1 Chaos

Gre in troubled times.

In this year, there was a great drought in Zhuqi County, Pingzhou, and thieves rose one after another.

Ye Qin knelt on the ground and grabbed a piece of broken rubble that he didn't know where to pick up from. At the root of a lonely and yellow old tree, he dug with all his strength to dig out the roots of the old tree to eat. The rubble is not sharp, but the long digging has worn out his palms.

The sun in the sky is poisonous and dazzling. The loose branches of the old tree barely covered the scorching sun.

After digging for a while, Ye Qin was a little tired. He had not eaten anything all morning. His stomach was hungry and his throat was thirsty, which made his thin hands have little strength to shave down.

On the mud on the other side of the old tree lay a hungry peasant boy who fainted. He was a child from the same village who became a big cow. He had a bad hair like a grass nest. A piece of rotten linen cloth covered his body, half fainted, and he said something vaguely.

Ye Qin glanced at Cheng Da Niu, licked his dry lips, gritted his teeth and continued to dig.

He was originally a child of a hunter in a small village in a deep mountain and old ditch hundreds of miles away. Years of military disasters, bandit disasters and heavy taxes have overwhelmed the villagers of the countryside. At the beginning of this year, the drought began, the crops were almost extincted, and the prey in the mountains and forests was greatly reduced,

It is difficult for adults to survive, let alone children. As the eldest in the family, at the age of 11, he said goodbye to his parents and went out to look for food, so as to relieve the ration pressure on his parents, so that the little brothers and sisters in the family could have enough rations to survive. According to the rules of their country, once they say goodbye to their parents and leave home, it means that they leave home to establish their own business, and no longer rely on their parents and clans.

Ye Qin can't get a career, but he is also alone.

Fortunately, there were four or five other children from eight to ten years old who came out to look for food with the village. Among them, Ye Qin was the oldest and the most experienced, so he took the children with him.

For more than half a year. They wandered in villages and towns all over Zhuqi County. Because there is not enough food. And wild wild dogs and wolves. Three or four people have died on the road. Only Ye Qin and Cheng Da Niu are still alive.

The bull is one year younger than him.

Ear morning yesterday. They slept in a pergola in the wilderness. When the two of them were asleep. The pergola was drilled in by a hungry old wild dog. I bit the calf of the cow's ground. If Ye Qin hadn't woken up in time. He smashed the old wild dog away with a stone stick. Da Niu almost lost his life. Anyway. He and Da Niu can't die anymore. Otherwise, it will be more difficult to live alone in this world.

Ye Qin endured the pain in his hands. Planing. Thinking about it. It has been dug a foot deep. But I haven't dug out the roots of the old trees that can be eaten.

The old tree has withered and yellowed. Can it be eaten or not? No one knows. But you have to give it a try. There is almost no other grass bark that can be eaten nearby. Six months of drought. Almost all the grass and trees were sunburned to death.

Finally, an old root was dug out. It's still fresh. There is moisture.

Ah, Ye Qin was surprised to poke the old root with blunt rubble. It took a long time to dig out a small part of it, bit a small piece of wet bark down, climbed to the side of the big cow, shook the big cow to wake up, and fed him.

Cing Da Niu smelled the moisture of the bark, opened his eyes in confusion, and woke up from his half fainting. He barely chewed a little bark, but had no strength to eat it.

Ye Qin quickly chewed up the bark and stuffed it into his mouth.

If you don't eat, you will die.

Cheng Da Niu ate some bark, finally gasped, regained a little spirit, and became more sober.

Relying on this root of the tree, Ye Qin and Cheng Da Niu lived for more than half a day.

Although eating bark will make their stomach a little painful, it's better than starving to death. The two rested in the shade of the old tree roots for a long time. When the sun gradually set and was no longer poisonous, Ye Qin helped the limping bull to walk east.

It's going to be dark. There are many Russian flustered wild dogs and jackals in the wilderness. It's not safe, and you have to go to a place where you can live.

