The arrival of Deng Yu and Gai Yan made Liu Xiu's team stronger.
On the same day, they left Huaicheng and continued to march northeast. They passed Xiuwu first and then Chaoge. The journey was peaceful, and they were welcomed and entertained by local officials wherever they passed.
After passing Chaoge, we left the boundary of Sili and officially entered Wei County in Jizhou.
Liu Xiu had two important destinations in Jizhou, one was Handan and the other was Zhending. Handan was the capital of Zhao Guojun, and the most powerful person in Zhao Guojun was undoubtedly King Mu of Zhao Liu Yuan.
Liu Yuan and Liu Xiu are both descendants of the Liu family. If Liu Xiu can get Liu Yuan's support, it will greatly help him make a comeback in Hebei.
As for Zhending, it is the capital of the Zhending Kingdom, and the Zhending Kingdom has hundreds of thousands of troops. The most powerful person in the Zhending Kingdom is naturally the Zhending King Liu Yang.
If Liu Yang's support can be obtained, it will be of greater help to Liu Xiu.
Of course, it would be even better if he could get the support of King Zhao Mu Liu Yuan, King Zhending Liu Yang, and even King Liu Jia of Guangyang at the same time.
I should mention here by the way that King Mu of Zhao, Liu Yuan, and Liu Xiu's deceased second sister, Liu Yuan, happened to have the same name.
And Liu Jia, the king of Guangyang, also had the same name as Liu Jia, who followed Liu Yan in Nanyang. Among the three kings of Hebei, the weaker one was Liu Jia, the king of Guangyang.
Back then, Wang Mang usurped the throne and suppressed the Liu clan all over the world. The Liu clan in Nanyang, Runan and other places suffered, and the Liu clan here in Hebei was naturally not immune.
However, at that time, King Zhao Mu and King Zhending had already established their own troops, were strong, and had deep-rooted influence in Hebei. Both of them were inferior to Wang Mang, and Wang Mang indeed did not dare to attack King Zhao Mu and King Zhending easily.
Only the weakest King of Guangyang, under the pressure of Wang Mang, was not only demoted from prince to marquis, but also changed his surname from Liu to Wang.
Liu Jia, the king of Guangyang, was ridiculed for this. For a period of time, Liu Jia and his family were too embarrassed to leave the house.
Later, the Xinmang imperial court gradually declined, and uprising armies broke out all over the place, especially in Hebei, which became the hardest hit area. The Red Eyebrow Army, the Bronze Horse Army, the Green Calf Army, the Youlai Army, the Datong Army, the Five Schools Army, etc. Wait, the rebel armies, large and small, were like bamboo shoots after rain, and their number quickly reached millions.
It was precisely at this time that Liu Jia, who had been stripped of his title by Wang Mang and changed his surname, took the courage to quietly restore his surname Liu at the suggestion of his son Liu Jie.
Then after some time, seeing that Wang Mang did not settle the score with him, he restored the title of King of Guangyang himself.
At that time, Wang Mang was already troubled by the Red Eyebrow Army and the uprising armies from various places. How could he care about Liu Jia here in Hebei?
Liu Jia, who restored the surname Liu and the title of prince, did not have much real power in his hands. His temperament was too weak and it was difficult to convince the public. The real power of King Guangyang was basically taken over by Liu Jia's son Liu.
Liu Jie is much stronger than Liu Jia, not that he is very capable, but he is courageous, daring to fight and do things, and he is the kind of person who can risk his life.
In troubled times, the soft are afraid of the hard, and the hard are afraid of risking their lives. People like Liu Jie who dare to risk their lives can take advantage of it. The King of Guangyang has soldiers and horses, which are basically built up by Liu Jie.
Let's talk about Liu Xiu and his party, after entering Jizhou, they obviously felt the difference from the Sili area.
The places they passed were either barren mountains or large areas of abandoned farmland. Along the way, they walked for dozens of miles, but they didn't see a single person.
To be precise, they didn't see a single living person, but they could see human skeletons on the roadside from time to time.
Zhu You looked at the farmland covered with weeds on the side of the road and couldn't help but sigh and said: "It's a pity that so many crops have been abandoned!"
Wang Ba felt distressed when he saw it, and said with a wry smile: "The common people have risen up in rebellion, who is still staying at home to farm?!"
If no one cultivates the land, there will be no food to eat. Without food to eat, people will go hungry. Nothing is scary, only hunger is the most scary thing.
Once people are hungry, they can only rob. But when everyone rebels and there is no food to eat, who will they rob? This is a vicious cycle.
From the abandoned crops seen along the way, it is not difficult to imagine how difficult the lives of the people in Hebei are.
Liu Xiu said quietly: "Hebei has a lot of fertile fields. In the past, there were constant natural disasters, and famines were excusable. But now there are no natural disasters, but Hebei is still full of hunger and death. This is only caused by man-made disasters."
How many people are there in the whole world, and how many people are there in the whole of Hebei? But here in Hebei, there are millions of rebels, large and small. People have all gone to rebel. Who can still farm at home with peace of mind?
Under such circumstances, it would be strange if there was no famine!
Deng Yu sighed and said helplessly: "This is beyond our power to change."
"Not necessarily." Liu Xiu said meaningfully: "If someone can unify all the forces in Hebei and form a whole, Hebei's dilemma can be easily solved."
