It has just entered the twelfth lunar month, the wind is biting, and the entire water system in Hebei is frozen. In the past, although this situation would inhibit agricultural and cultural activities, it inexplicably made commercial activities a little more active because it could be easily crossed.

Prefectures and counties, avoiding checkpoints... However, it cannot be said that there is no commercial activity at all in Hebei this winter, but there are mostly powerful manors. Only the caravans of aristocratic families are eligible to enjoy this convenience.

This also caused a strange traffic situation to appear on the lifeless Hebei Plain.

Either there are large convoys with hundreds of people at times, or they are completely empty.

However, these are meaningless to some specific groups of people living in Gaojibo - these people are the remnants of the Gaojibo rebel army. Most of them are old, weak, sick and disabled, supplemented by some women.

With this kind of personnel composition, it was already very difficult for them when the young men first left. But as the winter deepened, the severe cold came, and even the freeze started, it was a direct matter of life and death.

"What should I do?"

"What should I do? It's frozen, I can't open the ice, I can't fish for water plants, I'm afraid I'm going to starve.

"Who is on duty at night? Why don't you be more serious and chew hundreds of bites..."

"It's not just chewing bread, there's not even water... In this kind of weather, what should adults and children do if they don't have hot soup to drink?"

"Why are you complaining like this? I also need to pick shrimps from the aquatic plants to eat and drink water. How can I not be serious? I didn't sleep all night last night. I got up on time to make ice four times. It was already dawn at the fifth watch.

It just stopped, whoever thought it was still sealed..."

"Don't blame Zhao Erniang...it's too cold today."

"If you don't blame her, who should blame her? How else can it be someone else's business?"

"Then what should we do? Kill her to pay for it?"

"How dare you ask her to pay for it with her life? What does it mean to pay for her life? Human life is so cheap...it's gone if you don't.

"It's all the men in the family who are messing around. They insist on coming out to rebel. After two years of rebellion, they are looking at the end of the world. I will probably die this time if I go out... I might as well have enlisted to go to the Eastern Expedition. He died outside, and I died there.

Peace at home!"

"Cry! What's the use of crying?"

"So what works?"

"Looking for Sister Cao..."

"Sister Cao can't do it either, I need Miss Dou."

"Didn't Miss Dou go hunting deep in the lake yesterday? Are you back?"

"I don't know, I have to ask."

"The little girl is back."

In the midst of the chaos, a middle-aged woman in single clothes suddenly walked out of a shack in the distance. Her face was weathered and her hands were covered with frostbite.

The other party is not too old, only about thirty. "

Make a fire in the big kang in the back... There is no firewood, no matter how many reeds there are, they can't help but burn. The fire has just been cut off... Come here immediately.

"Sister Cao."

"Sister-in-law Dou."

When everyone saw the visitor, they greeted him one after another.

Sister Cao came to the front and comforted the crying woman again: "Third sister, don't panic. I know you are still worried about Xiao Gao, but listening to the situation, the rebels still won in the southeast. It's just that

I can't come back because I am separated from the government... I have to think on the bright side, we will see each other sooner or later."

Although the crying woman stopped crying when she heard this, she still shook her head: "Even if we come back, we are afraid that we will all freeze to death and starve to death here. How about we meet to retrieve the bones?"

Sister Cao still wanted to persuade her, but the crying woman ran away with her face covered in one hand and a broken basin in the other.

Sister Cao was helpless and went to grab another person's hand: "Sister Sun, I know your child coughed all night yesterday. It's really important. My little girl went out yesterday and was lucky. She brought back two rabbits and seven or eight crows. You

Help me deal with it later. For the other centimeters, leave a bird alone for your child, add some hot soup, and make up for it..."

The man felt embarrassed after hearing this, but thinking of the child, he nodded heavily.

"Second Sister Zhao." Seeing that the two people who complained the most had been somewhat appeased, Sister Cao came again to appease the night watchman.

"It's really not the price's fault, it's my fault. I have no control over the weather. It's so cold, so I'd better make a rule of pounding ice four times a night... Fortunately, I'm back. Today's business won't be delayed. We'll change it later.

That is, no matter who is on duty at night, it will be dawn

Just call me over and I'll continue pounding until everyone gets up to get water."

"Thank you, Sister Cao, for taking care of me. It was indeed my fault this time."

Zhao Erniang, who almost caused a big disaster, also breathed a sigh of relief.

While he was talking, a girl in leather armor, about fifteen or sixteen years old, rushed from behind, came to follow her, looked into the pool, and then smiled, pulled out a sword, and then just

As soon as the shore was swung, a burst of crimson Qi attached to it, and a layer of heat instantly appeared around it.

Then after waiting for a moment, he thrust the sword into the ice below, and it sank in as easily as a knife cutting through tofu.

Obviously, this young lady is a master of practicing Lihuo Zhenqi, and she is already a master of Qijing at a young age.

The existence of such a mother and daughter is probably the greatest guarantee that this group of people can survive until now.

The ice layer was opened over there, water plants were harvested, and Dou Xiaoniang brought back the prey. Naturally, she could survive today. However, after Dou Xiaoniang and Sister Cao had been busy for a long time, it was not until noon that they finally had a chance to be outside.

They spoke to each other in private beside the reed marsh.

"We're almost out of salt."

Sister Cao, Mrs. Dou, Dou Lide's successor, and Cao Chen's younger sister, looked at the young lady in front of her and spoke seriously, as if she was handing over official business.

