Zhurou

Chapter 33
But Li Xun turned his head when he heard the words, but still didn't speak, just glanced at the people beside him with the end of his eyes.

That Wei Chengyan was taken aback by the sight, and he didn't dare to talk nonsense anymore, he quickly stood up with the cooking cakes, and said with a sneer: "I'll go see how the horses are eating..."

As he said in his mouth, he didn't even dare to take a big step, and went to the other side with his hands tied.

He freed his hand with the pancake in his mouth, patted the horse's buttocks, patted the horse's head, and kept disturbing him. He didn't care that he was so hungry that he couldn't grab the grass and leaves, and he wanted to kick him a few times with his hooves. .

After Wei Chengyan left, Li Xun pointed to the dry food in front of him after a while and said: "Let's deal with it first, and run faster later. It is best to go to Tianjiahe before sunset. There is a place where there is room." The post station, among them, the cook is good and can cook some vegetables and meat."

Zhao Mingzhi got out of the inexplicable emotions just now, he heard that what he said was serious, he nodded immediately, stretched out his hand to break the dry and hard cooking cake, chewing slowly, while thinking about what he saw and heard along the way.

She had a lot of questions, and she couldn't answer them in a hurry before, but now she met the two in front of her, Wei Chengyan aside, at least this second brother Li Xun and Li should be very familiar with the northwest.

After running for more than half a day, he didn't need to look at the map at all, he seemed to be able to find the way with his eyes closed.

Several times the official road ahead was difficult to pass, and he led it in front, turning around and turning, turning from the main road to the small path, and returning to the road after a short walk, obviously walking through it countless times.

Familiar with the road, mostly means familiar with the customs.

Zhao Mingzhi hesitated for a moment, and couldn't help asking: "Second brother, it's the first time I've come back to Dengzhou, and I really don't understand what I saw along the way—why there are so few rest shops along the way, and there are so few people?"

Leaving aside the time of fleeing south, after all, there are tens of thousands of officials, family members and people in the capital. As for Caizhou and Dengzhou Road, refugees can be seen all over the place, migrating to the south, but it is rare to meet people on the official road here. .

However, this was not the case when I first entered the border of Dengzhou. Although the road was not very prosperous, there were many caravans and pedestrians. As for tea shops and wine shops, there were even more.

The same state belongs to, why is the west side so desolate?
She just felt puzzled, and asked: "Accordingly, Jingzhao Mansion and Xiangqing are located in the west. In the past two years, as far as I know, many big businessmen have moved to avoid the war. I heard that the business is doing well. That’s right, in this case, the farther to the west, the more prosperous the place should be, but looking at it now, it’s the opposite?”

Li Xun put down the water bag in his hand and said: "This place is close to Jingzhao Mansion, so it belongs to Junzhou and Dengzhou according to its jurisdiction. Since someone you know moved to Jingzhao, I don't know if you have heard of it. There are few bandits there?"

Zhao Mingzhi nodded.

Although Pei Yong has a very bad reputation in the court, his talent for managing affairs, even Lu Xianzhang who would scold him every time he mentions it, would not criticize him.

It's really hard to pick faults.

When Cao Mang was still there, he left Feng Xiang in the care of that cheap adoptive son. It is said that as soon as he took over, the others ignored him, and he first caught the bandits and thieves, and the atmosphere in the government was suppressed for a while.

Although the common people don't close their doors at night and pick up lost things on the road, they are not afraid of walking at night even in rural areas.

And after Cao Mang's death, Jingzhao also returned to Pei Yong. Since then, the two places have been unified and well organized. Not to mention banditry, even theft has decreased.

Li Xun asked again: "Then do you know where the bandits in the mountains went?"

Zhao Mingzhi was a little surprised: "Isn't it said that they were all wiped out?"

Li Xun didn't answer directly, but asked instead: "Where did the robbers come from?"

Zhao Mingzhi suddenly realized, and said: "There may be one or two born thieves, but most of them are afraid that they will have no food and clothing, and they have no choice but to become bandits..."

