Zheng Si was the most cunning. He immediately thought of a way to attack and annihilate Lin Rui: "Sir, I suspect that the Lin family is colluding with alien races!"

These words frightened everyone around. Everyone knew that the Xing family army had a hostile relationship with foreign races. Even if they opened a market for trade, they strictly controlled the quantity of tea and salt, which was equivalent to strangling their throats if they dared to rebel. If the people in power colluded with foreign races, it would not be an exaggeration to skin and tear apart the Xing family army's system.

Han Wenjing and Xu Shaoxuan immediately looked at Lin Rui sharply.

Lin Rui, however, remained calm: "When you speak, you must provide evidence. You claim that I'm colluding with aliens. Where is the evidence?"

Zheng Si looked towards the cowshed. "The cows you brought back are proof! I saw those two cows clearly. They were clearly the cattle of the foreign tribes on the other side of the river, grazing in the water. They are not cattle from Linchao territory at all. You are a refugee who just escaped from the disaster. What good things do you have that are worthy of these foreign tribes exchanging you for two cows? And you still refuse to admit that you are colluding with them?"

At first glance, Zheng Si's reasoning was indeed quite intimidating. Han Wenjing gave the soldiers a look, and they immediately stepped forward to restrain Lin Rui. Lin Rui did not resist and was firmly controlled by them. Zheng Si smiled triumphantly.

But the smile barely lasted three seconds when another family of disaster victims from the land reclamation team ran over and knelt before Han Wenjing and Xu Shaoxuan. "Please, sir, make a decision for me. The Lin family's people are right. This Zheng Si is a man-eating devil. On the way to escape the famine, they snatched and ate my eldest son, who had a leg injury. When I rushed over, I saw only a pile of internal organs. My eldest son's body had been ripped hollow!"

"My Lord, please make the decision for me. My wife was first abused by them and then eaten as rice and meat. Lin did a good deed by killing the evil Boss Lei..."

Gradually, more and more people came forward. Hundreds of families had been harmed by Zheng Si and his men. Xu Shaoxuan was furious when he heard this: "Someone come!"

The soldiers responded and came out.

Xu Shaoxuan pointed at Zheng Si and his group, whose faces were pale with fear. "Kill them and throw their bodies into the Huangmo River to feed the fish. Such evil people deserve to be killed without a complete body!"

The soldiers behind him responded and stepped forward, raising their swords and slashing, they killed Zheng Si and his gang in the throat with a single blow. Blood spurted out high, and some even splashed on Lin Rui's face.

The gentle liquid mixed with a fishy smell startled Feng Zhenniang who was not able to dodge behind him. Lin Rui in front calmly wiped the blood off his face. It was not that he did not want to scream, but he had never seen blood along the way. Didn’t many of the rabble brought by Yu Lanhua die in his hands?

Han Wenjing was quite surprised to see that Lin Rui and the others were so calm. He didn't see that the others were so scared that their faces turned pale, and some even squatted on the ground and started vomiting.

"Aren't you afraid?" Han Wenjing asked.

Lin Rui answered honestly, "Sir, we fled the famine earlier than most people, so we brought almost all our belongings with us. We were well prepared and didn't suffer much along the way. As a result, we were often targeted by scoundrels like Zheng Si. If anyone tried to rob us, we would fight them with our axes, hoes, and hatchets. In this way, we have seen blood and opened our eyes."

Han Wenjing reluctantly accepted this explanation and whispered a few words to the steward beside him. The steward brought a team of soldiers to escort the Lin family to the land to be reclaimed, and Lin Rui was ordered to follow behind the two adults.

It wasn't until they reached a secluded spot that Han Wenjing turned around and asked, "You've seen the tricks I used just now. Now tell me honestly how you got the cattle from the alien race?"

The Xing family army had also thought about taking the cattle and sheep of other races. After all, the pigs raised by the firemen in the military camp were of little use and were very slow to be slaughtered. At most, they were barely bigger than the sheep of other races and were then slaughtered for the soldiers to eat.

There were so many soldiers in the barracks that it was hard to get a piece of meat per person, and most of them just ate the oily food.

It's not that they haven't thought about giving the soldiers extra meals, but the foreigners regard their cattle and sheep as property, and when they sell them at the market, most of them drive sick or dead cattle to sell. After buying beef from the military camp once and the soldiers had diarrhea for several days, they never dared to buy it from the market again. It was too rip-off.

Now seeing that Lin Rui's two cows are full of energy and vigor, one can't help but wonder whether Lin Rui is really colluding with alien races as Zheng Si said. Otherwise, why would cows that even the military camp cannot buy appear in Lin Rui's cowshed.

Of course, it wasn't that they couldn't buy good-quality cattle, but the foreign tribes demanded exorbitant prices. A thousand kilograms of grain could be exchanged for a healthy cow, but the key was how much was available! They couldn't let the soldiers go hungry just for a bite of meat.

"What's your name?" Standing in a secluded place, Han Wenjing looked at Lin Rui who was standing there neither humble nor arrogant.

Lin Rui followed the local customs and bowed again before replying: "My surname is Lin, and the single character is Rui."

Xu Shaoxuan nodded. "Then explain how you got these two cows. In our market, it's common to get a thousand kilograms of grain for a cow of this quality. Your entire tribe fled here, and how much food you had when you came? Our soldiers entering the border can clearly record it. Don't even think about hiding whether you have a thousand kilograms of grain or not."

Don't underestimate the household registration system in ancient times. When Lin Rui and others passed the checkpoint, the soldiers would make a simple registration of their luggage, including the bags, food, boxes and farm tools on the ox carts and on their bodies.

So what Xu Shaoxuan said was right. The thousand kilograms of grain were so conspicuous that they could be fully known by just looking through the records at the checkpoint.

Lin Rui waved his hand and said, "It's not a thousand kilograms of food, but another rare item in exchange."

"A rare item?" Xu Shaoxuan became interested. "What rare item?"

Lin Rui said: "Salt."

Xu Shaoxuan and Han Wenjing looked even more puzzled. "What's so special about salt? Although my Xing army has many controls on foreign salt and tea, we haven't completely stopped their supply. These two are the most traded in the market. Salt and tea are valuable, but they're not worth two oxen. Either you have a large quantity of salt, or you're a private salt dealer!"

In ancient times, being a private salt dealer was to pry open the corners of feudalism. To control the population, people could stop having children. To control the land and taxes, people could burn the land. Only by controlling salt could the people's lifeline be controlled. After all, people could not survive without salt.

Being a private salt dealer is just like dealing in drugs in modern times. Either you don’t get caught, or if you get caught, you’re doomed.

Lin Rui's hands were almost shaking, "No, no, you two are overthinking it. I was originally a businessman doing business in Linjing, and I often interacted with foreign merchants. Their goods, such as seeds, glass, and various spices, were all tradable items. This time when I fled, I brought all the traded goods on the ox cart, and this salt is also a product of foreign countries."