In the Blade

Du Chengfeng, who was riding on a horse, was quite sad.

When he first came to this world, he was a refugee without any connections. He finally had some property in Yangjiabao, but after a war, he became a refugee again. Of course, the time in Yanzhou before was good. He not only had a job and a house, but also had the opportunity to study with retired cadres.

After the war, he is still a refugee.

Fortunately, this time, not only him, not only the villagers in Yangjiabao, but also more than 100,000 people in Yanzhou, like them, left their homes and took up this promising career.

"Is this really a good thing?"

Carpenter Li, who was driving the cart, became more and more uncomfortable. He always felt that his life was becoming more and more bleak.

Why did he become a refugee again? Why did he say again?

"This is indeed a good thing."

On the cart, old man Yang Xuanyang, who had not appeared for a long time, explained.

Indeed, there are still some people who are unwilling to leave their hometowns and choose to stay in the countryside of Yanzhou, but soon these people will have to bear the consequences of their choices - Jizhou and Yanzhou have been broken, and the entire Shanbei Road has been almost destroyed. The Southern Chen court will inevitably send troops to the front line to resist the enemy.

As for the location of the front line, it is naturally Jizhou and Yanzhou.

Sandwiched between the two armies, the lives of those who stay will only be more difficult. Being a refugee can at least survive, but these people who stay can hardly even save their lives.

"But being a refugee is not that easy."

In the corner of the cart, Liu Bolun, who came to take a ride, was drinking a lot of wine. Just looking at his sparse forehead, you can tell that he has been under a lot of pressure during this period.

As the real organizer of this great retreat, Liu Bolun has worked a lot during this period. It is precisely because of this that he can understand what a huge project a great retreat involving more than 100,000 people is.

How to appease the people, how to arrange an orderly evacuation, how to achieve the fastest retreat, and take care of the people and horses along the way... It was at this time that he realized what Ruan Shantao's more than ten years of education meant.

If it weren't for the literate people taught by Old Man Ruan who took the initiative to take the lead in cooperating with the evacuation, his work this time would be a hundred times more difficult.

Although the old man didn't make his benevolence and righteousness spread all over the world until the end, his more than ten years of education have really saved the lives of the people in Yanzhou City.

"Hiccup."

Thinking of this, Liu Bolun raised his hand and saluted the distant Ziyang Mountain.

Then he continued to think about some more difficult questions.

For example...

"Where are we going? What are we going to eat?"

Du Chengfeng, who was riding on a horse, was stunned by the question.

"Does this kind of thing still need to be thought about... Yo."

He was halfway through his words when Du Chengfeng realized that this might really be a question that needed to be thought about.

After all, this time, the number of refugees is not the hundreds of people that the villagers had seen before, but a huge team of more than 100,000 people. As the saying goes, tens of thousands of people are endless. For such a large team, the daily food consumption alone is already an exaggerated number. Although Liu Bolun almost emptied the warehouses of Yanzhou before leaving, the amount distributed to each person still cannot last too long.

As for where to go... Is there any place that can accept such a large number of refugees?

"But this kind of thing is not something that needs to be considered."

When Du Chengfeng realized what Liu Bolun was thinking about, he didn't care.

"Or maybe it's not something you need to think about."

Perhaps for a novice refugee like Liu Bolun, this is an extremely serious problem, but for Du Chengfeng and the folks in Yangjiabao, this kind of thing has already happened once before - Jizhou was also destroyed, and the people in Jizhen were even frightened by He Xiqing's surprise attack, but when they came to their senses, they still fled and disappeared.

The population of a state sounds a lot, but when these people choose to go to their relatives or go to distant places to find a place to go, these more than 100,000 people will disperse in a short time.

In fact, it has already started. Perhaps in Liu Bolun's impression, the refugee team still has more than 100,000 people, but according to Du Chengfeng's observation, when he just came back from Yanzhou City, most of the people in the team had already left, and after leaving Yanzhou, the number became smaller and smaller, and as the team moved forward, almost every moment someone fell behind, taking their relatives, friends, or wives and children to the direction they wanted to go.

And now, it is hard to say whether this team can add up to 10,000 people.

Just like water flow, without any guidance, people will flow to places where they can survive.

Guided by the instinct of survival, life will find its own way out.

"So why are you following here? Can't you find a way out yourself?"

Thinking of this, Du Chengfeng turned his horse around and took out the grassland general in the team.

He had rescued these grassland people in Yanzhou City. He did not think much about it when he did it. He just wanted to make trouble for Xiang Rong. He also wanted to practice the feeling of "doing whatever he wants" at that time, so he did it casually. But who would have thought that after the battle, these more than 300 grassland soldiers would rely on him, follow him all the way, and refuse to leave.

This may be the other side of doing whatever he wants. People always have to bear the consequences of their actions.

Of course, Du Chengfeng is not without the courage to bear the consequences, but the question is why these people have to rely on him?

"Because... we have nowhere to go."

