"No, the area of several hundred miles is rumored to be the Devil's Sea in the South China Sea. Few ships dare to come here now." Wenzhi spread his hands, indicating that he did not mean it.
"These pirates are too weak. They can defeat them with wooden boats. What should I do with my iron boat? I don't even have a chance to practice.
Wenzhi, help me find an opportunity. How about we just do something for the imperial court?
"..." Wu Gong rolled his eyes and interrupted, "Master, have you been too idle lately? Why are you bothering those flies for no reason?"
"Isn't this because I've been keeping a low profile for so long and want to change things up?"
"Don't..." Wu Gong continued to stop him, "Our master still has the county token, so please be quiet."
"Well, there's nothing we can do. Just keep waiting."
Jiang Hai was very depressed. Two years ago, there were still pirates to rob, but now it is really difficult to find a ship.
The warships in Xincheng were in high gear. Others used bows and arrows, but they used cannons, and they robbed every ship they came across.
Over the years, they'd robbed many foreign ships, and thus had even managed to snatch sweet potatoes and peppers. Jiang Hai had been craving popcorn and French fries, but he'd never gotten any corn or potatoes, and now the pirates wouldn't even dare wander around. He was furious.
"Forget it, let's just test the boat's speed and go back."
…
Three hundred miles south of Rong'an City is Taihe City.
Yuchi Ziling and Cai entered the city.
"Miss, it's getting dark, let's find an inn." Cai'er said.
"Call me Master Su, can you please be a little more thoughtful?" Yuchi Ziling said seriously.
"Oh, sir, let's find an inn." Cai'er nodded in response.
Both of them were dressed as men. They were walking on the city streets with their horses. After a day's journey, it was almost nightfall.
After staying in a hotel for the night, the horse also needed to rest, so we found an inn nearby to rest.
Along the way, Yuchi Ziling felt a little heavy-hearted. She had never been far away and always thought that the world was peaceful and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment.
Only after leaving the capital did I realize that it was all a scam. The further I walked, the more anxious I became. I could see refugees within two hundred miles. Now that I arrived at Taihe City, there were refugees gathering outside the city.
She couldn't understand why there were still refugees when there were no natural disasters or man-made disasters.
No words were spoken that night.
The next morning, the master and servant bought some dry food in the city and rode out of the city again.
After walking more than a hundred miles, we saw many refugees, all of them pale and thin, wandering listlessly on the official road.
A girl lay on her grandmother who had fallen to the ground and cried bitterly.
Yuchi Ziling couldn't bear to see this, so she stepped forward and gave the child some dry food. Two or three hungry people nearby wanted to come over and snatch the food, but Cai'er glared and drew her sword, and they stopped.
Just when Yuchi Ziling wanted to give some change to the little girl.
"Ah, where is my money?" She fumbled around in surprise for a while, but couldn't find her purse.
"Master, it wasn't stolen, was it?" Cai'er's eyes widened. "This, this..."
Cai'er was confused and speechless.
"It must have been lost when I bought something in Taihe City." Yuchi Ziling frowned.
"What should I do? It's still such a long way to southern Xinjiang." Cai'er was on the verge of tears. "I only have less than three taels of silver left."
"Damn it, let's go. We can only save money. If it doesn't work, we won't stay at the hotel."
To make matters worse, Yuchi Ziling was in an extremely bad mood, but given the current situation, there was no way to find the thief, so she could only move on.
…
Rong'an City, the residence of the General of the Left Guard.
At this time, peace was restored. Just yesterday, Yang Zhe led his men to surround the General's Mansion, clamoring for the Yuchi family to hand over Yuchi Ziling.
Although General Yuchi was not at home, his wife Su Hui was not afraid of him. She stood under pressure and argued with him for a long time at the door.
It was not until the afternoon that Yang Zhe realized something was wrong. A servant told him that Yuchi Ziling had left the city in the morning.
Only then did Yang Zhe leave the general's mansion angrily.
He returned to the palace, roaring and furious, and ordered two hundred soldiers to go out of the city to pursue.
"Catch her alive and bring her back to me! This bitch slipped away so quickly."
However, after a delay of almost a day, the soldiers were unable to reach Taihe City and ran less than a hundred miles away.
Yuchi Ziling didn't know that there were pursuers behind her, but she didn't stop all the way.
In this way, the two men ran for ten days with two hundred people chasing them.
The soldiers behind her were unable to catch up with her because they didn't know her destination.
The desolate scenes along the way broadened Yuchi Ziling's horizons. There were more and more refugees. In almost every city she passed by, she could see refugees gathering outside the city waiting for relief.
On the contrary, the life of officials and businessmen in the city is extremely luxurious. If Jiang Hai were here, he would probably say, "The rich have wine and meat, while the poor freeze to death on the streets."
This day.
Cai'er was worried about her deflated wallet.
When passing by a place called Qianlong Mountain, a dozen people appeared in front of us, looking like bandits who were robbing the road.
When Yuchi Ziling saw it, her eyes lit up. It seemed like someone was bringing her a pillow because she was sleepy.
Why did these two people look even more excited than them? The bandits were all confused.
After a series of bangs and puffs, only two of the dozen or so bandits were left online, and they fled into the mountains in panic.
After a good search, the little bandit finally snatched away about ten taels of silver, which Yuchi Ziling happily put into her purse.
"Save extra food tonight."
…
After a few more days, Yuchi Ziling and his servant finally arrived at the southern border. However, it would take at least another three or four days to walk from southern Xinjiang to Binhai County.
Strangely enough, the southern Xinjiang region, which she had originally thought would be extremely desolate, was not as bad as she had imagined, except that there were many mountains and the roads were not easy to walk on.
Although the towns are not as prosperous as those in the north, there are basically no refugees on the streets.
What she didn't know was that the population of southern Xinjiang was not very large to begin with, and most of the refugees had been killed by Jiang Hai.
Jiang Hai regularly sent people from the New City Corps to capture refugees, bring them back to New City, and have them work for half a year. If they performed well, they would be issued New City residence permits and integrated into the New City.
The captured refugees were initially terrified, but later realized the work they did was much easier than working for the landlords, and the food was better. They all wished they could stay in the new city and work there forever, never leaving.
"Miss, it's so strange. Why are there no refugees in the southern border?" Cai'er was very confused.
"Calling me Young Master doesn't make you remember." Yuchi Ziling was very attached to her current Young Master image. "I find it strange too. When we get there, I'll ask Uncle Jiang and maybe we'll know why."
"Oh, yes, sir."
Yuchi Ziling nodded with satisfaction, and the two of them rode their horses and continued on their journey.
…
In the past few days, Jiang Xiuyuan has exchanged shifts with Liu Shiye and returned to Xincheng. It is Liu Shiye who is currently sitting in the county government office.
Jiang Hai was annoyed by his father's nagging, so he called Wenzhi Wugong to go out and hide in Binhai County to have some free time.
The people in Binhai County all wore tattered clothes, but their faces were rosy and they were full of energy.
These people are "extras" who are replaced in the new city to fill in the gaps. They have quotas every month, which is equivalent to paid vacation.
This job is very popular in Xincheng. The registration basically requires waiting in line for several months, and each person can only apply once a year.
"Old Liu, where did the young master go?" Acting chief clerk Wang Bing asked Master Liu.
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