Chapter 320 Hunger and Thirst
At night until the third watch, a dark cloud covered half of the bright moon in the sky, the stars dimmed, a basket slowly dropped from the head of Jincheng City, and after reaching the ground, two people clumsily crawled out of it.
Zhao Ruosu, a member of Zhongshushe, held the rope and shook it twice, indicating that everything was safe, sighed softly, and walked towards the bridge, followed by his entourage. The safety of the isolated island, leave here, I don't know how long it will take to wander before landing again.
The two of them carried a bag each and traveled westward. There were relatively few Huns here. There were mountains a few miles away. After entering, they might be able to avoid the Huns’ cavalry. Falling down, he had to tug on his shoulders twice often, suspecting that he would not be starved to death, but exhausted.
Soon after, Dongcheng rushed out a team of cavalry, more than a hundred people, trying to attract the attention of the Huns, but it didn't work much. influences.
The Chu army did not dare to fight, and soon returned to the city.
Zhao Ruosu and his entourage hadn't even reached the mountain area at this time. It was completely whimsical for these two people to walk all the way through the Xiongnu blockade. After trekking in hiding for nearly an hour, they were captured alive. There are also Huns, who tied their hands with ropes and led them as if they were livestock.
The only gratification for the entourage is that the burdens of the two have been taken away, reducing a lot of burdens.
The Huns were chatting and laughing happily, and the two Chu people could not understand a word. Zhao Ruosu suddenly felt a kind of fear. If the Huns did not take him seriously and killed him on the spot, his plan would be a complete failure.
So he yelled and put on a posture that I was important, and got a few whips, leaving a bloodstain on his face and burning pain.
The two were chained to a pole in the camp, and the Huns passing by laughed and spat wildly at them.
At dawn, still no one listened to them, questioned them, no one even brought water or food, they had not been killed, and the only reason seemed to be to show the strength of the Huns: no one could escape from their siege.
Zhao Ruosu kept standing with his head held high, refusing to show surrender, and said to himself that there was still hope, and the Huns would not react so quickly.
As it approached noon, he couldn't bear the hunger, thirst and exhaustion, so he had to sit on the ground with his back against the pillar, looking at Jincheng, feeling uneasy, not as calm as when he told the plan to the emperor.
The entourage also sat down, licked his lips, and whispered, "We won't die here, will we?"
Zhao Ruosu was not good at inspiring people. After thinking for a while, he said, "According to my observation, only one of ten odd strategies can be successful. Therefore, in governing the world, keeping upright is the top priority. ...it's up to God."
"Ah? I think what you said in front of Your Majesty is very good, and I thought...I was deceived by you." The entourage was a person by the emperor's side, named Loach, who only knew a little about the whole plan, and his courage disappeared. She cried, "I came with you voluntarily, and I only ran so far. I can run farther by myself."
"Cry, cry loudly." Zhao Ruosu said.
"Why, look down on me?"
"As soon as you cry, it becomes more real. Cry hard."
The loach let out a dry howl twice, and soon came out of sadness, and really burst into tears, snot and tears, which made the surrounding Huns laugh.
Zhao Ruosu sternly stopped, scolding him for embarrassing the Emperor of Chu, and the loach cried even more, until someone was annoyed and came up with two whips, he stopped crying, sobbed quietly, and whispered when the Huns walked away. : "Master Zhao, my reputation is completely ruined, you can restore my reputation in the future."
"Don't worry, as long as you can leave alive, the credit is all yours."
The loach almost cried again, this Master Zhao really can't boost morale.
It was getting late, and the Huns kept bluffing, and there was no battle. The two captured were so weak and weak that the loach wanted to cry but couldn't cry, and muttered, "I thought the dry food was too heavy last night, but I really miss it now. "
Zhao Ruosu was sweating profusely. Hearing the word "dry food", his stomach growled, but he still stood up straight and tried to maintain his sitting posture, "You always have a name, right?"
"Yes, loach."
"I mean the big name, the official name, the name given by the husband or the elders in the family."
"This... I know my surname is Chao, and my name is Loach."
"Which Chao?"
"Are there many Chaos?"
"Not many, only two are commonly used, one with the tongue rolled and the other without." Zhao Ruosu wrote the words "Chao" and "Cao" on the ground with his tied hands.
The loach couldn't read, so he tried to roll his tongue, but not to roll his tongue.
"That's it." Zhao Ruosu pointed to the word "Chao" on the ground, "I'll give you a name."
"Does loach sound bad?"
"It sounds good, but it's hard to get into the hall of elegance. You will be an official in the future. When you interrogate the prisoner in the court, he happens to be called... Big fish, aren't you embarrassed? 'Lord Loach issued an order, ten big fish were committed in the stick case.'"
"Haha." Loach smiled, "Can I still be an official?"
"Of course, you are a close friend of His Majesty's side. As long as you don't make mistakes, you will be an official sooner or later, and you will be a high official."
Loach coughed twice and shouted: "Lord Loach sent an order, dare to call a big fish, that is guilty, beat eighty times with a stick, and send it to the frontier."
Zhao Ruosu just wanted to say that the average person can't stand the eighty sticks, but the loach cried again, and this time it was really crying at the beginning.
Zhao Ruosu sighed and said nothing.
"Master Zhao... give me... a name." Loach choked and said, "It's bigger than... big fish..."
"It's bigger than a big fish, it's a whale. It's a giant beast in the sea. It is said that it can swallow an entire ship." Zhao Ruosu wrote the word "whale" on the ground, but unfortunately it was already dark, and he couldn't even see it himself. handwriting.
