Chapter 1: I'd rather be a dog of peace than a person in a troubled world
It was already late at night, but the lights in Ning'an City were brightly lit, with raging fires burning in several houses, and screams and wails echoed through the night sky. There were groups of men in iron clothes wandering around the streets.
Soldiers, laughing maniacally from time to time, chased the frightened civilians passing by under the firelight.
Only the north of the city was dark, simply because it was where the poor lived. And in the dirtiest and shabby corner of the slum, there was a thatched hut with a hole in the roof, and a seven or eight-year-old child in ragged clothes was guarding the shop floor.
Next to the shabby mat on the ground, I looked at the skinny old man in the tattered quilt, quietly wiping his tears. The dim moonlight shone on the old man's face, and it turned out to be a gray color!
After a while, the old man woke up leisurely. His cloudy eyes saw the child sitting next to him. He wanted to raise his hand and touch his hair, but found that he had no strength.
"Qing... cough cough, Qing Huan..." the old man called out angrily.
The child rushed to him and asked urgently: "Old man, are you feeling better?"
"Silly boy!" The old man looked at him reproachfully: "The city is in ruins, why haven't you left yet!"
"I, I..." The child murmured twice, but said stubbornly: "You are here, I am not going anywhere!"
"Confused! Confused!" The old man gasped angrily, a blush flashed across his face, and he suddenly became energetic and sat up. The child hurried over to help him, but he pushed him hard: "Quickly!
Let’s go! Why are you so disobedient, you bastard? I’m going to die soon, old man, so what do you care about what I do?”
The child's lips were pressed tightly, refusing to speak or leave.
The old man was helpless, knowing that it would be useless to say anything, so he might as well settle the funeral arrangements while he still had his last breath. He reached into his arms tremblingly and took out a book with yellowing paper: "Take...
Take it! This is the sacred book passed down from my ancestors, keep it."
The child took the book, but just stuffed it into his arms and said anxiously: "Old man, go to bed quickly! Don't talk too much, so as not to hurt your spirit."
The old man shook his head gently: "If you don't tell me, you will have no chance! You must put the book away. This sacred book was handed down by my Liu family ancestor. It is said that if you practice according to the book, you can live forever and become a god.
I wanted to wait until you grow up before giving it to you, but I didn’t expect it to happen so soon... Remember, don’t let outsiders see this book, otherwise it will lead to death! Take it and leave quickly, to Qingcheng!"
Seeing the child nodding, he sighed: "Come on, child, it was our fate that I picked you up in the ruined temple. I raised you for four years and gave you a chance to live. Then I became paralyzed.
When you were four years old, you started following a group of big beggar leaders to grab food every day. You also supported me for four years, and now you are sending me off to the end. You have repaid your kindness. From now on, we will go back to the bridge and go back to the road, ahem..."
The blush on his face dissipated quickly, his breath weakened rapidly, and he looked at the roof with broken eyes: "I think that when I was a young man in Liu Yuancheng, I was rich and noble, and I used to wear beautiful clothes and angry horses. Later, I spent all my wealth to seek immortality, and when I got old, I became a
Beggar. Hahaha, everything is fate..."
The sound gradually became fainter until everything became quiet.
The child stared blankly at his old face, which was stained with tears, but did not make a sound. The silent grief was even more heartbreaking.
After a while, a determined look appeared on the face of the child who gradually stopped crying. He knelt beside the old man, wrapped his skinny body in a quilt, dragged it to the corner with difficulty, brought some straw and covered it tightly, and then
He knelt down and took three "bang bang bang" noises, then stopped staying, turned around and walked out of the shabby hut, and the little figure disappeared into the night.
The child, named Liu Qinghuan, was abandoned since birth and was picked up by the old beggar Old Man Liu. He has been begging for life in the beggars' den of Ning'an City since he was a child. Now he is eight years old, but he is as thin as a six or seven-year-old child.
