Although the river is surrounded by mountains on all sides, it is a plain of a horse and a flat river, covering a wide area, and the Lanjiang River crosses through again, it can be said that the land is vast and the scenery is beautiful.

It is said that a place like this, which relies on natural dangers, will definitely not be easily captured by the Beicang army, but in fact, the officials who govern this land are unbearable, and they are forced to collect taxes to fill their pockets, regardless of the lives of the people.

The soldiers defending the city are pampered on weekdays, greedy for life and afraid of death, plus the Beicang army is the division of tigers and wolves, and the generals who lead the troops are all famous, so that before they start to fight head-to-head, the soldiers in the river lost in momentum. Therefore, the occupation of the army in Beicang did not take much time.

However, if you blindly attack, do not take over the governance after the capture, or still appoint those former ** officials to continue to run rampant in the township, fish and meat the people, it will definitely be a big chaos in the rear. At that time, the army will be attacked on its back, which is a taboo for marchers.

Huang Fuchen did a good job of this. After he conquered a place, he would stay for some time, making overt and covert visits, exerting himself in the country's affairs, and dealing with local affairs in depth.

In this way, it not only allows the captured cities to truly belong to the territory of Beicang, preventing trouble before it happens, but also gives the army a few more days of rest and recuperation after a long journey and bloody battle, so that the combat effectiveness of the soldiers will not be greatly reduced due to fatigue and marching.

King Chen's army is strict in governing the army, and it is strictly forbidden to bully others, oppress and harass the people, otherwise, they will be dealt with according to military law. Therefore, everywhere they went, the army was not stationed in the downtown area, but on the outskirts of the city, or in places where the people did not interfere with their daily lives.

Therefore, in the eyes of the people, after a great war, not only did they not be displaced, but their families were not formed; There is no need to leave the hometown and go to other places to earn a living. Even they are no longer bullied and oppressed by those corrupt officials, but live a better life. For them, the Beicang army is undoubtedly a heavenly soldier sent by heaven to save them, the poor people who are living in dire straits.

Although the land in the middle of the river has been captured, and the Taishou who defended the city has also surrendered, he has not really taken over the affairs of the government.

On this day, Shangguan Jiyue and Huangfu Chen came to the downtown area and prepared to go to the Taishou Mansion in the river. But for some reason, the street in front of the government was surrounded by the people. From time to time, there were also the cries of women and children in the crowd, and the onlookers were all unbearable, and their eyes were slightly red.

Seeing this, the two couldn't help frowning slightly, glanced at each other, and looked inside together through the crowd.

More than 20 people, old and young, men and women, knelt in front of the government and wept repeatedly, and kept kowtowing and crying to the Taishou Yamen.

"My lord, please let our children go! He's not even five years old! ”

"My lord, please give us back our daughter, the child is innocent!"

"Please let my grandson go, our two sons died on the battlefield, and he is the only one left, and he can't be a sacrifice! Adult ......"

“……”

But no matter how these people cried, no one in the palace came out. And the onlookers also had slightly red eyes, and some women seemed to remember something, prostrate on their husband's chest and sobbed, it seems that the scene in front of them is evoked painful memories of the past.

Shangguan Jiyue couldn't help but show her eyebrows slightly, and she was angry. What's going on? They even want to use children as sacrifices! There really is such a cruel thing in the world!

Just when she couldn't help but want to rush into the mansion, a person walked out of the mansion. To be precise, it should be a man, a middle-aged man with good facial features.

The man came to the door, glanced at the people kneeling on the ground, showed unbearable expression, first bowed deeply to everyone, opened his mouth with difficulty, and slowly spit out a sentence: "Li is worthy of everyone's trust, and failed to convince Lord Taishou, here, Li has made amends to everyone!" ”

After a moment of stunned frustration on the kneeling on the ground, a look of despair appeared on their faces, and the old woman just now fainted directly, and the crowd was in a hurry, and some people who knew a little about medicine hurriedly pinched people, and the old woman gradually woke up.

"Lord Li, if even you can't do anything, then our children ......" spoke a relatively calm young man in the crowd.

"I'm sorry, Xu Xiucai, it's Li Yi who is incompetent." The middle-aged man who called himself Li Yi had a sad look in his eyes, as if he couldn't bear it, and slowly twisted his face away, "Child...... Three days later, the river ......"

Hearing this, everyone cried again, desperate and miserable.

At this time, Shangguan Jiyue had already inquired with the onlookers that in the middle of May every year, 24 boys and girls under the age of five should be selected from the people, 12 men and 12 men and 12 women, and they would be sunk into the Lanjiang River as sacrifices, praying that the river god would not be angry and not let the Lanjiang River burst its embankment.

When Shangguan Jiyue thought of this, she felt indignant in her heart, and couldn't help but take a step forward and said loudly: "It's really pedantic!" is so careless of human life, or some innocent children, is it tolerable or unbearable! ”

When everyone heard this, they all looked at Shangguan Jiyue, who was dressed in plain clothes in front of them.

I only feel that this young man has red lips and white teeth, and his face is beautiful, although his body is slender, but his body is full of grace, heroic posture, and his eyes are as deep as a pool, his eyes are as sharp as a knife, and he is as cold as ice and snow.

Shangguan Jiyue didn't care what everyone thought of her, she took a few steps forward directly, stood proudly on the jade steps in front of the yamen, and said loudly: "Everyone go back today, I promise you like you, you children will never become a sacrifice of the god of Jiang!" ”

Everyone was silent, and they all opened their eyes to look at Shangguan Jiyue standing in front of the steps, and a needle in front of the yamen that was still noisy just now could be heard when it fell on the ground.

When Li Yi heard this, his eyes showed appreciation, took a step forward, bowed his hand, and said: "This little brother is chivalrous and courageous, Li Yi admires, but this matter really can't be done by you alone." ”

As soon as everyone heard this, the glimmer of hope that had just emerged turned into silence again, and they couldn't cry.

Shangguan Jiyue didn't seem to care, looked at Li Yi and smiled, and said slowly: "Li Yi, Jiangzhong Taishou Mansion Yafu Cheng, Jiangzhong person, Antai thirteen-year Jinshi, now forty-three years old, good at water conservancy, gave up the good future of Beijing, and became a prime minister in Jiangzhong, just to control the floods of the Lanjiang River. So far, he has two sons and a daughter, two sons in the army, one dead and one disabled, and his daughter is sixteen years old, waiting for the word boudoir ......"

"You...... Who are you? Li Yi watched this handsome young man tell his origin clearly like a few family treasures, and not only showed surprise on his face.

"Lord Li, it doesn't matter who I am, the important thing is that as long as I'm here, I will never allow such a ridiculous and cruel thing to happen! Taking innocent children to sacrifice to the god of the river, such behavior is simply outrageous! ”

"Li Yi naturally knew that this matter was ridiculous, but Li Yi was soft-spoken, and he could only watch the tragedy happen, but he couldn't do anything, and his heart was also extremely sad......"

Shangguan Jiyue stared at Li Yi tightly for a long time before slowly spit out a sentence, "Master Li really disappointed me!" ”

After speaking, without waiting for Li Yi to react, he strode past him and walked straight towards the Taishou Mansion. The official at the entrance of the government wanted to stop him, but she was subdued by three or two blows, and he curled up on the ground and couldn't get up.