Mercenaries and Adventurers

Ice flood closes the north gate.

A low figure stumbled closer, and several soldiers guarding the inspection outside the city gate sneered and murmured to each other about what happened just now.

When the small and thin figure was about to enter the checkpoint from outside the city gate, the soldier next to him casually kicked the little guy's buttocks.

Pfft, the little guy fell to the cold ground.

Although he fell, the little guy's arms were clinging to his torso, as weird as a piece of wood. The soldier took a second look, then went up and kicked the little guy's legs twice.

"Okay, such a small guy, is it interesting for you to kick him? Why didn't you rush up to stop the man who rode out on horseback just now? It looks mighty here." Next to him, the tax collector walked away from the inner side of the city gate. Come out and stop the soldiers from kicking and beating the child of the low class.

The soldier bent down and smiled coquettishly. Although he stopped kicking people, he pointed to the little dot on the ground and explained to the tax official: "My lord, you don't know. Don't look at this thing as pitiful. They are bad. The poultry raised by the people, the food from the kitchens of taverns and restaurants, the purses of people on the street, and the vegetables in the market, they steal everything, everything. They are old and habitual offenders."

The tax officer glanced at the dirty little guy, with more disgust in his eyes, he waved his hand and said, "Then don't let them appear in front of my eyes, and if you kick him, you are not afraid that he will steal away when your house is empty. What about your stuff?"

The soldier grinned: "They dare, I plucked their skins!" Then the soldier followed the tax official who was walking away, and said fawningly: "You don't know, what did this guy go out of the city with those gangsters in the town just now? went."

"What did they do?" The tax official walked away, but the voice came over.

The soldier's voice also became weaker as they walked away: "They went after a young man who heard that he had a lot of gold coins on him. I guess they would intercept and kill the young man outside the checkpoint. In fact, I was kind enough just now. Let the young man go out of the city, otherwise he will be blocked by those people at the gate of the city, and he will not be able to get out, and if he wants to hide in the checkpoint, he will be attacked by those guys."

"Yeah, so you're still kind?"

"Really, before that young man subdued a few bandits outside the checkpoint and let the brothers earn a little money, so we can't just watch that person being attacked by those shameless gangsters. Although we are just ordinary soldiers, but we all understand similar morals."

When the two walked away, the other soldiers at the gate of the city ignored him. Xiao Budian opened his eyes and shook his head to look around. The businessmen who came and went pointed at him, but he pretended not to see them.

Getting up awkwardly from the cold ground, he just wanted to jump to warm his body, but he thought of something, his body froze, and then he staggered into the ice flood pass with his head down.

-

Xiaobudian is not an orphan, he has a family in Bingxun Pass. All the way to avoid the house dog barking at him, avoid the dark alleys that eat people, and don't look at everyone who passes by. He stuck his arms tightly to his body all the way, took small steps with only his legs, walked and ran back to his home.

His home is located in the northwest corner of Bingxun Pass. After entering from the north gate of Bingxun Pass, he walked as close to the city wall as possible, avoiding some large buildings close to the city wall, and arrived at a dilapidated garbage-like real slum inside.

And his family, even in the slums, is the worst group. He and his mother lived outside the edge of a house. With the simple mud and wood walls of the same dilapidated house next door, they built a low house with some branches and rotten bricks and stones.

There is only a leaky sack at the door of the house to keep out the cold wind. Fortunately, the little 'home' is built on the chimney of his so-called 'father' house, so as long as a fire is lit in the big house to keep warm, the chimney will be roasted by the flames and smoke temperature, his home can still live in people.

It won't freeze to death at night in this cold winter.

The little one pushed open the broken wooden door of 'father''s house, ignoring the vicious domestic dog tied to a rope and barking at him.

The old wooden door of the big house was pushed open a bit, and a mean face protruded from inside. After seeing that the person entering the door was a little girl, she changed her expression and reprimanded in a shrill voice: "Little mouse! Why are you so early?" Just came back? It’s not dark yet! Hurry up and go out and kneel on the street to beg for money. A few irons are money. Letting you two live at home is enough of my kindness. You have to repay me. Did you know?"

The little guy named Little Mouse was timid and silent, and just headed for the low door of his house. His home is not much bigger than a doghouse in the same yard.

Fortunately, his mother opened the worn-out sack at the door of the house, first smiled at the mean woman who didn't go out, and then waved to her son.

The little mouse hurriedly slid into the house.

