The thatched houses of the common people are naturally not as strong as the courtyard walls that will be piled up with rammed earth and stones like the official yamen, Yang Zhengdao rested in the county government of Dingxiang County for a night, and the next day he came to the courtyard and stared at the courtyard wall stunned. Then he was invited to the side of the house and began to eat breakfast. I have to say that this breakfast is extraordinarily rich under the arrangement of the Turks. It was so rich that it was better than what Yang Zhengdao ate when he was at Dou Jiande's. But Yang Zhengdao was a little unate, and he was still thinking about what he was thinking about in the morning.

So after Yang Zhengdao finished breakfast, he took Zhongyu to those former villages outside Dingxiang County, wanting to visit. Even though Yang Zhengdao made a lot of psychological preparations and had the worst plan for the current situation in Dingxiang County, he still never thought that the truth would be as unbearable as what he saw in front of him. In Dingxiang County, except for the county seats, most of them are villages and towns formed by spontaneous gatherings, so there are only dirt roads through countless people stepping on each other, and there is no official road built by the officials.

Yang Zhengdao and Zhongyu did not ride horses on this trip, but chose to walk. The two of them walked on this dirt road with one foot deep and one foot shallow, while looking at the scenery on both sides of this dirt road. It stands to reason that it's the golden autumn of September. Even though Dingxiang County is located in the north, because the weather is cold and early, the harvest days are much better than in the morning in Jiangnan. But it should never be like now, it is just September, and the fields on both sides of the road are already barren.

Yang Zhengdao and Zhongyu went to the nearest village with questions. Entering the village, Yang Zhengdao's heart was even more shocked, in this village, you can see everywhere the adobe wall foundations left on the ground after the thatched houses collapsed, and most of them are also dilapidated. There seems to be a faint remnant of various earthen furniture left over from the previous owner, but most of it has also become tattered with the erosion of wind and rain. I finally found two or three houses in this village that were barely standing, of course, the roof was broken with countless big holes, obviously it could no longer keep out the rain, but with the four earthen walls on all sides, it was still able to shelter from the wind.

Yang Zhengdao and Zhongyu reached out and carefully knocked on the wooden door, which looked like it was about to collapse at any moment, and asked if there was anyone in the house. After a while, the sound of someone walking could be heard in the house. Listening to the footsteps seems to be a person with inconvenient legs and feet, and listening to the sound, the footsteps on the ground are very soft, and it seems that a person with a thin body and inconvenient legs and feet is struggling to walk.

Sure enough, the wooden door hut in front of Yang Zhengdao was pulled from the inside. Later, with the help of the sunlight outside, Yang Zhengdao and Zhong Yu saw that the person who opened the door in the house was an old man with silver hair and a hunchback and a thin body. The old man saw that Yang Zhengdao and Zhongyu both had swords crossed their waists, and they saw that their faces were not as good as those of ordinary people, who were tormented by famine. Especially when he saw Zhongyu's face full of Turkic facial features, the old man thought that he had encountered the Turks coming south to plunder the grain, so he held the door frame with one hand and closed the door with the other hand.

After walking for a long time, I finally saw Yang Zhengdao from a family, and he closed the door where he was willing to let him go. So he put the scabbard of the sword in the door against the crack in the door, and no matter how hard the old man in the house pushed the door, he couldn't close it in any way. The old man in the room saw that there was no hope of closing the door, so he knelt down with a grunt, kept kowtowing to the two people in front of him, and said tremblingly in his mouth:

"Two adults, there is really no food left in the old family. The last time those heroic grandfathers came, they took away all the last bit of surplus food in the old family. If you don't believe me, you can go into the house and search it. It's just that the old man is here to beg the two adults, you must be careful when you enter the house, the old man's body is inconvenient, if this house collapses, the old man can only sleep on the ground. So I beg you two adults, don't be too rude. ”

After Yang Zhengdao listened, he knew that the old man was so frightened by the nearby bandits that he had a nervous breakdown. At this moment, everyone looks like a bad person, and thinks that everyone is here to rob him of his food and destroy his house. Seeing the appearance of the old man, it seems that he is almost in his prime, but he has caught up with such a troubled era by this flying disaster. It really made people feel sorry for him, so Yang Zhengdao sighed secretly in his heart, and then reached out to help the old man on the ground.

Where did the old man get up so easily? But how can he never eat a full meal in these chaotic years. Coupled with his advanced age, his body at this time was as light as tissue paper in front of Yang Zhengdao, a second-sword martial artist who was only half-practicing martial arts and half-learning. At this time, Yang Zhengdao stretched out his hand and lifted it upwards vigorously, and the entire body with his feet off the ground was lifted.

Seeing this, Lao Suo had to stand up according to Yang Zhengdao's meaning, but he was still hunched over, I don't know if it was his old hunchback, or if he deliberately made this kind of obedience, wanting to pray for his life.

Yang Zhengdao pulled out the scabbard against the crack in the door, and then carefully pushed the door open, but even so, the adobe wall on the door frame still shook and fell clods of earth downward. Seeing that this thatched house would collapse at some point, Yang Zhengdao and Zhong Yu simply worked together, invited Lao Su out of the house, and came outside to talk. I only heard Yang Zhengdao say to the veteran:

"This old man, please rest assured. We are not the bandits, and we are not the Turks of the north. This friend of mine just happens to look very similar to the Turks, but it is true that he is a Han Chinese from our Central Plains. I am an official sent by the imperial court to take over the affairs of Dingxiang County here, and now I have come down to check on the specific situation of the people. Listen to what you just said, are there other bandits around here? But old man, what about your sons and daughters? In such troubled times, why don't they protect you by your side, but leave you alone in this wilderness? ”

After hearing Yang Zhengdao say that both of them were Han Chinese, and they were not chaotic soldiers and bandits, the old man's emotions had obviously calmed down a lot. I heard Yang Zhengdao mention his children again, so there were two cloudy tears slowly flowing between his eyes.