My country, you can pinch it

Fang Jinling slept very comfortably this time, feeling much more relaxed in his body, but at some point, the carriage had stopped, and he got up slowly, which alarmed the people outside the carriage.

"Master, are you awake?" Zijing walked in.

"Yes." Through the window, Fang Jinling saw that the entire convoy had stopped, whether it was soldiers or servants, except for those who stood guard, the rest were sitting in twos and threes, eating dry food and resting.

"Where is King Ning?"

"His Royal Highness is talking to two cousins ​​outside."

"My sister?" Fang Jinling was surprised.

"Yes, it seems that there is a business, and the commander of the guards is also there. He looks quite serious. Do you want to get out of the car, young master?"

Fang Jinling nodded, so Zijing helped him put on the cloak and helped him out of the carriage.

Not far outside the car, Shang Chuqing and Wei Xue were talking face to face with Liu Ke and Commander Luo, when they heard the noise, they all looked over together.

Seeing Fang Jinling, Liu Ke frowned immediately, and said in displeasure, "Why did you come down? It's so cold outside, it's finally getting better, and you'll catch cold again later, so hurry back to the car and stay there, and someone will bring you something to eat .”

After Liu Ke had finished speaking, the sisters from the Shang family next to her opened their mouths and then closed them.

Fang Jinling had already figured out Liu Ke's temperament of eating soft and not hard, so he pretended to be pitiful and said: "I've been lying down for too long, my bones are sour, and I can feel relieved by walking, Your Highness, don't chase me up." OK, okay?"

The soft voice, matched with the youthful and frail appearance is not at all inconsistent, listening carefully seems to be acting like a baby.

Realizing this, Liu Ke felt a little unnatural on his face, so he gave Fang Jinling a look, then calmed down, "We can only stay for a while, and go up after breathing. Come here, it's windy there." He just compromised like that up.

The smile on Fang Jinling's face involuntarily deepened, and he walked obediently to Liu Ke's side, "Thank you, Your Highness."

Liu Ke seemed impatient, but in fact he curled his lips in satisfaction, and then beckoned to Xiaotuanzi, who sent a hand stove over, "I just got rid of the smoke, and the young master took it."

As the king of Ning, who led more than a thousand guards, Luo Yun was undoubtedly deeply trusted by Liu Ke. He was just an inconspicuous captain of the Imperial Army before, and he didn't know Fang Jinling. When Mao spoke, his eyes almost popped out for a moment.

Speaking of this journey, he originally thought that Liu Ke took care of this sick young man in front of the Xiling Houfu, but now it seems that this is clearly the one who is willing to hold his hand and pamper him.

It's only been less than a month!

"What's the situation?" He couldn't help but secretly asked Xiaotuanzi.

Xiaotuanzi replied in a low voice: "As far as you can see, one thing is one thing, this young master is our master's nemesis, and we will make offerings in the future."

so smart!Xiao Tuanzi was the number one celebrity in front of Liu Ke, his words were absolutely credible, and Luo Yun was immediately in awe.

Looking at the situation from the Shang family, Shang Chuqing directly sighed to Wei Xue: "Our little cousin will definitely be a famous person in the future."

Even the number one gangster in the capital is willing to eat to death, what else can't be done?

Wei Xueshen took it for granted. Speaking of which, not long after they saw Fang Jinling, the seven sisters spontaneously doted on him one by one, wishing to find the stars to pick the moon. Thinking about it, it didn't seem surprising that Liu Ke did this.

She proudly said: "That is, I don't even look at whose younger brother it is. If Ling Ling is a girl, there must be a man who climbs the wall and breaks his head every three days for him."

The whisper was a bit loud, Fang Jinling twitched the corners of his mouth, and couldn't help but glance at Liu Ke, who happened to be looking over too.

Liu Ke immediately denied it: "That definitely can't be Grandpa."

Fang Jinling said quietly: "But so far, you have only climbed the wall."

Liu Ke: "..." This is still unclear?He looked at Fang Jinling, who raised his delicate chin slightly, and looked very proud of himself.

He thought for a while, and then said: "Although the master crawled, it seems that you brought it in in the end."

Fang Jinling's face froze: "..." I almost forgot.

"You turned your elbow to brother's side earlier?" Liu Ke raised his eyebrows, and smiled viciously as if he was taking advantage.

Fang Jinling curled her lips and took out her trump card, "Why don't you speak louder so that my sister can listen too."

"Listen to what?" Shang Chuqing looked over.

"Ahem." Liu Ke straightened his face, "Let's talk about business."

Fang Jinling thought so.

So Luo Yun said: "This year's severe cold is especially severe in the north. We also met people who died on the roadside along the way. If the body is still intact, it must be emaciated. If it is incomplete and eaten by animals, it can be recovered from the broken body From the clothes, it can be seen that this person is suffering from hunger and cold, and has nowhere to go, the more he goes to Yongliang, the more corpses of this kind of refugee will be."

