On the tenth day of October, He Qingchang sent back a secret report from the front line to Beijing, saying that Gu Haiwang had been rescued from the Beidi army, and that he had been picked up by the emperor's personal guards.

Arriving in Beijing at the same time as this secret report was the news of Tao Yuan brought back by Li Baoquan from Huisheng Pawn.

The day before He Qingchang led the army to the expedition, Ye Tianhuai asked Li Baoquan to give Tao Yuan three tasks.

First, if He Qingchang could rescue Gu Haiwang, he would immediately take the holy decree and escort Gu Haiwang back to Beijing as the emperor's personal guard.

Second, investigate why Chu Boliang defected to Beidi three years ago.

Third, keep an eye on Lu Yanchen's whereabouts, and once you find out that he has different intentions, immediately take him down and bring him back to the capital. If they can't take it, they can be summarily executed.

What Tao Yuan sent was a report on Lu Yanchen's whereabouts, and the news that Eagle Guard had secretly detained Gu Haiwang on his way back to Beijing.

According to Ye Qianhuai's request, Eagle Guard can be said to have reported Lu Yanchen's whereabouts in great detail.

Yes, she saw in the report a detailed description of how Lu Yanchen rose and fell like chopping melons and vegetables in the army.

After reading it, Ye Tianhuai sincerely sighed: This Lu Yanchen was completely born for the battlefield.

Now it's good that he doesn't have any objections, if he also turns the tip of his knife and points at the Dajing Imperial Court like Chu Boliang, the consequences are really unimaginable.

"Is Tao Yuan still in Beijing?" Ye Qianhuai asked Li Baoquan.

"Back to Your Majesty, you are still in Beijing."

Ye Qian thought about it and decided to go out of the palace.

——

The capital was much more crowded than the last time she left the palace, and from time to time she could see sporadic homeless people with bags on their backs sitting or lying on the side of the road.

"Uncle, do you know where all these people came from?" Ye Qianhuai inquired about the old man at the door of a storefront.

The old man looked at the homeless people on the side of the road, sighed, and said, "Alas, most of them are refugees from Yunzhou and Yizhou. The imperial court fought with Beidi and Xirong, they were arrested by Batian, and they couldn't pay the autumn rent, so they came to Beijing to join their relatives, and some of them lived on the streets before they could go to the top. ”

"Batian catches Ding?" Ye Qianhuai asked.

The old man shook his head and did not speak, but sighed heavily.

Ye Tianhuai frowned and walked over to a young man who was squatting on the side of the road. The boy looked to be twelve or thirteen years old, with a shabby straw mat under him, and a girl younger than him beside him.

Seeing Ye Qianhuai coming over, the young man's eyes showed a look of vigilance, and he subconsciously hugged the girl next to him, as if he wanted to hide her behind him.

Looking at these two children, Ye Tianhuai didn't know where to start, and after a long time, she asked tentatively, "Are you from Yunzhou?" ”

The boy did not answer.

Ye Tianhuai turned around and said to Li Baoquan: "Go buy some hot food." ”

Li Baoquan quickly bought a thick pile of cooking cakes, enough for five or six adults to eat.

After Ye Tianhuai took it, he handed the cooking cake to the young man. The young man looked at the cooking cake in her hand, obviously a little moved, but still did not stretch out his hand. However, the little girl he was protecting, who really couldn't resist the temptation of steaming things, stretched out her hand from behind him and took the cooking cake in Ye Tianhuai's hand.

The young man turned his head sternly, and was about to open his mouth to reprimand her, but he was stunned for a moment when he saw the little girl gobbling up.

The girl chewed the cake vigorously, and a muffled voice came out of her mouth: "Brother, this is delicious." ”

As she spoke, she handed the rest of the bread to her brother.

The boy hesitated, then took it, took only one bite, and then could no longer contain his mouth, and ate quickly. The food appearance is better than that of his sister.

Ye Tianhuai looked at their appearance, and his heart was sour. It's obviously like I haven't eaten in a long time.

"Where did you come from? What about the parents' family? ”

Maybe it was because of the soft mouth of eating people, after taking Ye Tianhuai's cake, the young man's attitude eased greatly, and he replied while eating: "We are from Shuohe, Yunzhou. The family was requisitioned by the army to make tuntian, the eldest brother and the second brother were arrested, and the father and the villagers went to the county government to theorize, and were convicted of obstructing the implementation of the national policy and were beaten to death in public. After my father died, my mother contracted tuberculosis, and before she died, she asked me to bring my two younger sisters to the capital to find our aunt. But my little sister had a high fever on the road and died, and we finally came to the capital, but we couldn't find my aunt......"

The boy finally cried with some self-reproach, and when he cried, his sister behind him also cried. But the little girl still had chewing bread in her mouth, and she was afraid that the cake in her mouth would fall and be wasted, so she chewed harder while crying, looking strange and pitiful.

Ye Qianhuai's face suddenly turned cold, she frowned, and asked, "What is the county you call there?" How many people's land has been expropriated as tuntian? ”

"We have Shuohe Beitun Township there, and half of the land in the township has been expropriated, some have all been expropriated, and some families still have some left." The boy replied.

At this moment, Ye Tianhuai's face was not only cold, but also darkened.

The imperial court did issue an order in Yunju to conscript troops and increase the number of tuntian, but the conscription was one of three dings, and the tuntian was to reclaim the barren land, not to encroach on the people's land.

If what this young man said is true, it means that there are people in the local area who are bullying the people and dominating the land in the name of the imperial court.

A fire burst into Ye Tianhuai's heart.

Now that the Beidi army is pressing the border, and the national disaster is at the head, these people still have the mind to change their ways to profit from it!

This matter of conscription in Beitun Township must be investigated clearly when we look back.

Ye Qianhuai asked Li Baoquan to give the two children a little bit of silver.

She understands that even if she can help them for a while, she can't help them for a lifetime. As long as this is the case, then children like them will be everywhere.

It has been almost half a year since the first northern expedition of the Beijing Division. From beginning to end, Ye Qianhuai was an unswerving main battle faction.

It was only at this moment that she had a hint of wavering for the first time.

If there had been no war, these two children would not have been here. Even if their original life is not very stable and happy, at least they still have their families, at least they can survive.

And there are still many people like them who have been displaced by the war.

A bitter feeling came up, like a heavy stone pressing on Ye Qianhuai's heart.

She patted the boy lightly on the shoulder, was silent, barely pulled out a smile, smiled encouragingly at him, and got up to leave.

The young man pulled his sister to kneel down behind her and Li Bao, and said from afar: "Engong! My name is Jiang Zhu, this is my sister Jiang An. Dare to ask Eun Gong how respectful the daimyo? If my brother and sister have a chance to come to Japan, I will come to the door to thank you! ”

Ye Tianhuai stopped, she paused, turned around, smiled lightly at the two of them, and said, "If you have a chance in the future, you don't have to thank me, just devote yourself to serving the court." Then you will be able to see me again. ”

I wish you all a happy Tanabata ~

(End of chapter)