gu family's grain is a drop in the bucket, before you, you gave them food for free, they may be grateful at first, but once you don't send it, they will eat you." ”

"Alas!" When Gu Tong heard this, he also sighed heavily.

Xiao Yuan said again: "Actually, I came this time because I had something important to tell my uncle. ”

"What?" Gu Tong hurriedly asked.

Xiao Yuan pondered for a moment: "Now, the world is going to be chaotic, and it is not suitable to stay here for a long time, in my opinion, my uncle should take Xue'er and leave here quickly." ”

"This ...... This ......" I didn't expect him to say this, Gu Tong didn't know how to answer for a while.

Gu Xue was even more anxious: "Brother Xiao! ”

"Cher listens to me." Xiao Yuan said softly: "This time, I will raise swords, at that time, I am afraid that I will go to the battlefield, and Liucheng is also a place of life and death, and I can't stay any longer." ”

The reason why he said this was because he had vaguely felt that the world was going to be chaotic and the war was not far away!

If at that time, he wants to lead the troops to the battle, it is impossible to carry his female dependents, and Liucheng is like this, how can he rest assured.

Seeing that he was serious, it seemed like a joke, Gu Tong couldn't help but get serious, and after frowning, he muttered: "Xiao Yuan is right, the current situation in Liucheng really can't be changed, the Gu family has to leave, otherwise, there will be trouble." ”

After speaking, he frowned again and said, "You can go to Jiangzhou, there is my friend there." ”

When Xiao Yuan heard this, he immediately said: "Jiangzhou is good, it is near the river, it is a rich land, even if there is chaos, it will not affect there." ”

"But!" At this time, Gu Xue was in a hurry, and after a pause, she said directly: "I'm not leaving!" I want to be with Brother Xiao. ”

"Cher." Xiao Yuan frowned and looked at her.

Seeing that he was displeased, Gu Xuedian felt aggrieved, and immediately puffed up his mouth and said in a low voice: "You said that you would marry my ......"

Knowing what she meant, Xiao Yuan explained: "It's just a temporary separation, and after that, I will go to Jiangzhou to find you." ”

"Liar!" Gu Xue is full of grievances, but in fact, she is knowledgeable and understands Xiao Yuan, but she is just throwing some small tantrums.

Xiao Yuan smiled helplessly, then looked at Gu Tong again, and said with a slight embarrassment: "Uncle, I want to ...... I'd like to say a few words to Cher. ”

"Ahem!" Gu Tong coughed heavily, and before turning to leave, he didn't want to warn his daughter with his eyes.

The two haven't gotten married yet, so they can't go overboard, and if this gets out, it's not good.

After everyone here dispersed, Xiao Yuan and Gu Xue were alone, and before he could speak, the latter couldn't help it anymore, took the initiative to hug his waist, leaned his head on him, and said with some resentment: "Brother Xiao, do you really want to leave......

"Yes." Xiao Yuan nodded and gently stroked her green silk.

"But will you forget me?" As she spoke, she couldn't help but raise her head to look at Xiao Yuan, and there were tears in her beautiful eyes.

"How so." Xiao Yuan comforted seriously.

"Brother Xiao, no matter the ends of the world, I will wait for you ......"

She said earnestly and firmly, already in tears.