Luo Yun said this very seriously. As a person from the capital city, although he has heard the news that countless people died of freezing and starvation in the disaster-stricken areas, the capital city has always been singing and dancing, and no one has seen it with his own eyes. .However, this time when he escorted Liu Ke to Yongliang, he really experienced what it means to be starved and killed everywhere, with devastation everywhere, and seeing people feel cold all over his body, and he was deeply saddened.

And Fang Jinling had been mentally prepared for this phenomenon, thinking that when the Shang family rushed to the capital from the northwest, it was the time when the cold disaster was at its worst. The jackal was hovering nearby, even pounced on the person before he died...

When the Shang family sisters described it afterwards, the sense of powerlessness touched everyone's heart and lungs.

"But just now when the sentry came back to report, at the foot of the high slope five miles ahead, there were dozens of wounded and half-clothed corpses. Depending on the degree of decay, some of them were two or three days old, and some might be worse. Long."

Fang Jinling immediately heard the key, "Isn't it a refugee?"

Luo Yun looked at Wei Xue, who said, "It's not a refugee. Although the clothes of these corpses are broken, they were obviously picked off by someone, and there are traces of long-term ornaments on their hands. Although it has been a few days since they died, But the weather is cold, and the corpses are not decomposed yet, and the corpses can be seen to be solid, and some can even be said to be fat, it is absolutely impossible to be the victims of the disaster with a sallow and emaciated face after starving all winter, I have seen it with my own eyes."

"What does the third sister mean, what are their identities?"

"peddler."

Liu Ke asked, "What did the bandits do?"

Wei Xue said, "It's very possible."

"Dozens of corpses..." Liu Ke and Fang Jinling looked at each other, "I'm afraid this is more than one or two caravans."

Wei Weixue said: "Winter in the Northwest is too cold, and it's New Year's Eve. At this time, there are very few caravans passing by. Only in the beginning of spring, will they come from all over the place one after another. Counting the time, these batches should be the earliest. Merchant."

"Miss Shang San understands very well."

"Duojin traveled all over the world in the early years, so he is more familiar with these things."

"It seems that these businessmen have all confessed here. Are bandits so careless, killing for money?" Liu Ke was puzzled, "There is only one official way here."

Wei Xuexue replied: "Yes, there is only one official road leading to Yongliang, but it is not like this usually, the bandits know that if they kill all the merchants, no one will dare to come again in the future, and this bandit den will not exist. Therefore, generally experienced businessmen will prepare silver taels in advance, which are specially used to buy roads, and the gangsters have also reached a consensus to let them go if they have enough benefits. After I got married with Duojin, I walked with him many times."

Fang Jinling said: "So is it because the bandits didn't abide by the agreement, or are these merchants refusing to pay the toll?"

Wei Xue shook her head: "I don't know."

At this time, Luo Yun asked strangely: "No, Your Highness, there are doubts about the lowly position, and the bandits cause trouble on the official road. Doesn't the Zhizhou of Yongliang bring troops to encircle and suppress it?"

Shang Chuqing said: "It's better to count on Lu Wanshan than to count on these bandits to change their ways."

Wei Xue then sneered, "How do you think these bandits got here? If no one was behind them, no matter how vicious they were, they would have been wiped out long ago."

Luo Yun was shocked: "But who is it?"

"That's complicated. There are all kinds of forces. It is said that Yongliang is mixed with fish and fish. Just because it is connected with the Western Regions and the surrounding small countries, there is a steady stream of caravans coming. It is easier than robbing them of their money."

"Your Highness..."

Liu Ke waved his hand, "That's something for later, I'll clean it up when the master arrives, but why did Miss Shang San also go to check out the sentry?" He looked at Wei Xue and asked.

With the soldiers sent by Luo Yun in front, Wei Xue didn't have a military order. In fact, she didn't need to do this kind of hard work of exploring the way, and no one dared to ask her to do so.

"That's because..." Before she finished speaking, she saw Qian Duojin walking from a distance, and beside him were three men dressed similarly to him, who were slightly older, and each of them was holding a box in his hand. .

The personal guards standing guard on the side blocked their way, Liu Ke raised his hand and let them come.

"I have seen His Highness King Ning." The three followed Qian Duojin and bowed to Liu Ke.

Liu Ke looked at Qian Duojin, raised his chin slightly, and motioned for him to introduce his identity.

Qian Duojin said: "These three are Lu Ming, the second head of the tea business, Qiu Shaokai, the third shopkeeper of the porcelain business, and Ma Ming, the second shopkeeper of the silk and satin business. Yongliang."

