Three Kingdoms

October.

Although the sun tried to recreate the splendor of summer, it was already out of its range. No matter how much I stretched my body, the temperature dropped unstoppably.

Liao Hua was holding a wooden stick and walking among the squirming crowds. He was surrounded by refugees from the Jingyu area, some from Runan and some from Jingbei. People were walking forward subconsciously like machines, numb, confused, and afraid. The anxious mood was mixed together, mixed with the roars of men, the screams of women, and the intermittent cries of children from time to time, lingering in the ears, intertwined with fatigue and hunger, like blunt needles, piercing Liao Hua. My head was buzzing and there was a dull pain.

Liao Hua's current appearance is not much different from that of these refugees.

Originally, Jingxiang and Yuzhou had always been considered a land of plenty, with large swamps, mountains, farmland, and mulberry forests for fishing, grazing, farming, and weaving. As long as you were not born a lazy person, you could live here. But since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, everything has changed.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion, haha.

"The world is in chaos, the market has become a ruin, the mother cannot protect her son, the wife has lost her husband, and she has to rely on the emperor to live in peace."

Liao Hua wanted to laugh when he thought of this.

Huangfu Song killed Zhang Liang, killed 30,000 Yellow Turbans in the battle formation, and threw 50,000 Yellow Turbans into the river. He defeated Zhang Bao again and killed nearly 100,000 prisoners...

Among these numbers, are all the real Yellow Turbans?

If they were not all Yellow Turbans, why did Huangfu Song feel at ease when he was killed, and why were there songs still sung?

Liao Hua was wrapped up in the Yellow Turban when he was young, so he knew that the Yellow Turban was actually more of a refugee, and more than half of them were old and weak, ordinary people who were wrapped up in war zones.

Do these people deserve to die? Isn't it ridiculous that the people of the Han Dynasty did not die at the hands of the rioting Yellow Turbans, but at the hands of the government and court troops?

Suddenly there was some commotion among the crowd, and some noisy voices came: "There is a checkpoint in front! There is a checkpoint in front! We want to arrest the civilian husband! Arrest the civilian husband!"

With a "coax" sound, the wandering crowd became even more confused.

The sound of the gong "ding-dang-dang" sounded, and the soldiers at the checkpoint roared: "General Pingdong is recruiting troops! General Pingdong is recruiting troops! If you are willing to work hard, you will have something to eat! If you have something to eat, steam it in large chunks Pancakes! Big steamed pancakes! If you work hard, you’ll get to eat them!”

"Bang bang! Steamed cakes! If you work hard, you will have something to eat! Folks! Governor Guo has been defeated, and now General Pingdong is in charge! Where can you flee to when you leave your hometown? Isn't it the same everywhere? You may not have a hometown. Good! General Pingdong is kind and recruits soldiers. As long as they are willing to work hard, they will have something to eat. If they go into battle and kill the enemy and take their heads, there will be rewards..."

"Come! Come! Great steamed cakes! Made of fine wheat flour! See, they are all yellow! They are yellow, not black! See clearly! They are delicious! One for each person who comes to sign up to join the army. ah!"

The crowd stood still.

The temptation of steamed cakes is amplified to the extreme when hungry.

After hesitating for a moment, some people took the initiative to move towards the checkpoint, and some people with their families also wanted to go, but they were held back by their wives and elderly people at home. After arguing, they hugged each other and started crying...

Joining the army means working for others, and the price of selling your life is a piece of steamed cake.

Of course, although it is difficult to say whether you will be full after entering, you may not necessarily die in a war. It is not strange for people to sell themselves in when they are desperate, and then find an opportunity to run away when they go to the battlefield.

But most people still looked at it calmly and cautiously. Generally speaking, refugees will cause rebellion and cause instability in public order, but this is not necessarily the case. Most of these people have been peaceful farmers and village households all their lives. Since childhood, they have never left the one-third of an acre of land near the village or county. After fleeing their hometown to avoid the war, most of them were afraid and frightened. People are afraid of strange places and a strange future. In fact, not many people know what the future will be like.

One night, the soldiers who came to arrest the civilian husband attacked the crowd, and Liao Hua escaped in a dark corner. These wolf-like soldiers killed hundreds of civilians and captured many young men. They looted property, killed everyone they saw, raped women among the refugees, and then escorted the captured young men away. …

The dispersed crowd slowly gathered together again after dawn and continued to move forward in confusion.

