Nightwatcher

According to the records of Dafeng Geography, Yunzhou is 60,000 miles long and rich in products, such as agriculture and mulberry, porcelain, herbal medicine and so on. Before Emperor Wuzong rose up, the wealth of Yunzhou ranked among the top five states in Dafeng.

The official road is long, winding to the horizon, with black soil fields on both sides and rolling hills in the distance.

Not long after the sun had risen, the low temperature from last night remained in the air, and a team of more than a hundred people walked slowly on the official road.

The sound of horseshoes "da da" was mixed with the rattle of wheels.

"In the early years of Yuanjing, the total population of Yunzhou reached 5 million. After that, the yellow book was fabricated every ten years, and the population gradually decreased. In the 30th year of Yuanjing, the population of Yunzhou was more than 3.5 million. Now it is Yuan In the 36th year of Jing, there are four more years to recreate the yellow book, I wonder how many people are left in this Yunzhou?"

Governor Zhang lifted the curtain and said with emotion.

The population has shrunk by 1.5 million in 30 years, which is horrific, and the real reduction will only be more than that. Because the land in Yunzhou is fertile, if there is no natural disaster, there is no need to consider the problem of famine.

That is to say, in 30 years of normal reproduction, the population can grow steadily.

From 5 million to 3.5 million, it is not a simple subtraction. The actual reduction in population is at least doubled. Xu Qi'an cursed: "What the hell."

Governor Zhang glanced at him and continued: "Half of the lost population is due to heavy taxes. They abandoned their fields and became refugees, or went to the city to find another way of life, or became bandits. These people are not recorded in the yellow book." inner.

"Furthermore, banditry is a serious problem. Burning, killing and looting make things worse. Sometimes the bandits in the village will take the initiative to go down the mountain to rob the people in order to supplement their labor. Heh, of course bandits are not included in the yellow book."

Xu Qi'an looked into the distance silently, listening to Governor Zhang's words, and analyzing in his heart.

In the early years of Yuanjing, there were still five million people. In the tenth year of Yuanjing, the population was still shrinking. By the 30th year of Yuanjing, there were no more than 1.5 million people. After many years of rapid decline, reading is almost the beginning of Emperor Yuan Jing's practice of Taoism

Because Emperor Dafeng was obsessed with cultivating Taoism, so the Witch God Sect felt that there was an opportunity? The Sorcerer Sect has plotted for more than 20 years, and it will definitely not make small troubles. The countries led by Dafeng and the Sorcerer Sect will definitely have a war.

Thinking about it, he tilted his head and almost fell asleep.

"Your mental state is not very good." Governor Zhang looked at him and frowned, "What's wrong?"

The Governor remembers that Xu Qi'an has kept himself safe all the way, and did not hang around the Jiaofang Secretary, so he should not be so exhausted and exhausted.

Xu Qi'an turned his head, smiled wryly at the governor, "It's nothing, I just became a master of time management."

This was his eighth day of sleeplessness, his brain was throbbing with pain, and his blood vessels seemed to burst open. When eating this morning, he even had a slight hallucination, thinking that Xu Lingyin was snatching his meat buns.

The eyeballs were bloodshot, and the eye circles were black and blue, which reminded Xu Qi'an that he lived in the blessed society of 996, and occasionally had to experience a 007, which was also such a miserable appearance.

"There are still two more days. After these two days, I should be able to advance to the realm of refining gods. I can't let myself fall asleep, otherwise I feel so uncomfortable because my heart is beating so badly."

Xu Qi'an took a deep breath, took off the water bag and poured it on his head, in order to stimulate his body and cheer up his spirit.

A caravan of 300 people trudged along the official road, and flat carriages pulled the goods. Under the tarpaulin, they were covered with silk, tea, porcelain and rouge gouache, which are rich in Yunzhou.

Here are some special products of Yunzhou, such as snake saliva inkstone, citrine and so on.

The owner of the caravan is a flesh-faced man named Zhao Long. He was also a well-known hero in the Yunzhou Jianghu in his early years, and he took both black and white.

Tired of licking blood at the edge of a knife, relying on the fame and connections gained in the early years, he started a caravan business.

He can always manage the cottages along the way, leave Yunzhou in a stable manner, distribute the goods to various places, and earn a lot of money.

After a long time, many businessmen are willing to spend a lot of money to join Zhao Long's caravan for safety.

Zhao Long's caravan has evolved into half merchant and half dart since its development.

Yang Yingying was one of the members who hid under this big tree to enjoy the shade, but she left Yunzhou as an individual and spent twenty taels of silver to ask for the caravan's protection.

After all, it is impossible for a weak woman like her to leave Yunzhou independently. She might be robbed by bandits on the official road one day and become Mrs. Yazhai.

With her beauty, it is more than enough to be a Mrs. Yazhai.

Yang Yingying was originally a woman from the Jiaofang Division in Yunzhou. She was also an oiran when she was young. Later, she was lucky enough to meet her beloved and redeemed her body. She was raised in the yard and became a concubine.

But this year, after turning 30, her appearance has not diminished, but her figure has become more and more plump, adding to the charm of a mature woman. She has a pair of bright almond eyes, and when she looks at people, her eyes are full of waves.

Yang Yingying, who was riding on a horse, noticed the fiery eyes of the bodyguards around her, so she couldn't help tightening her cloak and buried her head lower.

At first glance, her hands seemed to be protecting her plump breasts, to avoid being profaned by the eyes of some men, but in fact, she was protecting an object in her arms.

It was this object that forced her to leave Yunzhou.