"You came to see me, and you even found someone special, what do you want to do?" Liu Ke raised his eyelids and said casually.

"Don't blame your Highness, it's like this." Among them, Ma Ming, who is the oldest and presumably has the biggest business, said with a smile, "Thanks to His Highness, we will follow you along the way, saving you a lot of trouble, and you don't have to worry about having trouble at night. The wolves were alarmed, and the villains were very grateful, and happened to see that Boss Qian was also in His Highness's team, so they asked him to help, and brought us here to send a little heartfelt favor, and hoped that His Highness would accept it."

"A trivial gift is not a respect."

They said and presented the box in their hands.

Seeing this, Liu Ke glanced at Fang Jinling and smiled playfully, "What are they, Duanzi, take it here and have a look."

Xiaotuanzi brought Luo Yun forward, took all three gifts, and opened the boxes one by one.

Liu Ke raised his eyebrows, then motioned for the surroundings to take a look.

Seeing the surprise on Liu Ke's face, the three shopkeepers couldn't help laughing and said, "When we get to Yongliang, we'll deliver the goods in hand, and we'll definitely give you a generous gift, thank you Your Highness."

Liu Ke didn't take this kind of horse talk seriously at all. He just looked at the expensive gift in front of him and said something, "Do you have any other requests?"

"Your Highness is wise." Ma Ming said, "Your Highness, please continue to protect the villain."

At this time Fang Jinling said: "I don't quite understand. Since His Highness didn't intend to expel you, but just let you follow all the way to Yongliang, this is asylum. It doesn't matter whether you give this gift or not. Brother-in-law, it's still Do you have other meanings?"

Qian Duojin said to the three shopkeepers: "I have already brought you before His Highness, so please don't be a fool, just tell me."

Ma Ming showed worry on his face: "The main thing is that we have also heard some rumors that Yongliang is not peaceful recently."

"When will Yongliang be peaceful?" Wei Xue asked.

"That's not what it means. It's the caravan that went to Yongliang before. After going there, there is no news. I'm afraid something happened!" Qiu Shaokai said.

As soon as this remark came out, the few people who had just discussed looked at each other and thought of those corpses.

"How do you know? Spring doesn't have much time, and the goods are out, so it's reasonable for Yu Yongliang to stay for a while." Fang Jinling asked.

However, Qian Duojin replied: "Lingling, you may not know that although there is competition among caravans, because the risks are too high, they take care of each other more. They are all in the same circle. If there is anything, they will say hello." .”

"Boss Qian is right. The cold weather is particularly severe today. Besides the bandits, we are actually more worried about the victims looting along the road. If we encounter them, it's fine to lose the goods. I'm afraid I won't even save my life. So at this time, I went to Yong Once Liang's caravan enters the city, they will send someone to send a letter to inform them of the situation. But..."

"But we didn't receive any news along the way. We are not the first batch. The earliest ones should have set off after the Lantern Festival, which means that those caravans didn't arrive at Yongliang, or they couldn't send any news when they arrived." Lu Ming sighed.

"I don't know what happened ahead. We have been flustered for the past few days. We happened to see Shopkeeper Qian in His Highness's motorcade, so we told him about it."

Wei Xue then made an excuse: "After Duo Jin told me, that's why I went with the scout to see what was going on, and then found these corpses."

"Corpse... Corpse?" What Wei Xue said made the three of them speechless in shock.

Luo Yundao: "It's those caravans, old and new. Five miles ahead, all the goods around them have been robbed, and there is nothing left of their belongings."

"Oh my god, this..." The three shopkeepers saw fear in each other's eyes.

Hearing this, Fang Jinling suddenly asked: "We are so close to Yongliang, did we not see any refugees on the way?"

He was drowsy in the carriage, but Shang Chuqing felt something was wrong when he said that.

"That's right, under the cold weather, in this desolate place, only Yongliang is capable of accepting the refugees, but according to the virtue of Lu Wanshan, the court did not provide relief, and it is even more impossible for him to open the city gate to let the victims in. They must be shut out and let them fend for themselves.”

Shang Chuqing was thinking while talking, "Three months ago, when we went south to the capital, we passed by here. At that time, the victims of the disaster had already formed a large scale."

Wei Xue nodded: "We still avoided it far away and took the trail."

Although they are the generals who lead the troops, because the number of people they lead is small, the seven sisters tacitly changed their way.

"But now the number we encounter is far less than that at that time. It stands to reason that after a winter, even the nearby villagers have eaten up all the food stored, and the number will only increase. Moreover, the refugees are not capable of traveling thousands of miles If they run far away to the next place, they will only stay nearby, living off the bark and grass roots on the mountains."

"So where are the disaster victims going?"

Thinking of the corpses of those caravans, everyone has the answer in their hearts.