After the land exchange of Zhao Wei's territory, Huo Taishan was used as the boundary, the north of the mountain was Taiyuan of Zhao's family, and the south of the mountain was the east of Wei's river. In last year's locust plague, the northern territories of the Wei family, Lu County, Huo County, Yang County, and Chuijian County, were the closest to Daluze, and they were the only places for locusts to travel south, so they were the most severely affected. The nearby salt pond is even worse.

Yangxian County is located in the middle of the Fen River. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, it was the place where Zhao City was located, and the place where the Zhao family was Zhaoxing. Later, after the disaster of the lower palace, the Zhao family lost this place, so it was assigned to the Yangtong family. After the sheep tongue died, it was removed again. In the hands of Wei Shi. This place has a more famous name in later generations: Hongdong.

The most famous of Yangxian County is the large locust tree with luxuriant branches and leaves like a chariot and horse canopy. Almost every township has a tree in every li, and the township community is located under the tree.

Originally, the land was fertile and could feed many people. It was an important grain producing area. But the natural disaster was merciless, and the locusts also devoured the crops in the field, so Yang County fell into the dilemma of famine, and the belts of the local people were tightened day by day.

After a few months of starvation, the people of Yangxian County were extremely deprived of nutrition. Their faces were covered in flesh and bones, their eyes were large, and they gleamed with hunger. Now they have nothing but hunger.

After winter came, the whole Yangxian County was a little sluggish. Apart from going everywhere to find food on the mountains and in the water, they usually stayed motionless under the big locust tree they were proud of to save energy. Provincial food.

Everyone's voice was a little sick when they spoke, and they walked erratically and erratically, because their thin stomachs couldn't keep up, and they often sweated at night. bark.

But the bark of the locust tree cannot be gnawed, and for some reason, the local people have a kind of worship for the large locust tree everywhere. It is believed that the spirit of the ancestors lived on it. If the bark is gnawed, not only the bare tree is disgraceful, if it is When the tree dies, where do the ghosts of the ancestors go?

They lived on like this, and did not expect the Wei clan to come to rescue. Since the demise of the sheep tongue clan that ruled here, official relief has been a long history in Jin.

Unexpectedly, in November of the 22nd year of the Marquis of Jin, when Yang County was about to be exhausted, the people had to abandon the big locust tree where their ancestors lived and go outside to find a way out, but there was an exciting news. return.

"The ruler of the Jin state wants to relieve disasters, and there are grain boats heading south from the north of the Fen River!"

For a time, the entire Yang County was boiling.

...

"As we all know, the locusts came from the north. I heard that Guayan, Qianmu and other places in Zhao's Taiyuan County were also plagued by locusts, but they are different from here. Roast the locusts and eat..."

Before the disaster, some people might frown or show panic, but now people in Yangxian County are starving, and they only need to change their seeds to eat. When they hear a variety of eating methods such as oil-drenched locusts and roasted locusts, sprinkle a little on them. Salt and pepper, they seemed to have smelled the tempting fragrance and couldn't help drooling.

But they woke up too late. Officials of the Wei clan begged gods and worshipped ghosts everywhere. The erected locust temple didn’t play any role. The locusts flew away after a full meal, leaving only the bare fields. I couldn't eat it anymore, but some people who felt that they had been fooled, inspired by the deeds of Zhao's territory in the north, went to smash the temple of the locust and looted the offerings.

"What's more, the two counties of the Zhao family have already given relief in the autumn. At least the people there don't have to starve like us. Now it's our turn to finally come to relief." The news of the disaster relief gave Yangxian people a shot in the arm. They stood by the Fen River looking forward with anticipation every day, hoping to see the shadow of the grain boat in advance.

As for the fact that they are the people of the Wei family and not the people of the Zhao family, in theory, the fact that the relief has nothing to do with them has been selectively forgotten.

After all, it is going to be pushed back a hundred years, and they are indeed the people of the Zhao family!

However, the grain boat came from Taiyuan and other places hundreds of miles away. Due to the long-term drought this year, the water in Fen was short of water, the waterway was very shallow, and the boat traveled very slowly. After waiting for a few days, a piece of news reached Yang County like a bolt from the blue.