As for when it will end, most people don’t have an answer.

There are really old people who have seen the world a little bit, and they will only say the same thing over and over again: "When we get to the north, the court will arrange for me... I will... Yes, I will..."

Liao Hualeng looked at the busy checkpoints, shook his head, and continued to move forward. Maybe it was because Heluo was approaching and he was concerned about his face. Maybe General Pingdong wanted to restore some reputation. Maybe he didn't want the recruited soldiers to have too many rebellious emotions. Anyway, no matter what the reason was, this time, Cao Cao The soldiers did not arrest people when they came up, but used inducements and inducements, which were somewhat gentler.

This approach is naturally considered good.

Some people stayed, but most people still moved forward. After all, General Pingdong only recruited young people, not just cats and dogs.

In front of and to the left of Liao Hua, there was a young mother holding her child in her arms, walking staggeringly, looking at everything around her with vigilance and panic. The mother's face was sallow, her hair was disheveled, and she held her child tightly to her chest. The child also seemed very quiet, completely different from the other children around him who were always crying and asking for food.

Liao Hua sighed slightly.

That child is dead...

Been dead for two days.

The reason why the mother held on tightly was not only because she could not accept it emotionally, but also because all the dead children were cooked and eaten along the way.

There are also some young people. Maybe they weren't completely dead, but the hungry people couldn't wait any longer and even cut off the flesh from their thighs while they were still alive and threw them into the pot.

The dead old man was lucky enough to be able to keep his body intact, because no one had eaten it, so it was not only meatless, but also shriveled. The old man lying on the roadside was not breathing. Most of his relatives kneeling beside the body had despairing and dazed eyes. Then they stood up unsteadily and followed the flow of people without even shedding a single tear.

Humans, at this moment, are not much different from beasts.

Under such circumstances, all the principles of heaven and earth have lost their effectiveness, and no hope for the future can be seen. The only thing is the road in front of you, accompanied by hunger and bowel sounds in the belly, as well as fear and death. .

The chaotic team stretched on and on, with no beginning or end in sight, and no way to reach the edge. Compared with the land of the Han Dynasty in previous years, it was like a completely different world. Liao Hua sometimes raised his head in the team, thinking about the past few years and everything he had seen. Sometimes when he looked at the people fleeing, he seemed to feel that there was no special change, it was still the same. world, are the same people.

In the north, I heard that there is no war in the north? I heard there is a new Tianzheng in the north? I heard that under the rule of General Zhengxi, the output per mu was five stones? It is said that……

Maybe where will be a new world?

Liao Hua didn't know, but he wanted to take a look...

…………………………

Luoyang City.

The cold wind in late autumn is like a knife, cutting off all the yellow leaves on the trees, making them rustle.

Wei Xu hesitated and stood outside Lu Bu's office, not knowing whether he should go in or turn around and leave.

The Yang family seems to have stepped up its attack on Luoyang after the beginning of autumn, and continued to expand and consolidate the occupied area. However, most of the officials in Luoyang City originally followed Liu Xie, and the surrounding counties and towns were in Lu Bu and Naturally, Yang Biao trusts Yang Biao more, so during this period of time, it has become increasingly difficult to deal with Yang Biao's offensive.

After Yang Biao captured Gucheng, perhaps because the weather was approaching winter and it was inconvenient to continue the march, or because the food and grass supplies could not keep up, he postponed his march to the east, and Lu Bu was unable to counterattack here, so he once again There was a stalemate.

And almost anyone with a discerning eye could see that Lu Bu was at the end of his strength.

Although when Yang Biao's army was consolidating the defense of Gucheng, Lu Bu also led his troops to have several confrontations with Yang Biao's army in the wild, and won without exception, Lu Bu still acted in an orderly manner despite the defeat. Yang's army did not dare to pursue it deeply. In terms of defense, Lu Bu's army exposed more and more loopholes. In the end, it had to completely defend with Luoyang as the center, losing most of its strategic depth. .

Wei Xu had a feeling that it wasn't that Yang Biao couldn't capture Luoyang, but he just didn't want to lose too much, so he stood still and waited for the opportunity.

At the beginning, Lu Bu patrolled the surrounding areas every day, inspected the city defenses, and even led a small team of troops to strangle Yang Biao's scouts. However, as time went by, Lu Bu slowly reduced the frequency of patrols. In two days Once, three days, five days, and now, ten days have passed, and Wei Xu has not seen Lu Bu climbing the city wall.

