Stage [Republic of China]

About half an hour later, Heiwuchang coughed twice, and said to Shui Jiu, "Brother Ning did mention that Mr. Ruohua was also trapped in the northern city of Jibei. But sir, why did you escape alone? Brother Ning Woolen cloth?"

"Him? He's still in the city." Shui Jiu's head was already very dizzy at this time, and even she was forced to speak with the last sliver of consciousness.He waved his hand and said, "If you really don't believe me, I can't do anything, it's just..."

"Just" before he finished speaking, he suddenly slipped limply down the tree roots.

Hei Wuchang quickly grabbed his arm, approached his ear again, and asked, "How is Brother Ning in the city right now? Is it dangerous?"

"……do not know."

Shui Jiu had passed out at this moment, her pale water chestnut lips parted vaguely to answer him, but her eyes were firmly closed.

Hei Wuchang had no choice but to carry Shui Jiu on his back, and walked out of the woods together with Bai Wuchang quietly while the sky was not yet fully bright.

26, 26

◎"He wants to live"◎

In a daze, Shui Jiu was taken to a new hidden residence of the Jiangnan Rebels on the outskirts of the city.In a daze, he vaguely remembered lying on Hei Wuchang's back, the clang, the sound of Hei Wuchang's footsteps landing on the ground was extremely heavy, followed by the creaking sound of pushing the door panel open.

There was a damp smell behind the door panel, mixed with the smell of rotting rice, probably a threshing floor.This is different from the suburban residence where he and Ning Jimin lived together last time, heh, it's really a tricky rabbit.Shui Jiu was dazed, and thought for a moment mockingly.

When he regained consciousness again, a bowl of warm rice porridge was brought to his lips.Shui Jiu's lips moved, and he smelled the unique fragrance of rice porridge at the end of his nose, and he couldn't help murmuring. "This is the local rice in Jibei City."

However, due to wars and famine in the past few years, refugees from outside have poured in, while old residents in the city have been driven out in waves, and a lot of fertile land has been abandoned.It is rare to be able to eat the local rice in northern Hebei.

This bowl of fragrant porridge saved half of Shui Jiu's life.He tried his best to swallow a big mouthful, and heard someone talking about him.He opened his eyes, but people's shadows were swaying in front of him, everyone seemed to be covered in a layer of sweaty mist, making it difficult to see clearly.

-"...This is very sick."

-"Can it be saved?"

-"Shh, be careful to let the patient hear you."

Fragmentary voices of discussion drifted into the ears, and then dissipated in the sweaty mist.Shui Jiu's eyelids seemed to be extremely heavy. When she closed her eyes, she continued to sleep again in a dizzy state.

When I woke up again, it was already June.Shui Jiu was at a loss and found himself curled up in the haystack, under the scorching sun, his whole body was drenched in sweat. "...Where are we going?"

There was the sound of wheels rolling in my ears, and my body was bumping violently in the haystack.

Shui Jiu turned her head, her pair of red and phoenix eyes stared in a daze, and looked around for someone familiar to ask for directions.On the right side of the mule cart, there was a young man with bare arms and black mandarin jacket with high cheekbones who was walking on his way. At this moment, he just happened to look up at him and let out a surprised sound. "Mr. Ruohua, are you awake?"

Shui Jiu looked at this "black mandarin jacket" very strangely, but his voice was familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere.

"Hurry up, hurry up, come and see, Mr. Ruohua is awake!" The young man in a black mandarin coat got excited, waved a stick wrapped in gray cloth strips in his hand, and shouted at the people in the line.

The mule carts came to a halt. "Black Jacket" jumped on the handlebars, and at this moment, everyone gathered around the mule cart one after another.More than a dozen people surrounded Shui Jiu as if looking at rare objects, looking up at Shui Jiu.

Shui Jiu twitched her fingers uncomfortably, and wanted to support herself, only to realize that even her fingertips had no strength all over her body. "...What happened? Are we moving again?"

"Hey, I can't say a word or two to you now." Among the people who gathered around, there was an old man smoking a dry pipe, knocking the pipe on the handlebar of the car, and a large piece of black oily smoke fell out . "Anyway, Mr. Ruohua, you follow us. Brother Ning entrusted you to us, and we will always take good care of you."

"Where are Ningji people?" Shui Jiu found that when he spoke, he was still angry and anxious, and he didn't feel the sweat as big as soybeans rolling down his forehead.

More than a dozen men looked at each other, but no one answered him.The old man knocked a piece of cigarette mud down again, frowning, as if he thought the bag of cigarettes was smoked too fast, and he was very bored.After a while, the old man said to Shui Jiu in a muffled voice, "We are going to Jingxi now."

