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Text Chapter 318 The Hungry Golden City (Part 1)

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    The heavy snowfall a few days ago dyed the earth silver. Looking from a distance, the mountains undulated like white clouds.  om However, Cui Er, who had just come out of Jincheng, had no intention of admiring the beautiful scenery. He had a basket in his hand. There was also a small pickaxe in the basket, but the tip of the pickaxe was made of stone. Some time ago and  During the war in Baekje, all iron products produced by the people had to be handed over, and the Choi family's belongings were no exception.

    Cui Er is in his twenties this year and is a resident of Jincheng. He has lived in the city for generations. Originally, his family had a small restaurant. Although the income was not much, it was enough for their family to live.  However, since the war with Baekje broke out last year, the city has been extremely short of supplies. His family's restaurant has been unable to open at all, and his eldest brother has also been captured to serve as a soldier. Now he does not know whether he is alive or dead. He is the only one left in the family.  Young and strong, it was thanks to his clan uncle who was a junior officer who interceded for him that he was allowed to stay and support the family.

    When he thought of this damn war, Cui Er couldn't help but curse in a low voice. They were two brothers, and they were both married. The eldest brother had two children, and he also had a child at home. There was also an old mother above him. Now besides  In addition to the eldest brother who does not know whether he is alive or dead, there are still seven mouths in the family that need to eat. If they hadn't secretly hidden some food when they opened the restaurant, their whole family would have starved to death long ago.

    However, Cui Er is just a small person, and it is useless no matter how much he curses this war. What he cares most about is what to eat at home for the next meal. Although he has hidden some food before, after the consumption in the past period, even though the family has tried to save as much as possible.  After eating, it was still not enough, so Cui Er has been wandering around outside the city these days, trying to find something edible to take back.

    Thinking of the child who was waiting to be fed at home, Cui Er sighed helplessly, tightened his dirty sheepskin robe tightly, lowered his head and walked out of the city gate, and hurried towards a hill southeast of Jincheng, where there are mountains and water.  , and the vegetation is lush.  Although it is already winter, if you are lucky, you might be able to find something edible.

    Although the sun has not yet fully risen, there are already more and more people on the road, and most of them are like Cui Er, carrying baskets and looking for food in the mountains.  After all, the city has been without food for many days.  Even if they have money, they cannot buy food. Ordinary people like them have to rely on themselves. It is even said that people have starved to death in some slums.

    "Brother Cui, you came quite early today." Just as Cui Er was rushing forward, planning to enter the mountain ahead of everyone, a person suddenly appeared from beside him, holding his arm and laughing.

    Cui Er turned around and said with a smile: "It turns out to be Xiaojiu. Is there no food at home again?"

    The person holding Cui Er was a boy who looked to be only eleven or twelve years old.  He is very thin and his name is Zheng Guang. He is Cui Er's former neighbor. Because he is a nine-year-old at home, everyone he knows usually calls him Xiao Jiu.  In fact, this Xiaojiu is already fourteen years old this year, just because his family is too poor.  He often had nothing to eat and couldn't grow taller, so he looked much smaller. However, it was precisely because of this that he escaped military service and did not all die on the battlefield like his eight brothers.

    Hearing what Cui Er said.  Xiaojiu immediately said with a grimace: "Second brother, you don't know about my family's situation. When did the family have food?"

    Cui Er also had a bitter smile on his face when he heard that Xiaojiu's eight brothers had all died in the war, and his parents all died of illness.  Now that I am alone, it can be said that one person has enough to eat and the whole family is not hungry. Speaking of which, although there is some food at home, there are seven people to feed, so compared with the other party, the burden on Xiao Jiu is not as light as that of Xiao Jiu.

    After chatting with Xiao Jiu for a few words, Xiao Jiu suddenly pulled Cui Er mysteriously. After looking at no one around, he said: "Second brother, I found a good place in the south of the city. There is a small river there.  The ice is not thick and you can catch fish in it. You can follow me there later!"

    "Really?" Cui Er was also very surprised when he heard this. After fighting for nearly a year, the people in Jincheng had almost no food in their homes. As long as there was something edible in the surrounding mountains and fields, almost everything was dug up. As for the river,  It is even more difficult for fish to escape the poisonous hands. In addition, it is winter and a thick layer of ice has formed on the river, making fishing even more difficult. Unexpectedly, Xiaojiu was able to find a river with not thick ice, and even more  What's rare is that there are still fish in the river. If you are lucky, you can have fish soup at home tonight.

    Thinking of the delicious fish soup that he had not tasted for more than a year, Cui Er couldn't help drooling, urging Xiao Jiu to lead the way quickly, so as not to be overtaken by others.  But just as the two of them were running forward excitedly, there was suddenly a thunderous sound of horse hooves in front of them, and then they saw a chaos among the pedestrians in front of them, and they ducked to both sides of the road.

    Seeing this situation, Cui Er and Xiao Jiu naturally did not dare to stand stupidly on the road, and quickly jumped to stand in the snow on the side of the road.  When he looked up again, he found a group of mighty Tang cavalry galloping in front of him.Without even looking at them, he rushed past Cui Er and others, splashing snowflakes on everyone on the roadside.

