The world outside the pavilion was as if the heavens and the earth were first opened, and the rain poured down from the thick clouds, swallowing up all the hope in the world and drowning all the way out for the soldiers and prisoners.

In the light of the torches, the swarthy faces raised their heads, and they opened their mouths and shouted words of despair and grief......

"If you miss the deadline, you will be cut ......"

"The world has been suffering for a long time......"

"Death is death now, and death is death when you make a big plan!"

Desperation forced them to cut wood into soldiers, unveil poles for flags, and a group of people clamored, shouting that the prince and the prince will Xiangning have a kind of? They poured into the pavilion and kicked open the door of the guest house.

The Qin officials, who were sleeping soundly inside to escort them, were taken aback when they heard the sound, and raised their heads, that face, who else could it be if it wasn't Heifu!?

……

"It's really unfortunate to have such a dream."

Hefu woke up sweating profusely and found himself in a strange guest house, and when he opened the door, the weather outside was cold and clear, with only a few clouds floating in the sky.

And the 50 Anlu County prisoners escorted by him were also sleeping soundly under the eaves of the guest house at the moment, this group of people were thinly dressed, covered with a little straw to keep out the cold, shivering in the frost and dew in the early morning......

"Pavilion Chief."

Xiao Tao, who was on duty at night, saw that Heifu had woken up, and hurriedly came over and stammered: "Yesterday...... Last night, it was safe and sound. ”

"Good work." Heifu patted Xiao Tao's shoulder to show encouragement, and Lixian, who was on night duty with Xiao Tao, also came over to greet Heifu with red eyes.

It is now the twenty-second year of the reign of King Qin, and it is the twenty-third day of October, and it is also the third day that they left the county seat of Anlu.

The five people in Huyang Pavilion need to escort 50 prisoners and 10 guards to Fangcheng, Nanyang County, hundreds of miles away, to serve in the conscription, and arrive before the first day of December, which is the task of Heifu.

As early as before leaving, Heifu learned that most of the prisoners escorted this time were sent to prison by his own hands: there was Shang Jia Bao, who participated in the false accusation against him last year, two tomb robbers who robbed Ruo Ao's tomb, and many blind mountain residents who were reduced to prisoners, and he could be regarded as enemies.

The county lieutenant arranged it like this, which can be described as sinister intentions.

However, the left lieutenant did not expect these prisoners to resent Hefu and make a riot and kill him, as in a dream.

Now it is not the end of Qin, and it is the hinterland of Qin, and the difficulty of killing officials and rebelling is really not small.

And on the necks of this group of people, they all wore the emblem of the prisoners: wooden tongs. There was hemp rope on the tongs, which were tied to their wrists when they were resting, restricting their movement.

This is the standard configuration for escorting prisoners, and this group of labor prisoners cannot be expected to be honest and obedient. On the other hand, the guards were heavily armed, each armed with a sword and armor, but also equipped with two crossbows. It is unlikely that there will be a character like Chen Sheng and Wu Guang among the prisoners, who snatched the sword and killed Heifu and others......

So Heifu guessed that Captain Zuo arranged this way in the hope that these prisoners who had a grudge against Heifu would escape halfway!

The prisoners are different from the soldiers, they are already sinners, most of their families are accepted as subordinate concubines, barefoot and not afraid to wear shoes, and everyone has no worries.

And in this winter, traveling thousands of miles north is really a chore. Southerners are terrified of the north, especially the northern winter. In "Chu Ci", the Chu people's imagination of the north is "increase the ice and fly the snow for thousands of miles", "there are cold mountains in the north, and there are dragons." The sky is white, and the cold is condensed. ”

In short, in the eyes of the people on the coast of Jianghan, the north in winter is simply not a place for people to stay, and they must be avoided. This fear of the weather and hard labor could prompt the prisoners to escape at any time.

The Qin state punished the convicts who escaped from military service severely, and there were also corresponding punishments for the escorts who let the convicts go.

"It's not a capital crime, but I, the pavilion chief, will do it, if there are more than ten people who escape, even I will be reduced to a city. The second and third sons will also be punished as escorts......" said Hef, who made their situation clear to the crowd.

More than ten years later, Liu Tingchang, the chief of Pei County, was precisely because the prisoners and soldiers escorted had run away too much, and he knew that he would not be able to escape punishment, so he simply took the rest of the people into the grass and fell into the grass......

Saying this, everyone in Huyang Pavilion also realized the seriousness of the problem, the county lieutenant is really insidious, this is obviously a knife to kill people, and they want to take advantage of the escape of the prisoners to punish their group of people and drive them out of the Qin ranks!

