vestibule

An old eunuch was followed by seven or eight young eunuchs, and the old eunuch scanned the entire hall back and forth with his cold, arrogant eyes.

Gangneung, who came in a hurry, immediately restrained a lot when he saw him, and his originally elegant pace became steady.

The old eunuch held his mouth dissatisfied, stretched out his orchid finger, pointed at Jiangling's yin and yang weirdness, and mocked: "Deputy Jiang has a big face, let our family wait!" ”

Jiang Ling apologized again and again, "I'm sorry, Gonggong Feng, I hope you don't blame." ”

"That's it," Gonggong Feng waved his hand, took out the holy decree and held it in his hand, "Kneel down and accept the decree." ”

Jiang Ling hurriedly knelt next to Song Zirui.

"Fengtian carries the emperor, the edict says."

"There is a generation of Linjiang, mountain bandits suddenly appeared, robbed the border pass of 2,000 loads of military rations, disrupted the stability of the country, disturbed the peace of the people.

Special order Aiqing Wang Quanlin, quickly relieve my worries. ”

"Chin this!"

The Metropolitan Governor Wang Quanlin immediately knocked on the leader and said: "Wang Quanlin will solve the emperor's worries when he receives the order." ”

"Ouch, Wang Dudu, hurry up!" The old eunuch stepped forward to help him up, glanced around and coughed dryly, "I've been talking for a long time, you see, my old bones are useless, and my mouth is a little dry." ”

Wang Quanlin naturally knew what this eunuch meant, and immediately introduced him into the cabinet with a smile.

Su Mu presented a box of tea leaves in front of him.

The old eunuch looked surprised, stared at the box for a moment, and asked with a smile: "This is this year's Jin Junmei?" ”

"Yes, Grandpa Feng has good eyesight."

"Oh? That's a good thing. ”

The old eunuch hurriedly picked up the box in surprise, sniffed carefully in front of his nostrils, and punched the governor in the chest with satisfaction, "In my opinion, you still know my heart best!" ”

Ouch~ Wang Quanlin felt sick in his heart, goosebumps all played on his face, and he tried to calm his mood.

The old eunuch's full name was Feng Baiyang, and he was a eunuch who was paid tribute by Goryeo when he was nine years old.

Now that he is older, except for the occasional transmission of the holy decree of the capital, most of the rest of the time is basking in the sun, drinking tea, and having no heart or money!

Sending Feng Baiyang away, Wang Quanlin's hand "snapped" angrily on the table.

"There have never been mountain bandits in the Linjiang generation, but now I don't know where such a group of people came out of nowhere, daring to rob military rations."

After a while, he arranged: "Su Mu, you take Jiangling, Song Zirui and Mu Yun to go together, and you must recover the military rations!" ”

"What? I'm going too? Xia Yuyu's eyes widened in shock.

Make no mistake, I'm not really Mu Yun, I just borrowed his body, what should I take to chase the military rations?

The last time was already thrilling enough, and she was a hundred unwilling in her heart.

Wang Quanlin glared at her, then ignored her words, and continued to Su Mu: "You can go, if there is a mistake, Su Mu, you will come back with your head!" ”

"Yes, the subordinate will complete the task!" Su Mu hugged his fists and promised.

Xia Yuyu was extremely panicked in his heart, he would cut off his head at every turn here, why would he not send him to death?

"What are you doing here? Don't go back and pack your things yet! Wang Quanlin scolded Xia Yuyu.

Only then did she realize that the few of them hadn't called themselves, and had already gone back to pack their things.

In a panic, she hurriedly hugged her fists and retreated.

The horses raised their proud heads, shook their long manes, and under Su Mu's order, they immediately gave full horsepower and ran forward.

Horses were a very important means of transportation in ancient times.

Experience made Xia Yuyu only wear a light black riding suit, stepping on light buckskin boots to have a lesson last time, this time she seems to be more proficient.

She attached herself to the horse, chasing Su Mu's horse closely, did she look back at Song Zirui, who was following her with a nervous face.

"Phew—"

Su Mu grabbed the reins and stopped beside a sparse and dry bud valley.

"What's going on?" Jiang Ling looked stunned, and jumped off the horse at the same time as Song Zirui.

"The year of the great drought!" Song Zirui said.

The bud valley is the staple food of the ancient people, and the bud grain is dried up before it bears fruit, which is equivalent to a year of confiscation, no wonder some people rob the army food.

Xia Yuyu wiped the sweat from her forehead, she could imagine how miserable the life of the people here was.

"Bang, bang......" The sound of breaking bud grain poles came from a downhill slope.

Xia Yuyu hurriedly followed the alert few people over.

A woman wrapped in a headkerchief is burying her head in breaking a dry branch.

Jiang Ling couldn't help but shout curiously, "Hey, what are you doing here?" ”

As soon as the woman looked up and saw a brocade guard in a black robe, she knelt down and kowtowed in panic: "The women have disturbed the officials in a hurry, and the women should die, I just ask the officials to have mercy on my child." ”

"Kid?" Song Zirui glanced around and didn't see any children, and asked, "Where is the child?" ”

The woman trembled and pointed her finger into a pit of dirt.

Xia Yuyu was stunned and ran over first, not to mention that it was messy and unhygienic here, in case there was a snake, insect and rat ant that bit the child, wouldn't it be a crime?

A child who was only a few months old, with a thin face and a yellow face, immediately reached out and begged for a hug when he saw someone.

Out of a woman's instinctive maternal love, Xia Yuyu's heart was about to break, and she hurriedly held the child in her arms from the weeds.

The child was so cute, she didn't cry or make a fuss, she just buried her head in her arms and looked for rations.

Jiang Ling, who came later, naturally didn't understand, and was puzzled: "What is this child looking for in your arms?"

