Chapter 64 Corpses Beneath the City Wall
At this time, there were not only people from their team resting at the foot of the mountain, but also a caravan and the travelers following them.
As for the convoy we met halfway up the mountain, it had long since disappeared.
Shopkeeper Liang was a sociable man. As soon as dinner was ready, he took his bowl and sat next to Zhou Yunshu with the news he had heard.
"I've inquired, they're going to the capital to celebrate the princess' birthday."
"Princess Yuyang?"
"Yes, this year is Princess Yuyang's fortieth birthday, and many noble families and merchant caravans have rushed to the capital to celebrate the princess' birthday!"
Shopkeeper Liang sighed, "This Princess Yuyang is truly an extraordinary figure. She is the niece of the current emperor. The emperor only has this one niece, so her treatment is not much different from that of a princess!"
Zhou Yunshu nodded.
Indeed, the older the emperor got, the more he cared about his former relatives, and the only relatives left were a niece and nephew born to him by his sister.
My niece, Princess Yuyang, married Yang Bingtian, the prefect of Luzhou, and gave birth to a daughter and a son; my nephew married Jiang from Nanzhou, and had three daughters and one son, and nine daughters and three sons from illegitimate children, a large number of descendants.
Although Princess Yuyang is arrogant and overbearing, she is at least sensible; Prince Qingping is an arrogant, domineering and lawless old playboy. Except for his sister Princess Yuyang and the current emperor, no one in the entire Zhou Dynasty can control him.
Therefore, his backyard was in a mess with all kinds of people, especially after his first wife died in childbirth, there has been no mistress in the backyard until now.
Thinking of these two people, Zhou Yunshu couldn't help but think of her own brother Zhou Yunqi and Zhou Yunjia from the second house.
The two of them were fellow disciples with Princess Yuyang's son Yang Yuhao, and they had a very good relationship.
Although Zhou Yunqi and Zhou Yunjia were traveling with Duan Yanzhi when the incident happened in Zhenbei Palace and their location could not be determined, Zhou Yunshu still sent a letter to Duan Yanzhi's residence.
Zhou Yunshu didn't dare to say anything openly. She just wrote a letter in the name of the family of a classmate of Zhou Yunqi who was on good terms with her. The content of the letter was to report that they were safe and to tell them where they were going next in a way that only the two of them could understand.
Zhou Yunshu was afraid that if she did more, there would be more loopholes, so apart from this letter, she did not contact Zhou Yunqi again, just waiting for an opportunity to contact him after settling down in Haizhou.
Because the two teams at the foot of the mountain both planned to settle in Baishi County, they decided to travel together.
The caravan agreed so readily because they saw that there were scholars in Zhou Yunshu's team, and that they did not give up their children's education even when fleeing famine, so they were willing to agree.
On the way to Baishi County, the two teams got along quite well. They occasionally encountered refugees on the road, but even though the refugees' eyes were bulging with hunger, no one dared to approach them.
They can still clearly distinguish who can be provoked and who cannot be provoked.
They couldn't dream of such a large group, so they had to wait and see if there was anyone left alone.
The night before arriving in Baishi County, the two teams camped together in front of a dry wheat field to rest.
The caravan's leader, Manager Qi, and Shopkeeper Liang had a good chat these past two days. Thinking that they would be arriving in Baishi County tomorrow, Shopkeeper Liang and Manager Qi went to Zhou Yunshu to chat.
It's called chatting, but in fact it's just exchanging information.
After Zhou Yunshu informed Manager Qi of the news they had received along the way, Manager Qi also shared what he knew.
"Leaving Baishi County, passing Wolong Mountain, and about two more cities away, we'll reach the prefectural capital."
"The drought in Baishi County is more severe, but once we reach Wolong Mountain and enter the Red Lotus Cult's territory, the situation will be much better. Aside from paying the Red Lotus Cult some protection fees, we'll be relatively safe."
"Is the protection fee high?" Shopkeeper Liang asked Qi, who was already accustomed to paying protection fees. "Is there no government official in charge?"
"The protection fee is one-third of the goods you bring."
Manager Qi looked at his convoy with a wry smile on his face. "That is to say, one-third of these things I have to pay to the Red Lotus Sect as tolls."
"As for the government," Manager Qi sneered, "the Red Lotus Cult has taken an open path in Luzhou. I heard that Princess Yuyang has a good relationship with the Red Lotus Mother and has even brought her to several banquets."
"How many people in the entire Great Zhou dare to question the person favored by Princess Yuyang?"
It's just a pity for the common people like them, as they are sucked dry by them every day.
"Who is the Red Lotus Holy Mother? She actually knows Princess Yuyang." Du Laosan was sitting not far from Zhou Yunshu. Upon hearing this, he looked at Manager Qi and asked curiously.
"I heard it was some impoverished young lady from aristocratic family who was once a close friend of Princess Yuyang." Steward Qi exhaled. "Whatever their friendship, if we want to reach the capital safely, we must pay protection money to the Red Lotus Cult."
"I heard that they are looking for the Red Lotus Saint recently?" Shopkeeper Liang remembered that the Anshan County magistrate sent his daughter away.
Oh, by the way, his daughter is in their team now.
Manager Qi curled his lips and said, "Who knows? I heard that this saint girl might become the goddaughter of Princess Yuyang and Lord Yang. Nowadays, people everywhere are using their connections to send their daughters to Wolong Mountain so that their families can rise to the top in one step."
After hearing what Manager Qi said, Zhou Yunshu understood why the magistrate of Anshan County gave his daughter to the Red Lotus Envoy. After all, who doesn't want to be related to the emperor's relatives?
Zhou Yunshu glanced at Yan Shilei and his group who were wiping their bows and arrows over there. They still hadn't said what the conflict was between Shanxia Village and the Red Lotus Sect, and that woman in the red robe of the Red Lotus Emissary, was she from Shanxia Village or the Red Lotus Sect.
Although there are many doubts now, Zhou Yunshu has a hunch that all the riddles will be solved once they arrive at Wolong Mountain.
In order to reach Baishi County as early as possible, the team set out at dawn the next day.
But when they arrived at the gate of Baishi County, they saw not only countless victims, but also tightly closed city gates and soldiers guarding the city who were ready to shoot arrows at people below the gates at any time.
In addition, a lot of corpses were piled up under the city gate of Baishi County.
It was unknown how long the corpses had been piled up. Besides emitting a foul odor, there were also countless mosquitoes and flies flying around them.
Black corpse oil was flowing in it, and even the meat on it was missing pieces. It was hard to imagine where the missing meat had gone.
Zhou Yunshu just took a look and immediately asked the team to turn around and prepare to leave.
Something is wrong, everything is wrong.
Especially the refugees who were hunched over, coughing and vomiting, which made Zhou Yunshu feel more and more uneasy.
Manager Qi was originally planning to discuss with Zhou Yunshu how to enter the city, but before he could say anything, he saw the team behind him turn around and leave quickly.
He looked at the refugees who were running towards him not far away, and without saying a word, he quickly caught up with Zhou Yunshu's team.
As Manager Liang and the others hurried forward, they asked Zhou Yunshu, who was sitting on the carriage, "Mr. Zhou, are we leaving just like that?"
He felt that the number of refugees at the city gate was not as many as that at the gate of Anshan County, and maybe he could get the city gate opened!
"If we don't leave now, I'm afraid we'll all die there."
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