The land is dead.

It is the season of summer rice harvest, and as far as the eye can see, the land that should have been golden, but the rice waves dancing with the wind are scorched and yellow, the land is dry and cracked, and the four fields are lifeless.

A temple in front of the mountain has long been dilapidated, and only the main structure is left with the instrument gate and the main hall. Part of the walls of the main hall had collapsed, and in the middle of the hall stood a literati dressed in plain white cedar, although his face was slightly dark, with a bit of food. Melancholy eyes, but they can't hide the perseverance in their eyes.

"Lord Wang, rest early, hurry up tomorrow morning, and you can go to Wangjiazhai in the afternoon."

Wang Ming's entourage took nine days from Laizhou Bay to Linyi, and they rode fast horses, and they could run seventy or eighty miles a day. As early as two months ago, I heard that there was a generation of Shandong exiles Wang Jiao who gathered in Luxi, robbed homes and houses, and made a big battle, and once gathered people to attack Linyi County, which was ruled by Yan State, and hoped to persuade the other party to contribute to Daxia. From the moment of the title of the gold list, he made up his mind to relieve Li Min and restore the Han family. In the past few years, he has done his best, not only the Northern Expedition is far away, but under the continuous southern invasion of the Yan army, the pure land in the south of the Yangtze River needs to do everything.

Wang Mingzhi sighed and closed his eyes again.

He's so tired, I'm afraid he'll be able to sleep for two more hours tonight, right?

Nothing was said all night. The next day, Wang Mingzhi was awakened by the guard Chen Yao. It was still a little dark, and Wang Mingzhi was also sleepy. But he knew he had to hurry. There was not even a well in the temple of Emperor Guan, and Wang Mingzhi didn't care about wiping his face with a lot of embarrassment, so he and the guards turned over on horseback, and a group of more than ten people went all the way to the old peak of Yimeng Mountain.

Due to the countless thieves and bandits that have arisen in this area over the past few decades, most of the merchants do not come here. Without caravans, the official road would be much more deserted.

The sky gradually brightened, and more and more groups of displaced people gathered on the official road, most of them wandering around aimlessly. Most of these homeless people are dozens of people, walking sparsely, all ragged and dish-colored. Their eyes were hollow, and some of them even had red faces and puffy cheeks. Wang Mingzhi knew that this was a manifestation of eating people, so he didn't dare to be careless, and ordered everyone not to delay and hurry quickly. In this era when the universe is upside down, cannibalism is nothing at all, the homeless people are hungry and not only eat the dead but also the living, the first to eat are women and children, and after the women and children finish eating, they will eat the weak.

Wang Ming and his entourage all rode horses, and they carried dry food on their backs, which was a pot of braised pork in the eyes of the homeless. If you are targeted by these displaced people, it is not a good thing.

Wang Ming and his entourage were all fast horses, and they quickly threw off the ranks of the homeless people.

It was noon when they reached the old peak, and the mountain road at the old peak was steep, so Wang Ming and his party had to get off the horse and walk. Not far away, I saw that there is a walled wall in the middle of the mountainside, Wang Ming rode more than ten times, the scale is not big, but it is not small. When they reached the wall, they immediately aroused the vigilance of the guards in the watchtower. The guard blew the horn without hesitation, and soon hundreds of young men with hoes and dung forks went up to the wall.

"I am Han Congyong of the Jianghuai Gang, I have an appointment with the big boss of your family, and I have no malicious intentions, please inform the owner of your family, Wang Jiaowang."

Han Congyong, the leader of the Jianghuai Gang, felt the hostility of the other party, and said in a kind tone as much as possible

(This chapter is not finished, please turn the page)

。

The young man on the wall immediately began to talk, and after a while, a sturdy young man stepped forward and shouted: "Stop before fifty paces, don't approach, and wait for me to inform Wang Jiao of the house, and then I will call you back." ”

After a while, the sturdy young man waved his hand and motioned for a few strong men to open the gate of the village, and confiscated everyone's weapons and horses. After all, in troubled times, be careful to make a 10,000-year-old ship. After walking all the way up for a mile or two, there were many ragged minions on both sides looking at them vigilantly, and when they came to a dilapidated temple, a tall man with messy hair walked out, offered his hand and said, "Go in and talk."

Everyone entered the hall, and Wang Ming said: "The owner of the village gathers the people of the village to resist the Yan country, Helian Kuo will not give up, I don't know what the owner of the village plans to do in the future?" ”

Wang Jiao said: "One step at a time, I don't know what this is?" ”

Han Congyong introduced: "This is an official sent by Great Xia, and I want to talk to Wang Dangjia to see if Wang Dangjia can respond to the imperial court's recruitment and contribute to Great Xia." "Wang Mingzhi's identity is sensitive, and the Han gang leader doesn't want to reveal his identity.

Wang Jiao sneered: "Zhao'an? Sell your life to the southerners? If you had proposed it to me three years ago, I might have said yes, but now I don't have to think about it. ”

Wang Mingzhi asked, "Why is this?" ”

Wang Jiao said: "Do you want to hear my story?" ”

It was the spring of 35 years ago, and the child was born in a wealthy family east of Luyi, Henan. The child's parents believe in Buddhism, is a good family of people praised by ten miles and eight towns, but it is an old son, Wang Jiao is one year old, his father brought it to the temple to make a vow, the temple host said that Wang Jiao has a similar appearance, so his father named him Wang Jiao, Wang Jiao has been smart since childhood, at the age of sixteen he won the show, and at the age of seventeen he took a good wife, and the next year the good wife gave birth to an equally smart son. In the first year of Suzong, the army of Yan went south, Wang Jiao led the nearby people to retreat into the mountains to avoid the military disaster, after the withdrawal of the army of Yan, although the hometown was abolished, but the villagers who were sheltered were not killed or injured. Wang Jiao took out all the savings of his family and led these hundreds of people all the way south to avoid the army of Yan people.

