The big man is on the run

Chapter 95

Chongquan County, the suburbs.

The infantry and cavalry of the brigade rolled past carrying weapons and banners, raising dust all over the sky.

The captured peasants looked at the general on the tall horse tremblingly with bare hands.

Beside the general was a young man dressed as a scholar and several guards.

Li Jue looked at the terrified farmers and nodded in satisfaction.

The local farmers were forced by the soldiers' long guns. The peasant women hugged their children and clasped them hard to stop the children from crying. The scene was chaotic. Surrounded.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, just ask you something."

Li Jue said with a smile, he is not the mad Guo Bang, and he has no hobby of killing and abusing the people.

"Come on, Zijing, you go and ask."

Li Jue pointed at Meng Da beside him with his whip, Meng Da nodded, and rode his horse forward and said loudly.

"If you saw the officers and soldiers marching past the day before yesterday, take a step forward!"

Meng Da's voice was actually not particularly loud, but to the ears of the farmers, it was as shocking as thunder.

The words "one step forward" were like a curse, constantly echoing in everyone's minds.

After Meng Da's voice fell, the soldiers raised their spears one after another, aiming their guns at the surrounded farmers. The farmers panicked, but they did not dare to move at all.

At this time, a thin young man walked out tremblingly, took a step forward, and stood in front of Meng Da.

"You, stand closer."

"Sir, what's the matter?"

The thin boy's voice trembled, his body trembled, and he looked at Meng Da with fear in his eyes.

"What's your name?"

Meng Da didn't have any sense of superiority towards the peasant boy with such a huge disparity in status, he just asked plainly.

The thin young man quickly said: "My name is Li Da, Li Da!"

Meng Da nodded and continued to ask: "Since you saw the official army, do you know how many there are in the official army?"

"I don't know, but they can't stand on the top of the mountain. Go, go forward, and you will find that hill. When I get there, I can tell, tell you!"

Li Da tremblingly replied.

"Well, you answered very well, well, you can go."

Meng Da waved his hand.

"Many, thank you, Shangguan!"

Li Dalian quickly thanked him, turned around and ran towards his own village.

With Li Da's demonstration effect, most of the remaining farmers took a step forward,
But they were all nervous, afraid to get too close, and afraid to speak.

Meng Da looked at the other farmers who were parked there, and nodded at a man.

"You didn't see the officers and soldiers marching, so did you hear the sound of horseshoes?"

"I heard it!" the man said hastily, fine beads of sweat already appearing on his forehead.

"Tell me about the situation."

"I heard a rush of horseshoes at home. It sounded like an army passing by. I was frightened. Before I could pack my things, I ran up the mountain with my wife and children, trying to find a place to hide from the officers and soldiers."

"Well, what else?"

"Also, I didn't see the officers and soldiers marching with my own eyes, but I saw a bullock cart with a group of people sitting in the bullock cart. They were dressed in black and wore red crowns. I was afraid and didn't dare to go over. Take one look and run away."

"anything else?"

"No, no more."

The man said tremblingly, the cold sweat on his forehead flowing down his temples to the ground.

"Have you seen the appearance of the bullock cart?"

"No, I, I didn't dare to look more, but I remember that there was a bead curtain in front of their crowns, so I couldn't see their faces clearly."

Meng Da pondered for a while, then nodded.

"Okay, you can go too."

After Meng Da finished speaking, he waved his hand, and the soldiers let him go immediately.

The man breathed a sigh of relief as if he had been granted an amnesty, and fled quickly.

Seeing that Meng Da doesn't kill people, as long as he answers the questions honestly, he won't lose his life in vain, and the farmers feel a little more relaxed.

"You, don't hide, come out."

Meng Da directly pointed out an old man, obviously a well-known old man in the local area, and it stands to reason that he played the role of the arbiter of order in the village.

"Do you recognize these pots?" Meng Da asked coldly.

"I know, I know."

