Chapter 1: Chaos

The southern boundary.

At that time, the world was in chaos. The southern Yuxi Kingdom and the northern Jinshi Kingdom broke out in a war. Both sides invested as many as one million soldiers. For a time, the two countries were in flames and the people were living in poverty. At this time, the house leaked and it rained all night. There was a severe drought in the southern state of Yuxi Kingdom. The people had no harvest and thieves were everywhere. For their livelihood, the people fled their homeland and embarked on the road of exile.

On an official road in Huai County, Yuxi Kingdom, a group of refugees marched towards Huai County. The team was seven or eight miles long and had at least thousands of people.

Twelve-year-old Xiao Lin was walking among this group of refugees. He supported his frail father Xiao Shan and held his sister Xiao Zhi with his other hand. His dark face was full of confusion and loneliness. He pursed his dry lips and untied a gourd from his waist.

Gently shook it, and a faint sound of water came out from it.

"Xiao Zhi, drink some water." Xiao Lin handed the gourd to his sister Xiao Zhi.

Xiao Zhi's tanned face showed a sensible expression. She shook her head and said, "Brother, I'm not thirsty. You drink it."

Hearing this, Xiao Lin's nose was sour and he almost cried. It has been more than two months since he left his hometown. The dry food he brought with him had been eaten up long ago. Two days ago, his mother starved to death on the road. If this continues, his frail father and sister will probably starve to death in less than two days.

It is still more than a hundred miles away from Huai County in Nanzhou. Judging from the current speed of the refugee team, it will take at least three days. Xiao Lin has no confidence whether he can survive these three days. What's more, even if he arrives in Huai County, he may not be able to find food.

Looking at his father's sallow face full of weather and frost, and then at his sister's thin body, Xiao Lin's heart was full of self-blame. If someone could give him a steamed bun now, he would definitely agree to any conditions.

Suddenly, there was a hurried horse neighing in front of them, and a team of people and horses were running towards them under the rolling smoke and dust.

Xiao Lin was shocked, his face full of fear. He had heard from adults that there were many bandits on the way to Huai County. These bandits killed people without blinking an eye, robbed money and women, and would be killed if they were slightly disobedient. Along the way, he had seen many corpses displayed on the roadside, which were eaten by wild beasts in the mountains and only dry bones were left.

If you really encounter bandits, there is no way to survive, Xiao Lin sighed in his heart.

Xiao Lin stared at the smoke and dust in front of him, until he saw the big "Yu" character on the chest of the horse rushing out of the dust, and then he put down his heart.

"It's the government army." Xiao Lin murmured to himself. Although the government army often did some things to oppress the people, it was much better than the bandits and would not kill people at will, but he still quietly pushed his sister behind his father.

The leader of this team of government troops was a big and strong man with sharp features and a long and curly beard. The only thing that made him look fierce was the scar on his face from his left eye to his right cheek.

He looked at the refugees in front of him with a frown. After a while, a sneer appeared on his face.

He waved his hand behind him. After a while, a man drove a horse over. The leading government soldier whispered a few words in his ear, and glanced at the refugees coldly while speaking. The subordinate nodded while listening, and looked at the refugees with a smile on his face.

After driving away, the entire government army team suddenly began to lengthen, and began to gather the refugees from both sides. Seeing this scene, Xiao Lin's face was gloomy and his heart sank.

Soon, thousands of refugees were gathered in a pile, a dark mass, all looking at the scarred government soldier in the lead with horror, feeling uneasy.

Looking at the crowd with satisfaction, the scarred officer forced a smile on his face, but this smile did not bring him a friendly image, but added a bit of weird horror.

"I am Liu Dali, deputy lieutenant of Huai County. I have been ordered to eliminate the bandits in the Tianlu Mountain area of ​​Nanzhou. I need to recruit some civilian workers to carry siege equipment. All healthy men over the age of twelve can join. Anyone who joins will be given a resettlement fee of five steamed buns. After the bandits are eliminated in the future, the recruits will be resettled to save you from the suffering of displacement."

The crowd suddenly became agitated. If it was normal, no one would care about this resettlement fee, and it could even be said to be pitifully small, but now it is different. Most of these refugees have been hungry for several days and may fall down on the roadside at any time. In this case, five steamed buns are not a matter of a few meals, but the hope of survival. Soon, some people walked out of the crowd and expressed their willingness to be recruited.

Seeing this scene, Xiao Lin sighed. He understood that these people came out not for themselves, but just for their families to survive. After all, with these five steamed buns, there was a glimmer of hope.

Soon, this group of government troops set up several tents on the roadside, placed several tables and chairs, and began to register the conscripted workers.

"Father, I'll go." Xiao Lin said with a smile, holding his father who wanted to sign up. He knew that his father was very weak, and the hidden injuries left by hunting in his early years were recurring one after another under the current situation. If he really became a migrant worker, he would probably die on the road before he even reached the bandits' lair.

"Brother." Xiao Zhi, who was one year younger than Xiao Lin, had red eyes. She knew that after her brother left, she would probably never see him again.

