Under the sky

Chapter 161

Starting from Dong'an County, there are victims of the disaster along the way, carrying their families, women holding children, and young people carrying their elderly parents on their backs.Dian Cang plundered almost every village and town along the way, leaving only about fifteen days' worth of food for each person. They could not make a living in their hometown and had no choice but to seek refuge in the next village or town, even if the next village or town was in the same predicament.

Li Jingfeng heard many cries and howls along the way, but most of them were quiet.The wide Chi Road is like a river, allowing the people to flow like a river. Their eyes are dull, like zombies, walking quietly in the flow of people, walking aimlessly, because even if they reach the next village, there is no food.They have to scrape tree bark, dig grass roots, and look for food in the barren mountains and wilderness until someone can't stand it anymore and lies on the ground crying, and others will be aroused and start crying.

Just like that, there was a period of silence and a period of crying. Each cry stirred up Li Jingfeng's mind.As the carriage passed by, the victims along the road looked at it with the same look as when Dian Cang's long dragon-like grain cart passed by. However, compared with the large number of Dian Cang disciples who were protecting the grain, his carriage seemed weak.

"Brother Li, if we continue walking on this road, we will cause trouble." Wang Meng said, "Let's take the narrow path."

Li Jingfeng said softly "Hmm".He knew that he couldn't help these people. There were too many. Even if all the food in the car was thrown away, it wouldn't be enough for these people. Moreover, this group of people would attack each other to grab a morsel of food. In the end, only a few more people would die.

If you want to give, you have to give to what is most needed, Li Jingfeng thought.He looked around to see if there were any people exhausted from hunger.

As Zhuge Ran said, this war will always happen either today or in a few years or more than ten years. It will be started by any force that thinks it can control the situation. It cannot be stopped by killing anyone.

The carriage left the road and turned into a sparsely populated path.

This is not something I can do, Li Jingfeng comforted himself.This is a matter for the eldest and second brothers, Deputy Chief Zhuge, the Nine Families and the heads of each sect. For the sake of the people, they must end this war as soon as possible.

But there is always something I can do, not in the temple, not in the sect, not in the vortex of fighting for power, not in the overall situation where every penny has to be weighed and every step is taken.

A little thing, a little thing he could do.

Li Jingfeng looked out the window. There seemed to be smoke from cooking in the distance?
"Go east." Li Jingfeng said, "There seems to be someone over there."

It was a remote town, but looking at the deep and mottled wheel marks on the muddy ground, one could tell that they had not escaped Dian Cang's robbery. If that was the case, why was there still smoke from cooking in the town?
When he was sure there was someone there, Li Jingfeng looked around and suddenly shouted: "Be careful, there is a child in front of you!"

A child blocked the road with open hands, really like Li Jingfeng blocking Zhuge Ran outside Guilin.Most of the upper edge of his right ear is missing, his eyes are small and his nose is small, his upper jaw has protruding buck teeth, his hair is as messy as straw, and his clothes are ragged, and he has to use a frame to hold them up to prevent them from escaping from his thin shoulders. He looks at about ten people. Years old, maybe older?After all, it was as if he had never had a good meal.

He is more like a disaster victim than the disaster victims along the road.

Li Jingfeng was feeling sorry for the child when he quickly stepped forward and shouted loudly: "Save my dad! Please, save my dad!" He fell to his knees and begged loudly, crying.

Wang Meng asked in surprise: "What happened to your father?"

The child pointed to a small forest in the distance and said: "My father went to pick wild fruits and suddenly fell down. He was shaking all over and ignored me no matter how he screamed." His face was red with anxiety, and his dirty face was covered with tears.

"Fuck! Are you eating the poisonous wild fruit?" Wang Meng cursed and said, "Brother Li, let me go over and take a look."

"Brother Wang, let me go." Li Jingfeng was about to get out of the car, but Wang Meng opened the curtain and got in, whispering: "This car must be guarded. You can't go to Jiangxi if you lose the food. Brother Li is good at staying here." Come down and guard your luggage while I walk around for you. You are just a child, so what are you afraid of?"

