Early the next morning, there was only a small amount of blue smoke in the forest, and the people snuggled together to keep warm.

Last night I gave everyone a good weather. Although the wind blew all night, fortunately it didn't snow.

Li Chongjiu Ming Tanzong led people to find two or three people who could play drums, gave them a few drum beaters thrown by Wang Mazi's subordinates, and slapped the drums with their hands in front.

Li Chongjiu told the people that everything is like the orders of the army, and the skin drum is the basis. If the skin drum sounds, the skin drum will move forward. If the skin drum stops, the skin drum will stop and rest. If you do not hear the sound of the skin drum, it means you are behind.

After rubbing the jungle for a while, everyone had finished packing it up at the hour of Mao, the sky was still dark, and there was a little light in the east, and the people began to walk together.

Li Chongjiu and Tan Zongyi led the man Ding Zhuang and the brothers from Shaolin Temple to lead the way, while the people followed behind and did not arrange the army behind the palace. If they could not follow, they could only listen to them.

Among the people walking, the old and the young are holding each other, supporting the elderly, and the women hold the babies, taking care of each other and moving forward. The sound of calling their children to their mothers is endless.

Li Chongjiu personally led the young and strong to the front, maintaining a speed of three or four kilometers per hour, and resting every two hours. Li Chongjiu sent ten such scouts from time to time to investigate the terrain.

After traveling for more than half a day, a 20-meter-wide river appeared in front of me. When I asked, I knew it was the Shuishi River, which ran straight into the Yellow River. If I went up the river, I could reach Jiangjun.

In winter, there is no need to worry about flooding along the river. Li Chongjiu is now stationed by the river. The people, regardless of the red and cold river water, jump into the river, catch fish, pick up some river clams and snails, and directly smash them with stones to eat.

There were more than 3,000 people, and there were too many monks here and there were too few porridges. The fish in the river were caught in just a few strokes. However, Li Chongjiu's life was young and strong, and he went to the shallow area upstream to catch fish, but he caught nearly 200 kilograms of fish.

Li Chongjiu ordered more than a dozen women to cook the nearly 200 kilograms of fish, and asked each young man to take one head to eat. Except for a small amount of women and children who were taking care of the children, the rest were bandaged and used as emergency military rations.

The next day, at the hour of Mao, Li Chongjiu continued to move forward for three consecutive days.

The more you go up the river, the shallower you walk, and the less food you get, the less you eat. So Li Chongjiu decided to turn the road to Guanlu. Without river water, everyone was hungry all day.

That night, Li Chongjiu counted the number of people and found that over the past three days, more than 200 people had left or disappeared. Some of them were physically weak and could not keep up with the team, and some people left voluntarily, but the departure of more than 200 people was also considered within the normal range.

After traveling from Hedong County to Jiang County for another two days, the food was cut off for two days. The people following Li Chongjiu had all their faces, and they walked slowly along the way. Many people were hungry and cold, and fell to the ground halfway and never afforded them again.

Seeing this, Li Chongjiu knew that he could not hold on any longer. When he entered the territory of Xia County, Li Chongjiu decided to take more than 20 people including Tanzong to buy grain in the city.

After bribing the soldiers guarding the city, Li Chongjiu and Tanzong entered the city. Xia County's defense was that the outside was loose and the inside was tight. At least two regiments (note 1) were stationed in the city.

At present, the huge Xia County is full of people, and it is full of people. Li Chongjiu thought it was right at first, but was attacked by refugees, so the people in the nearby villages had to go to the city to hide. Later, after inquiring, they found out that most of the people stationed in the city were business travelers.

From Hedong County to Jiang County, it was originally the main road transported by Lu Yan (Note 2) to Taiyuan County. However, in front of Jiang County and Fenyang County, there were Chai Baochang, Mu Duaner and other chaotic bandits gathered more than 100,000 people to occupy it, and the officers and soldiers were unable to open the official road at the moment.

Once the salt road is broken, not only will the people who rely on this to make a living worry, but they will be more anxious than vendors.

