Aunt Gongsun once said to her son that when in the wind, even pigs can fly. Zhong Yao also said that the general trend is like a tide, and people in it are like sailing on the sea, with the waves going back and forth... These actually mean the same thing.

, but refers to the dialectical relationship between the individual and the current situation.

From this point of view, if Gongsun Xun, Cao Cao and others in the second year of Zhongping felt the violent waves and chose to give up on the current situation and take a step back to respect themselves; then Yuan Shao, correspondingly, was ready to attack.

Luozhong was waiting for the best and greatest opportunity and was ready to jump into action.

However, compared to these two, the one who really soared into the sky this year due to the current situation was the Purple Mountain Bandit Zhang Yan. He was really the pig at the center of the storm.

There is no way, there is really no way... In Hebei in the second year of Zhongping, the only main theme was the collapse of the social order at the bottom. After hundreds of years of accumulation of internal conflicts, the survival of the people at the bottom had reached a precarious point, and then suddenly a

The Yellow Turban Rebellion swept through most of Hebei Province.

The war between hundreds of thousands of people lasted for more than half a year, and after the war came an unstoppable epidemic, a tax increase that made people completely desperate for the government, and the most unbearable famine.

The fragile social order was like a thin egg shell, shattered by a single touch... In the summer of the second year of Zhongping, with the rebellion in Liangzhou, Huangfu Song led his troops to leave, or in other words, the central government selectively gave up temporarily.

After the efforts to restore order in Hebei, the whole of Hebei was naturally completely out of order.

For the thieves, what is this situation other than a strong wind?

I remember that Zhang Yan had just turned into a traitor, and Huangfu Song chased him out of Litao like a rabbit. He fled in embarrassment, and during the escape, there was a cruel internal power struggle, a leader died, and the family was divided.

But what makes people speechless is that no matter how chaotic and how defeated, the strength of this former Taoist leader has rapidly expanded at an incredible speed. In less than two months, he actually defeated several people.

The thousands-mile-long Taihang Mountains were almost closed in, and with an absolutely superior force, they in turn blocked Changshan and Zhao's path.

Of course, Zhang Yan also understood that this kind of opportunity was rare, so after he had a little control over his subordinates, he quickly asked for surrender, and then he became a general who had never dared to dream before.

.

Although this surrender was extremely unseemly, and although it was a huge blow to the authority of the Han Dynasty from an institutional perspective, it was a rare respite for the troubled land of Hebei... at least.

, the officials can muster the courage to maintain order outside the city, the roads can become smooth, messages can be retransmitted, and the fleeing people finally don't have to worry about encountering too many swordsmanship on the road.

In such an atmosphere of surviving a disaster, Gongsun Xun, who had been given the seal of General Guard again, led his five hundred white horse followers, escorted his family members, and began to head towards Liaoxi.

However, Gongsun Xun and others still had some difficulties along the way, because from the beginning of their journey back to Bairen County in Zhao State, refugees began to follow them.

"Young Master!"

The weather was getting hot at noon, and shortly after crossing the boundary between Hejian Kingdom and Anping Kingdom, Yang Kai suddenly caught up with him from behind on horseback. "Young Mistress asked me to ask you if you want to sit back in the car and have a rest so that you can avoid the danger."

Avoid the sun?”

"Why are you here to ask me?" Gongsun Xun sneered, but he handed the eldest son Gongsun Ding, who was a little dazed in his arms, directly to the other party on the horse. "Sending this boy back is... I asked the child to ride with me before.

It was her who was worried, and it is she who is worried now."

Yang Kai carefully stretched out his hand to take Gongsun Ding, and said with a helpless smile: "Young Mistress is not worried, but the sun is not only scorching outside, but there are also a lot of unsightly things on the road."

"A loving mother often loses her sons." Gongsun Xun became solemn when he heard this. "There are so many unsightly things, he must learn to see them sooner or later!"

Yang Kai immediately shut up and saw that Gongsun Xun made no further move, so he hugged Gongsun Ding and rode towards the car behind him.

"The prince is too harsh." Lou Gui, who was standing next to him, intervened to persuade him when he saw people leaving. "The eldest son is still young. Even if he is studying at a young age, he should not be enlightened until next year, and these things on the roadside are indeed a bit unbearable.

."

