Yi Cheng went all the way north, bypassing several state capitals along the way, and no matter how big or small the city was, he would stop for a while to find out the news in the city.

But he knows very little, only know that the person who adopted his younger brother is surnamed Zhao, who is now in his forties, a person from a family, with a northern accent, there should be no concubines, and there is an only son who is about fifteen years old.

He had to ask which big families in the city were surnamed Zhao, and the information matched.

But so much of the time has passed, he has traveled through three states along the way, looking for dozens of large and small cities, but there are few who meet the requirements, and the final verification is not, Yi Cheng is a little dazed, but there is no other way, like the last time to find his sister The method is not feasible, the area is too large, and there are too few clues in his hands, so he can't do it at all.

When Yi Cheng arrived in Cangzhou, it was already June, the weather in the north was hot, and the sun was already blazing in June.

After running for more than half a year, Yi Cheng is also a little tired, and although he can travel thousands of miles a day by sitting on the horse, he is also a little unbearable after such a long time of continuous travel, Yi Cheng has the intention to stay in Cangzhou City for a few days and take a rest.

But not long after arriving in Cangzhou, Yi Chengcheng saw that there were hungry people everywhere along both sides of the official road, dragging their families one by one, helping the old and the young, all of them were yellow and thin, and they were weak when they walked, and they seemed to fall down at any time.

Yi Cheng fled with his mother since he was a child, and what he saw along the way was the same as at this time, and someone died at any time.

Yi Cheng then got off the horse and stopped a middle-aged man to ask the reason, and when the man saw Yi Cheng dressed up, he knew that Lu Dao was a Jianghu guest, and he didn't dare to refuse, so he told Yi Cheng about it.

It turned out that Cangzhou suffered a century-old drought this year, and there was no grain harvest, and the people had no rice to cook. Although the assassin saw the disaster at the beginning of spring and applied to the imperial court for relief, other state capitals could only send grain here after the harvest, and the grain transported by several nearby states was not enough to sustain millions of victims.

It will take at least three months for a large amount of relief food to be transported from the south, so the victims can only flee in the direction of Gyeongseong, and there will always be a way to survive in the Gyeonggi region.

Yi Cheng was also deeply helpless when he heard this, he took the drinking water and food he carried with him from the horse, handed it to the middle-aged man, the man thanked him, and immediately distributed it to the old people and children around him and the family.

After everyone thanked Yi Cheng for their kindness, they hurriedly ate it. Yi Cheng saw that they had been hungry for many days, and devoured the food in their hands one by one.

After they finished eating, Yi Cheng asked the middle-aged man again: "I heard that Cangzhou has always been a place of abundant grain production, and the grain supply in the capital has also been supplied from this in previous years. How can there be no surplus to live? Is there no surplus food in the government warehouse? ”

Listening to Yi Cheng's words, the middle-aged man said with resentment: "In the past, in our harvest years, which one didn't just leave the rations and sell the rest to the grain merchants to supply the capital, but now that we have suffered hardships, we have ended up like this." ”

When Yi Cheng heard this, he was slightly surprised and said: "Although I don't live in the capital, I have also heard that the current emperor is politically clear and loves the people, how can he not care about the life and death of the people?" ”

The middle-aged man listened and said: "Hey, it's not the government's fault that it is said that it is not the government's fault, our Cangzhou Thorn Shi is also a good official, but the grain has been hoarded by those grain merchants, and the price has increased tenfold, originally 1 tael of silver for a stone of grain, but now it costs 10 taels, we can afford it there, and the government began to use the treasury silver to buy some porridge sheds, and now the porridge sheds can't afford to open, so we can only escape." ”

Yi Cheng was also furious when he heard this, and said: "These profiteers, who made a lot of money on you in the past, are really damned if they really want to make a fortune now." Can't the assassin force them to comply? ”

The middle-aged man heard this and said: "Hey, these people all have a great background, they supply grain and grass to the court all the year round, and there are big people in the court and the middle of the court, and there are a lot of guards around them, and the assassin Shi can't easily move them." It is said that the seven largest grain merchants in the nearby states are now in Canghai City, the capital of Cangzhou, waiting for the price that Thorn Shi promised them. ”

After hearing this, Yi Cheng gave him some silver taels and let him leave, and he rode his horse straight to Canghai City.

