Mercenaries and Adventurers

Bingxunguan North Gate.

A low figure stumbled closer, and several soldiers guarding the city gate who were organizing inspections sneered and muttered to each other about what had just happened.

When the small and thin figure was about to enter the checkpoint from outside the gate, the soldier next to him casually kicked the little guy in the butt.

Poof, the little guy fell to the cold ground.

Although he fell, this little guy kept his arms close to his torso, as weird as a piece of wood. The soldier took a second look, then went up and kicked the little guy's legs.

"Okay, is it interesting for you to kick such a little guy? Why didn't you rush up and stop the man who just rode out on horseback? He left it here to show his power." Next to him, the tax collector who collected taxes walked away from the inside of the city gate. He came out and stopped the soldiers from kicking and beating this low-class child.

The soldier bent down and smiled coquettishly. Although he no longer kicked anyone with his feet, he pointed at the little thing on the ground and explained to the tax collector: "Sir, you don't know, don't think this thing is pitiful, but in fact They are doing bad things. They steal everything from poultry raised by people, food from the kitchens of pubs and restaurants, money bags from people on the street, vegetables from the market. They are all habitual criminals."

The tax official glanced at the dirty little boy, with a hint of disgust in his eyes, and waved his hand and said: "Then don't let them appear in front of me, and if you kick him, you are not afraid that he will steal when there is no one in your house." What’s your stuff?”

The soldier grinned: "They dare, I'll skin them!" Then the soldier followed the tax collector who was walking away and said flatteringly: "You don't know, this guy just went out of the city with those gangsters from the town. What's going on?"

"What did they do?" The tax official walked away, but his voice came over.

The soldier's voice also became smaller as he walked away: "They were chasing a young man who I heard had a lot of gold coins with him. I guess they would intercept and kill the young man outside the checkpoint. In fact, I was kind-hearted just now. We need to let that young man out of the city, otherwise he will be blocked by those people at the gate of the city and will not be able to get out. Even if he tries to hide inside the checkpoint, he will be attacked by those guys."

"Really, so you still mean well?"

"Really, that young man subdued a few bandits outside the checkpoint before, allowing the brothers to make a little money, so we can't just watch that man being attacked by those shameless gangsters. Although we are just They are ordinary soldiers, but we all understand similar moral principles."

When the two of them walked away, the other soldiers at the city gate ignored him. The little boy opened his eyes, shook his head and looked around. The businessmen coming and going pointed at him, but he pretended not to see them.

He awkwardly got up from the cold ground. He was about to jump to warm himself up, but something occurred to him. His body froze, and then he staggered into the ice flood pass with his head lowered.

-

The little boy is not an orphan. He has a family in Bingshuguan. Along the way, he avoids the domestic dogs barking at him, avoids the dark alleys that eat people, and avoids looking into the eyes of every person he passes by. He kept his arms tightly against his body and took small steps with only his legs, walking and running back to his home.

His home is located in the northwest corner of Bingxun Pass. After entering from the north gate of Bingxun Pass, he walked as close to the city wall as possible, avoiding some large buildings close to the city wall, and arrived at a real slum that was dilapidated and garbage-like. inside.

And his family, even in the slums, was among the worst. He and his mother lived on the edge of a house, using the simple mud-wood walls of the similarly dilapidated house next door to build a low house with some branches and broken bricks and stones.

There was only a leaky sack at the door to block the cold wind. Fortunately, the little boy's 'home' was built on the chimney of his so-called 'father's' house, so as long as there was a fire in the big house to keep warm, it would be burned by the flames and smoke through the chimney. At a temperature below 100℃, his home can still be inhabited.

Don't freeze to death at night in this cold winter.

The little boy pushed open the tattered wooden door of his father's house and ignored the ferocious family dog ​​tied with a rope and barking at him.

The old wooden door of the big house opened a little, and a mean face stuck out from inside. After seeing that the person entering the door was a little boy, she changed her expression and scolded her in a sharp voice: "Little mouse! Why are you so early?" Just come back? It's not even dark yet! Why don't you go out and kneel on the street to beg for money? A few pieces of iron are money. I've been kind enough to let you two live at home. You have to repay me. Did you know?"

The little one named Little Mouse was timid and silent, and just headed towards the low door of his house. His home is not much bigger than the dog house in the same yard.

Fortunately, his mother opened the shabby sack at the door of her house, smiled flatteringly at the mean woman who didn't go out, and then waved to her son.

The little mouse quickly slithered into the house.

