Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 159
Sun Chuanting, who was far away in Xi'an, received Chongzhen's imperial edict to amnesty the thieves, and immediately arranged for people to copy the content of the imperial edict and deliver it to various prefectures and counties in Shaanxi for posting. and left [-] Qin troops stationed in Xi'an to prevent sneak attacks by thieves. The remaining [-] people were led by Zhou Yuji, the general soldier, and the whole army set off for northern Shaanxi.

He himself took the lead in taking Fubiao to Yan'an Mansion in northern Shaanxi to meet Hong Chengchou, the governor of the five provinces, and discuss with him the next strategy of suppressing bandits.

Sun Chuanting, under the escort of the [-] bidding cavalry, left Xi'an Mansion and hurried north along the official road.After leaving the area under the jurisdiction of Xi'an Prefecture, apart from the desolation of Chidi thousands of miles along the way, only intermittent small groups of refugees rushed to Xi'an along the official road. After arriving in Xi'an Mansion, the imperial court will take care of the food.

It was under the support of the deadly temptation of having food to eat that groups of men, women and children with sallow complexions and ragged clothes marched tenaciously to the south with their longing for life.

It was late autumn, and the temperature in the morning and evening was already very low. Most of the fleeing people on the road wore straw sandals barefoot, with robes that could barely cover their bodies, and their eyes were empty and numb, without a trace of expression.

Seeing a large group of cavalry in bright armor running from a distance, the refugees hurriedly hid by the roadside in a panic, looking at Sun Chuanting's team with frightened eyes.

Sun Chuanting, who was in the Chinese army, slowed down his horse, and the horse changed from a gallop to a trot. He watched the crowd on the side of the road, and a strong sense of sourness emerged spontaneously.

When he first came to Xi’an to visit Zuowei in Xi’an, he was shocked by the poverty and embarrassment of the military households in the guard. Although the military households were poor, at least they still had a mouthful of food to eat, but the tragic situation of the refugees encountered on the road made his heart full. Painful and remorseful.

I have read the books of sages and sages, and it is my ambition to assist the king and help the world; I also take Zhang Hengqu's famous saying as the goal of my life: to establish a heart for the world, to establish a life for the people, to inherit the sage's knowledge, and to create peace for all generations .

But this group of precarious refugees in front of them are all the people of Ming Dynasty, all the children of the Holy Majesty, and they are all the people under his rule, but their fate cannot be established by themselves!The teachings of the sages have failed me!
A faint cry came from the chaotic hooves of the horses, interrupting Sun Chuanting's thoughts. He reined in his horse and looked at the cry, and the horse team behind him also stopped one after another.

There was a group of more than [-] refugees ten steps away from the roadside. At the front was a young woman with a yellow and thin face in a tattered skirt, hugging a young girl tightly, and the cry came from the girl's mouth.

The young woman saw that the group of military masters were all standing still, and all eyes looked at her together, she was trembling with fright, stretched out her withered arms tremblingly, and wanted to cover the girl's mouth with her hands.

Sun Chuanting, who was wearing a red official robe, dismounted from his horse and walked towards the young woman. After dismounting, several personal soldiers drew knives in their hands and stood guard on both sides of him.More than a dozen personal soldiers drew bows and set arrows, and rode on horseback, scanning the surroundings with vigilant eyes.

Seeing the handsome Sun Chuanting coming with his guards, the hundreds of disaster victims fell to their knees in panic, all of them lowered their heads deeply, not daring to look directly at the nobleman in front of them.

Sun Chuanting came to stand in front of this group of people, and said in a warm voice: "My lady, is the child in your arms sick? Why is it crying? Come on, folks, I have something to ask!"

The crowd of victims did not dare to get up, they just kowtowed non-stop, saying that the military master spared their lives, fearing that they would accidentally anger these military masters who seemed to be full of murderous looks, and bring about a disaster of death.

The woman knelt on the ground with the child in her arms, trembling all over and dared not look up, let alone answer.

Sun Zhi'an, who has become the leader of Sun Chuanting's personal army, shouted: "Hurry up and get up! This is Mr. Sun, the governor of Shaanxi! The master has something to ask you, wait, get up quickly!"

Although the victims didn't know how high the governor was, they stood up tremblingly after seeing the fierce look of the military man.

Sun Chuanting ordered: "Go get some rations and water!"

Sun Zhi'an and another soldier quickly turned back to the horse, each took out a dozen pieces of steamed cakes from the huge luggage on the horse's back, and took several water bags made of sheepskin with them before returning.

Seeing the steamed cakes, the disaster victims who were huddled together became agitated immediately. The eyes of men, women, old and young were all focused on Sun Zhian's hands, with longing and enthusiasm in their eyes, and their numb expressions became extremely eager.

If it was only Sun Zhian alone or a few people, the group of victims would have rushed forward and snatched the steamed cakes in his hand. Even if they died immediately after taking a bite, they would be willing.

