Chapter 97: Planting and Raising Hope

"If there is an afterlife, be a good person and don't do bad things." On an October morning, the ground was covered with white frost, and Wu Qian came out with auxiliary soldiers to clean up the battlefield.

He had just seen a boy of about thirteen or fourteen years old, lying stiffly on the ground with a painful look on his face, and he felt a little more emotional.

After sighing, he bent down and worked with the auxiliary soldiers to carry the body onto the car.

The auxiliary soldiers on the opposite side were new, remnants of Manfen's army, who had only been in the army for more than four months and had only fought one battle, and their entire army collapsed. Seeing the corpse, his face turned pale, but this did not prevent him from quickly rummaging around on the corpse.

A few copper coins were actually taken out.

Wu Qian pointed to the bamboo basket on the carriage, and the auxiliary soldier obediently threw the copper coins into it.

The seized goods shall be turned over to the public and distributed uniformly. This is an iron rule established from the very beginning. The old people are used to it, and the newcomers have also accepted it by default under the influence of it.

The carriage rumbled forward and soon stopped.

Wu Qian turned over a corpse and said, "The wounds are all on the chest. Why are you so stubborn? It's not easy for your parents to raise you. Remember to surrender early next time."

The auxiliary soldier on the opposite side picked up a spear and put it on another carriage.

When he came over, he and Wu Qian skillfully stripped the leather armor off the corpse.

Most of the leather armor is damaged, but it can still be used after being patched up.

Good quality leather armor is not cheap.

Leather armor made from horsehide, cowhide, pigskin and even deerskin has different values.

This one should be made of layers of pig skin. It's not very good, but it's better than having no armor when distributed to soldiers.

There is another car on the other side.

Two auxiliary soldiers, one in front and one behind, collected several ring-handled swords that were full of holes.

Among the auxiliary soldiers there were those who specialized in repairing equipment. We gave it to them to reforge the sword and it became a good one.

There were also people who dealt with the injured horses and draft animals.

Basically, the meat was cut on the spot, the leather was collected, and the meat was carried away, to improve the food for the comrades who were starving.

Even the tendons of animals are processed by a specialist and used in bow making. Similarly, the arrows shot out can be recovered and after careful inspection, most of them can be reused.

This is the joy of cleaning up the battlefield, a full sense of achievement.

The carriages loaded with spoils soon became full, so Wu Qian led a team of people and escorted more than 20 carriages back to the city.

After the war, there were not many people on the post road, but a few well-informed people had already driven carts into the city.

When passing a farmland, there were many vehicles parked ahead, almost blocking the road.

Wu Qian had no choice but to stop the car. He looked up and saw a few scholars in tall hats and wide belts pointing at the farmland.

It seemed that some of them were things he had seen before.

Eh? Isn't that Wang Yan? Wu Qian pricked up his ears to listen to them.

"Yan Guo has been watching for a long time. Can you figure out something?" Wang Yan asked impatiently while sitting in the car.

"You old fellow are so annoying!" Hu Wu Fuzhi scolded and continued to look at Tanaka.

Wang Yan laughed and didn't take it seriously.

Hu Wu Fuzhi had this kind of personality and was very much like a famous scholar.

His son Hu Wuqianzhi was not as talented as his father, but both father and son liked drinking.

Once, Hu Wuqian saw his father drinking with others and called his father by his name: "Yanguo, you are old and can't drink like this anymore. If you drink every day, I will be so poor that I have to face my neighbors with nothing in the future."

Hu Wu Fuzhi didn't take it seriously, laughed out loud, and invited his son to drink with him.

So, the father and son drank happily.

"Yan Guo..." Wang Yan waited for a while, then became a little impatient and urged.

"Listen!" Hu Wu Fuzhi made a gesture to calm Wang Yan down.

Wang Yan stretched his head out suspiciously and listened attentively.

He had just seen Sima Shaoxun, the lieutenant of the Donghai State, plowing the fields with a group of soldiers. What was there to see or hear about this?