-

The mean woman disliked the cold outside. Seeing that her dog was guarding the door, she quickly closed the old wooden door. Even with the door closed, you could still hear her cursing without lowering her voice.

It's just that there's a wall between them, so the sound is still a little quieter.

At Little Mouse's house, his mother saw that he was covered in dirt and quickly patted away the dirt with her hands. Fortunately, it's winter, so the dust contained in everything doesn't stink, nor is it as sticky as mud. Just tap it off.

It wasn't until he returned home that the little mouse rubbed the area where he had been kicked with a painful look on his face. His mother lifted up the linen clothes that the little mouse was wearing that were filled with warm garbage and gently rubbed the bruised area. place.

"Didn't I tell you not to mess with bad guys again?" Twisting the little mouse's ears, his mother scolded him in a low voice.

"I didn't provoke him, he was the one who beat me." After saying this, the little mouse seemed to remember the killing scene he saw by the river before. He shivered.

Thinking it was cold, his mother picked up the little mouse and placed it near the chimney of the big house that was part of the wall, letting the heat from the chimney warm her son.

Seeing that the little mouse was still trembling, she quickly wrapped the set of clothes she was sewing around the little mouse.

"What's wrong, little mouse? Does your body hurt anywhere?" the woman asked worriedly.

"It doesn't hurt, it's just, it's just." Tears flowed from his eyes, and snot also flowed from his nose: "It's just that they are all dead. They were all killed by a powerful guy."

Mother's eyes widened. Although people died every day in the slums, most of them died of illness and cold, some died of starvation and exhaustion, and a few were beaten to death.

If these residents, who had nothing, were beaten to death, it was mostly because they offended a big shot when they went out to make a living or were beaten to death by some shady thugs for fun.

But they all died alone, never many people died together.

"What's going on? Where is your father? Where is he? Is he okay?" The mother became anxious at this time. After all, although her son, the little mouse, was naughty and wanted to be beaten, she had been taught not to lie since he was a child.

They already live like this. If they bend their spiritual backbone again, they will really never be able to climb out from here.

The little mouse was scared to death. When he was by the river, he was too frightened to react. Now that he came to a safe and warm home, the cruel scene that happened before was clearly reflected in his mind.

"My father led us to chase a man, a man on horseback. He also chased us after leaving the city. As a result, we were killed by that man one by one by the river. My father also died. They were all dead, including Da Mao and Hong Hand. , the gray cat is also dead, all dead. My father begged him for mercy and was killed. The man wanted to kill me. I begged for mercy. I begged for mercy as you said, mother. The man did not kill me. He kicked me and let me Let's go. I came back, and the soldier kicked me too. I heard that he blamed us for chasing that man out of the city, so he kicked me. I pretended not to move, and he walked away talking to someone. I just Run back." The little mouse spoke in a messy manner, but he also made it clear that all the people they usually spent time with were killed outside the city.

The mother couldn't believe it. Seeing that her son was in a trance, she quickly patted the little mouse's cheek to calm down her son who was captured by fear.

After a while, the little mouse finally woke up. He cried timidly and huddled on his mother's calf.

After comforting the little guy for a while, the little mouse's mother asked intermittently what happened.

It turned out that her 'man' had gone out looking for work with Little Mouse and other nearby men as usual in the morning. I said I was looking for work, but in fact I was doing some robberies. Most of them were picking up the garbage thrown out from the back door of a big hotel store and rummaging through it for something of some value.

Sometimes the back door of someone's house is not closed tightly, so they sneak in, grab some things they can get, and run away. If they are caught, they will probably be beaten up, which is fine. Anyway, even if they are fighting with the thugs from the Gold Cave, Even looking at each other would lead to a beating, and they were used to it.

As a result, after I went out in the morning, I had no income. I just picked up some shaggy bread that was not wanted by the tavern and some rotten shoes that were not wanted by others. But just before noon, while they were hanging out on the street, they heard a piece of news.

A certain young man sold two very valuable treasures alone to the owners of a large store, and sold a large bag full of gold coins. And that young man is not a local resident, but a lone traveler from other places.

Single, young, lots of money.

This is not telling those evil-minded guys in Bingxunguan: I am valuable, come and rob me!

Little Mouse's father also became interested like other gangsters.

When they saw other people preparing to rob, they also hurried home, borrowed from others, and roughly obtained some "weapons" that could be used for violent robberies.

They followed the other gangsters from the Simmons Chamber of Commerce near the river to a hotel protected by the church.

