The sun is scorching, there is only one rain in Shanxi after the beginning of spring this year, and under the continuous drought, the peaks of Taihang Mountain have also lost their green, and they have a burnt yellow color. Year after year, natural disasters ** have made human tragedies unfold day after day in this calamitous country.

In Pingshun County, Lu'an Prefecture, cigarette butts are everywhere, countless rogues are surging in the streets and alleys, and the dead and injured people are crying everywhere in the city. At the head of the East Gate City, a man in official uniform knelt on the ground, his hands were firmly tied behind his back, his official uniform was tattered, and the black gauze hat on his head was taken off and thrown on the ground, leaving a few footprints made of dirt on it.

The official's hair was messy, he looked down at the ground, a pair of black tartar boots on the ground in front of him, and went up along the shoes, the current owner of the shoes was standing in front of him, this middle-aged man had a broad waist and a round waist, wearing a fine mountain armor, a blackened red cloak behind him, his yellowed face was covered with a weed-like beard, and there was a tyrannical color in his eyes, which made people dare not look directly.

"Lord Xu, what did you say about serving the country with death that day?" An awkward smile appeared on the yellow-faced man's face, revealing a few yellowed teeth, he squatted down, leaned his head close to the official, squinted and said, "When you insulted Lao Tzu on the city wall, do you know what happened now?" ”

The official raised his head, his scattered hair fell in front of him, but his bloodstained face had a kind of resoluteness, he was Xu Mingyang, the magistrate of Pingshun County, looking directly at the yellow face in front of him, "Killing thieves for the country is my generation, I only hate me, I can't kill thieves, and today it has fallen into your hands, needless to say, the only one who is dead!" Bah! Then he spit a mouthful of saliva on the yellow face.

"Bold!!" Several guards next to him shouted and scolded, and they were about to rush up and kick and beat.

The yellow-faced man waved his hand and motioned for a few people to stand back. I don't wipe my saliva on my face either. He laughed again and looked at the official with interest, as if admiring a work of art.

"The only one who is dead? Then the adult will choose how to die, I have prepared several ways to die for Lord Xu here, the vulgar are rude, and please don't laugh at the adult. ”

As he spoke, he stretched out his left hand and opened his fingers like a few treasures, "There are five horses that divide the corpses, skin people alive, cook living people, and Ling Chi ......" Speaking of this, he kindly added: "Ling Chi has three thousand knives." Before the three thousand died, I will kill the knife man and bury you with you. ”

Xu Zhixian's body began to tremble, and he scolded himself endlessly, "Zhang Xianzhong, you have lost your conscience and poisoned the people." Though I die today, you will be damned. ”

"Damnation?" Zhang Xianzhong was stunned for a moment, stood up suddenly, raised his foot and kicked the official violently, the force was fierce, and after a few strokes, the county magistrate had collapsed to the ground with blood foaming at his mouth.

"Damned! Damned! Zhang Xianzhong scolded and kicked at the same time. Momentum like a mad tiger. After more than ten moments, he suddenly stopped, turned his head sharply and looked at the few guards behind him, his eyes blood-red. A murderous aura. Several guards took a step back at the same time, looking at him tremblingly, not daring to speak.

Halfway through, he suddenly remembered something. Haha laughed, "People come." Pull a cannon for our old man. ”

Immediately, someone ran to give the order, and after a while, several rogues escorted a few Ming gunners to pull a small cannon over.

Zhang Xianzhong shouted: "Set up the cannon, today our Lao Tzu will punish God first." ”

Several Ming soldiers hurriedly found a few wooden planks, raised the front, pointed the muzzle of the cannon to the sky, and loaded the iron bullets, they knew that it was not good, and they did not dare to fill it with medicine. Zhang Xianzhong personally lit the fire and fired three shots in succession. The city was filled with white smoke, and I don't know where the cannonballs went, three cannons were fired, Zhang Xianzhong laughed in the smoke, looked up to the sky and said: "Our Lao Tzu hit you three cannons, dozens of sounds, if you release a thunder, you will spare this dog official today." ”

He stretched out his fingers and counted the ten, and suddenly smiled again, and became happy, "Heaven will not protect you, this is not the Eighth King who wants you to die, but God will punish you." ”

Xu Mingyang spit out two mouthfuls of blood foam, coughed a few times, and didn't say anything, and the eight kings said proudly: "You dog official, we Lao Tzu has seen too much, and he does all the things that lack virtue in his body of bullshit, and when he speaks, he is the way, donkey balls, it's not the same for Lao Tzu to kneel, and all the female dependents in your family are also for Lao Tzu's sons to enjoy." ”

After he finished speaking, he suddenly turned his head and grabbed a little minion, the smile on his face instantly turned cold, the minion trembled all over, Zhang Xianzhong After a while, he slowly grabbed the little soldier's headscarf and wiped the saliva off his face, the little minion tilted his head, for fear that the eight kings would be inconvenient.

