Zhu Qing tried to use his brain hole to dispel the fear and depression of the soldiers in the face of the real war, so as to improve the morale of Jinyiwei. It has indeed received remarkable results, and hundreds of soldiers of Qinglongmen still marched forward bravely in the face of a rebel army a hundred times their size, and approached Zigong.

However, the reality is much more complicated than you think!

After a day of rapid travel, Qinglongmen has come to the suburbs of Zigong, and a little further is Zigong City. According to the plan, the pioneer battalion should go to investigate.

As Zhu Qing expected, there were not a few refugees who crowded to Zigong, and there were many people on the Jinyiwei Road, who walked to Zigong with bags on their backs in batches, some of these refugees came from Yunnan and Guizhou, and some came from Huguang.

Why are refugees crowded into Zigong? Because the Zigong Chamber of Commerce had a news earlier that it was necessary to recruit a large number of laborers to open salt. In addition to Chen Jiujin's wine, Zigong also has a treasure, that is, salt! Zigong is the famous "thousand-year-old salt capital"! In order to produce more salt, the local government and businessmen decided to join hands to mine salt, especially the recently opened artesian well salt area is very closely related to production, transportation and marketing, and more manpower is needed to become bigger and stronger, so as soon as the news came, the surrounding refugees flocked to Zigong, because once hired as a salt worker, in addition to having a bite to eat, salt is also not worried, this salt is the same as rice, it is really important to people, and even more, if you want to take risks, take a handful in the salt area, and fantasize about changing your fate...... All these are important factors in attracting refugees in Zigong.

But Zhu Qing's news is much more flexible than that of ordinary refugees, and when Chen Jiujin last sent out the information, he mentioned another situation to him, because the production, transportation and marketing in the salt area are interlocked, and the rich businessmen are reluctant to share a piece of the pie with others, so they want to monopolize it, and even the horses that transport salt are their own, which requires a lot of horse feed. If the salt workers can bring their own horse feed, they will be hired first.

Whether it is war or business, information has always been the most crucial, and even an important factor that can determine success or failure, especially in ancient times when transportation and communication were not yet developed, the mastery of information was particularly important.

It is said that Zhu Qing can know the news one step ahead, and he will be more handy in action, so he asked the scouts to disguise themselves as refugees, use forage as a disguise, and bring food into the city.

But things changed halfway through, and a group of refugees had a problem not far from Zhu Qing's team......

"Huh? What happened to you? This sister-in-law, wake up, walk a few steps to the county seat, and we will have food if we have work to do in the city! In the refugee pile, there was a sudden scream, and at once there were many people around, a woman fell, and several men hurriedly held her up, and a little girl followed and immediately began to cry. It seems that this woman should be her mother.

"I should be hungry......" Zhu Qing's guard said.

"It's so pitiful, after walking so far, I don't know if I can eat a bite of food......" Chen Yuanyuan looked at the mother and daughter, showing a worried expression.

"I heard that as long as they are hired, the Chamber of Commerce will give out a meal of steamed buns first, it seems that those merchants are not too bad, but looking at the situation today, their gang is estimated to be ...... hanging," the guard said, sighing lightly.

Zhu Qing turned over and dismounted, and walked towards the crowd. The guards were not at ease and hurriedly followed.

"Get out of the way, let go of ......" The guards opened the way to Zhu Qing, Zhu Qing wanted to say something, but he didn't say it after all.

Under the opening of the guard, Zhu Qing quickly came to the fainting woman, this woman was only in her early thirties, although the continuous rush and escape made her look very haggard, but Zhu Qing could see that she should have been extraordinary before, which can also be seen in the little daughter beside the woman.

"Let me see ......" Zhu Qing squatted down and said to a few people around him, took the faint woman from their hands, and pinched her among the people, the woman took a long breath, and then woke up.

"Bring it ......" Zhu Qing stretched out his hand to the guard, and the guard untied the water bag and handed it to Zhu Qing, who fed the woman a few more sips before the woman could speak.

She struggled to sit up, pulled the little girl beside her, and knelt in front of Zhu Qing, "Thank you, thank you...... Xiaoqi, hurry, thank you Engong! ”

The little girl's name turned out to be Xiaoqi, "Xiaoqi, thank you!" The mother and son's kneeling made Zhu Qing a little caught off guard, and quickly helped her mother and daughter up, "Sister-in-law, don't be like this, get up quickly, don't faint again!" Zhu Qing persuaded that it is easy for people with poor bodies to kneel on the ground for a long time, not to mention that this woman only fainted once......

After the mother and daughter got up gratefully, Zhu Qing suddenly called to the guards, "Bring some dry food......

"Big brother?" The guards said vigilantly, they have now taken off their military uniforms and disguised themselves as ordinary people, "We have run out of dry food...... The guards told the truth, but also worried that once the mother and son were given food, I am afraid that it would cause a rebellion among the refugees.

Zhu Qing glanced at the guards and nodded, "I forgot that the dry food has been eaten, so ......" Zhu Qing originally wanted the guards to give the mother and daughter a little rice, but at this moment, Chen Yuanyuan walked over, held a baked cake in his hand and handed it to the little girl Xiaoqi, and said with a slight smile, "Sister-in-law, our dry food has indeed run out, this is the last piece of baked cake left, you and your little sister should fill your stomach first......"

