"Eat slowly, eat slowly, and take care of enough."

Fifth Lun would never have imagined that Xuan Biao, who was talking about the backbone of scholars and the dignity of Confucianism the last time they met, would lose his temper in front of a bowl of soup and rice

However, Xiao Zhang Yu was beside him and said with a smile: "Sect Master, I have been hungry for two months, and it is like this when Brother Zhu and I first arrived. ”

Xuan Biao's hand in pulling corn rice stopped, and after the hunger in his stomach eased slightly, he was extremely ashamed.

After all, half a year ago, when Wu Lun went to visit his father Xuan Bing, Xuan Biao still felt that Yang Xiong was not strong enough and had lost his integrity!

After swallowing his meal, Xuan Biao said weakly: "The fifth monarch should know that I followed my father to live in seclusion in the mountains and forests, and I have also endured hardships, planting my own land, sewing my own clothes, and eating only coarse grains and vegetables, which is not much better than that of a farmer." ”

"But this barracks is really not a place for people!"

Fortunately, Wu Lun did not deliberately insult Xuan Biao, he had a very good impression of Xuan Bing, who was alone, and asked with concern why Xuan Biao came to this?

Xuan Biao told his story.

When the imperial court collected taxes last autumn, Xuan Bing took in a few fugitive slaves and poor tenant farmers who could not pay taxes, but they were discovered by the local county officials and came to the door.

It's also to blame Xuan Biao for being too young and upright in the past, and his attitude towards the officials who came to recruit his father on the orders of Wang Mang and the prefectures and counties was too bad, except for the fifth Lun, who would not hold a grudge?

Xiuling County Zai was very unhappy with Xuanbing's family, so he simply took the opportunity to set off a big case, and regarded the Xuanjia as a typical blow, Xuanbing was regarded as a political prisoner who had repeatedly resigned, and was sent to Wuwei Siming Mansion, and Xuan Biao was dragged together with more than ten people in his family.

After Xuan Biao had eaten enough, Wu Lun asked, "When you left Xiuling County, how many slaves were there in Ding Zhuang?" ”

"One hundred and seventy."

"How much was left when you arrived at the strong battalion in Lieutenant County?"

Xuan Biao sighed: "Less than seventy." ”

Lost most of it? Fifth Lun was shocked: "Could it be that he escaped on the road?" ”

Xuan Biao shook his head: "Ran dozens and killed dozens of people, the fifth monarch knows about it, and the cultivation order is the most remote in the county?" There are 400 miles to Changling? It takes ten days to go. There are so many places on the road that are so desolate that there is no food to eat? I didn't even have water to drink. Didn't prepare food at the kiosks along the way? Generally, the officials eat and swallow and look at it, and arrive at the new county seat two days apart? in order to eat a bad meal. ”

"The rest of the time, I can only dig grass roots and gnaw tree bark in the rest area, if the officials urge it tightly? Hungry to go? Along the way, hungry and tired, several people died every night, or they fell seriously ill with diarrhea, and they were left in the wilderness to feed wild dogs. “

All of this happened in the middle of the two months when the fifth Lun went to Shuzhong? It's terrible.

And according to Xuan Biao? Even if half of the people who were lucky enough to reach the strong camp in the county, they were struggling on the line of life and death, tied to the simple camp like dogs, and they had to be beaten if they moved, and as for the food they had to eat, they were even less and poor? It's just to keep people alive and not starve to death.

"At night, the hut must be nailed to the ground with planks, if not? It will run out in one night, and there will be one night? There was a fire and as a result, three houses were burned? Two hundred died......"

Speaking of which? Xuan Biao coughed violently? It was as if I had smelled the fireworks that choked people that night, mixed with the smell of fragrant meat.

Fifth Lun handed him a cup of water, Xuan Biao held the hot water in his hand and blew it gently, he just wanted to cry, really, he hadn't drunk a sip of hot water all winter.

"Didn't anyone resist?" Fifth Lun was a little puzzled, because as far as he knew, there were only a few dozen people escorting hundreds of strong men.

If it had changed before, Xuan Biao would definitely be indignant, but now that he has been beaten by reality, he can only shake his head and smile bitterly: "How to resist?" They had armor and crossbows, and we were bare-handed, and we were tied together behind our backs when we walked. ”

What's more, this time the pig is brave and brave, most of them are private slaves who were abandoned because their masters didn't want to pay 3,600 yuan, and they are people who are used to being slaves.

Like a flock of sheep that follow only their master's whip and stones, locked up in the sheepfold, and watch their companions being taken and slaughtered one by one, but still standing still, they have long been numb.