The grassland general named Zhierhuo who was picked out by Du Chengfeng couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

There was indeed no place to go. After all, the grassland vanguard army that entered Yanzhou City had been divided into three parts due to different circumstances. The first part was the unlucky ones. Under the pursuit of Du Chengfeng and Xiang Rong, they all became corpses. The second part was lucky. They found that the state teacher had gone crazy, so they escaped before the city gate was sealed.

As for the third part, it was the more than 300 captives.

Go back? Impossible. They couldn't explain how they were fed with good food and wine during the time they were captives. Moreover, as captives, even if they returned to the grassland, they would only be ridiculed by others. If the Khan was in a bad mood, they would probably all be beheaded.

As for not going back...

Where can they go?

It seems that following this Fire Blade Warrior is the best choice. After all, this Fire Blade Warrior is really good to them and even spared their lives.

What's more, those Yanzhou people may not know what happened in the city because they escaped earlier, but these grassland warriors who have personally experienced everything in the city know how powerful this Fire Blade Warrior is.

It is almost a warrior's instinct to follow such a strong man.

Life will find its own way out. They all know who they should follow to live longer.

"So the worst case is to die in battle. Anyway, we all owe you a life... Tell me, who are we going to fight?"

"..."

Du Chengfeng was speechless for a long time.

Okay, as the first and only rebel in the territory of Southern Chen, he now has the first team that can fight.

But the question is, who does he need to fight?

"Eat food sparingly, and find a way to make a living when you have time."

This is Du Chengfeng's greatest expectation for this grassland warrior.

Perhaps this is also the reason why the people of Yanzhou are so anxious to leave. After all, not everyone can accept that there are more than 300 grassland warriors of unknown origin in the team, even if these grassland warriors take off their armor. With more than 300 mouths to feed, Liu Bolun, who stares at the account book every day, has a headache. The only happy person may be old man Yang Xuanyang. He thinks that there are more than 300 strong laborers. With so many strong men helping to work, Yangjiabao will sooner or later be revived in another place.

Of course, it may not be called Yangjiabao now, after all, it will be the common hometown of all the villagers.

"How about Dujiabao?"

Looking up at Du Chengfeng in front of him, Yang Xuan shook his head.

It's not that he doesn't want to, but it's not good. After all, they have been together for a while. He knows the temperament of this warrior. If he really uses the name Dujiabao, the other party may be embarrassed and directly deny it.

Still have to think of a better name, at least to give everyone a sense of hometown...

"By the way."

While Yang Xuan was still thinking, Du Chengfeng, who was riding a horse, turned around.

"Old man, what about the Shanbei Road and Shannan Road you just mentioned?"

"Uh, warrior, you don't know?"

Yang Xuan was stunned by the question.

How could someone not know such common sense?

But it was obvious that Du Chengfeng was the one who lacked common sense. He really didn't know about mountains and rivers. So Yang Xuan could only try to recall and try to tell the part he knew.

If on the Mobei grassland, everyone divided the region by tribes and divided it into large and small tribes, then the division in Nanchen was more detailed. Above each settlement, the smallest regional unit was the county, and above the county, the local counties were governed by a state, and above this state, the local states were governed by a road.

To put it in words that Du Chengfeng could understand, a road was roughly equivalent to a province, and a state was roughly equivalent to a prefecture-level city.

"No wonder I always felt that this state seemed a little small..."

Du Chengfeng couldn't help scratching his head.

When he first heard the word state, he thought it was a provincial unit. It turned out to be a prefecture-level city. He said that the total population of a province could not be just over 100,000. It turned out that the problem was here.

"So what about the county? Why haven't I seen a county?"

"This..."

This time it was Yang Xuan's turn to scratch his head.

"In the south, the states and counties should be relatively complete. As for the northern border..."

Yang Xuan smiled awkwardly.

That is indeed not easy to say, after all, this kind of thing is more subtle. Strictly speaking, the county system is still there, but because the people on the northern border are tough, each village fort can at least raise a hundred militiamen, so in fact, the county system is almost gone.

If you can't even control the people, who will care about this thing?

Of course, at the state level, the words still have weight, after all, the chief officer at the state level is the military governor, and even if those villages and forts raise militiamen, it is not easy to show fists in front of real soldiers. So the situation gradually formed in the northern border that the military governor directly governs each village, town and fort, and the county system is equivalent to non-existence.

It is a bit like those grassland people, the big tribes will directly govern the small tribes, and then these big tribes will be responsible for the royal court deep in the northern desert.

Perhaps in the countless years of fighting with the northern Hu people, these border people have gradually acquired some Hu people's habits.

"I understand that."

Du Chengfeng nodded. He could understand the principle of "people get along badly with bad people". Moreover, as a witness, he knew how bad the border of Southern Chen was. It was already very good for Du Chengfeng to be able to maintain the jurisdiction of the state.

"So this kind of thing is normal, why are you embarrassed?"

"Uh..."

Looking at Liu Bolun who had turned around, Yang Xuan scratched his head even more.

"This matter..."

"There's nothing wrong with this matter. Anyway, I'm not an official appointed by the court now."

Liu Bolun looked indifferent.

"Isn't it just a matter of undermining the county magistrate? The Yang family also did it."

