Fake concubine, real queen

As soon as Zhengye said this, not to mention the reaction of others, He Gu was so embarrassed that he wished he could find a crack in the ground to sneak in, and he was struggling to hide the truth from the Third Highness, and it was not easy to say anything in front of him right now, so he just Can desperately winks at Zhengye, telling him to stop talking.

At this moment, there was a sudden commotion from outside the yard, and the faint sounds of screams, howls and cursing, as well as the sound of porcelain falling to the ground, everyone was slightly taken aback.

Pei Zhaoheng raised his head and looked in the direction of the sound, frowned, and said to Chengwei: "Go and see, what's going on outside."

Cheng Wei nodded, and led Zhou Yufei to turn around and go.

As soon as the others left, Zhengye seemed to have come to his senses and realized that he was too reckless just now, but he was really worried that Lord Hou had a baby in his belly, and he refused to tell the prince about it, the third prince didn't know anything At that time, the two of them are neither serious nor serious, what if they hurt Lord Hou, what if they hurt the little one in Lord Hou's stomach again?

If Zhengye cared about it, he would be in chaos, so he lost his sense of proportion.

Now that he has come to his senses, and just now when He Gu Chao gave him the same look, Zhengye changed his face slightly, hurriedly lifted the hem of his robe, knelt down on one knee and bowed his head and said: "I... I was just worried for a moment Lord, I lost my sense of propriety, and I ask the prince and Lord Hou to punish me."

As soon as he finished speaking, before He Gu and Pei Zhaoheng answered, Cheng Wei and Zhou Yufei had already returned from outside the yard, and Cheng Wei clasped his hands and replied: "If you want to return to the lord, my subordinates have already asked about it. It seems that there are a large number of refugees. , at least two or three hundred people are gathering at the door to make trouble."

300 people?

That's not a small amount.

He Gu and Pei Zhaoheng looked at each other, but didn't say anything——

This is a post station in Yangxi County, but it is slightly different from ordinary post stations. This post station only receives officials and nobles who come from central Beijing. It is not very eye-catching on weekdays. How could it attract so much attention today? How many refugees are here?

He Gu often stays in the Kunqiong Mountain military camp, and usually does not come to Yangxi very often, but even so, on the way today, he also met many refugees from the North who flocked to Yangxi. Every year when the new year is approaching, no matter whether the imperial court is fighting a war or living a peaceful life, the people on the border will inevitably be beaten by the barbarians in the north. I don’t know how to do this kind of thing, but this kind of thing happens every year. Only God knows what the origin of these people is. Anyway, the three major departments will definitely not admit that they have something to do with them, but these people are all small groups of people. , run away after ruining one place, and run away after looting one place, very flexible, it is not easy to really manage it, so it is repeatedly prohibited.

So the refugees who took refuge from the north to the south have already existed for a long time, but the road from the north to Yangxi is not close, and there are other cities along the way, so generally these refugees will be absorbed by other places if they can't reach Yangxi , but now they have come to Yangxi. It can be seen that this year, perhaps because of the war, the number of refugees in the Northland is by no means a small number.

Pei Zhaoheng said: "What are the refugees gathering here for?"

Cheng Wei replied: "These refugees don't know where they got the news, but they know that the prince has arrived in Yangxi, and they also know that the prince is staying here. Right now, they are clamoring outside, saying that they want to see the imperial envoy and the prince."

Pei Zhaoheng said, "Where is Qianzhi County?"

Cheng Wei said: "Just now the prince sent him back, I think he has already gone back to the county government office, his subordinates have already called someone to invite him back, he should be on the way now..."

Cheng Wei hadn't finished speaking, but in less than half an hour, the commotion outside became even louder. The postman at the post station seemed to be unable to hold back at last, and asked someone to shout outside the yard, and when he got permission, he He went directly to the gate of the courtyard, knelt down and kowtowed, raised his head to look at Pei Zhaoheng and said with a bitter face: "My lord, there are too many refugees outside, and they want to see you, my servant... I really can't do anything, just look at it." ...How can this be good?"

Zhou Yufei heard the words, frowned and said: "Zhensheng is good? It's because you Yangxi didn't settle the refugees well. Now the refugees are causing trouble, why did you find our prince? The third prince just passed by here, he is not... "

Pei Zhaoheng shook his head and said, "Xiancheng."

