"This is an official road, or the main road connecting Qingshui County and the county seat, and I have encountered more than a dozen waves of living corpses along the way!"

"This road, logically speaking, is also one of the main roads of Qingshui County, how can these refugees be allowed to become living corpses?

Don't you care about the yamen? ”

"Over the years, the imperial court decrees have become more and more difficult to implement, the government soldiers have been clumsy, and the regimental training in the county is mostly a cornucopia for the old men to eat empty salaries.

There has been a rebellion in Northern Anhui Province, the situation has been unstable in the past two years, the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes are worse than ours, the mountain bandits are like cockroaches, it is said that there have been floods this year, and many refugees have come to our side.

The weather is getting colder, there are many refugees starving to death on the roadside, and the lord in the county government is not careful, so there are naturally more living corpses.

It doesn't matter if there are a small number of living corpses, if there are too many, it will be like a few years ago, and there will be another big outbreak!

I don't know how many people will die at that time! ”

When I was about to arrive at Qingcheng Town, I passed by a small Wang Village.

This Xiaowang Village is much larger than Liujia Village, with more than 500 people in the village, because it is close to Liujia Village, the relationship between the two villages is also good, and many families are in-laws.

is like Wang Qiqi in the convoy, and his mother's family is from Xiaowang Village.

Xiaowang Village is not far from the official road, so a tea shed was set up on the roadside outside the village and this tea shop was opened.

The convoy passed by here, and naturally rested here.

Because it is close to the main road, when the group of people from Liujia Village came here, there were two groups of people in the tea shop.

A group of people are wearing black power suits, one by one looks like they are not losing strength, and they are holding swords one by one, whether it is posture or momentum, they are completely different from the villagers in the village.

The other group was dressed in a miscellaneous, but much better than the people of the village, and there were a few men with swords and swords, like some merchants.

Ren Pingsheng looked at the flames in the hearth fixedly, jumped in the boiling kettle, opened the lid of the kettle, and the boiling water that made a "shhhhh

His attention was not on the stove, but on his tea, and he pricked up his ears to listen to the conversation of the men.

Listening to their conversations and insights, they are much stronger than Village Chief Liu.

"The government decree is difficult to pass, the government soldiers are insufficient, the regiment is empty for training, the taxes are excessive, the rebellions are everywhere, the poison of this living corpse is scattered in many places, and the operation of the government is still inefficient, no matter how you look at it, this world is not peaceful, and this dynasty is also in an eventful season."

Ren Pingsheng couldn't help but think: "The more turbulent the situation is at this time, the more the rules are not obvious, and the more the ordinary people have to endure those powerful people, if I want to gain a foothold in this world, I must withstand the test of this dark jungle." ”

After bidding farewell to Xiaowangzhuang, he walked for only half an hour, and the outline of Qingcheng Town was already in sight.

Different from the adobe city wall of Liujia Village, Qingcheng Town is not only large, but also the base is made of stone strips mined in the mountain, and the outer wall skin is made of green bricks.

It is said that the inside is still adobe, but it is also mixed with glutinous rice, lime, etc., layer by layer tamping, this brick hanging skin city wall is 12 meters high, from a distance, quite imposing.

Such a wall can give people a strong sense of security when they look at it.

It is almost impossible for a living corpse to conquer such a city from the outside.

"Qingcheng Town was originally the old county seat of Qingshui County, and later because of the flood outbreak in the rainy season, this Qingcheng Town was easy to be flooded because of its low terrain, and the county seat was moved to the current Qingshui County.

Although it is now a green town, the city walls are still preserved.

Moreover, Qingshui County is a large county, and this Qingcheng Town, as an old county seat, is not small in scale compared to the county seat of some other counties, both in terms of city and population. ”

Liu Shu introduced the city in front of him to Ren Pingsheng.

When he walked outside the city, Ren Pingsheng found that some refugees had gathered outside the east gate of the city.

At a cursory glance, there should be hundreds.

There were messengers with whips, driving these people in line, and at the front of the line, there were more than a dozen messengers, setting up iron pots to cook vegetable leaf porridge with clear soup and little water.

Outside the east city gate, an errand blocked the way of Ren Pingsheng and his party.

"Isolate them all for two hours, and then enter the city after two hours!"

The messenger brutally drove Liu Qiang and them to the open space on the east side of the city.

There is also a row of small wooden houses outside the city gate, but those are for the rich and noble people who have some status and money, and Liujia Village has no money, so naturally there is no treatment to enter the house. I could only pull my hands one by one and stand in the cold wind to be frozen.

"Fuck it! These grandchildren! ”

The sixth couldn't help but scold in a whisper.

"Poor master, didn't you be able to enter the city in an hour in the past? Why do you need two hours today? If we quarantine for two hours, it will be dark when we leave the city······"

Liu Qiang laughed and said to the messenger who drove them.

"Have you seen us in the past? Damn, it's not those refugees, so we can't drink tea from the county government and be driven to Qingcheng Town!

Don't think I'm embarrassed for you, this is the master's order, you either stay here honestly for two hours, or turn around and go back. ”

After the officer finished speaking, he took his waist knife and went back to the doorway on the other side of the east gate to hide from the cold wind.

"Brother Qiangzi, what should I do?"

"If you really wait for two hours, maybe the big set will be dispersed, what else will we sell!"

"When we go back at night, we can't see the living corpses on the road! Why don't we go back? ”

In the team, everyone is anxious like ants on a hot pot.

Liu Qiang looked up at the sun in the sky, the sky was blue and white, and the sun was shining on his body, and he couldn't feel any heat.

He gritted his teeth: "Insist on it, this skin will not be sold, where will I make money when the tax collector comes to collect taxes in the second half of the year?"

If we don't have enough money, how many people do we have to do hard labor? ”

"Alas, I really can't live this day!"

There was a sigh in the ranks.

"The poison of the living corpse broke out, and it was obviously only one hour at the longest, but the county government let me isolate it for two hours, what is the matter!

Isn't that one-size-fits-all! ”

"Forget it, it's useless to talk too much, don't say it, be careful that trouble comes out of your mouth."

In the isolated area, in addition to the people in Liujia Village, there are many others, all of whom also have bitter faces and whisper.

Ren Pingsheng did not participate in the emotional discussion of these people, walked to the edge of the quarantine area, and looked at the numb and walking refugees like living corpses in the distance.

Occasionally, when a refugee falls, the servant leans forward to probe his nose, some are lifted aside to rest and feed the porridge, and some directly cut off their heads with a knife and carry them to the firewood pile in the distance.

The refugees who had finished receiving the gruel over there immediately had an errand whipped them away from the east gate and let them continue on their way to fend for themselves.

"In the past, there were people living outside the city, but since the outbreak of living corpses seven years ago, no one lives outside the city, and our family used to live outside the east city gate, and there was a moat outside at that time."

Looking at these refugees, a white-faced man in a round-necked shirt sighed with feeling.

"Brother is a merchant?"

Ren Pingsheng had some impressions of this white-faced man, he had seen him in the tea stall before, and he was very well-organized and insightful when he spoke.

"The business is not big, just going around the towns in Qingshui County, and I don't dare to go outside, there are soldiers and bandits, and there are living corpses.

In Xia Lu Junyi, a person from Qingcheng. ”

The white-faced man looked quite talkative, and said to Ren Pingsheng.

"Ren Pingsheng, a person from Liujia Village."

Ren Pingsheng arched his hand.