"My brother is in the city and my younger brother is outside. The bow has no string and the arrow has no rod." A desolate song could be heard faintly in the distance.

"How can we survive when food is exhausted?" someone echoed loudly, with a trembling voice.

"Come and save me!"

Everyone in Tanaka joined in.

"Haha, wonderful!" Hu Wu Fuzhi danced with joy and immediately asked someone to bring him a pen and paper so that he could record the song he heard.

Wu Qian sneered.

He has heard this song and can sing it.

It was first sung by Sima Shao, and later became widely circulated among the Silver Spear Army.

As for farming, it was indeed Sima Shao who took the lead in farming.

As soon as the war ended, Sima Shao organized people to rush to plant wheat without any delay because it was already a little late.

In fact, not many people in Henan Province grow winter wheat at this time, and millet is the mainstream crop.

But Shao Sima thought that Luoyang was in frequent wars and it was rare to have peace, so it would be better to plant a batch of wheat so that it could be harvested in May of the following year. If there was no war by then, he could plant another crop of grains to fill up the granary.

Because there was a severe shortage of oxen for plowing and horse plowing was too shallow - not to mention that horses were also in short supply - Shao Sima led the soldiers in "manual plowing" as if he was going to a war.

That's it.

Wu Qian looked at it for a while and felt more and more emotional.

Shao Sima said that "there are no good people in Luoyang City". He himself was not a good person, but he took the lead in cultivating the land and letting his men have enough food instead of just plundering the people. What is this? Yes, the "great benevolence" mentioned by the teachers.

Great benevolence and courage, really worthy of his following. "It's just a folk song, what's so good about it?" Wang Yan lost interest after listening for a while and said angrily.

"Save me! Save me! Do you hear me?" Hu Wu Fuzhi laughed.

Wang Yan just thought he was crazy.

This man came from a good family, but his family was very poor when he was young. He was in contact with peasants and became a little weird. He even refused the invitation of the general to serve in the shogunate. Maybe he was sick.

Now he is the Prince of Taidi and a Yinping man, of noble status, but he still likes the vulgar tunes hummed by these common people.

Can you appreciate something elegant?
"I've finished memorizing. Let's go." Hu Wufu wrote down the song with his pen. He threw the brush away and got on the ox cart. He pushed Wang Yan aside and said, "It's worth the trip. It's worth the trip."

"Yan Guo, have you forgotten the important matter?" Wang Yan asked dissatisfiedly.

"Is there any wine?" Hu Wu Fuzhi asked.

"No." Wang Yan refused bluntly.

Hu Wufuzhi smacked his lips regretfully and said, "Yecheng was defeated, and it was a terrible defeat."

"Where is Liu Yuanhai? Where are his reinforcements?" Wang Yan asked with a serious expression.

"It's too late." Hu Wufuzhi shook his head and said, "Shi Chao and Wang Bin have suffered defeats, and their soldiers have fled. There are only 15,000 soldiers left in the city. We can't hold it anymore."

Wang Yan almost choked to death on his own saliva.

Fifteen thousand soldiers can’t defend Yecheng?
Shao Xun had only a few men, yet he dared to defend Luoyang.

"With an army of more than 100,000 led by Wang Jun and Sima Teng, Yecheng will fall sooner or later. Even if my brother wants to defend it, there is no one to wait for him to die." Hu Wu Fuzhi sighed and said, "What's more, my brother doesn't want to defend it anymore. Ten days ago, he led the remaining troops and fled south to Luoyang on the emperor's orders. He left in a hurry, and along the way, alas..."

"How was the trip?"

"Neither the emperor nor his ministers brought any money." Hu Wufuzhi said, "Only the Zhonghuangmen hid three thousand coins in his luggage. When people found out, the emperor issued an edict to borrow money to buy food on the road. There were no eating utensils, so we could only eat in clay pots. Alas."

Wang Yan was speechless.

