Early the next morning, Li Yan took ten escorts and set off with Li Bantou and the three of them to Kaifeng.

After leaving the county seat, Li Bantou said to Li Yan: "Mr. Li, along the way, no matter what situation you encounter, don't stop, you must rush over!" ”

Li Yan was on the horse, frowned and asked, "Is there any reason?" ”

Li Bantou gritted his teeth and said: "There are homeless people on the road, they eat people, if they stop, I don't know what will happen." ”

Li Yan had heard from the homeless people that there were already places where people were eating people, but he had never seen it, and he couldn't imagine that kind of miserable situation. In his heart, he didn't want to believe such a thing, but many people said that if he did, it was not something he wanted to believe or not.

"Are you ready?" he asked. ”

"Ready!" Ten pro-soldiers shouted loudly. These people were carefully selected from among the soldiers who had completed their training, and all of them were assigned to the fields by their families, and they were not stupid in their minds. If you have a field, you will be faithful, and if you are not too stupid, then you can be made.

Li Yan commanded loudly: "Be vigilant!" Keep up on the road and don't be left behind. If someone is left behind, fire the arrow and the whole team will go back to the rescue! ”

"Yes!" The soldiers replied loudly again.

These two neat and powerful responses surprised Li Bantou, but he had never seen an army with such high morale and such excellent training before.

After the procession was put in order, the people rode forward. It's better in Qi County, out of Qi County, you can see a lot of displaced people on the road, they are hiding in the woods, barren fields. When they saw someone coming, they all stuck out their heads and looked, and found that there were many people coming, so they hid again.

Li Yan saw these thieves, many of them had red eyes, although their faces were yellow and thin, but there was something in their eyes that made people get goosebumps. Men, women, young and old, they all reek of death, and they see others as dead as they see themselves.

"How did you get to Qi County?" Li Yan asked Li Bantou.

Li Bantou stared at the front with his eyes and replied loudly: "Yesterday, some soldiers went out of the city to clean up, and today is Qingming, and the dignitaries and dignitaries will come out on the day of going out of the city to sweep the tombs." Therefore, Deputy General Chen (Chen Yongfu) got an order to drive away the displaced people in the suburbs of Kaifeng. If it weren't for such an opportunity, we wouldn't have dared to leave the city. ”

After that, everyone stopped talking, and rode on horseback, running as fast as they could. Even when they stopped to rest their horsepower, they all gathered together, their long knives unsheathed, and they were nervously on guard. Fortunately, in the face of more than a dozen soldiers, those extremely hungry homeless people did not dare to come up to besiege, and they successfully entered the suburbs of Kaifeng in the afternoon.

At this time, Li Bantou's writing and waist card played a role, and the officers and soldiers who set up cards on the road let them pass.

The southern suburbs of Kaifeng.

Wu Niang, dressed in plain clothes, stood under a willow tree stripped of its bark, looking into the distance to the west, missing her mother.

Her mother died last year, and his mother's condition had improved, but in order for her to be able to take advantage of the fold of asking for a name and a seal, her mother decided to go to King Zhou. But he didn't even see the residence of King Zhou, so he was stopped by King Zhou's favorite concubine.

Their mother and daughter had no status in the palace, and even the people had no respect for them. Pushing and swearing, a lot of tossing, and getting her mother back to their small courtyard. After such a blow, her mother's condition worsened, and the imperial doctor in the palace was perfunctory, and the doctor outside couldn't get in. Wu Niang spent all her savings to buy half a fine Korean ginseng, but she couldn't keep her mother.

Her mother had no name and could not be buried in the cemetery of the Zhou Palace, but in a place to the west, and she didn't know what it was.

Today she wanted to come out to worship her mother, but she was taken to the southern suburbs by her descendants. This was the first time she had gone out of the city, and she didn't dare to go back to the city alone, so she had to worship her mother here.

After the worship, she stood under the tree, thinking sadly about her mother, and remembering the bits and pieces of the mother and daughter who depended on each other. She especially wants to leave here now, leave the Zhou Palace, leave Kaifeng City, far away. She never wanted to see his father again, though she hadn't seen her a few times, and never wanted to see the sinister masters and vicious servants of the palace again.

"Fifth Master Zhang, that's the one, what do you think?" Not far away, a middle-aged woman pointed to Wu Niang and said to the middle-aged man next to her who was blue and had two moustaches.

Zhang Wuye said with a smile: "'If you want to be pretty, be filial', it really looks tasteful." Goose egg face, I like it; willow eyebrows, not bad; Cherry little mouth, hey, good; Well? It's not Danfeng eyes, but these apricot eyes are black and white, and the grass is dewy, so it can be seen. It's just that the skin isn't white enough, and it doesn't seem to have much meat. ”

"Fifth Master Zhang is picky enough," the middle-aged woman smiled: "If you are a beautiful embryo and the county lord of the palace, you can't get into the eyes of the palace." ”

"Don't talk nonsense, return to the county lord?" Zhang Wuye said disdainfully: "It's just a wild girl who no one wants to see." You are the royal house, not the emperor's house. Except for people like us who don't care about the family's official fortunes, which family would marry the daughter of your royal family? ”

The Ming Dynasty had a rule that officials who married with the royal palace were not allowed to be Beijing officials, in order to prevent the power of the vassal king from growing. On this one, all the official eunuchs, and those who want to take the lead in the imperial examination, no one is willing to marry the royal palace. Not being a Beijing official is absolutely unacceptable for people who are interested in a career.

Therefore, those who marry with the palace are all greedy for money and good goods. Either they are ruffians who want to use the power of the palace to make a prestige, or they are not benevolent for the rich, and they want to cooperate with the palace to earn more wealth, and there are not even many ordinary people.

The middle-aged woman said, "You're a continuator." ”

"What about continuations?" Zhang Wuye said impatiently: "My cousin has arranged everything, right?" Can you seal that girl's name this year? If it can't be sealed, what else should I marry her? ”

"Zhang Guiren said, put Wu Niang under the name of the second concubine or Concubine Chen, and she will definitely be able to ask her to be the county lord this year, and Zhang Wuye will be your guest of honor in a down-to-earth manner." The middle-aged woman said with a smile.

Zhang Wuye nodded happily and said, "The world is not good, and now only their old Zhu family's imperial grain is delicious." When I become the guest of honor of the Zhou Palace, see that those tax collectors dare to go to my house to collect taxes! Hum! ”