Li Chongwen and tens of thousands of refugees were starving in the city of Renshou County, waiting for the food to arrive. The area around the county is also not having a good time, and it is also experiencing a lack of food, including cottage bandits.

At the eastern foot of the middle section of the Longquan Mountain Range, which is seventy miles northwest of Renshou County, there is a village that rises up by the mountain, with a radius of several miles, and is called Niujiao Village.

This village goes up through the ridge, the mountains on three sides of the north, south and east are connected, the mountains are stacked on top of each other, the west side is condescending, and the thousands of miles of flat domain of the dam in the west of Sichuan are seen at a glance. The ancient cypress in the village is lush, and the strange stones are craggy. The main village is a small flat dam on the cliff, and there is only a stone step path with a width of more than a foot that spirals up the cliff. There is a small temple under the main village, the cliff cliff on the west side of the temple behind the temple, the head of Maitreya is engraved according to the mountain.

This big Buddha is five zhang high, with his hands folded, sitting east to west. According to local legends, this is the ancient Buddha of the Tang Dynasty, which was built several years earlier than the famous Leshan Giant Buddha. And because this Buddha in addition to the head and hands, the neck is not finished, and the appearance of the head of the Buddha is strikingly similar to the Leshan Giant Buddha, so the local people are said that Master Hayden went to this Niujiao Village to carve an experimental object before building the Leshan Giant Buddha.

It is precisely because of the dangerous terrain of Niujiaozhai that it is located at the junction of Renshou County and Jianzhou, less than ten miles away from the main road from Chengdu Mansion to Renshou County, so it has been an important place for soldiers since ancient times. Once the dynasty declined, it was plagued by banditry.

A few zhang above the head of the big Buddha, it is the main village of Niujiao Village. There is a Juyi Hall in the east of the main village. In the middle of the hall, the chair is paved with tiger skin, and there is a black-faced bearded man sitting cross-legged, this is the second-generation owner of Niujiaozhai, Zhang Guangzu, who is known as the "black whirlwind" in the rivers and lakes.

"Second brother, can you find out clearly, when will the next batch of grain be delivered? The way to go? Come! Come! Don't stand, sit! Sit! Zhang Guangzu greeted warmly.

In front of the tiger skin chair stood a middle-aged man in a long robe. His face was emaciated, his complexion was sallow, and his expression was slightly tired.

This person's name is Chen Huainian, the second leader of Niujiaozhai. He thanked the eldest brother, turned around and sat down in the chair below, and replied:

"The younger brother went to Tang Fatzizhuang to investigate the truth and got a definite news: the grain is no longer on the land route, but on the water route. There is a lot of grain in this batch, it is said that there are tens of thousands of stones, and it is impossible to pull it by land. The grain team disembarked at Meizhou, and then crossed the mountains to the county seat.

From Meizhou to Renshou, you must pass through Heilong Beach. Heilong Beach is sandwiched between two mountains and a beach, which is a good place to ambush. It's just that the distance between our Niujiaozhai and Heilongtan is too far. If you don't know the time to transport grain, it is difficult to intercept and kill halfway. If you go early, it's easy to leak news on the road; When he was done, the fat sheep ran away again. If you get food, it will be troublesome to transport it back. Walking along the mountain, it will take at least a day or two to walk back. ”

Zhang Guangzu pondered for a moment, and said hatefully: "No matter how difficult it is, Lao Tzu has to make this vote!" Second brother, you see, since my brother broke the county, how many more people have there been in my village overnight? Even the temple under the village is full! On the surface, the momentum of the village seems to be soaring, but in fact, I, the family, understand it in my heart. Without food, no matter how loud the momentum is, it will only be a matter of a few days!

Lao Liu ordered the warehouse yesterday and said that the grain on the mountain can be eaten for a month at most. After January, we're all hungry. Fuck, the savings of the seven of us brothers for several years, these bastards will give Lao Tzu a fine meal in less than a month! ”

The more Zhang Guangzu spoke, the more angry he became, and slapped the armrest of the chair with his slap: "It's all fucking locusts!" Lao Tzu didn't look at the faces of the villagers who had been up and down the mountain for hundreds of years, and drove them down the mountain to starve to death! ”

The boss scolded and scolded, and his saliva splashed; There was no one answering in the hall, and the atmosphere was awkward. Chen Huainian sat for a while, and saw that the boss had no intention of stopping, so he had to say:

"Okay, big brother, little brother will go and find out. The younger brother in the wharf warehouse on the east bank of Meizhou has an acquaintance, and he may know something. But the younger brother thought, I went back and forth so far, and there was too much delay on the way. Can the eldest brother lead people to ambush in advance, so as not to slip away from the food. ”

Hearing that the second child had a way, the black whirlwind Zhang Guangzu was suddenly overjoyed.

He immediately nodded in response: "You set off with your third brother today, and you will return immediately when you find out the news." We are in ambush, we can't be too close to the avenue, and we can't leak the heavenly secrets in advance, otherwise these turtle sons will be able to shout in less than half a day, and the whole county will know about it! Two days later, I led my fourth, fifth and seventh brothers along the mountain road, but the sixth brother still stayed in the village.