Zhou Yufei heard that he didn't let him speak, although he felt a little annoyed in his heart, he had no choice but to keep quiet and kept silent.

Pei Zhaoheng said to the postman: "Since that's the case, I'll go out and have a look."

When Yicheng heard the words, he seemed to be pardoned and kowtowed again and again: "I thank the prince for his kindness, and I thank the prince for his compassion!"

Seeing that Pei Zhaoheng really wanted to go out, He Gu felt uneasy for some reason, he frowned slightly, pulled Pei Zhaoheng's sleeve and said in a low voice: "These refugees are so many, I don't know who are in them, the prince hastily went out like this , isn't it a little risky..."

Pei Zhaoheng said: "It's okay, with Chengwei and Xiancheng around, I won't be in the way."

He walked out of the yard, He Gu was really worried when he saw this, so he quickly followed.

It’s okay if you don’t come out, as soon as you leave the gate of the post station, and see the situation outside the gate of the post station, several people are shocked——

Although there were a few officers and soldiers maintaining order, there were only two or three kittens among the officers and soldiers, and there was a huge crowd of refugees, coaxing the gate of the post station to block the water, some crying and crying, and some swearing and cursing endlessly. , The mood is different, it can be said that it is the most real sentient beings.

——The only thing in common is that these refugees are all sallow, emaciated, unkempt, and there are even women holding children inside, so in the cold weather approaching the end of the new year, they are dressed in rags, wearing only a tattered single , I really don't know how they drove all the way from Beidi to Yangxi.

He Gukan felt a little bit unbearable, but someone among the refugees over there said: "The imperial envoy is here! The prince is here! We are saved! We are saved!"

Another refugee cried out: "My lord, help me, my lord, help me... Please, my lord, don't drive us out of the city, don't drive us out of the city, woo woo woo..."

After speaking, weeping and kowtowing, the scene became chaotic for a while, the voices came and went one after another, almost stirring up a pot of porridge.

Don't blame the postman who was anxious like an ant on a hot pot. He didn't hesitate to offend, but he also asked someone to go to Tong Bingchuan to invite His Highness to go out. After all, there were only a few officers and soldiers maintaining order at the gate, but the emotions of the refugees became more and more out of control. If a trouble is not stopped, there are so many people, once they break in, they don't know what kind of trouble they will cause.

Cheng Wei raised his head and glanced at the lord, and saw him nodding slightly to signal to him, then walked out from behind Pei Zhaoheng, raised his voice slightly on the steps in front of the inn gate: "Fathers and elders, please stay safe and don't be impatient, we The prince was only ordered to supervise the construction of the river and passed by here, and he doesn't know the situation of Yangxi, what do you guys have to say..."

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by a tall, thin, ragged man, who said angrily: "We are all mud legs, you are noble people, don't fool us with these official words, and bully us!" I don’t understand, the folks came here just to ask for an explanation, why did the Third Prince drive us out of the city when he arrived in Yangxi, now that it’s winter and it’s freezing outside the city, we still have a way to survive Is it?! Zuo Zuo is nothing but death, if the prince refuses to give an explanation today, we will not leave here!"

After he finished speaking, the miscellaneous refugees echoed: "Yes, no, no! Why did you drive us away?!"

At this moment, there was a loud shout from the other side of the long street.

"You troublemakers, you are so presumptuous!"

He Gu heard the words, looked up, but it turned out that the magistrate of Qian County was invited back by the people sent by Cheng Wei, and he went back and forth, and at this moment he brought back a group of yamen guards.

The person who spoke was naturally Qian Zhixian.

The magistrate in official uniform came with the officers and soldiers, and the refugees lost their momentum a little, and unconsciously made way for him, and Qian Zhixian hurriedly walked tremblingly to the steps to face him. Pei Zhaoheng saluted, and said: "Your Highness...Your Majesty was careless for a moment, and such a mess happened to shock the lord, please forgive me!"

Turning around and looking at the refugees, he said angrily: "You really don't know how to live or die, but you know that this is the third prince of the court, the first-rank prince personally appointed by His Majesty, he..."

Pei Zhaoheng interrupted him, and said in a deep voice: "Qianzhi County, they said that the king is here, and they will be kicked out of Yangxi County. What's going on?"

