CH 37

They had to travel with a light cavalry. The horse-drawn carriage could not drive along the winding path, and although Liu Xian’an’s short-legged pony was dexterous and its stamina was not low, it walked very slow, plod, plod, plod, plod, making time stretch to infinity. Therefore, Hua Pingye found a new brown horse for him. Its legs were as long as Xuan Jiao’s, but its personality was a bit arrogant and it would kick up when it saw anyone.

Gao Lin was speechless: “It’s hard for you to sit on this ancestor yourself, but you’ll make Second Young Master Liu ride it?”

Hua Pingye was also surprised: “It won’t work? But Second Young Master Liu can even ride Xuan Jiao, I thought he was a master horse trainer.”

While the two were talking, Liu Xian’an next to them was startled by the brown horse and took two steps back. A dead root hooked his ankle, and he almost fell into the mud.

Liang Shu caught him in time and casually put him on Xuan Jiao: “Sit well, you ride this one.”

Liu Xian’an grabbed the saddle with both hands: “……Okay.”

Liang Shu turned around and mounted the brown horse. He tightened the reins in one hand and angrily reprimanded it in a low voice: “Behave!”

The brown horse took two disobedient steps back. Although it still looked unwilling, it didn’t act like a demon again in the end. It stamped its hooves on the spot without making a sound.

A-Ning fastened his pack tightly and climbed onto a big horse. What he experienced and heard along the way had changed his state of mind a little. He had become more mature and sensible, and had lost some weight. His originally childish face had lost its baby fat, and with the addition of a pointed chin, his whole person looked like a willow in spring, growing more and more.

The group of people galloped away from Cuiqiu City at the break of dawn.

The refugees outside the city gate were awakened by the neighing of the horses, and opened their heavy eyelids one after another. They watched in a daze as the fog-shrouded team disappeared in an instant, as if they were riding the wind.

. . . . . .

There were quite a few refugees gathered along the way when they first left the city, but after traveling for a few days, the number became less and less. After meeting a family of five in ragged clothes, the guards went over to inquire about the situation. The young man said: “It is said that the master of Cuiqiu City won’t open the city gate. It’s useless to go there, and people can only starve to death in the mountains and forests, so everyone went to Sanshui City, where there is food to eat.”

If they didn’t eat, they would die, but if they rebelled, they may not be able to live. When a person was in a desperate situation, when their only extravagant dream was “survive,” it was not easy to think about whether the food in Sanshui City was contaminated by the blood of other people. They didn’t consider whether there were innocent people among the officials and soldiers who were mobbed and besieged by them.

There was chaos not only in the world, but also in peoples’ hearts. Liu Xian’an said to A-Ning: “There is only one family, so it won’t cause looting. Go and give them some food.”

A-Ning took out a stack of dry biscuits from the bag, wrapped them up, and handed them to the young man: “Cuiqiu City will not open its doors again in the short term, and the people in the city also have no rice left to eat. Save some of this food on the way, and you should be able to make it to Wanhe City, where the situation is much better.”

The young man seemed to think he was dreaming, and his wife was also wiping away tears. A-Ning repeatedly urged: “You must hide the food well along the way, and don’t eat it in front of others. Also, don’t be soft-hearted and distribute it to other refugees. Otherwise, not only will you not be able to save others, but you will also be unable to save yourselves.”

The family of five thanked them repeatedly, and continued on to the other side of the mountain road.

Liang Shu asked Liu Xian’an: “You taught him?”

Liu Xian’an shook his head: “I didn’t need to teach him.”

“That’s how it is,” Liang Shu said. “Only in a peaceful and prosperous age can a foolish son be raised. Once you see peoples’ hearts a few times in a troubled world, all your innocence will disappear.”

Liu Xian’an first said: “Then what the prince wants in this life is to let Dayan produce more fools?” Aftering thinking about it again, he said, “But that isn’t a bad thing. As long as they are not treacherous and evil, there will be more foolish and mischievous pampered young masters walking their birds and holding cricket fights all day long. This is also suitable for the words ‘prosperous age.’”

After all, prosperous was prosperous, and people would naturally want to be more leisurely. Liang Shu also felt that after what Liu Xian’an said, the little government officials in Wangcheng seemed to become a little bit cute. Of course, they still had to be beaten up, and after the beating, they would be released as auspicious decorations in a peaceful and prosperous world.

One day, they met a little girl in the mountains. She was filthy all over, like a skinny monkey, and only her eyes were big and bright. A-Ning wiped her face and gave her some food. At first, he thought the child was abandoned by the refugees, and was worrying about what to do with her when a woman hurried out of the woods. She dragged the little girl back to her side and ran, pulling her by the wrist.

“Auntie, please slow down, we are not bad people!” A-Ning said hastily, “Your daughter’s foot is sprained.”

A guard flew over to stop them, and the woman looked terrified, constantly trembling. A-Ning coaxed her nicely for a long time before her soul returned to her. The woman stammered that she was from Xiaozhao Village. A few days ago, a group of soldiers broke into the village and said that they wanted to collect military rations. Many people were killed, so the remaining villagers had to hide in the mountains.

Gao Lin inwardly cursed. This bastard.

There were nothing more than two possibilities —

The first was that the refugees pretended to be from the garrison to burn, kill, and loot, which was considered a dereliction of duty by Lu Xiang.

The second was that the garrison was really so arrogant, and took advantage of the instability of the world to massacre the people and fill their own pockets, which was even more a dereliction of duty by Lu Xiang.

