Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 101: Wine and Meat of the Rich Family
"Asshole! Asshole!"

"How dare you, a bunch of you worse than pigs and dogs, rebel against me!!"

At the end of June, as the sounds of madness and smashing and destroying things rang out, Lun Kongre, the official in charge of the Luomenchuan City Yamen, was like a madman, constantly swinging his knife and chopping objects around him.

Finally he was tired of chopping, and he sat on the chair like a dead pig that had vented its anger, with the knife in his hand slowly dropping.

In May, he went to Chang'an of the Tang Dynasty, but the officials of the Ministry of Rites ignored him for more than half a month. Finally, with Li Chen's beggar-like rewards, he returned to Helong in disgrace.

Seeing that he failed to invite the Tang army and Tang grain, Shang Yanxin and his group of guys actually disobeyed him directly, forcing him to leave Luomenchuan.

Now, he only has about 2,000 elite cavalrymen left with him who have retreated to Luomenchuan. He no longer has any bargaining chips in negotiations with the Tang Dynasty.

"Shang Yanxin...Shang Yanxin..."

He murmured in a low voice, and Shang Yanxin, the person he was whispering to, joined forces with Linzhou and Weizhou to form the Hewei Alliance.

They had more than 7,000 soldiers, nine cities and three passes, and a population of 70,000 to 80,000.

However, in the case of severe drought in Longxi, too many people would actually be a burden.

Because of this, Shang Yanxin had to borrow grain from Lan, Hui, Min, Tao and other states.

However, there was a severe drought in Helong, and all forces were in danger, so they had no extra food to lend him.

For a while, many people secretly fled with armor on their backs, and the entire Hehuang and Helong areas were in chaos.

The wilderness was filled with looting deserters, some of whom even gathered together to invade the Tang Dynasty.

The three states and seven passes of Qin, Yuan, Feng and other places were invaded by Hu cavalry, and the Tang Dynasty border near Hehuang also produced a large number of refugees who went south to beg for food.

On the way south, most of the prefectures and counties along the official roads adopted an attitude of expelling the refugees, so that the refugees were not properly resettled all the way south from Xing, Feng (Hanzhong) and other places to Sanchuan (eastern Sichuan).

At that time, bandits were rampant in Pengzhou and Guozhou (Nanchong), and many refugees joined the bandits. The bandits in Peng and Guo felt that they were powerful enough with the help of refugees, so they began to rely on Zhuji Mountain to plunder Sanchuan.

The Tang Dynasty had just ended its war against the Dangxiang people when it was faced with the invasion of foreign bandits and the suffering of robbers and plundering Sanchuan...

"Mom...I'm hungry..."

"Be patient, it will be fine once we get to Guanzhong."

The scorching sun in July cannot penetrate the haze in people’s hearts.

The Helong area had been suffering from drought for a long time, and countless people were starving. The wars in Nanshan and Pingxia were also constantly causing disaster victims to move south.

The world was grey and gloomy, like a painting that had lost its color.

On the dry riverbed, hopeless scars appeared, as if the earth was calling for rain.

The wild grass drooped its withered yellow body weakly, and even its most tenacious vitality seemed to have been taken away.

On the official road from Kitabu Prefecture to Ling Prefecture, the victims wandered southward like ghosts, their figures thin and twisted, like puppets tightly chained by bad luck.

Hunger had completely worn away their will, and even raising their hands to grab food became a luxury.

In desperation, they searched for thin food, bark, grass roots, and even soil. They would do anything to fill their empty stomachs.

Wuzhen and his group left Chang'an and rode on horseback towards Lingzhou. The hungry people on the official road were looking at them.

Looking at the horses under their crotch, many hungry people showed madness in their eyes.

However, this trace of madness came to an abrupt end when they saw the long swords on the waists of Wuzhen and his men, not to mention that some of them were wearing breastplates, which made it obvious that they were not people they could afford to mess with.

Seeing this, some people began to try to beg for food from Wuzhen and others.

"Please be kind and give us something to eat."

"Great Lord, can you give me something to eat?"

"Great Virtue, it doesn't matter if you don't give me anything, just give me some so I can feed my child!!"

Dozens and hundreds of disaster victims knelt on both sides of the road, praying that Wuzhen could save them.

Looking at everything in front of him, Wuzhen's heart was filled with compassion and powerlessness.

The cassock swayed gently in the wind under the scorching sun, and his mood was firm yet heavy.