Li Jingfeng thought he was right.The child shouted for help again, and Wang Meng replied: "I know, let's go right away."

The child ran ahead to lead the way. He ran so fast that he fell to the ground with a "Oh!" and sprained his foot.Wang Meng was about to pick him up, but the child shrank and said anxiously: "I'm fine, go and save my dad!"

Wang Meng saw that he was crying anxiously, and thought that if he really found his father, he would not be able to take care of the big one and the little one, so he said: "Wait here, I will come back when I go." After that, he ran quickly into the forest. .

Li Jingfeng poked his head out of the carriage and saw the child sitting on the ground, covering his feet and crying softly. He couldn't bear it, so he got out of the driveway and said, "Put your feet out and let me take a look."

The child said "Hmm" and stretched out his legs. Li Jingfeng leaned over to see his injuries. The child suddenly took out a paper bag from his arms, crushed it hard, and sprinkled a handful of lime powder on Li Jingfeng's face.Li Jingfeng said "Ah" and backed away repeatedly, covering his eyes.

"You stupid idiot!" The child jumped up and got into the carriage while Li Jingfeng couldn't see. When he saw the luggage and dry food, he stuffed a piece of bacon into his mouth. He picked up a letter of pancakes with his left hand and a greased paper bag with his right hand. Regardless of what was inside, he jumped off the carriage and ran towards the village.

Suddenly his vision went dark, and he bumped into something hard. The child fell to the ground, and when he raised his head, he saw that the young man he had just knocked down was staring at him with narrowed eyes, his hair and face were all white.

Before he had time to think about why this man was not afraid of lime, Li Jingfeng had already reached out and grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.The child didn't suffer any loss. He stuffed the bacon into his mouth without chewing it carefully. He swallowed it after biting.

"Slow down, be careful of choking." Seeing her eating in a hurry, Li Jingfeng suppressed his anger.He hated bullying others with good intentions. He could see how skinny the child was, and he also knew that he was extremely hungry and that he was young, so he just said: "Eat slowly, I won't take it from you."

The child swallowed the bacon in his mouth and cried, "Don't hit me, my dad is really sick!"

Li Jingfeng was about to ask when the child threw out another handful of lime. He was holding the child in his right hand and hurriedly covering it in front of his eyes with his left hand.The little boy was hanging in the air and kicked Li Jingfeng's lower body. Finally, Li Jingfeng reacted quickly and hurriedly retreated. The kick hit his left hip, but the force was not very strong.The little boy twisted around and struggled to get away from Li Jingfeng, and ran towards the village.

Li Jingfeng thought to himself, how could this child be so vicious!He wanted to catch up, but his eyes were surrounded by lime. He was afraid of seeping into his eyes, so he closed his eyes and used a fan to remove the dust. He took the wax paper wrapped in bacon and sat beside the carriage to wipe his eyes.

About half an hour later, Wang Meng rushed back. Seeing Li Jingfeng's hair covered in gray and no child, he hurriedly stepped forward to ask.When Li Jingfeng told him what had happened, Wang Meng said angrily: "This little bitch is so bad at a young age!" He added, "The lime has to be washed with oil. There is no vegetable oil in the car, so I have to go to the town to get some. Fortunately, my brother's eyes were not stained. Come on, otherwise you will be in trouble."

Li Jingfeng said: "I also have some stains and I feel a little uncomfortable. Brother Wang, please help me."

Wang Meng took the greased paper from Li Jingfeng's hand, carefully wiped the lime dust from Li Jingfeng's eyes, and sighed: "Brother, you are so vigilant. If it were me, I would definitely get caught."

"I've encountered it before. This thing is powerful and I'm always on guard." Li Jingfeng said, "Last year I was ambushed by Brother Wang's colleagues in Hubei. They sprinkled a lot of lime on me. I couldn't open my eyes and was seriously injured. Fortunately, The horse was good, and I had learned some skills in identifying the position by listening to sounds. I closed my eyes and rushed for a while. Although I escaped, the good horse died of his injuries."