You have soldiers escorting you, and you still need to "buy" food?

The most frustrating thing is that the emperor issued a special edict just to borrow money for food...

"I followed for a few days, then left ahead to come to Luoyang to make arrangements." Hu Wu Fuzhi seemed to be unable to look back and did not want to talk about it any more.

Wang Yan felt a little sympathy for the emperor and his ministers. It was really miserable.

The emperor might be okay, he's used to it.

When Sima Yi led the emperor to war, he had to stay in bean fields at night. The conditions were very difficult. The emperor had a big appetite and often didn't have enough food, so he became thin...

But Sima Ying had lived a life of luxury since childhood, and this time he was really in trouble.

When he came to Luoyang, he was like a phoenix without its feathers, no better than a chicken. If Mi Huang and Shao Xun wanted to kill him, it would only take a moment.

Thinking of this, I feel a little sad.

A person who was once a powerful figure can end up like this.

"Who is in charge of Luoyang now?" Hu Wu Fuzhi asked.

"Mi Huang, the governor of Luoyang, is in charge of military affairs." Wang Yan said.

He only said half of the words, but he believed that Hu Wu Fuzhi could understand.

Mi Huang was in charge of military affairs, and Wang Yifu was in charge of government affairs. As for Cao Fu, although he was Sima Yue's military commander, he didn't seem to want to argue.

"Where is Shao Xun?" Hu Wu Fuzhi asked a name, which directly surprised Wang Yan.

The reason for the surprise was not because the officials of Ye Prefecture knew Shao Xun, but because Hu Wu Fuzhi did not care about the matter at all.

He was the Junior Secretary of the Imperial Court, a formal official position, but like Yang Zhun, the Chief Military Officer of the Prime Minister's Office, he lived a carefree life, did not take on any official duties, and either spent his time sightseeing or drinking and whoring - in fact, at least one-third of the staff in Ye Prefecture only took salaries and did not do any real work, but Sima Ying did need them to keep up appearances.

The more celebrities there are, the stronger the influence will be.

As the momentum grows, more people will come to join us.

For this purpose, it is no big deal to support more famous and romantic people.

"Shao Xun is the lieutenant Sima of the Donghai Kingdom. He proclaimed himself the general of the central army. People like He Lun, Wang Bing, and Miao Yuan did not dare to criticize him directly when they met him." Wang Yan said.

"Him?" Hu Wufuzhi pointed at the general who was plowing the field like an old ox in surprise, and said, "Since he is second only to the emperor and has great power, why is he like this?"

"I'm afraid he has a big plan." Wang Yan said in a gloomy way.

To some extent, Shao Xun's working in the fields was also a way of "nurturing his hopes".

Some people make a living by lying on ice - ahem, some people rely on serving their parents to be filial.

Some people make a living by debating and conversing.

Some people rely on the elegance and fame of celebrities to maintain their reputation.

Shao Xun cultivated his reputation in this way, but I'm afraid that only corrupt officials, rather than noble celebrities, would be attracted to him.

"Who doesn't have some ambition nowadays?" Hu Wufuzhi muttered, and then said seriously: "Since the prince sent me here, even if I don't know anything, I have to ask you clearly, are you worried about your life?"

"No." Wang Yan said straightforwardly: "Shao Xun is a man who knows the rules, not Zhang Fang, don't worry."

"Okay." Hu Wu Fuzhi nodded and said nothing more.

The oxcart was moving very slowly, but the singing could still be heard faintly: "Save me! Save me!"

Folk songs and tunes don't actually require any literary talent.

The difficulty lies in that you have to get close to the lives of the people, chat with them often, talk about life and family matters, and know what their demands are. Only then can you write something that is popular.

When he heard the three words "save me", Hu Wu Fuzhi felt a kind of soul-stirring power.

He seemed to hear the thousands of neglected people in the Jin Dynasty shouting in sorrow: "Save me!"

He sighed deeply.

(End of this chapter)

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