"I'm not targeting him, but feeling sorry for the world." Gongsun Xun, who was riding a horse, glanced at the dead body on the side of the road. He shook his head helplessly, but then turned to Han Dang on the other side. "Did Shu Zhi let anyone know?

Come report, are there a lot more refugees coming today?"

"Yes, there are a lot more." Han Dang has become more taciturn over the years, but today even he couldn't help but say a few more words. "Your Majesty, so many refugees have been following us, will something happen?"

In the time of Zhao State, there were only a few hundred people accompanying them, and as far as Julu there were thousands of people. Now after passing Anping and entering Hejian, there are actually tens of thousands of people... It's not that I don't understand the benevolence of the king.

I understand that you gentlemen do not want to damage the reputation of the prince, but with so many people, if there is an unrest, what will the young mistress and the young master do? We have all the chariots and horses, and we can leave them and speed up.

leave."

Both Gongsun Xun and Lou Gui, who was next to him, all turned back to look at the group of refugees following the motorcade with no end in sight. They looked at each other and sighed, but did not say anything more about it.

And Han Dang immediately shut up and stopped talking about giving up the refugees.

In fact, to be fair, as the leader of the guard, Han Dang's opinion is very correct. Quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes. When the number of refugees following the team reaches the order of nearly 10,000, even with 500 cavalry escorts, the team's restraint finally seems to be shaky. So

The situation, safety, sanitation, and speed all seemed precarious. Unrest and plague might occur if we were not careful... In fact, when I followed thousands of people before, I didn't see Han Yigong say anything.

However, after all, Gongsun Xun is not just an ordinary returnee. He is a general of Wei, a Marquis of Ji, and one of the most respected figures in Hebei. How could he possibly drive away or get rid of the refugees? And he himself,

Most of his subordinates are people with a sense of responsibility for their family, country and world. When the refugees from Zhao Guobai came out and the refugees began to gather behind them, they instinctively wanted to maintain order and provide correct guidance... at least not

Let them become thieves, right?

Moreover, from another perspective, the reason why these refugees chose to follow Gongsun Xun was not because they bumped into him aimlessly, but because they recognized him from the beginning - the five hundred white horse cavalry were particularly special on the land of Hebei.

Identifiable.

In other words, they came here specifically for Gongsun Xun! At this time, what does it mean to abandon them and ignore them?

"It's better to be patient." Gongsun Xun rode forward slowly and pondered for a moment, but finally made a formal statement. "Shu Zhi and the others had already asked clearly before that these people did not bump into them blindly.

They are all good people who have had no harvest due to war and banditry for two years in a row. They had no choice but to abandon their property and family to escape to Youzhou... It was originally a convenient way. Now we have passed Anping and entered the Hejian area. It only took two or three days.

Isn’t it just a short journey to Youzhou? The team will gradually disperse by then."

"Yes, Youzhou is a vast land with few people." Lou Gui also immediately twirled his beard and said with relief. "The local powerful people are not as exploitative as those here in Jizhou. At that time, whether the government takes them in on the spot or allows those powerful people to annex them,

It’s better than being so helpless, right?”

When Gongsun Xun heard these words, not only was he not happy, but he became even more depressed.

By the way, in the past few years, the famous ministers and officials of the Han Dynasty had always made it their political achievement to combat powerful mergers. Gongsun Xun himself had long known that the root cause of the Han Dynasty's crisis lay in powerful mergers. But now, he actually wants to

Encourage powerful people but also recruit refugees and annex the population?

This is simply ridiculous!

However, what can we do if we don’t do this?

As for the refugees behind them, there are several people in their family, but most of them only carry a few pieces of shabby clothes, and basically no dry food, livestock, or farm tools for more than ten days. It's better to have a wheelbarrow, but it's worse.

, even the carrying poles are made of temporary wood. Of course, because of the existence of Aunt Gongsun, today's refugee families generally carry an iron pot. This is a necessary item on the way to escape. It is convenient and durable, and is the most important item for many families.

valuable property.

In such a situation, if the powerful are not allowed to take them in, they will soon either gather together and become bandits, or they will really starve to death on the roadside. Not to mention the iron pot, even the clothes on their bodies will be stripped off.

And when it comes to the corpses and rotten bones on the roadside that have been stripped of their clothes and even eaten by wild dogs, it's no wonder that Zhao Yun initially hoped that Gongsun Bing could be intimate with his father, but now he wants to lock the child in the car instead.

