With the placement of prisoners, Ansai's current population has exceeded 120,000, which may not be remarkable in modern times, but it was already a remarkable number in the late Ming Dynasty, when the population was only one-tenth of that of modern times. You must know that the entire 19 counties in the three prefectures of Yan'an Prefecture had only a population of more than 500,000 at its peak, and coupled with the severe drought that lasted for seven or eight years, the population is now far lower than this number. Even if it is Yan'an Fucheng, it is only 50,000 or 60,000 people, less than half of Ansai!

In this troubled world, "going to Ansai" has become a belief that supports many people's survival, and the momentum that was greatly suppressed because of the thieves is now vigorous and irrepressible once it erupts. Not to mention the nearby counties of Yanchuan, Qingjian and Anding, even Qingyang Prefecture, which is more than 300 miles away, has many people rushing here for days!

Wu Wei is not as worried about the increase in population as Li Chong, anyway, Ansai's grain reserves are still sufficient, and there is no problem with the follow-up supply, a large amount of winter wheat can be harvested in the first half of next year, and another season of potatoes and sweet potatoes can be planted in the spring, even if it is more than enough to supply tens of thousands of people. However, for the refugees, they had to go through a long trek before reaching Ansai, and in this cold winter and the wilderness of northern Shaanxi, this journey was tantamount to a death march.

"Yun Niang, come, get up and drink porridge." Zhao Sheng lifted his wife up from the straw mat she was lying on with difficulty, and with one hand, he brought the large stoneware bowl with the missing half and brought it to her mouth. The porridge in the bowl was clearly visible, and a pitiful little millet mixed with pale yellow bran floated and sank in it.

The woman seemed to be sick. His face was a little swollen, his eyes were half-drooping, and he turned his head to the side, but he refused to drink porridge. She said weakly: "The slave is not hungry, you and the two children can eat." ”

The two children on the side were a boy and a girl, the boy was about eight or nine years old, and the girl was only four or five years old.

The little girl suddenly pursed her mouth and cried, "Daddy." I'm hungry. As he spoke, he leaned over to the bowl.

The boy pulled her hand. Drinking: "I know that you are hungry, you drank a bowl of porridge yesterday, and my mother hasn't eaten for two days." The little girl was grabbed by her brother and burst into tears.

Zhao Sheng's family fled from Anding County. Speaking of which, their Zhao family is stable and can be regarded as a well-off family. There is a thin field in the house. Even in this year of great disaster, life is barely getting by. Although most of them only fill their hunger with bran and vegetable paste on weekdays, compared to ordinary villagers. The situation is already much stronger.

But this qiē changed when the "two kings" went south. Although they saw the opportunity early, their family of four hid in the mountains in advance, and finally did not get caught up in the army by the thieves, but their home was burned to the ground. To add insult to injury, the Anding County Commander, fearing that thieves and thieves would infiltrate the city, closed the city gates, refused to accept refugees into the city, and posted notices on the city gates for them to eat when they went to Ansai.

Poor Zhao Sheng's family fled in a hurry at that time, with nothing but simple luggage, in this ice and snow, cold and hungry, and they were about to fall into a desperate situation. Fortunately, Zhao Sheng was lucky, he met a relative of the same clan in the fleeing crowd, and lent them two liters of millet and a small bag of bran under all kinds of begging.

It's just that at this time, his wife Yunniang finally fell ill, Zhao Sheng knew what was going on, and several times he saw his wife secretly saving her own food for her two children, but she would rather be hungry. Today, Zhao Sheng cooked porridge for the last bit of food, as for what to do after the food was eaten, he couldn't care about it anymore, he only knew that he couldn't let his wife starve to death in front of his eyes now.

Suddenly, Zhao Sheng made a silent motion on his lips with his fingers, and the boy hurriedly covered the little girl's mouth with his hand, and everyone saw a trace of horror on the faces of others.

The night wind howled outside the felt tent, and when everyone listened carefully, they could not hear anything, and the fire on the ground reflected the figures on the felt tent, swaying.

Zhao Sheng put down the bowl, took out a dagger from the package beside him, and slowly blocked it in front of his chest, as if facing a great enemy. The boy also picked up a rock from the ground and put it in front of his sister.

There was a reason for Zhao Sheng's nervousness, the refugee team they were in was hundreds of people, and every night they could faintly hear screams coming from nowhere, just afraid that someone would be killed and eaten by other hungry people. Every time at this time, Zhao Sheng held the dagger tightly, his eyes widened in the night, if someone beat his family's idea, he would fight with them to the death!

Suddenly, Zhao Sheng shouted loudly outside the felt tent: "Is it the Mao family brothers?" How are you going to stay? After saying that, there was still no movement outside, and he felt the hairs on his head stand on end, and picked up a large burning branch from the campfire, stared at the darkness in front of him, and threw it with all his might.

I saw the figures in the firelight, and the three men stood in the open space outside the tent like ghosts, and faintly saw that their eyes seemed to be red.

The brothers of the Mao family are not actually surnamed Mao, they are people who hide in the mountains to mine for a living, these people live in inaccessible places, like savages, and Shaanxi folk call them "Mao gourd". The "gourds" are very fierce, and they have occasionally heard of murder and overkill.