Chen Yuanyuan said, glanced at Zhu Qing, Zhu Qing smiled at her slightly, he was pleased with Chen Yuanyuan's good deeds.

"Thank you, benefactor......" Mrs. took Xiaoqi and nodded again and again, "Thank you, sister......" This Xiaoqi's mouth is also sweet, no wonder Zhu Qing felt at first glance that this mother and son should have a good family background before, and they know how to be polite so well.

Chen Yuanyuan smiled and touched Xiaoqi's head, watching her and her mother eat the baked cake in half, Zhu Qing and the others also watched, and a sour feeling suddenly surged in their hearts, looking at this gobbling up, what has the mother and daughter experienced, how long has it been since they eaten?

"Big brother...... Do you still have anything to eat? We've been on the road for two days, and we haven't had a grain of rice down yet, so even if we drink some water, I'm afraid it will be difficult to get to the county seat......" At this moment, someone finally spoke among the refugees who were onlookers. A thin man, squirming with chapped and white lips, stretched out the begging bowl in his hand to Zhu Qing and Chen Yuanyuan......

Zhu Qing and Chen Yuanyuan were suddenly shocked, and the guards looked at it, and what they were most worried about had happened.

"You ......" The guards wanted to come hard, but they were stopped by Zhu Qing.

"Go, get some rice and give it to these fellow villagers......" Zhu Qing sighed lightly and ordered the guards.

"Big brother? This ......"

"Go!"

"Yes!" The guards could only obey and returned to the group to bring two bags of rice.

Zhu Qing looked at the more and more refugees who came around, and said again, "Take two more bags!" ”

Although the "......" guard couldn't figure it out, he still beckoned to send two more bags.

"Brother, we are also in a hurry, there is no more food, you can divide this rice for everyone, you should fill your stomach first, and when you get to the county seat, hurry up and find a job to do, and you will have something to eat......" Zhu Qing said to the eldest brother who was headed just now, which was an explanation.

The eldest brother looked at Zhu Qinghe and the four bags of rice in front of him, his face couldn't help twitching, and he knelt down again, and everyone knelt down one after another when they saw this.

"Benefactor! Thank you very much......"

"Thank you, benefactor! ……”

Hundreds of refugees were grateful to Zhu Qing and the others for a while, this may be the most rice they have seen along the way!

"Hurry up! Don't let the villagers starve......" Zhu Qing said, and quickly helped him up.

"Thank you." The big brother said, and ordered a few students around him, "Divide the rice for everyone, pay attention to the evenness of the ......"

After hearing this, Zhu Qing was very satisfied, it seems that this eldest brother is a good person......

"Engongna...... You gave us rice, everyone is grateful, but you just said that you will have work when you enter the city, everyone has no bottom in their hearts......" Big Brother held Zhu Qing's operation and complained.

"Oh? How so? ”

"I heard from the people who came out of the city that there was no chance of entering the city empty-handed, but what should I bring? What do we have for those of us? If you get kicked out of the city and get kicked out, you will have to starve if you don't meet a good person like Eungong......"

After Zhu Qing heard this, he glanced at Chen Yuanyuan and the guards beside him, the three of them were a little worried and embarrassed, the situation was indeed not as simple as imagined, but if he really helped the refugees, it might affect the task, and the military situation was as important as the people's feelings.

"Big brother?" The guard glanced at Zhu Qing, his face was full of prompts, in Jin Yiwei's opinion, the task always comes first! Of course, Zhu Qing could understand the eyes of his subordinates at this time.

"Childe......" Chen Yuanyuan said again, but her expression was completely different from that of the Jinyi guard, and her face was more eager to help like the mother and son.

Zhu Qing looked left and right, thought for a moment, and smiled slightly at the big brother and Xiaoqi's mother and son, "We also heard about the situation you said just now, and we also heard that there is an unwritten rule on the salt official's side, saying that if a laborer has forage on the ground, he will have the opportunity to hire it first, as for why forage, we don't know......" After Zhu Qing finished speaking, he glanced at the guard, and the guard shook his head helplessly, this is a secret operation, and now the commander has shared it publicly, which makes him a little puzzled. But looking at Chen Yuanyuan's side, his eyes were indeed full of gratifying affirmation......

"Oh! It turned out to be forage, thank you, thank you, thank ......you, "When the big brother heard this, he thanked Zhu Qing and the others again and again.

Zhu Qing nodded, turned around and returned to his team.

"General, why do you want to tell the refugees such important news?" Back in the ranks, the guard asked, puzzled.

"Look at them, many of them haven't eaten for several days, and they are not the only ones rushing to Zigong...... Do we have few such lessons? The millions of troops are accumulated little by little......" Zhu Qing said with a light sigh.

"But what do we do?" The guard asked a very practical question.

Chen Yuanyuan didn't know how to answer this question, and Zhu Qing's decision just now was hinted at by Chen Yuanyuan. Heroes are majestic, but it is difficult to be a good person, and if Zigong is not good, it will affect tens of thousands of soldiers in Chengdu!

"Let me be quiet first, you first order to go down, act according to the original plan, and report back in time if you encounter any problems!" Zhu Qing stood up and walked up the hillside alone, past this mountain, in front of him was Zigong County......