Three hundred and sixty second chapter who is the boss
Zhong Jinwei didn't say anything, and just let his horse move forward slowly.
In his mind, he originally thought that the peasant army had no choice but to rebel, so most of the peasant army should focus on pacifying them, pardoning them, and giving them a chance to survive.
As for those leaders of the peasant army who lead the rebellion, they must be resolutely punished and killed to serve as a warning to others, lest they rise up in rebellion and endanger society at the slightest dissatisfaction.
But Zhong Jinwei saw the shabby appearance of the peasant army at the Yellow River ferry. It didn't look like an army at all. It was just like refugees with weapons. He felt a trace of intolerance in his heart, but he didn't want to let them go.
No, I just couldn't figure out how to deal with it at the moment, so I kept carrying it with me.
Such a conversation today gave Zhong Jinwei a great shock. Just imagine if I were in their situation, if I couldn't plan ahead and escape from the disaster area, then the remaining path would definitely be the same as theirs, because I would definitely not wait.
Dead personality.
While Zhong Jinwei was thinking about it, Xie Dong, a member of Qianhu of Jinyiwei, came up to him and said, "Master Marquis, what they said is only one side of the story. Master Marquis cannot believe it all."
Zhong Jinwei turned his head, glanced at him, turned back again, and said lightly: "I know what's going on."
In fact, in his heart, he believed it ** points. The expressions and demeanor of these peasant army leaders when they spoke basically did not seem to be fake, otherwise their acting skills would be very high.
Zhong Jinwei's mood was not very high due to the impact just now. He didn't speak, and no one else in the team dared to speak, so he walked on silently.
Not long after, the team left the banks of the Yellow River and began to enter the hinterland of Shaanxi. To be precise, it had left the influence of the Yellow River waters.
The farther you get from the Yellow River, the more alarming the drought becomes.
It is now the beginning of April. According to Zhong Jinwei's impression, it should be the season when everything is revived and green.
But within his field of vision, there were only very few green embellishments. There were almost no pedestrians on the official road, and he didn't even see a few birds flying in the air.
The fields on both sides of the official road have been deserted for many years, and the dead grass has grown very high. It can be seen at a glance that no one has taken care of the farmland for a long time, and it has become like this.
Zhong Jinwei looked uncomfortable. There were more and more signs proving that what the leaders of the peasant army said was probably true.
At this time, Hu Hao stepped forward and cupped his fists: "Master Hou, are you going to the front?"
Although the peasant rebel army has been destroyed, who knows if there are other peasant armies in this plane. So Zhong Jinwei nodded and said: "Be careful and go."
"Thank you, Lord Marquis." Hu Hao agreed, and then led his Ye Bushou brothers to cross the team and gallop forward, leaving a trail of dust flying.
Finally, Zhong Jinwei saw some sparse trees in front of him. As he got closer, he saw that the twigs and buds of these trees were gone. It was obvious that they had been broken off by someone. The bark was also missing.
Halfway through, he asked: "What kind of tree is this? Is it an elm tree?"
Gu Baichuan and others didn't recognize it, so they could only shake their heads. But Li Laosi said: "This is not an elm tree, but a locust tree."
"Oh." Zhong Jinwei agreed, said nothing more, and continued to move forward.
However, he was thinking that according to what the man said, some people have eaten this unpalatable bark. I am afraid that the situation will get worse going forward.
As expected, the further you go, the more barkless trees there are. A gust of wind blows through the branches, as if a person who has been stripped of his clothes is shivering.
After Zhong Jinwei and others walked for a while, they saw a small village not far away.
One night, I stayed at the entrance of the village. When I saw the army approaching, I rode back and reported to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Marquis, this village is empty. It seems that there was no one there a long time ago."
"Where are the people, all dead?" Zhong Jinwei was a little surprised. Looking at the houses in this village, they didn't seem to be very poor. Ye Bushou said that there were no people there a long time ago, so it couldn't be that the peasant army passed by and abducted them.
Ye Bushou couldn't answer, so he had to shake his head.
Gu Baichuan looked at the village in the distance and guessed: "Maybe they ran away because they couldn't pay the taxes, or maybe they went to nearby Shanxi to make a living."
