From the seventh year of Chongzhen to the end of Chongzhen, the northern and southern provinces of the Ming Dynasty suffered severe droughts one after another. Among them, the continuous droughts in Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces were more than five years. Henan was the most severe, and the drought lasted for seven years.

During these seven years, especially the 13th year of Chongzhen, the two capitals, Shandong, Henan and Shaanxi experienced severe droughts, great locusts, and great famines. Zhejiang and the three Wus famines. From Huaibei to the south of the capital, the tree bark was gone for thousands of miles. The hunger was everywhere, beggars were everywhere, and there were more than 100 counties reporting people from all over the country that reported ate with each other.

Zhou Xian and Li Kai rode into Kaifeng City, compared to five years ago. Although Kaifeng City was still prosperous at this time, there were more things hidden after the prosperity. The number of soldiers at the city gate was twice as high as usual, and the city was full of begging civilians. From time to time, some pedestrians also hurried by the streets, for fear that the beggars would hold their clothes.

The last time he came to Kaifeng, Zhou Xian lived and ate in Liang Chunyuan, and this time he still chose to rest here. After booking the room, he went to the street to buy some gifts and went to the west of the city with Li Kai.

Li opened the door that had been taken for a long time, but no one answered. However, the shop inside the shop next to him heard the sound and walked out to ask Zhou Xian, "Are you looking for Zhao Yu? His shop has been pawned and has not opened it for a long time."

Zhou Xian's face changed slightly and he said, "Did you have pawned?"

"Yes! His wife died of illness some time ago. He had no money to hold a funeral, so he kept all the things in the store. Although the shop is still owned by his house, there are not many things in it. If you want to find him, you should go to his house! Anyway, it's not far from here."

Zhou Xian bowed and replied, "Thank you for the store's reminder."

Li Kai frowned and said, "Second Young Master, what should we do now? Should we go to his house?"

Zhou Xian nodded and said, "You must go there. This time I am willing to stay in Kaifeng City for a day just to see Zhao Yu."

Li Kai was puzzled and asked involuntarily: "Second Young Master, this Zhao Yu is not going to be as good as he is, and he will not succeed in anything. Why do you value him so much!"

Zhou Xian smiled and said, "Maybe you are right. Zhao Yu is indeed a bit ambitious, but he has a strength that others do not have, that is, his interest and proficiency in firearm production. Nowadays, firearms have a short range and are small in power, and often seem less than bows and arrows. But it is the trend of future weapons development. If Zhao Yu could meet a teacher and study the firearm production technology, he might not be able to become a master in the future. Now he is extremely down and out, and giving a little favor may bring great rewards. Why don't I do it! Besides, Zhao Yu has indirect life-saving grace to me. If it weren't for the pistol he gave me that day, I might have died in the chaos."

Li Kai nodded in a slight understanding. "Then let's go now as the second young master said."

Zhou Xian arrived at Zhao's house. When Li Kai stepped forward and knocked on the door, the door opened strangely. Zhou Xian looked puzzled and walked into the yard. The inside was full of weeds, and except for a path made of bluestone bricks, there was basically no place to step down. Several houses on both sides were empty and the doors were dilapidated, not like a place where people lived. Walking to the hall on the back, you saw a small mourning hall that was simply arranged. Zhao Yu was lying on the ground and slept soundly. A strong smell of alcohol was sprayed out from his mouth, and all kinds of vomit were spitting out everywhere.

Li Kai frowned and said to Zhou Xian: "It's still morning, why is he so drunk?"

Zhou Xian sighed and stepped forward to help Zhao Yu up. He looked thinner than a few years ago, and his eye sockets were deeply sunk inward, looking extremely old. When he parted that day, he gave himself a hand gun. It was this hand gun that helped him kill Sahalian, causing chaos in the Qing army, and thus returned safely.

Thinking of Zhao Yu's past favor, looking at his down-and-out at this moment, Zhou Xian shook his head silently and said to Li Kai: "Li Kai, help him up and let us go back to our residence together."

It was not until it was getting dark that Zhao Yu woke up slowly. He touched the soft bedding on his body and sat up in shock. He hadn't had a serious sleep on the bed for many days. If it weren't for the noise coming from the side, he would have thought he was in the Hall of Hell!

At this time, a "bang" knock on the door sounded. Zhou Xian stepped into the room, holding a table in his hand, with several dishes of meat and vegetables on it. He said to Zhao Yu with a smile on his face, "Brother Zhao, you are awake."

Zhao Yu looked at Zhou Xian in a daze, and after a long time, he said, "Are you... Brother Zhou?"

Zhou Xian put the wine and food on the table one by one, smiled and said, "Fortunately, I'm not confused. I'm afraid I'll be hungry until this time of sleep! Come and eat something first, let's talk about it."

Zhao Yu got out of bed, looked at Zhou Xian strangely, and said, "Brother Zhou, why are you here in Kaifeng?"

Zhou Xian briefly explained his experiences over the past few years to Zhao Yu. After listening to them, he sighed and thought about his current downfall and outdated. He couldn't help but smile bitterly: "I didn't expect that if you haven't seen each other for a few years, you are already the Zhaoxin Captain of the court and have also been in high school. But Brother Li has gone from being a thief, and I have also been down to such a level. Life experience is really different!"

When Zhou Xian heard this, he couldn't help but frown and said, "What was the situation with Brother Li that day? Why did he suddenly become a thief with Sister Hong!"

Zhao Yu sighed and said, "Mr. Hongzi is a man in the world, wandering around and seeking survival. In August of last year, she was invited by a wealthy family in Kaifeng to perform acrobatics. But she never thought that the rich family secretly had malicious intentions when they saw that Mr. Hongzi was young and beautiful, so they wanted to bully her. But Mr. Hongzi was very skilled in martial arts. Not only did she not let the man get any advantage, but she accidentally killed him by accident and was imprisoned. At that time, Brother Li sympathized with Mr. He gave some money to the prison guards and asked them to take care of Mr. He also wrote to the government office to defend her."

Zhou Xian sighed secretly and asked, "Then what!"

"The rich family is in great power. They spent money to bribe Shangguan and must kill Hongniang. Later, the people of the martial arts world who were with Hongniang rescued her by some unknown means. Everyone roared away and went to Xinyang, southern Henan to be a thief. Although there was no definite evidence that this was related to Brother Li, the rich family focused on Brother Li and told Shangguan that Brother Li was a thief. Brother Li was usually anxious about his righteousness and provoked many wealthy families. Everyone worked together to kill him."

Zhou Xian smiled bitterly and said, "Later, did Sister Hong rob the county government and rescue Brother Li, and Brother Li had to join her in the thief?"
Chapter completed!