Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 1: The Rout
In the eleventh month of the first year of Qianfu, six miles southeast of Hanyuan, Lizhou, outside the Dadu River.

When Zhao Huaian regained consciousness, he felt pain all over his body.

He reached out his hand to touch his body, but there was something there that was poking him and causing him pain.

But when he touched it, Zhao Huaian was stunned because he touched a stiff corpse.

It was during this moment when Zhao Huaian was stunned that countless fragments of information suddenly flooded into his brain. The sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touch, and all the other things in the mundane world made his head swell.

The strong smell of blood and feces, the cries of crows in the old tree, and even the chill in the air made Zhao Huaian tremble all over.

These real information stimulated Zhao Huaian and pulled him out of his trance.

It was not until this time that he began to take a serious look at this new world.

Surrounded by mountains, a wide river flows slowly from west to east. If the river were not filled with corpses in various costumes, it would have been a beautiful sight.

The plateau on the north bank of the river where he was was a sea of ​​blood and corpses, a hell on earth.

Broken lances, torn military flags, and frozen black bodies were covered with ice.

Looking closer, this real horror further tore apart Zhao Huaian's sanity.

Three steps away, a headless corpse remained kneeling, dark red ice crystals forming on the broken neck.

At his feet, a tattered flag was pressed down by several curled up corpses, making it impossible to tell which side's flag it belonged to.

Five or six crows were perched on the corpses pecking at food. One of them tilted its head towards Zhao Huaian, as if wondering how this plate of "food" suddenly came alive.

Zhao Huaian didn't dare to look at the crow, and subconsciously lowered his head, and then he saw the corpse under him.

Judging from his appearance, this man should be from the northwest, with a high skull and narrow face. Even though his face is worn and gray, one can still tell that he is a resolute and brave warrior.

But when Zhao Huaian looked down again, he was stunned.

This was because the northwestern warrior's body below the waist and abdomen had disappeared, and the exposed spine looked like a lamb rib that had been gnawed by a wild dog, standing out in front of Zhao Huaian's eyes.

At this moment, Zhao Huaian no longer had any hope in his heart.

He understood that he had come to a bloody world.

I'm afraid I can never go back.

……

Sitting on the hard red frozen soil, Zhao Huaian checked his body again. Only when he was sure that he was not injured did he breathe a sigh of relief.

It is a great fortune to be able to survive unscathed in such a tragic battlefield.

But Zhao Huaian had a hunch that it would not be that easy for him to survive.

Sitting on the ground, in a daze for a moment, Zhao Huaian accepted the reality, supported his body with his arms, and slowly stood up.

The aches and pains all over my body had been greatly relieved, and there were no wounds on my body, but the sunset had sunk another half inch, and more and more crows were flying in the sky.

Zhao Huaian must leave here as soon as possible, otherwise the beasts in the mountains and forests will flock here.

But where can I go?
At this time, a cold wind blew, and Zhao Huaian couldn't help sneezing. He looked at the big trousers on his body, touched the headscarf on his head, and his eyes began to drift towards the battlefield.

……

After a while, after Zhao Huaian collected some items on the battlefield, he finally put together a complete set of equipment.

He picked up a fu hat two steps away, put it on his head, and then put on a robe and a winter jacket from other places.

He also picked up a Mo Dao next to the dead northwestern warrior.

The Mo Dao has a double-edged blade with a long handle. The blade is ten feet long, two feet taller than Zhao Huaian's body. Zhao Huaian fiddled with it casually, and it exuded a cold light, making it a deadly weapon.

In addition to the Mo Dao, Zhao Huaian also got an ivory plaque from the Northwest warrior, on which were written eight characters:
"Huang Tong, the captain of the Left Division of Lizhou."

Zhao Huaian stroked the ivory plate, turned it over and over again, and without getting any more information, he put it in his pocket.

Then he took out an ivory tag from his belt, which should also have his identification information.

After Zhao Huaian saw the words on the tooth card clearly, he squinted his eyes. It read:
"Zhao Huaian, the Left Capital General of Lizhou."

Ok?
Is this person also called Zhao Huaian? Same name as me? Is this such a coincidence?
Putting aside this doubt, Zhao Huaian began to sort out the current information.

At present, Zhao Huaian has roughly guessed the era he is living in.

He had already pulled out the battle flag that had been pressed down by the corpse. On the wrinkled battle flag was embroidered a huge word "Tang".

Combined with the Mo Dao, a unique Tang Dynasty sword, in his hand, if nothing unexpected happens, Zhao Huaian has arrived in the Tang Dynasty.

I just don’t know whether it is the pioneering and enterprising early Tang Dynasty or the prosperous Tang Dynasty when all nations came to pay tribute.

As for whether it was the late Tang Dynasty? Zhao Huaian didn't believe that his fate was so bad.

In addition, Zhao Huaian could also roughly guess where he was on the battlefield.

Both the ivory plaque of the northwestern warrior and his own were inscribed with the words "Lizhou". Although it was not clear where exactly they were, judging from the word "Li", it was most likely in the southwest.

