Snowy Chang'an Road

Chapter 44 Forced Conquest of People
  Pei Ying originally just wanted to go out to buy some things, but she never thought that it was already three o'clock in the morning and the streets were still empty, with only the occasional passing soldier patrolling.

The doors and windows of every house were closed tightly. Wei Shao's army had strict orders not to break into people's houses and plunder them, otherwise they would be punished by military law.

After turning a few streets, Pei Ying had already discovered the traces of the common people. They were all hiding in their homes, peeking out through the cracks in the doors, but they did not dare to go out.

Suddenly, a little girl broke into Pei Ying's sight.

She held a small bowl and cautiously approached Pei Ying. Pei Ying also squatted down and called her over in a gentle voice.

"Sister, do you have anything to eat? My mother is starving to death."

Pei Ying looked at the child's withered face, messy hair, thin body, and lackluster eyes at such a young age.

"Little sister, I have food at home. You and I can go home and get it, okay?"

The little girl hesitated for a moment, but she was really hungry. This big sister looked very gentle, not like a bad person, so she nodded.

The two of them had just taken a few steps when a little boy's voice came from behind.

"Let go of my sister."

Immediately afterwards, a boy rushed towards the two of them. Pei Ying originally thought that he would stop, but he didn't expect that he would hit him directly. Because he was unprepared and the little boy was very strong, Pei Ying was knocked to the ground by him.

Seeing Pei Ying fall, he quickly took the little girl's hand and ran towards home.

Pei Ying rubbed her butt painfully, stood up with difficulty, and patted the dirt on her body.

As soon as the little boy ran out more than ten steps, Wei Shao arrived on horseback and placed his horse in front of the little boy. If the little boy turned to the left, he would turn to the left, and if the little boy turned to the right, he would turn to the right.

The little boy was anxious, but when he looked at the tall war horse and the general on the horse, he did not dare to resist.

"Little sister, go home quickly."

The little boy pushed his sister in the opposite direction and stopped in front of Wei Shao's horse.

"General, I am the only one responsible for the work. If you want to kill me, you will have no problem with me."

Wei Shao jumped off his horse and walked up to the little boy. A huge black shadow instantly enveloped the little boy's head.

"Why should I kill you? You kid, you knocked down my wife for no reason and didn't even apologize. How did your parents teach you?"

After saying that, Wei Shao took the little boy's arm and walked to Pei Ying.

"Apologise to my wife."

"Madam, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have rushed into you."

"You kid, your sister came to me to give your mother something to eat. Do you think I'm going to take her away?"

The little boy lowered his head and said nothing.

Seeing that he was silent, Pei Ying continued to ask, "Where is your master?"

"My father is gone and my mother is starving to death."

Although the little boy was strong, when it came to his parents, the child's fragile side quickly emerged. Without saying a word, tears flowed down unsatisfactorily.

Pei Ying took out a handkerchief and helped him wipe the tears on his face.

"Stop crying. Look at you. You must have not washed your face this morning. You are as dirty as a mud monkey."

When the little boy heard this, he cried even more sadly. Pei Ying held him tenderly in her arms and comforted him softly.

Wei Shao looked at the two of them from the side. The little boy rested his head on Pei Ying's shoulder. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

While the little boy was crying, Wei Shao heard a noise behind him. Several people turned around and saw a little girl walking slowly towards this side, supporting a weak woman.

When the little boy saw this, he quickly let go of Pei Ying and ran over.

Because of hunger, the woman staggered when walking, and she knelt down in front of Wei Shao and Pei Ying with a plop.

"Sir, please be merciful and don't hurt my children. If they really hit you and you want to take it out, just hit me."

Pei Ying stepped forward, helped her up, and said, "Sister, don't get me wrong. The child just asked me for some food. We are not angry." After hearing Pei Ying's words, the woman felt relieved and saluted the two of them. , preparing to leave with a pair of children.

"Wait a minute."

Wei Shao stopped them with words.

When the mother and son heard this, they froze in place and did not dare to move.

"I have something to ask you."

The woman turned her head and said, "Sir, please tell me."

"Why are the people in this city staying at home and not coming out?"

The woman hesitated for a moment and replied: "The people are afraid that Wei Shao, the king of Peking, will kill people. I heard that he is very cold-blooded and kills without blinking an eye."

"Who said these words?"

"The soldiers who originally defended the city."

"King Lujiang fled with his army, did you know?"

"I know that my child's father is also a county soldier. This time he was taken away by the King of Lujiang. He originally wanted to take us with him, but the army did not allow family members to be taken with him, so only the strong men were taken away."

At this point, the woman couldn't help but wipe her tears with her sleeves.

"You mean, there are only old people, women and children in this city now."

The woman nodded.

"Lu'an is rich, why do you have no food?"

"When King Lujiang left, he sent his men to search for the gold, silver and food of the people in the city. Now we are all living in poverty."

Wei Shao found the woman's words incredible. In his mind, Uncle Yun had never been a person who didn't care about the lives of the people.

Pei Ying wanted the woman to go back to her house with him to get some food, but the woman refused.

On the way back home, Wei Shao noticed that Pei Ying's walking posture was a bit awkward.

"what happened to you?"

"It hurts from the fall."

"You mount."

Before Pei Ying could agree, Wei Shao had already picked her up and put her on the horse.

"Wei Shao, can you ask for my permission first?"

"If you are knocked down without any precautions, it is easy to injure your lower body. Sit still and don't move."

"."

In Lujiang Prince's Mansion, several people sat at the table and listened to Wei Shao and Pei Ying talking about what happened today. After listening, everyone lost their appetite for the food in front of them.

Zhong Yang slapped the table angrily and said: "This King of Lujiang is too useless. He wants to run away, but he also takes away all the strong men, leaving only women and children. What do they eat and drink? And he orders people to search for people's fat and people's anointing. It's simply It’s just the behavior of an animal.”

Xiao Shen usually rarely expresses critical opinions, but today he did so for the first time.

"What King Lujiang did was immoral, and it really hurt the people left in this city."

Wei Shao said: "I just asked the soldiers to patrol outside and found that what this woman said was true. What we have learned now is even worse than what we heard on the street today."

Seeing that several people were unhappy, Pei Ying comforted them: "Everyone eats first. We are like iron rice and steel. If we don't eat one meal, we will feel hungry. Only when we are full can we have the strength to find a solution to the problem."

When Zhong Yang heard this, he said unhappily: "Brothers and sisters, the people are starving to death, how can we have the appetite to eat?"

"Brother Zhong, do you want to starve yourself to death?"

(End of this chapter)