As we all know, the 17-year-long disaster during the Chongzhen period began with the severe drought and famine in Shaanxi.
Although it is still March at the beginning of the year, Shaanxi has not seen rain for several months. Signs of a severe drought have already appeared, followed by rising prices and fluctuating human hearts.
Because of this, the scenes that Lin Zhongtian saw along the way were far more shocking than what he had seen on TV and in books.
To give the simplest example, during this month, Lin Zhongtian encountered countless thieves, robbers and bandits on the road, but the first time he personally killed someone, he killed 27 soldiers in a county town.
At that time, he passed by a village and saw two or three people sitting on the edge of a field to rest. He was about to go over to ask for directions when he suddenly heard someone shouting in panic, "Police and soldiers are suppressing the bandits."
The people who were sitting on the edge of the field to rest were suddenly frightened and fled in all directions.
Lin Zhongtian was a little confused at the time. Why would the people run away when the government soldiers were suppressing the bandits?
But the next second, he saw the soldiers who came rushing over caught a farmer who was running slowly and cut his neck with a knife.
Lin Zhongtian then realized that he had encountered a heinous crime of killing innocent people and taking credit for the crime.
Without any hesitation, the furious Lin Zhongtian rushed forward, grabbed the soldier's neck, twisted it hard and broke it, then picked up the long knife dropped by the other soldier and stabbed it into the chest of another soldier with his backhand.
Seeing that someone dared to resist, the officers and soldiers were not surprised but happy, and they surrounded them one after another.
Unfortunately, they underestimated Lin Zhongtian's strength, thinking that he was an ordinary martial arts master who could be strangled by encircling and killing with military formations. However, they never expected that the opponent's strength far exceeded their imagination.
In just a dozen seconds, Lin Zhongtian killed seven or eight soldiers as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.
Since he had no weapons, he would grab one from the officers and soldiers. When the weapon broke, he would simply use his right hand to kill the person.
Anyway, after being strengthened by so much gray fog, the bone spur on his right hand is already harder than gold and iron.
Seeing more and more of their companions falling, the officers and soldiers surrounding Lin Zhongtian finally realized that the man in front of them was someone they absolutely could not afford to offend, so they fled in fear.
But how could their speed be compared with Lin Zhongtian's, and they were caught up and killed by Lin Zhongtian one after another.
Only three officers and soldiers escaped in time because they were on horseback.
Lin Zhongtian did not dare to chase them, because he found that on the ridge outside the village, there were several ragged, hungry refugees staring at the bodies of the soldiers and farmers at his feet...
Seeing this scene, Lin Zhongtian couldn't help but tremble in his heart.
Even if he had invincible military force, he would not be able to deal with the absurd things happening before him.
After hesitating for a long time, Lin Zhongtian turned around and left.
He didn't want to care about what happened afterwards, and he didn't even dare to think about it.
After leaving this place, Lin Zhongtian was wanted by the government.
The escaping officers and soldiers saw his bony right hand and gave him the nickname "White Bone Demon Hand".
Of course, at this time, Lin Zhongtian was only wanted by the white world.
As for being hunted down by the underworld, the government, and both the black and white worlds, that is another matter.
At that time, Lin Zhongtian came to a county town. The powerful families in the county were quite prestigious in the vicinity, and the clan leader at the time was a well-known senior in the world.
This senior martial arts expert had heard of the name of the White Bone Demon Hand and threatened to host a banquet to entertain this new martial arts rookie.
Lin Zhongtian initially thought that this was a Hongmen Banquet set up by the other party and the government, so he ran to the banquet with great interest.
But who would have thought that this old martial arts master, who was known for his chivalry, actually wanted to make friends with this "evil head". As soon as they met, he called him brother, and it was obvious from his words that he wanted to recruit him under his command.
After being rejected by Lin Zhongtian, this senior in the martial arts world did not get angry. Instead, he changed the subject and wanted to ask him for a favor.
Lin Zhongtian asked curiously, and only then did he learn about the troubles of this senior in the martial arts world.
To put it simply, last year's harvest was poor, and the local gentry and landlords were already having difficulty collecting rent. Then suddenly a man appeared and called on fellow villagers from all over the country to rise up and resist rent.
The senior in the martial arts world recruited him because he wanted to use him to get rid of this person.
As long as Lin Zhongtian agreed to help, he would offer fifty taels of gold as a reward.
In addition, he also promised that he could spend money to help Lin Zhongtian use his connections to get the government to withdraw the arrest warrant against him.
Hearing this, Lin Zhongtian laughed, feeling that the world was really neither black nor white.
After pondering for a while, Lin Zhongtian agreed on the surface, then quietly sneaked up to the target and secretly investigated the target's intelligence. He found that the man was quite brave and chivalrous, a typical grassroots hero in the late dynasty. His world outlook leaned towards that of a chivalrous man, but he did things out of passion and without much brains.
Lin Zhongtian still has a good impression of such people.
Just when he was about to show up and make friends with them, he suddenly found that several strange men in black came to his room at night and had a secret conversation with him for the whole night.
Lin Zhongtian temporarily got a sparrow's body and flew to the windowsill to eavesdrop.
Only then did we learn that there was an organization behind this person, called the Tongmenghui.
At present, the Tongmenghui is recruiting volunteers from all over the country and plotting an uprising.
However, the purpose of their uprising was not to rebel, but to disrupt the court's attention and make it too busy to take care of itself. At the same time, they took this opportunity to recruit some available masters to go to the capital to rob the execution ground and rescue their boss.
Lin Zhongtian became interested and left quietly, wanting to go to the capital to meet the boss in the sky prison.
But on the second day after he left, a piece of news spread in the world.
It is said that Fu Qingyun, the White-Bone Demon Hand, was dissatisfied with Senior Liu's attitude at the banquet, so he acted in anger and slaughtered the entire Liu family.
In order to avenge his blood feud, the orphan of the Liu family who was a disciple of Jiange spent all his family wealth and hung a bonus of one thousand taels of gold in Xuanjin Pavilion.
Countless martial arts masters hunted down Lin Zhongtian, but no one could kill him. Instead, the name of Fu Qingyun, the White-Bone Demon Hand, became more and more famous.
Thinking of this, Lin Zhongtian couldn't help but snort.
If he guessed correctly, this news should have come from that alliance.
It might be them who massacred the entire Liu family, or it might be an uprising army conspired by them.
Lin Zhongtian was very dissatisfied with the Tongmenghui for framing him, but he was too lazy to go back and cause trouble for them. Anyway, these people would come to the capital to rob him soon.
As long as he stays in the capital, he can wait for the other party to take the bait.
By then, Lin Zhongtian will make another move and settle accounts with them...
As Lin Zhongtian thought this, he threw a few pieces of silver to the guards at the city gate.
The city gate guard saw that Lin Zhongtian was handsome, with fair skin, and his clothes and accessories were all very valuable. He treated the city guards with arrogance, as if he was treating his own servants. He thought that the other party was a nobleman from the capital, and did not even dare to ask a question. He welcomed him into the capital with flattery.
Entering the capital city and looking at the seemingly prosperous streets before him, Lin Zhongtian sighed softly.
He never imagined that he, a most wanted criminal wanted by the government, could walk into the capital so openly.
It seems that the Ming Dynasty is indeed on the verge of collapse...
Lin Zhongtian felt emotional, looked around, locked onto a teahouse and walked over.