"Swallow the whole boat?" Loach was both disbelieving and fascinated, "Then I'll be called Whale, Chao Whale."
Except for a new name, nothing happened this night. Another team in the city came out to test the enemy, but it was useless, and the Huns were unmoved.
Zhao Ruosu and Chao Jing were so hungry that they slept against the pillars and woke up early in the morning with cold water pouring over their heads. Several Huns babbled for a long time, kicked a few times, and threw down two hard cakes. go.
This was their only food for two days. No matter how dirty the ground was, they picked it up with both hands and devoured it. Even Zhao Ruosu didn't care about his image.
"The Huns don't know how to make cakes." Chao Jing said, licking the crumbs on his lips, he had already finished eating the cakes.
Zhao Ruosu tore off most of the remaining half of the cake and handed it over. Chao Jing did not dare to be polite, and took it in his hand and ate it. The hunger in his stomach decreased a little, and he raised his head and sighed: "It's a pity that my treasures of gold and silver, all of them. Even though the villagers have worked hard to fish for ten years, they can’t get so much money, although I have to return it to Your Majesty in the end, I can always touch it for a while, but now I can’t even touch it.”
"Return to Your Majesty?" Zhao Ruosu didn't understand.
"It was His Majesty who asked me to accept a bribe, and then..." Chao Jing covered his mouth with his hands, remembering that it was a secret.
Zhao Ruosu laughed twice, but didn't say much, and had some new impressions of the emperor.
There was only breakfast on this day, no lunch or dinner. Chao Jing was even more hungry, especially when he felt thirsty. He regretted that he didn’t take a sip of cold water in the morning. He really didn’t want to see the Huns running around on horseback. "Master Zhao, you seem calmer today than yesterday."
"It's up to people to make things happen, and it's up to heaven to get things done. It's useless to be anxious. It's better to let it go and quench thirst and fatigue."
"Really?" Chao Jing also imitated Zhao Ruosu's appearance and sat upright. After a while, his back felt sore and numb, so he gave up trying, looked at Jincheng, and murmured, "Zhang Youcai must be eating and drinking spicy food, just let him come out at that time. ."
After nightfall, the Huns started to eat, and the aroma of meat came from afar. Chao Jing cursed in a low voice, and even felt that he could not sleep, but when he saw a group of Huns riding on horses, he hurriedly shut up, and he didn't want to eat because of the loss in front of him.
The Huns untied the ropes on the pillars and led the two prisoners to the outside of the camp. The horses were fast and the others were slow. The two could only trot to follow. Zhao Ruosu shouted a few words and asked where he was going, but there was no response. Chao Jing’s face was pale. , "It's over, it's time to start, the Huns love cleanliness, and they want to take us outside the camp, no... can't it be that corpse pile?"
The fire of the corpse pile has not been completely extinguished until now, and the smoke is still rising. When he thinks that he will die there, Chao Jing is neither thirsty nor hungry, but he feels empty in his heart and his legs are weak, and he is afraid of embarrassing the emperor. Keep calm and don't speak again.
I don't know how far I walked, and the surroundings became more and more desolate. It seemed that I was not going to the corpse pile, but digging a hole on the spot.
The Huns stopped and said a few words to each other. Most of them left, leaving only the two of them. When their companions were far away, one of them jumped off the horse and said in the Central Plains dialect: "The two adults have suffered."
Chao Jing was stunned, Zhao Ruosu clasped his fists and said, "Your Excellency is not a Xiongnu?"
The man took out a dagger and cut off the rope on Zhao Ruosu's hand, "We are from Chu in Liaodong, and I am ashamed to say that, for the sake of our family's lives, we had to follow the Huns and Fuyu people to enter the customs. Having the opportunity to save the two adults is our redemption."
Chao Jing was even more surprised, but he didn't forget to reach out and let the other party cut the rope.
Zhao Ruosu looked very vigilant, "Your Excellency let the Huns leave so easily?"
The man shrugged, "Mixed with a thousand commander, how many people will listen."
Zhao Ruosu nodded, expressing his belief.
"It is not advisable to stay here for a long time. Two adults, hurry up and leave. I have surveyed the terrain. From here, I entered the mountain and walked along the mountain on the left. After ten miles, you can go to the official road. There are no Huns there."
Zhao Ruosu shook his head, "I can't go now, our stuff..."
The man turned and asked for a small bag from his silent companion, "Here's the stuff."
Zhao Ruosu hurriedly took it in his hand, checked it by the moonlight, and breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you to the two righteous people, I don't know the names of the two honorable people. If there is a chance in the future, I can ask for the credit for the two of them."
The man smiled and said, "Who dares to leave a name to humiliate the ancestors of the enemy? Two adults, hurry up and leave."
Zhao Ruosu put on his bag and bowed his hands in thanks. Chao Jing also bowed his hands and asked, "Where's our dry food?"
The man smiled, walked to the side of the mount, took off a leather bag and threw it over, "There is no dry food, just a little wine." After saying that, he got on his horse and left with his companions.
"I'm really lucky to meet a righteous man," Chao Jing said.
Zhao Ruosu patted the burden on his body, "It's not the righteous people helping, it's it."
The two walked towards the mountain with one foot deep and one foot shallow. Chao Jing didn't want to think so much, so he opened the wine bag and took a sip, and handed it to Zhao Ruosu.
Zhao Ruosu shook his head, he had forgotten his hunger and thirst, and just wanted to leave this place quickly and find the Northern Army who was stationed somewhere.