Central Plains, Xingyang.

A majestic city, located on the plain, proud of the mountains in the east, between the mountains, you can see the Xiongguan Bishui (Tiger Prison Pass) in the distance, built by the mountain, a sheep intestine path, from the back of the pass, out of the mountain is the avenue, until the east pass of Xingyang City, if it is the Taiping period, from the Bishui Pass to the official road of Xingyang City, when it is a busy traffic, pedestrians constantly, but now, in this time of chaos, except for a few fleeing pedestrians who can occasionally be seen, dragging their families with mouths, carts and loads, almost even a wild dog can not be seen, The densely populated Central Plains town was like a ghostly dead city at this moment, and there was no life in sight.

On the official road, Liu Yu and Murong Lan walked together, their faces were already wearing the human skin masks made by Murong Lan, Liu Yu pretended to be a black-faced middle-aged man in his thirties, and Murong Lan wore a mask of Hu Shang, who was nearly forty years old and had a few yellow beards, they all braided their hair and leather robes, Liu Yu's Bailian Su iron knife was behind his back, and Murong Lan's double knives were inserted in the scabbard and tied to the sides of his legs, a standard Hu Ren dress.

It has been more than 20 days since Jiankang City came out, to be precise, from Shouchun to the north, it is such a scene, it can almost be said that there is no cooking smoke for a hundred miles, no pedestrians for thousands of miles, the Lianghuai and the eastern part of the Central Plains, which were originally prosperous, after experiencing the ransack of the chaotic soldiers after the battle of Weishui, as well as the successive rise of bandits and horse thieves from all walks of life, the people fled more and more, either following Murong Chui's army to the north, or moving the family south, entering the Jin land, and staying in place are mostly such old, weak, sick and disabled, relying on the last bit of remaining grain, just lingering.

Liu Yu walked very slowly, his mood was as heavy as his steps, as a soldier, he had always acted with the army, although he had also seen many people in the battlefield fleeing, but this was the first time he entered the north alone, compared with the last time he went to the peace valley of Ding Lingzhai, it was almost heaven and hell.

When he passed through the Bishui Pass that was already empty and the door was open, he was already very affected by the impact of his heart, and now he walked in front of this Xingyang City Pass, looking up at the towering city wall, there were hundreds of corpses that had begun to decay, and the moat in front of the city gate was full of headless corpses still wearing military uniforms, which had already been pecked by wild dogs and crows, and the smell of rotting corpses made people nauseated, and swarms of flies flew around on these corpses, enjoying their own meals.

Liu Yu finally stopped, his brows furrowed, and there was a hint of anger in his eyes: "Who did this hurtful thing?" Slaughtering people in the city and burying the corpses, what are they trying to do? ”

Murong Lan sighed softly, although she was separated by a mask, her face was not very good-looking: "It was about two months ago, when my brother led the army to break through Xingyang, Zhai Bin's Ding Lingren did not change their mortality, and they ransacked the city again, and they also killed all the hundreds of soldiers who were captured in the city, and hung their heads on the city wall, saying that they wanted to show off their might." ”

"At that time, the eldest brother was very dissatisfied and wanted to stop him, but Murong Feng persuaded the eldest brother, saying that Ding Lingren took the initiative to vote, if there were more restraints at this time, I was afraid that they would be rebellious, and the Central Plains area was not our long-term foothold, and it was not a choice to punish those who resisted us to establish military prestige."

Liu Yu was furious and said sharply: "What nonsense! Of course, soldiers should kill the enemy, but for the prisoners who laid down their arms, as well as those civilians, how can they be slaughtered casually, if they can kill people casually for the sake of prestige, then what else do you need military discipline?! ”

A trace of anger flashed in Murong Lan's eyes, and she said coldly: "Liu Yu, don't yell at me about this, won't your Beifu army kill the prisoners?" During the battle of Junchuan, the river was full of prisoners for you to kill, right? ”

Liu Yu was speechless for a while, and then stomped his foot heavily: "If I were the commander-in-chief, I would never be like this, as a soldier, I can not accept the surrender of the enemy army and destroy it on the battlefield, but killing prisoners is a matter of anger and resentment, not to mention looting and massacring civilians." ”

Murong Lan's eyes became lonely, and she sighed softly: "Liu Yu, what you said is right, I also agree with you, the more troubled the times, the more you should practice benevolent and righteous means, so as to win the hearts of the people, but you must know that in this world, there are few good people and many bad people, especially in troubled times, order is broken, and no one can rule strongly, so the stragglers will take turns to loot all places." ”

"Xingyang was originally an important town in the Central Plains, guarded by thousands of soldiers and horses, and the general bandits did not dare to attack, but after being broken by the Yan army, there was no longer the army of Qin in this area, and the remaining officials of the nearby states and counties either fled over the city and hung the seal, or led the soldiers and horses of the state and county to concentrate in Luoyang and take refuge in Fu Hui. And the local sergeants often flee in large numbers on the road, turning into stragglers in groups, robbing everywhere. ”

Liu Yu gritted his teeth, along the way, the two of them did encounter a group of twenty or thirty bandits, wearing the clothes and armor of the Qin army, but the ransacking of the village, or the robbery of the road, was also done by these people, and they were also unlucky.

Murong Lan looked at Liu Yu and said: "Liu Yu, I know you are in a bad mood, originally a few days ago we took the trail and met bandits, you don't want to see their evil behavior of bullying the weak and robbing the village, so we changed to the avenue, I know, take the avenue, cross the big city, nine times out of ten you will see Xingyang like this, which will make you even more angry, but you have to remember that this is the troubled times, and you will see a more cruel and terrible scene in the future, if one day you really want to recover the north and achieve hegemony, I'm afraid you have to create such a world with your own hands. ”

Liu Yu said in a deep voice: "I will never be like you Hu people, or like those generals who committed murder, relying on massacres and robberies to accomplish any of my own hegemony, Murong Lan, you remember, what I want to recover is a north that allows Han people to live and work in peace and enjoy peace, not a north like this." If I lead the army now, I will definitely protect the territory and the people. ”

Murong Lan sneered: "Yes, seeing that you want to protect the territory and the people here, and then see the next city that is looted and slaughtered like this, you have to divide the troops to protect the territory and the people, may I ask General Liu, how many soldiers can you divide to protect the territory and the people?" There are two thousand, three thousand there, so even if you set off with an army of 100,000 and wait until Luoyang City is down, how many are left? ”