The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Chapter 36 King Chu City, Valley of Refugees [Seeking further reading]

Liu Sheng could see clearly through the binoculars that the archers who met the refugees first did not know what they said. Two of them, who were obviously better-dressed and suspected of being rich farmers or small landowners, left the refugee team and walked towards the entrance of the town.

They each paid a handful of broken silver to the tax archers and were released into the town.

The remaining refugees were stopped by the cooperation of a dozen archers who arrived.

Then some refugees bowed to the archers and smiled, and some knelt down to plead.

The archers who started to greet him didn't know what they said. Some of them began to hand things to the archers, some were copper coins, some were silver coins, and some were grain.

Then the archer led five of his accomplices and led the remaining dozens of refugees toward the southeast outside the town.

Seeing that these people were blocked by the buildings in Minggang Town, Liu Sheng called out: "Let's see where the archers from Minggang Town took the refugees."

Ma Jinliang and others knew that Liu Sheng was here to recruit refugees, so they naturally had no objection to this. They immediately drove their horses slowly, following the archers and refugees at a distance.

I saw the archers leading the refugees for more than four miles to the southeast of the town, and finally led the refugees into a valley surrounded by several hills.

These small hills are tens of meters high. Due to months of drought, even the weeds on the hills have turned yellow and have lost their vitality.

It is these few barren hills that completely obscure the scene in the valley.

There is also a group of officers and soldiers stationed at Taniguchi!
Liu Sheng used a telescope to see clearly that the soldiers were indeed wearing the Ming army's standard cloth armor (worse than the cloth face armor, because it was made of pure cloth without iron sheets), and were equipped with military felt hats.

As for the archers of the Minggang Town Inspection Department, they only wore light red clothes, which was obviously different from the uniforms of the officers and soldiers.

Of course, maybe because it was hot at noon, or maybe because of other reasons, the spirits of these officers and soldiers were not very good.

Most of the people were resting in the shacks, and only seven or eight people were guarding the fence at the entrance of the valley.

Liu Sheng took a closer look and saw that a fence had indeed been erected at the entrance of the valley. It looked more like guarding the inside of the valley.

Immediately, Liu Sheng looked at the hills again, and then noticed that there were several small sheds built on them, but he didn't know if there were officers and soldiers inside.

When the archers handed over dozens of refugees to the officers and soldiers and sent them into the valley, Liu Sheng couldn't help but wonder: Why did they send these refugees into the valley?
Is it to facilitate unified relief and management and prevent refugees from being kidnapped by bandits and attacking Minggang Town?
Or is there another purpose?
In addition, where did these officers and soldiers come from?
Liu Sheng thought for a while and then remembered that the information about Minggang Town that he had read seemed to say that there were three "scenic spots" one or twenty miles south of the town, that is, on the north bank of the Huaihe River - Changtaiguan, King Chu City and Prince City.

Among them, Prince City has the longest history. It was built by Shen Bo in the year of the Western Zhou Dynasty for Yijiu, the exiled prince of the Western Zhou Dynasty.

King Zhou You loved Bao Si excessively and wanted to depose the queen and the prince Yijiu.The queen is the daughter of Shen's uncle. After the prince fell out of favor, he went into exile in Shen.

Later, Shen Bo built this city for the prince to live, and conspired with him to contact the northwest Quanrong, attack Haojing, and kill King You of Zhou at the foot of Lishan Mountain. The Western Zhou Dynasty was destroyed.

As for the King of Chu City, it was originally built by King Wu of Chu when he broke Shen (the then Uncle Shen), and was called "Chengyang", so it was also called Chengyang City.

After Bai Qi conquered the capital of Chu State, King Xiang of Chu and other nobles fled here and lived here for several years before it was called the "City of King Chu" again.

Therefore, the city is on the north bank of the Huaihe River. Looking back to the south, you can see the green peaks and the steep three passes of Yiyang in the vast sea of ​​fog.And because it is connected to the plains of eastern Henan, looking to the north, you can see a flat river and the heaven and earth merge together.

Therefore, it has been an important military city since the King of Chu's city was built.

Changtaiguan is at Changtai Ferry - before the bridge was built on the Huaihe River at this time, this ferry became the main transportation artery between the north and south of the Huaihe River.

Therefore, Changtaiguan can be regarded as one of the most dangerous military points in southern Henan.

Henan, like Shandong, is a densely populated place, and it has been easy for refugees to be displaced due to various natural and man-made disasters in all dynasties.Even less so at this point in the late Ming Dynasty.

As long as Henan officials are not too stupid, they will definitely station troops in Chuwangcheng and Changtaiguan to choke the Huaihe River.