    ¡°These Tang people are so domineering, running so fast without fear of bumping into people!¡± Cui Erjiao knocked the snow off his body and said with some dissatisfaction.

    But Xiao Jiu next to him said with a smile: "Hey, these Tang people went to chase the general a few days ago Bah, no, it was the rebel Jin Gengxin. In the end, he was allowed to escape to Dingchuan City. Later, the Tang army sent another  People went to attack, but Jin Gengxin still ran away, which made His Royal Highness the King of Qi very angry. The Tang army seemed to be crazy, desperately looking for traces of Jin Gengxin and the others, so now we must not offend these people.  .¡±

    Although Xiaojiu is young, he usually hangs out on the street and is very well-informed and knows these things very clearly.  Cui Er had an uncle who served in the army, so he also knew some things. Jin Gengxin and Jin Chunqiu seemed dissatisfied with the arrival of King Qi, so they fled with their troops. They were chased by the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty and finally escaped to Dingchuan City.  The cavalry was unable to attack the city. When the Tang Dynasty sent troops to attack Dingchuan again, Jin Gengxin and his men ran away again, and this time they ran away, and no news about them was found again. During this period, the Tang army continued to attack Dingchuan.  Looking for people everywhere.

    But these things are not what little people like Cui Er should care about. After watching these Tang troops dash away, Cui Er and Xiaojiu carried their own baskets and rushed towards the hill in the southeast direction excitedly.

    After entering the hill, Xiaojiu and Cui Er did not run all over the hill like the others. Instead, they circled on the east side of the hill and passed through several ravines before coming to a small place.  Although this valley is also covered with snow, the snow in the valley is much thinner than in other places, and there is also a small stream running through the valley, with a layer of glittering coating on the surface.  of ice.

    Cui Er was overjoyed to see that there were not many footprints in this valley. Fewer footprints meant that there were fewer people coming here, so the chance of finding food here would be much greater.

    Cui Er and Xiao Jiu ran down excitedly, and first came to the stream in the center of the valley. For some reason, the ice on the stream was not thick, and the stream was not deep. At most, it could only reach people.  From their thighs, both of them could see the sand and gravel at the bottom of the creek from the ice.

    "Fish! There are fish here!" Cui Er hadn't walked a few steps on the river when he suddenly heard Xiao Jiu shouting not far away. This made him run over quickly and follow Xiao Jiu's fingers.  Sure enough, I found several fish half the size of my hand frozen in the ice.

    "Quick! Find a sharp stone and let's break the ice!" Cui Er also said with great joy. Although he brought a sharp pickaxe made of stone, it was not worth breaking the ice. After all, he had to grind out the sharp pickaxe with great difficulty.  Yes, he felt bad if it was smashed.

    After hearing this, Xiao Jiu quickly found a large stone, and Cui Er held it and started smashing the ice. He was young and strong and quickly broke the ice. Then Xiao Jiu couldn't wait to remove the fish in the ice.  They picked it up and put it in their own baskets for the time being, and then the two of them walked down the stream. After spending half a day, they finally found a few more fish. Although they were not very big, if they saved their money,  It can last for a few days.

    However, these fish alone were obviously not enough to satisfy Cui Er and Xiao Jiu. In addition, it was still early in the day, so they took small pickaxes and began to dig hard on the frozen soil on the river bank. Wherever there was water, the vegetation grew very lush.  , the two of them just wanted to dig some plant roots on the river bank and go back. Although these roots were bitter and astringent, they could still fill their stomachs.

    It wasn't until the sun set that the two of them dug two baskets of edible roots. As for the fish they caught before, they were all divided equally, and then they carefully placed them at the bottom of the baskets, and then covered them with roots. After a while, they  When entering the city, if the soldiers guarding the city see fish in their baskets, they will definitely be detained privately.

    They were both very tired from catching fish and digging roots. They found a clean place to sit down and rest for a while, while Cui Er took out a piece of ashes from his shiny black sheepskin robe.  Huhu's wild vegetable dumplings were broken into two halves, and one portion was given to Xiaojiu.  This was given to him by Cui's second wife before going out.  Originally, people in Silla only had breakfast and dinner, but Cui Er's wife knew that Cui Er was running around looking for food, and was afraid that he wouldn't be able to bear it, so she specially made him an extra piece of wild vegetable dumplings.

    When Xiao Jiu saw that there was something to eat, his eyes immediately lit up. Without being polite to Cui Er, he grabbed it and stuffed it into his mouth. Although the wild vegetable dumplings were made from dug out rhizomes, they tasted bitter and astringent in the mouth.  , but Cui Er¡¯s family had some food, so he added some thick noodles to the wild vegetable dumplings, which diluted the bitter taste a lot, making Xiao Jiu feel extra sweet when he tasted it.

    But just as the two of them were eating with gusto, they didn't realize that there were a few pairs of eyes staring at them fiercely on the ridge on the other side of the valley.  ______________________

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