Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

The next day, a group of wounded soldiers in the battalion arrived in a festival town called Wuqi Town in the southwest of Luzhou City in the ox cart of the peasants. There were about 40 or 50 wounded soldiers in the army, and people kept dying on the road, so they had to dig a hole and bury them hastily. Most of the wounded can only be taken care of by civilian husbands. There is only one person in the army who is called a doctor. No matter what the medical skills are, he can't look down on so many people.

Towns are military strongholds at the county level, usually guarded by town generals and troops. But when Guo Shao came to Wuyun Town, he was immediately stunned by the sight in front of him. Is this a town?

There is a memorial archway on the Loess Road with the words Wuqi Town written on it. This is probably the building with the most traces of human civilization here. Behind the archway, the dilapidated and collapsed earthen wall has shown signs of weathering, and there are holes everywhere, so the simple city gate is just a decoration, not to mention there are no soldiers standing guard. From a distance, there are many low and dilapidated houses in the city, some of which are thatched huts, which are similar to shacks; it is said that it is a town, and it looks like a village.

Entering the town, all you see along the way are old and weak women, almost no young men, and disabled old men in ragged clothes come up to beg.

The person who came out to hand over the official documents was a fat man who claimed to be a town general named Li Desheng, but he didn't look like a military general at all. Li Desheng was forced to disperse the wounded soldiers in various houses, and forcibly ordered each wounded soldier to be provided with food and taken care of by ten families around him in turn.

Of course Guo Shao lived with Yang and Luo, and the other wounded soldiers also stayed with their acquaintances.

After settling down, I found out that Guo Shao and others felt that this place looked like a village. Besides the name of Wuyun Town, there was another name called "Widow Village". Because there are almost only a few types of people in Wuqi Town: old, weak, sick, and widows.

The states under the jurisdiction of the Jiedu of the Zhaoyi Army in Hedong have long been responsible for resisting the invasion from the Northern Han and Khitan, and they have always been a northern manpower barrier for the Central Plains Dynasty. There are frequent wars here, and there are many casualties. Some town soldiers died or became disabled, and the family members who relied on military pay lost their source of income, and the Luzhou Staff Office was unable to continue to support them; so those people were forcibly moved out of the military stronghold, and another place and some land were allocated for them to fend for themselves. Wuqi Town is one of such places.

Barren arable land, backward economy, rampant famine, banditry, and military disasters, most of the people who moved here did not have a strong labor force, and people lived very hard. Even so, the military government still did not miss the opportunity to pass on some burdens to these suffering people. One of the burdens was to raise wounded soldiers, and the military government did not transfer even a single grain.

There was a dilapidated thatched shack next to where Guo Shao lived, in which lived a lonely old woman who was blind and skinny, relying on the townspeople's handouts to hang her breath. Not long after I came here, I heard about her. Her husband and three sons died on the battlefield one after another. The daughter was captured by the Khitan people and thrown into the haystacks to humiliate her to death. Now the whole family is left with only this half-buried old woman.

It turns out that it is so painful to be alive. Guo Shao and the others could hear the old woman howling every day.

Luo Mengzi couldn't bear to see such tragic events, and often saved part of his rations for the blind old woman. Yang Biao, however, occasionally complained and cursed: "What are you doing alive? Once you close your eyes, nothing will happen. What's the point of being alive!"

But this guy is just a cheap talker, Guo Shao has known him for a long time and has never heard a good word; but Yang Biao's words are ugly, and he will throw away half of the pie. Guo Shao believes that a person's good or bad depends not on what he says, but on what he does.

...

The three of them got along day and night, and their relationship was better than when they were in Tokyo. After a while, they discussed calling them brothers.

Luo Mengzi suggested that Guo Shao be the eldest brother. Among the three, Guo Shao was the youngest, he immediately declined and said: "Brother Yang is many years older than me, how can you call my eldest brother like a man?"

Luo Mengzi couldn't tell the difference: "We were not born by the same parents, we only judge the size based on our ability, regardless of age! In the play, Liu Xuande is younger than Guan Gong, so he is also the eldest brother?"

Guo Shao pondered for a while, and glanced across Yang Biao's face with inadvertent eyes. Yang Biao said with a stern face: "Luo Er's words are rough and reasonable, we have to judge the size according to the merits."

"Brother Yang is really convinced?" Luo Mengzi said with a playful smile, "Brother was one level older than you in Tokyo. Brother Yang thinks that he is a man of great ability and can't let go of his face?"

This guy really didn't open the pot and carried the pot, Guo Yang didn't mention the past festivals long ago, Luo Mengzi was fine, he just opened his mouth and came.

Yang Biao snorted: "If Yang is a dissatisfied person, he won't call Big Brother on the knife holder's neck!"

After hearing this, Guo Shao still talked nonsense, saying too much is hypocritical, and immediately made a decisive decision: "Okay, then I will reluctantly be the elder brother. From now on, we will share the blessings and share the hardships."

"Big Brother!" "Big Brother!" "Second Brother, Third Brother!"

Guo Shao stretched out his palm and held it in the air. Yang Luo and Yang Luo looked at each other and stretched out their hand in doubt. Guo Shao clapped his hands vigorously: "I am for everyone, and everyone is for me!"

Luo Mengzi laughed for a while. Yang Biao still had no smile on his face, and he said after a while: "That day, the general surnamed Zhao made a special trip to the barracks to reward the elder brother, saying that he should be appointed as a commander." I’m afraid it’s not enough to rely on the two brothers’ help. I have an idea, there are forty or fifty wounded soldiers in Wujun Town, and there should be twenty or thirty who are able to recover from their wounds. These people have been disrupted.

Guo Shao nodded frequently when he heard it: "Second brother's words are reasonable, after all, he was a general in the capital, what he said is very pertinent."

Yang Biao continued: "We came from Gaoping, and all the wounded soldiers were in the same camp at that time. General Zhao had a loud voice that night, saying that you shot Zhang Yuanhui to death with one arrow, and the whole camp may have heard about it. The wounded soldiers didn't know us, but the elder brother could conquer the hearts of the people with this prestige alone."

Guo Shao thought for a while and said: "There is a list of officers and soldiers from Zuo You, the clerk and military doctor. Now if it is not in Zuo You's hands, it must be in the hands of the town general. Let's do two things first. First, get the list of military registrations, and second, get the support of the town general."

The three of them discussed it, and they will do it as soon as they say it, and they will split up immediately. Yang Biao went to find Zuo You, and Luo Mengzi helped Guo Shao to visit the town general Li Desheng.