Jiacheng nine years
It was rainy and rainy that year, there was water everywhere, and everything was wet.
An incident happened that year that changed the fate of Xiang Long and Zhang Shifu.
One of the two rose from the prefect to the prefect, and the other climbed all the way from the prefect to the governor of a province.
But it is such a thing, but it is the top of others' struggle for a lifetime.
That year was also the year that the two of them were the least willing to look back. Every time they recalled it, they were terrified.
The turbid flood, as high as a mountain, spewed out like that, mixed with twigs and stones, and they were standing on a hillside not far from the flood.
There were mourning and swollen corpses everywhere, crying, shouting, and the rumbling sound of running water...
A large shadow flashed from the eyes of the two of them, and as one woke up, the other also woke up.
"Sir!" Zhang Shifu felt thirsty for a while, but couldn't help but moisten his lips, his face almost begging: "Just this time, the last time."
Xiang Long looked at him, at this seemingly humble and lowly man, but in fact he was greedy and insatiable.
If his eyes could be materialized, Zhang Shifu would probably be stabbed to death by an eye knife. Xiang Rong sneered: "How can this officer believe you? You said it for the last time last time. How long has it been since you regretted it?"
Zhang Shifu didn't even look at him, he just lowered his head and muttered: "Xiaguan really can't do anything, otherwise he wouldn't have come to ask your lord. It's the last time you believe in your lord. Xiaoguan, I don't dare to try to test your bottom line, It's the last time."
"You'd better remember what you said! Go back, someone will find you in two days." After saying this, Xiang Long retracted his gaze and lay there quietly.
Zhang Shifu was overjoyed at first, but this unusual quietness made him feel uneasy.
But after thinking about it, he still felt that Xiang Rong would not dare to take him. You must know that he has left behind, and it is because of this backhand that Xiang Long has never dared to touch him, so as not to be like...
Zhang Shifu couldn't help shivering, and he knew that Xiang Long was cruel, and told himself again that this was the last time.
After Zhang Shifu was led down, Xiang Rong called someone.
"... find some victims, and when he leaves Kaifeng..."
Xue Tingxiang arranged everything that should be arranged, and just waited to sit and watch the play, so these two days were quite leisurely.
Seeing Hu San coming in from outside, he asked curiously, "What are you doing these two days, why is it so mysterious?"
Hu San's eyes flashed and he said, "Sir, what are you busy with?"
Apart from Zhao'er, Hu San is the person Xue Tingxiang knows best.
Seeing him like this, he knew that Hu San had lied. It's not that Hu San showed any flaws, but that Xue Tingxiang was too familiar with Hu San.
"Really nothing?"
"There are really no adults..."
Compared with Xue Tingxiang's familiarity with Hu San, Hu San is also not like him. As soon as he saw the eyes of the adults, Hu San knew that he had not lied to the other party.
He sighed dejectedly, and said, "Actually, there is something..." He paused, and then said somewhat complicatedly, "I met an acquaintance in Kaifeng."
Xue Tingxiang said with a shudder: "enemies?"
Hu San nodded, with a look of hatred in his eyes: "Sir, do you still remember what my subordinate told you back then, my father and the magistrate of Yucheng County are on good terms, unfortunately..."
After listening, Xue Tingxiang touched his chin: "It's really a chance meeting, it's not that enemies don't get together. Then what are you going to do?"
Hu San didn't hide it from him, and clenched his fists: "He will leave Kaifeng Mansion soon, I'm going halfway..."
"Are you going to kill him halfway? He travels with a prefect, and now it's so chaotic outside, at least there are dozens of people in his entourage. Can you beat dozens of people by yourself?" Xue Tingxiang interrupted.
Hu San was stunned for a moment: "Subordinates, subordinates will find a way. Don't worry, my lord, subordinates will not implicate you..."
"Okay, don't talk about being implicated, you have helped me a lot over the years. I promised to help you avenge at the beginning, although the target has changed now, but if you make good use of it, it is not impossible... "
The sky was dark, and the east was just a touch of fish belly white, and a group of motorcades quietly left from Kaifeng City.
Zhang Shifu waited for two more days in Kaifeng, and then he got what he wanted.
This time, he first brought back 5,000 stone of food for emergency, and then someone would send the remaining food to the Guide House. Now he can finally feel at ease.
The food was escorted by the more than twenty yamen he brought, and more than ten of his entourage. Now there is chaos outside, and there is no one to protect him, and he does not dare to walk outside.
