The water of the Wei River is yellow, although it is not as full of mud as the Yellow River, making it impossible to tell what is water and what is mud. But the river is still yellow and muddy, this is because both sides are bare loess, once upon a time, Guanzhong is known as the richest place in the world, and now, this Qin and Han dynasties were also rich in the world of Guanzhong, has long become a symbol of barrenness, although the diligent people of Guanzhong can reclaim every cent of land, but the arid land harvest is extremely poor, and excessive reclamation is to further deteriorate the environment, the further loss of water and soil, take away the poor fertilizer in the land, make the land more barren, Harvests are naturally worse.

Much of the land here is no longer suitable for farming, but the people here have been working hard here for thousands of years, and the meagre harvest from the land is only barely enough to feed themselves.

In the past few years, some people who really can't afford to live have squeezed the government and produced limited crops. had to say goodbye to this land with tears in their eyes, they fled to Kanto, fled to the Central Plains, and started a new life in the Central Plains and the Northeast!

And now some of them are back, they have returned to this land, although the memory of this land is unfamiliar, but when he stepped on this land, Zhang Huashan still couldn't help but want to experience this land and experience the breath of his hometown.

Five years ago, when he was only thirteen years old, he left Shaanxi with his parents and brothers, and at that time, when they escaped, they walked more than 200 miles before leaving Shaanxi. Later, they went to the northeast and settled in Heilongjiang, where the land was more fertile and life was better than that of their hometown in Shaanxi, although it was colder than their hometown in Shaanxi.

He thought that he would never return to his hometown in Shaanxi in his life, but he did not expect that one day he would be willing to return here in another identity and return to this land.

This time, he's back, back to the land. Everything here is unfamiliar, even though it feels extremely unfamiliar. But he still felt very intimate, and there was always an inexplicable sense of familiarity in his heart. Since the defeat of Tongguan yesterday, he and his brothers have hurried to Xi'an, and have walked more than 60 miles westward in a row, but they have not met with large-scale resistance.

"Those Jiannu are really fast!"

"It's not, I heard that this side is still fighting well in Tongguan, and that Raita led the troops to flee west, running faster than a rabbit."

"He's a guy with the surname Lai...... Can it be good? ”

"Don't say it's him, even the one surnamed Aixin Jueluo is like a rabbit."

When the brothers said this, Wang Lindong was reluctant to say a word, he felt very tired, his fire gun and grenade bag were all pressed on Zhang Huashan's shoulders, just like that, he still walked and rested, rested and walked, and wanted to rest anytime and anywhere. Originally, he was a talker, and when he talked about the sky, he couldn't close his mouth, but now, after a day of continuous marching, he became a silent member of the whole platoon.

Long marches are tiring!

For soldiers who carry dozens of pounds of weight, a long-distance march is the most physically demanding thing, but as an infantryman, how can they not be in the army? How could it not be walked. In Shaanxi, there are no railways or trains for them to ride. Now all they can rely on is their own feet.

As for the carriages, those four-wheeled carriages that were heavily pulled by horses were loaded with rice, clothing, and ammunition, and the combat effectiveness of the troops could not be separated from these things. Not only that, those captured mules and horses were not idle, they were carrying into a hug of firearms, those firecrackers were captured along the way, although they did not encounter the Qing army, but they found a lot of weapons abandoned by the Qing army, of course, most of the abandoned firearms have varying degrees of damage, but as long as a little repair, it will definitely be usable. Moreover, if there are military merchants, some of the personal seizures can be sold to those people. As a result, sometimes the captured supplies are a windfall.

Of course, in addition to these, there are also levied ox carts - these ox carts are levied on the spot in the process of marching, on the pile of goods pulled by those ox carts, there are often several warriors sitting or lying down, one of the warriors is snoring heavily on it, these soldiers are so tired that they can't hold on, under the order of the commander, go to the ox cart to rest for a while, because the position on the cart is limited, their two legs hang on the side of the cart, swaying with the bumps of the ox cart, it seems that they will roll down from it at any time, But they sat firmly on it. The peasants who drove the ox carts were all dressed in shabby clothes and shaved their heads, but in fact they were not bald in the first place, but because the braids were an eyesore, they were cut by the soldiers. From time to time, these people who were driving the carts shook their whips in their hands, and shouted at their mouths to speed up the pace of their cattle to follow the march of the troops.

Suddenly, an ox cart stopped on the road, and there was nothing in front of it. Although the whip of the Yangtze in the hands of the people driving the car sounded loudly, the cow on the left could not lift its legs, and its mouth kept flowing white foam.

"You're pumping it hard!"

The soldier sitting in the car said to the people who were driving the car. But the whip in the hands of the people only fluttered in mid-air, and refused to fall on the ox at all. Finally the man sighed, and then whispered.

"Master Jun, really, I'm really sorry, it's, it's really tired!"

When the coachman looked at these military men in red military uniforms, his tone was humble, even a little fearful, for fear that this man would kill the cattle in a fit of rage, which was the cost of his food. For many farmers, cattle are the foundation of their livelihood.

Hear him say that. The soldier in the car did not get angry, but jumped out of the car and shouted at the brothers.

"Come on, brothers, get down, get out of the car and push the car to the side of the road, don't delay the brothers behind......"

As soon as he shouted, the brothers in the cart jumped down and helped the driver push the cart to the side of the road, and then the soldier said to the coachman.

"You go, look at the bucket of water, get some grass, and we'll go later."

If it was an army carriage, they would leave with their backpacks, but after all, it was a requisition, and if the coachman escaped, the supplies on the cart would be gone. Even if that person is recovered through the local government in the future, the materials will definitely be gone. If it affects the whole campaign, no one can afford to bear that kind of crime.

