The world outside the pavilion is like when the sky and the earth first opened, with rain pouring down from the thick clouds, swallowing up all the hope in the world and drowning all the ways out for the garrison soldiers and prisoners.
Under the light of the torch, dark faces looked up, opened their mouths, and shouted words of despair and grief...
"If you miss the deadline, all laws will be cut off..."
"The world has been suffering from Qin for a long time..."
"If you die now, you will die, if you make a big plan, you will die!"
Desperation forced them to cut down trees as soldiers and raise poles as flags. A group of people clamored and shouted, "Does the prince and general Xiang Ning have the guts?" They rushed into the pavilion and kicked open the door of the guest room.
The Qin official who was escorting them was sleeping soundly inside. He was startled when he heard the noise. He raised his head and saw that face, who could it be if he wasn't a black man!?
…
"It's really unlucky to have such a dream."
Heifu woke up sweating profusely and found that he was indeed in a strange guest house. When he opened the door, the weather outside was cold and clear, with only a few clouds floating in the sky. Where did the heavy rain come from?
And the 50 Anlu County prisoners he was escorting were sleeping soundly under the eaves of the guest house at the moment. These people were thinly dressed, with some straw covering their bodies to keep out the cold, shivering in the early morning frost and dew...
"The pavilion chief."
When Xiao Tao, who was on duty at night, saw that Hei Fu was awake, he quickly came over and stammered: "Last...last night was safe and nothing happened."
"Thank you for your hard work." Hei Fu patted Xiao Tao's shoulder to encourage him. Li Xian, who was on night duty with Xiao Tao, also came over to say hello to Hei Fu with red eyes.
It is now the 22nd year of the Qin Dynasty, October 23rd, and it is also the third day since they left Anlu County.
The five people from Huyangting need to escort 50 prisoners and 10 garrison soldiers to Fangcheng, Nanyang County, hundreds of miles away to serve as corvees. They have a deadline to arrive before the first day of December. This is the task of Heifu and the others.
Even before departure, Heifu knew that most of the prisoners escorted this time were sent to prison by himself: there was the businessman Bao who participated in falsely accusing him last year, and there were two tomb robbers who robbed Ruo Ao's tomb.
There are also many blind mountain residents who have been convicts and become prisoners, and they can be regarded as enemies with him.
The county's Zuo Lieutenant made this arrangement with sinister intentions.
However, Zuo Wei did not expect these prisoners to be angry with Heifu and, like in the dream, they would rise up in chaos and kill him.
This is not the end of the Qin Dynasty, but it is also the hinterland of the Qin State. It is really difficult to kill officials and rebel.
Moreover, around the necks of this group of people, they all wore the symbol of prisoners: wooden pliers. There were hemp ropes on the pliers, which were tied when they were resting. Their wrists were all tied together, restricting their movement.
This is the standard configuration for escorting prisoners. We cannot expect these reform-through-labor prisoners to be obedient. On the contrary, the guards are fully armed, not only with swords and armor, but also with two crossbows. Among the prisoners
It is unlikely that someone like Chen Sheng and Wu Guang would appear and seize the sword to kill Heifu and others...
So Heifu guessed that Zuo Wei arranged this in order to hope that these prisoners who had a grudge against Heifu would escape halfway!
Prisoners are different from garrison soldiers. They are already criminals. Most of their family members have been taken as concubines. They are barefoot and are not afraid of wearing shoes. Everyone has no worries.
Moreover, traveling all the way north in this winter is really hard work. Southerners are full of fear of the north, especially the winter in the north. In "Chu Ci", the Chu people's imagination of the north is "increasing ice and snow, flying thousands of miles"
"Some" "There is Hanshan Mountain in the north, where the dragons and dragons are dancing. The sky is bright and clear, and the sky is cold and condensing."
In short, from the perspective of people on the coast of Jianghan, the north in winter is simply not a place for people to stay and must be avoided. This fear of weather and hard labor may prompt prisoners to escape at any time.
The Qin State severely punished prisoners serving in the garrison for escaping, and there were corresponding punishments for escorts who escaped.
"It won't be a capital crime, but as the chief of the pavilion, I have reached my end. If more than ten people escape, even I will be reduced to a city guard. The second and third sons will also be punished as the escorts..."
Heifu explained their situation to everyone in this way.
More than ten years later, Chief Liu Ting of Peixian County, because too many of the prisoners and garrison soldiers he was escorting escaped, he knew that he could not escape punishment, so he suddenly became a bandit with the remaining people...
…
With this said, everyone in Huyang Pavilion also realized the seriousness of the problem. County Zuo Wei was really insidious. He was clearly trying to kill people with a borrowed knife. He wanted to take advantage of the escape of the prisoners, convict their group, and drive them all out of the Qin officials!
