54. Hard choices
The brigade set off, dust flew up, and the Longxiang camp of the Yulin Army entered Xinmin Township. His Majesty the Emperor ordered the entire camp to sing the two military disciplines and four attentions. For a moment, the steps were neat and the military songs were loud.
Our Han army is a kingly army and a civilized army. The singing sings the love and protection of the people. This is a good time to advertise. Although the stage is a little smaller, there is only a small countryside, just practice. Which star didn’t start with playing supporting roles?
Unfortunately, there are surprisingly few people in the village. Looking around, except for a sloppy man sitting at the gate to catch lice, the whole village is empty. Occasionally, a child ran out to watch the fun, and was immediately chased by the adults and pulled him home. Although the Yulin Army pulled his neck and sang: "If you don't take the people's things, the people will support you." But what about the people? Where have the people hid?
Old Man Mu said, "My hometown is vulgar and does not know the king's army. Wait for me to shout them out."
"No need to disturb the villagers, our army is just passing by." The emperor thought to himself, there is no need to shout, and you will rush out in a while.
As soon as he left the village, he ordered camping and preparing for overnight stay.
These are all subjects that have been trained, and the soldiers performed their own duties. Soon after, they set up camp and built pots to make rice. The emperor specially ordered a few more pots of millet porridge to be placed at the entrance of the camp. He did not believe that these poor people who were not full of food would be able to hold back when they smelled the aroma of the rice.
Sure enough, the people in Xinmin Township appeared in groups of three or three. Perhaps because they saw that the Han army did not harass them, neither robbed them nor trampled on crops, the people gradually became bolder.
First, a few children approached timidly. They bit their fingers, and all the harass flew to the front of their clothes. The emperor shouted: "Little Banden, are these your younger brothers and sisters? Why are the snot as long as you do!" Yulinlang all laughed.
Banden greeted the children to drink porridge and also served them a bowl of meat. The poor kids had never seen meat before. They immediately forgot to be afraid and rushed to eat it. Little Banden said, "Don't grab it, don't grab it, there are all!" They picked up a piece for each of them.
Seeing that the new army was easy to talk to, several adults came over, and the Yulin Army refused to refuse and let them take it themselves. Hundreds of ragged people emerged from somewhere, all of them came over to drink porridge, and they all swallowed it, and they looked very hungry.
Mu Hong drank porridge in big mouthfuls, suddenly pointed to the Yulin Army’s vegetable bowl not far away and said, “I want to eat meat too!”
A soldier said: "You are picky and picky when you eat for free. Only those who can go to the battlefield can eat meat!"
"Who said I can't go to the battlefield?" Mu Hong put the bowl, picked up the bow and arrow next to him, pulled it away easily, and shot it out, hitting a small tree dozens of steps away, and the arrow pierced in, and the tail of the arrow was still trembling.
Gongsun Zhun was very skilled and came up to compete with him. The two of them shot one by one and one by one, and they shot a small tree full of feather arrows. Two thousand Yulin Lang shouted loudly beside him.
Although both of them are archers, their styles are different. Gongsun Zhun is a natural sniper. He looks expressionless and very calm, and has extremely high shooting accuracy. But Mu Hong shot arrows one by one, making people confused. Although his accuracy is slightly inferior, his advantage lies in the rate of shooting, which is dazzling.
The emperor was also a little itchy. Just as he wanted to get up, he was pressed and held down by Banden and Niu Decao on the left and right. The two of them pulled him hard and "invited" the emperor into the big tent.
"Call that Mu Hong in!" the emperor shouted.
Mu Hong ate and drank without hesitation before the emperor, but shook his head in the face of the emperor's recruitment, "I don't go, grandpa will starve to death if I leave! Unless... If His Majesty the Emperor goes to attack Yangshuwu, I am willing to lead the way!"
Liu Penzi said: "Isn't Mr. Yang your employer?"
Mu Hongdao: "The Yang family is a robber! He has occupied all the fields in the village, and his Yangshuwu is a robber's nest! He wants me to help him guard it, so I won't go!"
Before the emperor came, he also did some homework and knew that the Yang family was not a good person. The head of the family, Yang Yu, had five sons, all of whom were extremely fierce. They gathered hundreds of outlaws and dominated the country. They often killed and robbed people. From the Xin Dynasty to the Gengshi regime, no local government dared to take care of any term. Such powerful people are all incorrect local areas and have a deep foundation. Unless the government makes great determination to use the army, they will not be able to move at all.
