Late Tang

(Thanks to Happiness Blooming Like Flowers and Che Cheda for their support, thank you!)

Just as Guo Tao was about to eat, he suddenly felt a chill on his back. He turned his head and saw seven or eight children standing by the river bank, both boys and girls, all of whom were under ten years old, dark, thin and dirty.In the twelfth lunar month of winter, their bodies were very thin, with only a few pieces of rags, and even some hay around their feet.They were shivering in the cold wind, but their eyes were shining, staring at the field rations in their hands like wolves.

"Xiao Wang, tell them to come over and give them some dry food!"

He used to be like these children before, when he saw their appearance, he couldn't help but recall his yesterday, and felt uncomfortable.

Xiao Wang ran over, and those children turned and fled like frightened fawns.Xiao Wang took out the dry rations in his hand, and talked and gestured for a long time before these children finally relaxed their vigilance, or it could be said that the desire of the dry rations suppressed their fear, and they began to follow carefully.

"Take all of these and eat them, share them!" Guo Tao smiled angrily.

The other guards also took out dry food for these children to eat, and some even took out their own mouth cream, cream and other items, and painted the children's hands and feet covered with frostbite.

At this time, several guards had already set up the marching pot and began to boil water to cook instant noodles, fried noodles with oil, and hot tea for these children.Many of Guo Tao's bodyguards were from the army who had accompanied him in the Northern Expedition. They were also from the boy scouts, and they had similar experience as orphans.

Guo Tao bowed his head to give one of his scarves to the children, and suddenly felt cold on his neck. It turned out that the oldest child among the children had pulled out a sharpened bone spur and pressed it against his carotid artery at some point. superior.

He glanced sideways, and found that it should be a beef bone, which was sharpened like a butcher's knife. If he moved a little, his carotid artery might be severed.

Guo Tao couldn't imagine that Uncle Ning Yuan and General Ning Yuan, who had experienced more than ten battles, would die at the hands of a few beggars. You can't laugh out loud.They used to dream of killing him, but now it's easy. They failed to do something, and a group of little beggars from Dingzhou will help them do it.

This matter, thinking about it, makes me feel uncomfortable.

However, he could feel the trembling of the black and thin boy's hands, his fear through the bone spur on his neck.He was sure that as long as he made a move himself, he could kill this little beggar with one move at any time.It's just that he didn't do that in the end. In this case, he wasn't too sure that he wouldn't hurt that little guy.

He looked at his subordinates again, and found that their situation was not much better. Several officers had several bone spurs on their throats and backs.A rash counterattack at this time will definitely hurt a few children.

Seeing this scene, Guo Tao tried his best to restrain his emotions, and slowly stretched out his hands to press down, signaling his subordinates not to be impulsive.Basically, their group also suffered from the war and was once reduced to orphans and beggars.Now facing the same little beggars as they used to be, he really couldn't bear to hurt them.

If the opponent was a group of robbers, a group of bandits, or a group of enemy soldiers, he would never wait to die at this time, and would kill him if he wanted to.

He pressed his hands a few times to stabilize them, then turned his head with difficulty, and said to the black and thin young man who was trembling from fear or the cold, "I have something to discuss, what do you want?"

"Little brother, we have important things to do, so we have to leave immediately. How about you keep all the food in this car?"

The black and thin boy's lips were trembling, and he opened his mouth to curse: "I'll fuck you old mother, shut up, grandpa, I'll even take off your clothes and let you go on the road with bare buttocks, do you believe it or not?"

Guo Tao was furious, but he still tried his best to restrain himself. He said to the staff with a dark face: "There is no time to entangle with them. The military affairs are urgent. Let's get out and leave!"

The staff officer cursed in a low voice: "Damn, I met bandits and thieves, and I didn't read the almanac when I went out!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he received a solid fist on the back. A young man with two missing front teeth clenched his fist, "Who are you scolding?"

The black and thin boy holding the bone spur against Guo Tao said to the toothless boy, "Zhuzi, go back to the village and call your uncles!"