Qian Zhixian's face turned pale immediately, the expression was really not very good-looking, his face trembled, and it was obvious that he was also very flustered——

It turned out that he was reprimanded by the third prince just now, blaming him for not properly settling these refugees. The county magistrate has never read a few books, so he thought it was these refugees who crowded the streets and alleys of Yangxi. He blamed it, so as soon as he left the gate of the post station, he asked the Yawei around him to arrange to expel these refugees, but he did not directly ask them to be driven out of the city, but just asked the Yawei to accommodate the refugees in the west of the city. Wei is too concerned about his affairs, these people are used to being black-faced and cruel-hearted, how can they explain it clearly to the refugees?

They came so fiercely that they startled the nearby refugees for a moment. There were quite a number of them, and the yamen guards could not expel them in a short while. I don't know who saw Qian Zhixian and came out of this post half a quarter ago, and got the news that A prince from the middle of the capital was resting in the station right now, and they made a fuss for a moment, and the group of refugees were afraid of being driven out of the city, so they all gathered in front of the station, asking the prince from the capital to give an explanation and leave a note for them way of life.

Although the incident happened suddenly and it took only a short time, Pei Zhaoheng had already guessed exactly what happened.

"This king is asking you to come up with a regulation so that you can resettle the refugees. Why did you ever ask you to drive them out of the city?"

Qian Zhixian's knees softened, and he knelt down with a plop and was about to kowtow, but Pei Zhaoheng asked Chengwei to stop him, so he could only say with a bitter face: "Your official... Your official didn't intend to drive them out of the city, but just told the yamen guards...

…It’s nothing more than placing these refugees in the west of the city, but who would have thought that not only did they not obey the yamen’s arrangement, but they even gathered a crowd to make trouble, it’s really daring..."

Pei Zhaoheng said: "Put it in the west of the city? If that's the case, there is a porridge field where the people rest, can the magistrate set it up?"

Qian Zhixian's lips clicked twice, but he didn't make a sound for a long time. After a while, he said: "...not... not yet, but the next official will ask someone to arrange it immediately, at most seven days! at most seven The day will be arranged!"

Pei Zhaoheng said coldly: "Seven days? In these seven days, the magistrate is going to let these people wait to die? Is there still food in the yamen?"

In the eyes of everyone, Qian Zhixian said yes or no, and he shrank his neck for a while, and could only whisper: "There are still some..."

Pei Zhaoheng said: "Since this is the case, set up the porridge field as soon as possible, and it must be set up in one day at the latest."

When Qian Zhixian heard the words, he thought he had heard it wrong, and immediately lowered his face and said, "One day? This... How can it be too late? Our Yangxi is only a small place, and there are not enough people in the yamen. If there are so many refugees, how can we help them?" It won't last long with a little food, my lord, you said you... aren't you embarrassing yourself?"

Pei Zhaoheng glanced at him indifferently, and said, "Lord Qian came in to talk, this king has something to ask you."

After speaking, he turned and entered the gate of the post station.

Seeing him like this, Qian Zhixian couldn't help but thump in his heart, but he couldn't do it if he didn't follow in, so he had to follow in with a beating heart and unwillingness.

When He Gu saw this, he knew that Jiangluo was flooded last year. At that time, His Highness was ordered to go to Jiangqing and Luoling to deal with the disaster. His Highness had already experienced this kind of thing once. He already knew the way to deal with the magistrates, and now he probably wanted to punish this ignorant old man.

Among other things, even He Gu, a military officer, knows that the state capitals and government offices of the Dayue Dynasty have their own granaries. Change, if the magistrate of Qian said that he had no food surplus and had to watch these refugees die, he would not believe it.

Seeing the prince dragging the county magistrate into the door again, the refugees surrounding the gate of the inn were in an uproar for a while, and now that His Royal Highness is not there, He Gu comforted him: "Fathers, folks, you also heard what the third prince said just now. Now, it’s not that he wants to drive you out of the city, he’s calling the county magistrate to come in, and it’s just to discuss the establishment of a porridge market, everyone, please wait for a while?”

He Gu mentioned the porridge place, and the commotion of the crowd subsided a little bit, and those men who had been attacking the defense line of the Yamen who maintained order also stopped for a while.

He Gu intentionally diverted their attention, half-casually, half-curiously looked at the man who spoke clearly just now, and asked: "It was the barbarians from the North that robbed you, so you fled to Yangxi? Why? Will it run so far?"

