Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

"Go quickly, go quickly, don't stop! After passing through the ravine ahead, there is a dense forest. Hiding in the forest after dawn, you can avoid the eyes of the patrolling Hu soldiers. You can cross Qinshui in one more night..."

Under the hazy night, there was a group of pedestrians walking quickly in the wilderness. There were about dozens of people in this group. Despite the cover of the night, you could see that they were all in ragged clothes and looked miserable. I was very tired, but I was still gritting my teeth and persisting. There were still people in the team who were whispering loudly while walking.

With great difficulty, just before dawn, the team finally arrived at the dense forest that the leader had talked about on the way. This dense forest covers a large area. It occupies several hectares of wilderness running from north to south. The entire valley is filled in, and there are many weeds and thorns on the outside, making it difficult for ordinary people to enter it.

But for this group of people who want to survive, those weeds and thorns covered with spikes are not an insurmountable obstacle. They searched around the dense forest for a while and found a place where the thorns were relatively sparse, and then they crawled in on all fours. For fear of being noticed by outsiders, even if the thorns pierced and scratched their backs, they did not dare to uproot and destroy the thorn bushes.

The wilderness where these people are located is the racecourse, which is the armistice area agreed upon in the peace talks after the war between the two countries three years ago. After two or three years of desertion, the racecourse has become extremely desolate and rarely inhabited. There are only garrisons and scouts from the two countries. Wander around here on alert.

But in addition, there will also be some merchants or refugees who will travel to the two places in order to make a living. But doing so is extremely dangerous. Once exposed to the sight of the scouts of the two countries, they may be expelled and surrounded. Especially the Northern Qi side, which takes stricter precautions against this.

After the group of pedestrians, who were obviously refugees, sneaked into the dense forest, they hid in it throughout the day and did not dare to move. During this period, an unknown team of riders approached the dense forest. The canines accompanying the team kept barking at the dense forest, which frightened the refugees hiding in the forest so much that their hearts nearly jumped out of their throats. Fortunately, the rangers did not conduct a careful search here. After drinking and resting, they mounted their horses and left.

Even so, the refugees hiding in the dense forest still did not dare to act rashly. It was not until extremely late at night that they dared to approach the edge of the dense forest and peek out for movement.

"Aye, I'm hungry..."

A child who was traveling with him came closer to his father and moaned feebly.

After a long journey day and night, the adults were already exhausted and hungry, let alone the children. However, they were naked and had no food to satisfy their hunger. The father just comforted the children in a low voice and said: " If you have more patience, you will reach Wei State after crossing Qinshui River. They have scalding soup and fragrant millet rice..."

"Is it really possible? If they don't keep it for themselves, how can they be willing to give it to others?"

When the hungry child heard this, his face suddenly showed longing, but he also didn't believe it. Is there really such a kind-hearted person in the world? How could he be willing to give precious food to a stranger? You must eat them all, even if you can't eat them...why can't you eat them? Aye always scolded his stomach as a bottomless pit, and he could swallow even a bowl full of rice and rice as big as his fist!

"Yes, yes, the King of Tang in Wei State is the most kind-hearted. He hates seeing others suffer. As long as he goes to seek refuge, he will give him food and clothing!"

The father was actually not sure, because they were all hearsay, but the village really couldn't survive. A group of people regarded this as the only way to survive, so they spread the word by word of mouth and gathered a group of villagers to agree to cross the racecourse and defect to the Western Dynasty together. .

"There is such a kind-hearted person, why don't you call my mother to come with you..."

After the child heard this, he couldn't help but whisper. However, after the words were spoken, he only received an impatient slap from his father, and he could only shut up.

After confirming that there was nothing abnormal outside the dense forest, the group continued on the road. During the journey, the child fell down and suddenly found a piece of wild fruit under his body. The squeezed and damaged sauce also exuded a fragrant smell. He was so busy and delighted that he The vines were torn off and put into his arms. He carefully picked up the berries and put them into his mouth. The taste was not as sweet and fruity as expected, but rather bitter.

However, after having nothing in his stomach for days, the child couldn't help but pull off the berries and stuff them into his mouth. The bitter taste in his mouth offset a little of his hunger. He pulled his father who was running quickly in front of him and whispered: "Aye." , there is something to eat..."

The man was stunned for a moment when he heard this. When his son put the berries into his hands like a treasure, he was startled after a moment of identification and shouted in a low voice: "This is poison, has Anu eaten it?"

After hearing the words, the child's mouth tightened, and before he could answer, he suddenly started wailing. The father was shocked when he saw this, and he hurriedly stepped forward to dig out the poisonous fruit that his son had swallowed.

"Who's howling? I want to die!"

The leader of the team was shocked when he heard the child screaming in pain and hurriedly howled in a low voice. Others in the team also scolded him.

The child ate too many poisonous berries, and his screams of pain gradually faded away. The father looked hastily and helplessly shouted: "My child has eaten poisonous berries, please save him quickly..."