He knew that his power was insignificant, like a speck of dust, but he still hoped to bring a little comfort to these suffering beings.

His gaze fell on a half-naked disaster victim, whose empty eyes seemed to tell of endless suffering.

Wu Zhen slowly reined in his horse and stopped, took a package off the back of the saddle, leaned to the left, and placed the package on the ground.

"Here are some Hu bing, have some..."

"Thank you, Dade!"

"Go away!"

"Biscuits! I want biscuits!"

A woman was still returning the greeting, but the next second she was pushed to the ground by several hungry people. Hungry people swarmed in from all around, trying to grab the Hu cake in the package.

"Leave some of yours, too."

Wuzhen turned around and looked at the people behind him. They looked at each other and finally put the package full of Hu cakes on the ground, leaving only enough food for them to eat until Lingzhou.

After finishing everything, they continued to move forward, their ears filled with the shouting and cursing of people scrambling for the Hu Bing behind them.

"Amitabha……"

Wuzhen clasped his hands together and chanted scriptures softly, trying to pray to God to end the drought and ask him to send down rain to nourish the earth.

It was a pity that everything he prayed for did not come true. At least from the time he set out to the time he arrived at Lingzhou and returned to Lecheng, he did not see any rain.

Huile City, a once prosperous city bordering the Yellow River to the west, has now become desolate under the ruthless drought.

The roar of the Yellow River's waves is still there, but the lush aquatic plants on the banks are no longer there, leaving only cracked land.

Outside the not-so-big city, thousands of hungry people squatted on both sides of the official road, dragging their exhausted bodies.

Their clothes were like a candle in the wind, tattered and vulnerable.

His bony arms were raised weakly, his hands were empty, but his eyes were full of pleading.

They either stood, sat, or leaned on the sides of the official road. Whenever pedestrians or carriages passed by on the official road, they would use their last bit of strength to cast pleading eyes towards those nobles passing by.

What is contained in that look is not only the desire to survive, but also the infinite attachment to the abundant life in the past.

However, those figures in gorgeous clothes hurried past, as if they did not see those desperate eyes. Only occasionally a few dry and hard Hu cakes were thrown out of the carriage, becoming the focus of competition among the hungry people.

In this arid land, even a hint of moisture has become a luxury.

There was not a cloud in the sky. The sun was scorching hot, burning the earth. Even the insects that once jumped happily had disappeared without a trace. Only the breathing of the hungry people sounded particularly tenacious in this dead land.

In the distance, the soldiers guarding the city were chatting and laughing, as if in their eyes, these thousands of starving people were like air and not worth mentioning.

Wuzhen and his companions no longer had any extra Hu bing to help the victims, so they could only walk towards the city gate with heavy hearts.

While checking the fish token at the city gate, Wuzhen could still hear the conversation and laughter between the two military officers.

"You have no idea, the taste of those three young ladies last night was simply very comfortable!"

"Good boy, I'll go outside the city and pick some girls later."

"Choose your choice. You can buy one for a bushel of rice anyway. It's just right to buy those that are twelve or thirteen years old. They have tender bodies...hahahaha!"

Listening to the dirty words coming out of the two people's mouths, Wuzhen tightly grasped the reins in his hand.

He really wanted to do something, but he alone was not enough to accomplish anything.

"go in."

After checking the fish talisman, Wuzhen and his group were allowed to pass.

Walking on the streets of Huile City, there is an endless stream of grain merchants selling grain, and many vendors set up stalls to sell food, with the aroma filling the air.

Just a city wall separates the cruelty outside the city from the prosperity inside the city.

"There are so many grains and grain merchants in this city, why don't they provide disaster relief?"

A straightforward person in the team couldn't help but speak, and before Wu Zhen could stop him, a grain merchant heard him and looked at him with contempt.

"Disaster relief?" The grain merchant laughed, "Do you think you can provide disaster relief just because you want to?"

After that, he left with several other grain merchants chatting and laughing, while the vendors setting up stalls nearby laughed at their naivety.

Seeing that the vendor was also laughing, he glared at him in dissatisfaction, "What are you laughing at?"

"I'm laughing at you guys who don't know how dangerous the world is." The vendor shook his head and packed up the tables and chairs.

Seeing this, Wu Zhen took the initiative to tie the horse aside and sat on the stall: "Give me ten bowls of mutton soup, I wonder if you can help us solve our puzzles?"

"Can you help me solve this puzzle?" The vendor's eyes turned as he pointed at his stall and said:
"I still have thirty-three cakes and twelve steamed buns here. If you buy them all, I'll tell you."