"At that time, my eyes were severely burned, so I found a nearby river and swam in the water for half an hour before I felt better. However, they were red and swollen, so I had to seek treatment from a doctor." Li Jingfeng said with a smile, "Later I learned that I had to use vegetable oil to wash them. . Fortunately, I didn’t get hurt by this move. It seems like I’d better keep some vegetable oil with me in the future.”

Wang Meng said: "Let's borrow some vegetable oil from the town first, or soak it in the water and wash it."

Li Jingfeng got in the car and changed his coat, while Wang Meng drove into the town.There were dried blood stains on the walls at the entrance of the town, as well as scratches from weapons, but not much, and the houses were generally intact.Wang Meng shouted several times, and the door was closed. He knocked on several houses, but no one answered.

Wang Meng wondered, "Where have everyone gone?" He smelled the faint aroma of rice again, looked up and saw smoke, so he said, "Brother Li, let's go over there."

After walking through three alleys, he gradually heard the noise of people. Wang Meng followed the noise and saw people gathering on the street.I saw a large number of people holding rice bowls, surrounding an unknown place, and everyone was rushing forward. It seemed that the whole town was crowded here. It seemed that someone was putting food out?

Wang Meng shouted: "What are you doing?"

When the surrounding townspeople heard the sound, they turned around and became alert when they saw the carriage and the stranger.Wang Meng saw their suspicious eyes and deep hostility. He was really afraid that they would swarm him. He couldn't resist them. He whispered: "Brother Li, this is not a kind place. Let's go." Li Jingfeng opened the curtain and looked at it for a while, but also Feeling shocked.

Fortunately, what Wang Meng was worried about did not happen.The crowd in front moved forward, and those behind followed closely, and no one paid any attention to the two of them.People came out one after another, holding a bowl of porridge and a small piece of scone in their hands. It seemed that someone was really giving food.This group of people received the food and went home, and the empty houses became popular.

Wang Meng went door to door begging for vegetable oil, only to receive a few blank looks. Someone asked them where they came from, but Wang Meng only said that they were businessmen from Sichuan and were going to Hengyang to visit relatives.Li Jingfeng's face felt hot and uncomfortable, and his eyes stung slightly. He and Wang Meng looked for a well to draw water, and happened to see the little girl carrying water for her eyes at the well.When Wang Meng saw this, he became angry and cursed loudly. He rushed forward and grabbed the little girl's arm.

The little girl was also really wild. She lowered her head and bit Wang Meng's arm. The pain made Wang Meng scream loudly and he wanted to hit her with his fist.The punch was so fierce and vicious that he would be injured if he hit him. Li Jingfeng took a step forward, held Wang Meng's arm with his right hand, and clasped the girl's chin with his left hand. He used a little force to force the little girl to let go.The little girl kicked Li Jingfeng's lower body. Li Jingfeng sighed inwardly and turned sideways to avoid it. Wang Meng twisted the girl's arm behind her back, suppressing her and unable to move.

The girl couldn't stop cursing and yelling, "straight bitch", "dog forced raw", and all kinds of foul language.Li Jingfeng had a headache. Thinking of the past in Lenglongling, he said, "Jing Jing, I'll give you something to eat."

This girl was not as innocent as Xiaofang. She was stunned for a moment, then continued to curse and struggled.Li Jingfeng did not hesitate and asked Wang Meng to grab her arm and wipe the girl's face with oil paper.

Not only Wang Meng was stunned, but the little girl was also stunned.Li Jingfeng warned: "Don't move around, be careful not to leave a disability." He opened the girl's eyelids, and sure enough, her eyes were red and swollen, more serious than his own.Lime powder is indeed convenient as a concealed weapon, but it sprays away and is surrounded by stone dust, which affects the person who uses it.This was the case when he was in Hubei. Even though he was injured, the enemy could only attack with narrowed eyes, not to mention the little girl spreading lime at such a close distance would inevitably be contaminated.

