Battle of the Red Chamber Ring III

Qin Keqing died in Jia's mansion, Jia Huan followed Mu Kun, and Mu Zhen started on the road. He was supposed to go straight to the south of the Yangtze River, but when he arrived in Kaifeng, Mu Kun ordered Lin Zhixiao to change his route to the Yellow River.

"There are rumors that there is a gap in the embankment of the Yellow River. A few days ago, I received a message from Master Chi, asking to go and see it. If Master Huan finds it troublesome, you can ask your servant to take a step first. If you are willing, you can follow us."

Jia Huan looked at Mu Kun thoughtfully for a while and then agreed. Lin Zhixiao consciously drove the carriage to the river bank and went up the direct current.There is a map in Mu Kun's hand, which is very detailed, and he can find the direction he is going to in almost every fork in the road, but the more people walk, the more inaccessible.

Jia Huan has never been to the Yellow River, and it is the first time he has seen the Yellow River, but there are many mounds of earth buried beside the Yellow River, which should be tombs, old and new: "What kind of person would bury his own bones in Here?" Jia Huan asked Mu Kun who was also sitting in the carriage.

Mu Kun looked at the Yellow River in a trance, and when he heard Jia Huan's words, he turned around and pointed at the Yellow River: "Do you think the water here is fast?"

Jia Huan looked at it, and found that the water was calm and did not seem to be turbulent.Mu Kun saw the answer from Jia Huan's expression. He looked at the long yellow river: "There is nothing more dangerous than this big river. The graves here are the Xun soldiers who come here to fetch water every year." Their corpses come here almost once a year, and they have to take good quality water and send it to the capital at the beginning of March, and weigh the river to know the harvest for the year."

Jia Huan nodded, and the carriage gradually went away. He stared blankly at the white sail hanging on the tomb for a while, then looked back at Mu Kun: "Could it be that you came this time to know how the disaster is going?"

Mu Kun nodded: "Master Chi is in an inconvenient place now, so we naturally need us to pass on the news outside. If not, how can we ensure that the young master can stay there safely." No matter how smart the master looks, there is someone behind him. A group of dead soldiers who sent information could do things only if they knew what was going on in the world. Although Jia Huan knew that Ah Da's identity might be unusual, he didn't expect it to be so exciting.

"You have been staying in Jia's mansion, thinking only of your own fame and fortune, but you have thought about this world, the prosperity of the world is for profit, the world is for profit, you need to stand taller and see farther away, I don't ask you to care about the world, but only to benefit one side." Mu Kun taught Jia Huan in a rare serious way, "I know you, what you are asking for now is just adding a red robe, so that the people in the mansion will no longer look down on you, but If you really reach that point, will you no longer have to rush forward? Are you going with the flow to be like your father, not seeking merit but seeking no faults, or seeking a piece of blessed land for the people of the dawn of the world to appease one side? peaceful."

Jia Huan looked down at his hands, not too big but not too small. He is now eight years old, and he will be nine years old in the next year. If it is said that in modern times, he is only in elementary school, but now someone has asked him again. Lifelong ambition, is it because you set your mind early that you can climb higher and stand higher?

Jia Huan raised his head and looked at Mu Kun: "Now I have only read some skills in books. If you ask me how I will be in the future, what's the use of my talking about hype? I just want to say one thing, if I can really get lucky and enter the officialdom , I only do things according to my conscience, and I can be right with you and myself."

Mu Kun nodded, put the gold ring on his little finger on Jia Huan's hand, and put it close to Jia Huan's ear: "You keep this, if something goes wrong, you can take this gold ring to find Mi If there is a rice shop beginning with the word Chi, it can be taken care of."

Jia Huan looked at Mu Kun and asked, "Tell me, what exactly are you going to do?"

Mu Kun sighed: "Since we have reached this point, I will tell you that Ah Da was originally the illegitimate son of King Nan, and his mother is not to be mentioned, so you can treat her as dead. Master Chi arranged for Master Chi to take his master on a long trip. Master Chi was worried that Master Chi would be too young to be useful, so he happened to meet you, so he went to your house. When Nan Wang heard the news, he ordered someone to say hello to your father, Then you'll know."

"So what's the matter with the so-called test for talent?" Jia Huan blinked.

Mu Kun sighed longer, with a bitter face on his face: "We were originally arranged by the master's wife to be next to the master, but Nan Wang's son fell to his death while riding a horse, so he took the master who was studying behind closed doors back to the house. , I got the news today, so I took the master to live in the palace, and this errand was ordered by me today."

Jia Huan nodded, it really was the emperor's words, the subordinates broke their legs and were able to live in the palace, Ah Da really has a future.

The carriage of the three people is not obvious, but before reaching the disaster area, Mu Kun disappeared, leaving only Mu Zhen to stay beside Jia Huan, and ordered Lin Zhixiao to stay halfway, even though it was halfway, he could see a few refugees , skinny and ragged.

