Boom –

The rain was falling, and lightning streaked across the gloomy sky.

In early summer, the mountains around Luliang and Hengshan have been shrouded in heavy rain, and the mountains are covered in gray heavy rain.

A group of figures, seemingly small, slowly walked through the heavy rain halfway up the mountain.

The road between the mountains near the main vein of Luliang is difficult to navigate, and there is no road at all in many places. At this time, the procession in the mountains consisted of about thirty or forty people, most of whom carried burdens, all of them were dressed in robes, and the burdens were heavy, which looked like a caravan in the past.

The northwest is desolate and the people are fierce, but during the period of the Western Army's defense, there is a way to go after all. At the beginning, in order to raise grain from the border passes, the method adopted by the imperial court was to let the border people take the initiative to send the grain they wanted to pay every year to the army barracks, so the northwest places, the travel was quite convenient, but now, the Xixia people have come back, and they have broken several big cities guarded by the original planting army, and there have even been several massacres, and the external situation has become complicated.

Qin Youshi is the leader of this team, he was originally a merchant in the northwest of Pingyang, and at the end of last year, he went to the security army to sell winter clothes, and by the way, he brought some valuables such as illegal salt, and prepared to go to the border to exchange some goods and come back. Although the heavy snow began to close the mountain, there was a war in the east, and he could not walk, and he was stranded in nearby villages for several months, and the situation in the entire northwest was already a mess.

The war spread and expanded, and not long ago, Qin Youshi heard that the great commander of the seed was coming back, but he still lost to the kidnapping horse of Western Xia. The Western army was scattered, and the Tanguts were wreaking havoc everywhere, and he saw many people who fled after the city was broken, and after inquiring for a while, he finally decided to venture eastward.

The Central Plains is already in shambles. It is said that the Jurchens broke the city of Bianliang and raged for several months, the capital was no longer the same, and the Xixia people pushed over Hengshan again, and the world was about to have a big change. Although most of the refugees began to flee to the west and south, Qin Youshi and others couldn't. Although Pingyang, Gengzhou and other places are in the east, the Western Xia people have not yet killed them there.

Their families are still there.

The land of the four wars in the northwest, but since the Western Army became strong, the place where they are located has been peaceful for many years. Now that the Tangut people are coming, they don't know how they will treat the local people, whether they are fleeing or being obedient, in short, they have to go back to reunite with their families first.

The Western Xia army broke through Qingjian, Yanzhou and other places. At this time, it has begun to threaten the surroundings, but after all, the northwest is not a small place, and the Xixia people can't control all the territory now, when the snow melts and the ice disappears, there are more people who begin to flee from their places of residence on a large scale, and there are people who go to the south to the north and to the east and west, Qin Youshi inquired, and began to travel east with a lot of goods and the guys of the Chamber of Commerce who were tuned in winter. At this time, there were already many Western Xia troops active in the east. The group dodged and dodged, slowly. Later, I wanted to venture into the mountains that were difficult to travel. Only then did I meet the two strange young men at the front of the line.

From the beginning, the northwest is deeply affected by the Western Army, especially the Chongjiaze, and the men in the northwest are grateful for their kindness and have a lot of backbone. When the army came, Qingjian City, Yanzhou City and other places had fierce fighting and resistance. Although it was to no avail in the end, even when the army was routed and the displaced people were scattered, there were many righteous people who organized themselves and wanted to fight with the Western Xia army.

So this winter. Among the fleeing refugees, there are also many rumors and stories of righteous martyrs, who and who died in the fight with the Western Xia Bu on the way to escape, who is unwilling to flee and die with the city, or who and who gathered hundreds of heroes to fight against the Western Xia people. These rumors may be true or false, and one of them is quite strange.

It is said that after Qingjian and Yanzhou were broken, the displaced people were scattered, and the Western Xia soldiers chased and looted all the way, but one army came out of the mountains to cover the refugees to escape. In the winter when the mountains are covered by heavy snowfall, they even help some refugees who have no property at home by sending some food for them to escape. In fact, it's not surprising that the Diaspora or the Green Forest Righteous do these things, and the strange thing about this team is that they make people write two words.

After this team rescued people, it was said that they would tell people some messy things, which probably meant that everyone was a Chinese citizen and should help each other. This sentence is dignified and upright, and it is nothing, but after that, they often take out a notebook and ask people to write down the word "Huaxia", it doesn't matter if they can't, they will also teach people to write these two words.

Imagine that after the city was broken, on the snowy mountains, the army rescued the refugees, and then asked them to write two words on the snow with a tree branch - how strange is this scene. But the rumors in the world are like this, vague and unclear, and in such an environment, people talk a lot of nonsense, and they are often inaccurate. Qin Youshi vaguely heard this story twice, and put it behind him as something that others said nonsense, although he later heard some versions, such as that this army is a rebel army of the Wu Dynasty, this army is a family lineage, a family general, etc., etc., and so on, he basically didn't bother to study it deeply.

