Lu Dali is from Zhangshu Village, Yuanzhou. It has not rained since June this year, causing the crops in the fields to droop for dozens of days. In the autumn when they should have been harvested, all the crops were dried up and not a single grain of food was harvested.
The grain stored in the spring had long been eaten up, and the relief grain promised by the court had not yet been distributed. Lu Dali was so hungry that he could not bear it. Looking at the hungry children and the child's mother who was so thin that only her big eyes were left on her face, he gritted his teeth, took his wife and children, and fled with the other villagers.
I originally thought that escaping to Lanzhou would be much better, but I didn't expect that along the way, more and more refugees would escape from Yuanzhou, and finally all of them flocked to Lanzhou.
As the number of refugees increased, Lanzhou City was afraid that they would cause trouble, so it simply closed the city gates and did not allow them to enter the city at all.
At the same time, people were sent to drive them away and not allow them to gather in groups outside Lanzhou City.
So Lu Dali had no choice but to follow another group of refugees. Their group was broken up and only less than 200 people were left. They wandered around, without food or shelter, sleeping in the open air, and when they were hungry, they dug up weeds and dead tree roots on the ground.
There was not even a blade of grass left in this wasteland. People kept falling down, and when we looked again the next morning, we found that all the bodies were gone.
People have reached a point where they have nowhere else to turn.
Lu Dali anxiously watched the mother of the child who was too hungry to have milk, and the child lying in his arms dying. The eight-foot-tall man cried like a child. He had heard that those people liked tender meat the most, so he dared not close his eyes every day and night, fearing that if he fell asleep, the child would disappear.
The couple next to them lost their child while they were sleeping at night. They searched for three days before finding the child's clothes in a mud pit.
At this moment, Lu Dali's daughter-in-law was lying on her side, leaning against a patched package, with a half-year-old child sleeping with his eyes closed in his arms.
She was breathing out more than breathing in, and her voice was weak. "Da Li, I am a burden to you. Child..."
She didn't continue talking, tears rolled down her sunken eyes, but Lu Dali understood that she was afraid of those starving people.
"After I go there, if the child is really..., you should find a place to carefully place him so that those people won't find him."
Lu Dali wiped his tears and comforted her: "Qiuniang, please stop talking. We can definitely get through this. Believe me, we can definitely do it."
Qiu Niang forced a smile and no longer had the strength to speak.
Just as Lu Dali was holding Qiu Niang's hand and crying breathlessly, the sound of horse hooves came from a distance.
Everyone looked towards the sound of horse hooves.
They are not looking at the person, but the horse under him.
How much meat can be obtained from this horse?
Some people's mouths have begun to secrete saliva.
Before the men on horseback got close, all the refugees on the ground who had the strength stood up, with a vague tendency to surround the two men and the horse.
The soldiers on horseback did not approach directly. Instead, when they were still more than ten feet away from the refugees, they stopped their horses and shouted loudly to the refugees:
"Our King Xia is kind. If you follow him to Xizhou, you will not only have food and drink along the way, but you will also be given land when you arrive in Xizhou, and all your land taxes will be exempted for three years."
Everyone's attention was initially focused on the horse meat, until they heard the man say that there would be food and drink along the way, and that they would be able to share land and be tax-free, then they began to look at the person on the horse again.
There were two people on horseback, one was wearing light armor and should be a guard soldier, while the other looked much more familiar.
His clothes were ragged and his face was dirty, and he looked no different from them.
Someone on their side shouted: "Are you serious?"
"Of course I am serious. I have here the notice that our Highness has just ordered to be issued." As he spoke, the man on the horse took out a scroll from his arms and unfolded it, but it was too far away for the people here to see clearly.
"It's too far, we can't see it. Come closer."
The people holding the notice were naturally Yunshu's personal guards. These personal guards were all smart ones selected by Yunshu at Cao Cheng's request, and Yunshu had given them instructions before they set out.
At this moment, he certainly would not be careless and approach the gathered refugees.
The two thousand refugees before could rob the prince's food for food, so now these more than a hundred people may also rob him for food. This is also the reason why Ethan Yun did not let them bring food to the propaganda. Two people can't protect the food at all, and it is impossible to distribute it fairly to all refugees.
By then, people will just rush in and snatch everything away. It’s not a big deal if the food is stolen, but I’m afraid people will die too.
Now it's time for the refugee sitting in front of the guards to come on stage.
"Brother guard, let me go." As he said this, he took the notice from the guard and dismounted carefully.
This was his first time riding a horse. If it weren't for the eldest brother of the personal guard, he would have fallen off the horse long ago. However, even with someone supporting him, his legs became weak after riding for more than two hours.
It took him several steps before he regained his normal movements.
The guards remained where they were, neither man nor horse approached those people, and only let the refugee pass with the notice.
The refugees over there frowned at the approaching person, "Who are you?"
"Uncle, I'm from Dingjia Village, Pangtou Town. You can call me Xiao Ding. I was a refugee like you."
When they heard Xiao Ding say that he was also a refugee, these people relaxed their vigilance.
"Why are you alone?"
"Why are you with that soldier?"
"What do you mean you were a refugee before? Aren't you one now? Have you entered Lanzhou City?"
Faced with a barrage of questions, Xiao Ding patiently answered them one by one, starting from how they were deceived into intercepting the food supply of His Royal Highness King Xia, and going all the way to how His Royal Highness King Xia arrested the person who instigated them to make mistakes, and did not blame them at all, and even gave them food.
