After the two wolf valley road, it is Daizhou, Daizhou is located in the north of the Central Plains, with four prefectures and seventeen counties, namely Daizhou Mansion, Shuozhou Mansion, Yangquan Mansion and Xuanhua Mansion, of which the capital of Daizhou is naturally Daizhou Mansion, and close to the two wolf passes is Daizhou Mansion. Daizhou Mansion is 200 miles away from the Two Wolf Pass, and it takes five days to ride a horse and a car, and everyone is not in a hurry, and they go all the way along the official road.

But after entering the pass, Zhang Xiaowu and others felt very different, logically speaking, the desert Gobi in Saibei should be hotter than the Guannei, but they never expected that when they arrived in the Central Plains, they felt that the Central Plains were even hotter. Everyone rode their horses for a while, and then they sweated profusely, and Zhang Xiaowu hurriedly asked Jas to find a place to buy umbrellas to use for shade.

"The closest to the official road is Shangyi County, but Shangyi County is not on the official road, when the official road was built, there were three rivers between Shangyi County and the official road, in order to avoid the trouble of building bridges, the official road did not link Shangyi County. Na Cheng wanted to divert the river, but the three rivers washed away the official road, and the county magistrates of Shangyi County didn't want to spend money, so they didn't build an official road. Ruan Qingwen shook his head and said, "Maybe the officials and masters only care about making money, and they don't think about building a road for themselves." ”

Zhang Xiaowu said: "There are corrupt officials everywhere, and they are endlessly killed." ”

Ruan Qingwen said: "It seems that the general supports the corruption of some officials? ”

Zhang Xiaowu thought for a while and said: "You must know that everyone in the world is selfish, only saints have a high name, but how many saints are there in the world? Who can say that they are saints again? I can't guarantee it, and you can't guarantee it, since there are more laypeople in the world, the laypeople have to be selfish. If you don't allow others to take advantage of you, they will take your words as a fart and even stab you when you are in danger. Naturally, I don't approve of corruption, I just acquiesce to everyone taking advantage of some small advantages, and I don't think the emperor wants his officials to be saints all - after all, saints can only educate thoughts, but cannot do facts. ”

Ruan Qingwen said with a smile: "What I am most afraid of are those officials who embezzle gold and silver, but refuse to do things for the people at all." ”

"That kind of dog officer, naturally, he kills one by one." Zhang Xiaowu said with a smile, "It's a pity that I'm not the imperial history of the Inspectorate, so I can't control them." If the officials are greedy, they will be greedy, but if the officials are corrupt, they deserve to be killed. ”

Ruan Qingwen shook his head and said: "The general should still set high standards and strict requirements, otherwise everyone will think that the general encourages corruption." ”

"That's right."

While the two were talking, Jia Si also came back from Shangyi County, but his face was strange, Zhang Xiaowu asked the reason, and Jia Si also said: "In Shangyi County, there is no one in the yamen, and the streets are very empty, and several scattered families are all hiding after seeing us." ”

"But you're scared?"

"No, there are only five of us, how to scare others."

Zhang Xiaowu looked at the sky and said, "There is still an hour before it gets dark, it is better to live in Shangyi County, rest early tonight, and set off early tomorrow morning." ”

"Whoa."

Came to the gate of the county seat, it was really extremely desolate, there was not a doorman on duty at the city gate, and then look at the dust and cobwebs on the city gate, everyone cried and laughed, never expected that a county town was so desolate, not to mention the people of the four wilds. When I entered the county seat, I saw that the road was empty, and there were a few wild dogs on the street.

Bao Yin took out his bow and arrows and prepared to kill a few wild dogs, Zhang Xiaowu said: "The plague is rampant in the Central Plains, do you know if the wild dogs here are carrying the plague?" Bao Yin was so frightened that he hurriedly put away his bow and arrows.

Everyone came to the post station in Shangyi County, and Jas also came forward to knock on the door, and suddenly heard the sound of answering, and there was actually a post guard in the post station, and everyone was suddenly overjoyed. After a long while, the door of the post station finally opened, and a thin old man walked out tremblingly, and when he saw everyone, he was stunned at first, and then knelt on the ground, and said in a hoarse voice: "Wu Shihan, the head of Shangyi County, the little old man, has seen all the generals. ”

Zhang Xiaowu said: "Give him a mask before talking." ”

Jas also threw a mask over and commanded, "Put it on, just like us." ”

The post chief took off the mask, looked at the crowd, and then put on the mask and said, "They are all people who are going to die, what's the use of wearing this or not?" ”

Jas also asked, "Chief Wuyi, why is this Shangyi County so desolate?" ”

Chief Wu replied: "Shangyi County originally had not many people, and it was one of the poorest county towns in the country, but today there is a great drought and the plague is rampant, and the people have naturally run away." ”

Jas also said: "Why is the county government also empty?" ”

Wu Yi said: "The county commander died of the plague, and the other officials in the yamen also ran away, everyone is here to live, who can take care of whom." Nowadays, most of the people in the county town are old people like me and some orphans and children, and everyone can't escape, or they are worried about being eaten on the road, so they stay in their hometown. ”

The crowd exclaimed, "Cannibalism? ”

"Yes, cannibalism." Wu Yichang said helplessly, "Shangyi County is a poor county, there are more stones in the local area, and less land, and the people can't eat enough every year. Even in the city, there are also those who eat with their children, alas......"

Everyone was speechless for a while, everyone knew that the Central Plains was poor, but they didn't expect it to be so poor. Bao Yin said that maybe it is because of the special case of Shangyi County, but not necessarily in other places, everyone can only hope so. Wu Yichang then said that there had been no food at the post station for a long time, and that the last time he had eaten was three days ago, and that he had lived by eating tree bark these days.

Zhang Xiaowu said: "Give the old man twenty breads." ”

"Whoa."

After Wu Yichang received the cake, he was so surprised that he couldn't speak, it has always been the official family of the post station, how can there be an official family to help the post station, so he thought of asking the other party's identity. When he learned that the other party was the famous ghost general Zhang Xiaowu, Wu Yi Chang knelt on the ground and said with tears in his eyes: "General Zhang is the reincarnation of a saint, if it weren't for General Zhang, the saint would be in danger." ”

Shangyi Post Station could not accommodate this team of nearly 120 people, in addition to the 80 personal guards, there were also 15 coachmen who drove the car, but these 15 coachmen were not ordinary people, but elites selected from the ghost guard camp. Wu Yichang opened the door of almost everyone next to the post station, saying that they had all fled the famine, and there was no one at home, so they could move in freely.

Everyone saw that the inn was in tatters, but it was better to live in a neighbor's house, so they simply cleaned it, and everyone stayed one after another. Zhang Xiaowu lives in the main bedroom of a large family, except for some dust, it is quite clean, in fact, this family has nothing of value, the most valuable thing is a bed, there is no quilt.

How hungry is Shangyi County?

Zhang Xiaowu slept all night, and he couldn't hear the sound of mice, and the county town where there were no rats could be so hungry it was conceivable.

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