Shudi, located in the southwest of Shenzhou, the mountains are obstacles, the rivers are passes, the roads in and out are difficult and dangerous, and it is naturally a paradise that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Since the Xia Shang period the native people are the king, known as the Ba country, Shu country, to the Song Dynasty, has gone through more than 2,000 years, its terrain is dangerous, its mountains and rivers are majestic, and there are many rivers and waterways, irrigation is abundant, the soil is fertile, the center of the CD plain as the center, but also raised countless generations of Bashu people.

Around the basin, there are Qinling Mountains in the north, Daba Mountain in the east, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in the south, Daxue Mountain in the west, the Yangtze River crosses, rushes to the east, the territory is abundant and full of food and clothing, far away from the Central Plains, the wealth can raise soldiers, grain and grass can raise the people, although it is a corner of peace, but it can be the foundation of the emperor's industry, for thousands of years, during the period, I don't know how many heroes are kings, how many heroes are called emperors, relying on it, it is the relatively independent geography of Shu and enough money and grain to stand on its own.

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the world was divided into fifteen roads, and Shu was Xichuan Road and Xiaxi Road, and it was divided into prefectures and counties, and it was under the jurisdiction of officials. In the Zhenzong period, in order to refine the administration, split Shu for Yizhou, Lizhou, Zizhou, Kuizhou four roads, and later changed Yizhou to CD Fu, so far, the pattern of Shu four roads has been determined, no change, the alias of "Sichuan" has risen since then, and it has gradually spread.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, affected by the changes in the territory, CD Fu Road, Kuizhou Road and Tongchuan Fu Road were set up in Shu, and Lizhou East and West Roads were set up near the border of the Jin Dynasty to serve as a defense buffer in Shu.

Because of the special geographical location, the mountains are blocked, and not on the front line of the war, there has been no major war, in the chaos of the five dynasties and ten kingdoms at the end of the Tang Dynasty, miraculously stayed out of the matter, and spent the extremely dark and cruel years in Chinese history safely, and even became the first choice for the emperor to avoid disasters many times. Until the Zhao family seized power, the yellow robe was added and became a piece of the puzzle of the Great Song Dynasty.

And during the Southern Song Dynasty, Liao, Jin, Xixia, Mongolia, you come and go, galloping, in the Central Plains set off countless wolf smoke, the great Song Dynasty, become the nomadic knife on the tip of the fat, cut and cut, anyone can share a piece, everyone wants to take a bite, the Yellow River, the vast land between the Huai River, the war is endless, the lives are devastated, for a time the white bones are piled up, the city is ashes.

But Shu is still peaceful, the war that took place in the distant Yellow River valley seems to be in another world, and it has not had a great impact on the people living here, and the news from the mouths of the merchants who come and go, listening to the terrifying slaughter, killing and plundering, has no other effect except for the sighing sigh. People should work, they should work, they should eat, they should sleep, the sun should set, and tomorrow it will rise as usual.

Some refugees who fled thousands of miles away made the Shu people panic a little, but after a few days, it will disappear, after all, the legendary Jin and Xixia people are still far away from here, compared with them, the livelihood in front of them is the imminent big problem, the autumn rent is about to be paid, the conscription has to be served, all kinds of taxes are pressed on everyone's neck, so heavy, it is almost out of breath.

Our story happened in July of the second year of Baoqing in the Southern Song Dynasty, in Changzhou, Tongchuan Fu Road.

Shu is mountainous, Changzhou is no exception, north, south, east and west are mountains, flat land is rare, even as the state of Changzhou City, is also a seam like a needle in the selection of a valley bottom in the mountains to build, it shows that there are many mountains here.

The widest official road here is just a dirt road where two horses run in parallel, and the larger vehicles cannot pass, the chicken bus and wheelbarrow are popular, and the flat basket has become the main means of transporting goods here.

In Beishan, Changzhou, on a sheep intestine path that is much narrower than the official road, a group of more than a dozen men in linen are taking advantage of the last rays of sunset before sunset, crossing the mountains and mountains, and walking in a hurry.

If you look closer, you can find that this group of men is only in their twenties, and the big ones are no more than forty, all of them are young and middle-aged, with ugly shoes and clothes, although they have worked all year round, they have developed a strong muscle, and their faces are dark, but the vegetables on their faces are not nutritious and can still be seen at a glance.

Each of them carried a flat pole made of coarse bamboo, and carried two baskets, which were heavy, full of rice, and each load weighed nearly 100 catties.

The man in the lead was obviously taller, at least more than six feet, with muscles like stones, hard and shiny, a wide face, and a towering nose, with characteristics that did not resemble those of the locals. He was strong, and the burden he carried was also the heaviest, but it was quite difficult for others to pick it up, but nothing happened to him, and he walked in stride, as if the burden on his shoulders did not exist.

Although he walked quickly, the strong man was full of sorrow, he looked back from time to time, his eyes fell on a stretcher in the middle of the group, there were two people who did not carry the burden, but were in charge of this stretcher, and there was a person lying on the stretcher.

This man is not very old, twelve or thirteen years old, with a delicate face, although his eyes are closed, he can't hide the handsomeness between his eyebrows and eyes, like the poor young man of this era, he has a thin body, under the tattered clothes, the ribs are protruding, and the body is about five feet tall like skin and bones, the stretcher is not so long, and the young man's feet are hanging outside the stretcher, and he shakes with the movement of the bearer.