"As long as we follow His Royal Highness King Xia, we won't starve. This is a great thing. Now, apart from His Royal Highness King Xia, who will take care of us? Can we still count on those dog officials in Yuanzhou and Lanzhou? They will only watch us starve to death!"
Some people doubted him, but looking at Xiao Ding's appearance, he seemed to be in good spirits and looked like he had just had a full meal.
"Who is His Royal Highness King Xia?"
"Would he be so kind?"
So Xiao Ding described again in vivid detail how handsome their King Xia was, the most beautiful man in the world, just like the moon in the sky. Besides being good-looking, he was also kind-hearted and willing to help people from suffering and rescue these refugees.
"Is it true that I can have food just by following His Royal Highness Prince Xia? Does that mean I will become his personal soldier? I don't want to be a soldier."
Xiao Ding sneered, "You're dreaming, you want to be His Highness's personal soldier? Do you see that big brother over there?"
Xiao Ding pointed at the guards in the distance, and then began to praise them, "Look at his elder brother's appearance and figure, and then look at yours. His elder brother is very skilled and can stay on horseback for three days and three nights. Can you do it? I'm afraid you can't even ride a horse or use a sword. And you still look down on the military households."
The person who just spoke blushed after being mocked by Xiao Ding. "Who said I can't use a knife? I used to be a butcher. If I cut a pound of meat, I would never lose half an ounce."
Xiao Ding said disdainfully, "Can your sword be used to kill enemies and protect His Royal Highness King Xia? You won't be asked to kill pigs on the battlefield, right?"
Everyone burst into laughter.
Seeing that everyone was attracted by his story, Xiao Ding continued to deceive them: "Following His Majesty King Xia does not mean being His Majesty King Xia's personal guard, but following His Majesty King Xia to Xizhou together."
As soon as they heard the word Xizhou, everyone started talking and hesitating again.
Xiao Ding quickly imitated the gestures Yunshu had used when talking to them before, except that Yunshu used one hand, while he used two. He raised both hands and pressed them down, signaling everyone to be quiet.
"You may not know this yet, but Xizhou was recaptured by General Adrian Xiao a few months ago. Now Xizhou is the fief of our King Xia. With General Xiao to defend against foreign enemies, you don't have to worry about war. And with our King Xia governing, you don't have to worry about your life in Xizhou.
Your Majesty really likes our Prince Xia. The fiefdom of Xizhou was granted by our Prince himself at the request of His Majesty. Think about it, if Xizhou is really not good, would a god-like figure like our Prince Xia choose it as his fiefdom?
There is no place in the Central Plains that we can't choose, right? "
After a series of combined punches, everyone started to feel a little confused.
Seeing that everyone was interested, Xiao Ding continued:
"Anyway, staying here is a dead end. All 2,000 of us have decided to go to Xizhou with His Royal Highness King Xia. You see, I am so strong now because I just had a full meal at noon.
By the way, time is running out, I still have to deliver letters to other refugees. Here, let me show you this."
As he spoke, Xiao Ding handed the notice given to him by his personal guard to one of them.
The man was illiterate, so he passed it to someone else. Finally, someone who knew the content read it out, and it was exactly the same as Xiao Ding said, and it was also stamped with the seal of King Xia.
Everyone was whispering to each other, saying that this thing seemed to be real.
Although Xiao Ding said he was going to leave, he didn't move his legs. Seeing that no one moved, he finally used his trump card.
"Okay, now that you've finished reading, my mission is also complete. It's up to you whether you want to follow His Royal Highness King Xia to Xizhou. Now I'm going to deliver a letter to the next refugee site. By the way, whoever catches up with His Royal Highness's motorcade first will have the first meal. It's getting dark, and if you're late, there may be no one to cook for you. If you want to go, you'd better hurry up and don't let others get there first."
After Xiao Ding finished speaking, he turned and left. Seeing that Xiao Ding had nothing but torn clothes on and had nothing to take with him, these people knew there was really nothing they could steal, so they could only watch him leave.
Xiao Ding didn't walk fast and couldn't help muttering to himself as he walked.
"Does the trick His Royal Highness Prince Xia taught me work? Why don't they catch up and ask?"
Just as he finished thinking this, someone called him from behind, "Wait a minute, wait a minute!"
Lu Dali came hurriedly from behind, carrying a tattered package on his back, holding his child in one hand and supporting his wife with the other.
Seeing Xiao Ding turning around, he asked anxiously: "I wonder which direction His Royal Highness Prince Xia is? How long will it take me to get there now?"
Lu Dali is very worried that his wife won't make it, and now he is extremely anxious.
Xiao Ding suppressed his raised lips, coughed, pointed in a direction and said, "Just keep going along this road. If you see a team of several thousand people, that's the personal guard of our Prince Xia."
Lu Dali thanked him repeatedly and without caring about anyone else, he supported his wife and walked step by step in the direction Xiao Ding pointed.
Seeing this, others started discussing it.
"Why don't you go and take a look? It's only a day or two away anyway."
"Yes, let's take a look first, and decide whether to go or not when the time comes."
"If it works, I'll just have some food for a few days."
There were many refugees scattered in Yuanzhou and Lanzhou who were in a similar situation. Many people had the same idea as them, and decided to wait and see.
However, Ethan Yun unexpectedly asked Lu Changshi to register everyone on the day they arrived there.
Before they even arrived in Xizhou, they had already become citizens of Xizhou.
Everyone: ...
Isn’t this speed too fast?
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