"Xiao Zhi, be good. When brother is not around, you must take good care of father and wait for brother in Huai County. Brother will definitely come to find you." Xiao Lin said with a forced smile, suppressing the pain in his heart.

"Yeah." Xiao Zhi nodded obediently, and then smiled at Xiao Lin.

Seeing Xiao Zhi's forced smile to comfort himself, Xiao Lin's nose was sour. He thought of his mother who starved to death two days ago. He secretly gritted his teeth and told himself that he must not let his sister be like his mother.

He turned his head secretly, wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with his fingers and threw them away, and then Xiao Lin walked out of the crowd without looking back.

The long line stretched for several hundred meters. A rough estimate showed that there were at least several hundred people who signed up. Xiao Lin was in the middle of the line, feeling a little uneasy. He saw with his own eyes that several elderly applicants were driven back. He understood that these elderly people wanted to use their lives to exchange for the hope of survival for their families. There were also several young people, thinner than Xiao Lin, who were also driven back to the refugee team.

Xiao Lin was very worried, afraid that he would not be hired.

"Xiao Lin, you have also signed up." A childish voice came from behind. Without turning back, Xiao Lin knew that the person who spoke was Xiao Shi, who grew up with him. Xiao Shi's father was a blacksmith. Originally, their family was relatively wealthy in the village, but unexpectedly, his father and eldest brother were conscripted to serve as soldiers a year ago and never returned. He was left with a younger brother and a younger sister. His mother died of starvation before she could escape from the famine a few months ago. There was no other way. Xiao Shi, who was one year older than Xiao Lin, could only bring his younger brother and sister out.

"You are out, what about your younger brother and sister?" Xiao Lin showed a surprised expression on his face.

"What else can we do? Let Uncle Xiao help take care of them. I hope we can wipe out the bandits as soon as possible, and then we can go back to Huai County." Xiao Shi sighed.

Xiao Lin didn't say anything. He knew that Uncle Xiao that Xiao Shi was talking about was his father. There was nothing he could do about it. Xiao Shi's situation was similar to his. Without these steamed buns, the three of them couldn't survive. Instead of that, it would be better to exchange a few steamed buns so that his younger brother and sister could have hope of survival.

Soon, it was Xiao Lin's turn.

"Name?"

"Xiao Lin."

"Place of origin?"

"Gouzi Village, Huai County, Nanzhou."

"Age?"

"Thirteen." In order to increase the chances of being hired, Xiao Lin lied about his age by one year.

Hearing this, the registered soldiers looked up at Xiao Lin with a skeptical expression on their faces.

"Sir, we are childhood friends. We are both thirteen years old this year. You can see that we are both very strong and can definitely work." At this time, Xiao Shi came up from behind with a smile on his face, and showed his tendon muscles to the soldiers.

Xiao Shi had been working as a blacksmith with his father since he was a child, so he was very strong and half a head taller than Xiao Lin. Although he was only thirteen years old, he looked about the same as a young man of fifteen or sixteen.

Obviously satisfied with what Xiao Shi said, the government troops did not embarrass Xiao Lin, nodded, and wrote the name Xiao Lin on the list.

After Xiao Shi and Xiao Shi received the steamed buns, they returned to the refugee team.

They took out four of the ten steamed buns and gave them to Xiao Shan and the three children, then wrapped the rest in coarse cloth and handed them to Xiao Shan.

Xiao Shan took it and took out two steamed buns from the coarse cloth.

"You haven't eaten for more than two days, so have a steamed bun too."

Xiao Lin and Xiao Shi looked at each other, Xiao Lin took a steamed bun, broke it in half, gave half to Xiao Shi, and then smiled at Xiao Shan: "Father, one is enough for the two of us."

Looking at his sister Xiao Zhi, who was chewing the steamed bun sweetly, Xiao Lin suddenly felt that he had done something very right.

...

Three days later, Xiao Lin and Xiao Shi followed the army and entered the Tianlu Mountains. The Tianlu Mountains are located in the west of Nanzhou, Yuxi State, and connected to Jinshi State in the north. They are vast and boundless. After going deep into the mountains for hundreds of miles, there are endless primitive forests. There are towering mountains and steep ridges. The top of the high mountains can't be seen at a glance. For countless years, no one knows how big the Tianlu Mountains are, because everyone who goes deep into them has no news.

Scarfaced army officer Liu Dali led hundreds of soldiers and drove these hundreds of civilian workers towards the Tianlu Mountains. They have been walking for four or five days. In Xiao Lin's opinion, they have at least gone deep into the Tianlu Mountains for more than a hundred miles. Along the way, they often heard the roar of wild beasts, which made them really frightened.

If they hadn't been so many in number, they would have been attacked by wild beasts long ago. Xiao Lin was a little puzzled. Logically, although the bandits' lair was also in the Tianlu Mountains, it was impossible for it to go so far into the mountain. Bandits survived by robbing and looting. It would take them half a month or ten days to go out and do business at such a distance. This was a bit unreasonable.