.

"Work harder!" Gongsun Xun could only say this after thinking wildly for half a day. "Separate another two hundred cavalry and give them to Shu Zhi (Wang Xiu's courtesy name), Bo Huai (Chang Lin's courtesy calligraphy), and Wen Gong in the back.

(Zao Zhi), asked them to strictly control the order of the team... Send more people to explore the road and tell Yuan Si (Han Haozi) not to use the method of marching and setting up camp to find a place to stay, and don't go too far.

If approaching the city causes panic, the open space next to the woods is better for getting firewood and boiling water. If you can't find the woods, it's better to use rivers and streams. Living water tastes cleaner than stagnant water! And Wei Yue, let him

Set off early to buy food at Yiwubao in the county ahead, and be sure to tell me my name!"

Many loyal followers in the surrounding area followed the orders one after another, either leading their troops back to look for Wang Xiu and Chang Lin, or heading forward to look for Han Hao and Wei Yue. And who were Lu Fan, Yang Kai, and Xi Zhong who were guarding their families behind them?

Although he knew Gongsun Xun well, he actually didn’t send anyone to admonish him... You must know that Gongsun Xun had previously sent hundreds of cavalry to Wang Xiu, Chang Lin, and Zao Zhi behind them to control the order of the refugees, and now he was adding more

With two hundred cavalry and them, including the road ahead, sentinels and the food purchasing team, there were basically only a few dozen cavalry left to protect Gongsun Xun and the family convoy behind him.

"Junhou!"

In this way, as Gongsun Xun worked hard to issue a series of orders, this team with more than ten thousand refugees seemed to have a new intention. However, less than half a quarter of an hour later, Han Dang suddenly spoke again. "

You have to hurry up, trouble is already coming."

Gongsun Xun and Lou Gui didn't react at all for a moment, but instinctively looked behind them, but they didn't see any excessive commotion.

"It's going to rain!" Han Dang pointed helplessly to the east horizon and warned. "Find a place to take shelter from the rain quickly. I just hope the rain is not heavy enough, otherwise the refugees may not be able to light a fire tonight."

Gongsun Xun and Lou Gui looked at the sky together, and then their colors changed... Sure enough, there were already dark clouds on the horizon in the distance, but they were still far away, so they couldn't see them clearly.

It rained heavily in summer, and the dark clouds were still on the horizon before half an hour later. Although the team was a little panicked, they were able to hold their ground due to the increase in patrolling cavalry. However, as the raindrops fell,

, sight was blocked, panic spread involuntarily. Some people couldn't help but hesitate, while others couldn't wait to push and fight for the way, which led to a commotion.

Of course, Wang Xiu was also a capable official through experience, and he immediately made a determined effort to restore order. Following his order, the cavalrymen immediately dismounted and intervened, drawing their swords to kill people... The bright knives were cut off for public display.

They rushed to Qingzhuang's head, and there was news from the front that they could reach Hejian Zhongshui County in five miles.

All these things finally allowed the team to settle down again. So, the old and the weak carried the iron pot to protect themselves from the rain, and the young and strong carried their few possessions and accelerated forward, which made this strange team appear in the rain.

There is a strange orderliness.

Of course, five miles is a lie. The real distance is ten miles.

Moreover, with a team of nearly ten thousand refugees, let alone Zhongshui County, it is impossible to open the city and let people in. Even Gongsun Xun cannot allow them to enter the city... How will they be resettled once they enter the city? Based on the current situation.

Look, if there are more than 10,000 refugees in a small city, I am afraid that within a few days, the city will also be overwhelmed by the refugees and become disordered.

In fact, the real resettlement location was just an open space outside the city next to the city wall, and it was hoped that the heavy summer rain would not last too long and would stop in the evening, so that the city could provide some dry firewood for a fire.

"Junhou!" Wei Yue, who was the first to explore the way, rushed out of the city gate. Behind him was a young man with a black ribbon and a bronze seal, who seemed to be the magistrate of Zhongshui County. "What a coincidence, this

The magistrate of Zhongshui is actually the prince's student in the State of Zhao, and I'm the one who's taking advantage of Wei Chang! He's done everything he can to provide firewood and food, let's go to the city and rest!"

"Wei Chang?"
To be continued...