The passage is not long, but it is a little steep, the stone steps at the beginning are still smooth and clean, and after walking for a while, they begin to be uneven and uneven, and there is a section of road surface that is completely soaked in mud in the middle, and there are still some people who step on it.

Qi Yu's black clothes and black shoes are nothing, Su Jingchen's white robe is not so lucky, there is a lot of sludge stuck to the stars, and he is a little clean.

Qi Yu looked up as he walked and observed the passage: although this passage has stone steps that can accommodate a few people to pass through, it is obvious that it has not been dug for a few months.

Because Jinling has a lot of water near the river, the water network is dense and developed, and the ground air is already very humid at ordinary times, not to mention this underground passage.

All the way down, the tide became more and more damp, and now there was a tendency to condense into beads, but if you looked closely at the corners of the passage and the moss marks on the high candlesticks, they were not very heavy.

Qi Yu stretched out his hand and twisted a piece of moss, and had already concluded in his heart: This place may have been built in the near future, and it will not take more than three months. Looking at the shape of the passage, it is very simple, even a little rough, and it must have been a temporary place built by a time crunch.

At the end of the stone steps, a straight passage appeared on the ground, and there was a stone door at the end of the passage.

Qi Yu first tried to avoid the mud puddle on the ground, found a road with the shallowest water, and then turned around and grabbed Su Jingchen's sleeve and whispered, "Follow my footsteps." ”

Su Jingchen still shook off his hand, and said as he walked expressionlessly: "When I am a three-year-old child." ”

Qi Yu whispered back: "I know you love cleanliness, although there will always be more or less stains, but less stains will always be better." ”

Su Jingchen's heart moved, and his right hand holding the long sword clenched unconsciously.

Stepping over the puddle, the two came to the door, Qi Yu let go of his hand and stepped forward, and carefully observed it up and down: the thickness of the moss was obviously different from that in the previous passage, and this stone gate was some years old.

Su Jingchen grabbed the protruding stone on the wall with his right hand and twisted it vigorously, the ground trembled, and the heavy stone door began to rise slowly.

The crying of the child behind the door continued, but the low sobs of the woman and the sighs of the old man were heard in the midst of the crying.

Qi Yu thrust the fan into his waist, bent down and took out the dagger hidden next to his calf and hid it in his sleeve, and then walked in.

"If you have lost your conscience, let us out!" A man's loud shout sounded, which made Qi Yu, who was already on alert, tremble in fright, and stepped on Su Jingchen's boots in a small step.

Su Jingchen glanced at him with disgust, and followed the voice to the right.

There was a foul smell in it, Qi Yu covered his nose with his sleeve and followed behind Su Jingchen.

"Black-hearted old thief, kill if you want to, what are you going to do here!" When the man saw two figures coming over, he thought it was a subordinate sent by Chang Du again: "Chang Du, raised by a son of a bitch, you will suffer retribution sooner or later!" ”

The woman sitting next to him was coaxing the child while pulling him and whispering to him to shut up, the man shook off the woman's mouth and was still scolding the unbearable words, the more the scolding became more and more intense, and the scolded child cried.

When he saw the child crying like this, he seemed to be more angry, and his voice was much higher. So the more they scolded, the more they cried, the more they cried, the more they scolded, and the two seemed to be singing a double reed and their voices became louder and louder.

Everyone who was quiet also made a voice to persuade him not to scold, and the man alone "tongue fights the group of Confucians" both scolding Chang Du and scolding these people for being cowardly, which is really lively.

Qi Yu took a closer look through the dim light and saw this place clearly: a grotto, the top and the walls at the foot were made of stones.

There were nearly ten cages in front of him, black and oppressive figures, some huddled in the corners and picking at mud blocks, some lying motionless in the waterlogged ground, and some grasping the wooden pillars and staring blankly ahead.

There are men, women, babies, children, and the elderly, all of whom are refugees.

Qi Yu walked quickly to the door of the man's prison who was scolding and asked, "Are you refugees from Yangzhou?" ”

The man was scolding, and suddenly found that the person in front of him was different from the person who usually delivers food and food, so he nodded and said, "Yes." ”

Qi Yu was overjoyed: "Great, I finally found it!" ”

The other people in the cage stood up when they heard the different voice, and they put their faces against the door and looked this way.

"Are the rest of the refugees here, except for the people in the refugee village?" Su Jingchen walked over and asked.

"Who are you?" The man asked them with a frown.

"Don't be afraid, we're here to save you."

"Really?" "Come and save us?" "Can we get out?" The refugee whispered a discussion, but it wasn't as pleasant as it had been.

Qi Yu took out a dagger and was about to cut off the chain, and an old man next door shouted: "I advise you not to open it, that's the prefect, even if you let us out now, it is estimated that we will be killed before we leave Jinling City, and we can live here for two more days." ”

Qi Yu took back the dagger, unable to refute, yes, now just the two of them, once the refugees are released and discovered by Chang Du, these refugees will definitely be in danger.

"Let's go, don't risk your own lives." The old man continued.

"Hey, you cry and howl every day to go out, and now when the opportunity comes, what do you mean to ask people to leave! Do you think you can live a few more days if you don't leave now, who knows when Chang Du's old thief will bury us all if he gets sick! ”

The young man who had been scolding looked at the people who hung their heads and what they should do, and scolded angrily: "You cowards, stay here and be afraid, and let you out!" If you don't go, I'll go! ”

A man behind the young man said, "Wu Dazhuang, if you want to die, we won't stop you, don't take us with you." ”

Someone said: "Who knows if they are good or bad, and who sent them, whether they are going out to take the opportunity to kill us, I won't leave." ”

Qi Yu and Dahan looked at each other, not knowing what to say, and in the end, perhaps thinking that the refugee was right, Wu Dazhuang took a step back and sat on the ground, "We don't believe you, let's go." ”

Su Jingchen walked behind Qi Yu, put his hands on his waist and touched him randomly, before Qi Yu could react, Su Jingchen took his waist card, held his waist card and turned around, and then said, "Do you see what this is?" ”

The refugees looked up at the black and shiny waist card in his hand and engraved with the word "nine" and shook their heads.

Su Jingchen said again: "This is the imperial palace token, only the emperor and the prince will have it." Even if you don't know his face, you should know who he is when you look at the word "nine". Is this enough to prove that we can be trusted? ”

The crowd had been quiet, but suddenly they began to talk in whispers. The old man took the token and touched it carefully, and then raised his voice and said excitedly: "There is a tiger head pattern, it is the Nine Princes, it is really the Nine Princes!" ”

As soon as the old man's words came out, the refugees knelt down and kowtowed to Qi Yu: "See the Nine Princes!" ”