The further south you go, the more unbearable the sight becomes.
There were many ragged people walking in groups of three or four on the roadside, with dull and confused eyes, like zombies, not knowing where to go.
When they saw Zhao Muyun and the other two, they wanted to come up and ask for some food, but when they saw Zhao Muyun and the other two riding horses and carrying bows, they became frightened and did not dare to go forward.
"Zhu Zi, where in Yanzhou did you discover the coal mine?"
"In a mountain northwest of Yanzhou." Wang Tiezhu replied.
"Go tell them that there is food in the northwest of Yanzhou!" Zhao Muyun's face darkened.
Not long ago, Wang Tiezhu brought back two hundred refugees from Yanzhou. After feeding them, Zhao Muyun sent people to take them back to the Yanzhou coal mine to dig coal.
At the same time, a transport team was formed to transport coal and supplies back and forth between Yinzhou and Yanzhou coal mines.
The one thousand war horses obtained in exchange for hostages from the Tatar prime minister Huyan Gu, plus the eight hundred war horses seized before and after going to the grassland, made a total of one thousand eight hundred war horses.
One hundred matches were selected to be assigned to Tang Yanhai and Wang Tiezhu's scout camp, ensuring that each person had two horses.
Six hundred were selected to match the Wuhuan cavalry from Huanna Xue's tribe, and each person was guaranteed two horses.
Then officers above the rank of sergeant were also equipped with war horses, and another 300 horses were transferred away.
The remaining 800 war horses were used for transportation.
Five hundred horses have been used to transport crude salt back and forth between the Gobi Desert and Yinzhou.
The remaining 300 horses were used to develop this coal transportation route.
In this way, even the coal mines in Yanzhou, far to the south of the Yangtze River, can be controlled by Zhao Muyun through long-term planning.
After all, Yanzhou is such a large territory. While the rebels are causing chaos, the officials and commanders of Yanzhou are focused on preventing the rebels from entering the country. They have no energy to pay attention to the fact that their own territory has been encroached upon.
Even if he is discovered by the Yanzhou government later, Zhao Muyun will deal with it later.
Therefore, the coal mines mined west of Yanzhou can accommodate and resettle many refugees.
"Aren't you going to give them something to eat, Brother Zhao?" Wang Tiezhu felt a little sorry when he saw how pitiful these people were.
"If we give it to these people, there will be others. We can't give it all!" Zhao Muyun said coldly, "We don't have much dry food with us. If we give it to them, what will we do?"
"It's not that we are cold-blooded and cruel, it's just the way it is in troubled times."
After saying that, Zhao Muyun let out a low shout and rode away on his horse.
Wang Tiezhu seemed to understand, but he definitely followed Zhao Muyun's orders strictly.
When he came to the refugees and spoke a few words loudly, there suddenly appeared light in the dull and confused eyes of the refugees.
They gathered their courage and headed northwest.
......
Traveling south, Zhao Muyun passed by a village to replenish supplies.
The further south we went, the more worried and hopeful their faces became, whether they were local residents or refugees.
They were afraid of the rebels attacking, but deep down they hoped that the rebels would attack.
When the rebels came, they killed all the lords and landlords who bullied the people and opened the granaries to distribute grain, giving the people a chance to vent their anger.
However, I heard that if you take the food and benefits from these rebels, you have to work with them, otherwise you will die.
Therefore, these people were worried that the rebels would not come, but also afraid that they would cause trouble.
Moreover, there were many refugees fleeing from Xiazhou on this road.
From them, we learned that the rebels had almost occupied the entire Xiazhou, and many roving rebels had already entered the territory of Yanzhou.
When the Dayin army in Yanzhou Zhechoufu learned that the rebels were powerful, they could only garrison in the city at the junction of Xiazhou and Yanzhou and did not dare to act rashly.
The governor of Guannei Road, Tian Zun, was in Xijing, thousands of miles away from Xiazhou. It would take some time to mobilize troops to encircle and suppress the rebellion.
As a result, the rebels occupied Xiazhou and threatened and infiltrated the surrounding provincial capitals.
Bai Ruolan's father, Bai Shoujing, was killed by rebels in Yanzhou, which was somewhat unlucky.
But Bai Ruolan was too willful to come to Yanzhou to collect her father's body regardless of the danger.
However, after suffering such a great disaster, there should be no one around her to support her.
Otherwise, how could Bai Sheng take advantage of the opportunity to seize the family property and kick them out?
Zhao Muyun and the other two did not stay for long.
Their war horses and weapons have attracted a lot of attention.
Zhao Muyun was not afraid if someone had plans to do something with him. He was only worried that something unexpected would happen and affect his search for Miss Bai.
After leaving the village, Wang Tiezhu found a secret signal left by his scout camp on the roadside.
"Brother Zhao, one of our people was here!"
"I know. We should have reached the border between Yanzhou and Xiazhou now. The rebels may appear at any time, so we must be careful." Zhao Muyun nodded.
This is the approximate location where Bai Shoujing and more than 20 of his bodyguards were killed, as Li Si learned from Bai Sheng.
Bai Ruolan came here to bring back her father's body.
After walking for a while, we arrived at the entrance of a valley.
Suddenly a gust of wind blew from the valley, Zhao Muyun frowned, and his eyelids twitched.
There was a faint smell of blood in the wind, and the faint sound of fighting.
"Zhu Zi, Li Si, there's a fight ahead. Let's quietly move over and investigate."
"Yes, Brother Zhao/Master Zhao!"
The three men jumped off their horses, hid them in the woods nearby, then climbed up the hillside and crouched along the ridge towards the valley.
The hillside here is not high, only about forty or fifty meters at the highest.
Moreover, the trees are sparse, and the land is entirely yellow soil eroded by flowing water and wind and sand.
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