But when they were about to enter the mountain, they accidentally joined up with a group of refugees, and two people saw that they were inquiring about the road in the mountain, and they came to them, saying that they could show them the way. It's not the first time that Qin Youshi has walked outside, and he still understands the truth of being courteous or thief, but during the conversation, the young man led by the two actually asked: "Are you literate?" Can you write the word Huaxia? ”

Qin Youshi immediately remembered the rumor.

At that time, the Xixia people were blocking the surrounding roads, Qin Youshi did not have many choices after all, although he did not agree verbally, but after entering the mountain, the two sides still met. The group of people under Qin Youshi were also men walking in the northwest, most of them were armed with weapons, he made everyone vigilant, and contacted each other a few times before the two sides walked together.

For Qin Youshi, this is also a gamble in desperation, if he wants to go home, and there is no guide for a while, after all, he can't go around in this barren mountain for a few months. He recalled those rumors, and felt that these two people did not look like the kind of strongmen who led people into the mountains and then seized wealth, and after a conversation, he learned that the other party also had the background of Aoki Village.

Luliang Qingmu Village is still somewhat famous among the merchants in the northwest region. But the young man at the head of the two seemed to be a foreigner, this person's name was Zhuo Xiaofeng, he was carrying a big knife, and he was usually kind and talkative. Combined with a few words, I recalled some trivial rumors I had heard. In Qin Youshi's heart, he organized some clues.

In the second half of last year, there were anti-thieves and murders, and there was a rebellion, although there was no major impact in the northwest, but it seems that this army entered this mountain. It seems that they also came out in winter, fought with the Western Xia army a few times, and saved some people. Knowing this, Qin Youshi was somewhat relieved, Ping Suli heard that he might still be a little afraid of killing the king and the thief, but he was not very afraid at this time.

The two sides walked all the way, and the man from Qingmu Village walked in front with a young man named Zhuo Xiaofeng as a guide, and Qin Youshi followed and talked on the side. This is the most desolate section of the junction of the western vein of Luliang Mountain and Hengshan. The mountain is rugged, and it is raining heavily, which is even more difficult to walk, when the group walked to this wild ridge, Qin Youshi squinted his eyes and looked at the opposite side of the mountain stream, only to see that although the mountain is not easy to walk, it vaguely seems to have a path through, which is much better than this side.

Qin Youshi became vigilant in his heart. Looking over there, he asked tentatively, "There seems to be a path on the other side." The guide of Aoki Village also nodded calmly: "Hmm." It was closer. "Then why ......?"

"I fought with the Tanguts before." Zhuo Xiaofeng replied, stretched out his finger and pointed to the front and back of the mountain road, "A few months ago, the Western Xia Bu Trek chased and killed here, and the army blew up those two ends, and the snow on the mountain fell. The stream below is full of corpses, and now the mountains are loose and unsafe. ”

Qin Youshi was shocked in his heart: "Western Xia people? ”

"Xixia is very difficult to deal with." Zhuo Xiaofeng nodded. Qin Youshi looked at the hazy mountain in the rainstorm, and there were indeed traces of new movement in the distance. I looked down the mountain stream again, and I saw the water roaring through the torrential rain, and I couldn't see it clearly.

In this area, the Western army and the Tangut people fought from time to time, and most of the well-informed people knew about the army of the Tangut people. The Iron Harrier rushed into battle without paralleling in the world, but in the mountains of the northwest, the most feared thing was the elite infantry of Western Xia, these infantry were selected from the mountain people, and they walked through the mountains and mountains as if walking on flat ground. On the way to escape, refugees may be able to hide in the mountains if they encounter an iron harrier, but if they encounter a trek, they will not be able to run anywhere. And their combat strength is not much compared with the original Western Army, at this time the Western Army has been dispersed, and on the northwest land, there is no one to control the foot.

Regarding the origin of the "Huaxia" army, Qin Youshi already had doubts in his heart, but he did not think about it carefully. At this time, thinking about it, this army rebelled and came to the northwest, and it was really not a good stubble. In such a mountain, against the Western Xia Buba, he even had the upper hand. The other party said it lightly, but he was secretly horrified in his heart.

At this moment, thunder was heard in the sky, and everyone was moving forward, and they heard a loud noise in front of them, and the mountains and rocks shook faintly. On the opposite hillside, the earth and rocks surged in the hazy rain, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into a mud dragon and rumbled down the mountain. This earthslide continued to rush into the deep stream in front of their eyes, and in the mountain stream below, the flowing water collided with these soil and rocks, rising rapidly, and the muddy water surged and surged in all directions. Everyone looked down from the mountain, and in the heavy rain, they only felt that the heaven and the earth were majestic, and their own body was insignificant and indescribable.

