After Liu Jiye fled back to the city, he brought filial piety to worship his 600 strong men, and wept bitterly. After this battle, Emperor Liu Jiyuan was frightened and did not dare to accept the proposal to attack the camp at night, so he only closed the four cities to prevent the Song army from attacking the city again. The emperor of the Later Han Dynasty climbed high and looked into the north every day in the palace, looking to the north, like a lookout stone, and his messenger for help had already been sent out, but the Khitans never showed up. Could it be that the father emperor has abandoned him as a child emperor? As time passed, Liu Jiyuan became more and more desperate.

In the past two days, Yang Hao has gotten along with Cheng Shixiong closely, Yang Hao's rules and politeness in his previous life have disappeared under the influence of these veteran soldiers, and now he is becoming more and more like a soldier, a somewhat ruffian but more wild soldier.

On this day, he, Fan Laosi, and Liu Shixuan led a group of soldiers to leave the camp and sweep to the southwest. Because the army received news, the remnants of the Northern Han Dynasty, who had been scattered and fled, had destroyed the grain route in the past two days and attacked the baggage team that had rushed from Guangyuan. Since Cheng Shixiong's original task was to be responsible for sweeping the periphery, the official family redeployed the forbidden army that originally besieged Xicheng to the front line after a little rectification, and shared part of the defense on behalf of Cheng Shixiong, so that he dispatched all the way to ensure the safety of the grain road. Originally, Yang Hao was his personal soldier and did not need to perform such a task, but although Cheng Shixiong said that he did not follow personal feelings in the military camp, he had some care for him after all, so he let him take on this task, which was not without the meaning of tempering.

"Commander Yang, there is a village ahead, maybe there will be remnants of the defeated soldiers of the Northern Han Dynasty hiding in the village, should we go and search it?"

Fan Laosi pointed to a small village in front of him and asked Yang Hao. Fan Laosi and Liu Shixuan are the "messengers" of this way, they are officials, but they have no grade, they are just the leaders of these 100 soldiers, Yang Hao is Cheng Shixiong's personal soldiers, and after being sent, he temporarily appointed an "instructor" officer, who is the person in charge of this team, but this "commander" is also a minor official who is not in the stream, and he does not even have a grade.

Yang Hao looked forward, only to see a village on the plain, the village is very dilapidated, ruins and broken walls, thatched huts and earthen walls, there is a small river in front of the village, all around are very barren, even if there are really remnants of the Northern Han Dynasty, there is no way to set up an ambush here, so he said: "Make, I will lead all the way to the village, Brother Liu, Brother Fan, you take care of it on the flank." ”

Yang Hao led the troops for the first time, although there were only more than 100 soldiers under his command, and he was an officer who was younger than Bi Ma Wen, but he was very cautious in any decision, and he was also very protective of the soldiers, "Brothers rush me" and "Brothers rush with me" which is really to treat others as brothers, even if these soldiers are all illiterate people who can't read big words, they can also distinguish clearly, he keeps in mind the sentence "only by taking the lead can you get the support of the soldiers", and you must take the lead in case of trouble, and the two originally very arrogant "messengers" at the end of the day There is already some real respect for him.

After Yang Hao finished speaking, he didn't wait for them to excuse himself, so he led all the way to the village first. The village was quiet, this group of soldiers rushed in with knives and guns, and there was no scene of chickens flying and dogs jumping, this village was too poor, just like the two century-old jujube trees with sparse leaves at the entrance of the village, shriveled without a trace of oil and water.

Yang Hao did not search every yard and every house, and those broken yards and broken houses could not hide the ten people who hid them, he just walked along the main road until he reached the end of the village, and arranged guards on some main paths, and then waved his hand to the back, Fan Laosi and Liu Shixuan, the two soldiers, immediately led the troops to disperse, searched door by door, and drove the villagers out.

There are people in the village, and in spite of the war, these ancestors have lived here for generations, and only a handful of people have been twenty miles away from their homes from birth to death, and they were born and raised here, and they only want to die here, even though it is so barren. So when these people who didn't have much knowledge, but had seen the Great Song soldiers, the Zhejia soldiers, the Northern Han soldiers, the Khitan soldiers, and even the bandits who came from the Western Regions to rob from afar, were driven out of the house one by one, Yang Hao did not see the panic on their faces, but a blank look.