So the people obeyed Hef's arrangement, and divided into two groups, and kept vigil in turn during the night.

On the first and second day of his departure, Heifu did not dare to close his eyes, and kept watching the fire and staring at the figures of the prisoners.

In this way, Heifu, who didn't close his eyes for two days, finally couldn't hold it anymore on the third day, and when he arrived at the pavilion in Xinshi County to rest, he slept in the house until dawn......

Thankfully, it was business as usual except for that nightmare.

At this time, the prisoners also got up one after another, they removed the straw on their bodies, rubbed their sore necks, and looked at Heifu, who was squatting on the ground and gargling with willow branches, their eyes were full of unkindness. Hefu knew that in the past three days, there must have been many people who were thinking about escaping day and night. Anyway, if you don't run, the end won't be much better, serving in winter, it's common for prisoners to die three or four times out of ten, in the face of cruel reality, Heifu has no ability to fool these desperate people.

It's okay when you're resting, there are ropes that tie everyone to the beams, but it's a big problem when walking.

Although the food of Heifu and the other five people could be provided by the pavilion on the road, the sixty prisoners and soldiers had to bring their own food, drink, and chewing. Therefore, every prisoner has to carry a stone of grain, and there is no way to tie everyone together.

In case when walking on the road, these 50 people glanced at each other and ran away, and the five of them could not be caught by Heifu alone.

Therefore, after eating in this pavilion, Heifu asked Ji Ying and Lixian to cut the prepared long hemp rope into several sections, so that 50 bitter-faced prisoners could stand up. First pick a prisoner who has a grudge against the black man, and then pick a prisoner who does not know, and in groups of two, tie hemp rope to one of their feet and tie it into a dead knot......

"Working in pairs, whether it's walking, resting, eating, or going to the toilet, you have to act together. If another person escapes, the remaining one will also be regarded as an accomplice and will be punished together! ”

In this way, although the speed of progress is slowed down, when walking on the road, there is no fear of them suddenly running away. Most of the people who run away will trip each other because they have no tacit understanding, and they will be caught.

Not only that, but Heifu also gathered the 10 free soldiers and assigned them tasks.

"You are all good citizens, and you have parents, wives and children at home, you should know what will happen if you run away......

"I will not treat the second and third sons badly, and I will let you and the others be fed and clothed all the way, and they can sleep peacefully in the house. But you will also help me to watch the prisoners, and when I am on the road, I will keep ten prisoners for every two people, and when I arrive in Fangcheng County, Nanyang County, if no one escapes, I will give you and others 100 yuan each, plus a pair of cloth shoes......"

As soon as these words came out, the 10 soldiers couldn't help but be overjoyed, and went out to serve the conscription, and the biggest consumption was the shoes, and after arriving at the place, their shoes had long been worn out, and the black man contracted their shoes, which made many people breathe a sigh of relief. And that 100 dollars is enough to buy a rough winter coat.

Heifu is not short of money, a year's pavilion chief has been done, he has been rewarded for repeatedly catching thieves, plus the harvest of hundreds of acres of land at home, even if he buys cattle and horses, there are still more than 5,000 left. So when he went out this time, he replaced all the remaining copper coins with easy-to-carry gold cakes, about ten taels.

He thought in his heart and said, "If it only costs one or two thousand dollars, let these soldiers help me keep an eye on the prisoners, it will be a good deal." ”

Although Heifu made many arrangements and felt that nothing was wrong, on the fifth day of departure, when they passed through Xinshi County to the middle of Juxian County, a forest and hilly area that was dozens of miles long, the escape still happened......

"Pavilion Chief, Hef! Big things are wrong! ”

Woken up by Ji Ying and Dongmen Leopard, who were on duty at night, Heifu rushed to the scene of the incident, looking at the rope on the ground that had been worn by hard objects, and the two wooden pliers that had been unloaded, Heifu's face was heavy.

Liham, who was holding the roster, counted the number of people and reported: "It's a thief who is a city dan, and he ran away with a tomb robber!" ”

After questioning the prisoners on the side, Dongmen Leopard also sweated profusely and reported: "That little thief, it seems that he can open the lock, and he untied the wooden tongs in a few clicks, I was too sleepy and took a nap, and I ...... when I woke up."

"Chase!"

Heifu glared at Dongmen Leopard and Ji Ying, looked at the pair of footprints running towards the southern forest, and ordered: "Be sure to chase it back!" To live to see people, to die to see corpses! ”