An escort looked at Yang Yingying's back with salivation. She was riding on a horse with her skirt close to her body. The tight buttocks were so attractive.

The strong escort caught up with Yang Yingying, and said with a grin, "Beauty, let me play with you tonight. All the silver earned by my uncle on this trip will be yours. Ten taels of silver."

Yang Yingying turned a deaf ear to it, neither responded nor refused, and she had no rights to him.

The bodyguard said a few more words, and seeing the beauty ignored her, he left cursingly.

The bodyguards who were familiar with him burst into laughter and ridiculed him. But there is disappointment in everyone's eyes. This woman has no chance, and they have no chance either.

The eyes of the escorts who had their lives on hand flashed fiercely. If this kind of water spirit woman who traveled alone hadn't met Boss Zhao, she would have been eaten to the bone.

Zhao Long at the front of the caravan raised his hand and made a gesture, and the bodyguards immediately drew out their weapons, as if they were facing an enemy. But the knife is only half out of its sheath, which is an unwritten rule of walking darts.

Everyone is seeking money in the world, and unless there is a huge gap in strength between the two sides, they will not die. What's more, Boss Zhao has always been a bit thin in the underworld, otherwise he wouldn't eat this bowl of rice.

Seventy or eighty people jumped out of the dense forest on both sides of the trail, with bright swords and spears, and more than twenty riders were killed on the fork in the road, all of them were strong men and strong horses.

Zhao Long was a little puzzled, he had to walk this road several times a year, and he knew exactly which sections of the road needed management and which hilltops needed filial piety.

When did such a group of trail-cutters appear in this woods? Zhao Long pressed his hand, signaled to his bodyguards to be safe, rode his horse forward for a short distance, and said in a loud voice:

"Let's go to Zhao Long, which way did my friends play before?"

As he got closer, he suddenly realized that something was wrong. These gangsters had military crossbows hanging from their waists and standard long knives in their hands. These were all military equipment.

Zhao Long had heard that some large villages had no shortage of military supplies, including sabers, crossbows and even firearms, but those were all top bandit villages and should not appear here.

"Ning Yan, you look like a sick man whose body was hollowed out by a woman." Song Tingfeng and Xu Qi'an went hand in hand, taking the opportunity to joke and mock.

Xu Qi'an glanced at him, and said calmly: "I have a friend who asked me if I have any pills for strengthening yang and tonifying kidney by Si Tianjian."

Song Tingfeng's smile froze.

"My friend is Zhu Guangxiao, Guangxiao, you have a fiancée, why bother working so hard." Song Tingfeng threw the blame on Zhu Guangxiao.

Zhu Guangxiao glanced at him without saying a word, and felt unwilling, and retorted: "I am sympathetic, you look so ugly, every morning, the girl who sleeps with you can't get out of bed.

"You don't know temperance yourself, and you've lost your body."

The warrior is physically strong and energetic, but even the Bull Demon King plows from night to morning every day, and as the days get longer, he will lose his energy and blood.

"I'm amazing." Unconvinced, Song Tingfeng smiled proudly: "Only the girls from the Jiaofang Division can cooperate with me to the fullest, even though they are also exhausted."

"Ting Feng"

Song Tingfeng heard Xu Qi'an calling him, and turned his head to look over: "What are you doing?"

"It's not that you are great, but that people can tolerate your insignificance."

"go away."

While laughing and cursing, Jiang Lvzhong, who led the team, said in a deep voice, "There is a smell of blood ahead, everyone is ready."

The sound of clanging blades unsheathed was in unison, and Hu Benwei and Da Watchman drew out their sabers and took off their crossbows at the same time.

"Dash!" Jiang Lvzhong grabbed his horse's belly and rushed out.

The governor's team instantly entered the marching state, extremely fast and methodical.

After marching for ten minutes, a dense forest appeared ahead, and the wind brought a strong smell of blood.

The moment he entered the dense forest, sharp arrows shot from both sides, attacking the Dangren and Hubenwei who were running wildly.

Jiang Lvzhong raised his hand and pressed it down. The arrow rain hit the invisible air wall and fell powerlessly.

He waved his hand and said: "Hu Ben army, enter the forest to kill the enemy."

While speaking, Jiang Lvzhong looked forward. Hundreds of corpses were lying on the official road, and the ground was stained with blood. The horses were not escaped, and the goods transported by the caravan were scattered all over the place.

He immediately analyzed the situation because he had smelled the smell of blood in advance, and ordered the team to rush. When the trail-cutter bandits heard the sound of horseshoes, it was too late to retreat, so they lay in ambush in the woods.

There was a fierce battle sound in the dense forest. Huben Guard was one of the five guards in the capital. Although it was not as brave and good at fighting as the imperial army, it was far better than the local army.

There was not much difference in the numbers of the two sides, the arrows and the blades were intertwined, and there was a back and forth between the fights.

Jiang Lvzhong was stunned, a little surprised, turned to look at Xu Qi'an: "Ning Yan, have you ever killed anyone?"

"Killed one, seriously injured one." Xu Qi'an looked at the caravan with dead bodies lying on the ground, and casually reported the results.

Jiang Lvzhong snorted and laughed, "You're a kid who doesn't have all his hair."

The watchmen roared with laughter.

Except for Xu Qi'an, a rookie who joined the watchmen for less than two months, everyone else is a seasoned fighter who kills without blinking an eye.

Jiang Lvzhong pointed at Lin Zi, and said, "Go, practice your hands, kill at least ten."

Xu Qi'an withdrew his gaze and exhaled slowly: "Okay!"

PS: The background seems to be broken. I updated it a long time ago, but it hasn't been refreshed for a long time?