The powerful people in the Han Dynasty were powerful, dared to take in fugitives, dared to kill people and fight against the government. This was the case with Liu Xiu's elder brother Liu Yan. He "became bankrupt and made friends with heroes in the world." He was often a "little thief". This is a nice saying, but in fact he made friends with many illegal people and often engaged in activities such as robbing families.
It’s normal. If you don’t rob, how can you have money to support so many people? Are you all paying as much as Yu Linlang?
"Yang Yu colluded with the villagers and took the fields of the villagers as wasteland and directly occupied them. When buying the fields, he used the fields as sub-fields to lower the prices; when renting the plants, he used the fields as sub-fields and raised the rent of rice. The villagers could not survive anymore, so they had to send their children to his home as slaves, but he was tyrannical by nature and beat and scolded the slaves. The children of the Zhou family were beaten to death by him and threw them into the mountains to feed wild animals. The villagers hated him so much that they hoped that Your Majesty would preside over justice! Your Majesty, every word I said is true. If there is a lie, please kill me!"
In that era, the poor people had no human rights. Although Han Lu protected slaves, it was not uncommon for the master to kill domestic slaves. The government turned a blind eye to the government. Speaking of which, Wang Mang, the new Taizu, was more particular. His son killed domestic slaves, and he forced his son to commit suicide.
After hearing Mu Hong's words, Liu Penzi said nothing, just waved his hand and drove him away.
The wise and wise Emperor Jianshi of the Han Dynasty will not easily believe any words. He should listen more and see how Yang Yu is saying. More importantly, it depends on the attitude of the Yang family. If the robber Yang family is sincere and respectful and recognize him as the boss, His Majesty the Emperor can consider letting him go. Everyone is a robber, and it is not a must for the big robber to take the big ones together. After all, there are so many robbers in the world. If one sees one kills one, wouldn’t he be self-destructive?
The news that the military officers of the army received from the village was basically true. Yang Yu's family had done many evil things over the years, and the people were extremely angry in Xinmin Township. Originally, the people did not dare to say it, but now every family has no food and is about to starve to death. What else is there to be afraid of? So the emperor received several bloody and tears accusations.
Liu Penzi fell into deep thought. As an emperor who loves the people as his son and pays attention to human rights, how could he tolerate such bullies rampant in the countryside? Unless... unless the Yang family obediently hand over the grain and surrender.
Let's wait first, anyway, he has sent an envoy to ask Yang Yu to see him.
The next morning, the emperor ordered Mu Hong as a guide and took more than a hundred guards to hunt in the nearby mountains and forests. It was said that it was hunting, but in fact, few of these people could draw bows immediately. The advanced skill of riding and shooting was not something that cowherds could master.
However, this did not delay their play. The young people were very playful and wanted to ride horses in the fields to chase wild animals. After half a day, the young people rushed back and forth, chasing and shouting, and were very happy.
Niu Decao has been following the emperor and dared not be careless at all. In that era, the environment had not suffered major damage. Even in areas like Guanzhong, large wild animals in the mountains and forests were not uncommon. If the emperor was left alone, he would encounter wolves, insects, tigers and leopards and face danger.
Liu Penzi's riding skills are very good, and Niu Decao is just a cattle herder. It would be great if he could ride a horse steadily. How could he keep up with his pace? Unexpectedly, Comrade Niu lost His Majesty the Emperor.
Niu Decao was extremely anxious and threw more than a hundred people out to look for them separately. He shouted everywhere. After a while, he still could not see the emperor.
He didn't know that at this moment, Liu Penzi was on an unmanned hillside, looking at the lush forest in front of him, making a difficult choice in his heart.
He is free at this moment. For the first time since he traveled through time, Liu Penzi was so free.
No one monitors, no one serves, no responsibility, no obligation, no one can whip the horse and go anywhere he wants, just as he always wants, get rid of the identity of the emperor in troubled times, be insulated from this magnificent era, and silently buried in the dust of history.
The Red Eyebrow Army will find another puppet, and they will still enter Chang'an, leave Chang'an, and be destroyed. This era is still the perfect emperor, Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu, and history will not change because of him. This time travel is just a very unexpected accident.
And he, Liu Pengzi, was free from worry, no longer had to be a bird raised in a golden silk bird cage. He hid his name and lived the most ordinary life of this era as an ordinary person. He did not surprise, did not come forward, did not go to officialdom, earned money to support himself, and spent the rest of his life safely, becoming a leisurely and relaxed ancient... a loser.
