Whenever Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo saw the children in the boy boy camp, they couldn't help but think of the years they spent in the Xiying boy boy camp.

"What's your name?"

Li Zicheng greeted a little girl who was weaving a cage. The child didn't put down the work in his hand, just looked up at King Chuang, then lowered his head again, and replied in a childish voice while continuing to weave the cage: "My name is Li Zhiyu." ”

Li Zicheng squatted down with a smile: "Oh, you are also surnamed Li?" ”

"Hmm." The little girl pursed her lips and nodded, still engrossed in weaving the cage.

"How old are you?"

"Ten years old." The little girl, still intently weaving the cage, replied in an uncertain tone.

The administrator of a boy camp next to her answered Li Zicheng's questions for her. Seven years ago, the child was picked up by Zhang Xianzhong's subordinate Li Dingguo from the abandoned baby pits, and of the dozens of children picked up from the same pits, only three boys and eight girls survived. Since it was picked up by Li Dingguo himself, and those children didn't know their names, half of them had the surname Li Dingguo's surname, and the remaining half had Zhang Xianzhong's surname.

"Why did you come up with a boy's name? Li Zhiyu? Isn't it good to call it Xiaohua and Xiaoyu? ”

The manager of the boy boy camp laughed and said, "Who has the time to name all the children one by one?" At that time, General Li found a showman, gave hundreds of names in one go, and then asked these children to draw lots, and they could call them whatever they caught. ”

While the adults around her talked about her, the little girl kept her head in the cage in her hand, as if the words were not about her, but about another person. At this time, the cage in the little girl's hand was being knitted to a critical place, Li Zicheng asked her a few more words, she turned a deaf ear, just opened her small mouth slightly, widened her eyes and concentrated on ligating the last one. After finishing the weaving, the little girl held her work high in front of her eyes with a joyful smile on her face. She looked at the cage with a smile and let out a small cheer, then carefully placed it at her feet. Under Li Zicheng's gaze, the little girl clenched her already frozen red hands into two small fists, put them to her mouth and took turns to warm up, rubbed her hands and picked up a bamboo strip at her feet, and hummed in a low voice, as if to cheer herself up, and then hurriedly made up another cage.

Li Zicheng stood up and looked at Xu Ping with a puzzled expression: "What is she doing?" ”

"Make a chicken and rabbit cage."

Looking over the shoulders of this attentive little girl, Li Zicheng looked into the depths of the children's camp, and he found that none of the children in the camp were idle, and everyone was immersed in their own work, most of them were making shoes.

After noticing Li Zicheng's gaze, Sun Kewang said smugly: "When I first arrived in Kaifeng Mansion, 6,000 of the 10,000 soldiers in Xiying were barefoot, and now not only do everyone have two pairs of shoes, but we also let more than 70,000 homeless people wear shoes. In the fall, 400,000 baskets of pigweed were picked up, and those large baskets were made by children. The grass that we raised more than 2,000 goats to eat for the winter was also brought back by these boys. ”

"It's good, it's good." Li Zicheng muttered. The boy camp is larger than the boy camp in the west camp, and the children are also allowed to do some work on weekdays, but the efficiency is far from being compared with the west camp, not to mention filling the military, that is, they can't even earn back their own rations and clothing, and they have to rely on the old camp subsidy.

"It's all because of General Sun's effective supervision." The caretaker of the boy camp said with a smile on his face.

Sun Kewang laughed, without a word of modesty, and his complacent expression was fully displayed. In the midst of Sun Kewang's laughter, the administrator briefly introduced Li Zicheng to some of the rules of the boy boy camp, such as giving full rations every day after completing the rated amount of work, not giving food if it is not completed, and children who are sick and unable to work have only very little gruel or no at all. Niu Jinxing listened very admiringly, and complimented Sun Kewang on the side, completely ignoring Li Zicheng's frowns.

After inspecting the battalions in Xuzhou, Li Zicheng returned to the county office, leaving only Niu Jinxing, Xu Ping, Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo and a few other senior generals of the army. After the others retreated, Li Zicheng's tone suddenly carried a sense of reproach: "Brother Xu, I have already said that grain is not allowed. ”

Xu Ping was stunned for a moment and argued: "The king, his subordinates have not levied grain." ”

"You still say no? On the way I came, there were checkpoints everywhere, and the peasants wanted to exchange grain for a piece of cloth to go home, and on the way to the road, they had to pay half of the grain, and when they came back, the cloth had to be drawn 30%. Li Zicheng's tone became more and more stern.

