Qingzhou, Shi County.
This place is close to the Tianjue Pass and was occupied by Huang Tianjun a few years ago. However, as Huang Tianjun swept the world and almost overturned the unification, Huang Tianjun's control over this place continued to decrease, and it even existed in name only for a time. It was entangled with local roots. It was not until Huang Tianjun was defeated one after another and the main force retreated to Qingzhou that he regained control.
The gap of several years, coupled with the fact that Huang Tianjun killed countless powerful people in one attack, has allowed this place to recuperate and recuperate. Although wars are still going on now, this place is far away from the main battlefield, so it has not been affected. to here.
In a corner of Shi County, there is a blacksmith shop. The owner of the shop is a sturdy middle-aged man. There are no apprentices in the shop, only a girl helps. At first glance, they seem to be a father and daughter. Other than that , there is no trace of the hostess.
This era is full of turmoil, with the death of father, mother, wife, son... and countless other things.
However, from the fact that the girl is not as thin as a withered grass, but has a rosy complexion, and even has a little baby fat, it can be seen that the life of this family is not bad.
In turbulent times, gaining weight is a very luxurious thing.
"Dad, I heard this morning that the Taoist army was defeated in the Southern Wilderness, and my brother went out with the army. I'm afraid..."
The girl was adding firewood to the burning red stove and struggling to pull the bellows. After several attempts to speak, she finally couldn't help but whisper in a low voice, like a mosquito.
"Don't think wildly. Your brother is the apprentice of a great virtuous master. He will be protected by Huang Tian and he will be fine."
The middle-aged man, whose skin looked dark and red because he had been close to the fire all year round, frowned with a hint of reproach.
It's just that even he himself doesn't believe it, so he seems to have little confidence.
A few years ago, Huang Tian's army swept the world. At that time, everyone believed that Huang Tian came to the world and was invincible. But now, Huang Tian's army is retreating steadily, and even those mysterious Taoists have died one after another.
The disciples of a great sage and good teacher sound noble, but in fact, the great sage and good teacher is a man of education without distinction. He has countless disciples, but most of them are incompetent. Even if they have acquired Taoism, they can't achieve anything famous. Only a small number of elites are entrusted with important tasks.
As for the father and daughter, the father's name is Zhao Sheng. Because he was born prematurely and was very thin, he was given the name "生" in the hope that he could survive. Later, although there were no nutritional supplements, Zhao Sheng was still tenacious. Survived.
But there were many children in the family at that time, so when he was eight years old, he was sent out to work as an apprentice blacksmith in a big shop in the city.
This line of work is too hard and tiring, especially as an apprentice, being exhausted or beaten to death is commonplace, so let alone city people, even people in the village, unless they really can't survive, won't I am willing to let my children do this.
However, Zhao Sheng survived with difficulty and learned some skills. When he was sixteen years old, he even found a daughter-in-law.
The daughter-in-law was not very good-looking, but before her family fell into decline, she was from a well-educated family. But because of her family's decline, the woman had seen everything in the world, and saw that Mr. Zhao was hard-working and good-looking, so she married him. .
Later, with the help of his father-in-law's family, he directly opened a small shop of his own. He was not rich, but his life was good.
One year after his marriage, he had a son, whom his wife named Cheng, hoping that the child would be successful and famous. Two years later, he had a daughter, whom he named Xiang, hoping that the child would be more intelligent.
If nothing else happens, the family is harmonious and beautiful. Compared with most people in this era, life is already very good.
But as early as when Zhao Sheng was still an apprentice, the signs of troubled times had already appeared.
By the time Zhao Cheng was five years old, the world was in complete chaos.
First there was severe drought in many places, and then there were floods in many places.
The court provides disaster relief, but less than 1% of the money and food allocated actually falls into the hands of the victims.
A catastrophic disaster, except for the people, everyone made a lot of money.
As for food, those powerful people naturally have food, but they cannot distribute it to the victims. Instead, they use this to wildly raise the price of food so that the victims can sell their land at a low price, or even directly sell themselves into slavery.
In this case, after everything that can be sold is sold, the only option is to run away...
Their family was also affected. On the way to escape, his wife starved to death in order to save a bite of food for the children.
Further back, rebel armies emerged one after another from various places, but they were all small fights. No matter the Gonggun princes above or the powerful landlords below, they didn't think what the rebels would become.
Because too many similar things have happened over the years, and many times, in order not to be blamed for being unfavorable in disaster relief, the adults above would directly label the victims as rebels and strangle them with large armies.
As long as the victims of the disaster are gone, there will naturally be no disaster. As for the population, it is like grass. Once you cut one crop, there will be another crop. Even if you kill all the people in a state, it will take more than ten years at most for them to grow back.
But unexpectedly, this time it failed to go as the adults wished. A man named Huang Tiantao appeared. He led the victims, broke down the city gates, opened the granaries of the court and powerful people, and distributed the food to Everyone.
It was then that many people realized that the food was enough to eat, but they simply did not want to give it to them. Even if it was burned, it could not be given to the victims.
Then, the snowball snowballed bigger and bigger, until finally, the whole world turned against them.
The Zhao Sheng family was trapped in this way and went to many places. After they settled down a little, problems also appeared. In the early years when Huang Tianjun continued to win, everyone had something to eat. It was just a matter of more or less, so they would not go hungry. die.
But when Huang Tianjun fell into exhaustion, the food distributed became less and less. If he wanted more food, or even land and shops, he had to join the army and perform meritorious service...
Zhao Sheng originally planned to go by himself. He knew how to blacksmith, and it would not be difficult to become a blacksmith who repaired weapons in the army.
In the early years, Huang Tianjun had won successive victories. All weapons were readily available, and there was no need for a blacksmith, but now they were no longer needed.
But if he leaves, no one will take care of the child.
In a famine, relatives are either scattered or simply die. The children are still young, and the situation is turbulent. It is impossible to drag people to take care of them.
Under such circumstances, Zhao Cheng, who was twelve years old at the time, ran out and joined the army.
At the age of twelve, in this age where people can get married and have children at the age of fourteen, it is not uncommon for them to join the army at the age of twelve, but there is no doubt that compared to adults, half-year-old children are in a more difficult situation in the military camp.