"Okay, brother Heizi." The boy with a fist clenched said to the skinny girl next to him, "Erya, look at this dog official, I'll call someone." He said and ran away.

Zhu Zi ran back to Zhaozhuang by the river, pushed open the gate of his house, and saw his father, Zhao Fugui, sitting angrily on a small stool in the middle of the yard, it seemed that he had already known about Zhu Zi's robbery.Zhao Wang's face was full of gloom, and he was quietly washing a handful of grass roots, stopping his hands from time to time and sighing.

The 13-year-old sister Tweety timidly hid behind her mother, like a thin kitten, constantly picking vegetables and roots, and watching her father's face with her big eyes from time to time.

Seeing that the lawless son came back, Zhao Fugui cursed with a livid face: "Little bastard, you are getting more and more promising, and you dare to rebel. If the government finds out, our family will be punished for murder!"

Zhuzi argued: "Aye, you can't say that. This is called the government forcing the people to rebel. In the past few years, there have been natural disasters and [***], and there have been wars back and forth. The soldiers are like bandits. In our area, The food in the field has been robbed long ago, the seeds have been robbed, and even the young and strong men in the village have been taken away. If you hadn't broken your leg that year, how could you escape now? But my eldest brother The third brother and the fourth brother have been confiscated one by one in the past few years, but none of them have returned, and there is no news. My fourth brother is only 15 years old, and I don’t know where he is now. Brothers haven’t been there for so long The news, I'm afraid it has already been..."

Zhao Fugui raised his crutch and was about to smash it on the top of the pillar, "Bastard, I'll kill you!"

Zhuzi's mother came to stop Zhuzi's father, helped him to sit down, then turned her head and said to Zhuzi with red eyes: "Xiao Wu, how can you curse your brother and them, your brother and them must be fine outside, maybe soon can come back."

"Aye, Auntie, don't lie to yourself. Last time the black man, Aye, escaped blind from a battle. Didn't you just say that many of the strong men captured by Chengde died of exhaustion, and many others escaped? Is it? If you stay there, you will die. If you escape and catch you, you will die. Now none of the brothers have come back, and they must have died long ago. Wake up, how many people went out from our village and from our township? The one came back? But this stupid government still collects food and taxes, no matter whether we live or die, if we don’t steal or rob, we will starve to death.”

Zhao Fugui trembled angrily: "You bastard, is there any reason? Those who robbed the government, or the soldiers, are you afraid of dying slowly, and you want to help take the whole village with you to the road?"

Zhuzi no longer shared his surname with his father, "Aye, you can say what you want, anyway, my four older brothers left and never came back, my father only has one leg, and besides the married elder sister, the third elder sister at home is still a woman. I’m the only man in our family, and I can’t watch the whole family starve to death. Besides, those who are soldiers have no good things, they are not as good as bandits.”

Zhao Fugui was so angry that he stretched out his hand to touch the crutch again, "I killed you little bastard, you are only 12 years old, when will you be in charge of me?" Zhao Wang hurriedly held Zhao Fugui back hand, "The head of the house, the head of the house, if you have something to say, why are you moving the real guy?"

"Go ask Brother Hei to come over, I can't hold back you little bastard." Zhao Fugui sighed.

When they were young, Zhao Fugui and Zhao Laohei were well-known strong young men in these ten miles and eight villages. They used to work as waiters in the county drugstore together, and they learned how to read from the sitting doctor.Later, when they got older, they followed the owner's medicinal material purchasing caravan together, and went to Daibei or even outside the Great Wall to collect medicinal materials and leather goods every year. They walked outside the customs, worked hard on the road, and studied hard with the caravan's guards.After more than ten years like this, the two of them are more capable in civil and military affairs, and they are reliable in their work, so they are very trusted by the boss.

Later, one year the caravan was attacked by bandits outside, and the two managed to escape with the protection of the owner. After returning, the owner failed.The owner had no children, and before he died, he handed over the pharmacy to a brother of the same family, and gave the two of them a sum of money to go back to their hometown and buy some land to live on.