Kaifeng Mansion is not far from Guide Mansion. The two mansions are next to each other. If you don't bring food, you can arrive in two days. Now you have to travel for at least five or six days.
On this day, when it was almost noon, there was no shadow of the inn.
Now that the outside is messy, the tea houses along the official road have long been closed, and there are only post stations where you can take a break. However, before they came, this was the road they took, and they were familiar with the road. When the sun moved overhead, the convoy stopped, ready to take a break and eat some dry food before leaving.
The yamen officers leaned against the car in twos and threes, using the car to block the sun.
Zhang Shifu was sitting on the carriage, and his dozen or so entourages surrounded the carriage.
The surroundings were quiet, and the sun made people dizzy. It was inevitable to hold a water bag to fill the water, but there was not much water left.
In this day, let alone people, even horses are restless.
After a short rest, the group planned to set off again, but at this time something went wrong.
A few disaster victims came from nowhere. First, they looked at them with green eyes, and then two people ran away, leaving two behind to stop the car begging for food.
"Master Guan, please do it, it's been many days since you have eaten..."
The victim was scrawny, and while blocking the car, he stared at the car with bony eyes. Even though the cart was covered with straw mats, the blind knew that it must be food.
"Go away, we are the officers and soldiers who were instructed to escort the disaster relief food back to the Defu. If you are blind, you dare to stop our car, and if you don't leave, we will punish you for the crime of looting the disaster relief food. It's time to raid your house and behead your family. I can't keep my son."
I have to say that this yaman is a bit stupid, probably because he has been hiding in the Guide Mansion for too long, and he doesn't know what age he is outside.
The drought this time was so large and wide-ranging that although it did not kill all people of thirst, people had no water to find water to drink, and if crops lacked water, they could only die from the drought.
The water in the paddy fields has long since dried up, and the water in the river is only a shallow depression, which is not enough to water the land. When it comes to heading, there is no water to irrigate, and the rice ear grows so small and thin that there is almost no harvest.
Every time there is a severe drought, it must be accompanied by a locust plague.
Everything that can be eaten has been eaten clean, and those who have not eaten before can still eat some weeds or something, but now they can only eat the bark, and many people starve to death. Let alone beheading, in front of someone who is about to starve to death, even if he kills him immediately, he will be a full-fledged ghost.
Therefore, after the victim was threatened by the yamen, not only was he not afraid, but he shouted as if he had been beaten with blood.
"There is food, there is food here."
With the screams of the victims, many victims ran out from behind the surrounding soil slopes in an instant.
Scattered and scattered, there are hundreds of people.
"You, what are you trying to do!"
"Grab, with these grains, we don't have to die!"
After all, the yamen are not soldiers, there are very few people who are looking for blood, and the sword on his waist is just a decoration.
Most of the deterrence, very little hands.
Ordinary people just heard the word "official" and were so frightened that they didn't need to do it themselves.
That is, for a moment of hesitation, everyone was shoved to the ground, and then they stepped over with messy footsteps.
For a while, panic sounds, screams, and the neighing of horses mingled together, opening a chaotic chapter.
"What are you doing to protect the food, why don't you protect the master!" Zhang Shifu shouted in the carriage.
His entourage wanted to drive the carriage away, but unfortunately the horse was frightened and refused to obey. It was only a matter of seconds before some victims climbed into the carriage, thinking that there was something good hidden in the carriage.
"Hack them for me! Hack them!"
Only then did someone wake up like a dream, but the victims are not vegetarians, and they beat each other very fiercely. Broken throat.
Blood splattered all over the faces of the victims, like a ghost in hell.
The victims who saw the blood were even more excited, and while shouting to kill them, they grabbed knives with the yamen. At this time, the horse was also frightened, and raised its hooves frantically, trying to escape.
Zhang Shifu was thrown from the carriage, fell to the ground, and rolled several bones.
He didn't catch his breath, almost didn't pass.
At this time, there was also a change in the field, and some people ran away in fear of the ferocity of these victims.
One person ran away, so more people ran away. Zhang Shifu was actually thrown on the ground and no one asked.
When the victims saw these people running away, they went to grab the food on the truck.
Two people didn't go, but took knives and walked towards Zhang Shifu, who seemed to have broken his legs.
"You, what do you want to do?"
"Send you to the West!"
The two showed a wicked smile, and raised their knives and swung over.
Zhang Shifu suddenly had a clear understanding in his heart, it was not the victims of the disaster, but someone harmed him, but unfortunately it was too late.