Shui Jiu was shocked.Today, the world is roughly divided into five parts. The largest part takes the north of Hebei to the imperial capital, and this part is under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court.The second is the Jingxi Mansion. Jingxi is composed of military police, Qing Gang, Hong Gang, and the imperial court. It looks like a mixed bag of fish and dragons, but in fact it has its own radius, and no forces from outside can penetrate it.The third piece is the territory of the Jiangnan Rebels. Along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to the Huaihe River, there is a large area of ​​land, with boat gangs and corps, and the foundation is relatively rich.

As long as Jibei City is captured, the Jiangnan Rebel Army will take a big step towards capturing the capital.When he came, Ning Jimin had already been assassinated successfully, and the Jiangnan rebels were about to invade northern Hebei, why is it that the small group of people he defected to went all the way to Jingxi Mansion?

Could it be that he has been ill for a year or so?No, bad, probably he went to the wrong people.This group was not from Ning Jimin in the first place, they might be spies from Jingxi Mansion.

"Jingxi? Didn't the rebels already take down Jibei City?" Shui Jiu clenched her fingertips tightly and tried her best to keep her face tight so as not to show her feet.

The old man raised his head, coughed and held the dry pipe in his mouth, and said to him inarticulately: "This happened more than half a month ago. Jibei is now... alas!" The old man sighed heavily, pattering Smoking dry tobacco, no longer talking.

"What's wrong with Jibei? Where's Ning Jimin? Where's Lulu?" Shui Jiu's face became paler.

Everyone looked at each other again and remained silent.

In this eerie silence, even the screeching of the sun on the haystack, and the soft sound of the wind blowing the fluff can be clearly heard.Shui Jiu's heart sank, the sweat dripped more and more, her cold white fingers tightly pinched the haystack under her body, her throat tightened. "Could it be..."

"Mr. Ruohua, don't make bad guesses!" The old man laughed, pinned the cigarette pouch to his waist, and lifted the belt of his trousers. "Let's go to Jingxi this time, firstly, to get some good guys, and secondly, we have to stock up on food and oil. For the rest, let's talk as we walk, and talk as we walk, haha."

The old man let out a haha ​​and raised his hand in greeting. "Okay, let's go, let's continue on the road, it's important to continue on the road."

The people really dispersed one after another.

Shui Jiu looked around, only to realize that he was the only one who had this kind of treatment. He could rest half-lying and half-sitting on the mule cart, with a young man in a black mandarin jacket accompanying him.The rest of the people were on foot, everyone was sweating, and those people were carrying heavy burdens, and they all had things pinned to their leggings.

Shui Jiu was a little bit sorry, trying to prop himself up and sit up. The man in the black jacket who accompanied him had already jumped out of the car, and now the old man was driving the car for him.

"This old man..."

"My surname is Wang, and they all call me Uncle Wang." The old man interrupted him neatly, and while driving the mule cart with a cracking whip, he said slowly to him: "Mr. Ruohua, you are a gentleman, and you have been sick all the time That’s why I didn’t tell you about some things. A few days ago, on the sixth day after we brought you back, our people have already entered northern Hebei.”

Shui Jiu frowned. "That's a good thing!" he asked tentatively.

But he didn't see any joy on the faces of these people just now, which is strange.

The old man flicked the whip a few more times, laughed dryly, and said vaguely, "Hey, it's a good thing, who can say it's not a good thing!"

The old man had a strange expression on his face, and after a haha, he stopped talking.

Shui Jiu sat on a mule cart and walked along the bumpy mountain road. It was very hot along the way, and the sound of cicadas was hysterical.Waves of heat wave, people's eyes look out, every trace of air on the loess slope is distorted.

"How long have I been sick?" Shui Jiu decided to change the subject.

"It won't be long," the old man sneezed loudly and rubbed his nose with a buzzing voice. "We picked you up on the fourth day of May, and today is the eighteenth day of June. You, Achoo! Do the math yourself."

The old man sneezed loudly again.

Shui Jiu thought to himself, it has been more than a month, is he still sick?His memory was very blurred, except for the aroma of the bowl of local rice in northern Hebei, he couldn't remember the rest. "Then where are we moving on the fourth day of May?"

"Ah, we left on the eighth day of May." The old man rubbed his nose and said, "it's hard to stay in the suburbs now."

"Why? Didn't you already enter Jibei City?" Shui Jiu chased after him.

"Don't mention it! On the seventh day of May, our people entered northern Hebei, and the imperial army arrived that night. Oh, 20 people came in a mighty way."

"In that city now...?"

The old man glanced back at him, snapped his whip again, his body bumped up and down with the mule cart, and answered him, "Oh, a good man doesn't suffer from immediate losses! We withdrew that night. No, early in the morning on the eighth day of May, before dawn, we went to Jingxi Mansion together."

"Isn't Jingxi the territory of the Qing Gang and the Hong Gang?"

"