On the south bank of the Yellow River in Pingyuan County, Dou Jiande, surrounded by hundreds of soldiers, looked at the fleet of ships that appeared on the north bank of the Yellow River with complicated eyes.

Only in the year of the catastrophe can we see the strength of the national strength, the Sui Dynasty has food to provide disaster relief, can attract hundreds of thousands of disaster victims, and there is no extra food in their own hands, can only watch the disaster victims go away.

And the appearance of this huge fleet made him feel a shock of national strength, making him feel his insignificance, at this time, Dou Jiande's heart was full of anxiety, there was no suspense for the Sui army to conquer Qingzhou, where would he go?

"Lord Wang!"

A cavalryman rushed forward and reported: "We have captured a group of people who tried to flee north, there are more than 3,000 people, please deal with the prince!" ”

"Where are the people?"

The cavalry pointed back, "Three miles ahead, they were hiding in a tree and were spotted by the brethren. ”

Dou Jiande's face was gloomy, "Let's go!" Look at it. ”

He urged his horse eastward, and hundreds of horsemen galloped after him, and in a moment the group came to a grove of trees.

In front of the woods, there was already a large group of hungry people who had fled north, gray and dark, they were forced to kneel on the ground, the old man's body trembled, the woman hugged the frightened child tightly, and the man next to him lowered his head, but clenched his fists.

They all carried a burden, more or less, stuffed with clothes and some copper coins, as well as some scattered silver and copper jewelry, which was their most valuable possessions.

This group of people was waiting for the ferry to come by the river, but Dou Jiande's army ran to the river, so frightened that they hid in the woods, but they were still discovered by the Xia army scouts.

Dou Jiande looked at the group of victims who tried to betray him with complicated eyes, and there was no anger or hatred in his eyes. There is only helplessness and melancholy.

Dou Jiande turned over and dismounted. Walking up to a middle-aged man, he could tell that the middle-aged man was the leader, and his figure seemed a little familiar. The man lowered his head, his eyes staring at the ground tightly, and Dou Jiande stretched out his boots. Hooking the man's chin with the tip of his boot and slowly lifting his head, he saw a thin face with three long wisps of beard.

"It's you!"

A hint of surprise flashed in Dou Jiande's eyes, he recognized this man, it turned out to be Shi Zong Minsheng, the magistrate of Lu County, although he knew that many officials had fled, but today he saw the fleeing officials for the first time, he. An indescribable anger suddenly swelled up in his heart, that he had treated his officials well, and that they had betrayed him at a critical moment.

"Are you going to betray me?" Dou Jiande's heart was full of irrepressible annoyance. This Zong Minsheng is still his fellow countryman.

Zong Minsheng said unusually calmly: "Humble duty is not to betray the prince. It's just that the lowly position can't wait for the relief food allocated by the prince, and the lowly position is also a human being. I didn't want to starve to death, so I abandoned my official position and went to find a place to eat as a commoner. ”

Dou Jiande glanced at the three thousand hungry people and shook his head, "You are not a civilian, you are still their leader, and you are using your prestige to lead them to escape." ”

Zong Minsheng looked back at the hungry people, sighed and said, "I'm just a person with a little ability, when I meet this group of hungry people who have nowhere to go, they rely on me a lot and are willing to go with me." ”

"You bastard!"

Dou Jiande was furious, kicked Zong Minsheng over, stepped on his head, pulled out a knife and stared at him viciously, "I'm going to kill you with a knife!" ”

Zong Minsheng didn't say a word, closed his eyes, Dou Jiande stared at him for a long time, his chest rose and fell violently, but in the end he still put the knife back in its scabbard, turned to the soldiers and ordered: "Let's go!" ”

He rolled over and got on his horse, the soldiers were stunned, and one of his own soldiers stammered and asked, "What about them...... What to do? ”

"Let them go! Can I still use them as military rations? ”

Dou Jiande was very melancholy in his heart, he whipped his horse violently, galloped south, and more than a thousand soldiers got on their horses one after another and left with Dou Jiande.

The three thousand hungry people were all surprised, did Dou Jiande just let them go? Zong Minsheng stood up and looked at the back of Dou Jiande's news, and he couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"Master, in fact, Prince Dou is good, and he is still generous to others." An old man walked up to Zong Minsheng and whispered.

Zong Minsheng sighed and said: "He does treat people well, but the time and place are not on his side, so what can he do about it?" ”

At this time, someone pointed to the river and shouted: "Boat! The ship is coming. ”

Everyone turned to look at the river, and saw two ferries slowly approaching the south bank, and the three thousand hungry people seemed to see the hope of life, and ran towards the river with cheers......

The fleet continues to move forward, and their full load of food supplies will be unloaded at the Liyang Warehouse, which is the perfect place for placing these trophies due to its huge warehouse city and excellent waterway transportation.

A few days later, the unloaded fleet was led by Lai Hu'er to sail back to Goryeo Ayaluo Island, ready to transport the second batch of supplies, Luo Shixin led 20,000 elites to rush back to Taiyuan first, Yang Yuanqing waited until the cargo ship unloaded all the goods, and then led 500 guards back to Taiyuan.