But none of this matters. The most important thing right now is to leave here quickly.

Zhao Huaian had his own experiences in his previous life. He understood that there would definitely be enemy troops coming to clean up a battlefield like this. The reason why he didn't see the enemy troops now was that they must be chasing the defeated Tang army.

Thinking of this, Zhao Huaian glanced to the north, which was the direction he chose to escape.

If you are in the southwest, then running north is definitely the right thing to do.

The path he chose was a tributary of the river, winding down from the north before joining the main river behind him at this plateau. On either side of the tributary lay a small path, winding and secluded, leading deep into the mountains and forests.

Escaping from here is not as likely to encounter the enemy as on the main road, and it is close to the stream, so you can replenish fresh water at any time.

As for where this road will lead to, Zhao Huaian has no idea.

Will they suddenly crash into the enemy's lair? Will they get further and further away from the main force of the Tang army? Zhao Huaian was unsure of these.

But at this moment, does he have a better choice?
If he was unlucky enough to encounter a large enemy army on the road, he would just die. He didn't want to stay in this tragic world for even a minute longer.

Maybe he closed his eyes here, and then opened his eyes in reality, and then everything was just a dream.

Hoping for luck, Zhao Huaian slapped himself hard in the face.

Pain, pain, pain.

Sighing again, Zhao Huaian continued to search the battlefield.

This time he looted a few dry and hard wheat cakes from the body of an old soldier. In fact, they were not wheat cakes, but just something like wheat bran.

In Zhao Huaian's past, even dogs wouldn't eat these things, but now he has to rely on them to survive.

Life's circumstances are full of ups and downs, who can tell?

Just when Zhao Huaian was about to put the wheat cake away, suddenly a drop of "black ink" fell on the wheat cake, with a strong fishy smell, so glaring.

Zhao Huaian was stunned for a moment, and suddenly felt something dripping on the back of his neck.

At this time, he raised his head and saw a naked body hanging on a tree.

Unlike many people on the battlefield who had no heads, this corpse had a head, so we could clearly see that the man had a bun on his head, a hairstyle that was obviously different from that of the Tang people.

The enemy obviously hated this man deeply and tortured him by skinning him.

It is obvious that the "black ink" that just dripped onto the wheat cake came from here.

At this moment, Zhao Huaian finally couldn't bear it anymore. He bent over in pain and vomited out the last bit of his stomach.

Tears welled up in Zhao Huaian's eyes, and he cursed again:
"Where on earth have I come to? Huh? Can anyone tell me?"

No one answered him.

Zhao Huaian, who had recovered, threw away all the wheat cakes in his hand without hesitation.

But after a while, Zhao Huaian walked over and picked it up again.

After he threw away the first wheat cake that was stained with corpse oil, he carefully put the rest in his arms.

He wanted to survive and get out of this hell alive!

At this moment, no one wants to live more than Zhao Huaian!

As the sun was setting, Zhao Huaian sped up his collection.

In addition to the Mo Dao and robes he collected at the beginning, Zhao Huaian also put together a set of iron armor, including a helmet, skirt armor, and shin armor.

Zhao Huaian is eight feet tall. Even though there are many pieces of armor left on the battlefield, it is still not easy to get a set of armor that fits him well.

In addition to these, Zhao Huaian also collected more than 20 silver ingots of different sizes and specifications, including round cakes, tablets and boats.

Among them, Zhao Huaian found a hu-shaped object with an inscription on it, which read:

"In the second year of Xiantong, a coin weighing forty liang was minted in the treasury."

The second year of Xiantong? What year is this?
Zhao Huaian felt increasingly uneasy.

He was not a historian, but he still had some common sense. There was no era name called Xiantong before the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

Could it be that I have come to the middle and late Tang Dynasty when there were many military governors?

Zhao Huaian was silent.

In the end, Zhao Huaian stuffed the silver ingot into the military flag. As for the others, he couldn't take them away.

The dirty military flag was like a panacea in Zhao Huaian's hands. It could be used to wrap up luggage and it could also keep out the wind and keep warm when it was cold.

It’s almost time to go.

Finally, Zhao Huaian took a deep look at this place.

This broad river, the crimson plateau, the Shura battlefield littered with corpses, this is where he was reborn.

After firmly memorizing the scene before him, Zhao Huaian began to put on the scattered armor.

After a while, the Tang warrior Zhao Huaian, carrying a Mo Dao on his shoulder, a package made of battle flags on his shoulder, a sword on his waist, and a bow on his back, entered the forest in the north without looking back.

……

Soon, Zhao Huaian learned that the river he saw today was called Dadu River; the source of the platform he saw today was called Hanyuan County, which was also the Hanyuan County in western Sichuan in later generations; even the stream where he escaped had a resounding name, called Liusha River.

And this day was the 18th day of the 11th month in the winter of the first year of Qianfu in the Tang Dynasty.

It has only been thirty-three years since the fall of Tian Tang.

Everyone should definitely collect and read this new book. This time the story is definitely interesting. Xiao Chen never lies to you. Really.

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(End of this chapter)