As a result, in the process of gathering to the county, one of the five strong men escaped, fell ill and died, and only two-fifths survived until the shogunate sent officials to accept them into the army.

It turned out that the more than 1,000 people in the camp's booklet that Wu Lun saw were already survivors among the two or three thousand people.

After that, the pigs had a fixed daily grain, from Changling to Hongmen is not so far, the mortality rate is much lower, but in just two months, it is still nearly three hundred.

It turned out that after they arrived at the Hongmen camp after going through hardships, they thought they would be able to get food and rest, but they didn't know that they had just gone to another hell.

The fifth lun had been on his way, and the house was a thatched-roof shed, with almost no walls, and about seventy or eighty people were lying on the planks in the shed. Only a few people occupied the warmest positions, covered with old sheepskin furs and wrapped in bedding, and they were the chiefs of the army.

Ordinary pawns have no bedding at all, only some dry wheat straw to cover the dots, the winter clothes that have been said to be thin have become thin summer clothes, the shoes issued two months ago have long been torn, barefoot or only straw sandals, in order to keep warm, as close together as possible, but sometimes fall asleep and wake up in the middle of the night......

You will find that the fellows around you are already cold.

The thinnest were thrown into the corner, like piles of corpses, so sick that they couldn't get out of bed to urinate, and the lazars were all in place, causing the feces to be messy and smelly.

The grain and straw issued by the imperial court were sufficient, but after being peeled by officials and military officials of different systems, there was not much left, and the food was one-third of a bucket of millet mixed with sand and fine stones per person every day, and often there was no such thing, and it was changed to gruel.

Xuan Biao gritted his teeth and said: "The officials are still instigating the strong to seize the rations of the weak, deliberately letting them die, every morning, we have to carry out a few corpses......

The seventh Biao had joined the army, and explained the reason on the side: with the continuous non-combat attrition, the officials could get a lot of vacancies, and second, they eliminated the weak.

He didn't care much about it, and said with a smile: "Anyway, it's a useless person, when the front line is pulled, their generation will also die on the road, and they will die, it's better to die early, and they can suffer less." ”

Seventh Biao's words made Xuan Biao indignant again: "Ridiculous! Since it is useless, why did you force everyone to come here when you were recruiting Ding, did you deserve to die? ”

The seventh biao disagreed: "If you levy less, you can't make up the number, since the former Han Dynasty, they have all levied 1,000 and 500, so they can only levy more." ”

Xuan Biao just wanted to refute, but he felt powerless and could only cry. The reason why he has survived until now is that the people who accompanied him have taken care of him all the way for his father's sake, and they have endured hunger and distributed the few rations to him, and they have little left now.

Lives? It's just consumables, just like the mules, horses, and brutes that were requisitioned together, or even worse.

After listening to Xuan Biao's experience, Wu Lun groaned for a long time, if he didn't join the army, he would not have a personal experience, and only shouted Xuan Biao's words after half a ring: "Bohu, come and be my secretary." ”

"That way, you don't have to go hungry anymore."

Xuan Biao didn't speak, but just bowed his head, when he first entered the camp, the military candidate Dai Gong also wanted to pick him as a scholar, but Xuan Biao refused. At that time, he would rather bend than bend, and he did not fake his colors to the evil officials.

Can ...... now If you stutter, you can, what dignity, what backbone, all lean back!

Unexpectedly, Wu Lun still remembered what he had said at the beginning.

"Bohu half a year ago, I wanted to be a righteous man in my words and deeds."

Xuan Biao raised his head and found that Wu Lun's face was full of solemnity, and he was by no means insulted: "I can see that your father is disheartened by the world, but your blood is still hot. ”

Then I was beaten by reality, and I understood that in this season, it is not easy to even live.

"We are soft-spoken, just a military horse, and we can't change the world for the time being."

"But it can change this little camp! If evil has a distance, we can pull it back from a hundred paces back to fifty paces at least. ”

Fifth Lun looked at Xuan Biao: "Bohu, are you willing to help me?" ”

Xuan Biao's hand trembled a little, he drank the hot water in his hand, bowed down heavily: "No! The subordinates are willing to share their hearts with the military Sima Youming, take the danger of righteousness, death and life! ”

……

"I am the fifth Lun, the word Boyu, and I am from the same lieutenant county as all the kings! From now on, it will be the military Sima of the battalion! ”

The fifth Lun appeared before the morning eclipse the next day, standing on the stage and shouting to the pigs who had been gathered in the cold weather.

