Usually, Qing Wu was the one who brought bad luck to others. She had a premonition that she was going to have bad luck, and even Xiao Chenyan found it strange.
"How unlucky is that?"
Qing Wu shook her head: "I can't really say, maybe there are always some evil spirits trying to harm me."
Xiao Chenyan frowned, but seeing that she didn't seem to care much, he didn't ask any more questions.
The Nanling Mountains suffered severely from the disaster. According to Xiao Yao, the situation near the county town was relatively mild.
Locusts have also flown in, but they came in small waves and could still be killed. Farmers in the fields are now rushing to harvest.
The further south you go, the worse the situation becomes. The fields are completely bare, with no grass growing at all.
Xiao Yao had just woken up and his body had not recovered yet, so it was not suitable for him to travel. What's more, he had to organize various disaster relief matters and could not get away at all.
This time, General Lin led the way again.
Hu Sinong and the others didn't even have time to catch their breath before they followed Xiao Chenyan and Qing Wu to the disaster-stricken villages.
The group rode for an hour, and the scenery became more and more desolate. On the way, Xiao Chenyan and his group encountered the first group of refugees. They were all ragged and had numb expressions. They all seemed to be from Fang Qie, who was heading to Chao County City.
After seeing Xiao Chenyan and his group from afar, the refugees' eyes lit up and they ran up to the platform, kneeling down to beg for food.
This kind of scene is rarely seen in the capital. When the common people see the carriages of dignitaries, they stay away from them and dare not approach them.
But now the locust plague is raging. Not only can the food in the ground not be preserved, but even the food stored in the house is not safe. The locusts are so ferocious that they can eat up the wooden houses.
In a village, how many households can afford to build houses with blue bricks and tiles? Most of them live in thatched huts and mud houses. How can they survive?
Seeing that they could not get food because of the black-armored guards who were stopping them, the refugees dared not to cause any more trouble and dispersed numbly.
When Hu Sinong saw this scene, his eyes turned red.
Xiao Chenyan also looked solemn, "How many refugees are there in the county city now?"
General Lin sighed, "In the past few days, nearly a thousand refugees have entered the city. If there are more people, the city will not be able to accommodate them, and the situation will become increasingly difficult to control."
"The situation in the south is even more serious. According to the news sent back by our spies, a large number of refugees are heading towards the county town. The number of people is..."
General Lin shook his head.
"How long can the food in the city last?"
General Lin looked bitter, "If the number of people remains the same, we can still hold out for another half a month."
An agricultural official who came on this trip said, "In half a month, the relief food and grass from the imperial court will surely arrive."
Hu Sinong was not so optimistic: "The premise is that the number of people remains the same. It's not like the refugees don't have legs."
not to mention……
Nanling is the fiefdom of the seven kings. Now that the crown prince is in charge of the court, it is hard to say how much disaster relief food and fodder will be provided, when it will be delivered, and how much will be lost in transit.
Fortunately, the Ministry of Revenue is now under the jurisdiction of Prince Yan, so even if the Crown Prince wants to interfere, it is not as convenient as before.
But I’m afraid we’ll be delayed too long on the road as the situation in Nanling is becoming increasingly serious.
On the way ahead, the group encountered several waves of refugees, and in the distance, black smoke was rising ahead.
Xiao Chenyan looked at the place where the black smoke was burning and frowned.
At this time, another group of refugees came to the official road. This group of refugees were also ragged, but different from the previous ones. Most of them were young and strong, unlike the previous ones who were pale and thin. It was obvious that they had not eaten a full meal for several days.
There were actually one or two fat guys in this group of people, and their expressions didn't look that numb.
When they saw the armored black guards riding horses, their eyes fell on the horses with a greedy look. After seeing the swords carried by the black-armored guards, they hurriedly looked away. After pausing for a while, they pretended to be nothing and walked over with lowered heads, keeping a distance from Xiao Chenyan and the others.
Xiao Chenyan narrowed his eyes and winked at Baisui.
Baisui immediately led the black-armored guards over. Seeing this, the group of people panicked and turned around to run away.
Qing Wu, who had been sitting in the carriage, opened the curtain and said in a cold voice: "Show no mercy, kill anyone who dares to escape."