"Okay!" Wu Zhen took out a hundred coins and put them on the table without any hesitation.

Seeing the hundred dollars, the vendor immediately put on a smile, turned around to serve them mutton soup, and explained:

"It's not difficult to provide disaster relief, but the victims outside the city are all business."

"Buy?" Wu Zhen was stunned, but the vendor smiled and said:

"After the disaster victims from all around come here, some wealthy families in the city will be able to buy the strong and beautiful ones among them as slaves at a low price and sell them to Chang'an."

“This…” Wu Zhen’s pupils trembled, and he said with all his strength: “Isn’t this against the law?”

"In this world, how can we still follow the law?" The vendor said nonchalantly. "Forget forcing the victims into slavery. Even if it's a violation of the ban, it can be settled by just spending some money."

While he was explaining, a noise suddenly came from the distance.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw a soldier in military uniform whipping a little girl of about eleven or twelve with a horsewhip.

The woman cried and wailed, but no one dared to do anything.

At the stall, a straightforward man couldn't help but stand up, but was grabbed by Wuzhen.

"Great Virtue, I..."

“We can’t control it!”

Wu Zhen was also furious, but so what.

This is Lingzhou, not Hexi.

"Why is the Tang Dynasty like this?"

The man clenched his fists and was pulled back to the chair by Wu Zhen, but the little girl's wailing continued to ring in their ears.

The vendor served all the food, wiped his hands, and looked in the direction of the young girl, sighing, "It's probably another little girl who wants to run away."

"These girls don't know what's good for them. They thought they could survive by running away, but they didn't expect that they would meet human gangsters if they ran away."

"Following these military leaders, at most you will be bullied for a while. When the military leaders get tired of you, you can still stay in the mansion as a slave."

"If you are kidnapped by a human trafficker, you will probably be sold to some poor old man's home. Not only will you have to serve the old man, but you will also have to take care of the farmland."

As soon as he finished speaking, the young woman was beaten so hard that she couldn't even scream, and was dragged back to her own yard by the military leader.

Wuzhen and the others were speechless for a moment. They could only lower their heads and endure the discomfort. They ate most of the broth and pancakes and took the rest with them.

They walked in silence towards the post house, and soon found the post house in Huile City.

They thought that was the end of the day, but unexpectedly they saw a familiar face at the door of the inn.

"Zhang Changshi?!"

Wuzhen and several straightforward soldiers were speechless, and the figure who was chatting and laughing with the postman also turned around.

"Wu Zhen?!"

Zhang Yitan was very happy and hurried forward to salute Wuzhen and others.

"I have heard about you and Gao Jinda going to Chang'an. I never thought I would meet you here again."

"Changshi, are you here to serve in the court as well?" A smile finally appeared on Wuzhen's face.

Zhang Yitan grabbed his hand and motioned for everyone to follow him: "Let's go to the house and talk!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he led Wuzhen and others into the inn and came to the room where he lived.

The elite cavalry led by Zhang Yitan were stationed outside Huile City, and he only brought more than ten people into the city to rest.

Fortunately, his people were around the room, so he wasn't afraid of the news leaking out.

He led Wuzhen and the others into the room and sat down, then smiled and said to everyone: "I am going to Chang'an this time to report the victory."

"Have we recovered Liangzhou?" Wu Zhen was thinking about recovering Liangzhou, but Zhang Yitan shook his head and said:
"Liangzhou has not been recovered yet, but we have recovered Yizhou, and besides..."

As he was speaking, Zhang Yitan paused, glanced at everyone, and then whispered:

"We obtained the map of the Five States from Shang Bibi of Shanzhou, and Pu Gujun and An Ning of Xizhou also presented the map of Xizhou."

"These six states plus the five states we have in our hands make a total of eleven states."

Before Wuzhen and the others could digest the news, Zhang Yitan told them why he wanted to cover it up.

"I have discussed with the Jiedushi and offered the maps of eleven states to boost our momentum."

"Then we will join hands with the imperial court to attack Helong from the east and west, and recovering the lost territory will be just around the corner!"

Zhang Yitan said this with an excited expression, as if that day would come soon.

But facing his words, Wu Zhen frowned, then turned to look at the few straightforward people and said, "You go out first."

"Yes." Several people turned around and left, and Wu Zhen looked at Zhang Yitan.

