Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 253 0248 [Prison Break]

Chang'an, Jingzhao Mansion Prison.

Yang Zhi was already exhausted from hunger.

He received an errand during the drought and transported the grain from the south of the Yangtze River from Tokyo all the way to Chang'an, and handed it to Jing Zhaoyin to recruit refugees as soldiers.

When the boat sailed to the boundary of Shanzhou, it suddenly rained heavily.After finally waiting for the weather to clear up, it started to rain again within two days, and the food was stuck near Tongguan and could not move.

Immediately, the water of the Yellow River rose sharply, and all the grain and boats were washed away.

There is no need for anyone to frame him. According to the law, he should pay for food, and if he can't afford it, he has to be assassinated and sent to the army.

After Hong Feng passed, Yang Zhi was escorted to Chang'an for business.

Due to too many local affairs recently, no one cares about his life and death, even if he is thrown into a prison, he will not be tried.Moreover, the price of food here is so high, how could it be possible to take care of the prisoners?I couldn't eat at both ends for three days.

The dark cell was full of prisoners who were starved to death.

There was a dead silence, no one spoke, and there was no strength to speak.

Waking up in a trance, was woken up by the pain, my stomach was empty and burning.

"boom!"

Suddenly there was a loud noise, and the entire prison was shaken.

The jailers who were bragging and chatting all stood up in surprise, and then shouted: "The earth dragon has turned over, run away!"

All the prisoners were awakened, anxiously waiting for the trial of fate.

After a while, it shook violently again, and a corner of the cell was directly shaken down.This place was [-] kilometers away from the center of the earthquake, but it was still powerful enough to knock down houses, and even the aftershocks made people panic.

Some prisoners escaped through the gap, almost crawling due to hunger and weakness.

Yang Zhi shouted with all his strength: "I am the former general of the Kaifeng Palace, you will die if you escape like this. Go find something, pry open all the cells, save more brothers and go together!"

Several prisoners who were about to escape from the prison felt reasonable after hearing this statement. They were so hungry that they could hardly walk, and indeed going out would be a dead end.

These guys searched around, and soon picked up a knife and a few sticks, which were left by the jailers in panic.

"Dangdangdang..."

After hacking for a long time, I was so weak that I couldn't hack the lock at all.

They came in rotation, all panting with exhaustion.

A prisoner next door shouted in a very weak voice: "Sharpen a wooden needle, and I can open the lock..."

"This brother will open the lock and sharpen the wooden needles quickly, quickly sharpen the wooden needles!" The prisoners in the same prison shouted together.

A small piece of wood was chopped off from the edge of the stick, and then the wood chip was continued to be cut with a hand knife.It is slightly needle-shaped, and I tried it out, but it was too rough to fit into the keyhole.

"Grind it, grind it into a needle!" said the prisoner next door again.

So I used it to grind it on the wall until it was slightly thicker than a sewing needle, and sent it to prisoners who could pick locks.

The prisoner was unable to move and was supported by his fellow prisoner to stand up.The whole person was lying on the wooden railing, and his wrists were wearing wooden shackles, and his arms could not be stretched out to move.

So, everyone stuffed the iron chains and copper locks in for him.

The wooden needle was inserted into the lock hole, and the copper lock opened in about a second.

After he was dragged out of the cell, he first opened the shackles for his companions.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, due to the large increase in iron smelting, prisoners generally wore iron shackles.In the Song Dynasty, it was much more confusing. In order to save money, the local government put wooden shackles on the prisoners' hands and tied their feet with ropes.Preventing escape is only one of them, and the bigger effect is to prevent prisoners from fighting.

The cells are opened, the locks are unlocked, and the ropes are cut.

"boom!"

There was another aftershock, and several prisoners who had been freed escaped in panic.

Yang Zhi shouted: "Come back quickly, let's go together!"

Those prisoners turned a deaf ear, for fear that if they stayed for a while, the whole prison would collapse.

Fortunately, all the jailors also ran away, rushing to the widest street in unison, they didn't even dare to stay in the narrow street.

After dawdling for 10 minutes, Yang Zhi finally escaped with the prisoner.

There are still cells that haven't been opened, but they can't be rescued because the prisoner who can open the lock fainted from hunger...

"Don't bother with this guy anymore, you won't survive!" said one prisoner.

But Yang Zhi said: "He unlocked the lock for many of us, and we came out, how can we leave him?"

"People who are about to starve to death, can you recite it?"

"If you can't carry it, drag it away!"

Even before the jailbreak started, disagreements had already emerged.

No one could convince anyone, and finally divided into two groups.

Only a dozen or so people were willing to follow Yang Zhi and take away the prisoner who unlocked the lock.

The other 40 or more people no longer cared about the prisoner who opened the lock, but took knives and sticks along with them, and rushed out together to find food.

After another delay, Yang Zhi and his companions took turns to escape with the lockpicker.Their speed was very slow, some people leaned against the wall and some crawled all the way.

Fleeing from the prison to the street, no one was found alive. Many officials and ordinary people went to the wide street on the central axis of the city.

"Go to the back door of the government office!" Yang Zhi said.

The fugitive around him said in horror: "It's still... find a private house, if you go to the government office, you may be caught."

Yang Zhi said: "Dilong turned around, there are no people in the houses everywhere, the mansions are just like private houses. We escaped from the prison, but we are the closest to the mansions, and there must be meat in the back houses of the mansions."

Everyone was skeptical, and boldly went to the back door of the government office.

