AD 182, the fifth year of Emperor Guanghe's reign!
A great epidemic suddenly broke out across the world, killing three out of ten people and causing heavy casualties.
It was March, early spring.
The sun was blocked by thick clouds, and the hazy sky was dark, as if it had been covered with a dark veil.
The official road outside Jingzhou City is already covered with bones and corpses, and refugees who have been dead for many days can be seen everywhere.
Countless storks and mountain eagles pecked wildly in groups!
In a short time, only the bones of each dead body were left.
The world has turned into purgatory...!
Before the passers-by could approach, the birds chirped from the treetops, and the birds started up, spread their wings, and flew high. They stayed far away on the branches and neighed, staring closely at the corpse on the ground and unwilling to leave.
There were bursts of thunder in the sky, as if the gods high in the ninth heaven did not want to see this miserable situation and roared loudly.
The official roads of Jingzhou, where people used to come and go, are now no longer noisy and quiet.
Among the thorns, a red fox with its mouth full of blood lay on the ground, staring ahead with vigilance, as if facing a formidable enemy.
Following its gaze, there was a middle-aged man and three children standing on the road.
The eldest child is fifty-six out of ten, and the remaining two are eleven, twenty-three.
"teacher!"
After a long time, the elder of the three called softly to the middle-aged man beside him.
The man came back from his pity and looked at the three disciples.
The three of them were pale and their legs were shaking slightly. They were obviously frightened by the sight in front of them!
The person who spoke just now took a deep breath to calm himself down, looked at the middle-aged man and said softly: "Teacher, is this really our big man?"
The man let out a long sigh and glanced at the three disciples one by one.
Said: "Tao'er, the three of you have been living in my master's manor since you became my master. You have never walked in the world all year round. It is normal to not understand the sufferings of the people. What you see now is the current state of my Han Dynasty. The current situation is the real Han Dynasty."
"Now that the emperor is fatuous and the plague is rampant, my master is bringing you out this time, firstly, to let you experience some experience in the world, and secondly, to find a place to hide from the world."
"Let's go. It's not a good time to stay here. Keep on going."
The man said so and moved forward, followed closely by the three disciples, fearing that they would fall behind.
These four people are Mr. Shui Jing, Sima Hui, who is famous in later generations, and his eldest disciples Shi Tao, Shi Guangyuan, Pang Tong, Pang Shiyuan, and Xu Shu, Xu Yuanzhi. Of course, they are still too young now, they have no nicknames or reputations, and they are just children.
The four masters and apprentices headed east, and after two days of long journey, they finally stopped at a fork in the road.
Sima Hui looked around. Ahead was the dilapidated and uneven Jingzhou official road. On the left was a winding path that could be used by a rider. Only the right path was unusual.
The road is about three feet wide and covered with fine sand. Catalpa trees about one foot high are planted every five feet on both sides of the road.
This kind of road was the only one in the world during the Han Dynasty, and Sima Hui was fascinated by it for a while.
"Master, what's wrong here?"
As the eldest brother, Shi Guangyuan saw Sima Hui staring at a road intently and silently, so he stepped forward to ask.
Sima Hui came back to his senses and smiled slightly: "Three years ago, when I went to Yangzhou to visit friends as a teacher, I passed by here. At that time, a strong wind blew up and black clouds pressed down on the city. So I remember very clearly that there was nothing here at that time. But if you look at the road in front of you now, let alone Jingzhou, even the official road in Luoyang City does not have such a scale."
"With the world in turmoil and the people struggling to survive, who and for what purpose would spend countless manpower and material resources to build such a road in just one or two years, and it leads to deep mountains and old forests."
Hearing this, Shi Guangyuan looked at it carefully again, and then said: "Master, could it be that a wealthy family in Jingzhou moved their families to this deep mountain and old forest to escape the troubled times?"
Shi Guangyuan pointed to the messy ruts on the road and said, "Master, look, the ruts left on this road are intricate. This shows that carriages often come and go here."
Sima Hui smiled and said: "Haha, I have thought about this, but it is impossible. The wealthy people have been hiding from the world for a few years or a few months. They will not waste so much money to build such a road."
"Also, my teacher has taught you not to just look at things on the surface. You only look at the ruts but don't pay attention to the horseshoes on the road. Take a closer look. Each of the horseshoes on the road is as big as the mouth of a bowl. What is it? Only such a horse can leave such big hoofs. As far as I know, there has never been such a BMW horse in the world."
Hearing this, Shi Guangyuan took a closer look again. As Sima Hui said, he immediately said with a face of shame: "Master's lesson is that the disciple is careless. He must bear in mind Master's teachings in the future."
"Then Master, which way should we go now?"
Sima Hui said: "Just take the road on the right. I like to hunt for novels most in my life. Since I encounter something new, I will go and find out today."
After Sima Hui finished speaking, he stepped onto the luxurious avenue on the right. Every time he took a step, there was a crisp sound like a piece of music under his feet.
However, after walking for a while, the curiosity in his heart was completely extinguished, and his pace involuntarily slowed down.
Instead, there was a look of fear on his face and uneasiness in his heart.
Xu Shu and Pang Tong were still discussing intensely the scenery on the road and the origin of this road.
Only Shi Guangyuan noticed Sima Hui's strange behavior, stepped forward and asked in a low voice: "Teacher, is something wrong?"
Sima Hui kept walking and whispered back: "The sound of birdsong."
"The sound of birdsong?" These four simple words left Shi Guangyuan puzzled.
Just as he was about to ask, Sima Hui saw this and explained: "Listen carefully. Usually the chirping of birds in the mountains is chaotic, but the chirping of the birds in this mountain is not."
After Sima Hui's reminder, Shi Guangyuan listened and realized that it was indeed the case. Although these bird calls seemed chaotic, they had hidden patterns that were difficult to detect without careful attention.
Originally, when they just set off, the sound of birds began to chirp around them, but Sima Hui didn't pay attention to it and just regarded it as wild birds in the mountains.
However, after seeing a flock of birds startled in the mountains on both sides, he discovered this abnormality due to his cautious character.
At this moment, Shi Guangyuan also had a look of fear on his face, and his voice was trembling when he spoke!
"Old...teacher...!"
"Could it be that we broke into a restricted military area."
Thinking of this, this boy who was only fifteen or sixteen years old could no longer suppress the fear in his heart.
Breaking into a restricted military area by mistake was fatal in this era. If you were regarded as a trespasser, your head would be chopped off at any time.
Sima Hui shook his head!
"It's not like, if it were really a military restricted area, we would have been driven away or arrested when we first set foot on this road.
But now, the other party has clearly discovered us early, but has not taken any action and allows us to move forward. From this point of view, the other party does not look like an army. "
"Then...could it be that they are bandits...?"
Shi Guangyuan was even more panicked. Many people in this world couldn't survive and went to the top of the mountain to rob their homes.
"You two junior brothers, stop playing!"
Shi Guangyuan roared angrily and placed his hands on the long sword at his waist. Sima Hui grabbed the sword before he could pull it out.
"Don't move,"
"Teacher, I will protect you, let's get out."
"well……!"
When Sima Hui saw this, he let out a long sigh!
"Put your sword down and keep moving forward."
"Teacher, why...why is this?"
Shi Guangyuan was puzzled. Why did the teacher rush in even though he knew that there was a dragon's pond and a tiger's den ahead.
Seeing him like this, Sima Hui explained: "Now that the other party has discovered the four masters and disciples of us, although I don't know why the other party does not attack us, it is already too late to withdraw at this time. Let's continue walking."
