On the south bank of the Yellow River in Pingyuan County, Dou Jiande, surrounded by hundreds of soldiers, looked at the fleet of ships that covered the sky and sun on the north bank of the Yellow River with complex eyes. For a long time, he sighed longly, and his heart was filled with infinite melancholy.
Only in years of great disaster can we see the strength of a country. The Sui Dynasty had food to provide disaster relief and could attract hundreds of thousands of victims, but it had no extra food in its hands and could only watch the victims go away.
The appearance of this huge fleet made him feel the shock of national power and made him deeply aware of his own insignificance. At this time, Dou Jiande was filled with anxiety. There was no longer any suspense about the Sui army's capture of Qingzhou, so where would he go?
?
"Your Majesty!"
A cavalryman rushed forward and reported: "We have captured a group of people trying to flee north. There are more than 3,000 people. Please deal with it, Your Majesty!"
"Where are the people?"
The cavalryman turned back and pointed, "Three miles ahead, they were hiding in a tree and were discovered by the brothers."
Dou Jiande's face darkened, "Let's go! Let's take a look."
He urged his horse to go east, and hundreds of cavalry followed him. After a while, the group came to a forest.
In front of the woods, a large number of hungry people who fled north were already kneeling in a gray and black area. They were forced to kneel on the ground. The old man's body was shaking, the woman was holding the frightened child tightly, and the man beside him lowered his head but clenched his fists.
They all carry more or less a baggage, stuffed with clothes, some copper coins, and some scattered silver and copper jewelry, which are their most valuable possessions.
This group of people were waiting for the ferry to come by the river, but Dou Jiande's army rushed to the river. They were frightened and hid in the woods, but they were still discovered by Xia army scouts.
Dou Jiande looked at the group of victims who tried to betray him with complicated eyes. There was no anger or hatred in his eyes, only helplessness and melancholy.
Dou Jiande got off his horse and walked up to a middle-aged man. He could tell that this middle-aged man was the leader. And his figure seemed a bit familiar. The man lowered his head and stared at the ground. Dou Jiande stretched out his boots.
He hooked the man's chin with the toe of his boot and slowly raised his head. He saw a thin face with three long beards.
"It's you!"
A flash of surprise flashed in Dou Jiande's eyes. He recognized the man, who turned out to be Lu County Magistrate Shi Zongminsheng. Although he knew that many officials had fled, today he saw the fleeing officials for the first time, and his heart suddenly surged.
A kind of indescribable anger. I treat my officials well, but they betray me at the critical moment.
"Are you even going to betray me?" Dou Jiande's heart was filled with uncontrollable annoyance. This Zong Minsheng was still his fellow countryman.
Zong Minsheng said extremely calmly: "Being humble does not mean betraying the prince. It's just that being humble cannot wait for the relief food allocated by the prince. Being humble is also a human being. I don't want to starve to death, so I have given up my official position. As a commoner, I am looking for someone who can
A place to eat.”
Dou Jiande glanced at the three thousand hungry people and shook his head, "You are not a civilian, you are still their leader, and you are using your prestige to lead them to escape."
Zong Minsheng looked back at the hungry people. He sighed and said: "I am just a person with a little ability. When I meet this group of hungry people who have nowhere to go, they rely on me and are willing to go with me."
"You bastard!"
Dou Jiande was furious, kicked Zong Minsheng over, stepped on his head, pulled out a knife and stared at him fiercely, "I'm going to kill you with one knife!"
Zong Minsheng said nothing and closed his eyes. Dou Jiande stared at him for a long time, his chest heaving violently, but in the end he put the knife back into its sheath, turned around and ordered to the soldiers: "Let's go!"
He got on his horse, and the soldiers were stunned. One of the soldiers stammered and asked: "Then what should they... do?"
"Leave them alone! Can I still use them as military rations?"
Dou Jiande felt extremely melancholy. He whipped his horse and galloped south. More than a thousand soldiers mounted their horses and followed Dou Jiande away.
The three thousand hungry people were all surprised. Did Dou Jiande just let them go? Zong Minsheng stood up and looked at Dou Jiande's back after hearing the news. He couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"Master Zong, actually Prince Dou is not bad, he is still kind to others." An old man walked up to Zong Minsheng and whispered.
Zong Minsheng sighed and said: "He does treat people well, but the weather and the right location are not on his side, so what can he do if there are only people to make peace with?"
At this time, someone pointed to the river and shouted: "Boat! The boat is coming."
Everyone turned around and looked towards the river, only to see two ferries slowly sailing towards the south bank. As if they saw the hope of survival, the three thousand hungry people cheered and ran towards the river together...
The fleet continues to move forward, and their full load of grain supplies will be unloaded at Liyangcang. Liyangcang's huge warehouse city and extensive waterway transportation are most suitable for placing these trophies.
A few days later, the unloaded fleet was led by Lai Huer and sailed back to Goryeo Lingluo Island, preparing to transport the second batch of supplies. Luo Shixin led 20,000 elite troops and rushed back to Taiyuan first. Yang Yuanqing waited until the cargo ship had unloaded all the goods.
, and then led five hundred personal guards back to Taiyuan.
