After waiting for more than half an hour, a scout followed Rob to report: "Majia Village is empty, not even a chicken or dog is left...
"Judging from various traces, the people in the village should have been kidnapped by bandits, and fled to Wulin County about seven or eight days ago..."
Feng Liao, Su Mingjian and others all changed their faces.
Rogue! There are rogues!
Although there is only one word difference between refugees and bandits, they are two completely different types of people in essence.
Refugees are ordinary civilians who have to leave their hometowns after a catastrophe to seek a living elsewhere. They are the ones who need sympathy and rescue.
To use an official language that Yongruo heard in his previous life: they are just the people affected by the disaster.
The rogues will not wait pitifully for others to sympathize and rescue them, they will wander around and make a living by robbing others.
Wherever they go, the social order will be severely disrupted.
Rogues grow very fast, because they will coerce the victimized people to flee and rob with them, turning the victimized people into rogues like them.
In a famine year, in a famine land, the most feared thing is the appearance of rogues.
Once the power of the bandits grows stronger, even if they are finally suppressed by the imperial court, blood will flow into rivers and corpses will be strewn across the area of influence, and the foundation of the country and society will be shaken.
If the court can't suppress it, it will be a matter of changing the dynasty.
Feng Liao and Su Mingjian, who are at the core of the empire's power, are very clear about the stakes.
"And..." the scout stammered, "Most of the houses in the village were burned down, except for one courtyard. Because... because..."
Feng Liao stared at him, and shouted loudly: "Why? Say it!"
The scout took a deep breath and replied loudly: "Because in the main room of that courtyard, there is an anti-poem written!"
"Anti-poetry? What's the content?" Feng Liao's hands trembled slightly, and the palms became a little wet.
"The villain dare not say it! I invite the prince and the adults to see it for themselves!"
Feng Liao glared at him and said, "Go! Go and have a look!"
He turned his head to look at Yong Ruo, and said as softly as possible: "You will follow me in a moment! Don't be afraid, we have many guards, ordinary bandits can't do anything to us."
Yong Ruo smiled at him, with a calm and peaceful expression: "I'm not afraid of anything when I'm with the prince."
Feng Liao forced a smile to her, and said in her heart: I am very scared now!
He was both worried and regretful: Ruoruo, I really shouldn't have agreed to let you follow me! I know that anything can happen in the Badlands, so why did I agree to you to come? Still too arrogant!
Since there were bandits haunting him, he didn't dare to kill Yong Ruo randomly. I felt deeply in my heart: It would be safer to bring her by my side. Fortunately, Ruoruo's riding skills and physical strength are very good!
However, what should Dr. Xu do? How to deal with those rogues
With all sorts of thoughts in her mind, Feng Liao speeded up and headed towards Majia Village.
In Yong Ruo's mind, he was thinking about several famous rebels in the history of his previous life. Such as Li Zicheng, such as Huang Chao...
Li Zicheng directly overturned the Ming Dynasty.
Huang Chao was finally suppressed by the government army, but the civilian casualties he caused were incalculable, and the damage to social order was incalculable, which directly accelerated the demise of the Tang Dynasty and indirectly opened up the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
Yong Ruo sighed in his heart: now, no matter it is for the common people here, or for his own life and political life, Feng Liao has no choice but to deal with these rogues as soon as possible.
Even if he knew there was a trap ahead, he had no choice but to step on it!
This is likely to be a plot against Feng Liao.
It is still a Yangmou that is difficult to break the game——Yangmou is better than a conspiracy because even if Feng Liao sees through the opponent's various schemes, he still has to drill into the preset battlefield, because he cannot let the bandits grow stronger.
And Alan's identity and role in this matter are even more confusing.
After crossing the second mountain ridge, Yong Ruo saw the destroyed Majia Village.
Judging from the number of houses, there were originally thirty to forty families in the village. But now, except for one yard, the other houses have been reduced to scorched earth, leaving only a broken wall and rubble ashes.
Alan has already got the news from Xiao Linzi.
At this time, after witnessing this situation with her own eyes, she burst into tears again. While crying, she also called the names or titles of various relatives, and then ran frantically into the village.
The two guards who were in charge of "taking care of" Alan hurriedly followed her all the way.
Feng Liao and the others all looked sad.
