Chen Ergou's home is actually not that far away from the east wall of Kaifeng City.
Counting some winding alleys, when all the distance is added together, the total is only a little over two miles.
However, during this short journey, at a time when there were originally few people around, he actually met many unexpected people.
In addition to Old Master Huang and Zhao Daguan, I met many other people before and after.
For example: In the horse market street of 'Taifeng Tower', which is famous for its high quality and low price, I and my wife also went to eat with the waiter of the wine shop several times.
Or called ‘Doctor’, Zhou Kun, a young man in his twenties.
It is said that this little brother is also a poor man. His parents died early and he is begging for food on the street.
Fortunately, he was later taken in by the old shopkeeper of "Taifeng Tower", and he had a source of food and clothing.
It is a pity that the "Taifeng Tower", which used to be filled with traffickers and lackeys every day, including merchants, has now been burned to ashes along with several nearby garment and medicinal shops.
The old shopkeeper and his wife were directly burned to death in it, but Zhou Kun was the only one who was lucky enough to survive.
Originally amidst Chen Ergou's speculation, little brother Zhou Kun was now in such a state of embarrassment that he didn't know.
After all, in the huge city of Kaifeng, there are no wine shops or restaurants anywhere. Even if he wants to find a job to make a living, he may not be able to find a place.
The result? Brother Zhou Kun appeared in front of him, wearing a short jacket that was a little white but obviously very clean.
After the two met, they didn't wait for Chen Ergou to speak.
There was already a bright and enthusiastic smile on the other party's face, and he took the initiative to say: "Brother Chen, I haven't seen you for a long time. He looks like he needs to pay more attention to his health. I wonder if he has eaten Chao?"
Good guy! Such a familiar greeting.
Chen Ergou almost fell into a trance, thinking that he had returned to the old days when he had plenty of money and took his wife to have a drink at Tai Feng Tower.
My eyes felt sore for some reason, and I felt like crying.
Chen Ergou met many people similar to Zhou Kun in the future.
There is old man Xie who carries a load of wontons every day and sells them in various streets and alleys; there is Ma Qianyi, who is studying in the Imperial College, and they are recognized as a young man who will have a big future.
There is also the shopkeeper of "Li Ji Soup Shop" and a waiter from "North and South Sauce Store" whose name I forgot.
As well as the theater troupe "Yunxing Troupe", three middle-aged musicians whom I have met many times but who also don't know what to call them.
In short, on such a cold morning, after almost a month, Chen Ergou met fifteen or six acquaintances like this.
They almost have the same things.
Clean, even if I didn’t put on some brand-new clothes, I was definitely washed very well. Also clean were my head, face, and hands, which had obviously been washed well.
Happy, to be more precise, it should be called relaxed. It's like letting go of a huge burden on your shoulders, and your whole person feels relaxed.
But what impressed Chen Ergou the most was their determination and freedom when they straightened their backs and strode forward.
Then, the bigger problem comes.
What happened to make them like this? Where do they plan to go and what do they do?
With such doubts, Chen Ergou came to the east wall. The spear that was originally lazily carried on his shoulders was now held in his hand.
He made it look like if any idle people wanted to climb the city wall, he would drive them down.
But in his heart, he was still wondering about everything he encountered in the morning; and such doubts did not last long before Chen Ergou understood.
But after I understood it, the impact I received was too great...
****
Just like the previous few days, after the golden soldiers outside the city had finished their meal, they took the lead in using a large number of stone cannons to greet Cubing Mountain.
It was as if a big stone was being used to flatten the top of this mountain.
After smashing for about two or three quarters of an hour, hundreds of archers started shooting at the top of the mountain.
Because there are many archers to replace them, they don't have to worry about the strength of their arms. When they keep opening their bows and shooting arrows, the dense arrows are like rain.
Under the suppression of such a rain of arrows, the Jin soldiers' infantry began to attack the mountain.
The difference is that the number of golden soldiers attacking the mountain today is much larger. Not to mention, everyone seems to be wearing a piece of armor, and even half of them are wearing iron armor.
It seems that those golden soldiers have become ruthless today.
In the following time, the battle between the two sides started.
After the golden soldiers rushed to the mountainside, the mountaintop seemed to be deserted, and there were those grandfathers and women who made men like them ashamed.
Suddenly, he appeared on the edge of the top of the mountain. With sharp arrows and stones in his hands, he kept greeting the golden soldiers who were attacking the mountain.
Suddenly, all the golden soldiers suffered heavy casualties, but they still moved forward desperately.
I have to say that these golden barbarians are really fierce.