Deng Yu's eyes suddenly lit up, he cupped his hands and said with a smile: "I'll see you soon, my lord!"
As they were walking forward, a village appeared in front of them. Zhu You stretched his neck, raised his eyes, looked up, and said with a smile: "My lord, there is a village ahead. This time they have a place to rest!"
They left Chaoge in the morning and entered Jizhou. It was already evening, and this was the first village they saw along the way.
Liu Xiu reminded everyone: "Everyone should be careful and be on guard against changes."
After entering Jizhou, Liu Xiu was no longer as relaxed as he was in Sili, and his whole heart was lifted.
After hearing Liu Xiu's reminder, the joy on everyone's faces disappeared. They all subconsciously held the swords under their ribs, rode their horses, and walked step by step towards the village ahead.
As a group of them approached the entrance of the village, they saw a group of children in rags and rags playing around. Just as Zhu You was about to urge his horse forward, the children also saw them. As if they were frightened, the children swarmed He seemed to run into the village.
Zhu You grinned, tsked twice, turned around and said to Liu Xiu: "My lord, I guess these little kids in the village have never seen the world and are frightened by us."
Wang Ba added: "Maybe he thinks they are evil people!"
Zhu You patted his big belly and muttered dissatisfiedly: "Whoever mistakes me for a villain is really blind."
Liu Xiu almost laughed angrily, and Zhu You, who had a pale face, looked at him and urged his horse to walk towards the village.
There were people in the village, but there were no adult men or women in sight. They were all elderly people. When they saw a group of people on horseback and swords coming in from outside the village, the old people went back to their homes without saying a word, and the courtyard doors were closed.
In an instant, no one could be found on the road in the village. This situation made Liu Xiu and others speechless. They didn't look ferocious. As for scaring the villagers like this? ?
Liu Xiu and others looked at each other and walked forward along the dirt road of the village. It didn't take long, and they almost passed through the entire village, but still couldn't see anyone.
Just at this moment, Zhu You's sharp eyes spotted a person, who opened the courtyard door to a crack and peered through the door to look at them.
Zhu You urged his horse to run forward, and before the other party could close the door, he quickly dismounted, stretched his feet forward, and pressed against the gap in the hospital door, making it impossible to close the door. Then, he pushed the door panel hard, and a sound came from inside. He exclaimed, and the door opened in response.
I saw a person sitting inside the courtyard gate. The clothes on his body were so dirty that I couldn't tell what color they were. His hair had not been washed for an unknown period of time and was almost clumped into a ball. His face was as black as the bottom of a pot. However, it can still be barely seen that this is a young man who is not very old, he is only eighteen or nineteen years old at most.
At this time, Liu Xiuye had dismounted. He walked into the yard, approached the young man, pulled him up from the ground, and said with a smile: "Brother, don't be afraid, we are just passing by here, there is no harm."
The young man still had a frightened look on his face. He looked at Liu Xiu and then at the others, his body trembling constantly. When Liu Xiu saw this, he turned back and glared at Zhu You, who shrugged at him, saying that he could He didn't hit him.
Liu Xiu asked: "What's your name?"
"The little one...the little one's name is Deng Xiang."
"What's the name of this village?"
"Dengcun."
Dengcun! Liu Xiu and others looked at each other. They had a map of Hebei in their hands, but the map was very rough and general. There was no place like Dengcun on it.
Liu Xiu asked: "Brother, do you know how far it is from Yecheng?"
"Yecheng?" the young man stammered, "Then... that's a county town. It's far... far away from our Deng Village!"
Liu Xiuxiao asked: "It sounds like you have been to Yecheng before?"
The young man said cautiously: "I went there once a long time ago."
Liu Xiu nodded and looked inside.
There was nothing growing in the yard, and there were a lot of weeds growing on the ground. Looking at the earthen house inside, the door was wide open, and there was no sign of anyone inside. Liu Xiu asked, "Deng Xiang, what else do you have at home?" people?"
The young man named Deng Xiang shook his head, lowered his head and said, "They are all dead, and I am the only one left."
Liu Xiu pointed to the earthen house inside and said with a smile: "If it is convenient, we plan to stay at your house tonight."
Afraid that the Youth Club would object, Zhu You quickly added: "We will give you money!" As he spoke, he took out a bulging money bag from his arms and waved it to the young man. A crisp sound of crashing.
Jizhou is a place where people are not familiar with the place and is in chaos. It would be really uneasy for them to sleep in the wilderness.
The young man's originally lifeless eyes suddenly flashed with brilliance after Zhu You took out his money bag.
He glanced at the money bag in Zhu You's hand several times, swallowed, and said, "You can live here, but I don't have any extra food to share with you."
"As long as you have a place to live, that's all!" Zhu You secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile.
"Then...okay!" The young man looked reluctant, but his eyes kept glancing at the money bag in Zhu You's hand.
Liu Xiuyou noticed his inadvertent movements and frowned secretly, feeling that the young man in front of him was not as simple as ordinary villagers.
When Xu Xiling, Xi Cheying, Shi Luo and other female family members got out of the carriage and entered the yard, the young man beside him opened his mouth unconsciously, and his jaw almost dropped.
In all his life, he has never seen such a beautiful woman, and there are so many of them at once.