"Where are there so many?" Xu Ping shouted: "If you go to the nearest market from the village, at most you will only need one percent of the grain......"

"Alright, alright, I don't want to argue with you about how much." Li Zicheng waved his hand and said: "In short, these checkpoints must be removed." ”

"Your Majesty, this is unacceptable." Xu Ping hurriedly explained: "Our army relies on these checkpoints to stabilize food prices and cloth prices, and the ones used in the army also come from these checkpoints. ”

"I went to the village to see it, because this year's harvest was good, and many families wanted to make a few new clothes, but now they can only wear old clothes. There was a poor mother-in-law and daughter-in-law who were wearing a pair of pants, and when I entered the door, they all sat under the quilt and couldn't get up. Our army is all poor, and the uprising is to drive out the government, not to oppress the people. ”

"At least they can have enough to eat, bedding to use, they won't go hungry and cold, and there is no shortage of salt and charcoal." Xu Ping said inexplicably: "If the officers and soldiers come, will they still have food and a house to live in?" ”

"Then you can squeeze the people with peace of mind?"

Xu Ping was stunned by the question, and he didn't know where to start answering this question for a while. Sun Kewang on the side interjected: "King, even if this is to oppress the people, if we don't do this, what will we do against the officers and soldiers?" ”

Li Zicheng's one-eyed eyes widened: "There are so many corrupt officials and corrupt officials, we can confiscate their family property." ”

Sun Kewang shouted: "How much money can you have?" ”

"I haven't talked about you yet!" Li Zicheng glared at Sun Kewang and reproached him: "There was no food before, but now that there is food, why do you deliberately not give food to the boys?" ”

"The more the king says, the more confused I become, when will I not give the boy food?"

"Brother Sun, your subordinate just now clearly said that if the boy doesn't finish it, he won't be given food, he won't be given food when he is sick, and he will be given less if he gets up late. Look at the little girl just now, her fingers are frozen like that, and she is still working hard. ”

"If you don't work, of course you don't give food, the boys are all playful, and if I don't set this rule, no one will work hard." Sun Kewang's voice became higher and higher. Xu Ping didn't talk nonsense about this policy at the beginning, and praised his achievements.

"We didn't pick up the children to treat them as slaves," Li Zicheng looked a little angry, and his tone became heavier and heavier: "Also, why didn't the sick boy give him food?" Wouldn't that starve to death? ”

Sun Kewang shouted: "How do I know if they are pretending to be sick and not working? Besides, why do you eat so much when you are sick and lying in bed? ”

Seeing that the atmosphere was getting stiffer and stiffer, Niu Jinxing coughed lightly at Li Zicheng. Xu Ping also signaled Sun Kewang with his eyes to stop his mouth, and Li Dingguo, who was beside Sun Kewang, quietly reached out to pull him. But Sun Kewang shook his arm, pushed Li Dingguo's hand away, and shouted at Li Zicheng: "It's not that I haven't stayed in the boy camp, Brother Li and I both came out of the Xiying boy camp, we went into battle to kill the enemy when we were ten years old, do you know why?" ”

Sun Kewang looked around and seemed to be looking for something, but he couldn't find a suitable item that could be used to describe it, so he raised his fist and stretched out his thumb: "Wang, when Brother Li and I were ten years old, we fought with officers and soldiers with sticks that were not much thicker than this. When I first went into battle, I was just up to the belly of the officers and men, whose arms were thicker than my thighs. When I was twelve years old, I joined the death squad and went to the city first, and the stones on the city fell like hailstones, beating the people around me to the point of bleeding, and splashing boiling oil spoonful by spoonful, and I could only grit my teeth and continue to climb up, because there was no way out, because if I didn't climb, I would die! ”

As he spoke, Sun Kewang unbuttoned his clothes, revealing a large scar on his shoulder: "This was left when I was thirteen years old, and Brother Li also has a piece on his waist." King, why do we have to go into battle at the age of ten? It's not just to be able to get a pound of rations a day! Staying in the boy camp is only three taels a day. How many boys died in the West Camp? Many of them were children who only went into battle on the first day, and they never had a chance to eat a full meal until they died. ”

Li Dingguo sighed on the side, Niu Jinxing took the opportunity to cough desperately, but Sun Kewang's voice sounded again after a slight pause: "King, now the children in the boy camp don't have to fight hard, the boy has a pound of rations a day, and the girl also has eight taels, and every ten days I will give them two taels of meat and an egg." Isn't it right to just ask them to work? ”

"I didn't say it was wrong." Li Zicheng's tone had softened. Sun Kewang's experience also happened in the camp, and Li Zicheng naturally knew it very well.