After returning to the village, Fu Gui and Lao Hei bought land and built a house, married a wife and had children, and lived a very good life for a time.It's just that since Yizong was in power, life has been getting worse day by day.After today's son ascended the throne, life has become more and more retrograde.A few years ago, both Fugui and Lao Hei were conscripted as young men, and as a result, Fugui lost one of his legs.Later, Lao Hei also went blind in one eye.

At this time, Lao Hei sat on the chair and sighed: "Zhuzi, I heard that you and a group of children in the village robbed the soldiers. Is there such a thing?"

Zhu Zi has always been afraid of Lao Hei, especially when Lao Hei came back with one eye blind, he became more and more afraid. He always felt that although Lao Hei didn't usually speak harsh words, his eyes swept over people, and there was a sinister aura.He lowered his head and replied, "Uncle Hei, what happened, Brother Heizi and I took the lead."

Zhao Laohei looked up to the sky and sighed: "Oh, the sky is [***], the world is difficult, that's all right, what's more hateful is that the officials have no morals, the people in the feudal town are chaotic, and in the fish and meat village, everyone can't survive and do some outrageous things. It's also justifiable..."

Zhao Fugui sat on the side, "Brother Hei, we don't understand the affairs of the government, but Zhuzi and the others are doing this. Isn't this bringing trouble to Zhuangzi? With a few little dolls who are still running nose all day long, they dare to snatch dozens of soldiers. I just saw that all the soldiers have tall horses and are very neatly dressed. They look like soldiers from Chengde, but they look like soldiers from the north. We can’t afford to provoke the soldiers from the north, the Shatuo people from Daibei, and the Uighurs from Chengde, they can’t beat them.”

Old Hei rubbed the blind eye, although there was only one eye socket left, but he always felt that there was an eyeball there, and it always felt sore, so he had to rub it a few times every once in a while.After rubbing his eyes a few times, his eyes became more comfortable. He looked at Shuzi again, and sighed, "Yes, these days are hard. Ever since the emperor ascended the throne, Hebei has always been at war. Years have passed, and the days of fighting are getting worse every day. Drought, flood, snowstorm, locust plague, military disaster, and banditry disaster have never stopped, but the food collection and tax collection by the feudal town has never been reduced, and it is getting worse every year. If you collect too much, you will be charged more at every turn, and you will be levied all the time..."

Another man in the village with a broken hand interjected: "Brother Hei, you don't know yet, something serious has happened. I heard that the north is calling, sending an army of 80 troops. It was launched just a few days ago. Time, I heard that 5 counties have already been captured, Chengde army killed more than [-] people, blood flowed like a river. Now the Qin army is everywhere from the foot of Taihang Mountain in the west to the canal in the east, and the army from the north is everywhere , Chengde's army was defeated like a mountain, and even thousands of people were surrounded and surrendered directly, and the Qin army has not stopped yet."

"Hey, at the beginning of the year, people from the county came to take away the last bit of seed grain from the family. This winter, more than 50 people died of starvation in our village. Changshun's family in Zhuangxi had no food to pay, and his 15-year-old daughter was arrested. Arrive, but the baby was killed head-on in the village, and then Changshun's family jumped into the ice hole together, hey, Chengde Fan Town will suffer retribution sooner or later, and the north is coming to fight, just in line with the people's will."

"Not good!" Old Hei's face suddenly changed, "These little bastards are not going to grab the soldiers from the north, right?"

Thinking of this possibility, everyone in the room was shocked.

It's not that they are not afraid of Chengde Town, it's just that under Chengde Town's rule these years, everyone's life has been hopeless.Anyway, if it goes on like this, it will be difficult for everyone to survive the next spring, and they will be robbed.If you want to die, you will also be a full ghost.

But if the wrong person was robbed and Qin Jun was robbed, it would be different.

"Go and have a look, if it's really from the north, you have to release it immediately." Old Hei gritted his teeth.

"But if it's really from the north, we've already offended them, if we let them go, can we let us go later?"

"Then what can we do, I can only ask them to forgive me. I heard that the army in the north is completely different from ours. We people have lived for most of our lives, so that's all. But there are so many in the village. Children, they are still young. There are still many men in our village who have been confiscated, and they still hope that one day they will be rescued by people from the north. Let’s go, everyone in the village can go!” said Old Hei.