The sight of the mudslide lingered before their eyes for a long time before it stopped, perhaps after an avalanche explosion that had loosened the slope a few months earlier, before sliding down under the rain. After reading it, everyone couldn't help but be a little more cautious when they moved forward again, and their words were a little less. The group turned around in the mountains, and in the evening of this day, the rain had stopped, but it had also entered the main vein of Luliang Mountain.

This area is close to the range of Qingmu Village in Luliang Mountain, and due to the previously opened up trade routes, it has not been affected much in the war, and the road ahead is not difficult. Zhuo Xiaofeng and the man from Qingmu Village said goodbye to Qin Youshi, seeing that the two of them had helped with this, they were about to leave neatly, Qin Youshi panicked, he took out two air-dried deer legs from the accompanying goods to give them to the other party as a reward, but saw Zhuo Xiaofeng take out a pen and paper from his arms: "Boss Qin can write, right?" ”

"Zhuo Gongzi is talking ......"

"The people of Huaxia are originally a family, and now that the situation is turbulent, it is time to help each other, and we will walk with Boss Qin all the way, which is also fate, just a gesture. Of course, if Boss Qin really feels that he needs to be rewarded, he will write two words in this book. Seeing that Qin Youshi was still a little hesitant, he opened the book with a smile, and it was full of crooked Huaxia characters, "Of course, it's just two words, you don't have to leave a name, just make a thought." If Boss Qin has any trouble in the future, just remember these two words, and if I can help, I will definitely do my best. ”

Qin Youshi only hesitated slightly, laughed at this time, picked up the pen and wrote in the notebook, but he was puzzled in his heart. This outside thing, he can understand the kindness of the hope of retribution, but what does the current one mean. After receiving the favor, writing a name is considered a vote, but the name is not left, and the word Huaxia is written out and then iron-clad and upright, what can it be worth?

He was also a visionary person, and after writing those two words, he still insisted on sending the deer leg over, but the other party was resolutely unwilling to accept it. At this time, it was getting late, everyone looked for a place to camp, Qin Youshi kindly left the two of them, cooked a relatively hearty meal of meat, and asked Zhuo Xiaofeng about the situation after that.

He went west this time to do business, but the Jurchens killed him, and some of the precious things he originally received were actually useless, and this line of work was obviously a loss. But the loss is not a big deal, the most important thing is where to go in the future, this army can confront the Tanguts, although the reputation is not very good, but a good fate, who knows if there is a need for their help in the future?

In the middle of the night, the other party knew everything, and analyzed the future predicament with Qin Youshi. The Jurchens are rampant, and the Western Xia is coming from the south, and in such a situation, it is impossible for the north of the Yellow River to live a good life in the past, but the ordinary people will not necessarily be wiped out. In the past, the Wu Dynasty was quite rich, and the rich families still had some surplus grain at present, but within one to two years, the Jurchens and Western Xia people must consolidate this territory, purely leaving food and taking the way of death. He is a merchant, so he might as well be flexible, do more activities, and take refuge in the big forces.

Similar to Qingmu Village in Luliang Mountain, after all, it is in the valley of the mountain, so I don't recommend it, but at the moment, there are still a few trade exchanges between Qingmu Village and the Jurchens. The treasures and valuables he brought back this time may be useless in the chaotic place, and Aoki Village may be able to help with the transfer, and there must be a shortage of food in the mountains, if he has too much surplus food, he might as well go to the mountains to replace some weapons by his side. Of course, it's just casual advice.

Qin Youshi is not an unassertive person, and when the other party says it, he only makes a reference in his heart. In the early morning of the second day, they waved goodbye to each other and went their separate ways. Qin Youshi looked at the figures heading north, and remembered the word "Huaxia" written yesterday, and only felt that these people were really peculiar.

*************

After bidding farewell to Qin Youshi, Zhuo Xiaofeng and the Qingmu Zhai man named Tan Rong walked back through the rugged mountain road, and only turned northwest when they could see the collapsed mountain in the distance.

In the afternoon, they saw the outline of the Xiaocang River in the distance on the ridge, the river was turbulent and meandering, extending to a mountain pass with dam traces at the end of the field of vision, and there was also a lookout tower on the side of the mountain pass, and between the rugged valley between the two mountains, a small figure could be faintly seen walking together, it was the children who came out of the Xiaocang River settlement to collect wild vegetables.

The sun was shining down from the white clouds in the sky, the mountains were desolate, and only occasionally there was the sound of the wind, Zhuo Xiaofeng and Tan Rong walked down the mountain road. (To be continued.) )