Most of the gangsters dare not go in to make trouble. After all, whoever dares to make trouble will most likely be picked out by the soldiers in the level and locked up in the dungeon. Their bodies will not be taken out until they starve to death.

A group of them squatted on the corner of the street and saw the target riding a horse out of the hotel, so they followed the others and chased him.

But most people give up when they see that the other party has a horse. However, Little Mouse's 'father' felt that the other party did not seem to be an expert on horseback riding. He could ride a little on the main road of the level, and he would probably not be able to run far after leaving the town.

Sure enough, after everyone else gave up, a group of them chased out and found that the man was riding slower and slower. As a result, he seemed to have fallen off the horse and the coins were scattered on the floor.

There was probably a hole in the bag containing the coins, and they were scattered along the other party's escape route.

Everyone else was thinking about the gold coins in their bags, so they gave up on the fallen copper coins and iron coins. Only the small mouse had no weapons and did not dare to cause trouble, so he had to stay behind and pick up the fallen coins on the ground.

result.

That's a trap.

Everyone else Little Mouse knew was killed on the cold river beach.

As for the killing scene, the little mouse couldn't describe it. He could only dryly say that so-and-so was killed by the young man several times, and so-and-so was killed by the young man teasing him.

These dry words also frightened the little mouse's mother.

At the end of the sentence, a look suddenly appeared in the little mouse's eyes. He reached for the armpits of his two thin arms and took out an imperial silver coin that was as bright as the silver moon and as bright as the sun in the dark home.

Although it is said to be an imperial silver coin, it is only consistent with the imperial silver coin in terms of manufacturing process and silver content. The two sides of the silver coin are the regent of the kingdom and the name of the kingdom, as well as the foundry of the kingdom that minted the silver coin.

My mother's eyes widened. She hadn't seen a coin of this value in how many years. Not caring that it was hidden under his son's armpit, he grabbed it and bit it with the tiger teeth in his mouth.

The place where the silver coin was bitten is slightly dented, it is a real silver coin.

"Where did you get this coin?" Mother asked urgently.

The little mouse shook his head and said timidly: "The first coin that man dropped was this silver coin. After my father saw it, I took it and never took it away. They all died after that."

"Really, that guy, hey." Mother sighed heavily, but kept her eyes fixed on the silver coins. The two of them just huddled next to the chimney of the big house next door, the 'wall' of their home, without saying anything.

After a while, the little mouse's mother picked up the silver coins, and then pushed them away from the ground under the scattered wood in the corner of the house. There were twelve copper coins inside.

She hesitated for a while longer, looking at her son's thin and shivering appearance, and seemed to have made some kind of decision in her eyes.

She asked Little Mouse to pack everything in the house with ropes, and she took the clothes to be repaired and returned them to the tailor shop. After getting a small fee for the craftsmanship, she went to the bakery and bought a bag of bread.

When she got home, she asked the little mouse to carry the bread, while she carried all the family's wealth: some old clothes, old boots that she had picked up, and an old dog's fur.

Without saying goodbye to the people in the big house, the mother took the little mouse, and the two of them walked towards the south gate of the pass, carrying loads of things on their backs.

"Mother, where are we going?"

"We can't stay here anymore, let's go home."

"But isn't home behind you?"

The little mouse pointed at the low house next to the big house that was walking away behind him.

"That's not home."

"Is that there?"

The little mouse pointed in another direction, which was also a place in Bingxunguan, but it was still in shabby condition, just slightly better than their previous place.

"Bah, that's not it." The mother spat in that direction. She once thought it was a home where she could live, but it turned out that the man was a gambler. He had no money, and he actually wanted to use her and the little mouse as collateral for gambling. table.

The little mouse scratched his head and finally pointed in another direction.

The mother looked in the direction the little mouse was pointing, her eyes filled with tears: "It used to be, but it is no longer the case after your father died."

The little mouse lowered his head, feeling a little sad and confused.

The mother reached out and touched her son's reddish cheeks, and pulled the little mouse forward.

After a while, she stopped, pointed to the south of Bingxunguan, and said to her son: "There is no home here since your father died. But that direction."

There was a pause.

"That direction is your mother and my home. It was, is, and may be. Hey, I hope your grandfather still recognizes me as his daughter." At the end of her sentence, she felt a little unsure.

The little mouse squeezed his mother's cold hand to give her some warmth and encouragement.

"Although one silver coin is not much, plus the coins accumulated at home before. It should be possible, but it seems that you still have to join a caravan going south. It doesn't matter. They will definitely need someone who can cook and mend clothes. people."

"I can work too!"

"Okay! Let's go home."