"The hermit has his own clever plan." Fang Zhiyi grinned. His dry and cracked lips were sore from being scratched after not drinking water for a long time.
Under Fang Zhiyi's command, these 800 remnants of the army turned into bandits. They attacked the nearest county, where the city walls were low and the garrison was less than 100. Faced with hundreds of bandits with their faces covered, they quickly fled.
Instead of robbing the common people, Fang Zhiyi smashed down the door of the largest local landlord's house, and then robbed their grain in a swaggering manner. The landlord, whose surname was Huang, even tried to intimidate Fang Zhiyi by bringing out the names of his relatives who were officials in the court, but he only got a burst of laughter.
The imperial court? They were the rebels abandoned by the imperial court.
After getting the food, they crossed the mountains and ridges, bypassed the pass and entered the territory of Liangzhou from the steep ridge.
The soldier standing on the hillside watching the situation was shocked, and then ran back to report: "Captain, this is terrible, there are so many civilians down there."
"Oh?" Fang Zhiyi roughly understood in his heart that these people were fleeing famine.
"From now on, everything is under my command."
Wang Erxi carried his mother on his back and walked slowly forward with the crowd. All the edible things along the way had been eaten by the hungry people, even the tree bark had been gnawed clean.
They said that it would be great to go to Jizhou, where the fields were good and the food was plentiful. Of course, they had only heard about it, but at least it gave them something to look forward to.
But the road ahead seemed to be blocked. He wondered if he had encountered soldiers again. These soldiers were like bandits. They would not even let the victims go. A few days ago, Wang Erxi saw his neighbor Qi Wei being beaten by them because he was reluctant to pay the only one hundred yuan he had left. Later, Qi Wei died of his injuries. The villagers in his village then lent a hand and dug a hole to bury their neighbor.
But when he set out the next day, Wang Erxi discovered that the place where his neighbor's body was buried had been dug up and the body inside was missing. He could guess what had happened.
But he didn't want to think about it. In this situation, human life is cheaper than grass. At least grass only needs water to survive, but what about human life?
While Wang Erxi was thinking about random things, he suddenly smelled the aroma of steamed rice.
He shook his head vigorously, thinking that he was confused because of hunger. The mother on his shoulder was already barely breathing.
"Line up at the back!" someone in front shouted.
Wang Erxi looked up and saw someone in front of him holding a knife with a cold gleam. The whispers of the hungry people around him also reached his ears.
"Someone is putting food in front!"
"Really?"
Some people were very excited, but were afraid of those soldiers who looked very fierce.
Who are these soldiers? Could it be that the officials in the imperial court have finally realized the people's hardship and sent people to distribute food?
"Don't push! If anyone pushes me again, I'll kill you with my knife!"
The sound of swords being drawn out of their sheaths in unison finally calmed down these disaster victims who had been hungry for a long time.
After waiting for a while, Wang Erxi finally arrived. A group of soldiers wearing blood-stained armor were guarding a few simple earthen stoves. The pot on top of the stove was obviously filled with rice porridge, which was boiling up and down. A man in cloth clothes was holding a spoon in his hand and distributing rice porridge to the victims in front of him with a pleasant face.
Wang Erxi also got a bowl. Although the porridge was so clear that the bottom was visible, it was still food! He wanted to drink it immediately, but turned his head to look at his drowsy mother. He carefully walked to the side, put her down, blew on the still steaming porridge, and handed it to her mouth.
I am still young and I won’t starve to death if I skip a meal.
Suddenly someone patted his shoulder. Wang Erxi turned around, but was blinded by the sunlight. The man looked down at him with his back to the sun and handed him another bowl, which was also filled with porridge.
"Drink it. You'll have more strength if you're full."
Wang Erxi was a little dazed. The person in front of him seemed like a god.
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