Ye Qin took Da Niu to the pergola where they lived yesterday, which was next to the post road on a barren slope a few miles to the east.

Businessmen and horses often pass by the post road, and they are hungry and thirsty to drink water. During the day, there will be a restaurant from a nearby town, which specializes in selling tea and wine to guests along the way.

However, in order to avoid encountering thieves, the restaurant leaves every night. The pergola is empty. They can just live in the pergola to avoid wild dogs and wolves. And you can also pick up a little leftovers discarded by guests from the ground for dinner.

In the past half month, both Ye Qin have lived there at night.

In the evening, when the sunset glow appears in the sky.

Ye Qin helped the cow to the side of the pergola and squatted on the grass next to him to rest. This pergola is a simple bamboo house made of some bamboo. At the door is an open-air shed, and there are more than a dozen tea tables, chairs and stools under the shed.

Now the owner of the restaurant in the pergola has not left yet. The old man of the restaurant and a young sophomore are busy greeting more than a dozen men in a one-color green robe. This group of men were noisy in the pergola, exchanging cups and bowls, drinking and eating meat, which was very lively.

Ye Qin smelled the smell of wine and meat floating out in front of the pergola. He was greedy, but with only one glance, he was scared and quickly turned around and dared not look at it again. These thin and capable men are all dressed in official clothes, and they are official servants in Zhuqi County.

When he first came out of the countryside to look for food, he almost regarded these officials in government uniforms as good people. But in the past half a year, I have begged for food in the county and several villages and towns, and I have seen a lot of evil things, and I am extremely afraid of these people.

If it's a bandit, it's better. If you don't have money, you won't kill people casually. These officials are much more ruthless than bandits. If you don't like it, you can beat them to death, cut your head, and they are counted as thieves' heads and sent to the county to get the merits.

Ye Qin was poor and only had a piece of broken linen covering his body. He would rather see bandits than official officials.

Cheng Da Niu was so hungry that he was confused that he didn't see that those men were dressed as officials and wanted to climb over to beg for some food.

Ye Qin was shocked and quickly pulled him back and pressed Da Niu's arm. Daniel struggled hard and wanted to say something. Ye Qin hurriedly covered his mouth again and tried his best to wink. Don't go there to die.

Da Niu was younger than him and injured again. He struggled for a while and didn't break free. He had no strength, so he had to lie down and rest in a daze.

The two of them huddled together in the hidden place next to the pergola, trying not to attract any attention from these officials.

Ye Qin looked at the sky, and the sun was about to go down. This group of officials were full of food and drink, and I believe they would not stay in this wilderness for a long time. After this group of officials leave, he may be able to find something missing.

He sighed in his heart. I don't know when this kind of life of digging tree roots will come to an end.

Under the pergola, there was the lively laughter of the men.

Surrounded by a lot of men, a thin and yellow-looking middle-aged official, quite dignified, is obviously the leader of all officials.

The middle-aged official took a sip of wine, touched the wine left over his beard, and shouted, "What a mother's bad luck. That group of robbers can really run. They ran dozens of miles from Zhuqi County and fled to this ghost place where the birds didn't pull to death, which almost exhausted our brothers. Brothers, eat more wine and meat, and have to rush in the dark at night to catch the group of robbers as soon as possible.

Ye Qin hid in the grass nest on the side of the pergola, more than ten steps away from the officials sitting in the pergola, and their words fell into his ears word for word.

The officials flattered the middle-aged officials one after another.

"This is thanks to Master Li's personal action, otherwise these robbers would have disappeared long ago. It doesn't matter if we work harder, but we can't let the bandits escape, lest Master Li's hard work be in vain.

"Yes, as long as you catch the group of robbers and cut the thief's head and go back to get credit, Master Li can't get a heavy reward. Our brothers have also benefited from it!"

"Master Li is the number one catcher in our county, and every time he takes action, he will never fail. This time we also have the blessing of Master Li!"

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