After the eight kings finished wiping, they grinned, and said to the minions in front of them: "Go find a doctor to treat this dog official's injuries, and heal Ling Chi tomorrow, if this dog official dies tonight, kill the doctor's entire family." ”

"King, then, then, most of the people in the city have been killed, so what if the doctor is not found?"

The Eight Kings smiled and said, "Then we will kill you." Then he slammed the frightened creep away.

"It's the groom's official every night, after robbing Shanxi and Henan, killing people and setting fire to be recruited!" Zhang Xianzhong looked up to the sky and roared, laughed and went down to the city......

Buckteeth in gray were chewing grass roots behind a large tree, their eyes fixed on the bottom of the mountain. There were also a few members of the team lurking in the surrounding bushes and grass, their newly changed earthy yellow military uniforms similar to the color of the neighborhood, and some covered dead grass, so that no flaws could be seen from the distant roots.

A small stream flows past him, the drought in Shanxi and Henan is very severe, it has only rained once this year, even the mountain spring on the mountain is a little dry, the amount of water is far less than before, most of the stream is exposed, the trickle is listless into a small river under the mountain, the river water in the small river is also very little, into the north into a pond, here is the only water source nearby, next to it is a village, the grass houses in the village have long been burned down, only some stones to build the wall remain.

There was a bang, the water splashed in the pond, someone screamed loudly, the voice was a woman, bucktooth raised the telescope behind the tree, carefully observed over there, in the telescope you could see a woman still in the pond, the woman was well-dressed, it should be a lady from a wealthy family and something like that.

More than a dozen shirtless men howled loudly by the pond, and their accents could not be heard from a distance, and several of them jumped into the water and began to pull out the woman's clothes, which were torn to shreds to reveal the color of white flowers, and she screamed in fright. provoked more enthusiastic laughter from the surrounding crowd.

"Team leader, can you show me?"

Bucktooth turned his head to see a lean, swarthy face, eyes full of longing.

"What do you want to see, this telescope is all purchased from Guangdong, you know how expensive it is. Is it for you to show that thing? ”

Bucktooth didn't give it to him after scolding, and continued to observe the official road. This time, there was a special service flag team accompanying them, a total of four squads, and Bucktooth was one of the squad leaders. He came from Shanxi Town. The terrain in the vicinity is relatively clear, and the special service team specially selected buckteeth when they dispatched people to suppress the Kou this time.

This is the place in Wu'an near the Taihang Mountain, where the ups and downs of the Taihang Mountain become gentle, forming continuous hills and hills, and there are several dry rivers in the mountains that can be passed. The mountains are a withered yellow color, and there may be small plains in the mountains, but at this time there is no one to cultivate, and it is completely barren.

To the northwest there is a winding road that follows the dry river and turns at the village to the east. To the west is Shexian County, and the entire territory of Shexian County is in the Taihang Mountains. Passing through Shexian is the city of Li in Lu'an Mansion in Shanxi, where many rogues have poured in. There is a pass between Shexian and Wu'an, and the road can pass through Shanxi, and now it has become a passage for thieves to flow.

Horseback riders roared along the avenue. Most of them wore red clothes (Note 1), and some even wrapped their heads with red cloth. The rogue in front of them only appeared today, and they have no banners, and these people who are running in front of them look like elites. All have horses, and the riders are mostly strong. Most of their horses have all kinds of large and small bags. Occasionally, there are women in their arms.

Luo Ya turned the telescope to the northwest, and the avenue was full of people, covered with figures of various colors, and countless rogues were coming to Wu'an. When they approached, they could see more clearly, the crowd was full of young and old, many of them were still dragging children and daughters, almost all of them were in rags, and the men among them were generally carrying some sticks and hoes, etc., and many of them carried bedding, pots and bowls on their backs, like a procession of beggars.

"Write it down, there are about 2,000 homeless people, and 200 strong horsemen. Look at the people coming in the back, this is the rogues? The homeless people are about the same. Bucktooth whispered to the team member next to him.

"Captain Bucktooth, can we save that woman? It's strange to look at. The lean team member spoke again after he finished remembering.

"There are rogues everywhere, if you have the ability to kill this rogue alone, then you can go." Bucktooth didn't bother to turn back, and said while looking, "Let's come all the way, there is no one in the village, and there are thousands of people who have been affected by the war, who can save them." ”

The woman was dragged back to shore, and a group of thieves were doing beastly things in broad daylight, and there were some more minions next to them, and they were making a loud noise.

Bucktooth shook his head gently, he had seen a lot of such things when he didn't collect it that night before, whether it was a bandit or a soldier, he had done a lot, but since he was recruited into the camp when he was the king of Jiqin, he often heard the propaganda of some trainers, asking them to treat the people well, although he felt very bored at the time, but after listening to it for a long time, there was really some change in his thinking, especially after feeling the support of the people in Dengzhou, at least he thought that these things were very inappropriate.

