After the immortal disappeared

There were men and women, ranging in age from teenagers to forties. Everyone was sitting on the ground, looking weak and just looking at every passerby with their eyes open.

Most of them were wearing coarse clothes, not the cool summer fabrics favored by Yao people. The weather is still a bit hot. With so many people crowded together and sweating, you can imagine the smell.

Dong Rui covered his nose and said, "I'll go, it smells so bad! What on earth is this place?"

"剻屋." He Lingchuan's expression did not change. He had smelled no matter how terrible the stench was. Sometimes the smell in the army is even louder than this. "People from other places can't survive, so they come to Yao Kingdom." Tianshui City is known as the richest place in the Golden Flash Plains, and more refugees sneak in here than other places. Tianshui City built these huts for them, called huts, and let them stay here and wait for work. If someone likes them, they will be recruited to work. "

"Yo, he's quite human."

"That's also a last resort. There are so many refugees in Tianshui City that we can't catch them all. They are like weeds that grow again and again after being cut. They hide and seek with the officials all day long. They steal, kidnap, and form gangs here. Can the officials not Have a headache?" He Lingchuan had already collected information about Tianshui City so that he could explain it to Dong Rui. "There is nothing we can do. Since we can't catch them all and drive them away, Tianshui City hopes to keep them under control."

While they were talking, a few people who looked like foremen walked into the restaurant, pinched their noses and said:

"Seven men are here to transport the wood, they must be strong and strong; and there is a woman here to cook."

All the people on the ground suddenly stood up and rushed forward: "I'll come, I'll come!"

"I'm very good at moving things, and I've broken stones in the mines!"

"I cook delicious food and can cook for fifty people at a time!"

The house, which was lifeless just now, suddenly became more lively than a vegetable market. Everyone worked hard to promote themselves, and they were so excited that their mouths were flying.

The foreman took two steps back, and someone immediately stood up and shouted: "Back off, back off!"

When the refugees were too slow to retreat, he whipped him twice: "Are you looking for death? I told you to retreat!"

Everyone was yelling at him and did not dare to move forward.

He Lingchuan pointed at him: "This kind of person is called a 'muleteer', which means a laborer who takes care of mules."

“Are refugees called mules?”

"Yes." He Lingchuan was quite impressed by this passage in the information. "Those who refuse to obey the rules and do not come to demolish houses and engage in illegal activities to make a living are called 'Greyhounds'."

The mule driver turned the tip of his whip and pointed at several people in the room: "You, you, you, and you, yes, come out!"

In the blink of an eye, he had selected seven men and two women.

One of them was really short and weak, with a big head and a small body. The foreman pointed at him and said unhappily: "Pick this one to me too? How many straws can he carry?"

The man quickly defended: "I can carry it, I can carry it very well!"

The mule driver also said: "He can carry it, don't look at him because he is young, he can carry it very well!"

So in the envious eyes of other refugees, the chosen one followed the foreman and left.

The attention of the refugees then shifted to He Lingchuan outside. The latter made a wrong step and turned around to leave.

"These 'mules' are gangsters in Tianshui City. They can work for more than ten or even decades without having any status, so they all get the lowest wages and do the dirtiest and hardest work." If you don't work, you will have no money, no money. He starved to death, "I heard that for the wages of a local from Tianshui City, you can hire at least five mules."

"You also saw that there are more than 300 people crowded in the house. There are few job opportunities and there are many people, so a mule who wants to find a job has to bribe the mule driver." He Lingchuan pointed to the mule driver, "The one with a darker heart. If you don’t pay the mules, they won’t have a job.”

The soul-catching mirror in his arms couldn't help but say: "It's really not easy for these refugees to make a living."

What He Lingchuan didn't say was that the residents of Tianshui City were also particularly dissatisfied with these refugees. The greyhounds stole, kidnapped and disrupted public order, while the mules took away job opportunities from ordinary people. The huts where refugees gather are occasionally vandalized and set on fire.

Last year a fire broke out in a squatter's house, killing more than a hundred refugees.

"Some refugees are anxious to find work just to put food on the table. Whether they can earn wages is secondary." He Lingchuan said, "It is so difficult to make a serious living, so some mules have turned into greyhounds and engaged in illegal activities."

You can't make money on the right path, so of course some people will take the wrong path.

"I heard that in the past 20 years, there have been more and more Greyhounds, and they have divided into dozens of factions. They steal money, steal money, and form gangs. They not only disturb the public order, but also do illegal work, giving the officials a headache."

Dong Rui smiled and said: "How many squatters are there in the whole city?"

"Three hundred or more."

"One has three hundred people, three hundred is..." Oh, it's not a minority.

"Tianshui City itself has less than a million people, and refugees account for more than 10%." Everyone thought this was a good place and crowded here.

"This is not paradise, but at least there is no war."

"Furthermore, there is the largest slave market in the country in the west of Tianshui City. No matter how miserable the life of the refugees is, at least they have some personal freedom, which is much better than slaves. After those slaves are bought, they use iron chains when they are not working. Tie them up; there are always slaves that no one wants, and in the end they will be -" He Lingchuan made a gesture of slitting his throat, "If there is no value, you can't waste food. The officials don't care at all."

