Chapter 181 Yuzhou People
Xu Qingyue's heart skipped a beat when she heard this. She immediately showed a look of fear on her face. She stammered and explained, "No... No, you misunderstood, young master! I... I just... as the elder sister of the Crown Prince's Consort, I care... about her."
"Hmph! How can you care about others like this, Aunt Xu? If you really care about others, why don't you accompany second brother to Yuzhou? What are you standing here for? Are you afraid of suffering in Yuzhou?" Pei Jinyu on the side had long since disliked Xu Qingyue and couldn't help but sneer.
The Duke's wife also had a cold expression on her face. She scolded Xu Qingyue, "Come here! Aunt Xu is arrogant and doesn't know the rules. Take her to the courtyard to kneel and copy the female rules a hundred times as punishment!"
If Xu Qingyan hadn't stopped her, she would have punished Xu Qingyue long ago and wouldn't have let her talk so much nonsense here.
Xu Qingyan looked at Xu Qingyue with a smile in her eyes. She had just deliberately given Xu Qingyue the opportunity to say so much, just to give the Duke's wife and the others an excuse to punish Xu Qingyue. Of course, it was also to annoy Xu Qingyue.
Xu Qingyue naturally did not dare to refute. She could only look at Xu Qingyan's smiling face and her arm around Pei Jingchuan's. The affection between the two deeply hurt her eyes!
Why! Such an excellent man who protects his wife should be her husband! Humph... Xu Qingyan should not be too proud too soon. After she has used Prince Shuo, she will make the man who likes Xu Qingyan now kneel down at her feet!
Soon, Pei Jingchuan and his men joined up with King Qin's troops, and the group left the capital in a mighty procession.
Yuzhou was quite far from the capital, and it normally took eight or nine days to get there. They stopped and walked along the way, and finally on the sixth day, they reached the border of Yuzhou City.
The Yuzhou Mountain was barren, with no green hills or clear waters to be seen. The sun was scorching brightly, and the roads were filled with people with cracked skin begging along the way.
Pei Jingchuan and his team, as large as they were, immediately attracted the attention of the people on the roadside when they entered Yuzhou City. Almost everyone's eyes were looking in their direction, and their eyes were full of various scrutiny, some eager to see the grain carts, some cautious speculation, but no surprise of seeing hope.
Pei Jingchuan and King Qin saw the expressions of these people. They couldn't help but feel strange. Why didn't these people have any expectations after seeing them? A normal person would be able to guess that such an obvious army as theirs was sent by the court to support Yuzhou. Shouldn't the people be very happy to see them? However, these people didn't react at all, only various strange looks.
Xu Qingyan looked at these people and couldn't help but sigh in her heart: [These people, probably have become numb! Every time there was a disaster in Yuzhou before, none of the relief food allocated by the court fell on them. The governor of Yuzhou didn't care about the lives of the people at all, and had no long-term vision. They only cared about their own enjoyment, and all the things sent by the court fell into their pockets. The poor people of Yuzhou, originally had a population of 200,000, but in just a few decades, the population of Yuzhou has been less than 50,000, and many of them were starved to death! ]
Pei Jingchuan couldn't help but shudder after hearing Xu Qingyan's voice. Although Daxia was not very wealthy, it had been a peaceful country over the years. It was the first time he heard that more than 100,000 people had starved to death! The population of Yuzhou had decreased in recent years. The officials of Yuzhou told the court that it was due to natural disasters and man-made disasters, but they never said that they starved to death! It seems that the officials of Yuzhou are even more hateful than imagined! What kind of concept is it to let hundreds of thousands of people starve to death!
The carriage slowly entered the border town, and more and more people on the road cast their eyes at them. Most of the people were so hungry that their faces were thin and their eyes were sunken. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the carts of food. Just when Pei Jingchuan and his men were not paying attention, some people suddenly rushed out from both sides and rushed towards them.
"Everyone hurry up and grab! There is food here. Anyway, this food is going to be brought into Yuzhou City. If it goes to the Governor's Mansion, there will be no share for us! Now we can grab as much as we can. Anyway, we don't want to be starving before we die! Everyone, grab it together! There is food here!"
A group of people rushed towards the grain cart, and the first few men shouted to other people wandering the streets. In an instant, dozens of people rushed towards the grain cart.
Pei Jingchuan immediately ordered the guards to guard the grain carts, and he and the King of Qin jumped off the carriage, ready to maintain order. But the people at the scene were like crazy, still fearlessly rushing towards the grain carts.
Pei Jingyuan was sitting in the back, closest to the grain cart. Seeing that some people were about to rush over and tear apart the grain, he quickly stretched out the long sword at his waist and killed one of the people with one blow.
"All of you stop! If you come any closer, you'll end up like him!" Pei Jingyuan held a long sword with blood on it. The man he had killed fell to the ground with blood still flowing from his neck.
"Pei Jingyuan! Who told you to kill civilians indiscriminately!" Pei Jingchuan came over and saw this scene, and couldn't help but questioned in a cold voice.
They are here to provide disaster relief, not to kill people!
"Brother, these are all unruly people. They actually wanted to rob the imperial court's disaster relief food. They deserve to be killed!" Pei Jingyuan argued unconvinced.
Pei Jingchuan had people stop the people, looked at Pei Jingyuan coldly and said: "But they are also the people of Daxia! You can stop them, but you can't kill innocent people! If they were not desperate, why would they come to rob? Since the people can come to rob, it means that something big has happened in Yuzhou! They are worried that these grains will not reach their hands!"
Pei Jingyuan said in disbelief: "How is this possible! The court sent us here to give the food to the people. It all belongs to them. Now, they are snatching it here, which means they are going against the court!"
"Pei Jingyuan, step back from here. If you kill another civilian, I will punish you according to military law!" At this time, the King of Qin stood up and ordered coldly.
When he saw this scene just now, he was very heartbroken. Although he couldn't hear Xu Qingyan's voice, when he first entered the city, he saw the strange eyes of the people and felt vaguely that something was strange. When he saw the people snatching food, he was more certain of his guess that the officials in Yuzhou were not good officials! I'm afraid that the relief grain given to Yuzhou by the imperial court many times has never reached the hands of the people, so the people of Yuzhou City are like this!
Since the King of Qin had spoken, Pei Jingyuan naturally dared not disobey, so he had to step aside unwillingly, with a hint of unwillingness in his eyes.
At this time, Xu Qingyan also came over. She looked at King Qin and Pei Jingchuan and said, "My Lord, my husband, look at the people in Yuzhou. It seems that they haven't had enough to eat for several months. Some time ago, the court seemed to have allocated funds and grain to Yuzhou. Why is Yuzhou still like this? Why don't you find a few people to ask about the situation?"
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