In the evening of that day, Yang Yuanqing and his party entered Fangfang County, Zhao County. It was already late September and entering late autumn, the weather was getting cooler, especially in the morning and evening, it was a bit chilly.
A group of people walked on the flat official road. The dusk was dim and a thin layer of gray mist had risen on the ground, making the surrounding scenery faintly visible.
On both sides are large areas of harvested rice fields, with rice stalks piled everywhere in the fields. There are patches of black shadow in the distance. From the appearance, it is difficult to tell whether it is a forest or a village. However, there are no lights, so it must be a forest.
After everyone walked for a few more miles, it was completely dark. Yang Yuanqing looked around and found a light two miles away. There should be a village there. Yang Yuanqing pointed with his horsewhip and said, "Go and spend the night in the village!"
Everyone speeded up their horses and ran along the field ridge to the village two miles away. After a while, everyone rushed to the village. They could see that it was a small village, with less than a hundred households. Judging from the lights, the number of people in the village was very small.
Almost all the houses are occupied.
Before anyone could get closer, a dozen native dogs ran out of the village and barked at the cavalry. The village was filled with barking dogs. At this time, several people walked out of the village, carrying lanterns. They saw
The large group of cavalry hesitated for a moment, but still approached cautiously.
The leader is an old man. It can be vaguely seen from the light of the lantern that he has white hair and beard, and his back is a little stooped. Behind him are three young people, holding pitchforks and sticks in their hands. It can be seen that they are hesitant at their feet and seem to be full of energy.
Of fear.
"Gentlemen, where do you come from?"
Cheng Yaojin followed Yang Yuanqing. He was about to shout at the top of his voice when Yang Yuanqing stopped him, stepped forward and cupped his hands and said with a smile: "We came from Taiyuan for business, and now we are returning to Taiyuan. It's getting late. We want to go to Guizhou."
If you stay in the village for one night and drink hot soup, we will give you some money for soup and tea."
The old man put the lantern in front of Yang Yuanqing and looked at it for a long time. Seeing that they were indeed officers and soldiers, not bandits, he nodded and said, "The village is very small and there are no empty houses. However, there is a large earth temple in the village. You are here
Rest for the night in the temple, and I will go find someone to make hot soup for you."
Yang Yuanqing turned around and said to everyone: "You are not allowed to enter private houses, go to the Tutu Temple to rest!"
The soldiers were a little tired, so they dismounted one after another and led the horses towards the village. The village was indeed not big, with a dirt street about two miles long. In the middle of the dirt street was an earth temple covering an area of more than ten acres. The soldiers
They led the horses into the Earth Temple, and each found a place to rest and eat solid food.
A dozen soldiers tidied up the west wing of Tutu Temple and lit a fire. Several soldiers ran to find a well to get water for tea. Yang Yuanqing sat down. Seeing that Cheng Yaojin was a little uneasy, he smiled.
Said: "Did you become addicted to alcohol again?"
Cheng Yaojin scratched his head and said with some embarrassment: "I just saw a small wine shop in the village, which suddenly aroused my alcohol addiction. Now I feel very uncomfortable."
Yang Yuanqing knew that he loved wine as much as his life, and he had never drank alcohol from the time of the expedition until now, which was hard for him. But Yang Yuanqing didn't know that Cheng Yaojin found a bottle of good rice wine in the Goryeo Palace, and he had been secretly addicted to it.
Yang Yuanqing thought that he had been restraining himself for the sake of the overall situation, so he didn't want to embarrass him anymore and said with a smile: "Go ahead! Drink less and don't cause trouble for me."
Cheng Yaojin was so happy that he jumped up as if he had been hit by an arrow in his butt, and ran towards the outside of the Tutu Temple like a gust of wind. At this time, the old man came in with more than a dozen young men carrying several large buckets of hot soup. The soldiers laughed.
He said: "Fellow military lords, please come and drink soup! This is meat soup, and there is rabbit meat in the soup."
After a military doctor tested the poison, the soldiers came forward with bowls to ladle out the soup. The old man came to Yang Yuanqing again, bowed and saluted, "Master, could you please come to my house?"
"What's the matter?" Yang Yuanqing asked with a smile.
The old man sighed, "I have something to trouble Master Jun."
Seeing that he looked a little sad, Yang Yuanqing probably encountered something troublesome, so he nodded, "Okay! I'll go with you."
He stood up and followed the old man out of the Earth Temple with five or six soldiers. Not long after, he came to a courtyard and said, "This is my home. Master, please come in and sit down."
Yang Yuanqing followed him into the side hall, which was actually the kitchen and dining room connected together. A small oil lamp had been lit, and the light was dim. Through the dim light, he could see that the corner of the room was piled with unfinished food from the summer.
Wheat straw and some firewood.
There were two shabby couches in the room. The old man asked Yang Yuanqing to sit down and poured him a bowl of hot water. "I'm sorry for neglecting the military master."
"It doesn't matter. If anything happens to me, just tell me!"
The old man went back to the house and got a letter. He looked very worried. He handed the letter to Yang Yuanqing and sighed: "Master Jun, can you send us a letter after you return to Taiyuan?"
Yang Yuanqing took the letter and saw that it said 'His Royal Highness the King of Chu of the Great Sui Dynasty' was written on it. He was startled that this letter was actually for him.