The noon sun of September scorched the earth mercilessly, and I knew that the branches were chirping, and lying in the shade of the ruined temple was a young man in his early twenties, squinting his eyes and looking out of the window blankly.

Weather like this has lasted for more than four or five months, during which no rain has fallen, the whole earth has dried up and cracked out an inch long, and the grain grains in many places have not been harvested, this year's drought, coupled with last year's cold disaster, God really doesn't want the people of Zhao to live.

Such natural disasters, coupled with the annual military disasters, have caused a large number of people of Zhao to leave their homes and be displaced, and there are skinny refugees everywhere, and the roads are full of white bones.

The wild dogs in the fields gnawed on the corpses, and their eyes glowed green, and their bodies smelled of decay.

They roam country lanes in droves, preying on lone refugees.

These wild dogs are extremely fierce and cunning, they often form herds, and when they encounter large groups of refugees, they only follow from a distance, and when they find an anomaly, they will flee.

As soon as they find the backward refugees, they will rush to hunt and kill and eat.

In this way, the common people living in Zhao State could not survive, so a large number of disaster victims poured into the territory of the wealthy Song State in the east.

Although the Song State placed heavy troops on the border, it still could not stop the influx of refugees.

Zhao Lei has watched groups of villagers flee in groups these days, and most of them fled to the east along the avenue and with the crowd.

But Zhao Lei didn't have any thoughts in his heart, leaving his homeland, he was the only one left in their family.

Zhao Lei's mother died of hemorrhage because she gave birth to him. And his father was drafted into the battlefield, and it has been three years since he has not been heard from.

His grandparents, because they couldn't see hope in this troubled world, and in order not to be a burden to Zhao Lei, they all hung themselves on the eaves two days ago.

In order to settle his relatives, Zhao Lei packaged and sold all the acres of land and real estate at home to the landlord at the head of the village, and buried him in exchange for a meager silver tael.

Although these silver taels are far inferior to these real estate properties, only the landlord's family can exchange them for silver taels at this time.

The disasters of this year did not affect these rich landlords who were wealthy squires, and their food, silk and satin, gold and silver, were enough for decades of food and clothing.

The disasters of these two years only affected their crops in the past two years, and the family wealth of these landlords and squires was all accumulated over the years.

In the past two years, not only did they not lose money, but they also hoarded a large amount of grain, united with the grain merchants in the city, and sold the grain at a high price, making a lot of money.

If it weren't for this, the disasters of the past two years would not have starved so many people to death, and these people have indeed made a "great contribution".

Although during this period, it was not without refugees who had the idea of these landlords' families, but they were all beaten to death by the nursing homes they spent a lot of money to cultivate, and even their bodies were hung from the old trees at the head of the village.

These squires are all elders of the village, and they are the basis of the rule of the entire Zhao State.

In the past, Zhao Guo's orders could often only be sent to the county, and the implementation of orders below the county level often relied on these squires.

It is precisely because of this that they can be so unscrupulous and eat the strong, as they have been since ancient times.

Zhao Lei's previous ambition was to become the guardian of the landlord's family like Brother Tiger next door, majestic and majestic, and he didn't have to worry about eating and drinking.

For this reason, he also looked for Brother Hu, spent all the hard-earned money he had saved in four or five years, and learned a few martial arts tricks from him, although they are all ordinary martial arts tricks, but they are also terrible in this small village.

Brother Hu worked hard outside back then, and it is said that he once became an outer disciple in a small gang, and his kung fu was very handsome, and he could kick and break the thick pillar of the bowl.

Now he is the head of the courtyard of the Zhao landlord's family, and the rest of the courtyard is all practiced by him.

And Brother Tiger also looked at Zhao Lei's family in the past, and helped his family when his family was in difficulty when he was a child, otherwise he might not be able to learn it with Zhao Lei's two melons and dates.

For this reason, Zhao Lei has also put a lot of effort into it, and he will practice every morning and evening.

Before Zhao Lei's father was caught, he was a well-known hunter in ten miles and eight towns.

At that time, the old king of Zhao had not yet died, and the entire Zhao kingdom was prosperous under his governance, and the country and the people were safe.

Zhao Lei can often eat meat, and because of this, he has the good strength and good body of this body.

is also because Zhao Lei lost his mother when he was young, and his father is an old man, so he dotes on him very much.

So much so that Zhao Lei and his father's skills, Zhao Lei only learned the fur, and he can learn the ability of archery.

Since Zhao Lei and his father were forcibly conscripted to serve as soldiers, their family's life has been worse day by day.

Zhao Lei once tried to go into the mountains to hunt like his father, but because of his lack of experience, the harvest of hunting was often unsatisfactory.

Coupled with the disasters of the year, the wild beasts in the mountains could no longer live, and fled to the deeper part of the 100,000 mountains.

And the villagers outside, there is no harvest in the field, and they have also poured into the mountains, so now, Zhao Lei has gone into the mountains to hunt ten times and nine empty, since then Zhao Lei's family has also declined, and now he is the only one left.

Once Zhao Lei also begged Brother Tiger, and Brother Tiger also tried to help him.

But in this troubled era, all kinds of martial artists who can't eat are gone, and countless martial artists are pouring into the homes of those landlords and squires.

And in this troubled era, the landlord and squire also urgently needed the support of force, but because there were too many people, they finally decided to recruit people through a competition.

At the beginning, Zhao Lei won a few games with his strength, but with the elimination of the weak, the competitive pressure became more and more intense, and Zhao Lei finally lacked experience and finally lost the election.

And the friendship between Brother Tiger and Zhao Lei did not reach the point of going through the back door for him, and in the end, it was over.

Zhao Lei, with his own skills, is more likely to survive than those refugees who fled outside.

But now Zhao Lei is not interested in all this, he has been lying in this broken temple all day, the grain of rice has not entered, and the water has not been touched.

The three years of hard work have also polished Zhao Lei's edges and corners, consuming his enthusiasm and ambition.

In the past three years, in order to support his family, he has done everything, black, white, clean, unclean, as long as he gives money, he doesn't care about anything.

But with the suicide of his grandfather and grandmother, Zhao Lei's last straw was broken, and he lost hope of continuing to live, and he had no hope of whether his father could come back.

In the past two days, Zhao Lei often couldn't help but think that dying in this broken temple like this is also a good destination.

Time passed slowly, the scorching sun disappeared above the western horizon, and the hot earth was still unleashing its fury.