Xu Wei went all the way from Dingrong to Zezhou, along the way, except for Hezhongfu, which was quite reluctant, the rest of the people in Jiangzhou, Jiezhou and other places fled to seven seven or eighty-eight, and there was no half of a figure in the suburbs, and abandoned villages abounded. And the city is even more weird, the huge city, there are not a few people to come. Only some crazy, crazy, old, and crippled people were left behind, and they were desolate. People who have never seen it with their own eyes can never imagine that kind of situation, for example, the teahouse and restaurant in the city are the most lively place. But now you drill in and out, there is a shadow of you, shouting two voices, and you can make an echo. Don't say that it's cold now, even summer is enough for you to break out in a cold sweat. In this situation, Xu Wei only thought of four words, I am a legend.

When they entered Zezhou, they felt that they were not in the ancient wilderness. General Yang Madu has taken the lead in stationing in Zezhou City, and the surrounding rebel troops have heard the wind in order to see the demeanor of the little cardinal minister.

The ruined city of Zezhou was ruined by Li Jun, and he did not forget to set fire everywhere when he abandoned the city and left. After Xu Wei's troops found a suitable place to camp, he met with the leader of the rebel army and ordered Li Guan to send people to collect information everywhere, especially to pay attention to the movements of the Jurchen army. Yang Yan and others have won all the way and bravely recovered Zezhou, which is naturally worth rejoicing. But he knew in his heart that Li Jun was just a patchwork rabble, not even an army, and it was not something to be proud of Hujie to win against such an opponent.

Soon, after Li Dan entered the Zhaode Mansion, he immediately gathered his troops and retreated in Zhaode City, seemingly waiting for his Lao Tzu to come to reinforcements from the Weisheng Army. However, for the time being, the movements of the Jin army have not been discovered. After Xu Wei ordered close attention, he sent a letter to Shaanxi and reported the results of the battle.

On this day, the troops still stayed in Zezhou for a short rest. Xu Wei took Yang Yan and Ma Tai to walk around after lunch. After dinner, they either strolled under the shade of the trees or wandered along the banks of the river, and the three of them walked through the ruins and walls. Looking at the buildings and shops that were burned beyond recognition by Li Jun, Xu Wei's face deepened and sank. It often takes several generations for a city to grow. It's so hard to build, but it's so easy to destroy.

"This group of pigs and dogs, don't do anything! A good city has been ruined like this! He captured Li Zhi one day, and I slapped them in the big mouth first! Yang Yan's brows were twisted together, and he scolded angrily along the way.

Walking to a place, I saw a plaque thrown on the street, I don't know how many people have trampled on it, but the words "upper temple" can be vaguely seen on it. On the side of the street, I saw that the temple gate was broken, Xu Wei and the other three people entered to see, and even the big tripod with incense was gone. The statue of Shakyamuni Buddha seems to have been pulled down from the altar by life, and even his head was broken in half. The whole hall had no roof, and the surroundings were scorched black after the fire. In this troubled world, the gods and Buddhas not only failed to protect the believers, but also could not protect themselves.

"Whoa!" Mattei suddenly drew his sword and shouted, and he heard an "ouch" behind the altar, followed by the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground, mixed with the sound of water.

Yang Yan rushed over like an arrow, and saw a man, about forty years old, as if he had crawled out of the stove pit, his whole body was black, and he saw two eyeballs. On the ground, a wooden barrel lay horizontally, and all the water was spilled. Seeing that the three of them were all dressed in military uniforms, the man was relieved. He got up and picked up the barrel, bent down and said, "The villain lives in the alley opposite, and there is only a well in the temple around here, so come and fetch some water." ”

Yang Yan snorted coldly: "Most of the people in the city have fled, don't talk to me!" ”

"Where do you say at the festival level, the villain's surname is Cao, his family is big, and he used to sell vegetables here to make a living. To the east of the Golden Dog Kou River, the government asked the people to transfer. But I have no children under my knees, only the old mother at home is sick in bed, unable to walk, and she is dead in Zezhou. Seeing this, the Hun family went back to my parents' house, and I relied on my mother for my life. In this city, the righteous army, the thief, and the Li army came and went, and no one was embarrassed when they saw that my family was surrounded by four walls and was born thin. No, my mother froze her feet, so I warmed some water for the old man. When Cao Da said this, his expression was very calm, and he did not have the joy of seeing Wang Shi, nor the panic of ordinary people. I think I'm used to seeing swords and swords, and I don't take it seriously.

"It's a dutiful son." Matthew praised with empathy.

Cao Da didn't reply, he went straight to the back with the wooden barrel, and after a while, he staggered out with half a bucket of water. Looking at it like this, he seems to be lacking in strength, and I don't know if he is sick or hungry?

"How about I go to your house and see?" Xu Wei asked suddenly.

Cao Da was a little surprised this time, but he still nodded and said, "If the official is not dirty, please come with the villain." With that, he struggled to carry the half bucket of water to the outside of the temple. Xu Wei gave him a look, and Ma Tai rushed forward to carry the bucket for him, as light as pinching a straw. When they arrived at Cao's house, a stench came to their faces, this is a low bungalow, built at the end of the alley, gloomy, dark and damp, Xu Wei and the three of them stood at the door and looked in, and vaguely saw someone lying on the bed. After Cao Da entered, he called his mother, but there was no response.

