Deng Xiang's home can be said to be bare-walled. Not to mention there is no floor on the ground, there is not even the most basic mat. When you enter his home, you can't find a place to sit.
Fortunately, Deng Xiang's house still had hay for the fire. Long Yuan and others brought the hay in and spread it on the ground, and everyone sat down one after another.
Perhaps it was money that made the world go round, or perhaps it was because Xu Xiling and other women were too beautiful. Deng Xiang's attitude became much more enthusiastic and he said, "Shall I boil some water for you?"
He turned around and was about to go out when Liu Xiu raised his hand to stop him and said with a smile: "No need to bother." As he spoke, he looked at Long Yuan, Xu Ting and others, and raised his head to them.
Long Yuan, Xu Ting and others understood, turned around and walked out. Some people went to fetch water, and some went to light firewood. Long Yuan and the others started working quickly and in an orderly manner.
It didn't take long, and a pot of water was boiled. The water was filled with a clay pot, and the spout was half broken, but it was better than nothing. Long Yuan poured the hot water into a wooden basin, brought it into the house, and asked Liu Xiu and others to wash their hands. .
Afterwards, Xu Ting took the tea sets they had brought with them, made tea and brought it to the room. Liu Xiu and others sat on the hay, drinking tea and eating dry food.
Zhu You looked at Deng Xiang who was standing aside, took out a piece of dry food, handed it to him, and said, "Little brother, you can eat a piece too!"
"Isn't this...isn't this good?" Deng Xiang swallowed his saliva and stretched out his skinny hands like chicken claws as he spoke.
Looking at Deng Xiang who was holding dry food in both hands and devouring it, Zhu You smiled and said: "Little brother, eat slowly!"
It would have been better if he didn't say anything. As soon as he opened his mouth, Deng Xiang stuffed the remaining large piece of dry food into his mouth, choking and rolling his eyes.
Zhu You was startled and quickly handed over his tea. Deng Xiang took it and drank it in one gulp, regardless of whether it was hot or not.
Liu Xiu asked: "Deng Xiang, which room are we staying in tonight?"
Deng Xiang calmed down for a while and finally regained his breath. He coughed a few times and said very cheerfully: "My house only has three rooms. I will live in one, and you can live in the remaining two rooms as you please."
Liu Xiu nodded with a smile and said, "Thank you." After speaking, he looked at Deng Xiang happily. The latter felt uncomfortable looking at him and asked in confusion: "I...what's wrong with me? "
"We're going to take a break."
Seeing that Deng Xiang had not yet understood, Liu Xiu sighed secretly and asked directly: "We are going to have a rest, can you go out?"
Only then did Deng Xiang understand what Liu Xiu meant. He glanced at Xu Xiling and others sitting inside, and finally turned around slowly and walked out.
Zhu You smiled and said: "This little brother is quite interesting. He seems to be a nice person."
Liu Xiu didn't think so. His impression of Deng Xiang was quite the opposite. He felt that this man's heart was not right.
He didn't say much, and said to Xu Xiling: "Xiling, you women will share a room tonight, and the others will share a room with me."
After speaking, he looked at Shi Luo and said, "Mrs. Shi will probably suffer with us in the next few days."
The environment in Jizhou is much worse than that in Sili. After a long day's journey, you can only eat hard dry food at night to satisfy your hunger. Sometimes even men can't bear such harsh conditions, let alone a delicate daughter of a noble family?
Shi Luo bowed to Liu Xiu and said, "Master Liu, don't worry about me, I can survive it!"
That being said, Shi Luo is now a lot thinner than when he was in Luoyang, and even Xu Xiling and Xi Cheying are much more haggard than before.
Liu Xiu looked at Deng Yu and asked, "Zhonghua, how many days do you estimate it will take from here to Yecheng?"
Deng Yu smiled bitterly. He had never been to Jizhou before, and his knowledge of Jizhou was limited to books.
He shook his head and sighed: "It would be great if Zi Ling were here now. Zi Ling often travels around the world. No matter where he goes, he is a living map!"
Many of Liu Xiu's subordinates are now scattered in various places. For example, Ma Wu, Fu Jun and others are in Yingchuan. Jia Fu followed Liu Jia to Hanzhong. When Liu Xiu left Luoyang, Yan Guang did not go with him.
Traveled to various places to deliver news about Liu Xiu to Jia Fu, Ma Wu and others.
After a pause, Deng Yu said again: "Lord, I guess it will take at least more than half a month for us to reach Yecheng."
If they didn't have women, they would have been able to speed up a lot, but with these women, they couldn't go any faster even if they wanted to.
Liu Xiu sighed lightly and murmured: "I don't know what the situation is like in Yecheng."
That night, Liu Xiu and his party stayed at Deng Xiang's home. Liu Xiu, Deng Yu and others crowded into one room, while Xu Xiling, Xi Cheying, Shi Luo and other female relatives crowded into another room.
Late at night or early in the morning, when the ugly hour was about to pass, Liu Xiu, who was sleeping, suddenly opened his eyes. He was awakened by the sound of low footsteps.
Ever since he entered Jizhou, Liu Xiu's nerves had never slackened. Moreover, he had drank gold liquid, and his six senses were much sharper than ordinary people. As long as there was a slight abnormal sound, it would be difficult to hide it from his ears.
Liu Xiu sat up from the ground and looked to both sides. Deng Yu, Zhu You and others were all sleeping soundly, especially Zhu You, who was snoring like thunder. Liu Xiu shook his head, stood up slowly, walked to the window, and walked towards the window.
Close the gap in the bone glue and look out.