The road from the mountain ridge to the entrance of the village is steep and narrow, not suitable for horseback riding.
Feng Liao and Yong Ruo could only dismount and walk. Their horses were led by the eunuchs behind them. Feng Liao took Yong Ruo's hand and went down the mountain together.
When approaching the entrance of the village, Feng Liao squeezed Yong Ruo's hand and comforted her very softly: "It's okay! I will always hold your hand."
Yong Ruofan squeezed his hand and smiled at him: "Okay! I will always hold the young master's hand."
In the middle of a grain drying field at the entrance of the village, there are ashes of a bonfire; around the bonfire, there are tables and chairs, pots and stoves, as well as many bones of chickens, dogs, pigs and sheep that have been gnawed away, as well as some broken wine urns and wine bowls .
Judging from the ashes of the bonfire, not only firewood was burned, but also some furniture that had been chopped off.
On some wine bowls and bowl fragments, there are still faint traces of blood, as if many people gathered together to drink blood wine.
Obviously, just a few days ago, a large group of people had gathered here, had a bonfire party, ate and drank, and made alliances with blood.
It looks like some heroes of the rivers and lakes are rebelling.
Leaving the grain drying field, Yong Ruo and Feng Liao went to the only yard in the village that hadn't been burned.
This is also the best built yard in the whole village. Although it has only been built for the first time, it is a brick and tile house, and its condition is also very new. It has only been built for a year or two.
Both the east wing and the west wing of the courtyard were damaged to varying degrees.
The windows had been knocked out, and the furniture was missing, probably taken to the grain drying yard for firewood. There are still some traces of defecating in the house.
But the main house in this courtyard is very well preserved and clean.
There are three main rooms, with the main room in the middle. In the middle of the main hall, there are places for the kings, relatives and teachers of heaven and earth.
On the whitewashed wall on the east side of the main room, there is an inscribed anti-poem dripping with ink:
Down and out, wandering without feeling sad, young and without parents, growing up and having no money;
Dirty officials and dry ghosts kill people, reckless heroes gather on the platform;
Wealth and glory are not granted by the sky, but I will take the country and the country;
If he succeeds in Ling Yunzhi in his youth, the Taimiao should be opened from this house. ①
The meaning of this poem is very simple and straightforward:
Although he lost his parents when he was a child, had no money when he grew up, lived in poverty, and wandered around, he didn't feel sad;
Now, dirty officials and drought are killing people, it is time for reckless heroes to form an alliance and rise up;
If God (or the Son of Heaven) does not give them glory and wealth, they will take the country and society by themselves;
If this lofty ambition is realized, this room is the place where his empire began.
As a person who doesn't know much about poetry, Yong Ruo feels that this poem is very powerful.
The image of a reckless hero with a bumpy childhood but a heroic heart, a poverty-stricken but ambitious hero, is portrayed vividly.
But after Fengliao finished reading the poem, she snorted coldly and began to mock: "The tone is arrogant! It's a pity that I didn't read the book well enough, and wrote the poem with the wrong meter. When it comes to the examination room, this is a loser who can't even be a scholar. life."
Yongruo humbly asked for advice: "Where is the meter wrong?"
Feng Liao said: "The word 'Duo' is in the Qihuo part of the entrance tone, and it is a flat tone character. In that position, a level tone character should be used!"
He turned his head to look at the poem on the wall, and said with a sneering face: "So, he used the word 'to win' wrongly!"
Yong Ruo felt: Feng Liao's words were a bit of a pun.
What he really wanted to say was not that the poem had a wrong meter, but that the behavior of the person who wrote the poem violated the law, right
However, at this moment, in this situation, she would naturally not argue with Feng Liao, arguing with him about whether poetry should be based on meaning or rhythm, or the difference between ancient style poems and standard poems.
She just nodded agreeingly: "Don't tell me I haven't discovered... This poem really has the wrong meter!"
Feng Liao coughed slightly uncomfortably, then turned her head and glanced at the poem.
"No wonder there are houses all over the village, only this one is intact. Hmph, if you want to build an imperial temple from this house, it depends on whether he has the good fortune!"
Feng Liao's tone was cold, with a faint, suppressed anger.
