The Republic of Heroes

After a whole day and night, the coal-pulling train stopped at a big station and finally stopped starting.The sky was foggy and the sun could not be seen. Wu Xiaoliang crawled out of the coal pile and slid down the carriage, growling hungry, took out steamed buns from his arms and began to chew.The platform was full of steam, and it was full of people. The shouts of anti-bags mixed with the cries of peddlers, like a divine comedy for later generations.He didn't go to the platform, but climbed out of the fence along the railway and came to the street.Not far away, an archery tower stands up, confirming Wu Xiaoliang's guess that the city of Beijing has arrived.

The dome-shaped tower of the European-style station building has six big characters "Zhengyangmen East Station" on the top of the gate.Wu Xiaoliang touched the letter of recommendation close to his body, this is where his hope lies, Beijing is not the end, here I come to Baoding Military Academy.The smell of bean curd nao from the roadside stall was bursting. He swallowed, but there was only one big one in his body.Regardless of his previous life or present life, it was the first time for him to come to Beijing, and the milk that he had longed for since he was a child was close at hand, so he simply stopped eating and went to see milk.

**The vermilion paint of the city tower was mottled, and it became more and more dilapidated in the mist. The gate inlaid with copper rivets was tightly closed, and the Jinshui Bridge in front of the gate was crowded with ragged beggars, which did not have the momentum of the former imperial capital.Wu Xiaoliang squatted down by the railing of the Jinshui Bridge in disappointment, thinking about how to go to Baoding.

He suddenly heard someone calling him, and looked up.

"Yes, it's you. Come with me. You have a good job. You can take care of food and shelter for a day."

Wu Xiaoliang thought to himself that since he is penniless now, he might as well follow him to earn some travel expenses first.

"Brother, what kind of job is it?"

A black-faced man with a face full of impatience pointed to several people to stand up, look left and right.

"You foreigner, where are you talking so much nonsense, you don't want to go, some people want to go."

The originally lazy crowd became active when they heard that there was a job. Wu Xiaoliang was stunned. Seeing that they were rushing to go, he hurriedly stood behind the man. Travel expenses are the business.

The black-faced man finally selected five people, and led them through the front door and turned into the alley in Nancheng.There are more and more alleys, and there seems to be no end. The courtyard walls are becoming more and more dilapidated, and there are more and more mud-walled thatched huts.

Wu Xiaoliang said with conscience: This is going to the slums.

The black-faced man finally stopped. The courtyard wall was low and the gate was full of holes. He knocked hard on the door, and there was a scream from inside.Everyone looked at each other in dismay, the broken wooden door opened from the inside, and a few unsightly villains rushed out, holding wooden sticks to drive a few people into the courtyard.A timid child was frightened and poured urine and feces, and the stench immediately filled the air. The black-faced man frowned, picked him up and threw him into the yard.

Wu Xiaoliang had a bad conscience, this is a den of thieves, but he didn't know what they were up to, so he quietly touched the gun tag under his clothes.

In the yard, the old man's right leg was blood-red, rolling all over the floor in pain, screaming, and a blood-stained boulder next to him was really seeping.There is a group of old and young on the root of the house, with ragged clothes and silent eyes. Some of them have no arms, some have no legs, and some have sunken eye sockets, which seem to have no eyeballs.

Capturing and maiming people, and then controlling them to beg for himself, Wu Xiaoliang had seen similar reports in the news in his previous life. He did not expect such a thing to happen as early as the Republic of China. gun.The beggars huddled together in fright when they heard the gunshots. The villains did not dare to step forward, but the black-faced man rushed towards Wu Xiaoliang without fear.

Wu Xiaoliang pulled the trigger, the big man was shot in the right leg and burst out a flower of blood, he fell to the ground and howled miserably. Although the other villains treated the beggars cruelly, they mostly bullied the weak and feared the hard. The coolies who were tricked along with him also took the opportunity to escape, while the group of disabled beggars huddled together and were at a loss.

The black-faced man wailed and begged for mercy: "The good man spares his life, the good man spares his life..."

Wu Xiaoliang ignored him, put away his gun and came to the old man, squatted down and tore open his trousers to check.The old man passed out from the pain, but the injury was not serious, and there might be some fractures. He found a branch to fix the injured leg and tied it with hemp rope, and the old man woke up slowly.

"This... this... you... you..."

The old man was so frightened that he spoke incoherently, and couldn't even complete a sentence.

"Don't worry, old man, those villains are gone."

The old man looked at the tied legs, and realized that the ragged beggar in front of him saved him, and quickly thanked him: "Thank you, little brother, for helping me out."

"I don't know where Lao Zhang's family lives, I'll take you back." Seeing that his legs and feet are inconvenient, Wu Xiaoliang wanted to send him home first, and then find a way to go to Baoding.

"Oh, little brother, old man, my family lives in Qingyuan County, southwest of Beijing, but the old man's cart is still in the cart shop in the south of the city."

"Okay" Wu Xiaoliang picked up the old man on his back, and shouted to the group of beggars: "You are free." He went out and went straight to the cart shop.

When I arrived at the big car shop, I put the old man on the Datong bunk in the shop. Seeing his chapped lips and painful expression, I softened my heart: If I leave and no one cares about him, there will be no guarantees.Anyway, good people do it to the end.There is no kitchen in the big car shop, only the well in the yard, with a big wooden barrel standing beside it, filled with water, and a wooden ladle floating on it.

He fetched a ladle of water, brought it into the house to help the old man drink it, and took out half a steamed bun that he hadn't eaten in the morning from his bosom.

After tossing and tossing, the sky turned dark, and sleepiness welled up. Wu Xiaoliang was exhausted after climbing the coal truck for a day and a night, and fell asleep.

Sleeping in the dark, I felt that someone was patting me, and when I opened my eyes, I found that it was the old man I rescued yesterday.

"Is the old man feeling better?"

"Thanks to the little brother, it's much better." The old man had a smile on his face, and he had recovered from yesterday's fright.

"I heard that the little brother's accent is from outside the customs?"

Wu Xiaoliang got up and braced himself, "He came here as a refugee, and something happened at home."

Seeing the sincerity of what he said, the old man didn't feel any embarrassment even though he was down and out. The northern man was straightforward and forthright, and asked his temper, "Is there a place to go?"

"There are relatives in Baoding, so go there." Wu Xiaoliang told a little lie, then asked again: "Old man, your family lives in Qingyuan, why did you come to Beijing again?"

"The old man's son is studying in Beijing. This time I came to see him." The old man sighed, and then received: "Qingyuan and Baoding are on the same road, why not go with the old man and take a companion."

Wu Xiaoliang was overjoyed, the two of them prepared well, ate steamed buns hastily, then drove the mule cart up the road to Baoding, and when they got out of You'anmen Guanxiang, the city of Beijing was left far behind.He sighed that his one-day trip to Beijing was over.

In the afternoon when it was close to dinner, the two of them entered Baoding City. Wu Xiaoliang thanked the old man several times and was about to leave when he heard someone yelling to catch the thief.How could he not shovel when the road was uneven, Wu Xiaoliang ran after him.

A young man in a blue robe was sitting at a pancake stall on the street, covered in dust, with a large suitcase at his feet. The pancake rolls were delicious with scallions. Hearing someone yelling for a thief, a beggar in ragged clothes passed by his side. They ran past in the same way, it is unreasonable to rob in broad daylight, the young man in robes threw away the pancakes and ran after him.