Zhao's disaster relief team was stopped by Lu County in the upper reaches of the Fen River!

This news dealt a heavy blow to the people in Yangxian who had been looking forward to it all day.

Lu County was the northern gate of the Wei clan, and it was also an important stronghold that they had ruled for more than a hundred years. With a division of troops stationed, naturally they could not sit back and watch the Zhao clan go south easily. Of course, we don’t dare to fight. Wei Jun from Lu County excused himself to inform the head of the family, but the new head of the Wei family is in Hexi, and it takes more than ten days to come back and forth, which may not be a big deal for Wei Wu’s soldiers who have enough food and drink. , But for the hungry people along the Fen River, hundreds of people die every day!

The weather is getting colder and colder, and it is becoming more and more difficult to search for food in the wild. People in Yangxian walk, their waists are a bit bent, and they are too lazy to talk. Even if they do, they are like mosquitoes humming.

They are already exhausted, and they are almost unable to hold on anymore. Many people are already starving, and many people are beginning to sleep endlessly, as if they are going to sleep for a hundred or a thousand years in one breath.

Even the dogs in Yangxian County had their stomachs deflated and wobbled as they walked around the village alleys.

In desperation, the people of Yangxian all gathered under the big locust tree in their township and cried and prayed to their ancestors.

"Trees are dead and people are living. Since Zhao's grain boat can't get in, then we will go to the north and eat!"

...

Trees move to death, people move to live, it is easy to say, but in reality it is not easy.

Among the counties in Jin, Yangxian people love their hometown the most, and their nostalgia for their hometown is always linked to the big locust tree.

After each of them is born, their parents will be brought here to thank the locust tree, let the locust tree see new life, and give them blessings without disease or disaster. If you are ill, the best medicine is the medicinal soup boiled with locust branches. And every festival, people in Yangxian County will put silk cloth and satin on the big locust tree, light a bonfire at night, and drink and celebrate under the locust tree all night. When he died, the coffin had to pass under the locust tree, and then bury it where the locust tree could be seen.

The dead cannot be separated from the locust tree, let alone the living.

On this day, the people of Yangxian County who had already made up their minds to leave this piece of lifeless land, and went north to eat, gathered under their respective big locust trees and looked up at the incarnation of the ancestral spirit who raised them.

In spring and summer, the luxuriant locust tree has only a few leaves left, looking thin and lonely, setting off the reluctance of everyone to cry, and the atmosphere is very desolate.

When the time of parting came, many people went to touch the big locust tree, just like a wanderer who was about to leave his hometown and wanted to touch and hug his parents. The hunger in their belly and the desire to survive caused them to leave their hometowns, but the leaders of each township and village held a locust tree branch in their hands to guide their fellow villagers to the north.

The big locust tree in my hometown gradually disappeared, only the locust branch in my hand.

The wind blew through the empty land of Yangxian County, and the last leaf of the locust tree was blown by the wind and flew to the north...

In mid-November~lightnovelpub.net~ Before Xueluo, a rumor that Zhao boat went south to provide disaster relief caused tens of thousands of refugees in several counties of the Wei family to start heading north. The Wei family's frontier fortress, Lucheng, had to deal with these hungry refugees when faced with the approach of thousands of Zhao's Taiyuan troops.

On this day, Yang, Huo, She and several other refugee tides began to appear on the horizon, crying and hoping that the Lucheng guard would switch on and let Zhao's grain fleet go south, or they would go north on their own.

However, Lu Chengshou was a die-hard loyalist of the Wei family, and he still followed Wei's order and kept the door closed.

Looking at the refugees who were starving and freezing in the cold wind, Zhao Wuxi, who had just arrived here from Taiyuan, also showed a trace of unbearable in his eyes.

"look!"

He rode his horse on the Fen River and said to the generals.

"The lord abandoned his people, and the **** also abandoned his lord. This is the situation in front of him. He immediately announced an ultimatum to Lu Cheng. Yu is the ruler of Jin and came to help Hedong on the order of the monarch. If he does not open the door, I will He is about to declare Wei's rebellion against orders, and the stone cannon will hit him on the head!"

(To be continued.)