The young man's pale face, purple mouth, and hot body temperature made him fall into a deep coma, and there was a coarse cloth towel soaked in cold water on his forehead, but he couldn't let the high fever go down a few minutes, the young man was unconscious, and his whole body was lying motionless on the stretcher, like a dead man, only the chest that rose and fell from time to time reminded people that he still had a breath ---.

In these days, this disease can kill people.

There was a loud birdsong in the dense mountain forest in front, high-pitched and crisp, even if it was very far away, it could be heard clearly, the tall man in the lead paused, stared ahead, the trees in front of him were deep, the path was winding in the shadow of the tree, like a point of no return to eat people, he turned around and greeted: "It's getting dark, just find a place around here, rest." ”

The people who followed behind agreed, went down the path, found a flat ground in the forest, laid down their burdens, and began to gather firewood for the fire, and rush to get water for cooking before it got dark to satisfy their hunger.

The sick and unconscious boy was placed under a big tree, and two stretcher bearers took care of him, took out a bamboo tube, and wanted to pour some water into the boy's mouth, but he heard the sound of footsteps, and looked up to see that the tall man in the lead had arrived in front of him.

The two hurriedly stood up and shouted respectfully in a low voice: "Eldest grandson Baozheng!" ”

The man waved his hand, took the bamboo tube, and said, "You two are also tired for a day, go rest and rest, there is still a long way to catch up tomorrow." The dogs are boiling porridge, and you two should go drink some too. ”

The two were overjoyed and hurriedly agreed to go.

The man bent down, reached out and touched the young man's forehead, the young man was unconscious, there was no response, only felt that his hand felt hot, compared to the daytime seemed to rise a few points, his face was suddenly more worried, when he took off the coarse cloth on the young man's forehead, the cloth soaked in cold water with coolness turned warm, it can be seen that the young man's high fever is very serious.

Re-soaking the coarse cloth with the cold water in the bamboo tube, wringing it out and putting it on his forehead again, the man sighed deeply, sat down gently beside the young man, and held one of his hands.

The moonlight is like water, the night is like ink, and the stout tower-like body of the man guards the young man's side, like a lion guarding the calf in the moonlit night. He pried open the young man's lips, poured a few mouthfuls of water with a bamboo tube, the young man swallowed unconsciously, coughed twice, the man hurriedly stopped, stroked his back, saw that the young man no longer coughed, and slowly put it down, when doing these actions, the man's eyes under the thick eyebrows were very soft, and a black face completely lost the perseverance and courage of the day, and was replaced by a pair of deep concern and anxiety.

"Erlang, you must get through, our eldest grandson's boy, standing up to the sky, how can you not even withstand a typhoid fever? Dad is here, right here, protecting you, don't be afraid, don't be afraid of anything. The man squeezed the young man's hand, said softly, and looked down, in the dark night, by the light of the bonfire in the distance, the two shadows were close together.

The wind blew the forest, the trees swayed, and a figure came from a distance, carrying a short-handled simple knife in his hand. The people gathered around the bonfire looked up, stood up one after another, and said respectfully: "Brother Jin is back!" It's hard work. ”

The figure shook his hand and said in a low voice: "There is nothing to do left and right, there is no inspection in front of you, everyone rest assured." ”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, became more and more relaxed, sat down and whispered, the figure walked to the fire, took the bowl handed to him, drank all the gruel in one go, wiped his mouth, and asked, "Where is my eldest brother?" ”

Someone immediately pointed out: "Eldest Sun Baozheng is under that tree, taking care of Eldest Sun Erlang." The figure turned to look under the tree not far away.

The figure in the firelight, with a tall figure and a face, is no different from the tall man in the lead, like a brother in the same robe, the slight difference is that the leading man has a thick beard, and his face is full of furrows, engraved with the vicissitudes of the years. The figure known as "Brother Jin" was much younger and had no beard, but there was a long scar embedded in the right side of his face, which added some arrogance to this handsome young man.

Brother Jin put down the bowl, added a new bowl, walked over, squatted beside the young man, glanced at the leading man who was staring at the young man intently, handed the bowl over, and asked, "Big brother, how is Erlang?" ”

The eldest grandson Baozheng shook his head slightly, took the porridge bowl, and sighed: "If the water and rice don't enter, I will start to fall into a coma in the afternoon, and my whole body will burn hot, I don't know if I can stand it." ”

Brother Jin reached out and touched Erlang's face, changed color and said, "I'm afraid I can't drag it out!" It's so hot, something is going to happen! ”

He stood up and said categorically: "This place is not far from Changzhou, I'll go find a doctor!" ”

The eldest grandson Baozheng's eyes were stunned, and he said solemnly: "Mess around!" Do you have money? ”

Brother Jin gritted his teeth: "There is no money, and one must be tied up!" The eldest brother can rest assured, just the earthen city wall of Changzhou, and he will turn into it with one heel. ”

The eldest grandson Baozheng stood up, pressed his brother's shoulder, looked into his eyes and said: "We have no reason, we came out to sell smuggled salt, we can't see the light, you go like this, once you make a mistake and attract officers and soldiers, will these brothers still live?" The death penalty of selling smuggled salt has brought disaster to their families, they are all good citizens, how can they take risks following our brothers to make a living? ”

Brother Jin looked at his eldest brother, raised his eyebrows, and roared: "Is it just looking at Erlang like this?" If it drags on any longer, he won't be able to stand it! ”

The eldest grandson Baozheng had a calm face, his eyes were like electricity, and he said in a low voice: "That's why I'm waiting for you to come back, I can rest assured that you stay here, I'll go to Changzhou to seek medicine and seek medical treatment!" ”