Originally, they had very little contact with the villagers, but this year's drought was so severe that all the trees died, and even they could not survive in the mountains.

The first man, Gao Gao, said with a smile: "We are very hungry, and we just heard that you have a little lamb here, so I came over to take a look." "The accent is weird, and it sounds indescribably weird.

Zhao Sheng didn't understand what they were referring to when he heard this, so he shouted: "A few heroes, I still have a bowl of rice porridge here, I would like to give it to a few, and please go elsewhere to find some food." As he spoke, he slowly walked out of the tent with one hand and the porridge bowl was still more than two feet away from the three of them, and when he was still more than two feet away, he half-squatted and put the bowl on the ground, and then slowly retreated back to his felt tent.

The three of them stood still, exchanged a look, and the leader smiled: "The three of us, brothers, how can you just share such a bowl of thin porridge, it is better to hand over the lamb, and it is a big deal to share you with a piece of the pie when the time comes." ”

Zhao Sheng saw that he couldn't be good, he clenched the dagger, waved it a few times in front of his chest, and said loudly: "Why should several heroes work hard to force each other, if you really don't let me go, you can fight for this life!" ”

The three of them didn't expect Zhao Sheng to have a dagger on his body, and couldn't help but glance at each other, although they were not afraid, but after all, there was an extra layer of jealousy, this man was in a hurry, in case he hurt himself, it was not beautiful. There are refugees left and right, and there is really no need to take this risk.

The leader of the man smiled: "Okay, drink your bowl of porridge and then go to find other lambs." With that, he picked up the porridge bowl on the ground, and the three of them disappeared in the darkness.

Zhao Shengwu didn't dare to relax his vigilance, clenched the dagger, and looked out with his eyes, after a long time, he faintly heard a miserable cry in the distance in the wind, he couldn't help but tremble, and he didn't know who recruited the Mao brothers. The two children snuggled in their mother's arms and hugged her tightly, how could a family of four dare to close their eyes a little this night?

Finally arrived at dawn, Zhao Sheng was groggy and wanted to fall asleep, suddenly heard a strange sound outside, he immediately jumped up with a spirit, drilled out of the felt tent, only to see a few officers and soldiers like cavalry around a few men on the ground, the blades were pulled out of the sheath, as if facing a great enemy, and the person who was surrounded looked vicious, who else would there be besides the Mao brothers?

One of the horsemen pointed his whip at a stump on the ground and exclaimed, "You are eating people!" ”

The person headed on the ground saw that the matter was revealed, and several cavalrymen in front of him were well-armed, and they were never opponents, so they hurriedly knelt on the ground and said: "Several generals are angry, and we are so hungry that we can't help it, so we cut the corpse" Before the words fell, a woman staggered over, grabbed the man and cried: "You cannibalistic thieves, you give back my daughter's life, she is only 8 years old, and she was cooked alive by you to eat"

It turned out that the Mao brothers were forced to retreat by Zhao Sheng last night and went to find another house, and actually killed a little girl, and the leader also held the stump in his arms, but several cavalry passed by, and they were in a hurry to avoid the road, and the stump fell out of his arms. A cavalryman with sharp eyes, saw the difference, whistled, summoned the front few cavalrymen to return, and surrounded the Mao brothers.

These cavalrymen were one of the men and horses sent by the Ansai battalion to meet the refugees, and the leader was Wu Shiyi, who had just taken the head of the "two kings" and made great contributions. In order to meet the refugees who defected to Ansai, Wu Wei sent people to carry heavy supplies along the various avenues leading to Ansai to help, and not far behind these cavalry was a cart full of heavy supplies, and there were more than a dozen roads like this.

Wu Shiyi made a great contribution this time, and it was when he was in high spirits, and he suddenly saw such a human tragedy, and he couldn't help but be shocked and angry. He and the few cavalrymen accompanying him all struggled out of the troubled times, and they have seen a lot of such things, but they have been in the paradise of Ansai for a long time, and when they see this kind of scene again, they can't help but feel like a world away, where can they accept it for a while?

There were also several cavalry people who had similar encounters, and they couldn't help but grit their teeth and hate, and everyone looked at Wu Shiyi for a while. Wu Shiyi's eyes were on fire, and he whipped the man in the lead with a horsewhip.

The man was very flexible, turned sideways, pulled out a simple knife and grabbed the woman, and said with a cruel smile: "What if grandpa eats?" This lamb really doesn't taste bad! Several other men also drew closer to him, and drew their swords one after another.

Wu Shiyi was young after all, and when he saw the woman standing in front of the man, he couldn't help but be a little restrained, and a few cavalrymen only blindly patrolled and scolded angrily, and suddenly saw the woman grabbing the blade with both hands, like a madman, and shouted: "Kill the thief!" Then he swiped his neck against the blade of the knife and fell softly. The incident happened suddenly, and the man was stunned.

Wu Shiyi's eyes were split, and he raised his knife and shouted: "Kill the thief!" Together with a few cavalrymen, he jumped his horse and rushed towards several thieves.

Zhao Sheng also rushed over, clutching the dagger in his hand, and he shouted with all his strength along with the other people around him, with only one voice in his ears.

"Kill the thief!"

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