Now that Ning'an City has been captured by Chu Yue Kingdom, Old Man Liu is dead again. He has no worries here anymore and must escape from the city quickly.
He specializes in walking in dark places under the eaves. Since he has been begging in the streets since he was a child, he is very familiar with the roads and roads in Ning'an City, and has dodged oncoming soldiers several times.
Turning a corner, Liu Qinghuan listened alertly to the sounds around him, and was about to cross the street when he suddenly quickly retracted, hiding his small figure in the shadow of the corner.
Hearing the shrill cries of women and the excited roars of men from the other side of the street, Liu Qinghuan carefully poked his head out and saw the door of a wealthy family was ajar, and a panting soldier was about to open the door of a large house.
The yelling woman moved quickly against the door, and there were two soldiers beside her helping to hold the woman's white arms and thighs.
"Damn it, Zhao Laoer, hurry up! I haven't tasted our lady yet!" one of the soldiers urged with red eyes.
"Yes, you've been fucking for half a quarter of an hour, and you've almost killed this bitch, and you're not done yet!" Another soldier said dissatisfiedly.
Liu Qinghuan couldn't bear to watch any more. He could not protect himself, so he had to choose to stay out of sight. He walked around to another street and zigzagged through several alleys. As long as he turned the corner again, he would arrive at the city gate.
Just looking at the city gate, I was almost in despair!
I saw a large number of Chu Yue Kingdom soldiers guarding the city gate. It was impossible to escape!
Just when I didn't know what to do, I saw a large group of guards riding tall horses and eight or nine carriages appearing at the other end of the street.
"Who is it!" the soldiers at the city gate shouted, and they all pointed their spears at the approaching team.
The convoy walked unhurriedly to the gate of the city before stopping. A horse ran out of the escort, showed a wooden sign, and said loudly: "My master pays Qingshan for the master of the Taibai Mountain family, and Chen Hechen with your army."
The general is a close friend and we need to leave the city for urgent matters. Please let me go as soon as possible!"
The soldier guarding the city was depressed because he had been given the unprofitable gatekeeping task. When he saw the carriages in the opponent's cavalry, except for two that looked like they were occupied, the others were all filled with supplies.
He was so greedy that he almost drooled. He also weighed the strength of both sides. The other side only had thirty or forty soldiers at most, and he had nearly three hundred soldiers here, so he didn't even look at the wooden sign and shouted: "I
Regardless of whether you are from Taibai Mountain or Taiheishan, if you dare to use the name of General Chen, believe it or not, I will kill you immediately! If you want to go out of town, leave all the carriages and horses and leave!"
As soon as these words came out, the guard's expression changed and he said sternly: "Brother, I advise you to go and ask! General Chen is gathering troops outside the city right now. A trip won't take much time.
So as not to offend people who shouldn’t be offended!”
The soldier's eyes were rolling, and he really couldn't bear to look at those carriages. He thought that even if it was true, General Chen would have to blame him later. Then he would share some of the property he got with his subordinates, and everyone would have a fight together.
What else can you do if you refuse to admit your debt? Then he resorted to tyranny: "It seems that you are toasting instead of eating and being fined with wine. Brothers, you are cheating!"
"Crash!" Both parties showed their weapons at the same time, and the atmosphere became tense. A loud shout of "Go" was heard, and they started fighting together.
Liu Qinghuan watched intently. There were more soldiers on the side of the soldiers, but everyone on the Fu family side was very skilled. They were almost one against three, and the soldiers were defeated step by step.
In a blink of an eye, he found that only two or three of the guards who had been guarding the carriage were still paying attention to the battle ahead, and a carriage carrying goods was revealed.
His heart moved, he hesitated a little, then he lowered his body and approached the carriage without saying a word. Until he reached the rear of the carriage, no one noticed him, and he got under the car with a squeak and climbed under the carriage.