He carefully wiped away the remaining lime from the little girl's eyes and poured a bucket of well water into her eyes. The little girl screamed in surprise.Li Jingfeng poured three buckets of water, opened her eyelids and took a closer look, making sure that there was no trace of dirt in the red silk in her eyes, and then said: "Brother Wang, let her go."

After spending more than ten days together, Wang Meng finally knew what kind of person Li Jingfeng was and let the girl go.The girl didn't say thank you, snorted, ran away ten feet away, and fell to the ground. Before Li Jingfeng could care, she jumped up and turned into an alley, and disappeared in a flash.

Wang Meng said: "Brother, you are a very kind person. If you don't teach these little scoundrels a lesson, they will become great evil in the future."

Li Jingfeng said: "What can she do if she is so hungry at such a young age? If lime is thrown into her eyes, the crime is enough. If she is left disabled, the punishment will be too much."

As he spoke, he picked up a bucket of water and rushed it down to wash away the remaining lime residue.Although lime cannot be washed away if it gets into your eyes, if you can't find vegetable oil, you must wash off the residue, otherwise tears will form in your eyes and you will be burned if you touch the lime.

"At least give her a good beating to teach her good behavior." Wang Meng said, "Brother Li, listen to my advice. Good intentions used on the wrong people will lead to disaster. In the future, if she doesn't kill others, she will be killed."

Li Jingfeng was stunned.Wang Meng is right. This child has obviously not learned the lesson. If he does not harm others in the future, he will surely be harmed by others. The fact that he let her go so easily just now is indeed because he was soft-hearted and did not think carefully. He would rather teach her a lesson now and let her learn. Be good, and you can't let her harm others.

So what if you learn well?Is it possible to have food if you learn well?How to make her learn to behave?He hadn't figured out an idea yet, so he said: "Brother Wang is right, but my younger brother was temporarily soft-hearted and thought wrong. Let's find a place to rest first."

Not only was there no one in the inn, there were no tables or chairs. There was only a counter, and the walls were covered with wanted posters.Wang Meng found Li Jingfeng's wanted warrant and tore it off without hesitation. He didn't know if it was unnecessary. Is anyone still trying to capture the fugitive at this moment?
The two chose the two largest rooms on the second floor. The rooms were empty, with only bed frames and no quilts. Fortunately, it was June and they were not afraid of the cold. Li Jingfeng was not a fussy person either.Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Li Jingfeng said: "Disaster victims are taking refuge everywhere. I didn't expect there to be a place like this. There are people in the town keeping food, which makes me feel at ease."

Wang Meng tilted his head and thought for a moment, then said, "This doesn't make sense."

Li Jingfeng asked: "How to say?"

Wang Meng said: "In my business, I often deal with villains and thieves, and I have even encountered horse thieves. Brother, look, there are not even tables and chairs in this inn. Why? It must have been scrapped and the useful business was taken away. It’s all been blown away.”

Li Jingfeng nodded and suddenly understood: "Since the land of this village has been wiped out, how come there is still food left for relief? Is this what you mean, brother?"

Wang Meng said: "Unless you are from other places."

Li Jingfeng nodded and said, "There are always such kind people in the world."

Wang Meng looked at Li Jingfeng for a long time. Li Jingfeng was always looked up and down like this. It was impossible to say that he was accustomed to it and turned a blind eye, so he had to ask: "What's wrong with brother Wang?"

Wang Meng said: "Brother Li is really a strange person. How can I put it this way? Speaking of guarding against others, I saw that brother was very cautious and wary along the way. Whether it was Dingqi digging a hole to hurt you that day or that little bitch throwing lime today. , Brother, I traveled all over the country and encountered many risks. I was afraid that I was not careful and had to get caught. But for you, brother, the hole did not fall out and the lime did not get caught."

Li Jingfeng said: "Just be more careful. A senior taught me that bad people have many tricks. If you have to be careful, I will try to be careful."