Bucktooth silently observed the official road, and casually asked the team member: "Zhang Wei, you are from Laiyang, have you ever been out of such a far door before?" ”

The lean team member next to him is called Zhang Wei, who is a mountain man from Qixia in Dengzhou, and is also a veteran member, who ran from Qixia to take refuge in Dengying the year before last, and was selected into the special service team before the battle of Fuzhou, and trained while fighting, participated in the battle for the ferry in Fuzhou, killed a fishskin tartar, and also cut a Zhenyi. Buck Tooth privately felt that Zhang Wei might have more prospects than himself, because Zhang Wei knew how to read and write better than him, and the most basic 200-word exam had already passed, and now that it was more than 400 words, he could take the 500-word exam next time.

Zhang Wei licked his tongue, "I haven't been far away, and going to Fuzhou is the farthest away, how do you know that this time it will be thousands of miles at once, I always muttered in my heart, we can go back this time." ”

"Bah, Lao Tzu asked you, don't talk about us, Lao Tzu wants to go back." Bucktooth scolded and said, "It is also recorded that there are about five hundred people who are young and strong on foot and lead officials to make weapons." ”

Zhang Wei hurriedly lowered his head and wrote with charcoal, and his buckteeth scolded in a low voice, "Dog Day doesn't even have a banner, and I don't know if it's the tributary Kou after remembering it for a long time." ”

"Maybe it's still behind, Brother Luoya, my eyes are sore after looking at this telescope for a long time, I'll help you take a look."

After looking around for a while, he finally handed the telescope to Zhang Wei, and pulled two more grass roots and chewed them.

Zhang Wei hurriedly aimed at the edge of the pond when he got it, only to see a group of shirtless men around, and nothing else could be seen.

The homeless people in the telescope are almost all scrawny, and many of them walk staggeringly, as if they are going to fall down at any moment. Zhang Wei slowly moved his perspective, and when he turned to the entrance of the village, a homeless person happened to fall, and Zhang Wei paused.

Then a scene happened, he was dumbfounded, the homeless just fell to the ground, there were people around him, the homeless seemed to be a little older, struggled a few times and couldn't stand up, a rogue shouted, the surrounding people swarmed up, surrounded the fallen homeless in the middle, in the terrible scream, strings of blood beads and flesh flew out of the crowd.

Zhang Wei involuntarily raised his head, opened his mouth wide to look at this terrifying scene, the crowd kept leaving, holding a severed limb or piece of meat in his hand, happily beckoning their relatives and friends to set up a pot, many people excitedly lifted the pot and went to the pond to fetch water, ignoring the woman who was still screaming next to the pond, it seemed to have been commonplace, and some people went to collect firewood.

What they want to cook and eat is obvious, Zhang Wei can be regarded as having seen a battle, and he has not been soft in killing the Tartar corpse mountain and the sea of blood, but at this time, his hands are actually a little trembling, he has never imagined that there is such a scene in the world, even if the instructor has told them about the situation in Shanxi and Shaanxi, but it is just a rumor, but in front of him is a real person who eats the living.

"Do you want to see it?" Buckteeth grinned.

Zhang Wei lowered his head and returned the telescope to Bucktooth, "I don't want to see it." ”

"It's good to teach you to take a look, this rogue......" Bucktooth shook his head and smiled, he didn't know how to describe it, in fact, he knew that it was not only the rogue, but also those who were really homeless and hungry, and there were also people who ate people.

"Brother Luoya, what did you say these rogues did before?" Zhang Wei asked suddenly.

"What can you do, it's not some peasant tenants, or prisoners and deserters."

Zhang Wei asked: "Then why did they become cannibals, if they were me, they wouldn't eat if they killed me." ”

"Then you're not hungry enough." After speaking, Bucktooth put away the telescope, "Ready." ”

Zhang Wei was stunned for a moment, "What are you going to prepare?" ”

"Catch the life and interrogate it, or you won't even know what the it is." Bucktooth pointed ahead, Zhang Wei squinted, many homeless people were looking for firewood around the village, two of them were walking towards the foot of the mountain on this side, wandering among the bushes along the way, as if they were looking for wild fruits on the mountain, the place near the road had been robbed by the rogues in front, and they were getting farther and farther away from the large stream of rogues in the village.

"None of them have weapons, so let's go and arrest them empty-handed." After Bucktooth finished speaking, a bird cry was heard, and someone on both sides responded, and they also saw someone approaching, knowing what Bucktooth was going to do, Zhang Wei untied his waist knife, and slowly moved forward with Bucktooth under the cover of grass and trees.

ps: Note 1: Breaking generals, purple gold beams, wearing gold and wearing red, and the thieves followed suit, so they all took red clothes as their numbers.