Since Da Mao and the four young men wanted to continue to go to the palace kitchen to prepare a banquet for Jun Shang Wu to Qi on the first day of the new year, Qu Wu let everyone go back to the room to rest after the third watch.

As soon as the first day dawned, Qu Wu heard a crackling sound, which turned out to be the soldiers in the palace burning bamboo to celebrate the New Year. When Qu Wu got up, he walked among the soldiers with a large bag of copper coins that had been prepared, and gave them copper coins, which made the soldiers very happy, and then gave copper coins to the other cooks and maids, and for fear that some people would not get them, they asked their leader to call everyone over so that nothing was missed.

In addition to giving copper coins to these soldiers, Qu Wu also gave them some food, in order for them to be better on duty at night, Qu Wu also sent them four flashlights, as well as a salt water charger for charging, the magic of this salt water charger is that as long as the salt water is replaced, other electrical appliances can be charged, and Qu Wu told them how to use and maintain them one by one.

After a while, the carriage of the palace came and took the four of them to the palace to cook. Qu Wu woke them up outside Ziyan and Chen Qing's room and told them to take them to the market in Gusu City, and the two girls were so happy that they got up immediately.

Packing up, these two girls are wearing close-fitting short clothes today, wearing a pair of mid-heeled shoes, their figures look more erect, and a little powder is applied to make their complexions delicate and moving.

Qu Wu set off with two high-spirited girls in the carriage of the prince's palace.

Gusu is the capital of Wu State, and when I went to the palace yesterday, although I also passed through part of the urban area, I did not pass through the market. Before Prince Shoumeng introduced Gusu to Qu Wu, Gusu City is a city, a fang, and a residence, plus the palace of the political center, the whole Gusu is divided into four parts: the palace, the market, the workshop, and the residential area.

Riding the prince's luxurious carriage through the streets and alleys of Gusu, Qu Wu was also full of curiosity. The spring sun shines across the city, and people finally have a chance to relax after a hard year, with smiles on their faces.

The carriage passed through the royal palace first. I saw that the square outside the palace was already full of men, women and children, and everyone was looking at the front of the square with their necks stretched, as if they were waiting for something.

Qu Wu was curious and didn't know what these people were waiting for. Ziyan looked at it and said, "Brother, they are waiting for their relatives." ”

"Waiting for a loved one? Seeing loved ones early in the morning? Qu Wu didn't figure it out.

"Yes, the first amnesty, some criminals will be released today, these people are just waiting for their relatives to be released."

"Oh, is that all the criminals released?"

"In our Chu country, generally minor offenders who have completed their sentences will be released on the first day of the new year, but some serious crimes will not be released, such as corrupt officials. I don't know if Wu Guo is the same. "After all, Ziyan is from a scholar's family, so she knows these things very well.

"Those who have been sentenced to death will not be released, right?"

"Those who have been sentenced to death have also been released."

"Huh? Wouldn't that be too forgiving to them? ”

"Although the condemned prisoners are released today, they still have to return to their cells after the autumn and wait for the autumn queen to be beheaded."

"Why? Not afraid of what will happen? Qu Wu was puzzled.

"Because these condemned prisoners can also grow crops for their families, and then come back after the autumn harvest to be beheaded. Usually nothing happens, since the death sentence is given, the people in the family will be responsible for his release, and if he runs away, the people in his family will suffer. ”

"Then his family ran away, what should I do?" Qu Wu still didn't understand.

Zi Yan looked at Qu Wu and said with a smile: "Do you think everyone is overseas like you?" If all the people in his family run away, the people in his clan will suffer, and the whole family will run away with him alone, right? ”

"Oh, I see." Qu Wu thought to himself that this ancient ruler would also win people's hearts, and this trick was very humane.

"Amnesty can reduce the burden on the state, because it costs money and labor to guard them. Besides, letting them work can also increase the labor force. ”

"Why don't corrupt officials have a chance to be amnestied?"

"In our Chu country, the king hates corrupt officials the most." Ziyan said.

Qu Wu heard Ziyan say this, and thought to herself that she was still in the first year of high school at her age, except for learning some mathematics, physics, politics and other courses that she didn't know if she would use in the future, she had never been exposed to these social realities at all, and Ziyan's living environment since she was a child made her more precocious.

Passing through the palace square, the carriage entered a large residential area.

After all, this is the capital of Wu, although most of them are wooden houses or thatched adobe houses, but in Qu Wu's opinion, the houses in the Gusu residential area are generally better than the cities he has visited, and they are better than those in Xinzheng, the capital of Zheng Guoguo.

The carriage finally arrived at the market where they were going to visit, and the three of them got out of the carriage and made their way through the crowd.

The three of them were very eye-catching in the crowd: although Qu Wu was dressed in a low-key manner, his tall and handsome appearance stood out from the crowd; And Zi Yan and Chen Qing are brightly dressed and beautiful, and they are particularly eye-catching in the flow of people who are basically dressed plainly.

