Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 334: Smiling Face Cutting the Skin and Flesh
Zhen Baoyu left the mansion that originally belonged to him, bowing with every step. He ran a few steps carrying the rice bag, but then slowed down. After thinking for a while, he stuffed the rice bag into his arms, placed it against his skin, and patted it to make it flat.

At this time, you can see from the outside that the person's belly is bulging, as if he is hiding something, but you can't tell at a glance that it is a bag of rice.

After a hasty disguise, Zhen Baoyu pretended to have a stomachache and ran towards the dilapidated temple outside the town.

The bowl of half-cooked rice that Liu Huai had just forced him to eat also took effect at this time. Soon Zhen Baoyu felt that his originally weak steps became firmer, and his whole body regained some strength, and he ran faster.

In just a moment, he ran to the dilapidated temple, looked around like a thief, and when he saw that there was no one there, he went straight to the back hall of the dilapidated temple.

"Aunt, sister, look what I brought back?"

As soon as he pushed the door open and was about to speak happily, Zhen Baoyu saw his aunt holding her younger brothers and sisters and wiping her tears.

"Auntie, Auntie," Zhen Baoyu stepped forward and whispered, "I brought back some rice... Where's Pu Tao? Where did Pu Tao go?"

Zhen Baoyu suddenly discovered that his youngest nephew, Zhen Putao, who was only five years old, was missing.

When this question was asked, not only the woman burst into tears, but even the two younger brothers and sisters-in-law burst into tears.

"That filthy bastard Sun Baldy said that since we can't keep the rambutan alive anyway, it's better to let the meat go into his stomach so that he can build up his strength... Baoyu, your aunt is incompetent and can't stop them." The woman kept crying, "The rambutan is going to be eaten!"

A loud noise like thunder exploded in his head, and Zhen Baoyu felt dizzy, but the next moment, he calmed down.

In fact, he was surprised at how calm he could be. However, there was no time to think about it. Zhen Baoyu first stuffed the bag of millet into his aunt's arms, then picked up a hatchet from the side and held it in his sleeve.

"Aunt, you and my brother and sister should eat something first. Don't light a fire, just eat directly, but only a handful. When you have recovered some strength, don't wait for me, go to our big house in town and find the soldiers there." Zhen Baoyu spoke quickly: "Tell Zhen Baoyu that the general promised us to wash clothes to save our lives, and now we have come to join the army."

"Baoyu..."

"Aunt, listen to me. I'm the only man left in the Zhen family. I'm the boss now!" Zhen Baoyu simply used a hatchet to cut open his bun and let his hair down. "Eat quickly, and leave as soon as you're done!"

After saying this, Zhen Baoyu held the hatchet in his sleeve and walked towards where Sun Tuzi and the others were.

What Zhen Baoyu wanted to thank most at this moment was the bowl of rice that Liu Huai forced him to eat. If it weren't for that bowl of half-cooked rice mixed with dried meat, his limbs would definitely not be so strong now.

In fact, not all the villages and towns near the quarry were massacred by the Jin army, but a major characteristic of war is that it has a ripple effect. After the Jin army massacred an area, the people in the surrounding areas would flee, and fleeing would produce refugees, and the refugees were enough to completely destroy the economy of the small people gathered in the village.

You must know that in this era, the lower-class people really counted rice to survive in winter.

At this time, we have to rely on government relief, or even suppression, to restore order.

However, isn’t the Jin army still stationed at the Dongcaishi Ferry?
The yamen runners, local soldiers, and archers of Dangtu County all hid in the county town and did not dare to leave the city, let alone provide relief. As soon as the grain carts left the city, they would be robbed by the Jin army that came and went like the wind.

Of course, this is not their fault. After all, the Song army has retreated to Caishi Town. Can they still rely on a group of yamen runners to fight against the Jin army?
But this also led to the situation around the quarry getting worse day by day.

In the Middle Ages, when information was poor and transportation was inconvenient, whether one could escape to a place with food was one thing, but more importantly, one did not even know where to escape to.

Famine has begun to spread in Quarry Town, which is relatively close to the center of the war.

Of course, for Zhen Baoyu, who was looking for trouble with Sun Tuzi with a hatchet in his sleeve, these were too far away.

The man, with disheveled hair, came to a village where Sun Tuzi often stayed. He saw the white smoke emitted from the steam in the pot from a distance, and also saw seven or eight people gathered together.