Xu Ping is completely confused, Li Zicheng was born in poverty, knows the hardships of the people, and has been in the camp for so long, how can he speak like a child who does not understand the world today.

But Sun Kewang still did not give up, he shouted angrily: "When I was young, I was usually fine, digging grass roots to eat, but when winter came, I was cold and hungry, and I watched my friends die one by one, and there were not many people left at the beginning of spring. In the winter of this year, there were not a few people in the boy camp in Xiying, and ninety percent of the children could survive this winter. Does the king have to remove the checkpoints, stop the workmanship, and then starve all the children to death? ”

After shouting, Sun Kewang waved his sleeves and left in front of everyone angrily, and the rest of the people stood awkwardly. After a while, Li Dingguo said "offended" and left in a hurry.

"That's not what I meant." Li Zicheng said softly, and then said weakly: "Disperse." ”

Xu Ping hurriedly said: "The imperial court has sent three battalions of new troops to Henan. ”

"We'll talk about it tomorrow." Li Zicheng dropped a sentence without looking back, and walked straight to the back hall. Niu Jinxing shook his head and chased quickly, leaving Xu Ping alone in the hall.

Before he walked to the door of Sun Kewang's room, Xu Ping heard the roar inside, and after entering the door, Li Dingguo smiled bitterly at Xu Ping: "The general is here, persuade my third brother." ”

"King Chuang said he didn't mean that......"

As soon as Xu Ping made a start, Sun Kewang interrupted him with a loud shout: "King Chuang is also a generation of heroes, he has been crisscrossing the Central Plains for more than ten years, and he is so coy today, I don't know who he is doing to show him?" ”

"What did Brother Sun say? King Chuang blasted all the outsiders away today......"

Sun Kewang interrupted Xu Ping again with another shout: "It must be that King Chuang sees that our side is doing well, and he can't do it there for a long time. Hmph, I heard that I broke into Wang Yi Bo Yuntian before, so I came to him with my fourth brother, and I knew that it was better not to come today! ”

Li Dingguo just looked at Xu Ping and smiled bitterly, and the two of them had nothing to say, so they could only wait for Sun Kewang's anger to subside. finally waited for Sun Kewang to vent almost enough, but he suddenly got up and went back to the room: "I'm tired and want to sleep, Brother Xu and Fourth Brother please go back." ”

Back in front of his room, Xu Ping couldn't sleep, so he crossed to the courtyard and looked up at the sky. His heart was also a mess, and when he looked at the night sky, he couldn't help but sigh for a long time.

There were a few whispered questions from the guards behind him, Xu Ping turned his head and saw Qingzhi Lao Dao coming over, so he nodded and said, "The master is here." ”

Every time Xu Ping has something to worry about, he will always say a few words to Qingzhi Taoist, and Qingzhi can always make him feel a little relieved. Today, Xu Ping is no exception, and he briefly recounted the dispute to Qingzhi.

Qingzhi Daoist and Xu Ping stood side by side and asked, "What does the general think in his heart?" ”

"It's not that I don't know that I'm oppressing the people, but at least they've survived, and the price of food hasn't risen to the point where the people can't afford it; I know that those children are having a hard time, and I have seen children crying before they finish their work. I also saw a little girl accidentally crush the basket that had just been made, and she would crouch beside the basket and cry, trying in vain to lift the deflated basket up, and I never forgot the cry, and every time I thought about it, I felt a palpitation. ”

"But the general didn't care, did he?"

Xu Ping nodded silently, and let out a long sigh: "No matter what, these boys finally have something to eat, and this world is ...... I don't know how many children starve to death on the side of the road every day. ”

Xu Ping also once put forward some suggestions for improvement to Sun Kewang, at first Sun Kewang also seriously replied to explain, but gradually became impatient, and finally one day, Sun Kewang bluntly said to Xu Ping: Don't mumble on the side, let alone interfere with his rules, if Xu Ping thinks he is not doing well, you can ask for another master.