At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, paper had not yet been invented, and the windows at this time were very densely gridded. In ordinary people's homes, they would use bone glue to paste on the windows. It was not very strong and not very transparent, but at least it could protect against wind and rain.
Wealthy people use more things, and they have everything. The most expensive ones are naturally gemstones, that is, colored glaze. The second ones can use natural mica, and the third ones can also use shells, etc.
The wisdom of our ancestors cannot be underestimated.
Through the gap in the window pane, Liu Xiu saw Deng Xiang carefully walking out of the room where he lived.
It was almost three o'clock in the morning, and it was so dark that I couldn't see my fingers, but Liu Xiu, who was extremely knowledgeable, could clearly see everything in the yard.
Deng Xiang stood upright in the courtyard for a long time, constantly looking forward, backward, left and right, to make sure that no one had noticed him, and then walked towards the courtyard gate.
Then he gently opened the courtyard door, stepped out, and then turned back to slowly close the courtyard door.
Liu Xiu couldn't guess where Deng Xiang was going in the middle of the night, but judging from his thief-minded appearance, he probably didn't do any good when he went out.
Just when Liu Xiu was secretly thinking about it, Long Yuan also woke up and saw Liu Xiu standing by the window. Long Yuan was startled and couldn't help asking: "My lord, what's wrong?"
His voice was not loud, but it still woke up everyone in the room, except Zhu You who was snoring loudly. People sat up one after another and looked at Liu Xiu in confusion. The latter whispered: "Deng Xiang went out just now."
Feng Yi blinked in surprise and asked, "Why is he going out so late? Could it be that he went out to relieve himself?"
Liu Xiu shook his head. If he wanted to go out to relieve himself, he could go out openly and openly. Why should he go out secretly and thiefly? Liu Xiu pondered for a moment and said seriously: "I think this Deng Xiang is not simple. We can't live here anymore, so we have to leave quickly!" "
Hearing this, everyone was shocked. Without saying anything, they all stood up. Wang Ba casually pushed Zhu You to wake up.
Zhu You still looked confused and confused. After sitting up, he asked in a confused manner: "Why are you all up? What time is it now?"
Liu Xiu said: "Deng Xiang went out secretly in the middle of the night. I'm afraid he had bad intentions. We have to leave here quickly! Xuying, go and inform Xi Ling and the others!"
"Yes! My lord!" Xuying agreed, walked out quickly, arrived at the door of Xu Xiling and others' room, knocked a few times, and woke up Xu Xiling, Xi Cheying and others.
As Zhu You packed up things with everyone, he asked: "Master, are we too careful? Deng Xiang is just a villager, how can he do anything extraordinary?"
Liu Xiu couldn't guess what Deng Xiang wanted to do, which was even more terrifying because he couldn't guess. He asked, "How much do you know about him? How much do you know about Deng Village? How much do you know about Jizhou and Weicheng County?"
It can be said that they know nothing about the entire Jizhou, which requires them to be extremely careful and always be on guard against possible accidents.
When Liu Xiu packed up his things and walked out of the room, Xu Xiling, Xi Cheying, Shi Luo and others also walked out. The two met in the courtyard. Shi Luo was obviously not awake, and his face was dull. 's sleepy appearance.
Xu Xiling and Xi Cheying looked at Liu Xiu in confusion. There was no time to explain, Liu Xiu said: "Let's leave here first!"
The group of them, those who mounted their horses and those who rode in carriages, left Deng Xiang's home and headed out from the nearest Beicun entrance.
They left the village, only two miles away, when they saw dots of firelight and rumbling footsteps in front of them. It was obvious that there was a large group of people running towards them.
Liu Xiu and others stopped their horses one after another and looked forward carefully. They saw that in the night, there were at least hundreds of people running towards them, and it was a huge, dark area.
The one running at the front was none other than the young man from Deng Village who took them in, Deng Xiang.
Everyone saw each other, and the other party also saw them. Deng Xiang did not expect to meet Liu Xiu and others outside the village. He was stunned for a moment, then raised his finger, pointed at Liu Xiu and others, and screamed: "It's them! They want to run!"
"Oh? These people are rich and have women?" Standing next to Deng Xiang is a young man in his twenties. This young man is tall and strong, with a Chinese character face and triangular eyes. , with a sinister and fierce look on his face.
"Yes, yes, yes! The money is on them and the women are in the car!" Deng Xiang respected the young man very much and nodded at him like a fool.
The young man raised the corner of his mouth, took two steps forward, and said loudly: "Everyone on the other side, please listen to me and hand over your money and women. If I am happy, I may be able to let you live. If not, I will give you a life." Hang them up and disembowel them one by one!"
After listening to the conversation between Deng Xiang and the young man, Liu Xiu and others understood that these people were attracted by Deng Xiang.
Deng Xiang saw that he had money and several young and beautiful women with him, so he secretly ran out at night and reported the news to these people.
Realizing this, Zhu You was so angry that his eyes widened. He originally had a good impression of Deng Xiang, but he didn't expect that Deng Xiang turned out to be such a villain! He had itchy teeth, holding a sword in his hand, and wanted to Urging the horse forward.
Liu Xiu took Zhu You's arm, and then he raised his hands to the opposite side on the horse and asked, "I wonder what the names of these brothers are?"
"I'll scare you to death if I tell you! I am Xu Lang of the Tanxiang Army!" The young man said loudly, holding his waist with both hands.
Tanxiang Army! Hearing what the young man said, Liu Xiu and others were shocked. Tanxiang Army, one of the Hebei uprising armies, has more than 100,000 troops. Its main activities are in the Qinghe County and Weicheng County areas.
Thinking of it, on the first day they entered Weicheng County in Jizhou, they met the local overlord here, the Tanxiang Army.