Dawn of the Empire

455 Chapter 85

The wild dog raised its head and stared at him viciously, with a deep growl in its throat.The dog's eyeballs are all red.This is a beast used to eating dead human flesh. Even if Li Ruoxu is a living person, in the eyes of wild dogs, he is classified as "food".

"In troubled times," Li Ruoxu sighed, "humans are not as good as dogs." Suddenly, a burst of extreme grief and indignation surged in his heart, and he tightly grasped the stick in his hand. "You man-eating beasts!" Li Ruoxu growled, and beat the wild dogs like crazy.

Unexpectedly, this "villain" was so vicious, caught off guard, and ran away in all directions, one of them ran a little slower, and was hit hard on the 'hip' by the wooden stick, causing a "woo--" in pain, and ran faster leave.At this time, the other two wild dogs rushed up from both sides. Li Ruoxu only had time to retract the wooden stick and hit one of the dogs on the stomach. Biting Li Ruoxu's calf fiercely, no matter how people beat him with a stick, he would not let go.Li Ruoxu had no choice but to draw out the saber at his waist, slashed at the dog fiercely, and dragged it heavily again, the wild dog was cut open with a big slit, and it let out a wail. He limped and jumped away.

The three wild dogs escaped more than ten steps away, and just turned around, staring at the "wicked man" with fear and hatred.The wild dog that was beaten with a stick, with its tail between its legs, followed the other two wild dogs, trying to run away, but was reluctant to give up "food".

Li Ruoxu felt a pain in his calf and stomach.Angry from his heart, he took two steps forward regardless of the pain, threatening loudly with "Ah, ahh—" while vigorously waving the wooden stick in his hand.One person and three dogs confronted each other for a while separated by the mangled corpses. Finally, the wild dogs glanced at each other and turned around to run away.After running for a certain distance, he turned back to look at Li Ruoxu, saw that he did not catch up, but did not leave either, so he whimpered a few times, and ran away with his tail between his legs as if giving up.Wild dogs are not wolves after all, it is their nature to bully the good and fear the evil.

Li Ruoxu let out a long breath. He looked down at the wound on his calf. There were several blood holes bitten by his canine teeth, which was shocking, but the bleeding was not much.Because the wild dog had just eaten the corpse, Li Ruoxu was worried that there was corpse poison in the wild dog's saliva, so he squeezed the dirty blood again, and then washed the wound slightly with clean water.There was no clean cloth around him, and seeing that the wound was no longer bleeding, he did not bandage it, and only lowered his trousers to cover the wound.

A few corpses were placed beside them, like a family of four or five people, the two female corpses were in messy clothes, it was obvious that they had been insulted during their lifetime, and the corpses were also gnawed into a mess by wild dogs. "Damn bastard!" Li Ruoxu cursed hoarsely.He looked left and right, but couldn't find a piece of cloth to cover the corpse, and he couldn't help feeling sad: "This is me from the Song Dynasty." With heavy steps, Li Ruoxu wanted to find some The dead branches came to cover the corpse, walked a few steps, and stopped again.

At this time, the soldiers were in chaos, the people were displaced, and many people died at the hands of the soldiers and thieves.Traveling all the way south, Li Ruoxu had seen many corpses, let alone buried them one by one.But these corpses have just been snatched from the mouth of the wild dog. If you just cover the corpse with dead branches, you will not leave it.After hesitating for a moment, he sighed, turned around, bowed to the corpses, rolled up his sleeves, and dug a grave nearby with a wooden stick.Flies flew around, and sometimes there was an unbearable stench. Li Ruoxu dug for a while, sweating profusely, but he still didn't stop. It looked like he had dug more than five inches deep, which could barely accommodate four or five people. shallow pit.

At this time, there was a sudden sound of horseshoes, and a look of vigilance flashed in Li Ruoxu's eyes, he quickly lowered his body, and quickly hid in the grass on the slope not far away.He looked out cautiously, and saw four or five cavalry running over from a distance, apparently they were not Liao soldiers, but Li Ruoxu still didn't dare to be careless.The world is in chaos, and wolves are rampant.Even if they are both from the Song Dynasty, horse thieves, bandits and bandits are 'rapists', robbing and killing people like hemp, and they are no more kind than Liao soldiers.

Several riders approached from far away, stopped outside the forest, and the first rider entered the forest first.Such a cautious posture is obviously not an ordinary fleeing person.Hearing the sound of horseshoes gradually approaching, Li Ruoxu lay down in the grass, looking at the half-dug tomb not far away, his heart hung up.The sound of horseshoes slowed down near the tomb, the scout seemed to be looking around, and suddenly let out a sharp whistle.Li Ruoxu could only lower his body as much as possible, and at this moment, he could only try his best to hide himself.The grass in spring is not yet very dense, and the woods are sparse, so people can't hide nearby. The sound of horseshoes slowly approaching from far away can be heard in the grass, and Li Ruoxu's heart gradually sinks.

Sure enough, the sound of horseshoes stopped more than ten steps away from the grass, and one person shouted sharply: "People who are hiding, come out quickly! If you don't come out, I will shoot arrows!" Li Ruoxu hesitated slightly, and a spike The arrow swished into the bushes beside him, apparently the scouts had spotted him, and after releasing an arrow, he shouted again: "We are merchants passing by, if there is no malice, come out quickly, or 'shoot' You are dead!"

