In the middle of March, the spring was bright and beautiful, and it was the time for the literati and ink writers and young ladies to enjoy the flowers, but the official road from Bingzhou to Huazhou was a miserable scene. Along the road are fleeing refugees, most of them describe haggard, yellow and thin, their clothes are dirty and unkempt, young and strong carts carry burdens, old people and women lead children, and from time to time you can see old people who can't walk leaning against trees and dying.

A group of fast horses galloped from the official road, raising billowing smoke and dust, startling the pedestrians on the road to avoid both sides. The leading black horse was charcoal, Jiang Anyi saw the tragic scene on the road, reined in the horse, and everyone around him stopped their horses.

"Where has this been?" Jiang Anyi turned around and asked. Xin Fei is an old Jianghu, and the road is more familiar than Jiang Anyi, so he looked around and said: "This should be the territory of Anba County, Bingzhou, only more than ten miles away from the county seat, and seventy miles away from Nanfeng County." Anyi, we've been running for most of the hour, it's time to rest. ”

Nanfeng County is the entrance to the state of Bingzhou, only 160 miles away from Huiye Prefecture, and the court ordered the reinforcements of the prefecture soldiers to gather in Nanfeng County, waiting for the army of the court to rescue Huiye Prefecture together.

The army of the rescue will be drawn from the Sixteen Guards and the East Palace, a total of 60,000 troops, half of the light cavalry and half of the infantry. The commander is Jiang Anyi, and the Son of Heaven crowned him as the strategic envoy of Huazhou, with an official rank from the third grade, and was given full authority to dispatch the military and political affairs of Huazhou. The two lieutenants were Huang Jifei, the general of Zuo Wuwei (the second son of Huang Yongsheng, Marquis of Xuanwu), and Yan Jiancai, the new general of the Zuo Jian Guard.

Jiang Anyi divided the reinforcements into two parts, Yan Jiancai led 30,000 light cavalry to Nanfeng County first, Huang Jifei led 30,000 infantry troops behind, and he took Xinfei, An Yong, Shi and Liu Yixing and others to Nanfeng County quickly.

Although the Son of Heaven promised to let him choose his entourage, the Son of Heaven was suspicious by nature, and this time he was in a hurry to obey the power, and he crowned himself as the envoy of the economy, and had full authority to dispatch the affairs of the state, which can be described as monstrous. After reading so many history books, Jiang Anyi knew that if he couldn't let the Son of Heaven and the prince rest assured of him, I was afraid that no matter how much credit he made, it would be in vain, and the final outcome would be either killed or degraded.

His wife and children will definitely be taken hostage, Huazhou is at war, and Jiang Anyi is not at ease to take his family by his side, and everything will be said when he settles down. To Jiang Anyi's surprise, the Son of Heaven actually ordered Xin Fei to lead the accompanying hundred dragon guards and secret guards as the superintendent of the dragon guard.

If you go to Huazhou without a cronie, An Yong will definitely go, Shi is already the long history of the East Palace, and he was also sent out this time, Jiang Anyi simply asked the prince to bring him to his side. Ning Hu was already fine, and decided to follow Jiang Anyi, plus Park Tianhao, Huang Zhu and other personal guards returned with An Yong, and the martial side had enough manpower.

On the side of the text, Liu Yixing accompanied him, Tian Shoulou and Fan Shiben both intended to go, but they were persuaded by Jiang Anyi, and Beijing also needed manpower, and they were worried and ridiculed when they were far away from the rivers and lakes, and no one could report the news. Li Laigao took the initiative to ask Ying to accompany him, which made Jiang Anyi a little surprised. The test is imminent, Li Donghong and Li Laigao are both famous and famous, and they are lively characters in the current department, so going to Huazhou with them will not delay the future.