However, in the months that followed, on the way south, the young and frail son died in the war-torn plague, leaving his parents and wife devastated. Along the way, small groups of displaced people continued to join, and the ranks of refugees continued to expand, and Wang Jiao exerted his extraordinary organizational skills to keep the refugee army in order, and more than 50,000 people had gathered on the edge of the Yangtze River.

However, what the refugees did not expect was that the Yangtze River sailors of Daxia who were cruising on the Yangtze River ignored the cries of the displaced people for help, and not only ignored the cries of tens of thousands of refugees kneeling on the ground for help, but even intercepted several small boats brought by the refugees to prevent them from crossing the river.

Wang Jiao led the displaced people to shout by the Yangtze River for three days, and thousands of old people saw that the river was hopeless, and they stepped into the Yangtze River and drowned. In order to be able to leave a small ration for their children and grandchildren. Among them are Wang Jiao's parents.

In desperation, Wang Jiao led the refugees back to the north, and within two days, his kind wife finally died of sadness under the pressure of hunger and cold. When she was dying, she said: I have lived happily by your side in this life, but unfortunately you are the only one left, and these people are all miserable

(This chapter is not finished, please turn the page)

Person------------

Wang Jiao buried his wife and swore at his wife's grave that as long as he was there, he would never leave them alone------ and made a loud promise to these tens of thousands of refugees--------

In the process of returning north with the displaced people, there were constantly displaced people who fell to the ground hungry. Under the impact of more and more dead people, Wang Jiao's temperament changed greatly. All the way through Sizhou, Suzhou, Xuzhou, Qingzhou and other north of the Yangtze River everywhere, every place to meet the big city bypass, meet the village, the small city then attack and rob the food, the people who were robbed in the case of no surplus food, had to follow the team, the team continued to expand like a snowball A few years later, the team reached a million swept through more than 20 states in Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Henan, Hebei and other Jiangbei, for a time the momentum was huge, last year the grassland army went south again, tens of thousands of iron horsemen swept the million displaced people, slaughtered for more than ten days, there were three or four hundred thousand displaced people were slaughtered, One hundred and twenty thousand young men were incorporated into the Han army of the Yan State, and one hundred and twenty thousand old and weak people were driven to several summer cities to act as the precursor to the siege.

Only a few thousand people followed Wang Jiao to break out of the encirclement and came to this Dabie mountain area to fall into the grass. Everyone else scattered.

Since then, there have been homeless people, like Wang Jiao and them, running in this boundless land.

Wang Jiao told with an indifferent face, as if he was talking about something that had nothing to do with him, and finally said: "Before that, I had exhausted all my struggles------ but I still didn't fulfill my promise to my wife and fellow villagers. This Shangguan, you haven't seen the homeless people all the way? What does it feel like to see displaced people? I'm afraid I'm indifferent! This is the attitude of your Great Xia Mansion, they are all the people of Great Xia! It's all Han Chinese! It's all a life! ”

Now those old men in Jiangnan, seeing that they can't hold it anymore, the fancy world in Jiangnan is about to be like us, the eldest and youngest are slaughtered, and their wives and sisters are humiliated, and now they think of us, so that we can give you your lives! Hold back the footsteps of the Yan people, don't think! From the moment your sailors refused to allow us to cross the river to survive a few years ago, we are no longer the same kind of people, the southerners are the southerners, and we northerners have nothing to do with you. ”

At the end of the day, the voice became louder and louder, and finally he screamed out of his mouth with the strength of his whole body.

Wang Mingzhi has been listening quietly, his eyes continue to leave painful tears, his heart is extremely tingling, and he said: "I am Wang Mingzhi, the right prime minister of Great Xia, I am sorry for the thousands of people in Jiangbei, and I failed to do a good job as a prime minister." I'm guilty! ”

Wang Jiao heard that it was Wang Ming's prime minister in front of him, and stepped forward to support Wang Mingzhi: "Okay, I know that Wang Chengzhi is bold, I'll give way, you go back and discuss with Xia Ting, let the old and weak wives and children cross the river, and you can survive." I can trust Prime Minister Wang. As long as we agree to this condition, Qingzhuang will stay with me and work hard with Daziren, exchanging our lives for the lives of parents, wives and children, how about it? “

Wang Mingzhi said: "I'll go back and write to the court." Mr. Wang can earn his life for the people of the world. I, Wang Mingzhi, can also use this Wusha to exchange for the survival opportunities of thousands of Han family sons and daughters in Jiangbei. ”

In September of the fifth year of Suzong in Great Xia, Wang Ming and his entourage of more than ten people, from the Yimeng Mountains, all the way to the northeast Laizhou, the way to see the Yan army retreated north. Through the Laizhou Shanghai ship, turn back to Jiankang by sea, and arrive at Jiankang in the capital of Nanxia in mid-September.

(End of chapter)