Zhurou

Chapter 130 Reunion

Spring is about to begin, and once the coldest days have passed, the permafrost on the ground will begin to loosen.

Zhao Mingzhi rode on the horseback, reined in the horse and stopped, looking at the official road from Xuzhou to the capital.

There are crowds of people far and near, sometimes there are babies crying, and adults' persuading and cursing can be faintly heard.

I have seen many similar scenes along the way, and I am not surprised at all, but the further north I go, especially in recent days, the more refugees I encounter. It is the one who takes the family and the mouth and carries the blame.

Although there was no queue, everyone was very close, obviously they were not unfamiliar with each other, they must be from the same clan in the same village, or in the same street in the same place, almost all of them walked together for the elderly, weak, women and children, very few of them were young and old.

In the past few years, the Great Jin has been fighting endlessly, and because of the capital, it was robbed. Before that, it was conscripted and corvee. There are not many brave men left. Those who can run have already run away, and the rest are all unable to run. Now Even those who couldn't run would run away, which made Zhao Mingzhi's heart skip a beat.

A foot away was an old man scolding the child: "You don't wear good hemp shoes, you have to wear cloth shoes. Now they are pickled and tattered, the soles are leaking, and the snow is wet again. Who can wash them for you when you have time? Where can you find them?" The place is dry, if you can't do it, I'll see what you wear at night!"

The child looked no more than seven or eight years old, wiped the tears on his face and cried: "Grandpa, I wear hemp shoes and my toes are cold, soaking in ice water hurts, sister is so heavy, the soles of my feet are covered with blisters, I am hungry , I haven’t eaten for half a day.”

The old man spat on the ground and said: "Eat, eat, eat, you know how to eat all day long. They say they keep Xiaosi as a gift, but you insist on taking it with you, and insist on carrying it yourself. You don't have much rations in the first place. If you let her eat half a mouthful, you deserve to starve!"

Zhao Mingzhi looked down, and sure enough, he saw a pair of cloth shoes on the child's feet and a pair of hemp shoes on the outside. The shoes inside were hemp yellow, and the toe of the toe had been pierced, exposing the red and swollen toes inside.

The snow on the ground has long been blackened by pedestrians, horseshoes, and ruts. If you step harder, ice and mud will splash everywhere. No matter how careful you are, even if Zhao Mingzhi is riding a horse, his trouser legs and cloak will be splashed with ice and mud, let alone a A child who walks on legs?
The child was carrying a basket on his back. At this time, a three or four-year-old girl came out of the basket. Looking very thin, she lay on the back of the child in front of her and called "Brother" first, and then said: "I'm coming down, I'm going." will go."

The grandson wiped away tears, turned around and choked, "Your shoes are rotten and haven't been repaired yet, how do you get out?"

"No, I don't wear it for walking." The girl hurriedly said.

"You have to open your mouth! When you get out of the pain, you don't have money to see a doctor. I will throw you halfway, and you are still arguing!"

The girl suddenly burst into tears.

Seeing that the two little ones were arguing endlessly here, the grandfather couldn't help cursing twice, went forward to grab the back basket and put it on the burden in front of his house, then turned around and cursed: "If it weren't for you, I would raise two debt collectors." There's no need to suffer this."

"My old bastard was the first one. He kicked his feet and closed his eyes. He didn't care if he was messy or not. If he killed me, he would die early. He gave birth to a short-lived daughter and married a short-lived ghost, leaving two more. Debt collector..."

"I knew I would have sold both of you. Anyway, the little one has something to eat, and I ordered others to take care of it. I was left alone. I chose to die of starvation..."

Just cursing and cursing in a lower voice, urging the grandson: "Hungry, wait until you find a place to sit in front before eating that half of the dry bun!"

Hearing the old man's scolding, one boy didn't dare to make a sound and lowered his head obediently, while the other girl shrank obediently into the back basket.

The old man was already carrying two loads, one in front and the other in the back. The two big soft baskets were very strenuous, and his shoulders were under heavy pressure. At this moment, there was an extra child who didn't know how much he weighed. My veins burst out.

Zhao Mingzhi felt uncomfortable, but he couldn't step forward, let alone ask, so he had to summon the guards to explain a few words.

While talking, the bodyguard who went to inquire about the situation before came back and said: "This group is all from the first village in Suanzao County. They said they heard that Xuzhou City is not good, and they got news that the one from Caizhou also came back. If you want to move to the south, you have seen the imperial army fleeing southward, and there are people from all over the capital fleeing south. If you don't want to go, you have to go..."

He first explained, and then said: "The post station in Yulin is just ahead, and it will take half an hour to get there."

After finishing speaking, he couldn't help but carefully glanced at the refugees passing by not far away, with a rather nervous expression on his face.

The refugees are naturally pitiful, but there are thousands of people here, once there is a riot, it is extremely difficult to suppress.

Zhao Mingzhi asked, "Where are they going?"

The bodyguard said: "It is said to go to Caizhou first, and the rest will be seen later..."

This means that the emperor is determined to move south and intends to flee for his life.

Zhao Mingzhi frowned even more, and was about to ask questions, when suddenly a person in the crowd of refugees in front cried and cursed loudly: "I won't leave, if you want to leave, go on your own, I'll go back and dig the soil—seeing the beginning of spring, the barren land Come on, don’t you want people to plant it?”

She is a woman in her early thirties.

As soon as she opened her mouth, many people around her also stopped and whispered to each other, and a few people hurriedly surrounded her, saying something in a low voice.