Li Laigao said with a smile: "Compared with the imperial examination, Li attaches more importance to Brother Jiang's future. The eldest grandfather was also moved by me, and the Li family had to bet on it if it wanted to rise again, and Li bet on Brother Jiang. ”

"Jiang will not forget the virtue of helping each other, and there will be a reward in the future." Jiang Anyi is very happy, Li Lai is good at overall organization, better than Li Donghong, who is good at clerical exchanges, and he is like an arm to help him.

Jiang Anyi was imprisoned, Xin Fei wrote a letter to Mr. Zhang to rush to Beijing, but he was still on the way, Jiang Anyi asked the dart bureau to tell him to go directly to Huiye Mansion to meet, plus Jiang Anyi had some teams in Huazhou before, and there should be no shortage of manpower after arriving in Huazhou.

There was a long pavilion on the side of the road, Jiang Anyi jumped off the horse and said: "Rest, you go and invite a few refugees to come over, I want to ask about the situation." An Yong, you collect the dry food that everyone brings with you, distribute it, and we will go to the Anba line to replenish it. ”

Park Tianhao and others helped An Yong distribute dry food, and immediately surrounded a large circle of people, and the children who got the food quickly stuffed it into their mouths, while the adults lay on the ground and thanked them. Shi led several old men into the pavilion to see Jiang Anyi, the leading old man was in his sixties, wearing a shabby robe, gray and no longer able to see the color, but his demeanor was gentle. Coming closer, the old man stared at Jiang Anyi sitting in the pavilion with wide eyes, his lips trembled for a long time, and said, "Lord Jiang, you are Lord Jiang." ”

Turning around suddenly, the old man shouted outside the pavilion: "Folks, Lord Jiang is back, everyone is saved." ”

"Lord Jiang", "Lord Thorn Shi is here", "Lord Jiang save us", cheers, wails, and prayers rang out in one piece, and the people standing outside the pavilion all knelt down, and their dull eyes revealed hope.

Jiang Anyi picked up a few old men, came to the pavilion, and said in a loud voice: "Fellow fathers and fellow villagers, Jiang Mou returned to Huazhou on the order of Banzai, just to drive away the thieves in the Western Regions and let everyone return home. Fathers and fellow villagers, the army of the court will arrive later, don't flee anymore, just stay nearby, Jiang will find a way to solve your food. ”

The cheers were deafening, and there was hope for the desperate refugees. Jiang Anyi invited the old men to sit down, and after asking their names, he said, "Where are the elders, didn't the court let the local government help the people who fled?" Why are you still in exile? ”

The old man in the long shirt surnamed Zhou sighed: "The old man is from Wenjin County, Huazhou, Han Yuanshi, the old thief who betrayed the country for glory and fell into the Anxi army, Wenjin City fell, and the old man took his family to Huiye Mansion for temporary refuge. The Western Regions Coalition Army arrived immediately, and the old man saw that the defenders in the city were limited and the city was overcrowded, so he was worried that there would be no food, so he escaped with his family while the Western Regions Army did not block the north gate. The county towns along the way have closed their city gates, and we have nowhere to shelter but to go all the way to the east. ”

Jiang Anyi frowned and said, "Nanfeng County and Anba County have closed the city gates?" ”

"Nanfeng County has become a barracks, and tens of thousands of government soldiers and recruited soldiers from various states are stationed there, how dare we stay. When Anba County heard that the city gate was still open the day before yesterday, and later there were more refugees pouring in, Hong County ordered the city gate to be closed, saying that there was not enough grain storage in the city, so everyone could eat elsewhere. ”

Jiang Anyi asked, "How many refugees are there along the way?" ”

The white-bearded old man next to him responded: "There are no less than 100,000 people, some people are so hungry that they can't walk, they sit on the side of the road and wait for death, miserable, please help us." ”

Jiang Anyi's heart throbbed, and he took out the gold medal from his bosom and handed it to the stone and said: "You go to Wuyang Mansion to ask for a meeting with Lord Assassin Shiquan, and say that I asked him to order all counties to open the city gates, open warehouses and release grain to help refugees, and the food consumed will be repaid twice in Huazhou in the future." If you don't agree, you will show the gold medal. ”

He Xigui received the order, got up and galloped towards the horse. Jiang Anyi said again: "An Yong, you go back to see General Yan, let him only keep the military rations for three days, and the rest of the military rations will be used to help the refugees, and there will be food when you arrive in Nanfeng County." "Nanfeng County is a gathering place for large armies, and the court has already accumulated hundreds of thousands of stones of grain and grass there.

