I hope to return to the country

Qin Zhiyi's sudden shout made Le Zhiyu's shoulders tremble in fright, and his body pressed against Qin Zhiyi's arm as he asked tremblingly.

"What's the matter? Are there beasts, or are there ghosts..."

"Don't be afraid."

Qin Zhi also patted the back of his hand to comfort him, his sharp eyes swept across the half-covered wooden shed door, his toes moved slightly, and a stone on the ground immediately shot up, as fast as the afterimage of a meteor, "Bang " pierced through the door panel, and accurately hit a certain black figure fleeing in the night.

"what!"

There was a cry of pain and exclamation from outside, which sounded very immature, like a child's voice.

Le Zhiyu was even more suspicious.

In the middle of the night in the barren mountains and wild mountains, where do children come from?Could it be that, as written in those tales of strange ghosts and ghosts, there are lonely ghosts wandering in the mountains, looking for lonely pedestrians to use their dead bodies to revive their souls?

He held Qin Zhiyi's hand tightly, and couldn't help but start thinking wildly.

Ning Yuancheng is very good at killing people, I don't know if killing ghosts is okay...

Qin Zhi also guarded Le Zhiyu behind him, went out to check, but found that it was not a beast or a ghost, but a group of half-grown children.

Among this group of children, the oldest was no more than twelve or thirteen years old, and the youngest looked only seven or eight years old. At this time, they were all surrounded by the child who was hit, and looked at Qin Zhiyi in horror. Terrified, but no one escaped first.

Not a ghost.

Le Zhiyu suddenly became less nervous, replaced by an extremely curious mood.

"Whose children are you all? Why are you still outside so late, aren't your parents in a hurry?"

He is really too beautiful, and his voice is sweet and soft, which is very easy to arouse the favor of others. For children, he has an inexplicable kind feeling, which makes the fear in their hearts dissipate instantly. few.

"We have no parents, and no home."

Inside, a rather clever-looking child dared to reply.

"We are starving to death. We came here to see if there are any hares and pheasants left by hunters, so we can pick them up and eat them. I didn't expect you to be in there. We are leaving now. Please don't beat us. ······"

He was talking about picking up, but he was actually looking to see if any hunters didn't take away the prey stored here, and came here to steal at night.

Le Zhiyu has been pampered and pampered since he was a child, so he has never seen the suffering of the world, let alone seeing these orphans with yellow, emaciated and ragged clothes, who have to run around in the mountains in the middle of the night because of stuttering.

"Why starve to death?"

He couldn't hide the surprise on his face, and asked puzzledly.

"Even if there are no parents, there should be relatives and clansmen, right? No matter how bad it is, I heard that there are usually some kind of porridge houses set up in the government outside to help the helpless old, weak and widowed Why don't you go there?"

The children were also very surprised when they heard what he said, and after looking at each other for a while, they all gave him "why not eat minced meat" looks.

"Father and mother are gone, how can there be any relatives and clansmen? The government's shantang is just a decoration. If we really go, we may not get food, but we will get a good meal!"

"How could this be?"

Le Zhiyu's eyes widened in disbelief, and he turned to look at Qin Zhiyi.

"Is it true what they say?"

Qin Zhi also closed his eyes slightly and nodded.

"Yes."

He slowly told Le Zhiyu all the reasons he knew.

Because of years of wars and population decline, almost all the young and middle-aged people in the rural homes here are taken as soldiers, and bandits are rampant here. Loot it, and then sell it as a commodity for money after playing with it.

After a long time, there are no women who dare to live in this place anymore. Those who can run away. As for abandoning their children, many of them are reluctant to do so. They can't even live happily. living child?

Le Zhiyu likes to hear what happened outside, but this is the first time he hears such a thing.

In the past, what Su Yi and Su Er told him when they came back from going out were all fresh and lively anecdotes in the Jianghu market, or some secret gossip in the imperial court. What kind of power has been recruited, who has the most military power, but never tells him the hardships of the people's livelihood and the cruelty of the war.

He has always imagined the outside as a bustling, vibrant and promising new world, but he never thought that the new world is not full of sunshine, but dirty.

"What about the government?"

Le Zhiyu frowned, but he still couldn't help asking.

"Don't even care about the bandits? Are they not afraid to grow the courage of the bandits and occupy the entire city?"

Qin Zhi also felt that his palms were a little cold, and silently tightened his grip.

"The county government and the bandits here have a tacit understanding. As long as they don't enter the city to harass, they won't send troops to the mountains to encircle and suppress them. On the other hand, they can also use this as an excuse to ask the court for food, saying that it is to relieve the civilians. But in fact, they all went into their own private treasury, and as for the bandits, maybe they can get a share of the bill, so naturally they won't bother to occupy any government office."

Such a blatant collusion between officials and bandits?

Le Zhiyu was dumbfounded.

It's not that he hasn't seen the dark side of officialdom in the book, but it's all hidden, secretly scheming, each calculating, never thought that the real situation outside is far more terrifying and sinister than in the book.

I originally planned to ask if the imperial court didn’t care about it, but I turned around and thought, let’s not say that the sky is high and the emperor is far away, and the imperial court can’t control this local snake. Now that the new dynasty has just established, I’m afraid it’s busy consolidating its power and eradicating the chaotic party. It's too late, how can there be time to care about the life and death of people in this small place?

Looking at the group of skinny children, and thinking of his behavior of being picky about the food in the inn, he felt mixed feelings in his heart, and he didn't speak for a long time, even his voice was a little dry.

"Is there nothing I can do..."

Qin Zhi also stretched out his hand to pull back his wind-blown hair behind his ears, and said calmly, "There will be."

As soon as the voice fell, there was a rush of horseshoes on the mountain road not far away. It sounded particularly harsh in this silent night. In the dust, accompanied by dots of torches, the menacing sound was like charging on the battlefield. Come straight here.

Le Zhiyu's heart jumped suddenly, and he always had a bad premonition.

This posture, it seems that the visitor is not good.