Just when Chen Ergou was worried about the war in front of him, he saw this very heart-wrenching scene from the corner of his eye:
Including Old Master Huang, Zhao Daguanren, Zhou Kun, Old Man Xie, etc., there was a team of more than 30 people, more than 300 steps outside the city wall, walking towards Cubing Mountain.
At that time, Chen Ergou quickly stuck his head out of the wall and shouted:
"Old Master Huang, Mr. Zhao, please come back as soon as possible. If you want to have fun or go somewhere else, are you risking your life? Be careful of being killed by those Jin people as well."
The reason why I say this is that if only scattered people in the city go out of the city to pick up all kinds of firewood and get some wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger, those Jin people still don't care.
After all, the huge amount of firewood used for cooking in Kaifeng is staggering. If they were strictly prohibited from leaving the city, many people would starve to death.
But if anyone dared to approach their large or small military camps and checkpoints, they would be shot on the spot.
By the same token, when approaching a battlefield like Chubing Mountain, the Jin people would probably not show mercy.
But soon, Chen Ergou realized: No! These people didn't go to the wrong place, but planned to rush to Chubing Mountain to fight for golden dogs with those grandfathers.
Because facing the shouting in his mouth, a team of golden dog cavalry discovered them and already galloped towards them.
Not only did these people fail to turn around as Chen Ergou expected, they fled back to the city in panic.
Instead, they all spread their legs and ran wildly in the direction of the Chubing Mountain.
Can they, as a group, break through the blockade of the Jin soldiers and go up Chuibian Mountain to join the people on the mountain? With the experience of a civilian like Chen Ergou, he knew it was impossible.
This was also the case, and then scenes appeared that made Chen Ergou and everyone on the city wall feel heartbroken.
How can human legs outrun horse legs? Only the thirty or so people outside the city ran forty or fifty steps, and the cavalry rushing towards them were not far away from them.
When the bow and arrow in his hand opened and closed, nearly half of the people were hit by arrows in the blink of an eye. About ten people fell immediately, including two musicians from the "Yunxing Troupe" whom Chen Ergou knew.
The only remaining musician seemed to raise his hand to wipe away tears.
As the remaining people continued to stumble forward, they pulled out various weapons in their hands and faced these powerful opponents who had changed their minds after hearing about them.
After they ran for more than ten steps, the cavalry had already arrived.
Then, the two sides started a battle, or it should be called a massacre.
Old Master Huang, with his snow-white beard and hair swollen, faced a cavalryman who was charging towards him. When he thrust the long sword in his hand, he opened and closed his mouth and faintly shouted:
"Going to the battlefield bravely, Confucius called it benevolence, Mencius called it righteousness; holding the sword to defend the country, one is born to be a hero, and one dies to be a spirit, it is not very happy~"
The next second, the scribe's sword was so light in his hand that it had been polished all night.
After piercing a bit of flesh on the front of the war horse, it was immediately broken into two pieces; then Old Master Huang's thin body was knocked flying.
Shop waiter Zhou Kun raised the kitchen knife in his hand.
Then a mace hit Tian Ling Gai, causing his brains to splatter.
Old man Xie was wielding a pole that he had used for half his life, but before he could hit the opponent, he was hit in the chest by a spinning ax thrown towards him.
Everyone agrees that Brother Xie Qianyi may be able to enter the Hanlin Academy in the future and have a great future.
When he came up to him with a stick in his hand, he stumbled and fell to the ground. Before he could get up successfully, a war horse weighing a thousand weights trampled over his back even after he got on top of the knight.
On the spot, he was trampled until his muscles and bones were broken and he died.
Even if he is forty-two years old, he can still eat more than a kilogram of pork, a jar of wine, and many cooking cakes in one meal.
When killing a pig, one person held down a fat pig. The fat pig could not break free at all. When a golden soldier slashed at him with a long sword, Zhao Daguan instinctively raised his left arm to block it.
forward.
Moments later, the left arm was cut off.
But in the hands of the official Zhao, the butcher's knife that had killed countless fat pigs was stabbed into the lower abdomen of the golden soldier, and with a habit of stirring it up, the golden soldier screamed and fell off his horse.
This was also the only result achieved by more than thirty of them.
In just one encounter, Old Master Huang and others were all killed in battle; the one closest to Chubing Mountain was more than a mile away.
A mere thirty civilians actually wanted to kill Chubing Mountain? Such a result is a very normal and reasonable outcome.
The whole process seemed to have no supporting effect on Hu Biao and others.
However, is this really the case?
Later generations, there are unofficial records: On the thirteenth day of the first lunar month in the second year of Jingkang, a total of thirty-one volunteers from Kaifeng City rushed to the aid of Chubing Mountain but failed, and they were all killed on the spot.
Tens of thousands of people in the city cried bitterly. After crying, the people's hearts finally rose...