These villagers are old and young, men and women, but without exception they are skinny and tattered, and some of them are so poor that their children have no clothes to wear, and they come out wrapped in shabby sheets.

Yang Hao frowned slightly, and said to Fan Laosi, who came forward: "They are all bitter villagers, none of them are like soldiers who are paid, don't be difficult for them." ”

Fan Laosi grinned and said: "Haha, Commander Yang doesn't have to worry, in addition to some tattered altars and jars in these villagers' homes, as well as the bedding that is about to rot, where are there other things, the brothers can't look down on." ”

Yang Hao carried a knife, his eyes swept over the villagers with dull expressions, and when he saw a few young girls with yellow faces and hungry skinny, he said: "Well, no matter whether there is anything valuable or not, you are not allowed to rob them, this is the rule that I lead the soldiers, and there is another rule, you must not rape women." ”

Fan Laosi said: "This one, Fan Laosi dares to pat his chest to Commander Yang and assure that under the command of General Cheng, we will attack the city and plunder the land, fight in the field, and pick up and loot money, and the general will not prohibit it, but this obscene word, our Cheng family army will never offend." ”

As soon as Fan Laosi's words fell, he heard a woman's cry coming from a broken house: "Master Jun, spare my mother and son, oops......"

Yang Hao's eyebrows raised slightly, and he immediately walked towards the house, Fan Laosi had just boasted about Haikou in front of him, and now listening to this movement, I don't know if any soldier saw the color and wanted to bully other women, so he couldn't help but scold, and hurried with Yang Hao.

Yang Hao rushed to the courtyard, and saw a soldier holding a knife in one hand and was about to break into the room, but a woman grabbed his arm and dragged him out, and at the same time begged bitterly: "Master Jun, the little woman didn't lie to you, she really didn't lie to you......"

Yang Hao didn't look like a soldier bullying a woman, his face was full of anger, and he asked in a deep voice, "What's wrong?" ”

The soldier turned his head to see that it was him, and hurriedly shook off the woman, and said, "Yang commanded, his subordinates were ordered to search the house and bring all the villagers out, but this woman blindly obstructed her under the pretext that her son was suffering from a strange disease. ”

"Oh?" Yang Hao looked at the woman, this woman was not too old, she seemed to be in her early thirties, but her hair was gray, her face was haggard, and she had a rare shadow of her own mother, Yang Hao's heartstrings trembled slightly, and he hurriedly said: "Sister-in-law, don't cry, how old is your son, what kind of illness does he have, and he can't see the light?" ”

When the woman saw that he was kind and kind, she threw herself at his feet and pleaded with tears: "This captain, you are good, let go of the little woman, let go of the little woman's son, my family is poor and dilapidated, where will there be any Han soldiers, the little woman does not dare to deceive the captain, my son has suffered from a strange disease since he was a child, and he usually seems to be nothing different, but he can't see the sun, as long as he is exposed to the sun, he will get blistered, and if he doesn't get it right, his whole body will ulcerate, and his life is in danger." The little woman told the truth, and everyone in the village knew it, and she would never dare to deceive the captain. ”

Fan Laosi was furious: "You woman is talking nonsense again, are you a human or a ghost?" There is no one in the world who is not afraid of anything, but is afraid of seeing the sun, you are clearly prevaricating and deceiving my family! ”

The woman was so frightened that she trembled when he drank it, Yang Hao waved his hand to stop Fan Laosi, bent down and picked up the woman, and said slowly: "This commander was ordered to search for the remnants of the Northern Han Army, this house must be searched, since you said that your son can't see the sun, then I'll go in and have a look, how about it?" ”

Before the woman could answer, Fan Laosi said, "In this case, the subordinate went in and searched." With that, he kicked open the door and entered. Yang Hao was grateful to him for his care for him, but he was not very comfortable with his reckless style, he frowned slightly, and then followed.

The door was kicked open, and a beam of sunlight shone in, forming a rectangular light and shadow on the ground, and on the opposite kang, a scrawny child squatted, raising a small arm like a thin cucumber, trying to block the harsh sunlight.

Fan Laosi only glanced at him when he entered the house, and he didn't look at him a second time as if he was dead, he held the steel knife tightly and looked around cautiously, but there was not a single decent furniture in this dilapidated room, it was empty everywhere, where could people be hidden.

