Chapter 1 Autumnal Equinox

It has reached this point that the officials can't think of a better idea than "a dead horse as a live horse doctor". At the moment of the book, Chu Wanjun took two calculating staff members overnight to the nearest county town to raise the wealth for the "Rewarding Master", and the rest of the civil and military officials were led by Wei Zheng and Wei Deshen, seizing the time to prepare all the materials needed for the army.

The next day was a terrible day, with snow flakes the size of buckwheat husks falling from the clouds. The officials of Wuyang County were eager to save themselves, regardless of the cold weather, and led the county soldiers to pull out hastily. I crawled for more than 20 miles in the morning, and everyone was exhausted. By midday, the snow was getting heavier. The howling north wind whipped the snow particles and clanged against the frozen armor. The officials shrank their heads into their fur coats, stumbling and barely able to continue their journey, but the soldiers were so cold that they couldn't even hold their weapons, crying for their fathers and mothers, and wailing.

With such morale, even if he can rush to Liyang City, he doesn't have the strength to fight the thieves. The two officials were forced to find a shelter and temporarily stop the team to rest. I don't dare to hope that I can arrive at Liyang in time to turn the tide and fall immediately, I just hope that God can be fairer, and let the bandits taste the taste of this "white-haired wind". It's best to freeze to death on the way with people and horses, and God has finally opened his eyes and removed a group of scourges for the people.

Heaven and earth are unkind, and all things are used as dogs. Maybe I heard the prayers of the officials of Wuyang County, or maybe in the eyes of God, whether it is rich or poor, whether it is an official or a thief, it is all the same cheap and insignificant. This heavy snow really fell from the Yellow River to Yanshan, covering the entire land of Hebei in silver.

It snowed for two days and two nights, and on the morning of the third day, after the clouds fell, a faint sunlight barely appeared. Green smoke curled on the roofs of the rich and noble, and the heat was steaming inside. Ordinary people have neither dry firewood for heating nor surplus food for their stomachs, and they are about to freeze and starve to death.

As soon as the snow stopped, the county guard of Liyang immediately ordered people to take out the stored grain from the warehouse and set up a porridge shed in the city for disaster relief. At this time, the people who were waiting to be killed finally had hope, and they flocked to the porridge shed with large and small bowls, and a long queue formed in front of the porridge shed. At noon, not only did the homeless and beggars in the city get the news, but even the poor people living in the villages around the city also came with their families and knelt at the gate of the city to beg the county keeper to give them a way to live.

"Where you live, there are good squires who are responsible for the almsgiving. What are you doing in the city? Without Jijun's order to guard Zhang Wenqi, the messenger guarding the door did not dare to open the door, and stood on the wall and reprimanded loudly.

"Go back, go home and wait! The relief food will be delivered to Lizheng in the afternoon! Minzhuang, who was temporarily hired by the government, was also startled by the black oppressive head outside the city, and stretched his neck to admonish.

The people of the city were speechless, but kept prostrating and weeping. After crying for a while, and seeing that the servants still had no intention of opening the door, several elderly people raised their faces full of ice mounds and prayed loudly, "Please be merciful, old man, and let the women and children go in for a hot meal." The house at home has long been uninhabitable, and our old bones are frozen to death, but the children can't survive any longer! ”

"Please be gracious, gentlemen!" The women and children cried in unison, and the misery was unbearable. The people at the head of the city are all local bitter haha, and before they opened their mouths, their eyes turned red first. One by one, they turned around to look at Zhao Guizi, the team leader who was in charge of guarding the door, and asked him to give him an idea. In front of everyone's eyes, Zhao Guizi was also very helpless, leaned out half of his body again, and persuaded softly, "Don't say sad words about the old people. Our Zhang Junshou is a good person. In order to help everyone, he put all his family property on board. Everyone endure for one more day, just one day, and tomorrow morning at the latest, the food will definitely be delivered to the fortress! ”

"Uncle Zhao, look at us like this, can you stay up until tomorrow morning?" An old man who knew the head of the team in charge of guarding the door lifted the single coat with many holes and sores, pointed to the shriveled belly and cried.

"Uncle Zhao, okay. I'll definitely give you a shrine in the future! From now on, you will be our reborn parents! Kneeling at the back of the crowd were young men, mourning in unison.

"Zhao Bodhisattva, living Bodhisattva!"

As soon as he put on a few high hats, Zhao Bantou couldn't pull his face anymore. Grinning, he shouted outside the city in great embarrassment, "It's not that I won't let you go, it's that I can't be the master!" In order to prevent thieves from taking advantage of the chaos, no one is allowed to open the city gate without his own instructions! ”

Before the words fell, a few people immediately responded with a cry, "Uncle, look at us when we are so hungry, do you still have the strength to make trouble?" ”

"Children, quick, kowtow to Uncle Zhao!" A strong man with a broken straw hat took a few steps forward and ordered several scrawny children.

"Kowtow to Uncle Zhao. Uncle Zhao, you are rich and noble, the prince of Wandai! The child was very obedient, lowered his dirty head, and crashed into the snow with a pop.

At this time, Zhao Guizi's heart became more and more unbearable, and he waved his hand at the city again and again, "Don't, don't, don't knock." I really can't be the master, I really can't be the master! ”

The broken straw hat knelt straight on the ground, tilted his head and asked, "Are you afraid that the adults will make trouble, can't you pity the poor children?" We'll all step away, can you save the child? ”

With that, he stood up, took the lead, and stepped back. The young men who followed the old and weak women and children covered their faces with their hands and staggered away with their heels. It was not until he was two hundred paces away from the city gate that he stopped, knelt in the snow and continued to pray for mercy.

