stormy clouds

Chapter 175 Trading
Kong Ling'er smiled sadly: "Yun'er, I won't be going to my uncle's house anymore. In Lindu, besides you, I really don't know who else I can rely on."

"With me here, you don't have to rely on anyone anymore." Chang Luoyun said: "If you are not used to living in the Hou Mansion, I still have a yard outside. If you want, you can live there forever."

Kong Ling'er forced a smile and said: "Of course I would like to be with you, but I am afraid that Lord Hou will come back and I don't want me to live in the Hou's mansion."

Chang Luoyun smiled and said: "Master Hou is a cold-faced and warm-hearted person. He knows the friendship between you and me. He will definitely not say anything when you live in the Hou Mansion."

Kong Ling'er's eyes dimmed, and she lowered her eyes and said, "Yun'er, when Master Hou comes back, I must thank him personally."

"Where is the use, Master Hou always saves people without leaving a name," Chang Luoyun said with a smile: "When he saved me, he didn't leave a name. If I didn't recognize him, he would Still haven't admitted it."

Kong Ling'er smiled, but did not speak.

When they came out of Qingzhou this time, they originally brought a lot of things with them, but when they encountered stragglers, they didn't even leave the carriage behind, and all the things they brought out were scattered.Chang Luoyun asked Bi Yan and Qing Luo to find a lot of fabrics in the warehouse, and asked Wu Ma and Su Jin to make clothes for Kong Linger and Fei Cui.

Kong Linger didn't refuse, instead, she went to Mama Wu to ask for fabrics, saying that she would do embroidery in her free time, so as to pass the time.

Chang Luoyun knew that she had just lost her parents, and she felt miserable. If she had something to do, she could relieve some of the pain in her heart.She asked Bi Yan to take Kong Ling'er to the warehouse to pick them.

Kong Ling'er picked out a piece of blue silk cloth after the rain, saying that she wanted to embroider a picture of a hundred sons on the roof of the tent for Chang Luoyun.With things to do, Kong Linger gradually calmed down, and the situation of sitting and crying in the first two days was gone.

Chang Luoyun felt relieved, and devoted all his attention to the porridge sheds.

After the siege of Lindu was lifted, traffic slowly resumed in the city. Although it was not as lively as before, at least some merchants began to enter Lindu, there was fireworks in the market again, and people's lives began to stabilize.

According to Qi folk custom, the Spring Festival begins on the first day of the twelfth lunar month.

Despite the military disaster, the people in Lindu still cheered up and prepared for the New Year.In the market, there are more sugar sellers and hawkers selling all kinds of pastries, and sporadic firecrackers make the atmosphere of the New Year more and more intense.

The morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the seventh year of Yuanyou.

"Report-"

A horse galloped into the city, and the panic-stricken postman yelled an urgent message breaking the tranquility of Lindu.

Everyone looked sideways, and the little postman had already disappeared.

Everyone in the market was apprehensive, looking at the situation, could it be that Xia Bing came back again.

Amidst the panic, a more horrifying news came out. The emperor's southern tour team was all captured by Xia Bing, and the emperor, his officials, concubines and female relatives had all been taken to Xia Kingdom.

A country without a king will change the world of Qi!
Chang Luoyun and Wang Yanqing looked at each other, the emperor had already left Lindu for ten days, Mu Jingyi had only been away for three days, and it would take three or four days for the postman to come back soon, so Mu Jingyi hadn't caught up with Emperor Nan The patrol team, the emperor and his party were captured by Xia Bing.

Wang Yanqing frowned, "I don't know if Master Hou can catch up."

Chang Luoyun did not speak.

-

On a winding mountain road, a line of flamboyantly dressed but miserable teams were walking hard in the ice and snow.

The higher you go, the thicker the snow on the mountain.The mountain road that the team walked, after the snow melted, the snow water mixed with the mud was muddy.

The marching team was getting more and more difficult.

The soldiers next to him held their whips and whipped them at those who walked slowly in the line from time to time.

"Hurry up, hurry up," the leading general in front shouted, waving his whip, "You won't be able to cross Qishan Mountain today, you'll just freeze to death here."

The group of people seemed to have no strength to resist, and they just walked slowly and with difficulty.

A woman in her 20s slipped and fell to the ground, her head covered with mud.A maid beside her tried to help her up.

The woman lay on the ground and beat the ground with her hands, broke down and cried, "Leave me alone, just let me die here!"

The maid tried hard to pull her up, "Ma'am, it will be fine if you cross Qishan Mountain, even if you die, you can't die in this wilderness!"

After passing Qishan is Xiaguo, what good can there be.But this Qishan Mountain is often haunted by wild beasts, and the dead people are instantly torn to pieces by wild beasts.

Along the way, they saw too many wreckage left after being bitten by wild beasts, it was simply horrible.

Maybe it was the servant girl's words that frightened the woman. She tried her best to support herself and wanted to stand up, but her feet were weak and she couldn't stand up no matter what.

A soldier at the back waved his whip rudely, "Hurry up, or I will throw you to the wolves if you don't leave."

I wear it a lot in winter, but when the whip scratches the back of the woman's hand, a bloodstain is left on it in an instant.

"Ma'am," the servant girl rushed forward to protect her, but was severely whipped several times by the soldiers.

The crowd dared not speak out, but the women and children had to bear the humiliation with tears in their eyes.

At a fork in the road, there was a slight commotion in the front team.

The soldiers behind ran forward with whips.Everyone bowed their heads and dared not speak, but they were all guessing what happened ahead.

They were escorted away by Xia Bing with a whip for two days. These nobles from the Qi Kingdom had never suffered such humiliation and torture.

But at least there is hope together with the emperor and prince. After all, Qi country cannot be without a king for a day.

"My lord, my lord, wake up!" the queen cried hoarsely as she shook the emperor who had fainted in the snow.

I haven't eaten for two days, and when I was thirsty, I grabbed snow and put it in my mouth, and walked so many mountain roads. If it weren't for the fear of being ruined by wild animals after death, most people would not want to go even if they died.

The emperor was pale, lying motionless on the snow, no matter how the queen shouted, he could only breathe weakly.

General Xia Bing, who was escorting, glanced coldly, but he was not in a hurry to rush the team, and directly found a place with a leeward side to sit down.

The empress hissed to the ministers following behind: "Are you all dead? Is there anyone who knows medicine? Come up and see what's wrong with the Holy Majesty?"

An old minister timidly stepped forward, opened the emperor's eyelids to have a look, then put his index finger and middle finger on the emperor's pulse to feel the pulse. Zhou suffered from wind and cold again, if he is not treated in time, I'm afraid..."

The queen stood up, squinted her eyes and looked ahead, it was dusk, the sun was about to set, and the blood-red afterglow shone on the white snow, giving off a cruel desolation.

This is not far from the top of the mountain, but if you want to go down the mountain, you must have the same journey as when you came here. Besides, at night, the temperature drops sharply. Not to mention that the emperor is sick, even a good person may survive tonight.

The queen glanced at the team behind her. These nobles, who were usually bright and beautiful, all had empty and haggard eyes.

It's no wonder that it's not easy to survive until now after being whipped like an animal and walking through the ice and snow for two days and one night.

She turned around and walked firmly to Leader Xia Bing who was sitting in the leeward step by step, "How about we make a deal?"

(End of this chapter)