The street market of the Spring Festival in Gusu is bustling, the shops are full of festival handicraft goods, snacks, clothes, daily necessities, and there are many people selling fruits, honey, straw sandals, oilcloth umbrellas, and small toys along the street.

Chen Qing was very interested in buying things because he wanted to buy gifts for his parents and sister-in-law, while Qu Wu and Ziyan leisurely watched the endless flow of people, visiting many unseen ancient goods, and enjoying the fun of wandering around.

In addition to shopping, Qu Wu also has to rent a big boat for tomorrow to leave for Shucheng. At this time, the shipbuilding industry of Wu was very developed, a few days ago Qu Wu and they went to Gusu with Wu Qi, the building ship on the king has three floors, nearly 30 meters long, more than 4 meters wide, the momentum is extraordinary, can carry nearly 100 people.

Qu Wu chose a building ship with two two-wheeled carriages and two cabins at the charter dock, and there were six boatmen. This ship is used as a pleasure boat in peacetime, and it can also be converted into a warship in wartime, and Qu Wu is very satisfied with this ship, so that they have no problem eating and living on the ship.

After renting the boat and making an appointment for tomorrow's departure, Qu Wu took Ziyan and Chen Qing to leave the dock and return to the street.

I didn't go far, I saw a group of ragged little beggars in front of me rushing towards me in a panic, there was a little beggar who almost hit Ziyan, there were two big men with wooden sticks behind the beggar who were chasing closely, and after a while, a little beggar was finally chased by a big man because he ran slowly, only to see this big man split his head at the little beggar is a stick, knocking him to the ground.

The little beggar fell to the ground and had no power to fight back, but the two big men obviously did not intend to stop, but continued to beat the little beggar with a wooden stick at the same time, the little beggar held his head with his hand and kept wailing, but the two big men still did not give up.

Although he didn't know what happened between them, beating a child like this made Qu Wu feel unacceptable, and he was worried that if he continued to beat him, the child would be killed. Qu Wu walked over, flicked left and right with the copper flute, protected the poor little beggar, and shouted: "Good man, don't fight anymore, you will die." ”

Seeing that Qu Wu was blocking them from committing murder, the two men actually aimed their spearheads at Qu Wu, waved their long sticks and beckoned to Qu Wu, Qu Wu saw that they were fighting against him, and he did not want to fight them, but he used a copper flute to resist their attacks, and on the other hand, he snatched the wooden sticks of the two with his left hand, and the two men stopped without weapons in their hands.

Qu Wu said to them, "Good man, this child is so young, you can spare him, and what good will you gain by killing him?" ”

"What's the matter with you? These little rabbit cubs stole Lao Tzu's money and deserved to die. One of the big men said.

"How much money did they steal from you?" Qu Wu asked.

"We didn't steal his money, they robbed us of our money, that young lady gave the four of us a small piece of gold to buy cotton clothes, and you robbed it, we didn't want you to take it, so you chased and beat us." Then the companion of the little beggar who had been knocked down came over and said in a loud voice.

"Little bunny, see how I clean you up." Annoyed, the big man walked over to the boy and tried to catch him, but the little man cleverly hid behind Qu Wu.

"This gentleman, this is what you are wrong, these children are not easy, they wear so little on such a cold day, you can't bear to rob other people's things and beat them?" Qu Wu said.

At this time, there were a lot of people around, and when everyone heard that this was the case, they all shouted at these two people, and these two people saw that the momentum was not right, and turned around and wanted to slip away, but everyone gathered in a circle, and they couldn't get out at all, and one of them had to take out the piece of gold and throw it next to the child on the ground.

Qu Wu said: "You beat people like this, and you want to slip away without paying for people's medical expenses? ”

"He's just a Hanako, and his life is worthless." The man said with a wild mouth.

Qu Wu was enraged by his words, and the copper flute snapped at him, knocking him to the ground, and then said, "If you say it again, I will cripple you." Take all the money you have on you. ”

The two of them knew that they had met a ruthless person, so they had to take out the money bag on their bodies, hand it to Qu Wu, and then try to slip away.

"Wait, where are you? What is your name? If this kid has any strengths and weaknesses, he will have to settle accounts with you. Qu Wu said.

At this time, someone next to him said: "They are the two of them are the Lin Mansion family, one is called Wu Quan, and the other is called Li Zhong."

Qu Wu pointed at them with a copper flute and asked, "Is it not?"

The two cowards nodded in fright.

"Okay, I remember, get out." The two men glanced at Qu Wu and walked away.

Qu Wu picked up the piece of gold on the ground, lifted the child on the ground, handed the gold and two small bags of money to the child, and then together with several companions of the child, sent the child to a medical clinic, where the doctor could treat the child and pay for the child's medical expenses.

After doing this, he left with Ziyan and Chen Qing.