Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 65 62.5 The Past of Jingzhou (I) (310)
After Zhou Si woke up, a few days later, his body had recovered. He gave all the few valuable items on him to the villagers of Zhoucun as a token of his gratitude, and then left Zhoucun carrying the dry food given by the villagers.

"Fortunately, I was prepared..."

After Zhou Si left Zhoucun for a distance, he also changed direction and headed towards Dangyang County. As a former general in Jingzhou, he had some gold and silver reserves in various places in Jingzhou just in case, and a cunning rabbit has three burrows, isn't it?

Jingzhou had been in turmoil for decades. The people, who had finally calmed down due to the stable rule of Liu Bei and Guan Yu, became turbulent again due to the arrival of the Eastern Wu. There were countless people like Zhou Si who were dark-skinned, poorly dressed and in a hurry, so Zhou Si did not attract much attention.

It was almost noon, and Zhou Si finally arrived at Dangyang County after traveling dozens of miles. After following the bustling crowd into the low city gate, Zhou Si took advantage of no one noticing and disappeared into an alley.

After many twists and turns, Zhou Si came to a secluded courtyard. The courtyard was also bare and it was obvious that this was a poor family, so there was no sign of any uninvited guests.

Seeing that there was no one around, Zhou Si simply climbed over the wall and entered the house. He ignored the broken furniture and went straight to the stove in the inner room.

Beside the dark stove were some rotten vegetables and a dry swill bucket. Zhou Si picked up the stinking swill bucket, moved it aside, and groped for the floor tiles.

With a "click", Zhou Si lifted up the floor tiles, revealing a small altar sealed with mud.

Zhou Si did not take out the small jar, but just opened the mud seal on it. Inside was actually full of gold and silver and a small amount of five-zhu coins.

Zhou Si took some gold and silver as travel expenses, resealed the small altar, re-covered the floor tiles, and put the泔水桶 back in place.

After doing all this, Zhou Si still felt something was not right. He frowned and looked at the ground. He simply took off his coat and blew away all the dust on the ground like a palm-leaf fan, leaving no trace of his movement across the floor tiles or his entry.

After doing all this, Zhou Si looked around carefully, and when he saw that no one was paying attention here, he quietly left the dilapidated house.

……

"Have you heard that Prime Minister Cao seems to have passed away..."

In the restaurant, Zhou Si ordered a plate of food and a bowl of brown rice and was wolfing down the food when he suddenly heard the drinkers next to him whispering about something that interested him, so he simply slowed down and listened.

The drinker seemed to be well-informed. He described in vivid detail how Cao Cao was frightened by Guan Yu's head, how Luoyang offended the Yuelong Temple, and how Hua Tuo treated him.

"I didn't expect that thief Cao had passed away..."

Zhou Si was thinking while eating.

"A merchant from Xichuan I know said that our King of Hanzhong might send troops to retake Jingzhou..."

A guest nearby also interrupted, which cheered up Zhou Si.

"Why didn't the King of Hanzhong send troops earlier, but now?"

Some curious people asked that the twists and turns between these princes were still a little difficult to understand for them.

"Hehe, I heard that the King of Hanzhong was afraid that Cao Cao would reap the benefits, so he didn't dare to act rashly. Now that Cao Cao is dead, the King of Hanzhong has no scruples and can naturally go all out to attack Wu."

At this time, most of the people in Jingzhou were on Liu Bei's side. After hearing the good news, they began to complain about Dongwu. For a while, the restaurant was very lively.

Zhou Si silently listened to the news that he didn't know, and he also had a plan in mind. Since the king would not abandon Jingzhou, and he happened to be lucky enough to survive, since God allowed him to live, wouldn't it be a chance for him to avenge the king and the brothers in the Jingzhou army who would rather die than surrender?
With a plan in mind, Zhou Si simply finished the meal in front of him quickly. After paying the bill, he quietly left the crowded restaurant without attracting any attention.

When Lu Meng crossed the river in white clothes, Guan Yu had tens of thousands of soldiers around him. However, after learning that Jiangling was broken and Jingzhou was attacked, and that the Wei and Wu armies were attacking at the same time, the army's morale collapsed and the soldiers fled one after another. Only a few thousand loyal people were left around Guan Yu.

Later, Guan Yu was constantly chased by both sides, and when he reached Maicheng, he was left with only a hundred men. Therefore, in addition to the 10,000 or 20,000 surrendered soldiers, there were still many defeated soldiers wandering around, some occupying the mountains and becoming kings, or hiding their names and returning to the fields.

After much inquiry, Zhou Si indeed found out that there was a group of thousands of bandits around Dangyang. They did not harm the local people on weekdays, but instead only attacked the Wu army's baggage.

The Wu army was troubled by the fact that Fan Zhou, an official in Wuling County, had openly rebelled, and they had no time or energy to deal with these bandits, so they let them live a comfortable life.

Zhou Si knew clearly that before this, most of the bandits in Jingzhou had either surrendered long ago or been wiped out. This group of bandits must be newcomers, and they might even be the former soldiers of Jingzhou.

Zhou Si spent some money and bought a slow horse for transportation, and headed towards the place where the bandits were rumored to be gathering.

……

Two days later, Zhou Si finally found the whereabouts of this gang of bandits after much effort. As Zhou Si expected, they were even wearing the Jingzhou military uniforms from Guan Yu's time, and it was obvious that they were defeated soldiers.

"Stop! Who are you? What are you doing here?!"

The soldiers on duty naturally noticed the sneaky look of the man in black robe and wearing a bamboo hat riding on the horse, and immediately shouted to question him.

Zhou Si took off his hat, revealing his dark face which was a little thin due to being in a coma for more than a month, and looked at the soldier on guard.

“…You…you are…!”

The soldier on guard looked as if he had seen a ghost. After all, Zhou Si was a senior general of the Jingzhou Army, and the soldiers were very familiar with him. Although Zhou Si had lost a lot of weight at this moment, the soldier still recognized him at a glance.

"Who's in charge here?"

Zhou Si waved his hand, interrupting the soldiers' surprise.

"Yes...it's Captain Liu. Sir, you are still alive? After the Maicheng incident, Wu Gou said that you and other high-ranking generals were all dead..."

"You see, I'm not dead. Take me to see Captain Liu."

The soldier nodded, and immediately led the way, taking Zhou Si to see their leader.

The soldiers along the way had similar reactions to that soldier at the beginning. They all had expressions as if they had seen a ghost. Some of them even had deep feelings for Zhou Si and went to pay their respects to him in tears. It took Zhou Si some effort to get to the depths of the camp.

"Hmm? A guest? Who... is it...?!"

Captain Liu, who was sitting in the hall, had a fierce look on his face. When he heard the report from the soldiers, he turned his head to look at the newcomer. When he saw Zhou Si's face clearly, he was also shocked and hurried forward to greet him.

(End of this chapter)