There is a popular saying in He Lingchuan's hometown:

If you don’t go to hell, you don’t know that there are eighteen levels of hell.

A strong wind blew and heavy rain poured down.

Dong Rui touched his belly and felt hungry: "Find a place to take shelter from the rain and find something to eat. How about that place?"

They walked back to the front street, where pedestrians were at least dressed neatly.

The dirt and mess were hidden in the dark back alley. The two worlds seemed to be disconnected.

Rather than a restaurant, he pointed to an open-air courtyard. The sign was actually a pure white cloth banner fluttering in the wind, with "Fireworks in the World" embroidered on it.

Fortunately, these words were bright red. If they were black, then...

However, as the two walked along, the white signs of Tianshui City were actually everywhere, bringing a little vitality to the gray-brown or ochre-red walls.

It was another half an hour before dinner time, but the restaurant was basically full, and the aroma of oil wafted out through the window, making people salivate.

As soon as he entered the store, He Lingchuan heard the sound of sizzling.

Although the courtyard is open to the sky, the corridor is large and wide, so the rain cannot get in. The tarpaulin roof is set up on the side of the corridor to expand the space outward. There are seven or eight square tables arranged in sequence. There is a hole in the middle of each table, and a clay stove is placed on it. There is also a grill on the stove. Diners put the meat pieces on the fire to roast, and the lard drips on the charcoal, making a sizzling sound.

To eat here, you have to do it yourself.

The wall of the courtyard is full of food signs. The two of them saw that there are too many varieties.

In addition to the common cattle, sheep, pigs and chickens, there are also crocodiles, giant salamanders, pythons, mountain frogs, etc., and the parts are different, the prices are different, and the pickling methods are different, and the prices are clearly marked.

Dong Rui casually ordered four or five plates of meat, one of which was even pickled with fruit.

There are many varieties, the portions are small and exquisite... but expensive!

"The spices are quite complete." Yaoguo is also known as the Kingdom of Spice. The uses of spices in the place of origin are of course varied, and they are even used in wine. In addition to the common rice wine, this store also provides mint wine, pepper wine, etc. The first sip of wine will make you feel refreshed.

After a while, Dong Rui roasted two pieces of lamb kidneys and a lamb eyeball, and happily handed them to He Lingchuan: "Come on, like cures like."

The strong spices covered the smell of the kidneys, leaving only the freshness and crispness. The lamb eyeballs were also roasted to perfection, bursting in the mouth.

Grilling meat with fire in the suburbs is called wilderness survival; grilling meat with ingredients in the city is called enjoying life.

Dong Rui is good at both.

"On the Shining Gold Plain, ordinary people want to eat so luxuriously, probably only in Tianshui City." He Lingchuan is a businessman. Just looking at any roadside shop that can provide a wide range of food, you know that Tianshui City's supply system is relatively sound and logistics and transportation are very developed.

In his impression, the last city with such complete facilities was Lingxu City.

"It's a great place." But the prices are also ridiculously high. A plate of pickled pork strips weighed less than half a pound, and the price was more than three times that of the restaurant in Jucheng.

He Lingchuan also noticed that those who grilled in this beautiful courtyard to avoid the rain were usually well-dressed and had exquisite materials. They sat down to talk about romance or business.

There were very few civilians.

The level of this restaurant was not to accommodate poor people.

The two grilled and ate in the sound of rain, watching the people rushing to avoid the rain on the street, and sighed at the unique prosperity of Tianshui City.

Dong Rui sighed: "This is actually in the Shining Gold Plain, how strange!"

After saying this, he went to the thatched house.

After returning from draining the water and passing by the kitchen, he saw four or five people squatting on the ground killing fish, washing vegetables, and sorting ingredients. There were also two people carrying water, and there were obvious marks on their faces.

One of them had obvious whip marks on his body, which were all inflamed and swollen.

Slaves.

This is the cheapest labor, and sometimes they are not even called people. As long as the master provides some food, they have to work around the clock to earn income for the master continuously.

The brand on the face is the mark of a slave, and there is no way to survive if you sneak out.

The sources of slaves are varied, sometimes they are prisoners of war, sometimes they are confiscated criminals, and most of them are refugees.

After becoming a refugee, do you think you have nothing and nothing to lose?

Wrong.

He Lingchuan and Dong Rui ate and drank for half an hour, and the table next to them turned over twice. The new diners were two businessmen, one in white and one in yellow. They ordered three plates of meat and two pounds of pepper rolls, and ate them with sour pickled cabbage.

"...I'm telling you the truth, General Xue is dead."

The yellow-clothed merchant on the opposite side quickly interrupted: "Don't talk nonsense, there are too many people here, be careful if the government arrests you, and accuses you of cursing General Wang Ting and implicating me."

"Oh, I'm serious. I originally made an appointment with a friend to discuss business in Tianshui City, but he was left in Mangzhou, and I spent a lot of money to send a message to inform me." The white-clothed merchant said, "Why do you think? General Xue Zongwu and Qi Yunsheng, the head of the Qi family, were killed. The whole Mangzhou was like a hornet's nest, and the city was sealed!"