In the twenty-sixth year of Qin Shi Huang, the beginning of summer has passed, the weather in Guanzhong is getting hotter day by day, and the new batch of thousands of immigrants have also traveled thousands of miles from the land of Yanzhao to a "foreign land" in their eyes.

"It's almost there!"

When Qin Yi shouted to stop, Zhuo Tie wiped his sweat, knelt down at the edge of the water, and didn't care whether it was clean or not, he picked up the water and drank it.

It seems to be thicker than the water in Handan, and there is an indescribable taste.

What is it like to be an enemy country? A taste of a foreign land?

He swallowed them into his stomach and turned around, and his five-year-old son stood beside him, his mouth slightly wide open, looking curiously at Xianyang City on the other side of Weishui. The wife sat on the chariot with tears in her eyes, she was a family lover, but when she entered Hangu Pass, when she arrived here, she probably realized that they would never be able to return to Zhao Kingdom!

Zhuo Tie is a native of Zhao State, living in Handan, smelting iron for generations, and in his father's generation, he finally got rid of the identity of an iron official slave and began to run a small iron shop in the city independently. Every day, he burned the fire very hot, made swords and halberds for the rangers, repaired farm tools for the farmers, and occasionally made iron models for the merchants and nobles who came to the door, and helped them steal coins, and became famous in the city.

This good day came to an abrupt end seven years ago, when General Li Mu, the pillar of the Zhao State, was killed by the mediocre Zhao Wangqian. This act of self-destruction of the Great Wall soon led to bad consequences, and without Li Mu's blockade, the Qin army was like a bamboo, and soon broke through Handan and captured the king of Zhao.

The country of Zhao died, and the sky above the heads of the Zhao people suddenly changed color.

The Qin army took over the four gates of Handan and began to restrict entry and exit, and the officials of the Qin state settled in the official office and issued new decrees. King Qin even went to Handan in person and personally ordered the pit to kill hundreds of people and family members who had treated him harshly when he was a child.

Zhuo Tie was also watching King Qin's majestic chariot on the side of the road at that time, but the thought that flashed in his mind was: How much gold and iron does it take for such a large carriage to be strong?

Although every Zhao person has a secret hatred for the Qin people, life has to go on. Although from time to time I heard something like "Gongzijia rebuilt the Zhao State", or "the famous man Chen Yu called on the anti-Qin righteous people to go to Hengshan to join the gang", Zhuo Tie has always been honestly engaged in the iron business.

Although he didn't mix up as before, he managed to scrape together enough dowry, and after marrying his wife, he soon gave birth to a son. In the past few years, the family wealth is not much, but it has exceeded 100,000, and it is considered a family of middle-aged people, and they can still eat a meal of meat every few days.

But at the beginning of spring this year, a nightmare came, first of all, an order to "collect the world's soldiers", all the large and small gold and iron shops in Handan City were searched, and most of them were closed on the spot. The government was to take away the weapons that were circulating in the market, and announced that all gold and iron shops would henceforth be taken over to the state, and that they would no longer be allowed to forge swords privately......

Zhuo Tie's shop has become state-owned, and his status is like that of an iron official slave, and he can only eat a limited ration every month, which is just that, it is better than becoming a prisoner.

But in March, something even more terrible happened!

The emperor threw an edict to Handan, asking the hundreds of workers and merchants in Handan City to move to Guanzhong!

Some people have a strong personality and refuse to obey death, holding the trees at home is like holding the hand of a loved one, and they will not let go. Those Qin soldiers were fierce and vicious, and they couldn't drive them away with whips and sticks, so they drew their swords, cut off the branches that the people were dragging on, and drove them away.

The ruthless sword separated the rich households, craftsmen, merchants and the trees in the courtyard, and gradually, the big trees in the hometown gradually disappeared, and the walls of Handan slowly blurred.

"Min Tian is mighty, and Tian Du is mourning. I am hungry, and my people are in exile. I'm in a desert! ”

A doctor of the Zhao clan sang the ballad in grief and indignation, but before the Zhao people could respond, his voice stopped suddenly, and the doctor's body fell forever outside Handan City.

"At least he can die in his homeland." Zhao Guo's wealthy households, businessmen and businessmen quietly looked at the doctor's corpse and passed him one after another.

For the industry and commerce, their lives are already in a precarious state of migration, so the revolt is not as great as that of the farmers.

It is a long way from Handan to Guanzhong, and it takes more than a month to go, and the rich can drive oxen and horse-drawn carts, and the Chinese family pushes the manpower. The slaves and servants who belonged to them were retained, gathered together, and walked with their hands tied.