We brought with us all those who wanted to eat, and when it was time to fight hard, we made it clear to them that our brothers had done their duty. If you don't fight for your life, if you can't grab food, you will starve to death! ”

Meizhou East Coast Wharf to Renshou County 80 miles, more than 30 miles of flat road in front, more than 40 miles of mountain road behind. He Qiukou and his son quickly stepped up, and entered Renshou County in more than an hour, and found Li Chongwen in the county office. When Li Chongwen heard the joy, he hurriedly called Lu San to organize manpower, and personally led the team to respond.

By the time the five or six thousand chaotic refugees had assembled, the time had passed. Under the leadership of Li Chongwen, the whole team set off from the West Gate to meet the refugees, and the father and son of the He family and Li Chongwen opened the road in front together. Winter gets dark early, and the sky is already gray by this time. Fortunately, there were many burned houses in the city, and each of the refugees prepared a piece of wood that could be lit as a torch when it was dark to light the mountain road.

"Uncle He, didn't you see bandits on the road?" Li Chongwen is no stranger to He Qiukou, he generally follows He Youyi's name.

"Nope." He Qiukou has always spoken cleanly. He shook his head and said, "I paid attention on the way here, and I also caught a few passers-by for questioning, and they all said that they were very safe, and they didn't see any bandits and robbers." By the way, Mr. Li, I asked the passers-by where they went, why did they all say to vote for you? ”

Li Chongwen smiled and explained: "I have food there." Uncle He, if you bring the grain, there will be more people who vote for me! ”

He Qiukou said: "This time there are only 6,000 stones, and I heard that there are more than 10,000 stones to arrive." We delivered the goods tonight, rested for a day tomorrow, and returned to Meizhou the day after tomorrow, ready to ship again. ”

"With this food, we finally don't have to worry about eating." Li Chongwen was very interested, and he was laughing all the way, "But there are tens of thousands of refugees crowded in a county town, and this is not a long-term solution." It's also thanks to a righteous brother that I am willing to send a general like you to me. When we have enough food, we can divide the people into the villages, and train the villagers in each village according to the instructions of the prince, and then I will have to borrow a lot from Uncle He! ”

He Qiukou responded happily: "That relationship is good, I have long wanted to do my old job!" These Ding Zhuang are full of food, and half of them are used as soldiers! Zhuang Ding wants to use his own slaves, and if he has practiced well, he will see blood again, and then he will be no different from the family members among the officers and soldiers. If you tie up your family with silver, you are not afraid of them disobeying your orders. Whoever dares to escape from the battle will drive out his father, mother, wife and baby to starve to death!

After praising the Zhuang household Ding Zhuang, He Qiukou scolded the military households in the guard again.

"Where are those sub-military households used? They are the tenants of the officers, and they are so hungry that they are not even as good as calling Hanako, and they are fighting a fart battle! If the old man had the money back then, he could train more soldiers by himself, and he would have kicked those military households a long time ago, where would he throw his life in Baiqingba! After the old man left, the young master also learned from the pain and practiced some Zhuang Ding in his own village. I saw it today, and the people in my village are stronger than the guards of the palace! ”

It was dark and torches were lit. The sporadic firelight converged on the mountain path and pulled into a swimming fire dragon.

He Li and the two chatted all the way, and the team behind them chatted enthusiastically.

A few new investors talked as they walked. One farmer triumphantly held a torch and said to another: "Zhang San, what do you see what I make of this torch?" ”

"What?" Zhang San took a closer look.

"Do you see the flowers painted on it?"

"See, isn't it the rafters of a big family? What am I doing here, Li Si, guess what? Zhang San was not convinced, and raised his torch to Li Si.

The torch stick was slender and round, as if it had been removed from some piece of furniture.

"Can't guess, can you?" Zhang San glared at the world with wide eyes, and proudly revealed the mystery, "Tell you, this is the mosquito net pole on the bed of the eldest lady of Old Lady Yu's boudoir!" ”

"How do you know it's Miss Yu in bed? I look like a mallet, which old woman uses it for day X at night! Li Si, who was fighting in the ring, was not convinced, and hotly rejected Zhang San's sentence. The refugees who listened to the excitement around them suddenly laughed and laughed.

"Phew, your turtle son can't eat fine chaff! I have a relative's second mother-in-law (Note 1), who used to work as a domestic servant at Mrs. Yu's house for a few years, so she naturally recognizes her. She said......"

Food was sent from the palace, and the morale of the refugee contingent was high. Although it was a mountain road, everyone walked fast. It's just that people can't run as fast as horses after all, and after walking down the mountain road for more than 20 miles, the team gradually lost its life. I don't know how many hills have passed, and the big guy is resting for a while, and a sharp-eyed farmer in front of him shouted. It turned out that a long fire dragon was also pulled out of the col opposite, and it was not surprising that it was a grain convoy from Meizhou.

After the team delivering the grain met with the team carrying the grain, several more people pushed and pulled in each car. Although the mountain was getting higher and higher, the speed of the team's advance increased. Finally, in the cheers of women and children, the convoy drove into the city gate cave at the west gate of Renshou County.