You should know that from the Central Plains to Shanxi and Hebei, you must pass through the Yellow River. There are three main ferry crossings above the Yellow River, namely Pujin, Mengjin and Baimajin.

Pujin is located east of Xijing. You can cross the river from Guanzhong to Hedong and Shanxi. It is also the route that Li Chongjiu had just passed from Xijing to Hedong.

Mengjin was north of Luoyang and crossed the river to Henei County. This was also the place where King Wu of Zhou destroyed the Shang Dynasty and met with 800 princes to vow to the swearing. At that time, Li Chongjiu crossed the Yellow River from at least Shishan from Shangdang County.

However, because Wagang Village plundered the canal ships, the officers and soldiers not only blocked the Heyang floating bridge, but also detained all the ferries at the ferry, causing Li Chongjiu to circle around and cross the river from Pujin. As for Baimajin, it goes without saying that it is now a severely affected area of ​​bandit chaos.

Therefore, the interruption of Hedong led to the inaccessibility of Taiyuan County, and a large number of vendors blocked it.

After hearing this, Li Chongjiu wanted to take the business along the way, but the businessmen didn't trust them, and they were the refugees.

Therefore, Li Chongjiu had to go to the rice shop in the city to buy rice as usual.

It’s okay if you don’t buy rice. Once you buy rice, your knowledge has increased a lot. Even after you walk, two or three rice shops in the city, they all hang up the sold-out brands. The only rice shop outside the operation is crowded with people, and countless people are holding rice bags and shouting and looking out the door.

Many young and strong men beat each other for a good position, the elderly were stomping their feet, and the children were crying, and the order was very chaotic. The soldiers guarding the rice shop on the side did nothing, and they were simply holding spears, either watching happily or looking at the sky.

"Senior brother, don't worry, look at me and let me shoot a pair of fists and make a way out. I will definitely buy rice and grain today."

There were many people who saw him, but Tanzong was eager to try it out.

Li Chongjiu squeezed out of the crowd, shook his head, and said, "No need to line up."

"Why?" "One hundred and twenty cents a dou!" Li Chongjiu's deep voice broke out.

"You can eat people!" Tan Zong couldn't help but exclaim.

"Every rice merchant should be killed." Li Chongjiu said in a reverent voice. It was really a turbulent time. In the seventh year of the great cause, the rice price was six cents per dou. This year, Xijing was forty cents per dou. Now Xia County is in full swing. No matter how expensive the rice price is, it should not exceed sixty cents per dou. But to this point, it can only be said that rice merchants are hoarding goods and taking the opportunity to raise the price of grain.

"I have no conscience, no conscience! I bought rotten rice for this one hundred and twenty cents." An old man passed by with half a bag of rice.

"It's good to eat when you have it." The person next to him comforted him, looking at the old man with half a bag of rice, with a look of greed in his eyes.

No wonder everyone is against this world. In this depressed Xia County, only the only one who can compete with the rice market is next door. The people there are selling their children and daughters, and there are people who are waiting to sell them. A twelve or thirteen-year-old girl can buy one for two or three cents of money to go home as a slave.

Let's go, and find a way. Li Chongjiu took a last look at Mi Shiyan and said, "It's not that you don't buy rice, but that even if you buy rice and take out all the money you have, it's not enough for three thousand refugees to eat for a meal."

It's too expensive to afford.

Li Chongjiu and Tanzong came out of Mi City and were passing by an inn in the city when they suddenly heard a hammer inside.

I saw a woman in a fancy red dress, kicking on the table and shouting: "You are so civil servants who have bullied me. Have you ever seen the big fist of a sandbag?" Li Chongjiu heard the sound familiar, and turned around and looked at the woman who was in the inn. It was Sun Erniang, the leader of the Li family escort agency.

Note 1: The military system of Sui County, two brigades and one regiment, two hundred people, and a lieutenant was established.

Note 2: Lu Yan is the salt produced in Jiezhou Salt Pond.
Chapter completed!