Li Zhiyun stood on the slope of the horse, looking at the triumphant army on the ancient road of Mayi, and the rescued women walked happily in the middle of the procession, and they happily talked with the soldiers. This situation made Li Zhiyun feel regretful, and he couldn't help but chant an ancient poem: The people of Pingtu are fragile, and the soldiers are all Huqiang. The hunting field besieged the city, and everything was destroyed. Cut off and leave no traces, and the corpses resist each other. The horse hangs the man's head on the side of the horse, and the horse carries the woman behind.

These lines of poetry are from Cai Yan's "Poems of Grief and Indignation" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, which describes the tragic scene of the Central Plains being invaded by foreign races, the people being ravaged, men being slaughtered, and women being looted after the Han dynasty was overthrown and the country was destroyed. Among them, "the head of the man is hung on the side of the horse, and the woman is carried behind the horse." These two sentences made Li Zhiyun particularly impressed. He thought that such a thing would never be allowed to happen in the land of Datang.

Li Zhiyun went down the mountain on his horse and joined the army. The women in the group were all young, the eldest in their twenties, and the youngest in their sixteen or seventeen years old. Some women are not used to walking long distances, and after walking for a long time, their feet cannot stand it and they limp when they walk. When Li Zhiyun saw it, he turned over and dismounted, and gave the horse to the woman to ride, and the generals who rode the horse saw it and followed suit.

The woman is light, and one horse can sit two people at once. Li Zhiyun led the horse and walked in front, the woman sitting on the horse looked to be only sixteen or seventeen years old, she loved to talk, and her small mouth couldn't be idle, she asked Li Zhiyun: "Are you an official?" Li Zhiyun deliberately teased her: "Where do you see that I am an official?" ”

"You give us horses to ride, if you are not an official, how can you have a horse?"

"Makes sense."

"How old are you?"

"What do you see?"

"You're not very old, and you're about the same as me, so you shouldn't be a big official."

Cai Hu, who was walking beside him, said with a smile: "You are wrong in what you said, he is a big official." ”

"Official? How big can it be? Is it bigger than the general? ”

"You're right, he is bigger than the general, he is the king of Chu."

"King Chu?" The woman was puzzled, "You are so young, how can you be the king of Chu?" ”

Li Zhiyun smiled and said, "Whether it's the King of Chu or not, it doesn't matter what ...... age."

Seven or eight days later, the team returned to Jinyang City, and Li Zhiyun saw a sea of people outside the city gate from a distance, at least tens of thousands of people. It turned out that the people in the city heard that the robbed woman had been rescued, and they all ran outside the north gate early in the morning and waited with blank eyes. A woman has at least a dozen relatives and friends, and many even dozens, so it is not surprising that so many people are waiting outside the city.

The reunited women of the robbed women and their relatives were both happy and sad, and many soldiers were moved to tears. Many civilians held the hands of the soldiers and thanked them for saving their loved ones.

Li Zhiyun stepped on the stirrup and got on the horse, and was just about to leave with his entourage, when an old man led a large group of people over and stopped in front of his horse. The old man arched his hand and said: "His Royal Highness the King of Chu, you have rescued these women, you are the great benefactor of our people in Jinyang, we thank you!" As he spoke, he took the lead and knelt down, and the people who followed him also knelt down, and then all the people at the scene knelt down.

Li Zhiyun hurriedly dismounted, said that he couldn't help it, helped the old man up, and then said loudly to the people: "Everyone get up, you don't have to do this!" But the people were still on their knees, looking at him in unison, and shouting over and over again: "We thank you!" The shouts of tens of thousands of people were like a bell, and the soldiers present were all moved. Looking at the sincere expressions on the faces of the people, Li Zhiyun couldn't help but sigh with emotion, the people are really good, if you do a little good for them, they will be sincerely grateful to you.

After the team entered the city, Scarface took the new army to the barracks, and Li Zhiyun took Zhang Zheng, Cai Hu and several guards to the post house to meet Duan Qu and others.

From Chang'an to Jinyang, they walked on the road for half a month, and then marched to chase the Turks, plus a battle, the brothers were exhausted. Li Zhiyun decided to stay in Jinyang for a few days, so that the brothers could have a good rest, and he himself could learn about the inns, wineries, and other transactions of the Chu Palace's mansion in Jinyang City.

Five days later, Li Zhiyun planned to leave Jinyang City and continue his journey. After breakfast, he asked the guards to prepare their horses and prepare to lead them out of the city to join the new army. He walked to the courtyard and was about to step on the stirrup and get on the horse, Duan Qu and Yinggu were also about to board the carriage, when Li Zhongwen came in a hurry. As soon as he saw Li Zhiyun, he hugged his fists and said, "Lord Wang, the emperor has sent a messenger to let you go back to Chang'an." ”

"Huh?" When Li Zhiyun heard this, he was taken aback, "What about the messenger?" ”

"He'll be there soon."