This was to prevent them from escaping, and there were many people who tried to flee along the way, only to be caught, killed on the spot, or sentenced to be vassals and put on heavy wooden tongs.

"What is the difference between a sentence and a non-judgment? Anyway, we are all the concubines of the King of Qin's subordinates who have their hands tied behind their backs! ”

The other was Cheng Zheng, a young blacksmith from Zhao State, who was indignant and always complained along the way.

Zhuo Tie just whispered to Cheng Zheng Shenyan that he was silently eating dry food, he was not dissatisfied, but now that he has a wife and children, his safety must be the first priority in everything.

"As long as it can keep me together as a family, it doesn't matter where I move."

They crossed the mountains and rivers and dangerous obstacles, passed through the densely populated land of Sanchuan, crossed the Hangu Pass, which the six countries could not capture with great effort in the past, and came all the way to the hinterland of Guanzhong, the Baqiao Pavilion, and after crossing the bridge, they arrived at Xianyang Weinan.

Qin officials said that this was the last stop before reaching the final destination, "Shanglin Yuan", where they could rest for the night and be brought food by the local government.

Although the families of the relocated people are well-off and have made sufficient preparations for the long journey, after entering the customs, the food is still running out quickly, and since the day before yesterday, the thousands of them have to accept the help of the Qin State government, and the food is also poor, sometimes only millet porridge, and the widow is as clean as water.

But in the word of mouth of the captives, I heard that the food delivered today was even worse, and it was wheat that the savages and farmers did not like to eat......

"The Qin people really treat us as prisoners!"

Cheng Zheng broke out again, he punched the ground hard, and at the same time, a wealthy Wang from Handan next to him stood from the carriage and asked Qin Officials loudly: "Lord, can I buy rice and grain by myself?" ”

Wang Fuhu is not short of money, and every time he can give the pavilion a little benefit, he wants better food, and he wants to repeat his old tricks today.

There are not a few people who think the same way as him, they are not short of money, gold does not depreciate, and rich people are rich wherever they move.

"Nope."

But today, it seems that the Qin officials have a special task, which is to make sure that the resettlers eat the food that is distributed, and he refuses this request with a straight face.

At the same time, he waved his hand and asked the soaps to carry a basket of food to distribute, and the immigrants were even more desperate.

Cheng Zheng had already blushed, and his patience was to the limit, if it weren't for Zhuo Tie holding him back, he wouldn't have been able to do anything impulsive.

On the other hand, the rich man of the Wang family was not angry that he actually wanted to eat the same food as the prisoner Gou, and felt that he had been greatly insulted, so he pointed to Baqiao and said:

"Even if I die and starve, I jump from here and I don't eat wheat rice!"

As he spoke, Wang Fuhu's pot-bellied stomach was growling. Although the pavilion can collect money to open a small stove, it only makes one meal at a time, and if you do more, it is against the law.

At this time, the food was also distributed to everyone, Zhuo Tie pulled Cheng Zheng forward with a wooden bowl, only to find that it was not wheat rice, but pieces of wheat-yellow cakes, like golden cakes! Some of them still have burnt marks on them, and when I started to do so, I pinched them gently, and the skin on the outside cracked, revealing a slightly soft pulp on the inside......

"Can you eat this?"

Returning to his house with three pieces of baked cakes, Zhuo Tie's wife looked at them with some suspicion, the Zhao people and the Qin people had a deep blood feud, and they always did not hesitate to speculate on the plans of the Qin people with the greatest malice.

In the Battle of Changping that year, more than 400,000 Zhao people were deceived and killed.

"Or Qindi's food, of course we haven't seen it."

Zhuo Tie was big-hearted, and said with a wry smile: "It's all here, can the Qin people still poison us?" ”

The wife still shook her head: "The Qin people are vulgar, what good food can they have."

"In order to survive, you have to eat even if it's unpalatable."

Zhuo Tie smiled at his wife and son, and took a heavy bite demonstratively!

I was ready to be unpalatable, but who expected to take a bite, but it was unexpectedly crunchy and fragrant!

He was stunned for a moment, but his mouth didn't stop, he kept chewing the wheat cake, swallowing it in his stomach, and suddenly there was a strong sense of satisfaction - compared to the gruel and weed soup he ate these days, this is the most satisfying thing he has eaten in half a month!

Like many people around him, Zhuo Tie was also taken aback, and was about to tell his wife and son that this was a good thing, but he heard that not far away, Wang Fuhu, who was still self-respecting and noble, and was unwilling to eat wheat food, couldn't help but shout after taking a bite of wheat cake under the persuasion of others:

"It smells so good!"