As yesterday, the crowd was still filthy, confused, and crowded, and the soldiers were weak and emaciated, their clothes hanging like strips of rags, and they looked indifferently at the fifth Lun, like a group of beggars, and watched a big rooster with its head held high crowing early in the morning.

But the name of the fifth Lun still caused a commotion among some people: "Is it the fifth lang of filial piety?" ”

It is not useless that the fifth Lun has brushed his reputation in his hometown for a whole year, and some people's numb faces have a little more expectant looks, and they still believe in filial piety and righteousness. In addition, the most famous deed of Wu Lun is to pay his own money to help everyone in the clan pay all the taxes, so it seems that he should be a good person, a good person, maybe he can improve the life in the camp?

Yes, it should be?

But most of them still looked up hesitantly, with no energy in their eyes, until the fifth Lun skipped the tirade that no one was interested in, and directly announced a happy event.

"Add food today!"

"Good!" For a time the eight hundred people were in good spirits and rejoiced, and they all tapped the wooden bowls in their hands, and although they were not cleaned with much water, the dishes looked clean—in fact, they were all licked.

The grain officer in charge of distributing the grain pursed his lips and glanced back at Dai Gong, who was silently watching everything, in his opinion, this was the real person in charge of the battalion, and he was protected by Captain Liangqiu.

After Dai Gong nodded at him, the grain official asked people to push the food up, and Wu Lun didn't lie, today is indeed a yellow, orange, and orange dried corn rice! There are also a lot of jars of sauce for rice.

The imperial court issued a ration of one stone per person per month, but it was never implemented.

Nayan, that is, the food sent by Dasi Nong was insufficient, and when it came to the ministry, only half of it was left. The officials in the battalion not only relied on the dead and the yin soldiers to eat empty food, but also deducted the rations of the living, resulting in only two and a half buckets of food per capita per month, which was pitiful, what could they do without boiling gruel?

It's rare to eat dry rice, which is more abundant than the New Year for the pigs.

In front of the various shacks, everyone scrambled noisily, and there was no order, and the officials had to beat them to death with sticks before they would take a few steps back.

"Today is just a special case." Afterwards, Dai Gong secretly told the grain officer that Wu Lun had just taken up his first day of office, and he still had to give him some face.

What's more, he felt that Fifth Lun had to count the real number of people in the camp yesterday in order to have a spectrum in his heart, after all, Fifth Lun didn't even do such a hypocritical thing as sharing food and clothing with the soldiers.

This is actually the fifth tyrant's teaching to the fifth lun: "After the old man was conscripted into the army, he often met some young military officers who read a few military books, and what they did with the soldiers as soon as they entered the barracks, which is really ridiculous!" ”

"Even if you eat with him, his younger generation still drinks porridge and chaff all day long, and his stomach is empty, not only will he not be grateful to you, but he will even think that this official is incompetent!"

The fifth tyrant told the fifth Lun that the correct way to survive after entering the camp should be to ignore the majority of people first, but to accept the loyal and brave elites, and then treat them well, undress them, and push them to eat.

At this time, Shuzuo Xuanbiao, who had been in the camp for two months, came in handy, and he told Wu Lun that the part of the strongest men in the camp had long been taken in by the soldiers, the hundreds, and the non-commissioned officers.

"The most sought-after are the death row prisoners in Zhu Tu Yong, who are ruthless and have now become the guards and thugs under the military officials."

And one of the most important reasons why the military officials want to eat empty salaries is that they want to support this group of "tiger warriors" who have taken refuge in private individuals. A large part of the withheld rations also fell into the population of this group, and they were also doing the training in the camp on weekdays, wearing armor and knives, suppressing any dissatisfaction in the camp.

But Xuan Biao still brought more than a dozen people to the fifth Lun according to his usual observations, most of whom were born as private slaves, and the big man at the head was named "Zang (zāng) Nu", Zang means slave, and the meaning of this person's name is "slave named Fu".

His pair of eyebrows are very thick, as if painted with ink, speaking urn urn voice, according to Xuan Biao, this Zang Nu is the righteous generation of the young man in the camp, this person is strong, but does not grab food, and even takes the initiative to carry the dead out of the camp for burial, he also once saved Xuan Biao's life.

"Where?"

"A native of Yunyang County."

"Whose slave was it in the past?"

"Fan."

The fifth Lun was happy: "Fan Zhu? ”

Zang nodded angrily, still not daring to call the former master by name, but the strange thing is that he was obviously an expert in work, why was he abandoned by Fan Zhu?

