There were hardly any decent obstacles along the way. Most of the rout soldiers of the rebel army took off their armor and lost their weapons to find a place to hide for fear of being caught by the officers and soldiers after the battle. The rest of the fierce ones fled into the mountains. Although he was a bandit, he did not dare to attack the large cavalry. After Li Xiaoche escaped, he sent people to gather the defeated soldiers in Jinyang, and many of the rebels who really had nothing to eat also defected there.
When they came, they traveled day and night, and when they returned, Fang Xie ordered the team to line up, and let the cart walk in the middle of the team. There were cavalry on both sides, and the battle flag was also planted on the cart. From a distance, it looked like a ten thousand army. It was like a team of other people, so even if a small group of rebels and bandits and horse thieves found them, they would avoid them far away.
Fang Jie was in deep thought along the way, recalling what was hidden behind the short conversation with the emperor and the old man.
The emperor's performance was as close as ever, and this closeness warmed Fang Jie's heart when he was in Chang'an City. But now, he felt more and more that there was something cold behind this intimacy. Fang Jie felt a little bitter when he thought of the years since he left Fan Gu and went to Chang'an.
When he was in Fan Gu, he was a qualified imperial frontier soldier and a natural scout, because of his existence, all the horse thieves with a radius of hundreds of miles around Fan Gu suffered disaster. But he was inexplicably involved in Li Yuanshan's conspiracy, and almost became Wu Peisheng's funeral. Then when he entered Chang'an, he had never done anything wrong to the empire, and he never thought of doing it wrong, although Fang Jie didn't think he was a typical Sui person for a long time.
But now, it seems that everything he has experienced is tinged with mistrust.
The emperor used him to defend against him, so Fang Xie could understand. After all, he hasn't even figured out his own origin, how could the emperor not have doubts? To be honest, it is not easy for the emperor to do what he is doing now. Fang Xie even thought that if Li Yuan or Luo Yao were the emperor, and Yang Yi changed positions, he would be dead.
So Fang Jie didn't have any resentment in his heart, but was a little helpless.
The old man's words have been lingering in his mind, lingering. Fang Jie had vaguely guessed who the old man was, and every word he said struck Fang Jie's heart. He asked Fang Jie, have you forgotten how you came here? He said that every step you take is doomed to flow into rivers of blood. Could it be that he can really see through the secrets
Is it really arranged by God
Riding slowly on the horse, Fang Jie looked up at the sky.
It was like sitting on the low wall of a dilapidated farmer's yard on the way to escape many years ago, when he was still young and looked up at the sky, his expression was exactly the same, full of doubts. First of all, coming to this world itself is a mysterious and mysterious thing, which is beyond Fang Xie's cognition brought to him by the education he received in his previous life. Even in this world, it is difficult for people to accept it, let alone modern people
Then he was inexplicably involved in the Great Sui and Meng Yuan, Fozong, Luo Yao, these people and these forces.
So much so that he didn't know himself more and more, and couldn't see himself clearly. Especially what made him uncomfortable was that others seemed to know what he didn't even know. Fang Xie was sure that Luo Yao knew a lot, and he could guess some from the old man's words.
"gentlemen."
Fang Jie asked Zhuo Buyi beside him: "Do you know Wudang Master Zhang?"
Zhuo Buyi shook his head: "No one in the Jianghu dares to say that he knows Master Zhang... After all, in terms of age, he is at least a hundred years old. Almost no one of this generation in the Jianghu has ever met with Master Zhang, and they are just friends with him. Everyone has heard about it. Wudang Mountain has always acted in a low-key manner, and has never been as ostentatious as Qingle Mountain. My understanding of him is only from many rumors in the world."
"Tell me."
Fang Jie said, "I'm very interested."
Zhuo Buyi asked: "Do you think that person is Zhang Zhenren?"
"Seven or eight out of ten."
Fang Jie nodded.
"Why are you in the camp?"
Zhuo Buyi murmured, and then suddenly thought: "That's right... Emperor Doroyao's precautions are not only those hundreds of thousands of soldiers, but also Luo Yao's own cultivation. So it is reasonable to bring Daoist Zhang by his side." However, if it was really him, Luo Yao might not dare to take the risk, it's not that Luo Yao is not confident, but Luo Yao thinks it's not worth it."
"Um."
Fang Jie hummed: "That's why I'm curious about Zhang Zhenren. More than a hundred years ago, the most famous person in the Sui Dynasty was Wanjiantang Wanxingchen, and the most famous person in Jianghu a hundred years later was Qingleshan Xiao Yijiu. Zhang Zhenren is younger than Wan Xingchen and older than Xiao Yijiu according to grade, living between these two people has never been as famous as the two of them, this is a bit abnormal."
Zhuo Buyi said: "There are legends in the world that Zhang Zhenren used many names to conquer the world. Eighty years ago, Zhang Chuping swept the south of the Yangtze River with a sword; Zhang Liulu, who wiped out the thirteen gates north of the Yellow River, was short-lived and never heard of again, so some people attributed these names to Zhang Zhenren, but he himself never admitted it."
"Some people say that his real name is Zhang Fengshan, and some people say that his real name is Zhang Sanxiao. He is noncommittal, but because he lives in the Wudang Mountain Sanqingguan Yiyang Thatched Cottage, people also call him Zhang Yiyang."
Zhuo Buyi said: "But in the past forty years, there have been no more rumors about him. Wudang disciples all said that Daoist can't retreat, and they haven't asked about Jianghu for a long time. So people have gradually forgotten this name, and even ignored it. There is still such an old monster alive in the Great Sui Jianghu."