"Brother Jiu, let's go, it's really uncomfortable...... smoke" Yang Yan shrugged his nose and said.

I didn't want to say this, but Cao Da heard it, and while busy working in the house, he said: "The officials are laughing, and there is no woman at home, so it will be chaotic." Alas, it's not just my family, the whole of Zezhou is in chaos. Looking at the decaying appearance now, who would believe that this is the city of Zezhou that burned charcoal and did not have a single salary? In the words, a little bit of desolation was revealed.

"Charcoal-burning? What kind of charcoal is burned? This Xu Wei didn't understand, he only knew that he committed suicide by burning charcoal.

"Charcoal, we produce charcoal in Zezhou, every household is used to burn fire, cheap and easy to use, a stove of charcoal can burn a night. Are the officials southerners? Inside the house, Cao Da seemed to have lit a fire. Xu Wei sniffed suddenly, the smell was too familiar, it seemed to be ...... A thought suddenly flashed in his mind, and Xu Wei immediately walked into Cao's big room. Passing through the bedroom, there was another room inside, and when I came out, I saw a small courtyard, with dead trees and grass, and a shed supporting against the wall, and Cao Da was sitting under the shed and adding charcoal to the stove. Xu Wei saw at a glance the big black thing piled up not far from the stove, this is not what coal is!

Yang Yan Matai hurriedly chased after him, only to see Brother Jiu squatting in front of the pile of coal, grabbing a handful in one hand, just looking at it. This is really coal! Black gold! How did I forget this, Hedong, roughly Shanxi in the future, Shanxi is China's largest coal mine production base!

Yang Yan Ma Tai looked at each other, isn't it just a pile of coal? Brother Nine deserves this? That Cao Da was very calm, thinking that these were all from Jiangnan and didn't burn charcoal, so I didn't see it and thought it was strange.

"You say, Zezhou produces coal?" Xu Wei turned his head and asked with a staring at Cao Da.

"Media? Where is the matchmaker? Why ......" Cao Da obviously misunderstood.

"It's not! I'm asking, this thing is made in Zezhou? Xu Wei raised the coal in his hand.

Cao Da nodded and said casually: "In addition to Taiyuan Mansion and Jiezhou, we will count the charcoal in our Zezhou. In the past, dozens of miners used the approval of the imperial court to collect charcoal and sell it to nearby prefectures and Tokyo, earning a lot of money. I took this pile of charcoal from outside the city. ”

When Xu Wei heard this, Huo Ran got up: "Is there outside the city?" ”

"Exactly, less than five miles out of the city, there is a big mine, which is the property of the big officials of the East Gate. As soon as they heard that the Jin army was coming, the Dongmen clan fled south, and the mine was abandoned. The villain goes to carry it every half month. Cao Da replied.

Xu Wei stood in place, as if an old monk had settled down, Yang Ma and the two didn't know what was going on, and said in his heart Brother Jiu, what's wrong? It's just coal, how can it be like seeing gold?

When he was suspicious, he heard Xu Wei say, "Let's go, you take me to take a look." ”

Cao Da shook his head again and again, pointed to the stove and said, "I'm boiling water, besides, I still have to ......."

"What so much nonsense! If you are told to go, you will go. Yang Yan said impatiently.

Xu Wei waved at him and said to Cao Daodao with a smile: "In this way, I won't let you run in vain, you lead me there, and I will pay you ten times." "Ten yuan is naturally nothing in a wealthy family, but the situation of the Cao family should still be attractive.

Who knows, Cao Da still shook his head: "There are not a few people left in the city, and tomorrow I don't know who will put up a banner at the head of the city, what is the use of asking for money?" ”

"He's also a bad guy!" Yang Yan was so anxious that he was helpless, so he simply turned sideways.

Xu Wei thought about it, not only was it useless to give him ten pounds of money, but it also took up people's space, thought about it, and said: "Then how about giving you fifty catties of new wheat and ten catties of meat?" ”

Cao Da jumped up as if his butt was on fire, and said nervously: "Really? You don't cheat me? "Fifty catties of wheat can't be broken much when ground into flour, enough for his mother and mother to eat for a long time! Not to mention ten catties of meat! At this moment, it is more precious than gold and silver!

Yang Yan finally broke out, jumping to his feet and shouting, "Huh? The dignified Dingrong Zhijun, the Hedong recruitment, the official family with the imperial equipment, will you be a peddler? ”

Cao Da was really shocked, he saw these three people coming in in armor, thinking that they were just officers who had entered the city. Wufu, I've seen a lot, but they're just some vulgar soldiers. I didn't expect that the young man in front of him would have such a big background! In a panic, he stabbed and knelt down, supported the ground with his hands and stammered: "Villain, villain, it's really, no, I don't know, don't look at the adult, it's good to blame." ”

At that moment, Cao Da led the three of him out of the city, Zezhou is now mixed with dragons and snakes, for safety, Xu Wei transferred a team of soldiers from the camp and went straight to the outside of the city. When I arrived at the mine that Cao Da said, the scale was not small, and there were several mines. And they are all fully equipped and have everything available. In other words, if you hire someone to pick it up now and transport it to Tokyo, Shaanxi, that's the money!