He walked out of the house and ordered Xiao Guizi casually: "Cut off the wall where the poem is written. Be careful, don't cut it!" He also ordered Su Mingjian to bring the map.
Two guards moved tables and chairs out of the main room and placed them in the yard.
Feng Liao and Su Mingjian sat at the edge of the table, studying the map together in the light of the setting sun.
"Wulin County is very dangerous now!" Su Mingjian pointed at the map with his finger, "I just estimated based on what Alan said and the number of households here, and this village should have been taken away by more than 100 bandits.
"During these seven or eight days, as long as they engulf a few more villages, they can reach a scale of thousands of people.
"If they sneak into Wulin County at this time, this small county will not be able to accommodate thousands of refugees. If these people take the opportunity to kill officials and riot in the county, and then coerce the people in the county, there may be thousands or even tens of thousands of refugees. human scale."
"After robbing Wulin County, they can spread to the surrounding Xiushan County, Anning County, Bo County, and Xuezhou Prefecture. At that time, the situation will be difficult to deal with..."
Feng Liao also stared at the map, gritted her teeth and said: "This matter must be dealt with as soon as possible, otherwise if they continue to flow like this, the scale will soon reach tens of thousands. By then, more people will be displaced and lost." If you don't deal with it well, the world will be in turmoil. After this king returns to Beijing, it will be difficult to explain to the emperor... "
He pursed his lips fiercely, and asked again: "Have the scouts been sent out?"
"Half of the scouts have been allocated to track down the rogues. Only in this way, the guards around the prince will be weakened..."
"It doesn't matter. I believe that this land in the south of Lunan is still populated by good people..."
While Feng Liao and Su Mingjian were analyzing the situation and discussing countermeasures, Yong Ruo sat alone under a wilting tree in the yard, thinking about today's events carefully.
Is there anything suspicious in this? Is there a loophole
Alan's identity has yet to be confirmed.
Definitely. Because everyone in the village was kidnapped, no one could testify for her, and no one could expose her.
It seems normal that there are rogues in the devastated land, and the people in the village are taken away by the rogues.
It is also normal for rogues to drink blood wine and have a bonfire with others when they riot. If people's emotions are not completely aroused, who will follow them in the decapitation and ransacking of their homes
It is not surprising that houses all over the village were burned.
If the villagers' escape route is not completely cut off, how can these villagers follow them to rob
It is not surprising that this small courtyard survived.
The leader of the rogue bandits wrote antipoems in the main room of this courtyard, and wanted to "open the Taimiao from this house". Naturally, he couldn't burn his "Tai Temple" down, because that would be too unlucky.
Except that everything seemed too coincidental, everything they encountered and everything they saw today was very logical and reasonable.
Yong Ruo sat there, staring at the gradually darkening sky in a daze.
She thought: Since I can't find any flaws for the time being, why don't I jump out of logic and reason and think about it the other way around
If the people in the village are still there, what is the situation now
In that case, Alan's identity should be confirmed.
So, did the people in the village disappear so that Alan's identity could not be verified or exposed
If the other party's purpose is just this, why not kill everyone in the village, but choose a more complicated and risky escape
Is it really because the bandit leader wants to rebel and become emperor
She thought of the anti-poem again. Is there anything wrong with that anti-poem
She thought about it over and over again, but found nothing wrong. The meaning of that poem is plain and straightforward, without any obscure allusions or metaphors, very much like the handwriting of a reckless hero who doesn't read much and is determined to rebel.
Think about it in reverse: If this poem is not to express the rebellion of the leader of the rogues, then what is the meaning of its existence
Yong Ruo's head hurts from thinking about it, but he still can't think of a reason.
And Feng Liao and Su Mingjian quarreled again.
Feng Liao wanted to personally bring the guards to deal with the bandits, so as to concentrate the most superior force and eliminate hidden dangers as quickly as possible.
Su Mingjian wanted to use a safe strategy.
On the one hand, let Rob lead three-quarters of the guards, escort Feng Liao and others to Xiushan County, and then transfer to Xuezhouwei, and use the Tianzi Sword to mobilize troops to destroy the bandits.
On the other hand, he himself led fifty elite guards and ten scouts, and quickly chased down the group of rogues. After chasing them, he continued to harass them, waiting for Feng Liao's rescue.