The old man said tremblingly.

"Then do you know that there are really so many people in the army, and they only took it from you when they lacked the pot, or did they just bluff and dig up a lot of stoves?"

Meng Da continued to ask.

"Returning to Shangguan's words, I can hear that the officers and soldiers are not short of food. I heard an officer say with my own ears that the number of people is getting smaller and smaller, and they still have enough food for a long time." The man said.

"food?"

Li Jue, who hadn't spoken for a long time, frowned slightly when he heard that, of course he knew how much food the officers and soldiers could have.

Now the villages distributed along the Weishui River had almost been burned down by Guo Bang, and the food and grass of the officers and soldiers should have been exhausted, so they could not buy food and grass from other places, they could only buy from the villages around the marching route, or loot.

Now the entire Guanzhong is once again caught in the flames of war, people are panicking, food is in short supply, and the tyrants are unwilling to trade food to them. The food is hoarded by themselves, waiting to be used to annex land.

But the officers and soldiers said there was no shortage of food!

That can only explain one problem. The number of officers and soldiers fleeing has reached a considerable level, so that there is no shortage of food distributed to everyone.

Li Jue had already confirmed this point from the mouths of scattered fugitive soldiers, and this time the villagers were arrested for questioning, it was nothing more than comparing the two.

In this way, this is indeed a "plan to increase stoves" that the officers and soldiers imitated Sun Bin's "measure of reducing stoves" and did the opposite.

But the officers and soldiers obviously didn't know that Li Jue had already seen through their "increasing the stove", and had already sent scouts, planning to inform the other two groups, um, that is, the Feixiong Army and Li Yingjun from the South Bank, quickly forming an encirclement network, Surrounding the officers and soldiers in Weiqu, they must not be allowed to cross the Luo River and then cross the Yellow River.

Seeing that Li Jue had already got what he wanted, Meng Da stopped asking.

"Well, you all go home!" Meng Da said, waving his hands.

"Here!" The man responded quickly.

After the man left, everyone dispersed one after another, and Meng Da returned to Li Jue's side.

"Da Sima, these people should have a lot of food in their homes. After searching, we won't have to worry about food."

"That's right, Da Sima, the amount of grain stored in the army seems to be small now, why don't you send troops to search these farmers' homes and grab the grain back?" The lieutenant general beside him also suggested.

"No need."

Li Jue waved his horsewhip to stop his subordinates.

"How much food do these farmers have in their families? Defeating the soldiers and horses of the imperial court is the top priority right now."

"Go, send an order to the Feixiong army on the south bank, tell them not to hide behind Li Ying anymore, speed up to cross the Wei River, and block the officers and soldiers in the Weiqu."

Hearing Li Jue's order, a trace of doubt flashed in Meng Da's eyes, isn't the Feixiong Army here?
Suddenly, Meng Da saw Wang Chang on the other side of Li Jue, and he seemed to have realized something. He looked at Li Jue's cold eyes, and said with a smile, "Great Sima, why don't you go and deliver the order?"

"You?" Li Jue raised his eyelids, "You can't ride a horse, so what order?"

"Ahem." Meng Da laughed awkwardly.

"Let someone else pass the order, you come with me, and go to the hill that the man said."

After all, Li Jue took Meng Da to the hill not far away, but refused to follow the guards.

Wang Chang looked thoughtfully at the backs of the two leaving.

This is not a steep hill.

Weeds are overgrown on the mountain, and a winding stream flows slowly from the foot of the mountain.

A few huge stones protruded abruptly from the surface of the creek. The surface of the stones was smooth and flat, covered with moss. It was obvious that no one had seriously moved them over the years.

At one end of the creek, there is a small lake. Many trees are planted beside the small lake, and there are layers of ripples on the surface of the lake.

Riding the horse to the top of the mountain, Li Jue still didn't say a word, Meng Da couldn't help asking.