The woman stopped her and said, "Don't tell me that. I don't have a lot of money on me. It's getting harder and harder to beg for food all the way. My son is sick and has no medicine. Both are dead, sick and starved to death." , it is better to go home and die..."

After finishing speaking, he actually supported him and turned his head to leave.

Seeing her acting like this, the crowd parted, a few old people walked over, and the person in front said: "You go back now, there is no medicine in the village, and you are alone, how can you survive?"

He said again: "there should be villages and towns ahead, and you can find a doctor in the place in a while."

The woman cried: "Where is the money to find a doctor..."

He said again: "When we went to Caizhou, there was no food, and there were also people chasing and beating us. If we were to die, we would die first. How could the officials and the emperor care about our life and death? When the emperor ran away that day, why did he care about us? Chasing after us There is no benefit at all!"

"I can still run for ten or eight days with my legs and feet. If I run for three or two months, I might as well ask Di Ren to kill me. I want to go back to my hometown. There are really thieves. I went to the mountains to hide in the woods. Sure enough. If you die, you only blame my fate."

"Is there anyone going back with me!"

After she finished speaking, there was a commotion in the crowd, and many people showed shaken expressions on their faces.

People are cheap when they are away from home, and things are expensive when they are away from home. In this winter, the cold wind is so bitter, who would really want to flee south?

"Grandpa, why don't we go back? The fields at home are going to be dug up too."

The child not far away suddenly whispered.

Earlier, the old man glared at his grandson angrily, and said: "Don't be naughty, listen to the wind and rain, listen to what she said--I have met Di Ren personally, has she seen it? How can we hide or survive in a fight!"

Sure enough, the woman yelled for a long time, but still no one paid any attention to it. She walked back a few steps with her son on her back alone.

After such an accident, the pedestrians walked more slowly, and the atmosphere became more depressed.

Zhao Mingzhi watched from the side, he couldn't tell what it was like, but he couldn't stop him, and he couldn't do anything, so he had to move aside, and waited for the people to leave in a hurry before following the bodyguards.

The road ahead was messed up by people, and it was really not easy to walk. It took more than half an hour for the group to reach the Yulin Post Station.

Mu Xiang took a step ahead and was already waiting at the door. Seeing Zhao Mingzhi get off her horse, she hurried forward to meet her, took her bag and led the way, explaining in a low voice as she walked: "The girl said yesterday that she wanted to stay here for a while, and she didn't want to stay here for a while. I don't know how long it will take, so I asked someone to keep the little Kuayuan behind..."

Zhao Mingzhi nodded, indicating that he already knew that when he got to the back room, he washed and tidied up, but he still remembered the group of refugees just now, and what the escort said about fleeing the imperial army from north to south.

By the time she gets ready here, it will be dark.

Yulin is a large county, and the official posts are naturally complete.

Mu Xiang used the name of Pei Yong when registering. Although the post officials and post soldiers didn't see anyone, they didn't dare to ask more questions. They prepared their own meals, but the usual mutton soup, pancakes, etc., and some side dishes were rushed over. In a hurry, a table was also set up.

The dishes were just set up, Zhao Mingzhi really didn't have any appetite, so he simply set aside a little bit, moved his chopsticks a few times, and was about to ask Mu Xiang to bring it out to the guards behind him, when he heard someone knock on the door, and when he looked up, it was Pei Yong. Standing outside the half-open door.

He didn't wear armor, only leggings on his body, dressed like an ordinary soldier, holding an iron rod in his left hand, standing with his back straight.

Zhao Mingzhi was pleasantly surprised for a moment, and hurriedly got up and asked, "Why did the second brother come here suddenly?"

Pei Yong didn't hide the door, and went straight in, put the iron bar on the table beside him, sat down beside Zhao Mingzhi, and said: "I saw a lot of refugees in the back, and heard the news spread everywhere, because I'm afraid you might be impatient, I simply took a detour and went to the front to inquire."

He said again: "According to the time, there should be news from Caizhou in the past two days, but I don't know who is coming to welcome me, I am a little worried..."

Seeing this, Mu Xiang hurried over with a copper basin.

Pei Yong immediately washed his hands without being waited on by anyone. He stretched out his hands to get the bowls and chopsticks. He turned his head and was about to talk to Zhao Mingzhi, when he heard the sound of footsteps outside, and several people hurried towards here with lanterns in hand. It was the post officer who led the way in front of him.

The courtyard here is not big at first, and there are seven or eight bodyguards guarding the door. Seeing someone coming in, they all wake up and surround them together.

The post officer hurriedly shouted: "It's an envoy from the imperial court, looking for a Miss Zhao!"

Before the man finished speaking, the people behind him stepped out quickly, grabbed a lantern and held it in front of him, while taking off the cloak on his head. Look around.

Apart from a few bodyguards in the house, only Pei Yong is left, and Zhao Mingzhi and Mu Xiang are the only women.

The man looked at Mu Xiang first, then at Zhao Mingzhi, then at another place, looked around, and couldn't find anyone else, then turned his head back suddenly, stared at Zhao Mingzhi for a long time with a face full of surprise, looked at her face, He didn't dare to admit it, and exclaimed in surprise: "His... Your Highness?"

Zhao Mingzhi sat at the table, didn't get up, just put the wooden chopsticks back on the table, smiled slightly, and replied: "Long time no see, how is Mr. Lu?"

(End of this chapter)