Therefore, Liu Sheng guessed that most of these officers and soldiers were from the King of Chu City, but he did not know how many officers and soldiers there were in the King of Chu City.

Seeing the archers returning, Liu Sheng said to Ma Gui: "Go and ask why they sent all the refugees into that valley."

"it is good."

Liu Sheng and others rode on mules and horses and met these archers on their way back to Minggang Town.

Because Liu Sheng and others came slowly and dressed up like merchants and wealthy gentry, these archers were not afraid at all.

Ma Gui got off the mule and said with a smile: "May I ask some of the military lords, how come that group of refugees were sent to the valley just now?"

While speaking, Ma Gui naturally handed a silver nugget to the leader.

Although food is expensive and silver is cheap nowadays, no one dislikes free money.

The leading archer happily collected the money and said, "There is a refugee camp set up by the government, and porridge is given out once a day." Liu Sheng asked, "Why not set up a refugee camp next to the town?"

This man saw that Liu Sheng was extraordinary and was not angry because of his question. He explained: "Nowadays, bandits are raging. They love to coerce refugees and attack the market town. If the refugee camp is set up next to the town, doesn't that give the bandits a chance?"

The archer's answer was similar to what Liu Sheng had thought before, but Liu Sheng always felt that things were not that simple.

So he added: "I want to buy some servants. I wonder if there are any prostitutes in the refugee camp?"

"Yes," the archer said with enthusiasm. "You really want to buy it. I can take you there now and give you a guarantee. Of course, you have to pay some errand fees and guarantee fees."

"How much does it cost?"

"I, Lao Zhang, won't cheat you. Ten taels of silver. Don't think it's too much. Now the price of brown rice in the town has risen to 50 taels per stone."

Liu Sheng nodded, took out a piece of silver from his bag and threw it over.

Archer Lao Zhang happily accepted it and asked his companions to go back, while he took Liu Sheng and others to the mouth of the valley.

When they arrived at the place, Lao Zhang said: "You guys wait here for a moment, I'll go talk to Captain Huang."

After saying that, he left and soon brought the captain of Taniguchi's army over.

The captain had a scar on his face, which made his face look a little ferocious. When they met, he asked, "Do you want to buy someone?"

"Yes."

"How many do you want to buy? What are you buying for? What are your requirements?"

Hearing these three consecutive questions, Liu Sheng frowned slightly, "Master Jun, can't we go to the valley to watch the election?"

The captain held the handle of the knife and said: "The valley is very dirty, and some people are infected with the disease. You'd better not go in."

"There is an epidemic and you are still gathering all the refugees into the valley?"

The commander of the army looked like he didn't care about Liu Sheng and the others. When he heard this, his eyes suddenly turned fierce, he pulled out his sword and asked, "Are you here to buy people or are you meddling in other people's business?"

At this time, the archer Lao Zhang interrupted with a smile, "Sir, there are indeed people in the valley who have the epidemic, but they are resettled in separate camps with other refugees and will not mix together.

Just tell Captain Huang who you want to buy, and he will bring out the right person for you to choose. "

Liu Sheng saw that the officers and soldiers over there were on guard with weapons, and he didn't know the situation in the valley, so he followed Lao Zhang's words and said: "So that's it. I was the one who offended with my words. Captain Huang, please don't mind." .”

Captain Huang snorted and inserted the knife back.

Liu Sheng continued: "I want to buy a male servant and a maid in their twenties. They must have families, and it is best if they have skills."

Captain Huang's face turned cold after hearing this, "I just bought two people and they are talking a lot of words - first bring me 20 taels of silver!"

Liu Sheng has determined that these officers and soldiers must take a commission from the money the refugees sell themselves, and most of them take a very heavy commission.

So he didn't ask any more questions and simply gave him 20 taels of silver.

After Captain Huang took the money, he personally led several sword players into the valley. It took nearly a quarter of an hour before he led eight people out.

Five men and three women, all with sallow complexions and thin bodies, looked as if they had been hungry for a long time.

Liu Sheng stepped forward and asked these people about their place of origin, age, family situation, and whether they had any skills, and then selected a man and a woman.

Then he said to Captain Huang: "Please military master, please call their families out."

"Take another ten taels of silver."

Liu Sheng didn't say anything, but Wang Laowu couldn't help it anymore and asked, "You still want money? Could it be that their family sold themselves to you?"

Captain Huang sneered, "We have been raising them for so many days, and we don't need to pay for food?"

Wang Laowu wanted to say something more, but Liu Sheng stopped him and took another ten taels of silver and handed it to Captain Huang.

"Wait!"

Captain Huang collected the money and went straight to the shack to drink tea and rest, while his officers and soldiers took care of the rest.

(End of this chapter)