Sun Chuanting took a piece of steamed cake, stretched out his hand and handed it to the young woman who was holding the baby, and said softly: "The baby is probably hungry, lady, please feed the baby a few bites first, don't eat too much, eat quickly! "

Although the woman was still afraid in her heart, any fear disappeared instantly in front of Chi Shi.She fixed her eyes on the steamed cake in Sun Chuanting's hand, stretched out one arm and slowly reached it, and when she got close, she quickly grabbed the steamed cake in her hand, brought it to her mouth, bit off a large piece, chewed for a while, lowered her head and closed her mouth To the girl's mouth, put the chewed steamed cake into the child's mouth.The girl who was only two or three years old in her arms stopped crying, and like a bird that was crying for food, her small body tried to move upwards, her mouth was tightly attached to her mother, and she began to swallow greedily.

The eyes of the victims around were all focused on the steamed cake, and many people involuntarily moved towards the woman, eager to pounce on the steamed cake.

Sun Chuanting's desolate expression revealed a firm determination: Only by thoroughly killing the rogues can the people no longer be displaced, and the court's relief can arrive safely!Natural disasters are unpredictable, and the man-made disasters of the thieves exacerbated the consequences of the natural disasters. They robbed the people of the only rations, and these thieves should be cut to pieces!

Sun Zhian yelled: "Stop! Otherwise, you will be killed without mercy!"

The surrounding soldiers held knives and pressed forward to the group of victims who were about to move. The eyes of these hungry people made people shudder, exuding the cold blood like wild beasts wanting to eat people.

Sun Chuanting turned around and walked towards his mount. He ordered as he walked: "Leave five people and ten packages of dry food to escort the victims to Xi'an Mansion; order Yang Mingsheng to arrange manpower and food to the north, and set up points every 1000 miles to collect the victims; [-] guards along the way!"

He has more important things to do, so he can't stay here for too long.

He knew in his heart that if only food was left for the victims without any care, no amount of food would be snatched away by strong men.You will know after a little thought about the fate of the old and weak women and children like that woman and the child in her arms.

Yongningguan is located at the junction of Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, more than two hundred miles away from Yan'an Mansion in the northwest, with dense ravines and difficult roads in the middle.

It is precisely because of such a complex terrain that Hong Chengchou has more than [-] troops, but he has been helpless against the thieves floating in northern Shaanxi.

In the simple hall of a cottage on the wasteland of Yongning Pass, Tuo Yangkun, the scorpion block, was talking with Zhang Miaoshou.

Since Gao Yingxiang's tribe was destroyed, the Xiezikuai tribe has become the most powerful gangster in Shaanxi.

The reason why he is said to be the biggest and not the strongest is that although Xiezikuai has more than 3 men, among them there are only more than [-] elite soldiers and veterans, and the rest are refugees who dig in the ground and follow him to plunder and make money. That's all.

Another bandit leader, Zhang Miaoshou, whose real name was Zhang Wenyao, came from the Qingjian family. He got his name because he was good at kneading dough since he was a child.Because of his bravery in battle, he made many gains, and was promoted to the leader of the team after accumulating meritorious service. Later, because he was dissatisfied with the embarrassment of grain and salary by the guard, he drew his sword and beheaded him, and then absconded in fear of crime.

As Wang Jiayin, Diandengzi, Hongshanlang and others rebelled one after another, Zhang Miaoshou joined the rebellion because he had nowhere to go.

Later, these rebel leaders who were the first to rebel were wiped out successively by Chen Qiyu and others. Zhang Miaoshou gathered the remnants of these people, and recruited some fugitives from the frontier army, and gradually grew stronger.

Although his subordinates are only more than [-] people, many of them are from the frontier towns of Yulin and Yansui, but their combat effectiveness is relatively strong, and the rest of the bandit leaders respect him very much.

Today Zhang Miaoshou came to the camp of Xiezi Kuai in Yongning Pass to discuss with him about the court's amnesty.

Zhang Miaoshou said: "The emperor issued an imperial decree to surrender us, saying that we don't care about the sins we did before, as long as we submit to the imperial court and become good citizens, we will not be held accountable. What do you think about this matter?"

Scorpion rubbed the short beard under his jaw with a tangled face, and he thought for a long time before he said: "Brother Zhang, we are living a very happy life now. Silk satins, good wine and good food were unimaginable before. , we all enjoy it every day; if we submit to the court and become good citizens, these good things will be useless, and we will have to dig out food in the soil, can we dig out a golden egg? Thieves don’t have eyes, we’ve been in Shaanxi for seven or eight years, and the crops here come and go, how can we survive?”

Zhang Miaoshou said with a sneer: "The big head leader just stared at the food in front of him, and he was afraid that he would have no life to enjoy it in the future!"

After all, he has been in the army for many years, and his vision is much wider than bandits like Xie Zikuai. After Gao Yingxiang was wiped out, he was keenly aware that the situation in Ming Dynasty was changing. If he didn't follow the current situation, the result might be bad.

Xie Zikuai ignored his sarcasm, but hurriedly asked: "Brother Zhang, how can you say this? I, a rough guy like me, can't understand it very well, so tell me, brother, it's fine right now, why can't I say that?" Life to enjoy?"

　Thanks to the book friend Xinghui: Spirited Away for the reward, and thank you friends for subscribing and recommending collections.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)