According to what the woman said, the group of soldiers did not leave after stealing things. Instead, they lived in Xiaozhao Village openly and blatantly. A while ago, a brave young man went down to look and found that they were still there.

Liu Xian’an said: “Go further down this mountain bend, and we should be at Xiaozhao Village before midnight.”

“Let’s go.” Liang Shu turned his horse’s head. “We’ll see where the beasts came from.”

A-Ning covertly glanced at the prince’s expression and felt……that group of ruffians might only live until midnight.

He bandaged the little girl’s injury and hurriedly followed.

Liu Xian’an and A-Ning’s riding skills had been practiced very well so far, and they did not hinder the progress of the army. When the night was dark, everyone smoothly arrived at Xiaozhao Village and saw a waving flag at the village entrance with the pattern of Dayan’s garrison painted on it. Several soldiers were patrolling back and forth, guarding a bright campfire, and there was wine and meat on the table to keep the cold at bay. One person moved a chair over and sat down, pulling over a bone casually. He ate a couple of bites, likely thought it didn’t taste good, and threw it to a mad dog next to him.

The mad dog yanked the iron chain, scattering the campfire, and a burning log rolled along the ground, illuminating a new area. Liu Xian’an’s pupils shrank slightly. Only then did he realize that there was a person tied up on the other side of the chain. He was lying motionless on the ground, his hair disheveled, and there were many dark brown marks on his body, like dried blood.

Perhaps smelling the scent of meat, he raised his head just barely and looked at the mad dog. The soldiers laughed loudly and deliberately threw another piece of meat to the dog. Stepping on his back, they pulled his hair and forced him to fight the dog for food.

“Are you going to eat or not? Aren’t you hungry? Eat, ah!” The soldiers continued to mock and humiliate him, and pulled out a whip to lash him. Just as one raised it, there was a crack from his arm, and his whole body fell back. He screamed where he lay on the ground.

“Not even as good as beasts.” Gao Lin released his hand and looked at the group of scum in front of him. “I didn’t know Dayan still had soldiers like you.”

“Who are you?” The soldiers touched their swords vigilantly. Perhaps seeing that this group of people were well-dressed and unlike ordinary people, they did not act rashly, and only warned, “We are the Yongzi Battalion under Jiang-daren’s command, and we were ordered to raise military rations here. I advise you not to meddle in our business.”

“Jiang-daren, which Jiang-daren, Jiang Tao or Jiang Zhongqi?”

“Neither…..it’s Jiang-daren Jiang Wei.”

“A low-level official, not even qualified for the prince to know his name, but you have raised a group of trash to bully the common people.” Gao Lin grew angry when he heard this and motioned for his subordinates to rescue the young man first. A-Ning saw that he seemed to be starving so he tore off a piece of meat left on the table, but the young man kept his mouth shut, refusing to eat it. He said: “This…..is my dog, which was killed by them.”

A-Ning’s hands froze. Unable to bear it, he hurriedly removed the meat and went to the carriage to procure some food.

Liu Xian’an fed the young man a few sips of water. At the other end, Gao Lin had already kicked the group of soldiers to pieces, clearing a path. When Liang Shu stepped into the village, the movement and screams at the village entrance had awakened many people. They ran out dazed from sleep, and before they could figure out what was going on, they were all captured by the guards of Xiao Wang Palace. There were a total of thirty-six people, with official documents and approvals, four squares and a big, bright red seal. They really were Dayan’s official garrison.

Therefore, it was even more hateful than refugees pretending. Refugees would commit evil due to their lives being on the line. This group of people, with salaries from the empire, bullied the common people of the Imperial court and truly deserved to die.

There were still some imprisoned villagers in the village, mostly young women. It could be seen that this group of bastards were half a point evil and didn’t intend to improve. The young man was the son of the village chief, named A-Yong. Before, he had shielded many people fleeing for their lives along the small road and stayed behind himself, thinking of dying with the culprits, but in the end, he was weak and alone, and suffered many humiliations these few days.

Gao Lin kicked a groaning man on the ground: “How many teams like yours have been dispatched in total?”

“We – we only know that Jiang-daren sent a total of three teams, and the rest of the battalions are almost the same. If you want to fight a war, the first thing you must do is collect rations, and you have to be fast, so someone else doesn’t get to them first.”

Two levels above Jiang Wei’s head was Jiang Tao, another level up was Jiang Zhongqi, and another level up was Lu Xiang. Even Jiang Wei, whose name was never heard of, could send out three teams. If the entire garrison was released, wouldn’t the common people in a hundred li radius be so disturbed that they would not be safe for a day?

And the garrison should not be short of food at all. No one knew this better than Liang Shu, so no one was angrier than him. The rescued young women were still weeping, and the young man’s legs and feet had been tortured until his bones were exposed. Liang Shu closed his eyes tightly and said: “Throw them all to feed the wolves.”

“Yes!”

Guards dragged these soldiers on the ground and walked toward the outside of the village. The screams and pleas for mercy gradually vanished into the depths of the night. Gao Lin said to A-Yong: “Little brother, you did well, but we must hurry. We can’t stay to protect this village. There may be similar thieves in the future, so you must decide whether you want to take the rest of the people into the mountains or stay here.”

“I know.” The young man panted hoarsely. “I’ll discuss it with Grandpa.”

“Good,” Gao Lin said. “Take care.”

“Big brother!” The young man stopped him and hesitantly looked out of the courtyard. “I just heard you say Xiao……”

Gao Lin patted him on the shoulder: “You rest assured, the prince will definitely get justice for the common people.”