"Mr. Zhou, I beg you to take a few highly respected people to tell the fleeing people the news of the court's relief, don't let them be displaced, the food will arrive later, and everyone will not starve to death."

Zhou Kangning burst into tears, looked up to the sky and sighed: "My lord will return to Huazhou, and I will wait for my parents to have again." ”

Under the kneeling of the people, Jiang Anyi led everyone to continue to move forward, only more than ten miles away from Nanba County, and the fast horse came in a quarter of an hour. From a distance, I saw that many refugees were gathered under the east gate, and the city gate was closed.

Slowing down his horse's pace, he came to the front, and heard the refugees under the city gate crying and pleading with the city, Jiang Anyi instructed Park Tianhao: "Hold the flag." ”

The galloping flag was collected in the baggage, and Park Tianhao obeyed the order to raise the vermilion flag, and the red flag golden words "Qinming Huazhou Jingluo, Jiang" shone in the sun. Park Tianhao took the lead in running to the east gate with a banner, and the people at the city gate hurriedly flashed beside the road, and Park Tianhao shouted loudly: "Listen to the officers and soldiers in the city, the Qinming Huazhou Economic Strategy has ordered Jiang Anyijiang to pass by Anba County, and quickly open the city gate." ”

Before the officers and soldiers at the head of the city could react, the people on the side of the road shouted in surprise: "It's Lord Jiang who has returned, and we have been saved." The people fell to the ground and shouted: "Lord Jiang, we are all people of Huazhou, save us." ”

Jiang Anyi jumped off the horse, helped the people on the side of the road, and comforted: "Fathers and fellow villagers, rest assured, the court has sent an army, and Jiang Mou has come by the will of the Son of Heaven, and he will definitely help you return to your hometown." ”

The people stepped forward one after another, surrounding Jiang Anyi to express their suffering, and Jiang Anyi comforted him with kind words. A pillar of incense, the city gate opened, and the county commander Hong Degong came out with his subordinates, he didn't know Jiang Anyi, and the official documents of the court had not arrived, so he couldn't recognize the banner alone. Privately relying on the seal of the clerical officer, Huang Zhu handed over Jiang Anyi's seal letter to him for inspection, and Hong County ordered him to bow down with his subordinates and said, "Your Majesty Hong Degong has seen Master Jiang." Please come to the prefectural government office to rest. ”

Jiang Anyi said: "Lord Hong, Jiang is just passing by Guixian, so he won't bother inside." The reason why Guixian was alarmed was that Jiang saw that the city gate was closed and the refugees were miserable and helpless under the city, so he wanted to ask Hong County to open the city gate to accommodate these refugees, so that they could have food and a tile to live in. ”

Hong Degong's face was embarrassed, and he said: "Lord Jiang, it's not that the lower officials are inconsiderate of the people, it's really that Anba County can't accommodate so many refugees. The grain stored in the warehouse is only enough for 50,000 refugees to eat for half a month, and if people are let in, I am afraid that the people in the city will also flee. ”

Jiang Anyi said: "Don't worry, Lord Hong, I will order the delivery of military food for relief, Anba County can send people to Nanfeng County to transport food, trouble Lord Hong to build a long shed outside the city, collect refugees, and wait for the war to subside, this official will ask the Son of Heaven and the prince for the merit." ”

After giving a clear explanation and replenishing some food and drinking water, Jiang Anyi passed through Anba County without entering, and went directly to Nanfeng County.