"Looking for milk"

"Looking for milk?" Jiang Ling's eyes widened, staring back and forth between the child and Mu Yun incredibly.

You look like you're being blunt.

"You get up first!" Song Zirui helped the woman up and waited for her to stand up, "What are you doing with these straws?" ”

"Official, I don't know, there hasn't been a drop of rain since planting this year, and the reason why these seedlings can grow so big is because they are watered from the river five miles away."

The woman wiped away a handful of tears sadly, and continued: "The river dried up the month before last, and there was no hope for the harvest, so I thought that if I ground this straw, maybe the child would live." ”

Several people looked at each other in disbelief, but this was a natural disaster, and there was nothing they could do.

"Gangneung, go get food!" The corners of Su Mu's mouth trembled slightly, and he ordered.

"Yes!"

Song Zirui grabbed the woman who was about to kneel down to thank her, "Get up!" ”

"Thank you to a few officials, I will repay you as a cow and a horse in the next life." The woman's excited eyes welled up with tears.

"Giving" Jiang Lingjiang a few steamed buns and a pot of water were handed to the woman.

For the woman who has not seen steamed buns for a long time, this is like a dream, she took the steamed buns stiffly, for fear that she would wake up from the dream.

"Let's eat!" Song Zirui said softly.

The woman hurriedly took the child from Mu Yun's hand, pulled out a small piece and fed it into the child's mouth.

Su Mu looked at the scorched land powerlessly, and let out a long sigh, "Let's go!" ”

Linjiang, Main Street.

Except for the sound of their horses' hooves, all that remained in the streets was desolation.

The drums at the entrance of the county government were all rolled off the shelves and fell to the ground, and they were covered with a layer of dust. It is conceivable that this county government is not even as good as a furnishing now.

"This is Lin'an?" Xia Yuyu looked at everything around in surprise.

Trees that have been plucked out of their bark and died, and there are remnants of gnawed trunks......

It's hard to imagine what the hell is going on here?

In a moment, an old man with a black gauze hat, wearing a plate mending uniform, and an emu embroidered on the "complement" trembled out of the cabinet.

His whole body looked like dried bacon, his face was full of wrinkles, his sunken eyes were full of helplessness, and his lips were dry and cracked.

The head of the chin saluted: "Lin'an Zhi County Lu Zixian has lost his welcome. ”

"Lord Lu, please get up," Su Mu helped him up and asked, "How can this be?" ”

Lu Zixian sat on a chair beside him with Su Mu's support, and said sadly: "In the year of the great drought, the people are not able to make a living. ”

In a society where imperial power is supreme, the people cannot guarantee their own lives, and life and death are all matters of the above sentence.

"The military rations that were escorted recently were robbed by robbers in Lin'an, also because of the drought?" Xia Yuyu asked.

The magistrate stroked his beard, as if he knew something, but there was something unspeakable.

As a court official of the seventh grade, he is also a great figure in the 21st century.

Why does the person in front of him seem to be inferior to the people of Shengjing?

Several people noticed that the magistrate's expression was wrong, and they looked at each other.

"It's not robbers, it's all people from the yamen," Lu Zixian said in a trembling voice.

Several people's eyes widened when they heard this, how could the dignified court officials condone the people below to rob the military rations?

After a while, Lu Zixian continued in disappointment: "In the end, I was incompetent and couldn't protect Lin'an, and I lost the emperor and the people of Lin'an. ”

After that, Lu Zixian slowly took off the black gauze hat and held it in his hand, reluctantly touched it several times and handed him to Su Mu.

Su Mu didn't answer, so he stared at Su Mu with pleading eyes, trembling and pleading, "This hat is too heavy, and it's easy for me to take it off now." ”

Hey, what kind of world is this? Was it so pitiful to be an official in ancient times?

Su Mu took the hat heavily, although the corners were already a little damaged, the blue gem on it was smooth and bright.

Su Mu thought about it, but decided to return the hat to him.

He carefully put the hat back on the stunned Lu Zixian, and said, "Before the imperial court removes the lord, please wear this hat." ”

"......"

"Master Lu, you can wear it, you are also an official, and the iron rice bowl is not easy to come by!" Xia Yuyu blurted out and interrupted Lu Zixian's words.

As soon as these words came out, Su Mu and the others immediately glared at him.

Gangneung was even more stunned.

Mu Yun is the most desireless of them, and he dislikes officialdom the most in his life, and often lobbied a few people to go to work in Jinyiwei and wander the world with him.

Xia Yuyu, who realized that he might have said the wrong thing, hurriedly explained, "I mean, this Lin'an can't be without someone who is in charge. ”

Listening to his far-fetched explanation, Su Mu and the others had doubts in their hearts.

However, everyone thought that it was the injury that caused Mu Yun's temperament to change greatly, so they didn't ask about it anymore.

When the hour came, a woman dressed in coarse linen and with an apron tied around her waist slowly walked out of the cabinet.

"The courtiers have seen all the lords," the woman smiled embarrassedly at Lu Zixian after giving the salute, "The lord has eaten." ”

Lu Zixian got up and invited a few people to the cabinet, looking at the pot of black cloth soup on the table, Jiang Ling and Xia Yuyu instantly lost their appetite.

"What is this?" Su Mu asked.

"Hanging soup." After that, Lu Zixian scooped up a bowl and put it in front of Su Mu, "Non-toxic!" ”

This reminded Xia Yuyu of a movie "1942" that he once watched.

The picture of the severe drought in Henan, the picture of millions of people leaving their hometowns and fleeing the famine.

It's just that Lin'an is not as huge as the scene in the movie, but surprisingly quiet, shrouded in a sense of despair, and everyone seems to be waiting for death.