Wishful Things

Zhu Xiu subconsciously looked around.

After a while, he shook his head.

"The subordinates didn't see anything else."

Apart from this strange silence, there is no other sound to be heard; there is no other thing to be seen except the well-organized houses that can vaguely see the peaceful scene of the past.

Xu Mingyi: "Shouldn't this hour be the time to prepare dinner?"

Zhu Xiu was stunned.

supper...

That's right.

Xu Mingyi looked at a residential area not far from the front side: "But along this road, there is no wisp of cooking smoke."

There was no scent of food.

Zhu Xiu was silent.

Are the common people afraid to make smoke, afraid of attracting officials who come to grab food?

Has it come to this point?

Xu Mingyi gripped the rein tightly.

Where there are common people, there is no fireworks.

What is the role of the government? Instead of maintaining the peace of mind of the people, it has become the biggest scourge in the eyes of the people.

Before the flames of war reached here, the government had already destroyed the livelihood of the people here.

In other words, in the eyes of the imperial court, the survival of the people is not the most important thing, but the world is.

Killing some people, causing chaos for a while, or nothing, the only thing they want is to raise enough soldiers, horses, food and grass to "clear out the rebels", and they don't even care about the cost.

Under the flames of war, it is always the people who suffer the most.

The group of people slowly came to the inn in Zhu Xiu's memory.

Like other shops, the door of the inn was also tightly closed. Zhu Xiu got off his horse and knocked on the door, but no one responded for a long time.

He could only raise his voice: "We are passing by and want to stay here for a night!"

There was a faint rustling sound from inside the door.

It took a while before someone pulled the latch, and the two doors were opened with a thin crack, behind which an inverted triangle eye was exposed, and Zhu Xiu and his party were sized up and down.

The person who opened the inn had a pair of bright eyes, and after a few glances, he knew that he was from outside, so he opened the door and welcomed the person in.

"The current situation is not as good as in the past, please forgive me for the negligence..."

This is a middle-aged man with a short figure and a felt hat, presumably he should be the shopkeeper of the inn.

It was obviously a woman's voice who talked to him at the door just now, probably the husband and wife were guarding the inn.

The tables and stools in the hall have been put away, and the shopkeeper temporarily removed some stools from the table, and greeted Xu Mingyi and the others: "Everyone sit down first, I will let my wife clean up a few rooms and come out."

"Feed the horse." Zhu Xiu threw a purse of moderate weight and went over.

The shopkeeper reached out to pick it up, glanced at the six or seven big bay red horses outside the shop, hurriedly nodded in response, and led the horses to the backyard.

"I don't know where you guys are coming from? Where are you going? In the current situation, it is said that it is not suitable to travel far away..." After setting up the horses, the shopkeeper brought two pots of tea. The other guys are gone.

"We're going to Qianzhou to find relatives." Zhu Xiu chatted with the shopkeeper according to Xu Mingyi's explanation just now.

"Qianzhou..." The shopkeeper stopped pouring the tea and sighed, "Then I'm afraid it's hard to find this relative..."

"how do I say this?"

"Everyone should know that Ganzhou was hit by a disaster two months ago. The Rongjiang River and Donghe River overflowed! I don't know how those dams were built... Anyway, they flooded many surrounding counties and counties. Linyou , Liquan, all suffered, hey..."

The shopkeeper lowered his voice and said: "Floods are common in the south, and it would be nothing in previous years, but the current government is too busy to take care of itself, how can it care about the people of Qianzhou? The flood destroyed the houses and fields, and there was no harvest. Many people have nowhere to go. Ordinary people mostly escaped from the city, those with relatives went to relatives, and those who were unaccounted for could go anywhere... Not long ago, a group of disaster victims came to our small town, and were ordered to be expelled by the county magistrate. gone."

"Besides, the surroundings are not peaceful now. You must have seen it all the way? And the farther you go to Qianzhou, the more chaotic things will be ahead. Our place is still relatively good..."

As the shopkeeper said, he glanced at the handsome "young man" who was sitting there quietly drinking tea, and reminded him kindly: "Especially you are riding horses again, now it's very eye-catching... don't talk about meeting those Hungry and crazy refugees fleeing bandits, even if they are seen by the government, I am afraid they may not be able to please, the government is currently collecting war horses, and some people have taken away their mules..."

When Zhu Xiu was about to answer, Xu Mingyi glanced at the shopkeeper and said, "My family has some backgrounds, so I forgive them for not daring to ask for trouble."

The young man's voice was clear with a hint of arrogance.

Hearing this arrogant statement, the shopkeeper was slightly taken aback.

But I really know it in my heart.

He said, how can anyone dare to ride a horse and make a show of it in this situation...

Thinking about it, if he didn't have any identity, his family would not allow him to go out this far.

Especially this young man, although he is dressed in ordinary clothes, and there are no very eye-catching items on his body, but he can't hide his pampered and noble air.

I'm afraid I can't have such confidence just because I have money, I think most of them are the children of officials...

