This year's winter was colder than usual. In the horse village alone, the charcoal added to the brazier every day has doubled.

I heard Xing Xiaojiu, who went to the city to buy grain, say that more than a dozen flower boats in the north of the city have stopped early this year. If it was placed in previous years, it would be a Lantern Festival.

"The girl from the Qinglou stood on the balcony and looked at me, her little face was frozen and swollen, I really wanted to take care of their business, so I did a good thing. But I thought again, people who practice martial arts are not close to women, and they don't step into it after all. ”

"Xiao Jiu, you're a little sullen."

"Is the owner complimenting me?"

"Yes."

Chen Jing raised his head and looked at the scenery outside the horse village. The peaks of the mountains that are closer to each other have been paved with a layer of white at the top of the mountain.

"Xiao Jiu, let the Zhuang people cut down more dead trees and prepare a little more charcoal. In addition, prepare more winter things such as padded jackets. ”

Chen Jing had to be careful, in this era, if there was a big cold, there were not too many ways to keep warm, nothing more than braziers, clothes, and even spicy soup to warm up.

He was a little glad that the matter of going to Wuzhou to run a horse was completed early. Otherwise, the people with this gang will not be able to earn the money to maintain, and they are afraid that the hearts of the people will slowly disperse.

……

From the beginning of winter, there is only half a month left before the end of the year, and the weather in the whole south begins to become extremely cold. Even the surface of the river on the Huai River is covered with a thin layer of frost.

The old man in the village said that there was no abnormality this year, there was no drought or flood, but it seemed to be unprovoked, and the entire Daran Dynasty was wrapped in frost and snow.

On the official road outside Zhuangzi, there are no more winter beasts foraging for food, nor are there pedestrians in a hurry. The world around me seemed to suddenly become dead silent.

Only occasionally, a charcoal seller wrapped himself in two old robes, and took advantage of the frost and cold weather to drive the ox cart with difficulty, trying to do a few more rounds of business.

In Zhuangzi, Zhao San, who was a tanzai, prepared an extra gourd of warm-up wine when he went out in the early morning, and when he returned to Zhuangzi, the two gourds were empty.

"The area around the capital is covered with heavy snow. The snow collapsed the house, and I heard that many people froze to death. The Vice Minister Zhao asked for his life for the people, and he didn't know how many rounds of Jinluan Palace he entered, so His Majesty was moved and allocated a sum of silver for disaster relief. But later it was found that the 100,000 taels of disaster relief silver reached the hands of the victims, and they only ate one porridge and paste. ”

Zhao San, who spoke, even trembled in his voice.

"Boss, how can they bear it? Watch people freeze to death and starve to death. I heard that there will be a war next year, but in this way, the storyteller in the alley said that it was the Lord of Heaven who closed his eyes and sent natural disasters and man-made disasters to make the Da Ran Dynasty exhausted as soon as possible. ”

Chen Jing was silent for a long time. This huge dynasty, the change of the situation, has faced a life-and-death choice. Under the cold disaster, there will be a matter of Di Guo next year, and if there is no action, I am afraid that the entire Central Plains will set off a wave of uprising and rebellion.

In the capital, although there are people like Mr. Da, how can this internal and external troubles stop the general trend of the collapse of the building.

To put it another way, of course. If next year, Da Ran can break and stand up, and kill a wave of majesty in Beidi, maybe this terminally ill body can last a few more years.

His horse farm, his manpower, obviously has no momentum. But on the contrary, this god, who does not open his eyes, clearly does not want to give a chance.

In the south, there are still people like Sima Zhuo, Chen Jing has no doubts, as long as someone raises the anti-flag first, the smart and cunning Sima Zhuo will respond immediately. In this way, if you don't make a bird, you will get the opportunity to rip the soil and seal the marquis.

How?

Chen Jing rubbed his forehead.

The manpower in Zhuangzi is only regarded as young and strong people, even if they have been recruiting during this time, there are only forty or fifty people. Forty or fifty people, it's enough to be a gang of rogues. But that kind of way, after all, can't get on the table, not to mention the old and young of the villager. Before the end of the road, Chen Jing didn't want to choose.

"By the way, Lord Hu Zun in Dengfeng City is mobilizing the people in the south to raise silver for disaster relief, and I heard that the silver is going to be sent to the capital."

Chen nodded his head. Over there in the capital, Mr. Big is lonely and can't speak. But in the South, many people are grateful for the bounty of change and may help raise money.

However, this is easy at first glance, but it is actually difficult. Hu Zun may not be able to do his best.

The world seems to be really messed up.

"Third Brother Zhao, is there any postman now?"

The postman, equivalent to the postman of later generations, is not a public office, but the monthly salary is not small. For example, the postman takes a month off and takes a month, and rotates every month.

"Yes, today I passed by the official workshop and saw one."

"I'll write a letter later, and I'll ask you to go more and let the postman send it to Wuzhou."

The weather in the south is also freezing, but in any case, it is much milder than in the north.

"Dongjia, there are acquaintances over there in Wuzhou?"

"There is a righteous man."

Hu Zun can't believe it, but he can believe the veteran Liu Zun.

"I'll go out." Chen Jing was silent for a while, then turned around and walked out.

……

For fear of freezing the horse, the two Yongzhou horses that rode out of the village were wrapped in an old mattress.

"Where is the proprietor going?" Xing Xiaojiu sneezed and asked with a small trembling voice.

"Into the city."

Following the official road, I only ran two or three miles, and above the sky, I began to lay Xiaoice hail. Xing Xiaojiu looked fresh at first, but soon, he was so cold that he raised his head and scolded his mother.

"Boss, you said this Central Plains...... What's going on in the past two or three years? How did you come across so many misfortunes? ”

It is the image of the fall of the dynasty.

Chen Jing sighed from the bottom of his heart. For Da Ran, he doesn't have much sense of belonging, but for the entire Central Plains, such as Mr. Da and Yuan Siqiao, he has a heartfelt admiration.

Under the wind and frost, the two horsemen continued to move forward, and when they approached the city pass, they found that many beggars and widowers were in the woods not far from the city, cutting the bark of trees, picking up dry grass, and desperately stuffing them into the cracks of their robes.

There were wild dogs that froze to death on the side of the road, covered with leprosy skins, and the old beggars fought and scrambled, and some of them fought for their heads until they fell to the wet ground, and never moved again.

Chen Jing was silent for a while, led the horse from the city gate, and only walked a few steps, but heard that in the restaurant not far from the street, those rich and noble princes and family members who gathered together were stewing tender lambs, and they were staggered.

Every time a lamb bone was thrown from the restaurant, countless shivering children ran to rob it. At this moment, the rich and noble men in the restaurant will laugh wantonly.

Chen Jing didn't stop.

He led his horse and walked quietly in the wind and frost, and it was not until half an hour later that he stopped in front of a luxurious mansion.

"It's rumored that the head of the door is tired, Chen Jing, a horse merchant in Fuhulin, and meet Sima Gongzi."

Chen Jing clenched his fists with a serious face.

In many cases, he couldn't see through Sima Zhuo. But he knows one thing, Sima Zhuo has the ambition to replace him in his bones, but he also has the ambition of not dying.

Standing in front of the mansion, Chen Jing himself couldn't understand why he didn't choose Hu Zun, but Sima Zhuo. From the south to the capital, more than a thousand miles of official roads, to raise disaster relief money, a big man needs to come forward to suppress this unscrupulous chaos.