He only heard the commotion outside for another quarter of an hour, and then he heard someone shouting, "General Chen is here, please stop now!" The sound of swords and arrows gradually stopped, and someone was talking in a low voice, which he couldn't hear clearly even if he was too far away.
.After a while, the carriage started to move forward again.
It wasn't until he left the city gate that Liu Qinghuan breathed a sigh of relief and thought about finding a suitable time to leave the carriage. However, these carriages were surrounded by people, and he couldn't find a chance at all.
The motorcade drove straight for more than half an hour, then suddenly slowed down and gradually stopped. Liu Qinghuan felt happy when she suddenly heard someone knocking on the wall of the car and saying, "How long are you going to stay under the car?"
After the man finished speaking, he stood by the carriage and waited. After a while, a ragged boy, Qi Qi Aiai, got out from under the carriage and looked at him with bright black eyes.
"What are you looking at! Get out of here!" The big man glanced at him and shouted.
Liu Qinghuan, as if he had received an amnesty, bowed respectfully and ran away quickly, only to hear the rough laughter of a big man behind him.
After leaving the convoy, he found a big tree on the side of the road and climbed up it. It was mid-May and the weather was getting hotter and hotter. Even if he slept in the open air, he would not be afraid of catching cold, so Liu Qinghuan spent the night in a tree.
, didn’t get up and go on the road until it was dark the next day.
Because the city of Ning'an was destroyed, the road leading to Qingcheng was full of people fleeing. He blended into the crowd and followed them forward. When he was hungry, he would go to the fields to dig wild vegetables to eat. When he was thirsty, he would go to the mountain stream to drink water. The breeze in his sleeves would make him feel comfortable.
Helpless and helpless.
The Fu family brought a lot of things and seemed to have their female relatives in the car, so they couldn't run even if they had horses, so they were slowly moving forward with the refugee team on the road. The head of his family was a big man in a python robe, and he often
He was following the car on horseback, with a stern look on his face and a murderous air on his body.
Liu Qinghuan followed his motorcade all the way, but from time to time he would be kicked in the butt and joked by the big man who had spotted him before, but he was not annoyed.
Signs of severe drought have appeared this year. It was better to be close to Ning'an City before, because Ning'an City faces the Hengwu Mountains, which is surrounded by many mountains.
The drought was so severe that even wild vegetables were scarce. Moreover, more and more people were fleeing. In the small villages we met along the way, cracks as wide as a palm appeared in the ground, and nine out of ten houses were empty.
Fortunately, we can reach Qingcheng in a few days' walk. Qingcheng is a big city in Dayue Kingdom, and there are troops stationed all year round, so it should be safe to reach Qingcheng.
At the end of the day, the sun was shining down fiercely, causing a stinging sensation on the skin. The road to Qingcheng was dusty, and the refugees were all gray and tired. Their bodies were sweating like waterfalls, and their clothes were wet.
It gets dry again, gets wet again, and soon a layer of salt grains forms.
As the weather got hotter and hotter, the refugees changed the time of their journey. Now they set out at Yin o'clock every day and rested at the same time. They started on the road in the afternoon when the sun was no longer so strong, and the day's journey ended at Hai Hai.
At this time, everyone was hiding under trees or in the grass to take a nap. Liu Qinghuan was leaning on a dead tree to escape the heat. An old man with gray beard rested not far from him, and kept talking about something like "There is a severe drought in the world, and wars are happening. This
The world is going to be in chaos..." Hearing this, Liu Qinghuan was also upset and restless in sleep.
Suddenly hearing a whistling sound from the sky, he lazily raised his eyes, not wanting to see a strange picture.
I saw three figures appearing from the very far horizon, one in front and two behind, flying in the air like immortals, running towards the avenue like lightning, and from time to time, dazzling lights of various colors burst out between the three of them.
Liu Qinghuan was dazzled.
When the refugees underground noticed the movement in the sky, they all raised their necks to look. They were all dumbfounded. Even the one who was eating opened his mouth wide and forgot to chew.