In this adversity, even if a person has compassion, it is bound to be limited. Although the middle-aged man is really miserable, everyone in the team just feels restless and worried that the middle-aged man's howling will attract the patrols, and they repeatedly scold him. Asking him to silence himself, someone even rushed forward and covered his mouth forcefully.

The leader of the team stepped forward, took a look at the child in the middle-aged man's arms who was still moaning and twitching, but whose voice was fading, and sighed: "It's hopeless, this is what life is like, don't burden others! Put him down and keep walking. ”

After the middle-aged man heard this, he opened his mouth wide and began to howl silently. He held the child tightly in his arms, which became softer and softer, but the child just refused to let go.

At this time, the sounds of dogs barking and galloping horses were heard in the distant wilderness. After hearing this, the faces of everyone in the team suddenly changed: "What's wrong, run!"

As the sound approached quickly, everyone in the group immediately fled in all directions, leaving only the middle-aged man still holding the dying child, howling desperately and helplessly.

"who?"

The galloping horse quickly approached, and several knights came forward. One of them raised a torch, pointed at the middle-aged man and shouted a question, but received no answer. The middle-aged man's eyes were blank and helpless, and he was not even afraid of the approaching armored soldier with a sword. , just murmured in his mouth: "Anu, don't be afraid, Aye is coming..."

"It's a wandering food from the east. What's going on with this kid?"

Soldier Jia came in and took a closer look to see the identity of the father and son. He first said something to his companions, then approached the middle-aged man and saw the child in his arms. After a brief inspection, he said quickly: "This child accidentally ate a horse." "Diecao, who brought the ointment?"

As he was talking, the soldier came forward and took the child from the father's arms. After hearing this, the middle-aged man hurriedly hugged the soldier's calf and shouted: "Can my child be saved?"

Soldier A didn't have time to answer, so he took the ointment handed over by his companion, squeezed open the child's teeth and poured it into it. Then he took a water bag and poured it down with all his strength. He poured several water bags until the child's abdomen bulged high. Then he pointed at the child and said to the middle-aged man: "Keep it on your back and push it hard. If you vomit it out, your child will save his life!"

After the middle-aged man heard this, he immediately went crazy. He picked up his son's legs and ran across the wilderness.

While Jia Bing was treating the child, other people had already dispersed to search for and drive back the refugees who had fled earlier. After clearly identifying the styles of the Jia Bing's military uniforms, the refugees were not surprised, but instead smiled broadly: "It's Wei. Bing, it’s Wei Bing!”

The leader was more knowledgeable. After hearing the words, he waved his hands and said: "Don't talk nonsense, call Master Wang! I and other villagers must worship Master Wang and the King of Tang! Please save your life, General!"

Everyone also shouted along with the leader. It was not until the knights in the team started shouting and silencing that they all closed their mouths and turned to the leader to explain their origin: "A certain number of people are all from Qiyin Township, Ji County. The land in the countryside is enclosed into pastures, the men are drafted as laborers, and the women are used as soldiers. It is really hard to survive..."

At this time, the child who was being held on the middle-aged man's back started to vomit. When the middle-aged man heard that his son finally made some movement, he immediately ran even more cheerfully: "My son is alive, my son is alive. Alive again!"

The patrolling scouts had seen similar things happen more than once, and they handled them with ease. They quickly separated a group of soldiers and led the group of refugees to Qinshui Camp.

Although the two countries were previously bounded by Qinshui River, as time went by, the boundary between each other changed. Since the Northern Qi border defense became more conservative, the Wei army simply crossed the Qinshui River and camped along the Qinshui River. Some settlement sites were established on both sides of the Qinshui River to accommodate people coming from the opposite side.

Relatively speaking, the Western Wei's management of border areas was more organized than that of the Northern Qi. This is probably due to the fact that the situation in the Western Wei Dynasty was more calm, while the situation in the Northern Qi Dynasty was much more cramped.

Originally, the people's living conditions in Northern Qi were good, but as the front was pushed directly into Hebei, Northern Qi urgently needed to build a new line of defense in Yenan, and the people's living conditions in Hebei were naturally greatly damaged.

In Qishui and Baigou alone, tens of thousands of armored soldiers need to be deployed all year round. In order to facilitate the distribution and rest of soldiers, large and small military towns have also been set up in these places. The original farmland was destroyed, and even if it was not designated as pasture, it was given to the garrison of the military town.

Within the area, the property of the people in Hebei was robbed, and they themselves were reduced to slaves. Even their wives were taken away and rationed to Xianbei soldiers. Under such a severe border defense situation, the Xianbei soldiers are the reliable force that can truly defend the country. Even if the ordinary people groan, their voices are too weak, and they can only find other livelihoods.

The scene of the escape at the racecourse is a microcosm of the confrontation between the two sides in this area in recent years.