Many refugees walked for a long time without resting.
It was finally time for them to take a break. Apart from those who were queuing for water, most of the others found a corner and sat on the ground, watching the little fairies giving them water at a very fast speed. However, most of them were a little restrained and did not dare to speak.
Ji Wan stood at the window of the epidemic prevention station and looked outside quietly. Oh, these refugees will become the permanent residents of Tongcheng in the future!
Almost everyone in this group of people was carrying a bulging bag, and several strong men were pushing a few wooden carts together. Judging from the style of the wooden carts, they must have been pulled by animals in the past.
Now that the livestock are gone, they may have been eaten by refugees who came to escape famine to satisfy their hunger. Eating the livestock means that they feel that the livestock have turned from productive forces into a burden.
It also means that the food in their pockets is not enough to feed the livestock, so in order to travel light and fill their stomachs, they can only eat domestic livestock.
But there are children and elderly people in this group of people, and there are quite a few of them. This at least proves that this group of people has not reached the point of exchanging children for food. At least they are not penniless. Judging from the size of the packages, they may still have some food in their pockets.
Their population is so large that it takes a full half month to walk to the nearest county city in Qingshi Province. The further east you go, the hotter it gets. Moreover, the weather is very dry now, and all the streams on the roadside have been dried up by the scorching sun.
In other words, they may have to walk for half a month without having a sip of clean water to drink.
It depends on whether the food and water they bring are enough to support them to continue walking down for half a month.
Of course, urine can also quench thirst, it just depends on whether you are willing to endure the hardship.
If the food and provisions in the packages they brought were not enough.
Then they would definitely not move forward. The best solution would be to stay in Qingshi State and ask the officials to give them a chance to survive.
Well, now it depends on whether there are smart people among them. Ji Wantian lowered the corners of his eyes, and after a while, he turned his gaze to the leader, an old man over fifty years old.
This old man exudes the air of a scholar, and judging by the respect shown to him by the refugees around him, he must be a village chief, a head of a neighborhood, or a county magistrate, and has a lot of say among them.
"Sir, I want to ask you something." The old man had just received a bowl of clear and clean water and was now holding the bowl as he walked to Jin Lie's side.
Jin Lie turned his head and asked, "What do you want to ask, old man?"
"I would like to ask how far it is from here to the next city." More than 20 years ago, Qingshizhou was still part of the Beirong Kingdom, and the old man had been here before.
He naturally knew how far Qingshizhou was from the next city, so he asked this question purely to give himself a topic to talk about so that he could continue the conversation.
"It will take about half a month for those who can walk quickly. Are you from their place..." Before Jin Lie could speak, Cui Min, who came hurriedly on horseback, took over the conversation.
Cui Min is now very busy every day. In the morning he has to deal with Qingshizhou government affairs, and in the afternoon he has to teach the villagers how to make compost with Pan Zhuo.
Just now he suddenly received a message from Ji Wan, so he hurriedly mounted his horse and galloped over.
Fortunately, he arrived in time before Jin Lie started talking to the old man.
There is already Jin Lie, a general close to Ji Wan, at the city gate. If he is fully capable of ordinary communication, why is it necessary to ask him, a counselor, to come out and speak?
It’s not that Jin Lie is a bad person, it’s just that Jin Lie is too upright and not suitable for diplomatic negotiations.
Moreover, Jin Lie was tasked with the important task of patrolling and protecting farmland outside the city from being damaged, so it was not easy for him to leave his post at will, and talking to people was too time-consuming.
This is mainly because the nearby bandits and robbers have probably run out of food recently, so they sometimes send people to harass the farmland near Tongcheng.
How could Jiang Jian, a governor who had no martial arts skills, deal with the powerful bandits? So Jin Lie had to do this.
As the fastest-promoting strategist around Ji Wan, he could tell Ji Wan's personality and preferences from Ji Wan's daily behavior, not to mention Ji Wan's obvious and highly targeted orders.
This time he only heard about the current situation, and combined with the fact that Ji Wan had specially sent people to look for him, he had already guessed something in his mind.
It is estimated that today this old man and the refugees behind him will not be able to escape from Ji Wan's clutches.
"I am a small county magistrate in Heyang Prefecture, Beirong Kingdom. My name is Cao Ke. You are...?"
"My name is Cui Min, and I'm honored to meet you, old sir. Min works under Princess Yongkang, the fourth princess of the Donglin Kingdom."
Ji Wan's name must be brought up. Without this old man, how can we know Ji Wan's strength? Having such a powerful strategist like him can certainly prove Ji Wan's strength.
Cui Min really hopes that Ji Wan will be well. After all, if Ji Wan becomes stronger, she will have more strength to compete with the prince and the queen, and the probability of his revenge will be greater.
The fourth princess, Princess Yongkang, the old man had heard the name of this princess from two people.
What's so good about this princess that she's so highly praised by her subordinates?
"Old sir, since you are from the Northern Rong country, why didn't you take your men with you to the Northern Rong capital? It's getting hotter here!"
Cui Min looked eager, as if he was really putting himself in the refugees' shoes and considering their situation.
"Alas, it's hard to say. General Bai Bo was deceived by a traitor and ordered his men to close the gates of the royal capital, not allowing those of us in the border cities to enter."
The old man cleverly concealed the fact that the epidemic was raging. If the people of Donglin knew that there was an epidemic in Beirong, they might not let them live in the city.
Although he also knew that he might not be able to conceal it for long, the coolness in Tongcheng must have been due to some magical power of the immortals. It would be bad if the plague aroused people's vigilance and they were secretly dealt with as refugees.
But he didn't want to keep it secret for long. As long as everyone behind him could live in the city, he would explain the epidemic to the strategist when he showed goodwill in the future.
Jin Lie, who was about to leave, stopped when he heard the old man mention Bai Bo. After hearing the content clearly, he clenched his fists immediately, as if he was going to rush out to fight him in the next second.
Cui Min secretly gave Jin Lie a wink, indicating that he should leave quickly and not be influenced by the words of the cunning old man in front of him, which would ruin their negotiations.
Jin Lie gritted his teeth and barely managed to control himself. He turned around and left with the soldiers around him.
Bai Bo, you are indeed the person my mother has hated all her life. You can disregard the lives of the people like this. I don’t know how you became a general.
"It's outrageous that there are such hateful villains. Such behavior clearly disregards your lives. How can General Bai be so gullible!" Cui Min widened his eyes and said indignantly.
He had already known from Ji Wan about the stupid things Bai Bo had done, and now he didn't feel anything when he heard it again.
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