A group of villagers who hadn't starved to death came out of the cold and dilapidated village. Most of them were old people and women, and a few young and strong men were mostly blind and disabled. Most of them were disabled on the battlefield.For them, this turned out to be luck, because they were disabled and had a great chance of being able to return home.

Facing the cold wind, they were full of expectations and worries.

They hoped that the group of soldiers by the river came from the north. In that case, it meant that they had really attacked. In the future, they might be able to get rid of the desperate life in dire straits, and they would also bring them the legendary good life.But they were afraid again, afraid that those people were really soldiers from the north, but they offended them.

The village was not far from the river bank, and when they finally reached the river bank, they were shocked to find that only Heizi and a group of children were left on the river bank, huddled around a pile of wooden boxes, dazed in a daze.

"Brother Heizi, where are those people?" Zhuzi ran over, and Zhao Laohei and the others also ran over.

"Let's go, they're gone!" The black and thin Heizi stared at the white ice and said in a daze.

"What is this?" Someone asked, pointing to the pile of wooden boxes.

"It's canned food, canned pork, canned chicken, canned beef, canned fish, canned beans, and flour..." Erya shouted loudly from the side, but she only said halfway, but she had already filled many boxes. Forgot the name.

"Brother Heizi, why did you let them go?" Zhuzi was a little puzzled, but he knew how valuable meat was these days.If they robbed so much meat from those soldiers and let them go now, they will have to take revenge immediately when they look back.Wouldn't this be what Aye said would bring trouble to the village.

"Brother Zhuzi, Brother Heizi didn't let them go." Erya immediately jumped out again, "Those soldiers are so powerful, he took the bone spur from Brother Heizi's hand in just one moment. They snatched things from our hands, but they have a good temper. They didn’t beat us or scold us. Instead, they asked us something and left us so much food. You see, there are many boxes Woolen cloth."

Heizi said in a daze, "The leader said that he was the deputy commander of the First Army of the Qin Army's Cavalry Army, and his name was Guo Tao. When he was a child, his family was destroyed by war and he wandered around as a beggar for many years." He looked up at his father, Old Hei, "Aye, what kind of official is the Deputy Commander? Is there a county magistrate?"

Zhao Laohei was still immersed in surprise. He didn't expect that this group of soldiers was really the Qin army from the north, and the leader was a high-ranking official.He has seen the world outside, and he knows exactly what the iron cavalry army is. It is the army led by Qin Wang Li Jing, the general of the world's soldiers and horses. A cavalry army with a total of 8 horses, although there are also infantry in it. The Iron Cavalry Legion is still the largest cavalry legion he has ever heard of.The deputy commander of the First Army of the Iron Cavalry Legion was the deputy commander who commanded [-] cavalry. Even though the deputy commander might rank fourth and fifth among the officers of the first army, he was still extremely powerful.

It is inconceivable that a group of wild children in Zhaozhuang robbed such a big officer.Thinking about it now, the other party just didn't want to hurt these children, otherwise, how could they have snatched them?Look, they didn't hurt the children, and they left such a pile of canned food before they left.A word suddenly flashed in his mind, teacher of the king.

He reached out and patted his son's shoulder. He didn't know how lucky he was today.

"Son, the deputy army leader is higher than the county magistrate, and the deputy army leader of the first cavalry army is at least equivalent to the governor Shi and Sima, and a little lower than the governor."

"Aye, I want to join the Cavalry Legion as well."

Zhao Laohei couldn't help chuckling, "Let's talk about it after you learn how to ride a horse first. You can also ride a donkey now. The Iron Cavalry Legion is all cavalry."

Zhao Fugui also pulled his child Zhuzi and stood on the river bank, full of emotion, "Brother Hei, we will be Qin Fan's people from now on, right?"

"En!" Zhao Laohei nodded solemnly.

(Seeking a monthly ticket, asking for a recommendation ticket, please support me a lot!) (To be continued.)