"My lord, I'll take some men and go check it out first."
After speaking, the subordinate was about to stride forward, but Jiang He stopped him, saying, "Wait a minute. I feel that there is something strange about Fengshan. Let's settle down nearby first and go to investigate tomorrow morning."
So Jiang He and his group settled down in a nearby village, but once inside, Jiang He's brow never relaxed again.
"Why are there only women and children here? Where are the men?"
Jiang He looked around and found that even the youngest child looked to be about five or six years old.
"Who are you?" An old man walked out shakily, followed by a group of villagers.
"Well, we're from out of town. We were just passing by and saw that it was getting late, so we thought we'd stop here to rest. Is that convenient?" Jiang He's tone softened involuntarily.
"As you can see, our village is full of women and children, with only this old man as my companion. How can it be convenient for you to bring so many strong men and say you want to stay here?"
"We can use grain as collateral."
Jiang He wasn't annoyed by the rejection. He gave a wink to the people around him, and immediately a large bag of grain was brought over. "Just find us two empty courtyards."
The old man glanced at the grain, then at the villagers behind him who were constantly swallowing their saliva, and finally sighed heavily, "Alright, there are two courtyards on the hilltop, you can stay there."
Thank you.
The two courtyards were so dilapidated that they looked as if they could collapse with a gust of wind.
Jiang He wiped the dust off the chair with his sleeve, sat down, and took a breath.
"My lord, this place is indeed incredibly strange. There's no fertile land, and it's full of women and children. How do they survive?" Ling Ku rushed over after finishing dealing with the previous iron mine. "Moreover, the people here are all emaciated. There must be something more to it than meets the eye."
Jiang He nodded, quickly picked up a pen and wrote a letter, "Ling Ku, personally send it back to the capital as soon as possible."
The journey, which should have taken three days, was compressed into one and a half days by Ling Ku, who had killed two horses.
"A letter from my brother?"
Seeing Ling Ku's serious expression, Jiang Yu quickly took the envelope, opened it, and began to read.
After reading it, Jiang Yu pondered for a long time.
"Wanji, please invite the Emperor Emeritus and the Emperor over."
Fifteen minutes later, Jiang Yu handed the letter to Gu Lin and Gu Qingyan. “After reading this letter, I’m worried that my brother is a bit weak and vulnerable there alone.”
"Then I will set off for Fengshan tomorrow."
Gu Lin also noticed that something was wrong with Feng Shan and immediately spoke up.
“If I weren’t pregnant, I would definitely want to go and see for myself.” Jiang Yu pursed her lips. “When you set off tomorrow, you should take a few of Lingxiao Pavilion’s secret guards with you. That would be more appropriate.”
"What Mother says is true. Fengshan is so strange, but the officials in charge have never reported it. They have probably been bribed. Father, why don't you take Lingshan and Linghai with you?"
Gu Lin did not refuse, but looked at Gu Qingyan and said, "After I leave, you will be in charge of all the affairs of the capital. Your mother is in poor health, so don't let her overwork."
"What could possibly happen to me?"
Jiang Yu twitched the corner of her mouth and said, "Chen Ping's matter and Zhong Qi'er's matter have been almost resolved, so you can rest assured."
Jiang Yu did not relay the contents of the letter to Bai Qian. Gu Lin left the capital before dawn the next day.
......
Meanwhile, Jiang He got up and saw the woman bound hand and foot in the courtyard. He looked surprised and asked, "What's going on?"
"Master, this woman was acting suspiciously outside the courtyard last night. I found her and tied her up."
Ling Ku changed her words somewhat awkwardly. Upon hearing this, Jiang He sized up the woman and asked, "What brings you here?"
"I......"
The woman seemed frightened, opening her mouth repeatedly but unable to utter a word.
"You all go down first." Jiang He waved everyone away, even pushing Ling Ku out. "Now it's just the two of us here, you can speak."
To Jiang He's utter surprise, the woman immediately took off her clothes, leaving only a bodice, and her face showed a completely unfazed expression.
"What are you doing?!"
Jiang He quickly turned his back and said, "Hurry up and put your clothes on."
"Is the master dissatisfied with me?" the woman asked, her voice trembling with tears. "We know you brought a lot of food, but I am already the one who serves the least here, and I even took a bath before I came."
"I'll say it again, put on your clothes."
Jiang He's voice already carried a hint of anger. Seeing this, the woman quickly put on her clothes. Jiang He turned to stare at the woman, "So this is how you obtain food?"
"We...we weren't like this before..."
Perhaps because Jiang He was the first person to help her put on her clothes, the woman burst into tears.
Jiang He waited patiently for the woman to calm down before speaking again:
"Tell me about your village, and that will be your payment for the grain."
“I…our village used to have fertile fields, and the villagers lived and worked in peace and contentment.” The woman’s eyes were filled with nostalgia as she recalled the past. “But seven years ago, a group of people broke into our village. These people settled down in the village and captured all the men in the village, saying they wanted to drive away the wild beasts from Fengshan.”
"The trees on the mountain fell one after another, and none of the men who were taken away ever came back."
“They destroyed our fertile fields and trampled on us at will, and every time... they would give us some grain as a reward. Over time, the village became like this.”
Jiang He was unable to calm down for a long time after hearing this, "So the youngest child in the village is already five or six years old."
"Exactly."
"After they left, who else came?"
“They left four years ago. Because everyone in the surrounding area knew that our village only had women and children, some bold people came to imitate them and gave us food. In this way, people came one after another.”
"Isn't the government doing anything about it?" Jiang He's eyes were bloodshot. "Such a thing has happened in Dayu territory, aren't the officials afraid of losing their heads?"
"The mountains are high and the emperor is far away. How could the emperor know about our situation here when he is in the capital?"
As the woman spoke, she knelt down and kowtowed to Jiang He. “You have given us a lot of food. You are a great benefactor to our entire village. Some of our children will starve to death if we don’t eat.”
"Someone come here!"
As soon as Jiang He's voice rang out, Ling Ku rushed in.
"Have someone guard the village. If any men come, detain them immediately. I want to see just how chaotic this remote, mountainous place will become!"
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