This title made him feel moved and he remembered his life in the Demon City. Two thousand years later, he was also like this without relatives and no worries, living in a 30-square-meter cottage, one person fed and the whole family was not hungry, and a leisurely and comfortable... a loser.
So, what is the purpose of his journey through two thousand years to come to this era?
Is it to experience the differences between the lives of ancient and modern people, and to use two lives to write a doctoral dissertation on history?
It's a waste!
Having this rare time travel experience counted in one billionth of a million, can't he do anything when he is lucky enough to come to this great era of swords and iron horses? Can't he let the wheel of history be so biased? Can't he let this era leave his Liu Penzi's memory?
Is he so cowardly? What exactly is he afraid of?
Afraid of Fan Chong? Afraid of Xu Xuan? Liu Penzi shook his head. Although these people were also heroes for a while, they were not in his eyes.
So he was worried about the "Son of the Plane" Liu Xiu, who had great abilities and luck?
Liu Penzi had to admit that this was the big boss he was really afraid of. It was very difficult to be an enemy of such a capable and lucky person.
Their starting point was very unfair. Liu Xiu had already passed the most difficult period and had the foundation of the emperor. However, Liu Pengzi was just a puppet little emperor in the hands of a bunch of mud legs. All he had was an inappropriate emperor hat. Perhaps his only advantage was the time traveler's foresight and his knowledge reserves that were two thousand years ahead.
If Liu Xiu was also a time traveler, then this advantage would be gone.
However, this is unlikely. The new Taizu Wang Mang is more like a later generation than Liu Xiu. This guy not only wants to carry out socialist transformation of the entire country, but also develops various black technologies at that time. He even dissects the corpse for research. Isn’t that a set of modern medicine?
If Wang Mang was really a time traveler, it would be even more terrible, because he also failed. He was defeated by Liu Xiu's genius battle of 10,000 or more than 400,000. After the Kunyang War, his dynasty had gone irreversibly.
Did Liu Xiu have the experience of defeating a time traveler? Liu Penzi touched his neck, but he didn't want to be a second one.
In the midst of constant entanglement, Liu Penzi heard the shouts of the guards, "Your Majesty! Your Majesty" was just east of him, and the voice was not far away, and another voice roared in his mind: "Diaosi! Didisi!"
By the way, Liu Penzi agreed, but didn't know which sound he was responding to. Then he took a step, walked slowly towards the east, walked out of the shade of the trees, and exposed himself to the sun.
After these steps, Liu Penzi's life will be very different.
Niu Decao hurriedly rushed forward when he saw the emperor's figure. The emperor's appearance was very strange, which made him a little scared.
His Majesty the Emperor stared at him with big eyes and said, "I don't want to be a loser, I want to go back to the camp!"
No matter what, it would be fine to go back to the camp, and Niu Decao breathed a sigh of relief.
As soon as he entered the military camp, Luo You's deputy, He Xin, the doctor who accompanied the army, reported that someone had come to Yangshuwu.
Yang Yu was bedridden without any accident and could not come to pay homage to His Majesty the Emperor. The person who came was his housekeeper, who said that he had suffered a disaster last year and the harvest in the fields was not good. This year, he encountered war chaos again. The family really did not store grain. Please forgive His Majesty the Emperor of Han. There are currently several pigs and sheep to worship the emperor and reward the soldiers.
There is no doubt that Yang Yu did not mean to surrender. He sent people to see the direction of the wind, probably to touch the Han emperor's background to see if he could match it. If he had a little bit of apology to worship the boss, he would have to send a son here.
The emperor smiled, "Okay, leave a pig for the village, and leave some rice, so don't let them starve to death!"
He Xin was a little excited. His Majesty the Emperor loved his subjects so much, and distributed porridge in Zheng County and gave food when he went out. He was really a good emperor for the people.
But he was a little worried. I don’t know how many villages like Xinmin Township would encounter along the way. If the emperor rewarded them all the way with such a big deal, all the military rations would have to be delivered, and the soldiers of the Yulin would have to drink the northwest wind.
Liu Penzi was completely opposite to his idea, and he felt that he was about to get rich.
Due to the Yang family's ignorance, His Majesty the Emperor of the Han Dynasty finally realized that the bully who was extremely angry in the fish countryside was to allow him to continue to exist, which was a crime against the people.
Chapter completed!