The coachman hurriedly answered the call and carried a bucket to carry water to feed the cattle, and the soldier who was originally sitting in the car sat down directly on the side of the road, and then rested there, and even lay down on the side of the road with some relaxation.

Slowly the march changed, and now there were more people, who carried stretchers for the seriously wounded and sick, and in the ranks there were some soldiers who had lost contact with the troops, who were slightly wounded and straggled, interspersed with the ranks of vehicles, mules and horses. Their speed was fast and slow, and they were marching with the troops anyway.

On a large tree at the entrance of a village in front of it, it was covered with notes from various units announcing the contact locations of their own troops. After all, there will always be people left behind on the march, so these notices are needed to inform the people who have fallen behind and tell them where the assembly point is. In front of the tree, it was crowded with people, for it was getting dark, and the light of the matches shone under the tree, all of whom were there looking for the soldiers to be announced.

Zhang Huashan also fell behind, so at this time, he also had to squeeze into the crowd, looking for the notice of the army in the slips of paper, although it was only a piece of paper, but he did not see the contact notice of the battalion and brigade or squadron to which he belonged. Naturally, no meeting place was found.

"Could it be that they didn't notice that we were left behind?"

Sitting on a brick on the side of the road, Zhang Huashan untied a dry tobacco pouch from the back of the belt, and then sat there and smoked it.

Zhao Guozhong and Zhang Kun also dropped their backpacks and sat on the ground next to Zhang Huashan, Wang Lindong's backpack was placed in front of Zhang Huashan, which would make him so tired that he couldn't even use the strength to move the backpack to the side. He sat down on the floor, leaned his back against the wall, and let out a long sigh.

"I'm tired of Lao Tzu."

The long march was very tiring, not to mention that they also carried out two battle charges during the period, everyone's physical strength was already overdrawn, at this time, what they wanted most was to sleep well, and it was best to eat some delicious food, although they had biscuits in their backpacks, but now they wanted to drink hot soup.

But we all know that this is just a delusion, this village has long been empty, there is no one at all, the people in the village may be hiding, this is called "hiding from the army disaster", they have more or less always heard the commanders say, every time they have been in the army, the people will hide in the wilderness, lest they be hired by the army or spoiled by the soldiers.

But they wouldn't do that.

After all, military law is ruthless!

So they didn't dare to do those things at all. Not many people dare to break the law by themselves.

They sat in this black village for at least half an hour, when an unknown number of ox carts and brothers passed in front of them, and even some of the carts that had fallen behind had slowly followed, but they did not go, they were still sitting there, and not one of them stood up and spoke.

"Let's go!"

While waiting, they felt more and more hungry, Zhang Huashan touched it in his backpack, and then found a piece of salted meat, this meat is the most commonly eaten meat in the army, because it can be stored for a long time, so every soldier will carry a piece when marching. He said to the brethren.

"Let's go, let's go cook and eat, shall we?"

Originally, there was no trace of strength, Wang Lindong suddenly stood up and said loudly:

"Cook and eat! But I'm starving to death! ”

Even though they want to eat. But it's not easy to cook and eat. Because they don't have pots, they can only find them in the village. But the village was empty by now. There are no villagers at all. Even if the people's homes were empty, they did not trespass into the ownerless houses.

Finally, they found a house in the village with an unlocked door, and the brothers, who had already wanted to give up, looked at the courtyard by the moonlight, and the chicken and pig pens in the courtyard were empty, and the inside was clean, and all the livestock, clothing, and food were gone.

The owner of the house had apparently dragged everything away to avoid the war.

When they entered, he found that the owner of the house was at home, but only an old man of sixty or seventy years old, and when he saw the soldiers who had broken in, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed.

"Master Jun, everyone in the family is gone! There is really nothing of value, and there is nothing to eat, just a few handfuls of millet that the old man eats himself......"

Looking at the panicked old man kneeling on the top, Zhang Huashan hurriedly helped him up, and then said.

"Uncle, we don't want your things, just borrow a pot from you to cook, don't be afraid, I am a soldier of the Ming Dynasty, and I don't rob the people."

Saying this, he comforted him there.

"We're just here to cook a meal under the pretext of a pot, have you eaten, uncle? If you don't eat it, we'll eat it together. ”

The brothers over there had already started to cook on the fire, and it was actually very simple, it was nothing more than boiling water, boiling the salted meat, and then pouring in the rice. But even this kind of meal is better than biscuits.

The old man looked at the porridge in the bowl with some confusion. There was an incredible look in those eyes, he had lived for half his life, and he had seen all kinds of soldiers, but he had never seen soldiers like them, not only did not rob the common people's things, but also distributed their own food to the common people.

I saw that these people really didn't seem to rob things, and they were so kind to lead people. Even gave him two pennies of firewood money in the end, and the old man sat on a small stool opposite Zhang Huashan and asked him tentatively:

"You're also from Shaanxi?"

Zhang Huashan nodded, he spoke with a Shaanxi accent.

"Hometown Tianshui, uncle, what about the people in this village?"

"All, they're all hiding!"

"Uncle, you go and tell them that we are the Ming army, and we will not hurt the people's ...... if we don't take a stitch from the people."

Looking at this group of soldiers, it seemed that it was really different, and the old man was still a little panicked and said:

"Yes, yes, what the military master said is that the officers and the army, the officers and the army do not rob things and do not kill people......"

Hearing him say this, everyone around him wanted to laugh. But no one could laugh, after all, they all knew. What are the common people afraid of?

Look at the old man. Zhang Huashan let out a long sigh. It was difficult for him to associate these fellow villagers with the people he knew. He couldn't imagine what kind of suffering these fellow villagers had suffered during the Manchu enslavement, and what kind of suffering had made them so submissive, even insensitive.

Finally, he sighed and looked into the distance.

"Hey...... It's all over. ”