The shopkeeper's side made a judgment in his heart, and didn't talk about this topic any more, but told him, "Always be careful, those gangsters don't care if they go crazy", "It may not be convenient to find food if you go any further." , you need to prepare more dry food for the road" and so on.

After saying this, he said: "It's getting late, if you all have to hurry tomorrow, you'd better rest early."

The woman went downstairs at this time, saying that the room was tidied up.

Xu Mingyi and the others went upstairs.

Zhu Xiu walked at the end, and when he stepped up the stairs, he took off his cloak and held it in his arms, revealing the long knife on his back.

After Xu Mingyi and his party entered the room, they heard the low voice of the couple from downstairs.

"I think they came here on horseback... Didn't the government say two days ago that if any family has a horse and refuses to hand it over, if they report it to the government, each horse will be rewarded with a penny? Those who come from other places should also be able to do it, right? "

"It should be the son of the official family who went out... I didn't dare to ask more, and it's better not to offend others, so as not to cause trouble... Didn't you see that he was carrying a knife on him! Those who can carry a knife, can the officials be younger? Be careful Serve me, just earn some room money, tea money..."

The woman seemed to say something again, and the voices of the two gradually drifted away, and they heard footsteps that they should have gone back to the backyard.

"Fortunately, what the girl said just now calmed them down, otherwise the people from the government would be in trouble." In the guest room, Ah Zhu frowned, and couldn't help but say something more: "It's nothing more than the government's search for people's fat." , how come the common people are still helping to stir up crooked thoughts."

Those who have horses must report to the government, and those who have food should also report to the government?

I just said that someone else's mule was also taken away by the government. Could it be that he reported it to the government?

Xu Mingyi took off his cloak, "If there are benefits to be gained, I am not afraid that there will be no minions."

People's evil thoughts will be restrained by the current situation, and will also be magnified by the current situation.

The government has begun to stop paying attention to etiquette, so can we still hope that the people will continue to abide by it?

If they were just a group of ordinary passers-by today, and they showed a little weakness, there might be more than just horses left behind.

At dawn the next morning, Xu Mingyi and the others left the inn.

Before leaving, Zhu Xiu had already bought some breakfast and dry food in advance - one early shop was still open. When he went, there was just a group of officials patrolling, and the manager of the early shop was stuffed by the leading official Silver passed.

A group of people drove their horses to the end of the street, and faintly heard the cries of old children and children across a low alley.

"Guys, please do me a favor. This is really the last ration in the family... My old man has been ill for a long time, and he has no money to buy medicine. I really can't lose this ration! I beg everyone Lord, in view of the fact that my two sons and three grandsons have been conscripted by the military camp, please leave some for us!"

"Please, please everyone! This is life-saving food!"

"...Uninterested old shell, get lost!"

Listening to the movement, the old child seemed to be pushed and shoved.

The sound of horseshoes from the official sentry went away, and the cries of the old children became more and more desperate.

It was very quiet around, no one seemed to dare to show their faces.

Xu Mingyi, who had been listening all the time, didn't show up either.

How about coming out?

Repel those officials and take back the food for the old man?

But what about after she's gone?

Although her hero is very majestic, what will be left to the old man will only be a more terrible end.

Without thinking about it, you can know that what you see and hear at the moment is just the tip of the iceberg of injustice in the world today.

With her mere hands, such brute strength and stupid methods, she is destined to be unable to help them.

"Give it to the old man, don't let anyone see it." She took off the plain purse from her waist and threw it into Ah Zhu's hand.

When people are sick, they still have to take medicine and food.

Of course, you have to think of ways to deal with big things, but you should also do your part in the little things you see.

A group of people continued on their way, still going in the direction of Qianzhou.

Sure enough, as the innkeeper said, the further you go, the more chaotic you will be.

One day, when passing through a deep mountain, I also met a group of rogues who wanted to rob them, but after seeing Zhu Xiu drew a knife and cut off the left hand of one of them, the rest of them did not dare to go forward to pester them.

From Xu Mingyi's point of view, these people's methods of robbery are still a bit unfamiliar and immature, presumably they have just entered the industry not long ago.

So just disperse them, and Zhu Xiu and others did not insist on hurting people's lives anymore.

This night, I walked all day long, but couldn't find a place to stay.

"Looking at the front, it should be a ruined temple. The subordinates will lead people to tidy it up. Let's stay here for one night, girl?" Zhu Xiu suggested.

It's late at night, and I don't know the situation ahead, so it's really not appropriate to take risks and hurry on the road.

Xu Mingyi nodded: "Okay."

There is nothing that will not be settled, since I chose to go out of this door, I naturally thought of everything that should be thought of.

The group drove their horses towards the temple.

There was a fire in the temple, that's why Zhu Xiu and the others could see the outline of the temple from a distance, presumably there were refugees or other people on the road resting here.

In this case, go to discuss it, it's convenient for everyone to spend the night together, it shouldn't be a big problem.

As he approached the temple, he heard voices coming out.