As I got a little closer, I heard a loud but weak voice saying, "Son, when you get to the underworld, don't blame your Uncle Sun. Blame this world for where you are. Your Uncle Sun has the strength and can escape further. Consider it your salvation."

Then, a child's cry could be heard. "Stop!" Zhen Baoyu didn't bother to hide it and shouted loudly, "Give me back the rambutan and I'll give you something to eat!"

Upon hearing this, seven or eight people turned around, their bodies emaciated like zombies, and looked at Zhen Baoyu with lifeless eyes.

"Uncle, save me!" Zhen Putao had been stripped naked and tied to a wooden board with a large wooden barrel beside him.

Baldy Sun was sharpening a wrist-cutting knife on a stone nearby, as if he wanted to drain all of Zhen Putao's blood using the same method as slaughtering an animal.

"You... Young Master Zhen, what can you give us to eat?" Baldy Sun asked weakly, "Are you going to return all the extra rent we've paid over the years?"

As a wealthy family in the town, the Zhen family still had to buy land and property in an agricultural society, even if they relied on business to get rich.

This was especially true in Jiangnan, where land annexation was more serious, so half of the people in the town were tenants of the Zhen family.

Of course, as a landlord, he had many methods, such as measuring money in large amounts and taking it out small amounts, and kicking the money box to check the money. Although these methods did not arouse public outrage, they were enough to make the tenants complain.

Zhen Baoyu knew he was in the wrong, but he couldn't bear to watch his nephew being eaten. He shook his head and said, "The Jingnan army officers stationed in Caishi Town gave me a way out. I can go and work with them. They will provide me with food and money."

Baldy Sun stopped sharpening his knife and raised his gaunt face with a half-smile. "Young Master Zhen, you may have a point. That idiot official might actually have a chance of survival, but why should I stay on the battlefield? Tomorrow, someone with a knife handle comes and thinks I'm ugly and kills me. How can I complain? I might as well have a good meal and save my strength to escape south."

Zhen Baoyu grasped the hatchet in his sleeve, his voice turning cold: "In other words, you won't let Pu Tao go no matter what?"

"It's not that I won't let you go." Baldy Sun seemed to be extremely hungry. Holding the sharpened dagger, he pressed it against the ground and stood up shakily: "It's... Young Master Zhen... We are really hungry, we really don't want to die... Young Master Zhen, have you ever encountered a time when you were about to starve to death? No, you haven't. You eat the rice we grow and the cattle and sheep we raise... You won't starve..."

Having said that, Baldy Sun licked his cracked lips and smiled slightly: "You...you must be delicious..."

As he spoke, Baldy Sun suddenly pounced over.

Zhen Baoyu also pushed away several hungry people around him who were swaying like reeds in the wind and rushed towards Tuzi Sun.

In fact, neither of them knew how to fight, and they quickly rolled together on the ground. For a moment, smoke and dust rose around the big pot.

The meal Zhen Baoyu had eaten in Caishi Town played a decisive role at this moment. Soon, Zhen Baoyu was the first to get up from the ground, holding his own hatchet. The sharp knife originally held by Sun Tuzi was now firmly stuck in Sun Tuzi's chest.

Zhen Baoyu wiped the sweat mixed with dust and blood from his face. He first cut the rope that bound Zhen Putao, held her in his arms with one hand, pointed at the other hungry people with his hatchet with the other hand, and said with a gasp, "I have found the meat for you. Now I want to leave. Whoever dares to stop me will be the next piece of meat!"

The hungry people looked at Zhen Baoyu with their greasy green eyes, then lowered their heads to look at Sun Tuzi, who was barely able to catch his breath, and silently made way for him.

Zhen Baoyu took the hatchet and held his young nephew in his arms, walked past Sun Tuzi and left the village.

With only his last breath left, Baldy Sun spat out blood and murmured with a laugh, "When I was alive, my flesh was cut by the government officials; after I die, my flesh will be eaten by people like me... Our lives are really a joke..."

Zhen Baoyu paused, feeling that the sage books he had read before suddenly resounded at this moment, churning in his mind as if they had come alive.

Just as he was about to say something, he heard the sound of a knife cutting bones. Soon, something plopped into the big pot, and soon the aroma of meat wafted over.

Zhen Baoyu looked up at the sky and felt that there was indeed something wrong with the world. The Jin army did not march south, which also meant that there was something wrong with the world.

However, with his knowledge, although he realized the existence of the problem, he didn't know what the problem was or how to solve it. He could only imitate the adults, sighed, and went to the dilapidated temple with his trembling nephew in his arms.

(End of this chapter)