The man saw that He Gusheng had a straight face, and he didn't look like that kind of bad guy with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks. He relaxed his defenses a little and said, "It's not just this year. When will the barbarians stop before the new year? It's just this year that the barbarians themselves The fight started, and they fought fiercely. Naturally, what we had to eat was even more insufficient than in previous years, so they came to rob us. It turned out that only three counties near the grassland suffered. This year, all seven counties in Zongshan suffered from barbarism. , the imperial court officers and soldiers couldn’t control us, we had no choice but to flee to the south in order to save our lives, but who knew that when we got to the south...it was not peaceful..."

While the man was talking, his eyes turned red, and he said: "We were lucky enough to escape the catastrophe, and those of us who were a little bit behind the scenes are already dead by the knife."

He Gu was slightly taken aback, and said, "What? You've all gone south, could it be that there are barbarians in the south?"

The man Qi Qi said: "There are no barbarians, but there are bandits. On the Kunqiong Mountain gorge that came from the north, there are all bandits! I have never seen so many bandits. They also have bandits." Artillery, they guarded those canyons and looked at us, I will never forget it in this life..."

He Gu took a breath and said, "Cannon? When did you see these bandits?"

The man thought for a while, and said: "From Yangxi to the north, there are many canyons along the way, and there are bandits. Although some of them have not shown their heads, my father was on the battlefield back then. He taught me skills when he was young. Just look at them." The leaves of the trees at the pass trembled a few times, and I knew if there was anyone in the ridges. People were hidden in those ridges, but the first few didn’t respond when they saw us for some reason. They just pretended they didn’t see us. I want to protect everyone. The old folks can only pretend that they didn’t find anything, but as long as I found out along the way, I would not dare to take the folks into such a ridge, and after a long detour, I arrived at Yangxi.”

"Until the last ridge, when we were not careful, we happened to bump into each other. We saw someone transporting artillery up the mountain, and the group found us... and they wanted to do it. Many villagers who fled along the way failed to make it. ...died in that mountain..."

As the man talked, his voice became smaller and smaller.

He Gu's heartbeat was "thumping", it was as fast as the beating of a drum——

General Zhou just arranged for the carriages and horses to transport food and grass to the front line of Chenghe Daying Camp today. The few people who made good friends with him——Chen Liangguan and the thin, pockmarked grain officer were all in the escort queue. General She Pian, whom the old general recommended to him, was in charge of escorting the troops this time.

He Gu just listened to this man's words, and his heart was already in turmoil. Although he was slow elsewhere, this kind of thing is after all a matter of a guy who eats. As soon as he heard He Gu, he knew that this was definitely not a "bandit". Where can ordinary bandits get this kind of forbidden item?

The three armies have not moved, and the food and grass will go first.

This batch of grain and grass can be said to be the largest amount escorted to and from Chenghe Daying in the past six months. Otherwise, they are usually asked to lead the team. ?

At present, the escorts should have been out of the city for an hour or two.

It seems that these refugees are indeed from the north. He Gu has stayed in Chenghe Daying for more than ten years. With the accent near Zongshan and Chenghe, he can tell if he is a local. This man is indeed Zongshankou. Yin, who traveled hundreds of miles, he didn't have any need to make up nonsense to deceive a stranger like He Gu.

that……

It’s okay if he guesses wrong, but if unfortunately he guesses right...

Kunqiong Mountain and Chenghe Daying Camp are about to suffer.

He Gu's expression changed drastically, he suddenly rushed down the steps in two steps, and snapped the rein of a post bay horse that was originally tethered by the side of the street——

Everyone didn't react, they were all taken aback, they were dumbfounded to see that he broke such a thick rein in such an understatement.

Zhengye was even more frightened, hurriedly followed up, and said anxiously: "Master Hou, you..."

However, He Gu raised his horsewhip, turned his head to Zhengye and said, "I have something urgent, I will go back as soon as I go, you just wait here."

"drive!"

After saying that, the whip lashed the horse's buttocks, his legs pinched the horse's belly, and he left without waiting for Zhengye to stop him.

It was just such a short time, He Gu left with his horse, no one could react to stop him, Zhengye called out "Hou Ye" a few times at the back, but it was obviously useless, he could only look at the little Hou Ye a few times. With just one breath, he flew far away. The back wanted to cry without tears, and said anxiously: "How can this be good! How can this be good!"

At this moment, the door of the inn creaked, and Zhengye turned his head to see that it was the third prince who came out with the disheveled Qian Zhixian.