Early the next morning, just after dawn, You Shu and Ying Jiuying Qi went out. They set out from the capital and passed through three prefectures and counties. It took about fifteen days to reach their destination at a rapid pace.
Just as Qi Han said, the capital is prosperous, but after leaving the capital, you can walk north for at least five days and you will see the gradually declining city. It is hard to imagine that this is the same place in the same time and space, and the lively atmosphere of the capital. Far from it.
The increasing number of refugees on both sides of the road made the three of them feel gradually depressed, and Ying Jiu, who loved to joke, didn't speak much. They are ruthless and cold-blooded shadow guards, but they are not really unintentional. Anyone who sees those poor people who are described as haggard and homeless will feel sympathy.
You Shu tried his best not to look away, but he still accidentally saw the body of a young child. He didn't know how long he had been dead. There was a wolf greedily eating the remaining body. He couldn't hold back his stomach churning. Run forward and don’t dare to look back.
Four entire carriages of grain were to be transported to Huaizhou, and he could not waste time.
In order to avoid leaking the news, they chose to take a small road and transport a total of eight carts of food. Xiao Weijing said that although the food was not much, it could allow the people of Huaizhou to survive the new year for the time being, and they would hope to survive a lot when spring begins. Therefore, You Shu and the others traveled hard day and night, hoping to arrive on the agreed date.
After noon, You Shu looked at the sky and decided that everyone should stop to eat something before leaving. They had not eaten for six hours since they got up early in the morning, and the horses could no longer run. They stopped temporarily at a small pavilion on the roadside. You Shu asked everyone to rest where they were, and then took out dry food and drank cold water.
To be honest, traveling in ancient times was really inconvenient. This kind of homemade dry food pancake was hard, cold, and tasted bad. It was a waste of teeth to bite it in the mouth. It couldn’t be chewed even if you drank water. It still stuck in your throat if you swallowed it. If someone attacked you If used as a hidden weapon, throwing it out can smash people's brains out.
"I want to eat elbow..." Ying Qi chewed the pancake with a look of resentment.
You Shu continued to eat the cake without changing his expression. It would be good to eat some. They looked at the refugees who were starving to death along the way. They were afraid that they would not even have a bite of cold cake. But Ying Qi was still young, and he himself could not bear it. I couldn't help but think of the steaming, soft and delicious sauce pork elbow in the cafeteria, and sighed deeply.
So You Shu took his sword and drew a big elbow on the ground with sand, and said gently to Ying Qi: "Draw an elbow to satisfy your hunger, and eat it."
Ying Jiu was speechless.
Hehe, Ying San is trying to trick a fool
But a few minutes later.
The three shadow guards squatted on the ground together, eating cakes with the big elbow drawn by You Shu, taking one bite after looking at it, looking at it again, and taking another bite, taking the two idioms of looking at plum blossoms to quench thirst and painting cakes to satisfy hunger to the extreme.
The grass outside the pavilion moved slightly. The guards transporting the carriage raised their heads and looked around, but found nothing. They just thought it was the wind blowing the haystack.
Ying Qi's hand slowly grasped the big knife on his waist. You Shu's eyes signaled him not to startle the enemy, and he and Ying Jiu quietly separated into two groups, moving to both sides of the grass to easily outflank him.
After a while, a dozen burly men suddenly rushed out of the haystack. They were dressed in ragged clothes and stared at the carriage with gleaming eyes.
"I planted this tree, and I opened this road. I want to pass by this way..."
You Shu secretly rolled his eyes, wondering if these words for robbery were common to all dynasties, so couldn't they use different words
He signaled to Ying Jiu and jumped up from the haystack before the bandits noticed. The bandits didn't expect that they would be surrounded by counterattacks, and they started to attack with knives and axes. Unfortunately, they were just a ragtag group relying on their numbers. When they met You Shu and his group, they were beaten to the ground within a few minutes.
"Hero, spare your life! Hero, spare your life!" The leader was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and kowtowed. "We were just too hungry, so we had to take this step. Hero, spare our life!"
Ying Qi led the guards and tied up the group of people. You Shu was only responsible for transporting food and had no intention of killing anyone. He only asked coldly: "Where did you get the bandits from?"
The big man at the head hurriedly trembled and replied: "We, we escaped from the Jianghuai area. We were originally good people. It was just because the whole family starved to death that we had to go out to find food. Please give me some money." Way to live!”
You Shu frowned. It seemed that the situation over there was really serious. They had to rush there as soon as possible.
The group of bandits was nothing to be afraid of. After You Shu quickly ate the pancakes, he continued on the road with his men. However, before leaving, he let the group of bandits go and kept some dry food and broken silver for himself. , warning them not to rob others again.
Unexpectedly, the bandit leader turned out to be a grateful person. He immediately knelt down and kowtowed, saying that he would definitely repay him in the future.
You Shu glanced at him and didn't expect a mountain robber to really repay him, but he still nodded and led the convoy forward.
