Xiao Chen and his party spent the night and had a good meal, and soon arrived at Gaojiazhuang in Weizhou County. This is the hometown of the three Diao brothers. In fact, they are all orphans. No one knows their original place of origin. They just grew up here. He regarded this place as his hometown.
Over the years of wars and natural disasters, the people of Weizhou County were either recruited to fight and died, or were recruited as civilian laborers to die of exhaustion, or were unable to escape natural disasters and died of illness, or were starved to death due to lack of food... There were thousands of people in the Han Dynasty. Gaojiazhuang, which has the largest population, now only has a few dozen people left...
Originally, the weather had been good and the grain harvest had been good in the past few years, but due to the decline in the population of Weizhou County, large areas of land were left uncultivated and became barren. Even the little grain that was managed to be harvested was mostly confiscated by the government and left in the hands of the people. Yes, I can only barely feed myself.
Therefore, no matter the rise or fall of dynasties, the people who suffer the most hardships will always be the people at the bottom.
"What the hell, this place is not even as good as Myanmar. He, Li Wanjiang, thinks he is some kind of heroic lord. He is just bullshit!" The fat man saw the ruins of the village from a distance, and his eyes were desolate. He couldn't help but cursed Li Wanjiang.
"This is true all over the world." Tang Fan said, "I see that Minzhou is not much better than here. Even in Jiangnan and Jiangdong, there are still people who are displaced and have no food to eat."
"Yan Yun is not like that." Ling'er said silently.
"Haha, I'm afraid it's the same, but you're all so high up that you can't see it." Tang Fan said coldly.
"There must be things that are invisible." Xiao Chen said, "But it is visible here, but we can only watch and there is nothing we can do."
"Yanyun County is really good." Diao Wuchi said, "Anyway, as far as I can see, the people are living a good life. At least every household has a surplus of food. There are schools in every village, but I haven't seen a single person." I didn’t believe that a refugee died of hunger before, but when I came back and told my two brothers, they didn’t believe it either.”
Several people talked about it and arrived at a fenced courtyard to the east of the village. The courtyard was not big and there were only three thatched houses in it. The three famous Diao brothers used to live in this kind of place. It would be difficult to see it with one's own eyes. Confidence.
"Fifth brother, are you back? These friends are..." A middle-aged man wearing a tattered cotton-padded jacket came over carrying two bundles of dry firewood. He was very happy to see Diao Wuchi, showing a simple and honest smile.
"Third brother, let me introduce to you, this is Xiao Chen, yes, that Xiao Chen, this fat man is Shangguan Qiji, this is Tang Fan, this is Ling'er, this is Xiao Ye..." Diao Wu Chi introduced it, took the dry firewood, picked it up and put it away in the courtyard.
"Oh, these are really rare guests!" Diao Sanchi was overjoyed and hurriedly greeted everyone, but then frowned, "It's just that there are so many friends coming, but there is nothing to entertain guests at home, like this What can I do?"
"Brother Sanchi, don't be polite, but we are really hungry after coming all the way. No matter what we have, we won't pick anything, as long as we can fill our stomachs." Xiao Chen said with a smile.
"That's what I say, but it's not the way to treat guests. I still have some scraps of silver here. Go to Gao Lao'er's house in the village and buy two fat chickens. Gao Mazi's house has last year's shochu, so buy one too. Here comes the jar." Diao Wuchi fished out a small piece of silver from his arms for a long time and handed it to Diao Wuchi carefully, "Take it carefully and don't lose it."
"I'm not a kid anymore!" Diao Wuchi took the money and said with a smile, "Third brother, why don't you sit with them and I'll come over?"
Ling'er and Xiao Ye followed Diao Wuchi. Here, Diao Sanchi invited Xiao Chen, Fatty Tang Fan, to come into the house. The house was extremely simple, except for a stove, a wooden table, and a few broken chairs. , almost nothing else.
"Third brother, why do you live in such poverty?" Xiao Chen asked curiously.
"We three brothers have no abilities. According to the rules of the sect, we cannot farm, hunt, raise livestock, or do business. We usually rely on people's fortune-telling and divination to make a living. Who can do that these days? Are you here to tell your fortune? Even if you calculate it, it will be a hard life! My second brother is ill in bed again, so he has no choice but to chop some firewood and sell it in the city."
The rules of the Maoshan disciples are so strict, much stricter than those of the Ouyang family and the Shangguan family.
"Third brother, who is here?" Suddenly a weak voice sounded from the back room.
"Second brother, these are some friends brought by fifth brother. Can you see them?" Diao Sanchi asked.
"Oh, how can I meet people like this now? Let's forget it. You two can just entertain me." Diao Erchi spoke weakly.
"Isn't that right, Brother Erchi, are you so arrogant?" The fat man yelled, scratching his neck, "How come the first-grade eunuch of the dynasty, the second-grade governor of Yanyun, and Mr. Xiao Chenxiao came to see you in person, and you refused to show your favor? And you don’t give face to me, Shangguan Qiji? And you also turn away the disciples of the Tang Sect?”
"Ah? Not really?" Diao Erchi inside was obviously surprised when he heard this, "Sanchi, why are you still standing there stunned? Please invite some people in quickly!"
Now that Diao Sanchi came in, he saw that the back room was even narrower and cramped, without even a window. It was dark inside in broad daylight. Lying on a cast-iron bed was a scrawny, bearded middle-aged man. This was the name. The world-shaking Diao Erchi.
The fact that a well-known figure in the world would fall into such a situation made both Fatty and Tang Fan deeply moved.
Xiao Chen came closer and took a closer look, and saw that although he looked weak and weak, his eyes were kind and powerful, looking like a sick tiger.
"How can I be so virtuous as to dare you to trouble me?" Diao Erchi suddenly chuckled, "It seems that today is the day when I am destined to return to the west."
"Hahaha, Diao Erchi, a man with so much arrogance and iron bones, can actually say such depressing words?" the fat man said with a smile.
"Brother Erchi, why are you still afraid of death?" Tang Fan asked.
"Haha, I'm not afraid of living, how can I be afraid of death?" Diao Erchi said, "It's just that I'm not willing to die."
"Brother Erchi, how did you know you were going to die today?" Xiao Chen asked, "Did you calculate it?"
"We Maoshan disciples can't calculate our own destiny... But when I came down the mountain, the master once said that when I saw the Five Dragon Spirits Gathering and Gan Duan Kun Ni's people, it would be the day of my death. If I hadn't seen If you're wrong, Brother Xiao, you are the one." But it turned out that Diao Erchi could see Xiao Chen's supernatural physique at a glance.
"Brother Erchi has really good eyesight." Xiao Chen said, "That's right, I am this guy. I'm here to give you a lift, brother."
"You have work to do." Diao Erchi said with a grin, "Brother Xiao, you, the Shangguan family, and the disciples of the Tang family are here to see you off. It seems that even if I don't want to die, I can't... When I'm dying, I don't want anything else, just I want to take a sip of soju."
"You're like this, how can you still get up and drink?" the fat man said with a smile.
"As long as you have wine, you can get up even if you crawl." Diao Erchi said and struggled to get up.
There was only a muffled snapping sound, but pieces of rotten flesh from his legs fell to the ground, instantly revealing the white bones...