As soon as Li Zhongwen's words fell, he saw an attendant walk into the courtyard with several entourage. He walked to the middle of the courtyard and said in a sissy voice: "Li Zhiyun takes the order." ”

Li Zhiyun hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down, and said, "Erchen takes the order." The chamberlain opened the yellow scroll and read aloud: "Fengtian carrier, the emperor edict said: Li Zhiyun, the king of Chu, will return to Beijing quickly, and another will be sent." Chin this! After the waiter finished reading, he closed the holy decree and said, "King Chu, take the decree." ”

Li Zhiyun raised his hands high, respectfully accepted the holy decree, then stood up, turned around and handed the holy decree to Zhang Zheng behind him, and then said to the inner attendant: "The emperor's will has been conveyed, you go back to Chang'an." The chamberlain was a little puzzled: "Then, what about you, King Chu?" ”

A little chamberlain actually took care of him, the prince, Li Zhiyun couldn't help but be angry, and glared: "What the fuck are you talking about?" Get out! The waiter shrank his neck in fright, and hurriedly said, "Okay, okay, I'll go." With that, he led a few entourages out of the courtyard.

After the envoy left, Li Zhongwen came over and said, "Lord, the emperor is afraid that he knows about our attack on the Turks, and he wants to summon you back to Chang'an to ask for the guilt." "Li Zhiyun estimates that it is also for this matter, they have eliminated the five thousand Turks, and the Turks will definitely not give up, this disaster is a big one!

Li Zhiyun wrinkled his eyebrows and pondered for a moment, and said, "Ignore him, let's continue to hurry!" Duan on the side listened to it, and said worriedly: "Lord, the emperor asked you to go back to Chang'an, and you didn't obey the order, I'm afraid it's not appropriate, right?" Li Zhiyun waved his hand and said: "Outside, the king's order is not affected." Let's go to Huaixi and set off immediately! So, after saying goodbye to Li Zhongwen, he led the people out of the east gate and joined the new army that had been waiting outside the city, and the brigade continued to march in the southeast direction.

After more than ten days of arduous trekking, the team crossed the Shahe River, crossed the Funiu Mountain, and entered the Nanyang Basin. On this day, the brigade marched under the scorching sun, and Li Zhiyun saw a forest on the side of the road in front of him, so he said to Scarface, who was riding a horse and following him: "When you get to the woods in front, let the brothers rest for a while." ”

"Yes!"

When the team reached the edge of the woods, they disbanded, and the soldiers scrambled into the woods. Li Zhiyun also turned over and dismounted, trying to find a place to cool off. At this time, Duan Qu got down from the carriage, walked towards him, and asked, "Lord Wang, what kind of place is this?" How far is it from Jutan? Duan is indeed in his thirties, not very tall, with a purple-red face, and he looks quite elegant and generous.

Li Zhiyun smiled and said, "I don't know what this place is, but it is estimated that it should not be too far from Jutan." While the two were talking, Duan Cheng suddenly saw the soldiers who had walked into the woods running out one after another, as if they were suffering from some disease, they bent over and vomited one by one.

"What's wrong with these people? Is there something evil that has fallen into it? Duan asked in surprise.

Li Zhiyun turned his head to look at it for a while, and said to Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu who were standing aside: "Let's go, let's go over and take a look." The three of them walked in the direction of the woods, and Duan Qu followed behind. When they arrived next to the woods, Li Zhiyun asked the soldiers who were vomiting: "Brothers, what's wrong with you?" A soldier wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth, pointed to the woods with his hand and said, "Lord Wang, go in and have a look!" ”

Li Zhiyun didn't know what was going on, and led everyone into the woods. As soon as they entered, they smelled a strong putrid smell, and everyone looked up, only to see that there were more than a dozen huge fire pits within a hundred zhang range of the woods, and not far from the fire pit were scattered with a large number of bones that had been eaten by people, and what was even more frightening was that there were many skeletons piled up on the ground, these heads were large and small, and the heads without a body were more terrifying than those without a head. After seeing this scene, Li Zhiyun was stunned, and after a while, he began to lean over and vomit, Zhang Zheng came over and hit him on the back with his fist to help him calm down. He didn't thrash a few times, and he started vomiting.

In addition to the skeletons and skeletons scattered all over the ground, there were piles of slimy things on the ground, some purple-black, some milky-white, presumably discarded internal organs. The entrails had long since rotted due to the heat, and had been dried and weathered to become what they are now, but some of them could still be identified as lungs, hearts and livers, and white intestines that were bent and stacked, and the strong rancid smell of the woods was emanating from them.

In the midst of such a scene, who can not be disgusted? Duan Qu and Cai Hu had already covered their mouths and ran out of the woods, and Li Zhiyun and Zhang Zheng also hurriedly walked out. Outside the woods, Duan Qu bent over and vomited for a while before he straightened up, wiped his mouth with his sleeve and said, "Livestock still don't eat their own kind, who did this?" ”

In the woods just now, Li Zhiyun noticed that there were many torn clothes on the ground, and several of them were still hanging on the branches of the trees by the wind. Most of these clothes are brightly colored, including cyan, blue, and red, with tops, pants and skirts, and some are on the small side. He frowned, hateful: "These cannibalistic demons may eat women and children. ”

"Lord Wang, let's get out of this place of the frieze quickly!" Duan Qu urged.

Li Zhiyun nodded, returned to the avenue, and asked the guards to inform Scarface to assemble the team. After the new army was assembled, Li Zhiyun stepped on his horse and led the team to continue to move forward.