-

The mean woman thought it was cold outside the door, and when she saw that her dog was watching the door, she hurriedly closed the dilapidated wooden door. Even after closing the door, she could hear her cursing without lowering her voice.

It's just that there is a wall, the sound is still quieter.

At the little mouse's house, his mother saw that his body was covered with dirt, so she hurriedly beat the dust with her hands. Fortunately, it is winter, and the dust contained in these things is not smelly, nor is it as sticky as mud. Just slap it off.

It wasn't until after returning home that the little mouse rubbed the place where it was kicked before with a face full of pain. His mother picked up the linen clothes that the little mouse was wearing that were full of warm garbage, and gently rubbed the kicked spot. place.

"Didn't I just say, don't mess with people who are not easy to mess with anymore?" Twisting the little mouse's ears, his mother reprimanded him in a low voice.

"I didn't provoke you, I was hit by someone." Speaking of this, the little mouse seemed to recall the killing scene he saw by the river before. He shivered.

Thinking it was cold, his mother picked up the little mouse and placed it near the chimney of the big house that was part of the wall, letting the heat from the chimney warm her son.

Seeing that the little mouse was still trembling, she hurriedly wrapped the suit of clothes she was mending around the little mouse.

"What's the matter, little mouse? Does your body hurt somewhere?" The woman asked worriedly.

"It doesn't hurt, it's just, just." Tears flowed from the eyes, and snot flowed out: "It's just that they all died. They were all killed by a powerful guy."

My mother's eyes widened. Although people died every day in the slums, most of them died of illness, freezing to death, starvation and exhaustion, and a few were beaten to death.

Those residents who have nothing, if they were beaten to death, most of them offended important people when they went out to beg for a living, or they were beaten for fun by some black-hearted thugs, and then they were beaten to death.

But they all died alone, never many people died together.

"What's going on? Where's your father? Where is he? Is there anything wrong with him?" The mother became anxious at this moment. After all, although her son, Little Mouse, was naughty and wanted to be beaten, she was taught not to lie since he was a child.

They are already living like this, if they bend their spiritual spine again, they will really never be able to climb out from here.

The little mouse was terrified. When he was by the river before, he was too frightened, so he hadn't reacted yet. Now that he came to the safe and warm home, the cruel scene that happened before was clearly reflected in his mind.

"Father led us to chase a man, the man on horseback. He also chased after leaving the city, but at the riverside, everyone was killed by that man. Father also died. They are all dead, Da Mao, Red Hand and the others are dead. , The gray cat is also dead, all dead. My father begged him for mercy and was killed. The man wanted to kill me. Go. I came back, and the soldier also kicked me. I heard him blame us for going out of the city to chase that man, so he kicked me. I pretended to be dead, and he talked to people and walked away. I just Run back." The little mouse spoke in a rambling manner, but it also made it clear that all the people they usually hang out with were killed outside the city.

The mother couldn't believe it. Seeing her son in a trance, she quickly patted the little mouse on the cheek to calm down the son who was captured by fear.

After quite a while, the little mouse came to his senses. Weeping timidly, he curled up on his mother's calf.

After comforting the little guy for a while, the little mouse's mother asked intermittently what happened.

It turned out that her 'man' took the little mouse and waited for other nearby men to go out to find work as usual in the morning. They said they were looking for work, but in fact they were doing some stealing things, mostly picking up the garbage thrown out of the back door of the big hotel shop, and rummaging through it for something of some value.

Sometimes people's back door is not closed tightly, they sneak in and grab some things that can be taken away, and when they are caught, they are mostly beaten up. Looking at each other will also attract a beating, they are used to it.

As a result, after going out in the morning, I haven't had any income, I just picked up some hairy bread that was not in the tavern, and rotten shoes that were not in other people's shoes. But just before noon, they heard a piece of news in a hangout on the street.

A certain young man sold two valuable treasures to the bosses of big shops alone, and sold a bag full of gold coins that couldn't fit. And that young man is not a local resident, but a solo traveler from another place.

Single, young, lots of money.

This is not telling those unhealthy guys in Bingxunguan one thing: I am very valuable, come and grab me!

The little mouse's father was therefore moved as much as the other gangsters.

When they saw other people preparing to rob, they also hurried home, borrowed or borrowed from others, and roughly obtained some 'weapons' that could be used for violent robbery.

They followed the other gangsters from the Simmons Chamber of Commerce by the river all the way to a hotel protected by the church.

Most of the gangsters dare not go in to make trouble. After all, whoever dares to make trouble will probably be picked up by the soldiers in the checkpoint and locked in the dungeon, and the body will not be carried out until he starves to death.