As soon as these words came out, Yang Xuan lowered his head in shame.

Doing is one thing, being pointed out is another, not to mention that he was a former court official, a former Taixue student - after all, as the descendants of the former famous generals, the Yang family still has to have face, but it is precisely because of this that the descendants of the former famous generals participated in the overthrow of the county system and poached Dachen's wall. This is really a bit...

But there is no way to do this, after all, all the families on the border of the north have done it, and his Yang family can only be regarded as participating, and it can even be said that they have eaten the least.

"Hey, don't think too much, it's all in the past, it's all in the past."

Du Chengfeng waved his hand, indicating that the topic can be stopped here.

It is indeed in the past, whether it is Jizhou, Yanzhou, or those past events, after a war, they have all become a thing of the past - no matter what the Yang family has done, at this moment, they have finally become refugees, a promising profession, and don't know what to eat in the future, and where to go in the future.

"Wait, do I have something to do in Yanzhou?"

Thinking of this, Du Chengfeng's face froze.

Glancing at the saddle bag and seeing the handle of the Broken Horse Long Sword, Du Chengfeng immediately retracted his gaze.

"Let's take a look at my halberd!"

In order to ease the atmosphere, Du Chengfeng simply untied the cloth bag on one side of the saddle and took out the exaggerated halberd.

Originally, Du Chengfeng thought that the sayings such as "not returning home when rich and noble" and "walking at night in brocade clothes" were not very useful. After all, making a fortune in silence is the real hard truth. But until he got this halberd, he knew that he was not immune to the world after all - after all, this fierce halberd is just like a newly bought legendary skin in the game. Who wouldn't want to show off their skills and taste it after getting it?

"I have tasted too much!"

This time, not only the villagers of Yangjiabao shook their heads, but even Cui Yuan, who was autistic and enlightened in the back, couldn't stand it.

The reason is that Du Chengfeng has shown off his halberd too many times in the past few days. He would take out the halberd at any time, let people see it, let people appreciate it - at the beginning, everyone was still very surprised, after all, the shape of this halberd was too exaggerated and fierce, and the fierce momentum was even more frightening.

But in a few days, they had seen it no less than fifty or sixty times. When they saw it again, they just wanted to break and kick the halberd, and try to see if the two skulls on the top could be twisted off.

"Hey, you really are."

Du Chengfeng couldn't help but shake his head. These people really didn't know how to appreciate the aesthetics of violence.

Fortunately, a newcomer who had never seen this halberd finally showed up.

"Why is it you again?"

Seeing that the grassland general Zhierhuo had brought people to catch some bandits who blocked the road and came back at some point, Du Chengfeng was directly happy.

The reason is that there are still old acquaintances among these people who were captured alive.

"What do you mean by robber? I haven't started robbing yet! Why are you arresting me?"

The hunter-like man was thrown to the ground, and when he looked up, he saw Du Chengfeng's big face again.

"Why are you here again? Why are you everywhere?"

"Why did you start again?"

Looking at the tattered clothes on the other party and the sharpened sticks seized by the grassland soldiers, Du Chengfeng couldn't help but sigh.

Obviously, he had persuaded the hunter to be kind several times, and even found a job with food and accommodation for him, but the other party once again picked up a stick and started a robbery, a career with no future.

Du Chengfeng was kind-hearted, so how could he tolerate this?

So after Du Chengfeng waved his hand and was persuaded by several grassland soldiers with their fists, the hunter and the other robbers finally decided to change their ways and become guides.

"Yiyang County ahead is collecting refugees. We also want to get some food and then go there to make a living."

The hunter with a swollen nose and face knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Du Chengfeng repeatedly.

"It's not that we are thieves, we have been hungry for several days. Please be generous and let us go."

But Du Chengfeng had no intention of letting them go.

"As for food, I have it here, but I will trouble you for a few days."

After saying this, Du Chengfeng pointed to the south.

Although the food reserves in the team can last for a while, people and horses can't last too long after all, not to mention that some refugees in the team really need to be resettled - not everyone is really willing to be refugees. Or, in other words, except for the villagers in Yangjiabao who really had nowhere to go, many people in the team actually wanted to find a place to settle down quickly.

"So let's go and take a look, and buy some food by the way."

After discussing with everyone, Du Chengfeng asked the hunter to lead the way.

There were nearly 10,000 people in the team, and Du Chengfeng and more than 300 grassland soldiers were watching. There were no blind robbers to make trouble along the way, so it only took a few days for the refugee team to arrive at Yiyang County smoothly.

But unlike what Du Chengfeng thought, it was not the county government that collected the refugees here.

It was a mountain temple.

The first update is here, 5,000 words. Considering that the information of the 2,000-word chapter is really a bit less, there may be more long chapters of this kind in the future, and rounding it off is also an extra update.

In addition: Thank you for your recommendation votes and monthly tickets, thank you for your encouragement and support.

Thanks to Wuwangchengfajuanmiecishi, Yiwanshekang, and Houhouhou_ for the tips. I am really sorry for the kindness.

I will continue to write the second update. Everyone should rest early.