Since he encountered this incident, Yi Chengcheng must try his best to save it, otherwise it is inevitable that he will be uneasy in his heart, since he stepped into the rivers and lakes, he has always acted according to his heart and never done anything against his heart.

Coming to Canghai City, Yi Cheng gradually had a plan along the way, but it was not easy to do this matter by himself, and if there was a history of thorns to cooperate with this matter, it should be a lot simpler.

Seeing that the refugees were living like a year, Yi Cheng did not delay, and went straight to the Assassin's Mansion when he entered the city.

Yi Cheng came to the Assassin's Mansion and said to the doorman that he asked to see Lord Assassin Shi, the person guarding the door saw that he was not old and not small, and he didn't know Lord Assassin Shi and had no court position, how could he let him in, Lord Assassin Shi could see him if he wanted to.

Yi Cheng saw that the doorman was blocking him, and it was inconvenient to move here, so he waited to find another secluded place to sneak in, and just turned around, but he heard someone behind him stop him: "This young man, please stay!" ”

Yi Cheng felt a little familiar when he heard this, but when he turned to look, he found that it was an old man, Zhang Sheng, the young master of the Zhang family in Canglan City, who was the one who took away Rumeng.

Yi Cheng was also a little happy to see the old man and said: "Brother Zhang, it's you, it's really where you don't meet in life, I don't want to meet you here today." Brother Zhang is all right, he has tied the knot with the girl like a dream, and he will have to drink the two happy wines. ”

Zhang Sheng heard the words and said: "If it's really you, Brother Xiao, I received your great favor that day, and I have today with Rumeng, hehe, if Rumeng knows that you must be happy here, I don't know why Brother Xiao came here, just now I seemed to hear that Brother Xiao wanted to see Master Assassin Shi?" ”

Yi Chengdao: "Exactly, but if I see Master Shi, Brother Zhang seems to be doing things here, I don't know if I can recommend it on my behalf?" ”

Zhang Sheng said with a smile: "Brother Xiao is polite, as long as you report your name, Lord Assassin Shi will definitely sweep the couch to greet you, why do you need me to introduce you, the true face of the free swordsman Lushan is now everyone wants to see it!" ”

As he spoke, he led Yi Cheng to the house, the doorman listened to Zhang Sheng's words, and was stunned on the spot, the free swordsman killed more than a dozen hall masters and gang leaders of the Qing Gang with the power of one person, and removed the big harm for Qingzhou.

Yi Chengzi would not bother with him, and walked inward with Zhang Sheng.

Along the way, Yi Cheng also understood why Zhang Sheng was here, that day Zhang Sheng left Canglan City in a dream, and went to the capital, Zhang Sheng was indeed talented, and won the championship in last year's examination and was received by the emperor.

Xiaobai saw that he was not only outstanding in writing, but also quite insightful in his words, and he admired him very much, so he sent him to Cangzhou to experience and entrust him with a great task in time.

This Cangzhou Thorn History is also a capable and clear person, called Hai Dongqing, and Zhang Sheng hit it off at first sight, so he stayed by his side as a staff member, and recently because of the drought, the Thorn History was also very busy, but there was nothing he could do.

Although he is a state assassin, he can't move any of those grain merchants, and when he is alone and anxious, he sees Zhang Sheng coming to see him, saying that it is Xiao Yi, a swordsman who is rumored in the rivers and lakes, asking to see him.

He didn't know what Xiao Yi was asking to see at this time, but he had recently heard of Xiao Yi's name and praised what he did, so he asked Zhang Sheng to bring him in.