Yang Hao followed the house, glanced at the child, and said, "Close the door." ”

Then the soldier who came in hurriedly closed the door, and the light in the room suddenly softened, and the child on the kang gently put down his hand, and his eyes looked at Yang Hao. He was thin and pitiful, with a thin neck supporting a head that was a little larger than his figure, his skin was pale, his eyes were a little yellow, and he looked like a dog when he squatted on the kang, but his eyes were like a wolf.

Yang Hao walked towards him step by step, and the woman called nervously, "Master Taiwei." She tried to rush over to protect her son, but was grabbed by the sergeant.

Yang Hao asked gently, "Little guy, what's your name?" ”

The kid didn't answer, just looked at him with a pair of hostile eyes, Yang Hao smiled slightly, and said, "Your mother didn't lie, I believe what she said." ”

The hostility in the child's eyes disappeared immediately, the child's spiritual world is simple, love is simple, hate is simple, and easy to satisfy, Yang Hao's words of believing his mother immediately won his trust, kindness, and gratitude.

"You've had this kind of illness since you were a child, haven't you ever gone out to play?"

This time, the child spoke: "I have been out, since I was sensible, my mother has accompanied me out every night, and when there is no moon, I have to play lanterns, I am very familiar with this village, and I have climbed trees and dug out birds' eggs, but ...... There was no one to play with me, and everyone else's children were sleeping at that time. ”

"Hmm." Yang Hao touched his head affectionately, his hair was very thin. He knew that this child had a strange skin disease, and that there might not be one person in ten thousand people who would have this disease, and the child in front of him was undoubtedly one of them. In this era, a man who can only see people at night, how hard he should live, his family is very poor, and he can never be the breadwinner of the family, but his mother still loves him and raises him, you can imagine how difficult it is for them to live in this already poor little village.

Yang Hao asked, "What's your name?" ”

"My name is Dog."

"No daimyo?"

"No, it's useless for me to ask for a name, except for my mother, I can't see anyone else, and no one calls me."

Yang Hao's heart was sour when he heard it, he was an orphan, but this child was more lonely than him, so he was more precocious, his words resonated with Yang Hao, he was silent for a moment, reached into his arms, and found out forty yuan. That's a month's salary he received. Yang Hao put all the money on the kang, then waved his hand to Fan Laosi and the soldier, and said, "Let's go." ”

The dog stared at him with burning eyes, and when Yang Hao walked to the door, he suddenly asked, "Uncle, what's your name?" ”

Yang Hao looked back at him and said with a smile: "Uncle's name is Yang Hao, remember?" ”

The dog tilted his head, and could see that he was trying very hard to write down the name, and then he nodded very seriously and said, "Uncle Yang Hao, I remember." ”

Yang Hao shook his head and smiled, because of the momentary throbbing of his heart, he casually left all this month's salary to the poor mother and son, he couldn't see every poor person to help them because of pity, and he couldn't help them for a lifetime. He didn't take this chance encounter to heart.

Leaving this family, Yang Hao searched in the village for a while, this village is a necessary way to transport grain from Guangyuan to the Northern Han City, but there is no trace of those remnants of the Northern Han Dynasty in the village, and there is no valuable news from the mouths of these villagers. At this time, it was already afternoon, although it was not the scorching sun at noon, but the sun was still blazing, Yang Hao led the team to search forward for a while, and then returned to the way they came.

When the sun finally stopped being so hot, Yang Hao led people back to the capital of the Northern Han Dynasty. When he crossed a mountain beam and saw the lonely city on the Great Plains in front of him, Yang Hao was stunned for a moment, and the more than a hundred soldiers he led were also stunned.

In front of the city was originally a majestic city, under the city, the camps stretched endlessly, the banners in the camp were like clouds, the war drums were like thunder, the city was on all sides, there were countless soldiers wearing red tasseled fanyang hats fighting to attack the city, arrows came and went like dark clouds, hundreds of stone throwers threw huge stones like meteor showers bombarded the earth...... But now, all those scenes are gone, the endless camps are gone, the siege armies are gone, the stormy crossbow arrows are gone, the terrifying boulders that travel through the air are gone, the flood is pouring in, submerging half of the city, and the capital of the Northern Han Dynasty is now a vast ocean......