Chapter 105: Ji County Magistrate
When the other refugees saw the old woman coming up to beg for food, they all looked down on her and thought that she would definitely not get anything to eat.
But now that they saw that she had gotten what she wanted, they couldn't sit still anymore. They all surrounded Li Wei and knelt in front of him to beg for food.
Li Wei was stunned for a moment. There were at least fifty or sixty people surrounding him. He didn't have much dry food left, and there were less than a dozen steamed buns left.
Even if they were all distributed, there wouldn't be enough for these people!
Besides, they have to save some for themselves to eat on the way, so it’s impossible to give it all to them.
Li Wei originally wanted to drive them away, but he felt sorry for them when he saw so many of them, many of whom were holding children, and there was an old man lying not far away.
He had no choice but to take out two steamed buns and handed the rest to them.
"These are all I have left. Take them all."
After hearing Li Wei's words, the refugees kneeling in front of him showed greedy looks in their eyes.
Many of them have been hungry for a long time. Now they finally have something to eat, and it’s so little, they must want to grab it.
As a result, the scene became a mess, and the refugees scrambled for the steamed buns like crazy.
This left Li Wei stunned.
Although those refugees wanted to snatch all the food from Jiang Nanyuan and the others, they saw that Li Wei and the other guards had swords on their waists.
They dared not act rashly. If they offended them, they might lose their lives.
Seeing them scrambling for steamed buns, Li Wei unconsciously took two steps back. He didn't know what was going on and why so many refugees appeared here.
Wanting to understand what was going on, he saw the old woman who had first knelt down to him sitting next to a tree trunk not far away, feeding her grandson in her arms steamed buns bit by bit.
He strode towards the two of them and asked, "Can I ask you something?" The old woman was feeding her grandson steamed buns when suddenly a voice sounded beside her.
When she looked up and saw that it was Li Wei coming over, she immediately replied: "Sir, what do you want to ask? If I know, I will tell you."
"Why are there so many refugees on this official road? Where are you going?"
When the old woman heard Li Wei's question, she sighed helplessly and said in a choked voice: "We all came from other villages. There was a flood in our village, and the whole village was submerged.
There was no other way. It took us almost half a month to get to Ji County, and we thought the government officials would take us in.
But the yamen runners guarding the city gate refused to let us into the city at all. We had no choice but to go to the next county to see what the situation was like.
Sir, are you going to continue south? It's not peaceful over there right now. Besides the refugees from our village, there are refugees from many other villages along the way.
My Lord, if you continue to go south, you may encounter more refugees."
Li Wei nodded and did not continue talking to the old woman. He already knew everything he wanted to know. After saying goodbye to the old woman, he walked back.
I don't know what's going on in Ji County. They don't even care about so many refugees! It just so happens that they are also passing through Ji County, so they can go and see the situation when they get there.
Li Wei thought so, and he let everyone rest for about an hour, and then started to let everyone continue on the road.
The further south we went, the more refugees there were on the road, just as the old woman had said.
During this time, there were some refugees who wanted to steal things. Li Wei simply took out his sword and cut off the hand of the leader.
He used this trick of killing the chicken to scare the monkey very cleverly. After this incident, the other refugees on the road no longer dared to surround them.
Without the refugees blocking their way, they walked a little faster, and before dark, they finally arrived in Ji County.
Li Qiang still locked them all up in the prison at the post station.
At night, Li Wei sneaked out alone and broke into the yamen to see what was going on.
Why didn’t the county magistrate of Ji County do anything about it?
After giving instructions to his subordinates, he left the post station and traveled back and forth alone in the night.
After about half a minute, Li Wei finally reached the top of the yamen. He just sneaked into the yard and came to the roof of a room with candlelight.
When he lifted the tiles and looked down, he saw the magistrate of Ji County sitting in the house with three or four beauties by his side.
Not only that, his table was filled with delicacies from land and sea, and there were several women dancing gracefully opposite him.
The women sitting on his lap put their arms around his neck and poured wine into his mouth from their glasses.
The people outside the city were living in dire straits, but the county magistrate was living a comfortable life. Just as he was about to cover the roof with tiles and leave, he saw his legal advisor running towards him in a hurry from outside.
Li Wei, who was about to leave, stopped. It was obvious that there was something urgent. He didn't want to leave anymore and wanted to listen to what they had to say.
He lay down on the roof again and opened the tile again. Then he saw the lawyer running in from outside. He lay down next to the county magistrate and whispered a few words in his ear.
Li Wei wanted to listen to what they were talking about, but their voices were so soft that he couldn't hear clearly.
Just as he was hesitating whether to stay here any longer, the advisor spoke again, "My lord, this is bad news. More and more refugees are gathering at the city gate. Should we still drive them away as usual?"
After eating a delicious grape, the county magistrate rolled his eyes at the legal advisor below him.
"Drive them all out and don't let them into the city. If they disobey, kill them immediately. By the way, have you notified the grain store?"
"Your Excellency, I have already sent word that the price of all grain in the county has tripled."
He had already done as the county magistrate instructed, and he had someone secretly buy back all the food in the city.
He would wait until food was in short supply and then sell it at a high price, which happened to be the time now.
Li Wei couldn't help but frown when he heard their conversation.
The magistrate of Ji County was so outrageous that the refugees outside were living such a miserable life, but he was eating, drinking and having fun inside.
This is simply too much! Li Wei was furious, but he had no other choice.
Now that we have found out the information we want to know, let’s go back first.
Li Wei, who wanted to know, already knew everything, so he didn't stay here any longer.
Soon he returned to the inn and entered the room, thinking about whether there was any better solution.
However, he lay in bed thinking and tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.
Since I can't sleep, I might as well go talk to Xiao Yuchen and see what he thinks about this matter.
He must not be asleep at this hour.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