He only felt a pain in his chest, and his eyes darkened.
When Zhang Shifu woke up again, he was awakened by pain.
He was confused for a long time, only to realize that he seemed to be in a ruined temple.
There was a man sitting beside him who was burning fire. He wanted to sit up but couldn't, so he could only let out a pained cry and fell back again.
"you're awake?"
The person came over, Zhang Shifu always felt that this person was a little familiar, and then he remembered that he seemed to have seen this person in the government envoy Yamen two days ago.
It was the blind and lame man with scarred face.
"You saved me?" he asked in a daze.
"Actually, I don't want to save you either, but I have something to ask you, so you have to live temporarily."
"you-"
"What? Uncle Zhang, don't you remember me? I'm Maosheng."
Zhang Shifu's brain exploded with a bang.
…
"Uncle Zhang, why do you think I'm not as good as my eldest brother and the second brother? Dad doesn't like me."
"Everyone has their own talents. Maosheng doesn't like reading, so stop reading and do what he likes."
"But my father said that all things are inferior, only reading is high."
"This… "
"My father also said that if he studied hard with you back then, he wouldn't be a river news officer now, and you wouldn't be a master bookkeeper, but a master."
At that time, he was not yet a county magistrate, but a master clerk who made a move for the master.
He was able to sit in this position because he had a reputation as a scholar, and the Zhang family had some connections in the local area, and the family spent money to donate a supervisor to him.
Hu Zhengyan couldn't study well, so the Hu family asked for a relationship and found him an errand as an officer in the river.
The two families are considered family friends, and they are in the same county. This sesame-sized official has been for many years.
During this period, the two supported each other and exerted each other's strength. Hu Zhengyan's river information officer came to an end, but he gradually rose from the master to the county magistrate.
The three children of the Hu family, the eldest and the second read well, but Zhang Shifu likes the third Hu Maosheng.
For this reason, Hu Zhengyan was even advised not to force Hu Maosheng, who did not like reading, to read. Knowing that he likes to dance with knives and guns, he also dedicated his efforts to find a martial arts master for him.
It should have been so good all the time, but I don't know how he was fascinated and heard the surname Xiang.
He originally planned to use it to deceive, but Hu Zhengyan was too smart, and half of things were done by him. He questioned himself, he didn't know how to answer, and the surnamed Xiang took the Hu family as a threat, forcing Hu Zhengyan to lead people to dig the river bank in Yucheng County.
It was raining heavily that night, and Hu Zhengyan refused to obey. The surnamed Xiang was most likely blushing, so he had Hu Zhengyan killed and turned around and ordered the coerced river workers to dig embankments.
He was stunned at the time, and when he reacted, it was the flood that burst the dyke, and he ran with Xiang Long and his group in a hurry, only to save his life.
Now that the killing has started, it cannot be a single person. Apart from Hu Zhengyan and the dozen or so innocent river workers, the Hu family has not escaped the evil hands.
Only Hu Maosheng ran out, but at that time he was too injured and fell into the water again, he thought he was dead.
…
Over the years, Zhang Shifu had already forgotten about this, what he had done, and the child he once loved the most.
But he never expected that the sentence 'I am Maosheng' would remind him of the past.
His heart hurt like a knife, and it was so painful that he couldn't breathe.
This kind of pain was extremely unfamiliar to him, even when the incident happened, he had never experienced such pain.
By the way, what was he doing then
The surnamed Xiang went back on his word and killed people, and he was afraid that he would also be murdered. He worried about his own life every day. He was careful about dealing with his surname Xiang, and he pretended to be a good person to set up a tomb for the Hu family. After that happened again, he couldn't remember the Hu family at all. to remember what I did...
Zhang Shifu coughed violently, while coughing, a lot of blood poured out of his mouth at the same time.
"... Those people are not human. In order to destroy the corpses, they killed people and threw them into the water... I wanted to find you and your father, but I never found them... "
Hu San clenched his fists tightly, his face tensed, but he couldn't stop his twitching flesh: "Okay, you don't have to pretend to be a good person and justify yourself. My Hu family has dozens of mouths. My sister-in-law just gave birth to my little nephew, and my second brother just passed the exam, all of which were ruined by you, ruined..."
Zhang Shifu suddenly laughed, as if he was laughing and at the same time crying: "...I didn't defend myself. Maosheng, your aunt and your brother Furong are gone, and your newborn nephew..."