Han Zigao

At the beginning of 553 AD, after the Hou Jing Rebellion; in the early morning, early February, just after the New Year, the cold wind in early spring was expected to be sharp and fierce.

On the road from Jiankang to Kuaiji, there was a lot of dust.

Ragged people in twos and threes are fleeing for their lives dragging their families.

There were dead bodies everywhere, and wailing and crying came from time to time.

Among the crowd, three people wearing patched civilian clothes came staggeringly. In the middle was a man with a sickly face, about 50 to [-] years old. He was coughing and panting as he walked.

Supporting him on one left and one on the right are two underage children.

The one on the left is a thin little girl, about 12 or 3 years old. Due to hunger, her face seems to be sallow, her appearance is pretty, but she is very young. Her name is Zhao Xiaomei.

On the right is a child who is about 14 or 5 years old and still wraps his horns. His thin body supports most of the weight of the man in the middle.

If you look carefully, you can see that this young man has moth-like eyebrows like daisy, white as snow, and a tall nose. Although he is very thin and looks like he is nutritious, he still has red lips like vermilion. He basically doesn't look up. Therefore, I can't see his eyes, but the side and back, I can still see the shiny and smooth black hair on the snow-white skin, and even more so, his white earlobes are so white and tender that they seem to be pinched out of water.

He is a 15-year-old (Note 1) old Han Manzi.Said to be 15 years old, but in fact his birthday has not yet arrived.

This is Han Manzi, his father and some fellow villagers from Kuaiji who escaped from Jiankang and returned home.

In the minds of the barbarians who were still young, all they saw during this journey were the burning, killing, and looting of the rebel army. Wherever they went, the people were living in dire straits, the flames were splashing, and blood was flowing. In addition, there were robbers and bandits taking advantage of the fire. .

The 15-year-old Manzi has already seen countless lives and deaths, and he can face death with ease.

My father was in poor health, especially in troubled times where there was a lack of medical care and medicine, and he suffered from shortness of breath all the way.

There are dead bodies everywhere, screams everywhere, this is a society without kingly law, without any guarantee of life, this is a hell on earth where ghosts and wolves are constantly howling!

He, Han Manzi, is just a country boy under the age of 15, without any strong martial arts, and even his body is extremely thin.

In this troubled world, living is tens of thousands of times more difficult than dying!

But with him, only Daddy, Xiaomei, including himself survived.Among the chaotic army that encounters hundreds of people every day, it cannot but be said to be a miracle.

Because every time the rebel army's knife was about to hit the barbarian's head, everyone showed surprise on their faces, and then their eyes softened, and the knife never really fell on their own heads.

He saw that all the people who came out with him were hacked to death, but only Han Manzi himself, his father, and Xiaomei, who was two years younger than him, survived.

Xiaomei's family is also from Kuaiji. They also fled to Jiankang three years ago. They happened to be neighbors with Han Manzi and his father.

Xiaomei also likes to play with Brother Manzi, and the two children are also childhood sweethearts.

During the war in Jiankang, Xiaomei's father was killed. After the funeral, everyone wanted to go back to their hometown together, so they went together.

But Xiaomei's mother and several other villagers were hacked to death by the rebel army on the first day out of the city, and Xiaomei was safe and sound curled up in Manzi's brother's arms.

Every time the rebel army came, she would hide in Manzi's brother's arms, and Manzi's brother always hugged her bravely, stood in front of Uncle Han, and looked directly at the rebel army.

In many cases, the knife reached the top of Manzi's brother's head, but no one really cut it off.Every time Xiaomei closed her eyes in fright, but when she opened her eyes, they had already withdrawn.She didn't know why, but she knew that Brother Manzi's arms were the safest.

They have been on the road for more than half a month, almost every day during these half months, they will encounter countless brutal and defeated rebels, the road is full of dead bodies, it is really desolate and cold.

If there is no Brother Manzi, I don't know how many times they will die.

But this day they came to a point where they didn't have any food, and Uncle Han started a fever.

"Father, let's take a rest." Manzi said, looking at his father who was coughing like he was about to cough up his lungs.

"Well, okay, cough, cough..." He managed to say a few words, and coughed again uncontrollably.

Manzi looked up, there was a river beside the road, and there were some small forests beside the river, he motioned for Xiaomei to support her father, and walked to the forest to rest.

Xiaomei wiped off her sweat, and finally asked Manzi pitifully, "Brother Manzi, I'm so hungry. I haven't had a bite of food since yesterday. Where can we go for some food?"

"Xiaomei, let's go for a while. If there is a village in front, brother Manzi will go and beg for some food for you and Daddy." The boy comforted the little girl.

Looking up, there are many fleeing people lying in twos and threes in the small woods, but if you look carefully, all of them are yellow and thin, and there is a woman in her 20s next to her, holding a baby in her arms, because there is no milk. The baby was crying with hunger.

Manzi turned his gaze back to look at his father, who closed his eyes and wanted to rest but was still coughing profusely, and Xiaomei, who was tearful and hungry.

It had been three days, and they had already eaten all their food. Relying on the little food that the barbarian begged the day before yesterday, everyone ate something, but the three of them who only ate half a meal in three days really lost their strength.

In fact, a boy under the age of 15, a girl under the age of 13, and an adult who is seriously ill, without food or medicine, the three of them are really at the end of the road.

In the hearts of the barbarians, desolation and helplessness surged up, because they had really

There is no way out!

It's the end of the mountain!

A pair of men and horses slowly approached. Compared with the defeated rebel army these days, this team of soldiers and horses was very orderly.

Han Manzi watched from a distance, several young generals were riding tall horses, strutting forward, and hit a majestic, handsome and majestic man in the middle.

The man waved his hand, and a guard below shouted: "Stop moving forward, rest where you are." The barbarian listened carefully, and the guard's voice had the accent of his hometown.

The man in the middle got off his horse and walked directly to the side of the river, followed by several guards.The barbarian looked over, and the guard with his hometown accent hadn't followed, but took out some food and water from the saddle, as if he was going to give it to the leader.

Han Manzi couldn't help it, stood up, walked out from the shadow under the tree, and shouted: "Brother, please stay!"

Han Manzi, who was 14 years and ten months old, didn't know that his life had changed drastically since then.

~~~~~~ Note 1: The 15th of the historical record is 554, but I think that refers to the false age, and Han Zigao at this time should be only 553 years old. Another said that the two met in [-], but this book adopts The most important is the first statement that the two met in [-].This book is not strictly archaeological, not history, but a novel that conforms to history as much as possible.