The situation of the rest of the people is similar, this is the "tiger warrior" selected by the fifth lun, who has been in the terrible military camp for a long time, and their requirements for survival have become extremely low, promising to eat well, wear thick clothes, and sleep on a warm kang, plus Xuan Biao praised the fifth lun on the side, and everyone naturally bowed down and was willing to be his personal guard.

In just a few days, a group of 50 people was organized, and in addition to Zang Nu, they also gave Ji Ming, Pingdan and others a piece each, distributed armor and weapons, and guarded the periphery of the Fifth Lun house.

In the eyes of Dai Gong, Jin Dan and others, this is a sign that the fifth Sima also has to eat empty salaries and raise private subordinates, and they can't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"It's time to be open and honest." Dai Gong made up his mind, they had more people on their heads, and it was indispensable to evenly distribute the empty salary quota and deducted food, and convey benefits to the fifth lun.

Dai Gong instructed Jin Dan to hint at the fifth Lun, thinking that it would be more difficult, but the fifth Lun was not hypocritical at all, and gladly accepted the benefits of two hundred stone of grain per month.

After Jin Dan happily came out to inform everyone, Dai Gong was completely relieved, and now the fifth Lun can also join them, although everyone has made a little less profit, but at least everything can be as usual.

Dai Gong secretly scoffed: "What filial piety Sima, one set on the lips, one set behind the back, in my opinion, is also the same as us, a layman, what to pretend!" ”

……

After Dai Gong, who was the leader, also let down his vigilance, the grain officer got his advice, and also ended the life of letting the pigs eat dry rice, and the kettle became a gruel that was difficult to drink five bowls of gruel.

From luxury to frugality, everyone complained again and again, and was very disappointed in the fifth lun.

But just when the pigs were angry, Wu Lun ushered in a visitor, who was his friend, Geng Chun Geng Boshan, who was responsible for delivering food to the Hongmen camp.

Fifth Lun deliberately made Geng Chun's visit known to everyone in the camp, which made Dai Gong, Jin Dan and others quite surprised, although the food sent by Nayan was directly handed over to the shogunate, and then distributed to the ministries by the shogunate, but after all, it was the source, and a good relationship might be able to divide more food.

During this period, Geng Chun mentioned that Liu Xin, the national teacher, asked why the fifth Lun had not visited the house for a long time, and also brought a few precise Jialiang, saying that the national teacher handed it to the fifth Lun......

This made the military officials even more stunned, I thought that the fifth Lun was just resigning Cao Peng and Lang Guan, and he was just a little famous in the county, and he was forced to enlist in the army.

Although Liu Xin no longer has any real power, after all, he is a dignified fourth assistant, and when the fifth Lun sent Geng Chun to leave and return to the camp, all the military officials had a little more respect for him.

This is the second idea that the fifth tyrant gave to the fifth Lun: "Let everyone know that you have someone on your head!" That's what you can fear. ”

With this premise, the fifth Lun is not pretending, it is a solar eclipse, he suddenly came to a surprise inspection, when the pigs and the brave people were waiting to make gruel and drink, the fifth Lun suddenly appeared, behind him was the seventh Biao, Ji Ming and other heavily armed private servants, and Zang Nu and other fifty newly recruited guards who had recovered their strength after eating and drinking in the past few days, and Xuan Biao also followed.

The group stood still in the field, and the fifth Lun stepped forward to take the spoon in the hand of the stunned grain officer, fished it in the kettle, and found that it was full of clear water and gruel, and couldn't help but be furious.

"Didn't Ben Sima ask you to steam and cook dry rice every day, so that the soldiers could have enough to eat? Why gruel again? Grain officer, are you deducting grain? ”

The grain official was stunned, didn't Dai Gong say that Fifth Lun had been bought and assimilated by them, so everything could be as usual? How to say that if you turn your face, you will turn your face.

He turned around and wanted to ask Dai Gong for help, but the fifth Lun didn't wait, and shouted: "Seventh Biao, Zang Fu!" ”

"No!"

"Arrest this grain official who violates military orders, greeds for grain, and treats soldiers harshly!"

"The villain is wronged, the villain is wronged!" The grain officer turned his head and saw Dai Gong's face full of astonishment.

The fifth Lun didn't wait for him to speak, and he didn't involve the rest of the people for the time being, so he blocked the grain official's mouth and pushed it directly to the Yuanmen, and the knife in the seventh Biao's hand was already raised high and swung down at the grain official's neck!

This is the third idea that the Fifth Tyrant gave to the Fifth Lun, a routine that has been tried and tested for two thousand years.

"If you don't make a decision, kill the grain officer!"

……

PS: The second chapter is at 18:00.