"I'm going out for a visit." Dou Xiaoniang, Dou Lide's only surviving blood relative after his family was wiped out due to rebellion, only responded lightly.

It is obvious, but also easy to understand, that in theory there is a slight alienation between mother and daughter. After all, they have only been so-called mother and daughter for more than a year.

Moreover, in terms of role division, the two of them are not so much mother and daughter, but rather the cooperative leaders of this team of old, weak, sick and disabled.

"That's it," Mrs. Cao hesitated for a moment, then continued: "I thought about it and realized that we can't go on like this. Twenty or thirty people have already died. Let's not say that we are at the end of the road. If it continues to be so cold,

Or maybe there’s a heavy snowfall suddenly and I can’t stand it at all…”

"I'll go to the surrounding cities to inquire about my father's whereabouts."

Dou Xiaoniang was obviously forced to mature prematurely by life, so she immediately spoke.

"If you can't find out, you still have to rob a big family and get some serious food and winter clothes. In the past, Mrs. Cao must have wanted to prevent the other party from robbing in the name of exposing their stronghold, but she unexpectedly didn't say anything this time.

In the end, they really have no choice but to go.

In this way, Dou Xiaoniang said goodbye to everyone that afternoon, hurriedly left the stronghold and headed for the outskirts.

Of course, the first step was to go to Zhangnan, the nearest place. That night I easily picked up some coarse salt, but I didn't find any news about my father among the people. There were only rumors that day that the rebels had won the battle in the southeast, and Dou Lide's reward had been raised again.

It has increased, but it is difficult for the people below to survive. Who has the intention to find out what role Dou Lide played in it and where he is now?

At this time, Dou Xiaoniang was a little confused. She originally wanted to take the risk and kidnap a county magistrate, a county magistrate, a county lieutenant, etc. to ask about the specific situation.

The county prince was determined to deal with the bandits, but he also knew that once he did this, he would definitely attract massive retaliation from the government. He was afraid that he would not end well, so he was a little discouraged.

What's more, at this time, the priority should be to obtain food and winter clothing to help the people in Gaojipo.

However, even when she turned to this idea, she was also a little frustrated, because robbery was also very risky in Zhangnan County... Dou Lide had been rebelling in Gaojibo for almost two years, and Zhangnan was from the same hometown, so who didn't know who he was?

?Everyone is probably aware of Dou Xiaoniang's abilities and her name. What's even more terrible is that during a robbery in the city, if the officials seal the door and send the county soldiers to surround them, how can she carry out the goods alone?

Going out?

After thinking for a long time, she finally decided to leave the city and follow the official road south to Pingyuan County next door. She was not planning to go to Pingyuan to plunder, but she said that there was a crossroads on the official road ahead.

It is an important trade route, so I am planning to see if there is a convoy of a wealthy family on the road so that I can rob it... It is best to rob an outsider's car and livestock and drive them directly to Gaojipo.

She did it as soon as she thought of it, and stayed in the city for a night. Early the next morning, Dou Xiaoniang easily left the city carrying half a bag of coarse salt. She wanted to find a mule or something on the way, but after walking through several villages, all of them were in ruins.

It is unbearable that the rare livestock are treated as treasures by their owners.

, I really couldn't bear to do it, so I simply walked forward with dozens of kilograms of salt on my back and a sword hanging on it.

Not to mention, in the morning, after walking up the official road and wandering at the crossroads for less than an hour, she encountered a convoy, but she did not dare to rob it - it was the convoy of the Cui family of Qinghe.

There were forty vehicles, not to mention the Cui masters who must have cultivated literature inside to hold the formation, nor the steel crossbows that must be hidden in the vehicles, but the fifty or sixty riders on the outside were enough to make people feel powerless.

In this case, it would be better not to hide.

So Dou Xiaoniang bypassed the caravan and continued to check the three forks in the east, west and south. Then suddenly she saw a suitable target on the road to the east of the long river - four or five cars, seven or eight riders, and a few

The two old men were in charge of the coachmen, and the flag they hung should be Changle Feng's motorcade.

It's suitable anywhere.

However, Dou Xiaoniang knew that robbery would take a lot of energy, so she turned back first, hid beside the intersection, used her true energy to light a fire next to the reed swamp, baked a cooking cake stolen from the city, and drank some

He boiled the water and took advantage of the situation to wipe his face with plant ashes. Then he took a bag of salt and sat down by the intersection, waiting for the car to come.

In the afternoon, smoke and dust rose slightly in the distance, and Dou Xiaoniang waited until the motorcade slowly came from the east.

The people in the convoy were not fools, but they arrived first and saw a girl with pot ashes on her face. She was wearing thin clothes and was just sitting on the side of the road to take shelter from the wind, so they turned back.

Frankly speaking, this made Dou Xiaoniang a little shaken, because the other party actually didn't use words to tease or take advantage of her, which was already remarkable.

After a while, the motorcade arrived. Thinking of those people in Gaojibo, Dou Xiaoniang sighed, suddenly turned to the road with a sword in hand, then raised the sword to face it, but spoke clearly:

"Listen, the people of the Feng family in Changle have come to the rescue. They left a car and a horse, piled them with dry food and winter clothes, and then let you go. I, Sister Cao, will return them to you when I get rich."

The motorcade came to an abrupt stop, and all the guards looked at each other. After realizing what was going on, they couldn't help but burst out laughing. Only two old-looking people at the head and the tail were looking at each other with their hands together, and their expressions were not good.

Seeing this appearance, Dou Xiaoniang also laughed and wanted to use her true energy to scare these people.
To be continued...