The door turned out to be open, and Jing Zhaoyin's family members were so panicked that they didn't even lock the door when they were sheltering from the earthquake.

After searching separately for a while, they finally found the kitchen.

There was actually a pot of tremella porridge, the temperature of the charcoal fire was still there, and the tremella porridge was still hot, and it was knocked down to the ground and spilled a lot.

Make a bowl of porridge, gobble it up.

Yang Zhi didn't eat and pinch people first to wake up the unconscious man, and let the guy who helped open the lock fill his stomach.

Some prisoners had already finished their porridge and went to the kitchen to look for other food.

Yang Zhi shouted: "Hungry for too long, don't eat too much and get sick. Get some sacks, pack food and go out of the city! By the way, go to the house to find some clothes, and get a comb to dress up. Find out where the stables are, Get some horses, or a carriage."

After entering the government office, there is food in the house, and there is no one guarding it. Yang Zhi's decision-making is very wise, and other prisoners are willing to listen to him.

Two quarters of an hour later, the prisoners came back one after another, and all of them had changed into clean clothes.

They fetched water to wash their faces, helped each other comb their buns, and then put on their headscarves or hats.

"Brother, what's your name?" a prisoner asked.

Yang Zhi said: "I am Yang Zhi, the general in front of the palace. Because the flood washed away the official rations, I was arrested and sent to Chang'an and put in prison."

When this identity was announced, all the fugitives respected him and called him big brother and brother one after another.

The general in front of the palace is not worth mentioning in the eyes of civil officials, and even senior officials don't take the general seriously.

But after all, he was a military officer. To the fugitives, Yang Zhi was considered a big shot.

A prisoner immediately knelt down, holding a precious sword in both hands: "Brother Yang, I found this in a room. Since Brother Yang is a general in front of the palace, he must be very skilled and worthy of this precious sword."

"I'm not being polite." Yang Zhi tied the treasured sword around his waist.

Suddenly someone came back and said happily: "There are three horses, and there are also carriages!"

Yang Zhi immediately arranged a plan to go out of the city. He first sent two fugitives who were physically fit and had no tattoos on their faces to scout in east and west directions on horseback.Where there are few people, go there.

You must not go to the north and south sides, most of the people in the city gather on the main street along the central axis.

Some food and goods were moved into the car, and those who were physically weak also took the car.

When the person who inquired about the news came back, everyone set off immediately.

Yang Zhi and another fugitive rode to clear the way, pretending to be armed attendants of a powerful family.There were six more people, guarding the front and back of the carriage.The rest pretended to be coachmen and nobles, and all sat in the car.

There was another aftershock on the way, which scared the horse almost to the point of madness.

This place is far away from the earthquake center, and the destructive force is not large. Only a few houses along the way collapsed.

There wasn't even a guard at the gate of the city, and they all ran to the open places on the outskirts of the city.

Yang Zhi led more than a dozen fugitives, rode horses and drove away in a swaggering manner, and fled until more than ten miles away before stopping to rest.

"Brother Yang is worthy of being a general in the front of the palace. He actually knows how to go to the back house of the government office, get a lot of food and goods, and even escape Chang'an in a carriage!"

These people are more loyal and willing to take away the lockpicker.

Those fugitives who have no loyalty, don't know where they are now, but most of them didn't mix well with Yang Zhi.

"Brother Yang, what are your plans?" A fugitive asked.

Before Yang Zhi could answer, the other person said, "What other plans do you have? Since you are a fugitive, you should go into the mountains and become a bandit in Zhongnan Mountain!"

"I still have a wife at home."

"Then try it when you go home, I'm afraid you won't hurt my old lady."

"If it's fallen grass, we need to get some more weapons."

"Try on the way and see if we can rob some wealthy households in the countryside."

"..."

These guys are already discussing the robbery plan.

Yang Zhi said, "I have a good place to go."

"What's a good place to go?" Everyone asked.

Yang Zhi said: "I have an old man in Hanzhong, he is a noble man with official status. If we go there, we can change our name and register, so we don't have to go into the mountains to be bandits."

"That's great!"

"Let's follow Brother Yang!"

The fugitives turned south, looking for a rich family in the countryside to rob.

Not for looting, but to get some weapons.No matter how bad it is, a kitchen knife will do, and hoes and sickles can also be used as weapons.

They abandoned their carriages and took only three horses into the mountain. They let the horses carry their goods and food, and went to Yangzhou through the Tangluo Road.

On the way, he also encountered bandits. Yang Zhi fought hard, broke two brothers one after another, and many of them suffered minor injuries, and finally passed through the bandit-infested area.

After finally arriving at the border of Yangzhou, Yang Zhi came to a village and asked the wealthy households in the village: "We are accompanied by an old friend of Lord Yuanzhang, and we will send some gifts to Daming Village. Do you know how Daming Village got there?"

I heard that they were friends and family members of Zhu Guoxiang, and the wealthy family was very enthusiastic: "Go straight along the Han River, and the Huangjin Gorge is quite difficult. You should ask along the bank, and everyone knows where Daming Village is."

"Thank you!"

Yang Zhi cupped his fists to express his thanks, and led the people straight to Daming Village.

They inquired along the way, and sure enough, everyone knew about it.And hearing that they had an old relationship with Zhu Guoxiang, they all showed great enthusiasm, and some wealthy households even invited them to eat.

The fugitives were extremely surprised: "This Duke Yuanzhang has such a great reputation, everyone recognizes him."

Yang Zhi smiled and said, "If you go there, you won't have to worry about being hunted down by the government."

(End of this chapter)