In the evening of this day, Yang Yuanqing and his entourage entered the territory of Zhao County, the time had reached the end of September, entering the late autumn season, the weather was gradually cooling, especially in the morning and evening, there was a little chill.

The group walked on the flat official road, the twilight was vast, and a thin layer of gray mist rose on the ground, making the surrounding scenery looming.

On both sides are large harvested rice fields, rice stalks are piled up everywhere in the fields, and in the distance are patches of dark shadows, it is not clear from the appearance that it is a forest or a village, but there are no lights, it should be a forest.

Everyone walked a few more miles, the sky was already completely dark, Yang Yuanqing looked around, and found a little light two miles away, there should be a village, Yang Yuanqing pointed with a horsewhip, "Go to the village for the night!" ”

The crowd quickened their horses and ran along the ridge to the village two miles away, and after a while, they ran to the front of the village, and could see that it was a small village, less than 100 households, and from the light, the village was almost full.

Before everyone approached, there were already more than a dozen native dogs running out of the village, barking at the cavalry, in the village, the dogs barked, at this time, a few people came out of the village, carrying lanterns, they saw a large group of cavalry, hesitated, but still trembling and approached.

At the head was an old man, faintly visible from the light of the lantern, with white hair and a somewhat rickety back, followed by three young men, with pitchforks and clubs in their hands, and it was evident that they were hesitant and fearful.

"Ladies and gentlemen, where are you from?"

Cheng Yanjin followed Yang Yuanqing's side, he was about to open his throat and shout, but Yang Yuanqing grabbed him, stepped forward and arched his hand and smiled: "We came out of Taiyuan to do business, and now we are back in Taiyuan, it is late, I want to spend a night in your village, drink hot soup, we will give some soup and tea money." ”

The old man brought the lantern to Yang Yuanqing and looked at it for a long time, and saw that they were indeed officials and soldiers, not bandits, so he nodded, "The village is very small, and there are no empty houses, but there is a land temple in the village that is quite large, you can rest in the temple for one night, and I will find someone to cook hot soup for you." ”

Yang Yuanqing turned back to the crowd: "You are not allowed to enter the house, go to the Land Temple to rest!" ”

The soldiers are a little tired, have dismounted, led the horses to the village, the village is really not big, a dirt street is about two miles long, in the middle of the dirt street is a land temple covering an area of more than ten acres, the soldiers have led the horses into the land temple, each looking for a place to rest and eat dry food.

More than a dozen soldiers cleaned up the west wing of the land temple, and lit a fire, several soldiers ran to find a well to fetch water to make tea, Yang Yuanqing sat down, he saw that Cheng Biting Jin was a little uneasy, so he smiled and said: "Is it alcohol addiction again?" ”

Cheng Yanjin scratched his head, and said a little embarrassed: "I saw a small wine shop in the village just now, which suddenly hooked my alcohol addiction, and now I am so uncomfortable that I am dying." ”

Yang Yuanqing knew that he was a good wine, and he had not drunk a drop of wine since he set out on the expedition, which was difficult for him, but Yang Yuanqing didn't know that Cheng Yanjin found a bottle of good rice wine in the Goryeo Palace, and he had secretly enjoyed it, Yang Yuanqing thought that he had been restraining himself for the sake of the overall situation, so he didn't want to embarrass him anymore, and said with a smile: "Go ahead!" Drink less, and don't get me into trouble. ”

Cheng bit Jin Daxi, like an arrow in the buttocks, jumped up, and ran towards the outside of the land temple like a gust of wind, at this time, the old man came in with more than a dozen juniors carrying several large barrels of hot soup, and the soldiers laughed and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, please come and drink soup!" This is the broth, and the soup has rabbit meat in it. ”

After a military doctor tried the poison, the soldiers came forward with bowls to scoop the soup, and the old man came to Yang Yuanqing again and bowed down, "This military master, can you trouble the military master to come to my house." ”

"What's the matter?" Yang Yuanqing asked with a smile.

The old man sighed, "There is something I want to trouble the military master." ”

Yang Yuanqing saw that his expression was a little gloomy, and it was estimated that he had encountered some troubles, so he nodded, "Okay!" I'll go with you. ”

He stood up and followed the old man out of the land temple with five or six personal soldiers, and after a while, he came to a courtyard, "This is my home, please come in and sit down." ”

Yang Yuanqing followed him into the side hall, where the kitchen and the dining hall were actually connected together, and a small oil lamp had been lit, the light was dim, and through the dim light, you could see that the corner of the house was full of wheat straw and some firewood that had not been burned in the summer.

There were two shabby couches in the room, and the old man invited Yang Yuanqing to sit down, and poured him a bowl of hot water, "I'm sorry to slack off the military master." ”

"It's okay, what's the matter, just say it!"

The old man went back to the house to get a letter, looking very worried, he handed the letter to Yang Yuanqing, sighed and said, "Can the military master send us a letter after returning to Taiyuan." ”

Yang Yuanqing took the letter, only to see that it was written 'His Royal Highness the King of Chu of the Great Sui Dynasty', and he was stunned in his heart, this letter was actually for himself