She hesitated for a while, and asked tentatively: "Since that's the case, should we only kill a few of the chief culprits, and release the rest?"

After a short pause, he couldn't help being puzzled: "In the past there were a lot of bandits in the Northwest, and there were mountains and forests. Once they heard the wind, they scattered and ran away, but the culprit was hard to catch."

Li Xun said: "Only Jingzhao and Fengxiang are arrested, and other places are not arrested."

These words are so clear that Zhao Mingzhi just thinks it is outrageous: "Could it be that the desolation here is caused by bandits?"

Li Xun said: "That's not the case at all, but the intersection of Dengzhou and Junzhou has been plagued by banditry a few years ago, and now there are Di people going south, and Caizhou is mobilizing troops from all over the country. Can't hold it down."

Zhao Mingzhi couldn't hide his sadness.

Pulled around and moved the whole body.

Zhao Hong, the new emperor, fled to Caizhou, and there was a shortage of soldiers around, so he had to send troops from other places, and reinforcements were needed from the north.

The worst are the refugees in the north.

He was slaughtered and humiliated by the Di people, so he managed to escape a way out and went south to find food, but when he got here, he would be ransacked by bandits again.

With the cold and hard pancake in her hand, she really lost her appetite.

But Li Xun said again: "Since your family is planning to go to Jingzhao Mansion, you should pay more attention when moving westward in the future. Don't be caught halfway through the case."

The so-called westward migration of the family is just a random reason Zhao Mingzhi made up, and naturally it does not exist.

But those many people who migrated to the west are real.

She couldn't help muttering and said: "These thieves, are they helpless?"

Not far away, Wei Chengyan, who had just come back, listened in disbelief. Although he didn't know what he was talking about, he interrupted and said, "What kind of bandits? Where are there bandits? Hurry up and call the patrol team of Jingzhao Mansion. Suppress!"

His eyes lit up: "Suppressing the bandits is considered a medium achievement. Although it's not as great as killing the bandits, it's better that you don't need to work hard. It's like chopping vegetables. Those guys are clamoring every day that they can't find the bandits."

Zhao Mingzhi couldn't help asking: "Can the Jingzhao Mansion's bandit-suppressing patrol team also suppress the bandits in Dengzhou and Junzhou?"

The smile on Wei Chengyan's face stopped, and he said: "Where is it the turn of Jingzhao Mansion to take care of other people's territory?"

He added: "The imperial court is waiting to catch the little brats. Once they cross the border, I am afraid that the Jingzhao Mansion has just wiped out the bandits on the front foot, and Caizhou will issue an edict on the back foot, saying that the surnamed Pei is a traitor, and everyone will be punished!"

Recalling the attitude of those ministers in the court towards Pei Yong, Zhao Mingzhi was completely unable to refute this absurd inference.

She came here to investigate Pei Yong's intentions, and to see if it was possible to persuade the Jingzhao Mansion to send troops. It was rare that Wei Chengyan took the initiative to mention it at this moment, and naturally she would not let it go, so she asked tentatively: "Although I don't know what the court means, But now that the Di people are going south, except for the Northwest in the middle of the court, there is no more troops to transfer, if you really issue an edict to Jingzhao Mansion to suppress the bandits, and then send troops to the north, I don't know if it will work, and no one will listen to it."

Wei Chengyan sneered coldly, and said: "It is said that the emperor does not send hungry soldiers. He has been beaten so many times before, and now he wants to fight again. Is he a fool? Although the surname of Jingzhao Mansion is Pei, he does not want to be beaten all the time. Put it upside down, and lose your life in that bottomless pit?"

He sneered again and said: "When the one in front was sitting on the dragon chair, he also said that he planned to marry a niece and go to Jingzhao Mansion to win him over, but he really regretted it later, now Caizhou is not the capital, and the Zhao family is not what it used to be. There is a sister, if she gets married..."

Before he finished speaking, Li Xun, who was sitting quietly beside him, suddenly changed his expression and shouted: "Cheng Yan!"

　Sneaking a chapter, let's treat it as a monthly pass of 60 plus updates...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)