The First Young Master of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 1420 The Village Under the Butcher's Knife
If you really have to go there yourself, you can really understand the details. Chen Zheng is a leader of soldiers. It is no wonder that he has not been reused by the court for so many years. It is not without reason. As long as you have credit, you can stay in Chang'an to enjoy the blessings, but like Chen Zheng, he was sent by His Majesty Li Er to Quanzhou to take over the navy at a very old age.

The two carriages arrived at the village and entered the village along the path.

"When was the last time the bandits came to loot this village?" Xuan Shijing asked, lifting the curtain of the carriage.

The person Chen Zheng sent to guide Xuan Shijing was sitting on the carriage and driving the carriage at the moment, when he heard Xuan Shijing's words behind him, he responded.

"Returning to Duke Xuan, it was about half a month ago."

"After entering the village, don't call me Lord Xuan, just call my master's house." Xuan Shijing instructed, and then asked: "How often do those pirates come to this village?"

"I really don't know, there is no rule, sometimes I come once a month, sometimes I don't come for three to five months." The man replied.

"Is it the same in other villages?" Xuan Shijing asked.

"That's true, but the time is different. Duke Xuan is wrong. Master, when you say this, I think that if you look at them all together, the pirates ransacked these villages at different times."

"That is to say, the pirates in Fuzhou and Quanzhou are the same group." Xuan Shijing said.

"It's not sure, maybe it's not a group, or maybe it's a group, but there are several groups." The man said.

If there is a group of people, it will be easy to handle. Maybe there is a plan to catch them all in one go. If it is not a group of people, they will startle the snake if they make a move.

It seems that after going back, Chen Zheng will have to come over and study all the materials of the pirates plundering the border in the past year and a half.

Two carriages drove into the village. Xuan Shijing got out of the carriage and sat on the frame, looking at the desolate village. Half a month ago, pirates had wreaked havoc in this village. After half a month, the village has not recovered. The vitality of the past seems to be still immersed in the sadness of half a month ago.

Walking all the way into the village, all Xuan Shijing saw were elderly people, and he couldn't see a few young people. As Chen Zheng said, everyone who could walk has already left, and no one will stay here, and send them away for nothing. killed.

In a relatively open area in the center of the village, two carriages stopped, Xuan Shijing jumped off the carriage, walked to the door of a house, and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" The old man's voice came from the yard.

The old man would not be afraid of people outside. He was not a bad person who knocked on the door so politely. If he was really a bad person, he would still knock on the door. He just kicked the door open and entered the yard.

That's what pirates do.

The wooden door of the yard opened, and Xuan Shijing saw the owner of the yard, an old man over sixty years old.

"You are"

"Old man, we are merchants who came to Quanzhou from the north to do business. We just arrived here yesterday and wanted to come to this village to buy some special products." Xuan Shijing said.

"Businessman?" Hearing this, the old man smiled, "It's been a long time since I've seen it, and there are no special products in this village. Listen to my old man's advice and leave here quickly."

"Why? Along the way, I didn't see any young people in this village or around, this village"

"Outsiders, don't you know? This village is close to the sea, and pirates often come from the sea to plunder the village. The young ones who can walk are all gone, and we, the old and immortal, are left. Those who are unable to walk with their legs and feet are unable to walk, guarding this dilapidated village and waiting to die." The old man said.

"Sea pirates?" Xuan Shijing pretended to be surprised: "Then this."

"There's not much business to do here, so, you guys leave quickly, I kindly advise you, don't go by sea, those pirates like merchant ships on the sea the most, robbing a merchant ship is better than robbing us poor people." It’s a good deal to come from the village, be careful to be targeted by pirates.”

Xuan Shijing nodded hesitantly, and then asked: "The pirates are so rampant, isn't there a navy in Quanzhou? Could it be that the navy has nothing to do with them?"

The old man shook his head: "Who knows, I only know that the Quanzhou navy has no hope, and it is getting worse day by day. When people from the government or the navy come, they will have already run away, and they will not be able to catch up."

"In broad daylight, the heavens and the earth are bright and clear, and the ravages are so rampant on the land of the Tang Dynasty, and the government is so inactive." Xuan Shijing said angrily.

The person sent by Chen Zheng who was following Xuan Shijing heard the words and took a step forward.

"Master."

Xuan Shijing raised his hand to stop his words.

"No need to say much." Xuan Shijing said with a smile: "In business, what you do is to seek money from danger. Near Quanzhou, only these villages are close to the sea. If you want to buy special products, you can only start from these villages gone."

"Master, why don't we go to another village and ask?" Gao Jun stepped forward and asked.

The old man waved his hand: "Don't go, it's the same in other villages, every household is poor and white, and everything worth money has been robbed by pirates, what do you want to take?"

"Old man, can I visit your yard?" Xuan Shijing said.

The old man shook his head helplessly: "Forget it, come in."

The old man felt that it was better to let Xuan Shijing die, otherwise the good young man would definitely be handed over to those pirates, and it would be a few lives anyway.

Xuan Shijing followed the old man into the yard. There were not many things in the yard, which were tattered, but it was cleaned up very cleanly. There was a row of wooden shelves in the yard, and a few dried fish were hung on the shelves. After entering, you can It smelled a fishy smell. It was wiped with salt and hung in the yard to dry.

"Almost all the things in the house have been robbed. If you want to survive, you have to hunt a few fish from the sea to feed your hunger, relying on the mountains to eat the mountains, and relying on the sea to eat the sea." Seeing Xuan Shijing standing in front of the salted fish shelf, the old man explained : "Now I can barely go out to sea, but I can't go far, and I have no strength. A few old men get together to catch such a few fish. Sometimes, I dare not set the net. I can't do what I want."

The strength of the fish in the sea is not so strong. The old man is getting old, he can't move anymore, and he doesn't dare to toss anymore. As long as he can eat enough and barely survive, he can make do with it.

If the pirates in Quanzhou are not dealt with, the people in these villages will have no way to survive in the future. Xuan Shijing looked at the few salted fish hanging on the wooden frame and fell into deep thought.

"Is there anyone else in the old man's family?" Gao Jun asked.

"The old woman passed away a few years ago, and her daughter married a young man in the village, but she died at the hands of pirates." When mentioning his daughter's death, the old man obviously couldn't calm down.

(End of this chapter)