On the first day Mu Zhen saw the refugees, he ordered Lin Zhixiao to buy five or six rough cotton robes, and asked Jia Huan to wear them.Mu Zhen was waiting outside the carriage. He bought an old horse and waited for a while to take Jia Huan to ride to the disaster area. After waiting for a while, he saw Jia Huan came out after changing clothes, and was immediately ashamed.

"Sure enough, people rely on clothes. When you wear them like this, you lose all energy. If you ask me to put some mud on your face, you are so skinny and different from those disaster victims." Mu Zhen covered his mouth and smiled. for a while.

In fact, Jia Huan gained a lot more weight than before, because he exercised a lot in the few days he was out, and naturally ate more food, but he was born to worry about his life, and he couldn't show it in his stomach.

"Shall we go today, or wait a few days?" Jia Huan stretched out his hand and rubbed his stomach, the cotton clothes were a bit stiff.

"Let's go today, and we'll turn back within half a month. Don't sink for too long. Now that the imperial envoy is here, let's take a fish in troubled waters to see how many hands are there, inserting themselves into the disaster area to make money for the victims." Mu Zhen sighed. Although he agreed to take Jia Huan to the disaster area, he was worried about his young age.

Jia Huan nodded, and Mu Kun pulled him onto the horse. After driving for half a day, the two of them, one big and one small, saw some scenes. A large number of victims were arranged outside the city, and the yamen came out to distribute porridge every day. When Jia Huan entered through the east gate, he felt that the inside was okay. Although it was not as prosperous as the capital, the people who came and went were well dressed, but most of them had sad expressions on their faces.

"Could it be that the gap is not big this time?" Jia Huan asked Mu Zhen.

"Let's go to the west to arrange the disaster victims so we can find out." This is a town that is still close to the south, and they walked for two days. The first few looked okay, and the resettlement places were also clean. After another seven days, I saw the disaster area, and along the way, I saw those places where the flood had washed away, where there were still fertile farmland houses, and the water was wet.

To the far north is the most severely affected place, and there are not many residents in the town, it seems that people in the whole city have closed their doors.Most of the victims can be seen everywhere in the city, and dead bodies are dragged out by the yamen servants at any time and burned.

Jia Huan grabbed Mu Zhen's sleeve and didn't let go, but still looked straight at the screaming victims all over the field. Everyone seemed to be covered with mud, and a large number of human traffickers directly took a hemp rope to collect them. Some of them are girls, although they cry and cry, they are a little resigned to their fate. Occasionally, those who have more sons will sell the older sons, and the money sold will be used to buy coffins for the dead old people. , they will be piled up in one place by the yamen servants and burned. The threat of no remains makes everyone spend everything to collect money, and those who sell coffins do it directly on the spot, measure it on the spot, and piece it together when they come. , the working man took off his clothes and was covered in sweat.

Jia Huan followed Mu Zhenshen to the side where the porridge was served, and saw that although the inside of the cauldron looked white, but the chopsticks were upside down, and the porridge could be seen at the bottom of the bowl, just like that. The people still meandered, and the discharge was more than three miles.

Jia Huan took a step back, and saw a girl struggling not to follow the trafficker, and two honest men and a woman beside her tried to persuade her. Before she could say a few words, the woman covered her face and began to cry. Suddenly, the girl stopped struggling, took a look at her parents and raised her feet, then followed. After walking less than ten steps, she happened to pass by the place where the coffin was being made, and bumped her head against the convex corner, and the red liquid instantly stained the wooden plaque.

The trafficker lowered his head and put his finger under the girl's nose. He untied the girl after saying bad luck.The trafficker didn't ask the couple for the money they wanted to give, but they still dragged them along this unreal place.

"Why are you still alive, why are you still alive." The old man holding the rice porridge at the side walked slowly to several tents with tears in his eyes, not knowing whether he was asking his relatives or himself.

"It's not human, it's hell." Jia Huan murmured, staring at the dead girl, his throat tightened.

After walking a few steps, Mu Zhen simply picked up Jia Huan and walked back to the city. Jia Huan was lying on Mu Zhen's body, his hands were still shaking. It was sticky and stained half of his body.

When he arrived in the town, Mu Kun, whom he hadn’t seen for ten days, suddenly appeared. He was wearing a brocade robe of a rich man, waving a paper fan in his hand, and looked at Jia Huan who was held in Mu Zhen’s arms: “What is this? It's rare to see such a childish third young master." He put his hand on Mu Zhen's body, leaning against it, and Jia Huan was also being pressed down, feeling a little heavy, he stretched out his hand to push, and just touched the big red toilet It feels a bit wrong to the touch, wet.

Jia Huan looked down at his palm, which was also red. Mu Kun smiled and blinked at Jia Huan, but he couldn't see that he was injured at all.Mu Zhen didn't speak, just hugged Jia Huan with one hand, followed Mu Kun, entered the inn step by step, and asked for a room.