A group of them squatted on the corner of the street, and saw the target riding out of the hotel, so they chased after it with the others.

But most people give up when they see that the other party has a horse. But the little mouse's 'father' felt that the other party didn't seem to be a good horseman. He could ride a little on the main road of the checkpoint. After leaving the town, he probably wouldn't be able to run far.

Sure enough, after everyone else gave up, the group of them chased out and found that the man was riding slower and slower. As a result, he seemed to have fallen off the horse, and the coins were scattered all over the ground.

The bag containing the coins probably also had a hole, and it was sprinkled all the way along the escape route of the other party.

Everyone else was thinking about the gold coins in the bag, so they gave up on the fallen copper and iron coins. Only the small mouse had no weapons and did not dare to make trouble, so he had to fall behind to pick up the fallen coins on the ground.

result.

That's a trap.

Everyone else the little mouse knew was killed on the cold river beach.

As for the killing scene, Little Mouse couldn't describe it, so he could only dryly say who was killed by that young man a few times, and who was killed by that young man's teasing.

These dry words also frightened the little mouse's mother.

At the end of the talk, a look of light suddenly appeared in the eyes of the little mouse. He reached out his hands to search under the armpits of his two thin arms, and took out an imperial silver coin that was as bright as a silver moon and as bright as the sun in a dark home.

Although it is said to be an imperial silver coin, it is only consistent with the imperial silver coin in terms of manufacturing process and silver content. The two sides of the silver coin are the regent of the kingdom, the name of the kingdom, and the mint of the kingdom where the silver coin was minted.

Mother's eyes widened. She hadn't seen coins of this face value in how long, how many years. Not caring that it was hidden under his son's armpit, he grabbed it directly and bit it with the tiger teeth in his mouth.

The place where the silver coin was bitten is slightly dented, which is a real silver coin.

"Where did this coin come from?" Mother asked urgently.

The little mouse shook his head and said timidly: "The first coin dropped by that man was this silver coin. After my father saw it, I took it and never left. They all died after that."

"That's right, that guy, hey." The mother sighed heavily, but kept her eyes fixed on the silver coin. The two of them just huddled in the 'wall' of their home - beside the chimney of the big house next door, they didn't speak.

After a while, the little mouse's mother picked up the silver coins, and then pushed them out of the ground under the scattered wood chips in the corner of the room. There were twelve copper coins inside.

She hesitated for a while, looking at her son's thin and shrinking appearance, it seemed that some kind of decision had been made in her eyes.

She asked the little mouse to pack all the things in the house with rope, and she returned the clothes to be repaired to the tailor shop. After getting a little labor fee, she went to the bakery and bought a bag of bread.

When she got home, she let the little mouse carry the bread, and she carried all the wealth of the family on her back: some old clothes, old boots she picked up, and an old dog's fur.

Without saying goodbye to the people in the big house, the mother took the little mouse, and the two of them walked to the south gate of the checkpoint with a full load of things on their backs.

"Mom, where are we going?"

"I can't stay here any longer~www.readwn.com~ Let's go home."

"But isn't home behind you?"

The little mouse pointed to the low house next to the big house that went far behind.

"That's not home."

"Is that there?"

The little mouse pointed in another direction, which was also a place in Bingxun Pass, but it was still dilapidated, but slightly better than their previous place.

"Bah, that's not it." The mother spit in that direction. She thought it was a safe place to live in, but the man was a gambler. He had no money, and he wanted to gamble with her and the little mouse as collateral. table.

The little mouse scratched its head, and finally pointed in another direction.

The mother looked at the direction the little mouse was pointing, her eyes filled with tears: "It used to be, but after your father died, it's no longer."

The little mouse lowered his head, a little sad and a little confused.

The mother reached out and touched her son's reddish cheeks from the cold, and pulled the little mouse forward.

After a while, she stopped, pointed to the south of Bingxun Pass, and said to her son: "There is no home here, since your father died. But, that direction."

paused.

"That direction is your mother, my home. It used to be, and it may be now. Hey, I hope your grandfather still recognizes me as a daughter." At the end of her speech, she felt a little bit unsure.

The little mouse squeezed his mother's cold hand to give her some warmth and encouragement.

"A silver coin is not much, but with the coins accumulated at home, it should be ok, but it seems that you still have to join a southward caravan. It doesn't matter. They will definitely need someone who can cook and mend clothes." people."

"I can work too!"

"Good! Let's go home."