Li Ruoxu had no choice but to leave his saber, wooden stick, dry food, money, etc. in the grass, put the short fire gun behind his waist, and slowly moved a few steps horizontally in the grass, before he said loudly: I'm going to shoot an arrow, I'm coming out! I'm coming out!" He raised his hands high, indicating that he didn't have any weapons in his hands, and stood up in a state of embarrassment.

Just now, his eyesight was low and he couldn't see the whole scouting cavalry. Just when he stood up, he saw a cavalry crossbow facing him.Immediately was a middle-aged man, wearing a gray robe with a leather belt around his waist, it was hard to see if there was any armor inside.From the point of view of clothing, he looks like a servant of a big family nursing home, and also like a bodyguard escorting merchants.The middle-aged man stared vigilantly at Li Ruoxu in the distance, and shouted sharply: "Is there any other party? Come slowly, don't play tricks!" In the hand, as long as the finger is pulled lightly, an arrow from the spring will be shot out.

"It's just me and no one else."

Li Ruoxu limped out with his heart hanging and his hands raised.His face was full of wind and frost, and he could no longer see that he was the No. [-] scholar and a noble Beijing official. He was just like an ordinary refugee.

The middle-aged man sternly asked: "Did you dig this tomb? Who are the dead?" Although his voice was harsh, Li Ruoxu's accent still made Li Ruoxu feel at ease. At least, at least he is not a Liao thief, nor is he a nearby bandit. If he is dealt with properly, Weishi will not have a chance.

After hesitating for a moment, Li Ruoxu still answered truthfully: "This tomb was dug by me. I didn't know the villagers who died. I just saw the corpses being eaten badly by wild dogs. Help them get buried." He was afraid that the middle-aged man would not believe him, so he hurriedly said, "Everything I said is true, just now I was bitten by an animal because I was chasing wild dogs away." He rolled up his trousers again , 'revealed' the dog bite wound on the calf.Although this move is degrading, everyone is wary of each other at the moment. If they don't win people's trust, they are afraid that the middle-aged man will kill him with a wave of his hand.

The middle-aged man saw that the two rows of canine teeth were sharp. It was obvious that the wild dog had bitten him very hard just now. If he had faked it temporarily, no one would find a dog to bite him. He believed in Li Ruoxu's atmosphere and asked sharply. Said: "Only you, no one else going with you?"

"No one is going with me anymore," Li Ruoxu replied with his eyes dimmed, "Amidst the chaos, I and my family have been separated."

After he narrowly escaped from the battlefield, in order to avoid being chased by the Liao soldiers, he only dared to go to remote places along the way. He finally reached the bank of the big river, but he did not cross the river by ferry. He waited until the Yellow River was frozen to cross the river. At this time Bianliang has fallen, and even the official family has been captured by the Liao army.Outside the city of Bianliang, cavalry soldiers from the North were everywhere. Li Ruoxu didn't dare to approach them. He hid in the village outside the city. He heard from those who fled in the past that Zhao Qi proclaimed himself emperor, and Chen Dong advocated respecting the emperor in Ezhou In the matter of "random" fate, he followed the fleeing all the way south, walking day and night, walking extremely slowly, and it took two or three months to come here.Thinking of his lost parents, Li Ruoxu had a look of sadness on his face, and in the eyes of the middle-aged man, there was no trace of hypocrisy.

He stared at Li Ruoxu for a while, finally nodded, and ordered: "You sit on the ground first, don't move around." Seeing Li Ruoxu sat down as ordered, the middle-aged man pursed his lips and looked away There was a loud whistle.After the whistle, the sound of several horses' hooves came slowly.

Walking closer, he said in a loud voice: "Chongyi, I just warned you, is there any accident?"

Wang Chongyi replied: "There are a few corpses, and there is a scholar. I asked a question just now!" Although Li Ruoxu's clothes are rough, but his gestures are like a scholar. Wang Chongyi has a lot of experience and recognizes his personality. identity.This is one of the reasons why he let down his guard.

"Well, be careful." Zhou He looked at Li Ruoxu a few times, nodded, and then looked at the corpses, and the half-dug pit. Xu said: "Go and bury them." He turned slightly sideways and said in a low voice: "I don't know how dirty this place is, please forgive me, Your Highness."

"General Zhou is serious." Zhao Huan said in a low voice, his eyelashes drooping slightly, and his eyes were full of pity.

At this time, Li Ruoxu, who was supposed to bury the corpse, stayed there, his eyes full of disbelief, and he looked at the horse without blinking.The guards of the Imperial City Department noticed something different, Wang Chongyi said sharply: "Boy, what are you looking at!" Li Ruoxu didn't seem to notice, staring at her blankly, and said in a voiceless voice: "Huan,... , Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness."

Following this sleepy voice, everyone turned pale with shock, a cold light suddenly appeared in Zhou He's eyes, Wang Chongyi even put his hand on the saber, and looked at Li Ruoxu viciously.

On the contrary, Zhao Huan was calm. She looked at Li Ruoxu and asked, "Sir, do you recognize me?" The meaning was sad and vicissitudes. For the past three years, he was confined in the cold palace. Forgotten and abandoned her.