After being a widow for half my life, I found out that my husband was not dead.

Liu Yunxiang took Leng Yuxie with him, and they sat down next to the old woman.

"Were you also arrested?"

The old woman nodded, pointed at the people in the alley, and said, "It's everyone."

Liu Yunxiang's heart turned and he said: "The government said that we had an epidemic, so they couldn't help but catch us here. But we know our bodies and don't feel sick at all."

"You don't know what's going on?"

"I don't know."

"Hey, it is true that many people were caught here without knowing what happened. Some people really thought they were infected with the epidemic. In fact, it was all lies from the government. Otherwise, they would have no reason to arrest you."

"Why are you arresting us?"

"It's not because of..."

When the old woman said this, she paused and subconsciously looked to the side.

"The imperial court found out about the fact that Xie Shengmao, the governor of Yuzhou, forged military status and was deprived of his salary, and sent a prince to investigate. Xie Shengmao was afraid that the matter would be exposed, so he arrested us so that the imperial court would not find any clues. . As long as he is caught here, there must be a family member who has been registered in the military. It is said that Xie Shengmao is eating this empty military pay. It is said that there are tens of thousands of people! This person is one tael a month, and the 1 people are 1 taels. , twelve months a year is 12 taels!" As she said that, the old woman took a breath.

Liu Yunxiang turned to look at Leng Yuxie, his face was cold and gloomy.

He should indeed be annoyed. His Nanzhou garrison was stationed on the border, where conditions were difficult and wars often broke out. These soldiers who really fought for Beijin were starving due to a shortage of food and wages, forcing him to come to Yuzhou to grab food, for which he was severely punished by the emperor.

However, the Yuzhou Army guarded the granary of Yuzhou without war or difficult conditions, and yet they were still receiving empty pay.

Just listening to one person's words may be biased. Liu Yunxiang and Leng Yuxie asked several people, and everyone said the same thing.

Coming out of the alley, we came to the only street in the village. There were also people sitting there, one after another.

This Xie Shengmao is so courageous, he actually tried to hide such a big thing, and imprisoned so many people for this reason.

"We now understand the matter clearly, Your Highness..."

Before Liu Yunxiang could finish her words, there was another bang. Her body swayed along with the ground. She subconsciously looked to the south and saw thick white smoke rising over there again, and the fire was clashing randomly.

"What's going on?"

Such a loud noise made the ground shake. She had never seen such a battle before.

Leng Yuxie looked to the south, a look of confusion on his cold face.

The noise alarmed the villagers. One family opened the door, and a woman ran out to take a look. When she saw the fire in the south, she shouted: "Why is it erupting again!"

Liu Yunxiang hurriedly asked the woman: "Sister, what erupted?"

"Volcano!"

"volcano?"

Liu Yunxiang glanced at the fire, then turned to look at Leng Yuxie.

"It's not like it?"

Leng Yuxie shook his head, "It really doesn't look like it."

"Hey, isn't this Wanwan!" The woman saw the little girl on Leng Yuxie's back and ran a few steps closer, "It's really Wanwan!"

Wanwan's eyes widened when she saw the woman, "Auntie!"

"Hey, where's your mother?"

Wanwan shook her head and said with a cry: "My mother is lost."

The woman quickly looked at Liu Yunxiang, "What's going on? Where is her mother? Why are you taking this child with you?"

At this time, a group of patrolmen came over, and Liu Yunxiang said hurriedly: "Sister, can we go into your house to talk?"

The woman hesitated for a moment, then opened the door, "Come in quickly!"

Entering the yard, an old woman came out. When she saw Liu Yunxiang and the others, she hurriedly picked up the shovel leaning against the wall.

"Mom, they are not here to steal food, don't panic!" the woman explained quickly.

"Then who are they?"

"Look who this is."

The woman took the little girl off Leng Yuxie's back. When the little girl saw the old woman, she cried and shouted: "Grandma Xiang!"

When the old woman saw Wanwan, she quickly dropped her shovel and stepped forward to hold the little girl, "Oh, Wanwan, why are you back? Where is your mother?"

Mentioning her mother again, Wanwan couldn't help crying.

The woman was afraid that there would be too much noise in the yard and attract the attention of the officers and soldiers, so she hurriedly invited them into the house.

There was also a little boy in the back room. He looked about five or six years old and was older than Wanwan.

After Liu Yunxiang sat down, he recounted the story of their encounter with Wanwan and her mother from the beginning, but did not mention the discovery of the woman's body on the mountain.

After hearing this, the woman sighed, "Wanwan's family lives in Dongtou. We are neighbors on the same street, but no one from her family is in the village anymore."

"Where is her father?" Liu Yunxiang asked.

"Don't talk about her father. My child's father, as well as our entire village, all the young and strong people have been recruited into the army." The woman said helplessly.

"Then the government sealed your village, wasn't it just for free money?"

They were actually drafted into the army, so they didn't say they were paid free wages.

"A bunch of unscrupulous people. According to the court regulations, if there is only one young laborer in a family, they do not have to join the army. Only one can go if there are two. But the year before last, Yuzhou issued a document to our village, not to mention the number of laborers in the family. Regardless of age, all those who could work in the fields were recruited. There were more than 100 people in total. Once these more than 100 people left, only the old, weak, women and children were left in our village. Last year, the crops were all in panic, and everyone had a hard time. The young man left the village and became a beggar," the old woman said angrily.

"Then the government didn't pay you monthly salary?" Leng Yuxie asked.

For those recruited by the imperial court to join the army, the local government would provide monthly pay to those who were recruited.

"There was some at first, but when spring came last year, people from the government came down and said that there was a war in the west, and all the [-] or so people in our village died. They only got a little compassionate payment, and then there was nothing. "

"All sacrificed?" Liu Yunxiang was surprised.

When she mentioned this, the old woman was so angry that she slapped her thigh, "If we really have to sacrifice them all, there is nothing we can do, but the truth is not like this at all!"

Leng Yuxie frowned, "How do you say this?"

The woman asked the old woman to slow down, and then she continued: "At the beginning of autumn this year, a young man named Yang Shu suddenly came back in our village. This scared the people in our village. He should have been sacrificed. The man came back alive like this! But the young man was seriously injured. He only had time to say that those who were recruited did not go to join the army at all, and he fainted. Afterwards, the officers and soldiers chased him, saying that he was a deserter, and so he We villagers went to the government. Unexpectedly, the government didn't care, and even arrested a few leading villagers and ordered them to provoke. We were imprisoned for causing trouble. Seeing that we couldn't get justice in Yuzhou, we thought of going to Beijing to file a complaint, but before we could do so, our village was sealed off by the government."

"After the closure, every family was short of food and many people starved to death. Wanwan's grandfather and grandmother were starved to death. Her mother saw that there was no way to survive in the village, so she took advantage of a few villagers to make trouble and secretly took her children. Sneaked out from the back mountain."

Hearing this, Liu Yunxiang looked at Leng Yuxie.

"It seems that it's not just the case of empty pay. Han Lin takes it so seriously and Xie Shengmao is so bold. Maybe it's because they want to hide a bigger secret."

"A bigger secret?"

Liu Yunxiang shrugged, "I'm just guessing, after all, too many people died."

At this time, there was movement outside, and the movement was not small.

Leng Yuxie came to the courtyard gate, looked out through the crack in the door, and saw many officers and soldiers running southward in a hurry.

He turned his head and looked to the south. The fire there was even bigger, and the mountains were burning!