After listening to Shi Jiu's words, Lianyi felt that it was not easy to be an imperial envoy, and he traveled in such a low-key manner. If he hadn't met her as the mission person, he would have been really disappointed.
“He didn’t want to go to Haoyuan City alone like this. In order to lure him out alone, his servant said that the county magistrate of Haoyuan City had sent him money through his relatives and wanted to He provided the whereabouts and route of the imperial envoy, so that the county magistrate could prepare it in advance so that he, the imperial envoy, could be deceived.
In order to make Yu Junyu believe it, the servant specially took out two gold bars, that Yu Junyu. Only then did he get fooled, so he took his servants and coachmen and secretly rushed to Haoyuan City, giving the other party an opportunity to take advantage of it."
Shijiu explained that after all, no one could sit in the position of imperial envoy. fool.
"Okay! As long as Yu Junyu is a good official for the people, it is not in vain for me to help him."
"Don't worry, Haoyuan City has begun to receive the victims now, and the relief food from Huzhou is also on its way. The situation should improve."
After Shijiu reported the situation here, he continued to remain silent. .
Lianyi and his party traveled for five days, and with only a little dry food left on them, they finally saw Huangshi City, a city on the outskirts of Huangzhou Prefecture. It is rich in stones, hence its name.
When the juniors saw the city from a distance, they all cheered for a while and seemed very happy to finally be able to enter the city again. After they left the boundaries of Liangzhou, the road became more and more desolate. Fortunately, we didn't encounter any more victims of the disaster, nor did we encounter any robbers on the road. They all knew that this place was poor and couldn't get much, but the twenty or so members of the Zhang family were able to reach Huangshi City smoothly.
The fee to enter the city was one copper coin per person, and children under five years old were exempted. The group paid fourteen copper coins and entered the city.
The first thing after entering the city was to find an inn to stay at so that everyone could rest peacefully for a night.
They took a bath and changed into clean clothes, and now they no longer looked like people fleeing famine. The next day, everyone slept until midnight and got up when they were hungry.
The Zhang family almost took over this small inn. They used the inn’s stove to cook their own meals. The pimple soup was paired with the pickles provided by the inn. After eating and drinking, Lao Zhangtou took his eldest son with him. I went to find someone with my son-in-law to find out the news.
Zhang Jun and Zhang Cheng took a few young men to buy some food. The food they brought out was exhausted. The women were washing and mending in the inn, watching several young men. I didn't go out. After all, I was unfamiliar with the place, so everyone was used to being cautious.
When all the men who went out in the afternoon came back, everyone had dinner. After dinner, Old Man Zhang told everyone the news he had learned outside today.
"It's not difficult to settle here. As long as you have a household registration and explain the reason for settling here, you can settle down by paying half a tael of silver per household. But it's not up to us to choose where to be assigned! If you want to choose a To settle in a good place, you have to pay more.
There is another way, that is, we can buy land here. Wherever we buy land, we can settle there. But it is not easy to buy land. After all, we It’s from outside. I’m afraid I need to search hard for this land, or go to Yahang to find a broker, pay a sum of money, and find some good land.”
The news that Old General Zhang Tou heard about. I’ve told everyone, and I want to hear everyone’s opinions.
"Dad, according to your opinion, there should be no good land near Huangshi City."
Zhang Shi was the first to speak out.
"We gave a few coins to the small official in charge of household registration. We heard from him that the nearby villages are poor and the land is not very fertile."
Song Dachuan said.
“The little official recommended a dental shop with a good reputation. We went there. They saw that we were from outside, so they just sat down and raised the price, so we went out.”
Zhang Zhong frowned and said.
"What Dad means is that if you spend money to buy good land, it doesn't matter if you spend a few more coins. But if you spend money and can't buy good land, you will be tricked into poverty. The village is not worth it," Song Dachuan added.
“Dad, eldest brother and brother-in-law, this Huangshi City is the first city we saw after arriving in Huangzhou. We don’t have to settle here. We can walk further inside and see more. There are several places where you can always find a suitable place to stay."
Zhang Cheng said after thinking for a while.
"The third uncle is right. I have seen the map of Daqian before. The most prosperous city in Huangzhou is Huangfeng City, because General Chang's residence is in Huangfeng City.
We may not be able to Settling in Huangfeng City, but the conditions in the surrounding villages are good, we can consider settling there, even if we spend more money.”
Ripple spoke up at the right time and expressed his opinion.
“What do you think?”
Lao Zhangtou still asked the others, but everyone had no objections. Anyway, it was the first time to come here. It would be the same everywhere, as long as the family Just be together.
After making the decision, everyone rested for another night and then set off again, heading towards the location of Huangfeng City.
The rest of the journey is no longer as scary as when they were escaping. The boys have become more lively and will run ahead to explore the road. Only when their mothers yell at them will they turn around and chase each other. ran back.
That day, Ripple was taking a nap while leaning on the bullock cart, and she heard several boys from the Zhang family shouting her name in front of her, shouting "Help!"
Ripple's ears twitched, and she immediately opened her eyes. Jumping off the bullock cart, she heard the sound of horse hooves.
"Sister Lianyi! Help! There are Hu people!"
"Sister Lianyi!"
The Zhang family was also shocked. They did not expect to meet Hu people here. Everyone's face turned pale.
"Master, don't leave, wait here, I'll go take a look!"
Ripple picked up the stick in hand and began to speed up towards the place where the sound came from.
Song Dachuan and Zhang Shi looked at each other, each picked up a hatchet, and followed closely behind Lianyi. Zhang Zhong, Zhang Jun and Zhang Cheng also picked up the hatchets and protected them on both sides. People around the bullock cart looked anxious, but they did not dare to run to help without permission. Their mothers, wives and daughters were on the cart, and they had to protect them.
The women sitting in the car were also worried, but no one said a word, and they all looked eagerly at the three people who had disappeared from their sight.
When Lianyi rushed over, he happened to see a foreigner on horseback holding Zhang Fengrui, the son of his third uncle, in his arms. With a sinister smile on his face, he put a knife on Zhang Fengrui's neck, turned the horse's head, and faced The person behind shouted:
"Feng Kun, you'd better let us go, or I'll kill this kid!"
Zhang Fengliang and Zhang Fengyong were rolling on the ground, avoiding the horses' hooves that trampled them, while shouting "Sister Lianyi, help me", How embarrassing!
The light in Lianyi's eyes dimmed, and her beautiful eyes narrowed. During the confrontation between the two sides, without noticing it, he took out a dagger from his arms and threw it out. The target was the barbarian who kidnapped his third brother. Regardless of whether he would hit the opponent or not, Lianyi jumped into the horse team with a few jumps and a run-up, and started beating the horses' legs with his stick. (End of this chapter)