Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

To the south of the Juma River is the boundary of Dazhou, to the east there are important towns such as Xiongzhou and Bazhou; to the west is Yizhou. The south of Yizhou is Dingzhou... Shi Shuyuan is between Yizhou and Dingzhou.

The place name Shishuyuan is probably because many households in this place have the surname Shi. Shi Hu is an eighteen-year-old strong offspring in this village. He is the only seedling of this family. His parents have long wanted to start a family for him, and many matchmakers told him, but Shi Hu has always been unwilling; what he was thinking of was Erniang Xu from the same village.

After a while, I will find someone to propose marriage. Thinking in his heart, Shi Hu followed his father into his own courtyard through the courtyard gate. Both father and son are bricklayers. They washed their arms in the yard just after returning from helping others to build tiles in the morning. After a while his mother came out with water, and Shi Hu took out a bag of copper coins and said, "Mother, put it away for me. I'll collect enough money to buy a horse."

His|mother muttered a few words about the use of buying horses, and the cost of food, and then nagged that her son should start a family and so on.

Shi Hu smiled and said: "Mother is still worried that I can't find a wife? I want to find Xu Erniang!"

"Tomorrow, I'll ask your third aunt." His mother said a word.

Shi Hu hurriedly said: "Don't worry for a while, wait until I buy a horse!"

After finishing speaking, he looked at the large tile-roofed house newly built last year in the yard, and the low wall rammed with earth. He stood there without looking back and said, "We need to get some flowers and plants to plant behind the wall, and we need to plant two peach and plum trees in the yard. When spring comes, it will be full of flowers!"

Shi Hu wanted to make his home look better. After all, it was not easy to build this house. The family of three worked from dawn to dusk, not only farming, but also raising pigs, sheep, and chickens. Fortunately, after years of hard work and frugality, the Shi family is getting better and better.

Now he has a new house, stores grain in the warehouse, and hides copper coins in the cellar. After the sheep at home are sold, Shi Hu plans to buy some of the copper money he saved, and buy a horse... At that time, as a rich young man, under the praise of the villagers, he will put on new clothes, ride a tall horse, and go to marry the beautiful Xu Erniang.

Imaginings flashed in Shi Hu's mind, and he was so happy that he almost wanted to dance with his hands and feet, so he yelled loudly to the kitchen: "There is still a while to eat, I will go out and cut some grass to feed the sheep and come back."

As soon as I walked to the gate of the courtyard, I suddenly heard the sound of beating pots. Then I saw a group of people rushing to the road in the village, and the old man shouted: "The Khitan people are coming! Folks, hurry up and pack up your things and go!"

An old man from the same clan scolded: "Shihu, what are you doing standing still! Go and call your parents, get some food and clothes and leave right away. Everyone go west to the mountains, or go south to Dingzhou across the river."

"Qi... Khitan people?" Shi Hu was stunned, and stood there in a daze.

The old man said: "The Khitan people came here on horseback, if you don't hurry, you can't even run away!"

At this time, the father Shi in the wood shed and the women in the kitchen came out to have a look. The people outside kept shouting, "The Khitans are coming!" Everyone panicked, and the dogs in the village were barking everywhere. Not long after, someone from the uncle's family came over and asked Shi Hu's father and his family to go together. Everyone was chattering, saying that the Khitan people were extremely vicious, murdering, setting fire, looting|looting|looting and everything.

"Take out the sheep quickly...but what about my house and the food in the barn..." The woman cried anxiously.

"Why, why!" Shi Hu stared at his red eyes with anger.

He knew how long it would take to build up the new house, how much energy and sweat it would take; and the grain in the barn was intensively cultivated in the field, and he didn't pay much attention to serving his mother. The animals in the pen only grow up after being raised for several months. He has helped his parents with work since he was a child, something that the family has accumulated for many years. These things allow his family to live a stable life, to live like a human being, and to be praised by people from far and near. Originally, I was waiting for my family to be better in the future, to save more money and food, and to buy a few more pieces of land...

Shi Hu became more and more annoyed, and shouted: "I'm not going anywhere, and whoever enters my house, I'll hack the dog to death!"

Shihu was originally a strong man, and he could win occasional fights. Then he got angry and went into the firewood shed to find a firewood knife. Seeing this, his parents were terrified, and his relatives also persuaded him that the Khitan people came here in full strength, and there were so many of them, that if they tried their best, they would only die. His parents persuaded him and his relatives to leave first, and they watched at home, but Shi Hu refused to leave.

At this time, the chickens and dogs outside were in a panic. The old man of the Shi family said that his son was the most important person in the family, and he was impatient and afraid of causing trouble, so he found a rope, tied Shihu firmly, and let his uncle's donkey cart away.

...In the afternoon, there was indeed the sound of rumbling horseshoes outside. The old man Shi and the old woman bolted the doors and windows, took something to block them, and took a hatchet to hide at home.

Not long after, there was a "bang bang" knock on the door, followed by a loud "bang". The old man Shi was terrified, holding the hatchet tightly against the wall and staring at the door. Immediately, several big men in armor rushed in. They looked at the machete in Old Man Shi's hand, and started yelling. The one in front put the hammer on his shoulder. Suddenly, with a "whoosh", an arrow flew over and hit old man Shi between the eyebrows, and he fell down without even screaming.