So everyone followed Hei Fu's arrangement and divided into two groups, taking turns to keep vigil at night.
On the first and second days of departure, Heifu did not dare to close his eyes. He kept guarding Huo Liao and stared at the figures of the prisoners.
In this way, Heifu, who had not closed his eyes for two days, finally couldn't hold on any longer on the third day. When he arrived at the pavilion in Xinshi County to rest, he slept in the pavilion until dawn...
Fortunately, except for that nightmare, everything was normal.
At this time, the prisoners also got up one after another. They pushed away the straw on their bodies, rubbed their sore necks, and looked at Heifu, who was squatting on the ground and gargling with willow branches. Their eyes were full of evil. Heifu knew that in the past three days, Heifu
Come on, there must be many people thinking about escaping day and night. Anyway, if you don't run away, the end will not be much better. During winter service, it is common for prisoners to die out of ten. In the face of the cruel reality, the black man has no choice.
I can fool these desperate people into stupidity.
It was fine when resting, as there were ropes tying everyone to the beams, but it was a big problem when walking.
Although the food for Heifu and the other five people can be provided by public food from the pavilions on the road, the sixty prisoners and the garrison soldiers have to bring their own food, drink and chews. Therefore, each prisoner has to carry a stone of food.
There is no way to tie everyone together.
If while walking on the road, these 50 people would wink at each other and run away, Heifu and the five of them would not be able to catch them.
So after eating the meal in this pavilion, Hei Fu asked Ji Ying and Li Xian to cut the long hemp rope into several sections, and asked 50 prisoners with grim faces to stand up. First, pick one to share with Hei Fu.
The prisoners who have a grudge will choose another prisoner they don't know, and they will be paired up in pairs, and tie the hemp rope to one of their feet and tie it into a tight knot...
"Two people work together, whether they are walking, resting, eating, or going to the toilet, they must act together. If the other person escapes, the remaining person will also be regarded as an accomplice and will be punished together!"
In this way, although the speed of progress is slowed down, you are not afraid of them suddenly escaping while walking on the road. Most of the people who run away will trip each other up and catch each other because of a lack of tacit understanding.
Not only that, Heifu also summoned the 10 free garrison soldiers and assigned them tasks.
"You are all good men and women, with parents, wives and children at home. You should know what will happen if you run away and work hard..."
"I will not treat my second or third son badly. I will let you have enough food, clothing, and sleep in the house along the way. But you will also help me guard the prisoners. When we are walking on the road, every two people will watch ten prisoners.
Prisoner, after arriving at Fangcheng County, Nanyang County, if no one of the prisoners escapes, I will give each of you a hundred coins, plus a pair of cloth shoes..."
As soon as these words came out, the 10 garrison soldiers couldn't help but be overjoyed. When they went out to do corvee work, the most expensive thing was their shoes. When they arrived, their shoes had long been worn out. Heifu contracted their shoes, which made many people relieved.
.And that one hundred dollars is enough to buy a rough winter coat.
Heifu was not short of money. After serving as the chief of the pavilion for one year, he received a lot of rewards for repeatedly catching thieves. Plus the harvest of hundreds of acres of land at home, even if he bought cattle and horses, he still had 5,000 yuan left.
So when he went out this time, he exchanged all the remaining copper coins for easy-to-carry gold cakes, about ten taels.
He made a calculation in his mind: "If I only spend one or two thousand dollars and let these guards help me guard the prisoners, it will be a good deal."
Although Heifu had made many arrangements and felt everything was safe, on the fifth day of their departure, when they were spending the night in a forested and hilly area stretching for dozens of miles between Xinshi County and E County, their escape still happened...
"Pavilion Chief, Hei Fu! Something bad has happened!"
Ji Ying and Dongmen Leopard hurriedly woke him up. Hei Fu rushed to the scene of the incident. He looked at the rope that was broken by hard objects on the ground and the two wooden pliers that had been removed. Hei Fu looked heavy.
Li Xian, who was holding the roster, counted the number of people and reported: "It's a little thief who works as a gangster, and he ran away with a tomb robber!"
After questioning the prisoners on the side, Dongmen Bao also reported with sweating profusely: "That little thief seems to know how to open locks and untied the wooden pliers in a few clicks. I was too sleepy at the time and took a nap. When I woke up,
At once……"
"Chase!"
Heifu glared at Dongmen Bao and Ji Ying, looked at the footsteps of the pair running towards the south forest, and ordered: "We must chase them back! If they are alive, they will see the people, if they die, they will see the corpses!"