"Da Sima suspects that there is something wrong with Wang Chang?"

"What does Zijing think?" Li Jue looked up at the white clouds floating in the sky and asked lightly.

"I guess the imperial court deliberately let this go for us, making us think that Wang Chang is sincerely attached to us. In fact, he may be doing it secretly, or he wants to take the opportunity to stir up internal strife among us." Meng Da guessed.

Li Jue shook his head and said, "Whether Wang Chang is careful or not, he must be cautious."

"Zijing." Li Jue suddenly pointed to the northwest.

"When I was young, I was born there, Niyang County, Beidi County. It used to be very poor, and it is also very poor now. Most of the dolls in the village don't have pants on, and they are splashed with mud every day."

Li Jue thought of the past, and said with emotion: "At that time, the dolls in the village were bullied by the dolls in the neighboring villages, but no one gave in. Sometimes they even had to fight when they were hungry or cold, so I told them Guo Si, who jumped out of the sand without a parent or a mother, is really different, but in terms of some things, it is the same."

Meng Da didn't understand what Li Jue meant, but he also knew that Li Jue should be remembering the past years.

The Guo Bang that Li Jue said "jumped out of the sand without parents or mothers" is dead.

Ever since the death of this old enemy who had been his partner for half his life, Li Jue seemed to have been depressed for a long time.

This depression is visible to the naked eye, but Li Jue's talk today seems to be particularly strong.

"Zijing, do you know? I used to herd cows for the village master for a long time, just to read a few words. The dolls in our village were not literate, and the houses they lived in at that time were made of yellow mud. The thatched house has thick grass hanging on the roof, and it will fall down when it rains. I don’t even care about repairing my own house, so I have to repair my husband’s house first.”

"At that time, I thought, how can you people who come from noble families be able to read and write? I was born with a low life?" Li Jue threw the reins of the horse on the ground, and the dust immediately flew everywhere. .

Meng Da remained silent.

"It's because of my cheap life that I worked extraordinarily hard. I don't compare myself to others, I compare myself to myself. This time I cut off one more head on the battlefield than last time. In exchange for the reward, I can treat Shangguan to a meal of wine. I am very satisfied. Step by step, I have become today's Da Sima, above the three princes and only below one."

Li Jue sneered again and again: "I know Zijing, you also despise me in your heart, thinking that I am just an illiterate martial artist. In troubled times, I have some scheming and opportunities, so I just took advantage of the situation. I can't say that I am in my position, stronger than me Countless times."

"Big Sima! I"

Li Jue pulled out the seven-star sword from his waist and pointed to the east.

"Ke Zijing, let me tell you, the world today is the world of warriors! What kind of benevolence and morality, what kind of propriety, righteousness and shame are all bullshit! The principles of the world must be put on the battlefield and told with flesh and blood!"

"If we say that in the world before, there were many rules restricting people like me from a humble background, but now... I want to break those so-called rules, break those rules that bind us, and let the world see what it means to be strong. My lord, what is fairness!"

"Fairness is that if I slash your neck, you die, and if you slash my neck, I die, not that I don't even have the qualifications to hold a knife!"

"I want those ministers of the gentry to know that the truth in this world is no bigger than a knife handle. I am definitely not one of their weak bones who only rely on the family's shade. I, Li Jue, have not received any favor from the family until now. , bring the Son of Heaven back to Chang'an, I want those dignitaries of the gentry to crawl under their feet and lick their toes for me!"

"Great Sima, you..." Meng Da was shocked by Li Jue's words.

"What? Think I'm crazy?"

Meng Da quickly regained his composure, and said, "What Da Sima said made Meng Da admire."

"Okay, let's go!" Li Jue looked away, got on his horse, and galloped down the mountain without picking up the whip on the ground.

Looking at Li Jue who was going away, Meng Da sighed with a complicated expression, and then he clamped his horse's belly with great effort and chased down the mountain.

(End of this chapter)