The woman was taken aback for a moment, then burst into tears and threw herself on Old Man Shi's body. A big Khitan man came over, kicked her over, grabbed the woman by the arm and dragged her out, throwing her in the yard. On the dirt road outside, some foot soldiers with only a few pieces of iron on their bodies also rushed in, rushing into the house to look around.

The woman lay on the ground, not wanting to move, watching helplessly as a group of people took away the pigs and sheep in the pen, and some people came out with sacks of grain on their shoulders. Later, someone threw a torch into the firewood room, and the firewood burned, and soon it spread like a brick-roofed house, and the whole house gradually ignited a raging fire.

... Shihu was on his way to the West Mountain, but the next day he broke free from his bondage and came back along the main road. Before he got there, he saw thick smoke filling the village. He hurried home, only to see that there were still a few blackened earthen walls, still smoking inside, and nothing was there... Shihu suddenly felt cold hands and feet, sad and angry. He rushed into the yard and saw his mother still curled up on the ground, so he hurried over to help her up.

Seeing Shi Hu, the woman said with red eyes: "Your father is dead, dead... What are you doing back here, run away."

Shi Hu cried loudly, helped his mother to lean against the wall, hurriedly took a wooden pole, ran to the ruins to search, and finally found a burnt black corpse in the black ash. He dragged the corpse out of the ruins, sat down on the ground, and cried loudly.

After crying for a while, he remembered another person, and ran out of the yard with the wooden pole. I ran to Xu's house to have a look, heard a cry inside, and walked in, and saw that the courtyard was in a mess, with all kinds of sundries thrown everywhere, but the house hadn't been burned down yet. A dead body was parked on the door panel, and an old woman was crying so loudly that her eyes were swollen from crying. Shi Hu stepped forward and saw that the dead man was a younger brother, Xu Erniang's younger brother. He hurriedly asked: "Auntie, Erniang has escaped?"

The old woman, still crying, pointed her finger.

Shihu looked in the direction and saw that it was a grass shed. He walked over and saw that there were some broken women's clothes inside, and there were bloodstains on the grass. His mind buzzed, he clenched his fist and slammed it on his forehead, turned around and came out choked up, "Where's the person?"

The old woman said: "It was snatched away..."

Shi Hu was filled with grief and anger, he picked up the wooden pole and rushed out, surrounded by ruins, it took him a while to wake up, looking for someone to vent out the shame in his heart? What if we found the Khitan people?

...

On the city wall of Yizhou, Jiedu Envoy Sun Xingyou, who was in heavy armor and fully armed, stood there with a livid face, and a robed official next to him was talking: "The Liao army is burning, killing, looting|plundering our territory, and Jiedu is watching like this?"

The general said angrily: "This time the Liao people invaded the valley not only to attack Caogu, but at least tens of thousands of riders! I don't wait to defend Yizhou City first. If the city is broken, will you have good fruit to eat?"

Another human said: "Hurry up and go to Xiong and Ba Ercheng for help."

Sun Xingyou raised his head and took a deep breath, then turned his head and said, "It's useless. The Liao people's army invaded the bandits, and the cities were mainly defending the town. There were no troops to fight against the large Liao army. Besides, who will lead the army? I have dispatched 800 miles to rush to report this matter to the imperial court. Everything is waiting for your Majesty's order."

He said coldly: "Now you will stay up all night, patrol the city defenses of various gates, arrest|arrest spies, and be careful to prevent the Liao army from seizing the city!"

All the generals clasped their fists together and said, "Here."

Sun Xingyou looked up and saw a large blue flag fluttering in the wind, with two words on it: Da Zhou.

Suddenly heard a burst of singing, Sun Xingyou followed the sound, and saw that it was the soldiers who were resting by the inner wall of the city singing, and gradually many people also sang along, "Warriors of the Great Zhou Dynasty, restore our rivers and mountains. Blood will not be shed, death will not stop..."

Sun Xingyou and the surrounding generals and officials did not say a word.

At this time, I suddenly saw a group of people with long poles coming from the post road under the city. There were no pedestrians around, just a crowd of people. Sun Xingyou and the others watched vigilantly. After waiting for a long time, the group of twenty or thirty people walked to the bottom of the city, raised their heads and shouted.

A general in the city shouted loudly: "Who is here?"

The next young man said: "Let's join the army!"

The people in the city murmured: "Could it be that the Khitan people bought spies who came to join the army at this time?"

The general who shouted loudly said again: "Where is the person, what is his name?"

The young man replied: "People from Shishuyuan, their family members were killed by Khitan people, and we joined the army to avenge..."

The general said: "Now the whole city is under martial law, you can't go in or out. You can come back in a few days."

The group of people didn't respond, but they stayed behind the city. A few arrows were shot from the city quickly, and they retreated a distance. The person who shouted to the city just now was Shi Hu, and Shi Hu was at a loss when he saw this; another young man said: "The Khitan people are in Yizhou, the generals in this city dare not come out, they must be cowards! I heard that the emperor who just ascended the throne in Tokyo was the one who killed tens of thousands of Liao riders in Zhuozhou that year. Why don't we go to Tokyo and join the Imperial Army!"

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