"But you grabbed that girl and let her go so easily." Wang Meng said, "You become confused when it comes to other people's affairs, as if you were just starting out and don't know the sinister nature of people's hearts."

Li Jingfeng smiled and said, "Brother Wang, don't make fun of me. What's wrong with you?"

"Dian Cang has plundered everything around here. There are at least a thousand people in this town. Which landowner can have surplus food? Don't you think this is a strange thing? There must be something fishy in it."

When Li Jingfeng thought about it, he suddenly felt strange and asked in surprise: "Could it be that the food was stolen? But then again, where did the food come from?"

"There are two possibilities. One is merchants. Maybe there are rice merchants from the south who think that there are rare goods to live in and bring grain to the door. I don't think this town is rich, so the fate of the merchants is hard to say. The other is to grab some grain. Stealing military rations is like digging charcoal out of a fire and risking your life if your hands are hot. Killing merchants is a worthless business. Look at the look on their faces when they look at us. They just want to tear us apart and make soup. If this is true, this town will be a big den of thieves. "

Just after he finished speaking, there was a "click" sound, and more than [-] people broke into the downstairs.Li Jingfeng was startled. He opened the window first and saw that there was no ambush on the street. Then he felt relieved and went downstairs to meet people.

The leader was a tall and lean man, about seven feet eight inches tall, in his early thirties, with broad shoulders and a thick chest, and a sallow complexion. It was obvious that he had not had a full meal for a long time. He was followed by more than a dozen men with the same sallow complexion and skinny muscles as him. .

"I'm Li Siliang." The man cupped his hands and said, "A disciple of Qinglongmen's Pingyuan Zhenxing Hall."

Qinglongmen is a local sect in Dong'an County. Dian Cang made a surprise attack and the leader died in the county a few days ago.Li Jingfeng was about to hand over his hand, but suddenly remembered that he was dressed as a scholar at the moment, so he changed his attire and bowed, saying: "I am Li Jingfeng, a businessman from Sichuan. I am returning to my hometown to visit relatives and looking for a place to spend the night. This is my coachman, Wang Meng."

Li Siliang looked suspicious: "Li Jingfeng?" He looked at the wall for a while, but couldn't find the wanted drawings.

Seeing that he was suspicious, Li Jingfeng said directly: "There is a wanted criminal with the same name as me. I thought it was unlucky, so I tore up the wanted notice."

"What a coincidence?" Li Siliang was confused.

Wang Meng said: "It's such a coincidence that my young master encountered a lot of trouble along the way."

Obviously Li Siliang didn't want to pursue this matter. They had no time to catch fugitives now.He said: "Can you let us see the luggage?"

Li Jingfeng led everyone upstairs to inspect the luggage. When the strong men saw bacon, pancakes, steamed buns and other dry food, their eyes suddenly lit up and they cheered in unison. More than ten people rushed to grab the food and stuffed it into their mouths. , ate it in big mouthfuls, almost choking to death.Li Siliang shouted to stop quickly, but how could he stop shouting?Wang Meng rushed to stop him, but was pushed to the ground. He wanted to yell, but when he saw that the other party was outnumbered and a local snake, he suddenly became timid.

This was dry food purchased in Diancang. It was enough to last for more than half a month. It was eaten clean by two or three mouthfuls of more than ten people.

Li Jingfeng said to Li Siliang: "Are you sect disciples or bandits? Are you openly robbing?"

After hearing this, the group of disciples surrounded Li Jingfeng and Wang Meng and shouted, "Why do you want to eat some dry food? Are you going to fight?"

Another person said: "Boss, I think they are suspicious, tie them up!"

Li Jingfeng frowned and felt wary. According to Wang Meng's words, could this Pingyuan Town really be a nest for killing passers-by?
Unexpectedly, Li Siliang looked ashamed and said: "Brothers have been hungry for months. This loss... this loss..." He wanted to pay compensation, but he really couldn't afford the silver, let alone food. The leader said to his subordinates, "Everyone get down!"

Someone said: "Boss, there is no need to be polite to them, just drive them out!"