"The maps and records of the eleven states will naturally make the court very happy, but the court will certainly think that we have recovered the eleven states."

"I have been traveling in Guanzhong for several months and have roughly learned some things."

"Right now, the imperial court is wary of the expansion of vassal states. If we offer the maps of the eleven states, it will inevitably make the imperial court wary of us..."

"How could this be possible?!" Zhang Yitan interrupted him, frowning:
"We are all righteous men. We are here to open up Helong in order to return to the Tang Dynasty."

"If the imperial court is afraid of us, all it needs is an imperial edict, and the governor and I will hand over our military power and enter the imperial court alone."

"In this case, the court should finally believe us, right?"

"This..." Wu Zhen didn't know what to say, he could only ask:

"Chief, have you seen the starving people outside the city?"

Hearing this, Zhang Yitan's excitement disappeared, and his tone was a little low: "I see..."

"I never thought that the situation in the Tang Dynasty would be so difficult."

Wu Zhen heaved a sigh of relief when he saw this, but before he could speak, he saw Zhang Yitan perked up a bit and said, "But if we wait until we recover Helong, then the people won't have to suffer."

Seeing that he still believed that the problem lay with external enemies, Wu Zhen took a deep breath and told him everything he had to say.

The overbearing feudal lords, the Shen Ce Army that oppressed the people, the ineffective imperial court, the officials who exploited the people...

Wuzhen tore off the veil of the Tang Dynasty bit by bit, and he did this to make Zhang Yitan realize the true situation of the Tang Dynasty.

Zhang Yitan clenched his hands again and again, but was ultimately unable to let go.

Wuzhen thought he had convinced Zhang Yitan, but Zhang Yitan whispered, "The court has its own difficulties."

"Now the feudal lords are rampant and the eunuchs are causing chaos... It is not easy for the court to control the situation to this extent."

"As common people of the Tang Dynasty, we should be considerate of the court and the Supreme."

"Once we recover Helong, many things will get better."

"Will it really get better?" Wu Zhen laughed at himself.

"If the foreign bandits bully us, we can still drive them away as Tang citizens."

"But if we recover Helong in the future and return it to the Tang Dynasty, and the people who bully the people of Hexi become these corrupt officials..."

"Then...what identity should we take on?"

His words made Zhang Yitan unable to convince himself.

He slowly clenched his hands and said in a deep voice: "Hexi will only get better and better."

"I hope so." Wu Zhen stood up and walked out, his steps so hurried that he showed no intention of stopping.

Hearing the footsteps gradually fading away, Zhang Yitan finally showed a helpless look.

Didn't he see the scene outside the city?
Not only him, but everyone saw it.

That scene shattered their childhood fantasies of "remembering the heyday of Kaiyuan, when even a small town could house tens of thousands of households", and everyone was speechless.

Perhaps the Tang Dynasty was always like this, but these Hexi survivors imagined it to be too beautiful.

In a world like this, who can be better than anyone else?

But if they don’t return to the Tang Dynasty, where else can they go?
Secede and become independent?
When this thought came to his mind, Zhang Yitan smiled bitterly.

If they really seek to secede and establish their own regime, the entire Hexi region will fall apart in a few years.

Moreover, without the support of the Tang Dynasty, how long could they last given the situation in Hexi where "the Hu ways are flourishing and the Han ways are declining"?

After a long time, another sigh was heard from Zhang Yitan's house, while Wu Zhen, who had booked a room on the second floor, looked at Huile City outside the window with disheartened heart.

A man who lived with him handed him a cup of tea. Wuzhen thanked him and took a sip.

"Great Virtue..."

Zhibai hesitated for a long time but didn't say a word.

Wuzhen did have a lot to say, but perhaps not much of it was said out loud.

"Guo Zhibai, what are you going to do after returning to Dunhuang?"

"He should be working in the government office." Guo Zhibai himself was not quite sure.

However, in order to open up the topic, he still asked Wu Zhen: "What about you, Master?"

"Me?" Wu Zhen was in a trance.

He wanted to continue traveling between Hexi and Chang'an as an envoy, but when the words came to his lips, he couldn't say them.

This kind of Tang Dynasty was not the Tang Dynasty in his mind.

So after thinking carefully, he raised his head and looked into the distance, and said with a sense of relief:
"There are many caves and cave eaves left in the south of Dunhuang, but many of them were destroyed by the invasion of foreign bandits."

"I want to go there to practice meditation, clean the caves, and repair the cave eaves..."

(End of this chapter)