Seven days later, they successfully arrived in Jianghuai. Jianghuai City has long lost its former prosperity. Except for some old, weak and sick people who are waiting to die in the city, the rest of the young and strong have run away. The prefect of Jianghuai had paid out all his salary, but it was still a drop in the bucket. The emperor refused to let him open the granary to distribute relief. He had endured the pressure for many days and saw that if this continued, the entire city would be destroyed. starve.
Just when he was gritting his teeth and planning to take the blame for secretly storing the granary, You Shu came to the door.
"My boss has some goods, would you like to receive them, Lord Prefect?"
The prefect of Jianghuai is a young man, in his mid-twenties, his name is Shen Qingyu. He was also a new beauty scout at the time, and his talent and appearance once amazed the entire capital. However, after being sent to a remote place like Jianghuai for several years, he worked Despite his outstanding achievements, he was never promoted back to Beijing as promised. Maybe Xiao Weishen simply forgot about such a person.
You Shu knew Shen Qingyu, who was the first military advisor behind Xiao Weixin in the book. Apart from Yang Qixian, he was the most critical person in the entire process of seizing the throne. Although he seems to be gentle and polite, he is actually very ambitious in strategizing, but Xiao Weishen prefers subordinates who can flatter him, so those who are in high positions are those kind of villains. It is a pity that Shen Qingyu has worked hard for so many years.
Shen Qingyu, dressed in navy blue, looked at the man in black in front of him, but there was no joy on his face: "Where do you come from? Who is your boss?"
"I can't tell you the name of my boss in detail. Master Shen just asked if you want these eight carts of food?" You Shu looked up at him calmly.
The imperial court had given up on them. Shen Qingyu didn't know where any businessman could have the conscience to deliver food thousands of miles away. The most important thing was that although the man in black was handsome, he had an aloof look. He looked like a ninja from a killing field. , he was inevitably a little hesitant.
Shen Qingyu didn't hesitate for a long time. At this time, he just wanted to let the only sick, weak, old and disabled people in the city survive. No matter what the conditions were, he was willing to give it a try, so he simply accepted the few carts of food.
You Shu asked Ying Qi and Ying Jiu to work together to transport the grain in. The eight carts of grain filled three rooms. Shen Qingyu looked at the grain and suddenly felt a sense of peace in her heart.
"Thank you boss."
You Shu waved his hand and said, "Sir, there is no need to say thank you. My boss said that there will be disasters in disasters. Since we are the people of Daxia, we should do our part."
Although Shen Qingyu didn't understand their origins, he could see that the man in black in front of him had no ill intentions, and asked again: "Can you tell me who your boss is?"
You Shu looked at him steadily and deliberately let it slip: "Master Shen will soon know who my boss is."
"Please don't be surprised when you meet my boss tomorrow."
Shen Qingyu thought about his words over and over again, always feeling strange: "From what you mean, it seems that I will definitely meet him in the future."
Not only do you meet, you will become very good friends.
You Shu added silently in his heart.
"If I have the chance to meet him, I will definitely visit him." Shen Qingyu sighed, "It's a pity that Shen will never have the chance to get out of here in his lifetime."
"That's not necessarily the case." You Shu said, "Your talent is beyond the ordinary. I believe you will soon have the opportunity to be promoted and return to the capital."
Shen Qingyu was stunned.
After You Shu finished the spoiler, he felt secretly happy. He could finally show off for once, and turned around and left with satisfaction. Their task was completed, and it was left to Shen Qingyu to deal with those things next. Xiao Weixin chose Jianghuai because he knew that Shen Qingyu would not make mistakes.
After coming out of the Huaizhou magistrate's office, You Shu didn't plan to rest for a night. He was anxious to return to his hometown and resume his duties. He had been out for so many days and didn't know what was going on in the capital.
And inside Prince Ling’s Mansion—
Xiao Weixin has always felt that something is wrong these days. He got up as usual after taking a nap to practice swordplay and read a book. He inadvertently remembered something: "Is Ying San not back yet?"
Wangchen was knocked to the ground by a sword, scratched his head and replied: "Probably not."
"It's boring." Xiao Weixin threw the sword on the ground impatiently, "It's a waste of time to compete with you."
Wangchen picked up his sword and followed him into the house without forgetting to blow a rainbow fart: "Your Majesty is extremely talented. It's normal that we can't win."
"Ha." Xiao Weixin sneered.
Wangchen knew that his master disliked him, so he was kicked out by the prince with a sad look on his face. He stood in the yard holding his sword in a daze.
Luo Yao passed by with a plate of cakes and saw his virtuous nature and gloated: "Did you make a mistake and get scolded again?"
Wangchen said with a melancholy look on his face: "I'm probably going to fall out of favor. Who is that Ying San who makes the prince miss him so much?"
"Hmph." Luo Yao swayed the butterfly hair ornaments on her temples in an airy manner, and said sweetly: "Of course he is good. If you ask me, you are ten times worse than him!"
Hearing what she said, Wangchen became even more sad. Luo Yao smiled proudly and walked into the room carrying the plate arrogantly.
Seeing that he was about to lose his job, Wangchen was very anxious. The prince must have been confused by the shadow guard.
That must be a male vixen!