Someone else said: "It's worth saving their lives. Are there any tourists at this time? Maybe they are Dian Cang's spies!"

Another person said: "Search them to see if there are any seals or anything like that!" Then they went to arrest Li Jingfeng.

This is not good. Li Jingfeng still carries the jade token given by Zhuge Ran. Fortunately, this thing is valuable and was not put in his luggage. It would be troublesome if it was found out.

Seeing the man being arrested, Wang Meng jumped in front of Li Jingfeng and shouted: "It's not enough to steal things, you want to commit murder?"

Li Siliang shouted: "I'll go on! Do you think I'm the boss?"

Seeing that their leader was angry, the dozen or so people were reluctant and filed downstairs.

Li Siliang clasped his fists and said: "You two naturally understand what happened in Dong'an County. It's bad luck for you to throw yourself into Pingyuan Town, but it's also luck. You can't pay for food, drink, or silver, so you should be robbed." , I'm lucky to have a small life. You two will stay this night and take care of yourself tomorrow. When the weather calms down, you two will visit Pingyuan Town again. Li Si will pay twenty times the compensation for today's loss."

Wang Meng saw that he was cheating, but he was in a stronger situation than others and did not dare to do evil. He only complained: "You have released food, why are you still robbing us of our dry food? We have to go to Jiangxi and find food in the battlefield. It is hard to find food. Isn't this forcing people to death?"

Li Jingfeng suddenly asked: "Is Pingyuan Town really a den of robbers?"

Wang Meng couldn't help being surprised when he heard the directness of his question.

"If it wasn't a bandit den, where did the food in the town come from?" Li Jingfeng was still asking.

Li Siliang said: "That is the food stored in the town. Every day, the sect will release the food."

"Oh?" Li Jingfeng saw that the other party was not hostile, and he knew that he was aggrieved and his attitude was kind, so he said in a gentle tone, "We came along the way and saw many victims heading east with their families, and after passing several villages and towns, there were no people around. , why are only the residents of Pingyuan Town not in a hurry or making trouble?"

Li Siliang said: "Brother, don't be too busy. Just leave early tomorrow."

"If you robbed our dry food, you should be given an explanation, right?" Li Jingfeng said, "Let brothers know where this place is and what happened."

Li Siliang hesitated for a while, and then said: "More than a month ago, Dian Cang invaded Dongping County, and the leader Wu Daorong defended the city... Alas, it didn't even count as defending the city. In short, Dongping County was breached and the leader died. "

"Dian Cang plundered all the villages and towns in the county, took away all the food, and harvested all the ripe and unripe things in the fields. However, the treasure was not touched at all, and no innocent people were harmed. Calculated according to the number of people and the place, everyone We were given dry rations for ten to 20 days, and then we withdrew."

"Oh?" Li Jingfeng said, "It seems that Dian Cang still has some sense of propriety in doing things." He also thought that if Zhuge Ran knew that he said he knew sense of propriety, he would definitely have to use crutches again.

"This was calculated." Li Siliang gritted his teeth.

"How do you say it?" Li Jingfeng asked.

"There is no surplus food in the village, and people in the town will starve to death if they don't reach a place with food. If we have to move, we can't leave behind the valuables at home, so we take those valuable and worthless things with us on the road. Where to go? We can only go to where there is food. Where can I find food? Naturally, it’s in the villages further away. But if I can’t find food in the villages further away, what should I do?”

Li Jingfeng said: "Become a bandit and rob the army of food?"

"It's too difficult to be a bandit, who can you rob? Everyone has nothing to eat. It's too risky to rob military rations. If people are desperate, they will naturally take risks." Li Siliang said with a bitter smile, "If you still have a few taels of silver and a few pieces of jade, you won't be willing to die. , we can only go further."

"He is forcing these people to go to Lengshuikeng, consuming Hengshan's food reserves, and letting Xizuo sneak into the victims to find out information. In short, he is trying to make things difficult for Head Li."

Li Jingfeng didn't understand these calculations and asked, "What next?"

(End of this chapter)