The black-armored guards who rode out immediately drew their swords.
The refugees panicked immediately. How could their feet outrun four hooves? They all shouted, "Murder! The soldiers are killing people indiscriminately!"
When a few refugees saw that they could not escape, they took out kitchen knives and hoes and tried to resist, but were beheaded by the Black-Armored Guards.
There were a few who ran very fast and tried to get into the woods, but the woods on both sides were bare and they could not hide at all.
Suddenly——
The arrows broke through the air and directly pierced the heads of those people who were fleeing. They didn't even have a chance to escape and died on the spot.
Xiao Chenyan and Qing Wu suddenly rushed down to capture and kill the refugees, which scared Hu Sinong and others.
General Lin and other people in the palace didn't react much, but they had already seen the clues.
"Princess, is there something wrong with this group of people?" Hu Sinong had seen Qing Wu's ability on the boat, so he would not doubt it rashly. "Are they pretending to be refugees and want to take the opportunity to cause trouble in the city of Qiongjun?"
"They are real refugees." Qing Wu said in a cold tone.
Hu Sinong was puzzled. If they were real refugees, why should they be killed?
At this time, the Black-Armored Guards wiped out the group of refugees, leaving only three who surrendered alive, and brought them all over.
Baisui looked unhappy and kicked the three men to the ground.
He took a cloth bag and spread it out on the ground, gritted his teeth and said, "This fell out when these guys ran away just now."
When Hu Sinong saw the things wrapped in cloth, his face changed drastically. He jumped off his horse and started vomiting. The same thing happened to several other agricultural officials.
Wrapped in the cloth bag was a piece of cooked meat, and from its shape it was easy to tell that it was a baby's arm.
These people are actually eating human flesh!!
"Please spare us, sirs, please spare us. We don't want this either. We really can't survive this any longer..."
The three men were still kowtowing and begging for mercy.
Qing Wu sneered: "Can't survive? What you mean by can't survive is that the people in the village ahead were so kind as to share their food with you two, but you turned evil into revenge, not only burning, killing, and looting, but you also turned them into food?"
The three men were horrified.
This group of people had indeed just robbed and killed a village, but the village was so poor that there were only the elderly, the weak, women and children in the village, and there were only one or two strong adults.
But how did the beautiful lady in the carriage know what they did?
"brute!!"
General Lin was furious. He raised his sword and chopped off three heads.
Hu Sinong and others vomited until their faces turned pale.
Xiao Chenyan knew about the cannibalism when he came here. He left two people behind to burn all the bodies of the group of people, while the rest continued to move forward.
When passing the looted village, the team slowed down. The fire had not been put out yet, and the entire village was on fire. Innocent villagers who had died tragically could be seen on the roadside.
Hu Sinong couldn't vomit anymore. He was filled with hatred and anger: "What kind of nonsense is this? God is cruel. People are eating each other. Those are human lives!!"
The village was burned down like this, how could anyone be left alive!
These villagers, out of a moment of kindness, attracted a group of vicious wolves. Such things are not uncommon in the Nanling Mountains today.
Qing Wu suddenly jumped down from the carriage. She stared at the fire, frowned, and walked quickly towards him.
"princess?!"
Everyone was shocked.
Xiao Chenyan dismounted, caught up with her and held her hand.
"There are still survivors." Qing Wu said, and the next moment, Xiao Chenyan moved faster than her. He picked her up with one arm and rushed into the sea of fire, "Show the way!"
The fire couldn't hurt Qing Wu at all, but the others were terrified.
The flames blocked the way, and the others could not rush in. General Lin was extremely anxious. Seeing that the Black Armor Guards were calm, he was angry and shocked:
"Why don't you stop the little prince!"
Baisui: "Don't worry, Lin Yu, nothing will happen with the princess here."
General Lin felt like his head was on fire. "That was a fire scene!!"
Baisui: “Yes.”
Others: A fire scene is not a volcanic hell. Even if it is a volcanic hell, isn’t the princess still there?
General Lin was almost so angry that he almost fell over. What on earth is wrong with these subordinates of the young prince? !
Are you all crazy?
"No matter how powerful your princess is, she can't protect the little prince from harm!"
Baisui: Ah, this...how come it doesn’t work?
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