There were only these two possibilities, Zhong Jinwei thought. He was not interested in going over to take a look, so he continued walking along the official road.
Not long after, he rode back again after staying up all night. When he saw Zhong Jinwei, he reported: "Master Marquis, there is a small town about fifteen miles ahead where the army can stay."
Zhong Jinwei no longer led a large army. In the Battle of the Yellow River Ferry, one hundred white pole cavalry troops and eight hundred Datong troops escorted prisoners to Zhangjiakou, so the team was reduced by half.
Now there are only 700 white pole cavalry and nearly 100 Zhong Jin guards. As for the caravan, there is no need to include it. You can take care of the food and drink yourself.
Just when Zhong Jinwei wanted to understand the local situation, he ordered Ma Xianglin: "Send the order to speed up and go to the city in front to rest and have a meal."
The order was immediately passed down, including the caravan, and everyone began to speed up.
Just doing this made the four children behind the caravan suffer.
I don’t know when they followed the caravan, they were just four kids around ten years old. The people in the caravan didn’t pay attention to them, thinking that they saw the caravan and wanted something to eat.
As soon as the caravan sped up, the four children were slowly left behind. One child in particular seemed to be lame and limping, and fell to the end.
The child walking in front was the tallest, like the leader of the four children. He looked at the lame child behind, and then at the caravan that was getting further and further away, and stamped his feet anxiously.
He stamped his feet and said, "Dingguo, throw away the knife, otherwise you won't be able to catch up."
"No, how could we save our adoptive father without a knife?" Li Dingguo refused. He was still small after all, and the knife had no place to hide, so it was stuck in his trouser leg, so that when he walked, he could not bend his leg.
It became like walking with a limp.
"You are so stupid that you can't catch up, so what's the point of having a knife?" Sun Kewang wished he could knock Li Dingguo's elm head a few times to make him understand.
"You chase him first, I will catch up slowly." Li Dingguo still didn't want to give up the knife, because this knife was what he relied on to save his adoptive father.
The fourth child, Ai Nengqi, also advised: "Second brother, it's better to lose it. Even if you have a sword, you can't beat those soldiers."
"No, a knife can at least cut the rope that binds my adoptive father." Li Dingguo was a bit stubborn and still disagreed.
Liu Wenxiu, the third oldest brother, did not try to persuade Li Dingguo. He hesitated and said, "Second brother, how about I accompany you? Eldest brother and fourth brother will catch up first."
When Sun Kewang heard this, he said to Ai Nengqi: "Let's go, let's chase him."
He ran for a few steps, then suddenly stopped, turned around and said, "My foster father asked me to take care of you. If I leave you behind, my foster father will scold me if I turn back."
So the four children hurried on together, but as this happened, the caravan slowly moved away.
Li Dingguo looked at the back of the caravan and became anxious. Suddenly, he saw a stone on the roadside, a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and he stopped.
Sun Kewang immediately noticed Li Dingguo's actions, frowned and said: "Dingguo, what do you want to do? I'll obey you if you want to keep the knife, but why don't you leave now? What on earth are you going to do? Now it's become
You are the eldest brother, you can do whatever you want, and we will all be with you!"
"Brother, no, I have an idea." After Li Dingguo finished speaking, he took out the knife from his trouser leg with some difficulty, and then ran to the roadside.
When the other three children heard this, they all followed him, not knowing what Li Dingguo wanted to do.
Li Dingguo ran to the side of the road, picked up the stone, found an uneven spot, leveled the knife, and struck it hard with the stone at the right place, breaking the tip of the knife into two pieces.
Li Dingguo picked up the tip of the knife, held it in his hand and said, "Fourth brother is right, even a knife cannot defeat those officers and soldiers. I can use this to cut the rope."
After saying that, Li Dingguo lifted up his clothes, lowered his head and inserted the broken tip of the knife into the waistband of his back, put the clothes back, then raised his head and looked at his sworn brothers, and laughed.
When Liu Wenxiu saw him, he smiled and said, "Second brother is so smart."
"You're so smart, he's the one who delayed us for so long. Let's go and chase him." Sun Kewang cursed, then took the lead and turned around and chased forward.
The three children behind also spread their legs and followed Sun Kewang, chasing the army, ready to wait for an opportunity to save their adoptive father.