"In the general's heart, the purpose of letting these people suffer is to avoid causing them to suffer more, right?" Kiyoji asked softly, "It's not for the sake of your own ambitions or desires, is it?" ”

Xu Ping didn't know if revenge was an ambition, so he didn't answer, Qingzhi: "It's not for the general's own glory and wealth, nor for the general's own pleasure, right." ”

Xu Pingliang nodded hurriedly: "That's the case, it's not for my glory and wealth." ”

"Then General, what are you hesitating about?"

Xu Ping chuckled, his eyes became sharp, and his tone became firm: "Yes, the suffering of so many people is pressing on me, so I must defeat the officers and soldiers, so that the government can no longer put its hand into Henan." ”

Qingzhi waited for a while, and then asked, "General, what are you standing here looking at?" ”

"I'm looking at a star, and some say it's my general."

"Which one?"

Xu Ping straightened his arm and pointed in the direction of the Big Dipper: "That one." ”

Qingzhi looked along Xu Ping's arm, and after a long time, he asked out loud: "Broken Army Star? ”

"Yes, Shake the Light Palace Broken Military Star, someone once said to me that it is my general star." Xu Ping laughed, and it was full of bitterness: "The Broken Army Star is a great evil star, it will disturb the world and make Ziwei gloomy." However, it turned out to be my general. ”

"General, do you really think so?" There was a hint of surprise in Seiji's tone.

"What does the master mean...... Does the master think that the Broken Army Star is not my general's star? ”

"No, I mean, does the general really think that the Broken Army Star is a vicious star?"

"Isn't it?"

"The Broken Army Star is one of the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper, it is indeed a fierce star, but it is by no means an evil star. If the Shaking Light Star Monarch is really an evil star, then how can Wuqu Xing be willing to be its neighbor? ”

Qingzhi's words made Xu Pingleng pause for a while, and asked hesitantly: "However, the master also said that it is a fierce star." ”

"The Evil Star is good, because the Broken Army Star will only shine when troubled times come, so it is said to be the most fierce star in the world." Qingzhi repeated in an accentuated tone: "But the Shaking Light Palace is definitely not an evil star!" ”

"The master's words confuse me." Xu Ping didn't quite understand the difference between the Evil Star and the Evil Star, but after thinking about it carefully, the two names did seem to be different.

"Every time a saint comes out, it will prosper, Wenqu Xing will wash away the confusion, Wuqu Xing will sweep away the evil omen, and Li Shu in the world can live and work in peace and contentment, this is the world of great governance." Qingzhi's tone has always been soothing and calm, but today when he said this, he revealed some emotion. But soon his tone fell silent again: "But the national treasure is gradually exhausted, the glow is endless, and the evil omen is spreading day by day. After three hundred years of hard work, both Wenqu Xingjun and Wuqu Xingjun have exhausted their strength, and their light has become shaky with the end of the country, so the sky will be full of confusion and bad omens, and disasters will continue on the ground, and the people will not be able to make a living. ”

Xu Ping hummed softly, and a sense of sadness and fear of destiny welled up in his heart.

"Every time it comes to this time, the sleeping Shaking Light Palace Broken Army Star Monarch will be awakened by the omen that fills the heavens and the earth and begin to glow."

Xu Ping read softly: "When the army is broken, the stars are gone." ”

"Yes," Qingzhi replied loudly, "but it's not that the Broken Army Star has taken away the brilliance of the Rank Star Monarch, but that before the Broken Army Star wakes up, the Rank Positive Star of Heavenly Court has already been dimmed. ”

"You mean......" Xu Ping felt that he suddenly understood what Qingzhi meant, and suddenly an indescribable joy welled up in his heart, and even his voice began to tremble: "It's not that the broken army star is disturbing the world?" ”

"Before the Broken Army Star Monarch woke up, the world had been disrupted. Only when the world has been disturbed beyond recovery will the Broken Army Star Monarch wake up. After hearing Xu Ping's trembling voice, Qingzhi slowed down his speech even more slowly: "General Xu, the Broken Army Star Monarch will eliminate these anomens, and then fall asleep again until the world is disturbed again." ”

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