The weather was getting colder and the snow was getting deeper. It is a season of melancholy, as if in the mood of many people.

The county town of Jingyang County was crowded with people. These people come from different state capitals, speak different dialects, and live in the dark cage of Jingyang City.

Because of the cold weather, from time to time people will freeze to death at night. The bodies of these frozen people would be transported out of the city the next day and thrown into the wilderness to feed the wild beasts.

Jingyang City has been occupied by Western Thieves. Due to the cold weather, the thieves did not continue to wander, but chose to nest in the city for the winter.

The western thieves fought all the way from Yizhou to Chuzhou, and the population of the Wrapping Association has exceeded 300,000. Among them, there are no less than 100,000 people who can fight, and most of the rest are young men and women who serve as coolies.

The thieves swept through the country like locusts crossing the border, and the money and food they looted was immeasurable, and it was reasonable that it should be enough for these people to survive. However, because the leader of the Western Thieves is stingy by nature, among the Western Thieves, except for the soldiers, the others are basically not full of food and clothing.

The leader of the Western Thieves is surnamed Sun Mingfu, and the word Guangzong.

Sun Fu is a native of Nanshan County, Yizhou, born as a tenant, and his ancestors farmed instead of others. In his generation, due to poor growth and inability to pay the rent, the land was taken away by the landlord, and the family was cut off. Sun Fu, who had no land to plant, was ruthless, left his wife and children, and went to the county town alone.

Sun Fu, who had just entered the county town, was unfamiliar with his life, and instead of finding a way to make money, he joined an underground church called Ascension Sect that burned incense and worshiped God.

Sun Fu had nowhere to stay, so he simply messed around in the Ascension Sect. Because of his flexible mind and heroic appearance, he was very popular with the sect members, and it didn't take long for him to get the blue eyes of the sect leader and accept him as a personal disciple.

The sect leader was nearly sixty years old and had no heirs, and Sun Fu liked him very much, so he cultivated Sun Fu as his own son.

Although the sect leader is a god stick, he does have some skills. Under him, Sun Fu not only learned martial arts, but also learned to read and write, and how to pretend to be a ghost and fool the disciples.

After a few more years, the old sect leader whined, and left his last words on his deathbed, asking Sun Fu to inherit his mantle and become the new leader of the Ascension Sect. At that time, Sun Fufang was in his early thirties.

After that, through Sun Fu's efforts, the Ascension Sect grew stronger and stronger, and for a time every county in Nanshan County had the Tankou Dojo of the Ascension Sect, and the number of followers grew to more than 100,000.

The growth of the Ascension Sect made the Nanshan County Government feel bad. Immediately, the Ascension Cult was brutally attacked, and countless members were either arrested or killed.

Sun Fu couldn't bear to watch the situation he had so hard to create be destroyed by others, and he simply pulled up the anti-flag and launched a rebellion.

What he didn't expect was that the sect members who were in a hurry to get up in a hurry easily captured Nanshan City, and then they were out of control, and in just a few dozen days, they successively captured the other seven counties of Nanshan County.

However, the successive victories did not swell Sun Fu, although he created a rebellion against the court, he still couldn't get rid of the fear of the court in his bones.

Because he was afraid that the imperial court would send a large army to suppress him, Sun Fu did not stick to the city he occupied, but cooperated with the people, and fought all the way from Yizhou to Chuzhou.

Along the way, the various performances of the officers and soldiers he encountered made Sun Fu more and more suspicious of whether he would continue to wander. With such a vulnerable government, what are you afraid of it?

So after the winter, Sun Fu finally decided to take a break in Jingyang City, or start from Jingyang County and slowly encroach on the rivers and mountains of this great summer.

…

At night, in Jingyang City, a magnificent mansion is brightly lit.

A young man of about seventeen years old, nearly seven feet tall, with a tall figure, born with sword eyebrows and starry eyes, heroic and extraordinary. He wore a crown of hair on his head and a wide robe, like a rich child, and was sitting upright at a sandalwood table at the moment, quietly listening to his husband's lectures.

The boy's name is Sun Xun. From the appearance alone, no one can see that he is the son of the thief Sun Fu.

There were three gentlemen who gave lectures to Sun Xun. One is a native of Nanshan County, Yizhou, surnamed Su Mingfu, about 50 years old.

Su Fu was originally the chief staff of the county guard of Nanshan County, and after the county town was breached, because the whole family fell into the hands of Sun Fu, he had to succumb to the thief.

Speaking of which, he is not only Sun Xun's teacher, but also Sun Fu's military advisor. Whenever Sun Fu encountered something that he couldn't decide, he would humbly ask him for advice. Because his fate has been linked to the anti-thief, in order to protect himself, Su Fu had to try his best to give advice to Sun Fu.

Another gentleman is named Huang Su, who was about to stand up and was originally a fallen talent in Yizhou.

This person is different from Su Fu, he is the first scholar who took the initiative to vote for Sun Fu. The reason why he voted for Sun Fu is very simple, that is, he feels that he has no talent and cannot be displayed, and he wants to follow the thieves to make a name for himself and leave a name in history.

Sun Fu doesn't trust Huang Su very much. He always felt that it was unbelievable that a scholar would come to take refuge in himself while he was living a peaceful life. But Sun Fu didn't like to snub Huang Su, so he arranged for him to be his eldest son's husband.

The last gentleman was a native of Gaoyang County, Chuzhou, and was only taken under Sun Fu a few months ago.

The Han brothers who are far away in Lingxian County may not have thought that their father is still alive and is now working as a husband for the son of the enemy who killed his wife.

Han Tong, who has experienced all kinds of changes, looks a lot haggard. His eyes were blank, like a walking corpse.

On the day when the western thieves entered Rotten Peach Village, Han Tong, who was usually solemn and majestic, was so frightened that he was arrested without resistance.

Seeing that he was weak and incompetent, the thieves knew that he was a scholar, so they sent him to Su Fu. After Su Fu learned about his experience, he couldn't help but pity him, so he recommended to Sun Fu and let him stay by Sun Xun's side as a gentleman.

His wife died, and his two sons were unknown. Now Han Tong can be said to be alone, with nothing. He thought about suicide more than once, but each time he didn't have enough courage. He was afraid of death, so he chose to live.

…

Sun Xun is a very smart teenager. The three gentlemen who taught him felt this deeply.

The subset of scripture and history, the art of war, and even poetry and songs, there is almost nothing that Sun Xun can't learn. Sun Xun is not only a fast learner, but also has a strong memory, and it is an exaggeration to say that he has the ability to never forget.

What surprised the gentlemen the most was Sun Xun's attitude. He sincerely treats the three gentlemen as teachers, so he has always been polite, modest and teachable, and never put on a show.

Sun Xun's childhood was actually very unfortunate, when he was two years old, his father Sun Fu left him and his mother and went into the city alone. In order to survive, his mother had to take him to remarry a butcher in a neighboring village.

When Sun Xun was a little older, he followed his stepfather to learn to kill pigs, and he was beaten all over his body. It was the saddest experience of his entire childhood.

At that time, Sun Xun was most envious of the son of the landlord's family who went to study in a private school.

Every time he and his stepfather went to the town to sell meat, Sun Xun would secretly go to the private school to listen to his husband's lectures, perhaps because of his talent, he actually learned to read and write in this situation.

Later, Sun Fu became famous in the city and sent someone to pick up his mother and son, and Sun Xun finally got rid of the life that was worse than pigs and dogs.