Fang Jie asked: "In your opinion, how does Zhang Zhenren compare with Xiao Yijiu?"
"Not good to comment."
Zhuo Buyi shook his head: "Some people say that Zhang Zhenren is better, but because he hasn't shown his face in the arena for a long time, this view has been ridiculed by more people. Xiao Yijiu's big week... is very strong."
Fang Jie nodded: "No matter what, there is Zhang Zhenren by the emperor's side..."
In the middle of saying this, he suddenly thought of something, and his face changed slightly: "The emperor... is just waiting for Luo Yao to kill him."
Zhuo Buyi also understood, and couldn't help but sighed: "Meng Yuan people stabbed Luo Yao from the back, Luo Yao must be furious, maybe he would kill the emperor in a fit of anger, and the emperor is with him. There must be more than one Daoist Zhang, the emperor still wanted to use himself as a bait to solve the civil strife in the Sui Dynasty as much as he could, and he didn't want to leave hidden dangers for the prince."
"There is a premise."
Fang Jie said: "Will Luo Yao really go to kill the emperor just because the Mengyuan people used force against him?"
"Maybe there is another reason we can't consider."
Zhuo Buyi said: "So that Luo Yao has to go."
"You want to go back?"
he asks.
Fang Jie was silent for a while and shook his head: "I won't go back. If the emperor hadn't guessed that Luo Yao would go, he wouldn't have let me leave in such a hurry. He just wanted to keep me and serve the prince..."
…
…
After marching for nearly a month, the team returned to Fangu. Along the way, the cavalry was relieved to deal with some bandits who were causing trouble. The soldiers treated the bandits as if they were hunting. They were not fighting but slaughtering those remnants. When we returned to Fangu, the weather had already warmed up a lot. Along the way, Xie saw the victims of disasters opening up wasteland, and his heart was particularly sad. The seeds planted by these victims may be the food they starved to death, because Li Yuanshan has already been defeated, and the people came out of their hiding places and prepared to rebuild their homes.
They expect that after autumn, there will be some production of these grains, and the days can continue.
But even if it is coarse grains with the shortest planting cycle, it is unknown how many people will starve to death in the past few months.
What they planted is not only hope, but also life.
Because there is no shortage of food in the cottage, the food that was robbed of the rebel army's West Camp is enough for the army to last for a long time. So along the way, Xie left the food and grass brought from the Sui army's camp to eat enough along the way, and distributed the rest to the people along the way. Although everyone doesn't get much, at least it gives some weight to their hopes. These people who have experienced the disaster of war will also be grateful for such a small help.
What Fang Jie didn't know and didn't think about was that his name gradually spread among the victims because of this seemingly insignificant act of kindness.
A gentleman named Xiao Fang came to the capital, who loved the people like a son.
If Fang Xie knew, he would feel ashamed.
Fang Jie only found out when he returned to Fan Gu, or because the news of Li Ni's defeat spread, the victims of the disaster came out one after another to find a place where the officers and soldiers were stationed. They just thought it would give them a sense of security. Around Fan Gu, the dilapidated villages have been reorganized and inhabited by people. The men went to the mountains to hunt together to make a living, and the women cleaned the dilapidated houses and then went to open up wasteland.
Fang Jie appreciated that Sun Kaidao had seen far enough. On the day he returned to Fan Gu, Fang Jie saw a long queue outside Fan Gu City. Those people who came to receive the seeds were registered according to their household registration, and each household was given 15 catties of seeds. If they were diligent, they would open up wasteland and plant them, and they could lay down some coarse grains to cope with the long winter.
This is not a big investment, but it can get the support of many people.
When I saw the officers and soldiers entering the city, the people in line spontaneously moved out of the way. Everyone had a kind smile on their faces, and their eyes were full of intimacy and respect. Fang Jie was not angry at Sun Kaidao's self-assessment. In the cottage, only half a month's consumption of the army was enough to meet the needs of these people for seeds, and these people were reluctant to take the fifteen catties of seeds from each household. to eat.
When he was about to enter the city, Fang Jie suddenly noticed some commotion ahead, he urged his horse forward, looked carefully and found that the people in line were making trouble, Chen Xiaoru just wanted to order people to restrain the order, but Fang Jie waved his hand to stop it.
It was dozens of people beating three men, and the beaten man was crying and begging. But the beating people didn't intend to stop, and they almost didn't even have the strength to call for help after beating those people. The strange thing is that there is such a long queue, and other people just watched that no one cared about it, but many people applauded.
"You bastard! You should be killed!"
A man in shabby clothes kicked fiercely while cursing: "General Fang is merciful, and the purpose of distributing 15 catties of seeds to each household is so that we can survive the next winter! You scum received the seeds yesterday. I cooked and ate when I went back, and I came here again today! Beast! If you take one portion away, others will lose one portion, and then one more family will not be able to survive the winter and starve to death!"
"Kill him! Such a bitch!"
During the tearing, a person who was beaten suddenly revealed the khaki uniform under the worn clothes, which was the clothes of the rebels. When seeing this scene, the crowd immediately boiled.
"kill him!"
"kill him!"
"This group of scum dares to sneak in to get food and beat him to death!"
The angry crowd rushed up, punching and kicking.
Fang Jie didn't send anyone to stop them, but just quietly watched the people beat the three people to death. The body was dragged and thrown on the side of the road, beyond recognition. I don't know how many people spit on the corpse before leaving, and the khaki uniform was torn to pieces.
After venting their anger, the victims returned to the side of the official road and continued to line up, returning to their original positions, but no one argued because of it.
Fang Jie urged the horse to continue forward, feeling hard to calm down.