"Children, whether you can survive depends on Uncle Zhao!" A few women in the middle of the children, their clothes so tattered that they couldn't go any further, continued to knock.

"Ask Uncle Zhao to be gracious! Help us! The children wept and kowtowed. Soon, blood came out of the corners of his forehead, staining the ground red.

"Don't, don't, don't knock, I beg you!" The head of the team, Zhao Guizi, grinned, and tears flowed all over his face. They are all local fathers and elders, and they can usually close their eyes and pretend not to see them one by one become starving on the side of the road. Now to watch a group of clever children die in the snow, his heart is as uncomfortable as a knife piercing.

Wiping two handfuls of tears vigorously, Zhao Bantou gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, and ordered loudly, "Come on, open a small crack in the door, and let the children enter the city first!" ”

"Zhao Tou, I'm afraid this doesn't match the order of Lord County Guard!" A servant named Guo Changshun was vigilant, pulled the sleeve of Zhao's abduction, and reminded in a low voice.

"This ......" Zhao Bantou immediately hesitated again, rubbing his red eyes and not knowing what to do.

"Why don't we ask the county keeper for some advice first?" Guo Changshun thought about it and proposed in a low voice.

A small official of Zhao Bantou's level has never had the opportunity to meet the county guard, and the so-called request for instructions is just a disguised prevarication. "This?" The kind-hearted team leader hesitated, and at this moment, the people in the city shouted again, "Changshun, you lack virtue and smoke, I remember where your ancestral grave is!" You look at it with wide eyes, this is your own uncle and brother! ”

"Brother Changshun, I'm hungry!" A little boy knelt in the snow, craned his neck and cried.

"Haruko, Haruko, look at it, I'm your fifth aunt!" An old man also recognized his relatives from the city, and pleaded with his neck.

"Dog, dog, have pity on your nephew!"

In an instant, there was a cry from the city to the city. They are all natives of Liyang, who have few relatives in the countryside who have turned corners. In the past two years, the people have been tired several times, and it is really strange that a snow of such a large number does not freeze to death and starve to death hundreds of people. Some people immediately remembered their lost relatives and friends, and some people also remembered their half-starved wives and children at home, and no one could say anything if they refused, and looked at Zhao Bantou and asked him to make a decision.

"They, they're all locals!" Zhao Bantou glanced down a few more times, wiped his tears and discussed with everyone. "In addition to retreating from those, the rest of the old and small ones are only more than a hundred people, and how much trouble can they cause. Let's secretly open a crack in the door, even if we accumulate virtue for ourselves. No one will say anything in the future, and the boss may not be seriously investigated! ”

"That's just a slit and let them go in one by one. It's best to drop the iron gates of the Urn City as well, and make sure they've all been searched and put in one by one! Guo Changshun is really a dead man, frowning and suggesting.

The people didn't bother to pay any more attention to him, and trotted down the wall to open the door. Only then did he push open a crack in the city gate, and the old and weak women and children at the gate immediately rushed inside like wolves that had seen meat.

"Don't, don't, one by one!" When the team leader Zhao Guizi saw this scene, he regretted it in his heart. Lean down half and keep order loudly.

At this moment, who is willing to listen to him again, everyone is afraid of falling behind and losing the chance to live. Some of these ragged "women" were so strong that they squeezed the city gate wide open in three strokes and two blows, and even the people of Kaecheng were caught behind the door panels. Seeing this scene, those middle-aged men who had retreated before did not speak of credibility, spread their legs, and rushed to the city gate one by one.

Guo Changshun felt bad, and pulling his legs was like running with an iron gate. As he ran, he shouted loudly, "Hurry, hurry up and drop the iron gate." There is fraud, there is fraud! ”

Before he could run to the wheel of the iron gate, a short crossbow flew out of the people who had already rushed into the urn city, hitting him in the chest. Guo Changshun screamed, "Ah! "He fell from the city with his teeth and claws.

"Brothers, take the gates!" A "woman" dropped the short crossbow used by the charlatans and drew a horizontal knife from her clothes. The other "women" who followed the old man and the child agreed, took out their horizontal knives from under their tattered flowers, and rushed down the road towards the city.

Losing the hijacking of these people, the old and weak women and children also immediately exploded the group. Picking up his head, crying and scurrying around. Occasionally, he stood in the way of the thief, and was immediately pushed to the ground without hesitation, and in the blink of an eye, several pairs of big feet stepped on the fallen body, not caring whether he lived or died.

"Win the door, take the door!" Where is a woman, it is clearly a group of fierce gods and evil. Rushing up the city wall in a group, sewing people and chopping them up. Most of the county soldiers in the city were taken by Feng Xiaoci to Fushan, a few hundred miles away, and the rest of the people were all temporarily recruited, and they had seen this kind of battle before. As soon as they fought, more than a dozen of them were immediately cut down, and Yu screamed miserably and fled in all directions.

"Blow the horn and order the cavalry to charge directly in!" A moment later, the man in the straw hat stood at the head of the city with a sword, majestic. The minions next to him agreed, and immediately blew the horn up, "Woo, woo, woo......."

"Woo, woo, woo......." In the distant woods, there was a desolate sound of horns to greet each other. Hundreds of war horses with ice slag falling from their bodies galloped out, pulling up a striking black line on the snow.