Wei Xu had an idea, and he discussed it with Gao Shun, but Gao Shun was just a stone, smelly, hard, stuffy, and unable to fart.

Song Xian, Hou Cheng?

These two boys were originally sent by Wang Yun at that time. Although Wang Yun has passed away and the two of them have lost their footing, they are not trustworthy characters.

Looking for Chen Gong?

Wei Xu didn't believe Chen Gong either, and Wei Xu knew that Lu Bu didn't believe Chen Gong either, at least starting from that night.

"General Wei..." The guard in front of Lu Bu's mansion couldn't bear it anymore when he saw Wei Xu circling back and forth, and asked, "Are you going in or not?"

"..." Wei Xu stamped his feet, "Come in! I'm sorry to bother you."

But when Wei Xu actually saw Lu Bu, Wei Xu regretted it a little. Wei Xu did not expect that the decadent man in front of him was the once high-spirited Marquis Wen. He smelled of alcohol, had sunken eyes, disheveled hair, and wrinkled clothes. How was he any different from a beggar?

A beggar cannot afford to drink, but Lu Bu can still afford it?

"This...junhou, why does the monarch look like this!?" Wei Xu took a step forward and bowed down in front of Lu Bu, "Junhou, you can't drink anymore..."

Lu Bu frowned slightly, turning his head away as if he disliked the light brought by Wei Xu. "What's going on? The Yang family is attacking?"

"Uh...not yet..." Wei Xu was stunned for a moment and replied subconsciously.

"Since we haven't attacked yet..." Lu Bu waved his hand, "then sit down and have a drink..."

"this……"

Before Wei Xu could even think about it, a wine bowl was stuffed into his hand. Then Lu Bu easily hooked a huge wine jar with one hand and accurately poured eight percent of the wine into the bowl.

"Come on! Drink!"

Lu Bu poured himself a bowl, grunted, and finished it.

Wei Xu looked down at the wine bowl and was silent for a while, then picked it up and finished the drink. Perhaps it was the spicy drink that stimulated him, or perhaps the current situation was indeed imminent. Wei Xu finished the wine, put the bowl down, and mustered up the courage to say, "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, do you want to die here?"

Lu Bu's hand when pouring wine paused for a moment, then he smashed the wine bowl at Wei Xu and shouted, "How brave! How dare you speak nonsense! Is it bad to bully someone?"

The wine bowl hit Wei Xu on the head with a bang, breaking his forehead. The wine mixed with blood rolled down.

Lu Butu suddenly stood up, furious, like a lion waiting to devour others.

Wei Xu ignored the test and bowed his head and said: "If you offend the prince, your subordinates will die! If the prince wants to die, he should chase after him! He will not hesitate to die! But... but what will happen to the prince's family? !”

The muscles on Lu Bu's face were beating, and he stared at Wei Xu. After a while, he slowly sat down again, exhaled, and said hello: "Bring some water! Wipe General Wei's face... I'll also bring you a basin, it'll be warmer..."

The attendant quickly brought the water. Wei Xu thanked Lu Bu, and then wiped the wine stains and blood on his face. The wound was actually not big, just a broken skin, and it stopped quickly. This was nothing to Wei Xu who had been licking blood with a knife for a long time. .

Lu Bu covered his face with the steaming face towel and let the white smoke rise. After the heat dissipated, he rubbed it hard a few times until the skin turned red. Then he threw the face towel away and signaled the attendants to retreat. After that, he said to Wei Xu: "Let's talk, tell us whatever you think, listen..."

"Luoyang is already an isolated city..." Wei Xu lowered his head and said, "Now that we have entered the hub, it is not the fault of the king but the fault of Chen Gongtai! The king..."

"Stop!" Lu Bu suddenly shouted in a deep voice, "Who the hell taught you to say that?"

Wei Xu got stuck and raised his head to look at Lu Bu.

"You are the only one who can't read even half of the big characters, and you still want to imitate what others say?" Lu Bu said dissatisfied, "I ask who taught you to say that?"

"...Yes, it's Zhou Zifeng..." Wei Xu lowered his head and whispered.

"Zhou Zifeng?" Lu Bu frowned and muttered, "Call Zhou Zifeng to come... I didn't ask you to go, so just sit still!"