Liu Yunxiang pulled the cold rain hail, and the two sat down next to the old woman.

"You were caught too?"

The old woman nodded, pointed to the people in the alley, and said, "Everyone is." ”

Liu Yunxiang's heart turned around and said: "The government said that we had an epidemic, so they couldn't help but arrest us here, but our bodies, we know it ourselves, we don't notice the disease at all." ”

"You don't know what's going on?"

"I don't know."

"Hey, it's true that many people who have been caught here don't know what's going on, and those who really think they're infected with the epidemic are actually all lies from the government, otherwise they have no reason to arrest you."

"Why did you arrest us?"

"It's not because ......"

When the old woman said this, she paused and subconsciously looked to the side.

"The court knew about Xie Shengmao, the overseer of Yuzhou, who had forged his military registration and ate empty salaries, and sent a prince down to investigate. Xie Shengmao was afraid that the matter would be revealed, so he arrested us so that the people in the court could not find any clues. As long as he is caught here, there must be a family member who has been registered in the military, and Xie Shengmao eats the military salary of this empty head, which is said to be tens of thousands of people! This person is one tael a month, then 10,000 people is 10,000 taels, and 12 months a year is 120,000 taels! As she spoke, the old woman herself gasped.

Liu Yunxiang turned his head to look at Leng Yuhail, his face was cold and heavy.

He should indeed be annoyed that his Nanzhou garrison was stationed on the frontier, and the conditions were difficult, and there were often wars. These soldiers who really fought for Beijin starved because of the shortage of food, forcing him to come to Yuzhou to grab grain, for which he was severely punished by the emperor.

And the Yuzhou army guards the granary of Yuzhou, there is no war, there are no difficult conditions, and they are still paid empty salaries.

Just listening to one person's words, there may be deviations, Liu Yunxiang asked several people with Leng Yuhail, and everyone's words are the same.

Coming out of the alley, we came to the only street in the village, which was also full of people, one by one.

This Xie Shengmao is really bold, he wants to hide such a big thing, and he has imprisoned so many people for this.

"We have understood the matter clearly, Your Highness, ......"

Before Liu Yunxiang finished speaking, there was another bang, her body shook with the earth, and she subconsciously looked south, and saw that thick white smoke rose over there, and the fire collided indiscriminately.

"What's going on?"

Such a loud noise shook the ground, and she had never seen such a battle.

Leng Yufei looked at the south, and his cold face also showed a look of confusion.

The noise alarmed the villagers, and when the family opened the door, a woman ran out to see, saw the fire from the south, and shouted, "Why is it erupting again!" ”

Liu Yunxiang hurriedly asked the woman: "Eldest sister, what erupted?" ”

"Volcano!"

"Volcano?"

Liu Yunxiang glanced at the firelight, and then turned his head to look at the cold rain hail.

"Not like it, right?"

Leng Yufei shook his head, "It's really not like that." ”

"Hey, isn't that tactful!" The woman saw the little girl on Leng Yuhail's back, and hurriedly ran a few steps closer, "It's really graceful!" ”

Wanwan's eyes widened when she saw the woman, "Auntie! ”

"Hey, where is your mother?"

Wanwan shook her head and said with a crying voice: "My mother is lost." ”

The woman hurriedly looked at Liu Yunxiang, "What's going on?" What about her mother? How did you take this child? ”

At this time, a patrol team came this way, and Liu Yunxiang hurriedly said, "Eldest sister, can we enter your house?" ”

The woman hesitated for a moment, but opened the door, "Come in!" ”

When they entered the courtyard, an old woman came out, and when she saw Liu Yunxiang and them, she hurriedly picked up the shovel leaning against the wall.

"Mother, they're not here to grab food, don't panic!" The woman hurriedly explained.

"And who they are?"

"Look who this is."

The woman hugged the little girl from the back of the cold rain hail, and when the little girl saw the old woman, she cried and shouted: "Grandma Xiang! ”

When the old woman saw Wanwan, she hurriedly dropped the shovel and stepped forward to grab the little girl, "Ouch, Wanwan, why are you back?" Where's your mother? ”

mentioned her mother again, and Wanwan couldn't help crying.

The woman was afraid that there would be too much movement in the courtyard and that it would attract the attention of the officers and soldiers, so she hurriedly invited them into the house.

There was also a little boy in the back room, five or six years old, older than Wanwan.

Liu Yunxiang sat down and told the story of their encounter with Wanwan and her mother, but did not say anything about the discovery of the woman's body on the mountain.

After hearing this, the woman sighed, "Wanwan's family lives in Dongtou, and we are neighbors on the same street, but no one in her family is in the village anymore. ”

"What about her father?" Liu Yunxiang asked.

"Don't talk about her father, my father, and our whole village, all the young and strong people have been conscripted and conscripted." The woman said helplessly.

"The government closed your village, didn't it do it for empty salaries?"

They were really conscripted, so they didn't have to say anything about empty salaries.

"A group of people who have lost their conscience, according to the regulations of the imperial court, there is only one young laborer in a family, and there is no need to join the army, and only one of the two will go. But the year before last, Yuzhou sent a document to our village, not to mention a few laborers in a family, not to mention age, as long as they could work in the field, they were all recruited, a total of more than 100 people. As soon as more than 100 people left, there were only old and weak women and children left our village, and last year's crops were panicked, and everyone was sad, and many of them left the village and became beggars. The old woman said angrily.

"The government didn't pay you a monthly salary?" Cold Rain asked.

For those recruited by the imperial court to join the army, the local government will pay the conscripted family a monthly salary.

"There was one at the beginning, but at the beginning of spring last year, people from the government came down to say that there was a war in the west, and all the hundreds of people in our village were sacrificed, and only a little sympathy was paid, and then there was nothing."

"All sacrificed?" Liu Yunxiang was taken aback.

At the mention of this, the old woman slapped her thigh in anger, "If we really have to sacrifice everything, we can't help it, but the truth is not like this at all!" ”

Leng Yufei frowned, "How do you say that?" ”

The woman asked the old woman to slow down, and she continued: "At the beginning of autumn this year, a young man named Poplar in our village suddenly returned, which frightened the villagers of our village, and the person who should have died came back alive! But the young man was seriously wounded, and before he could say a word, those who had been drafted did not go to the army at all, and he fainted. After that, the officers and soldiers chased after him, saying that he was a deserter, and snatched the man away. But whether our people went to join the army or not, whether they were dead or alive, there is a general saying, we villagers will go to the government. The government didn't care, and arrested a few villagers who took the lead and detained them for picking provocations and making trouble. We saw that Yuzhou could not seek justice, so we thought about going to Beijing to sue the emperor, but before we could make the trip, our village was sealed by the government. ”

"After the lockdown, there was a shortage of food in every family, and many people starved to death. Wanwan's grandfather and grandmother were starved to death, and her mother saw that there was really no way to survive in the village, so she took advantage of a few villagers to make trouble and sneaked out of the back mountain with her children. ”

Hearing this, Liu Yunxiang looked at Leng Yuhail.

"It seems that it's not just the case of empty salary, Han Rin attaches so much importance to it, and Xie Shengmao is so bold, maybe it's because they want to hide a bigger secret."

"A bigger secret?"

Liu Yunxiang shrugged, "I'm just guessing, after all, too many people have died." ”

At this time, there was movement outside, and the movement was not small.

Leng Yufei came to the gate of the courtyard, looked out through the crack in the door, and saw many officers and soldiers hurriedly running towards the south.

He turned his head to look south, where the fire was even brighter, and the mountains were burning!