Chapter 446 Mine
Winter nights are especially long.
After midnight, no one noticed that the three fast horses stopped in a forest not far outside Qingzhou City.
Zhu Lan got off the horse and immediately asked Wen Yu about his injuries with concern.
Wen Yu shook his head and said that he was fine, looking a little worried:
"What are you going to do after we get into the city? My sister is still in Shi Yuanzhong's hands, and I'm worried that he might do something desperate."
Zhu Lan did not answer directly, but took the initiative to hold Wen Yu's hand.
"Master Wen, do you believe me?"
Feeling the warmth coming from his palm, Wen Yu finally nodded.
"I believe you."
Zhu Lan let go of his hand and said, "Okay, let's go into the city first, and then proceed to the next plan."
The three of them took advantage of the cover of night and quietly came to the vicinity of the city gate. The outside of the city was empty, with only a newly built porridge shed standing alone in the wind and snow.
That was what Zhu Lan asked Shen Wanxiong to build when he was in Qingzhou two days ago. At this time, faint candlelight and human figures could be seen in the porridge shed.
Zhu Lan pointed at the porridge stall. Zhu Qingyan and Wen Yu understood, and the three of them walked towards the porridge stall with light steps.
"Big! Big! Big!"
"Little! Little! Little! Hahahaha, leopard! I win again!!!"
Excited voices and the sound of dice shaking could be heard from the porridge stall. Zhu Qingyan looked inside through the gap in the tarpaulin and saw several county yamen runners gambling.
Zhu Qingyan and Zhu Lan looked at each other and began to cough, the sound attracting the attention of the yamen runners.
The bailiff who had just lost money came over with an unhappy look on his face and glanced at the three people out of the corner of his eye.
"What do you do?"
The three of them had smeared some charcoal soot on their faces, looking dusty and dirty, and with the dark sky, it was almost impossible to tell their original appearance.
Zhu Lan supported Wen Yu and lowered his voice a bit, sounding weak:
"Sir, my family came from Shabao County. We were hungry all the way, and my husband is still sick...
I heard that there is free porridge in the city, can I have a bowl of porridge?"
"I just lost money and now I run into a beggar. It's so damn unlucky!" the bailiff cursed and waved his hand impatiently to drive him away.
“Get out of here!”
Zhu Qingyan stepped forward and said, "Didn't they say that the imperial envoy had come and was distributing porridge? This is a porridge stall, why aren't you giving us porridge?"
"Your Excellency the Imperial Envoy?" The bailiff sneered and pointed to the ground below him.
"The Imperial Envoy is here, this is the porridge shed.
Now that the imperial envoy has left, there is no porridge here!
Get out of here now, or I'll arrest you all!"
"No, you can't do this!" Zhu Qingyan pretended to be anxious and tried to grab the sleeve of the yamen runner. The yamen runner looked disgusted and immediately raised his hand and pushed him away.
Zhu Qingyan seized the opportunity, grabbed the opponent's arm and cleverly used the force. The yamen runner's body rushed forward as if he had exerted too much force and fell to the ground on the spot.
Zhu Qingyan was startled and hurriedly reached out to help.
"No, no, no, what are you doing, sir? Please get up quickly!"
The bailiff got up from the ground, covering his bleeding nose, and was furious. Seeing this, several other bailiffs who were gambling also gathered over.
"Where did such a courageous villain come from, looking for trouble?
Brothers, catch these three! Take them away! "
Zhu Lan and the other two naturally did not resist and surrendered obediently.
The bailiffs found ropes and tied the three men's hands behind their backs, then pushed them out of the porridge stall. However, they did not take them into the city. Instead, they walked towards a certain direction outside the city.
"Why are you arresting us? Where are we going?" Zhu Lan asked nervously.
The bailiff smiled grimly, "Hehe, you'll know when you get there."
…
After walking for about a quarter of an hour, the three were brought to a mine. There were only a few guards guarding the entrance of the mine. It was pitch black inside the mine, and they could only see some human figures swaying in the moonlight.
"Go in!"
The three were pushed in, and then a wooden fence fell behind them, sealing the entrance to the cave.
A tall and thin man guarding the mine complained somewhat unhappily:
"Tsk, the imperial envoy has left, and we're about to release these people. Why send them here now?"
"Hasn't the county magistrate spoken yet?" The yamen runner pointed at his red nose and said, "Look, it's all their fault. Let them suffer a little first!"
The tall and thin man said:
"Well, if you ask me, why should we release these refugees? We can just bury them here.
Qingzhou has suffered from famine for many years, and it is difficult to grow food. All of them rely on the relief grain from the imperial court to survive. It would be a waste of food to release these people. If they starve to death outside, there might even be an epidemic.
It would be better to bury it in this hole and put an end to it all."
"We can't make the decision on this matter. Well, let's wait for the county magistrate to speak. I'm leaving now."
The runners who had brought the people left, and the tall and thin man, along with a few other brothers, started rolling dice at the entrance of the mine.
The conversation between the bailiff and the tall and thin man just now was not concealed and was clearly heard in the mine.
Zhu Qingyan was so angry that his hands were shaking. "These bastards... were they talking like human beings? They treat human life as a joke. They deserve to be killed!"
Zhu Lan's expression was equally grim.
She glanced around and saw that the mine was filled with more than a hundred people, including men, women, young and old. They were all pale and thin, sitting on the ground with numb expressions, and had no reaction to the conversation that concerned their life and death.
It's as if they are all waiting to die.
“It turns out that all the refugees outside the city were detained here. No wonder we couldn’t see a single person outside the city when we arrived.” Zhu Lan clenched his fists and whispered.
While no one was paying attention outside, Zhu Qingyan used the broken porcelain pieces that he had hidden in his hands to cut the ropes on his wrists, and then helped untie Zhu Lan and Wen Yu.
At this time, a smell of rice wafted over. It turned out that the guards outside had started to eat.
Zhu Qingyan's eyes were almost spitting fire, "These beasts... can actually drink white rice porridge!?"
The tall and thin man came to the entrance of the mine while drinking white porridge. He put his arm through the wooden fence and threw something in. It was as hard as a stone.
Zhu Qingyan looked down and saw that there were more than a dozen steamed buns.
As soon as she saw it clearly, she reached out a hand and snatched the steamed bun away.
It turned out to be a little girl of seven or eight years old. She huddled in a corner and began to eat voraciously, staring at Zhu Qingyan vigilantly, as if she was afraid that she would come to snatch the food away.
Zhu Qingyan was dumbfounded.
There were about a hundred people in the mine, but they were only given a dozen steamed buns, as if these refugees were treated like livestock to be fed, and they were allowed to fight over the food. Those who couldn't get the food would starve to death.
Many people in the mine didn't even have the strength to fight for food. They could only watch the last bit of hope for survival fall into the hands and mouths of others. The faint light in their eyes went out in an instant like a flame.
The little girl ate half of the steamed bread, crawled to the other woman, and put the remaining half to her mouth.
The other party did not respond at all, it turned out that he was already dead.
The little girl anxiously tried to stuff the steamed bread into the woman's mouth, but at this moment a hand reached out from the side and snatched away half of the steamed bread.
The little girl could only stare blankly, as if she had forgotten even to cry.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
