At this time, An Xiyue saw a ragged woman coming out of the town looking around.
The woman was also holding two children of six or seven years old. Both the children and the woman had frostbite on their faces. Their feet and trouser legs were wet and looked very red and swollen.
An Xiyue walked up, blocked their way, and asked, "Sister, why are you all out of the city in such a cold weather? It's not safe for you as a woman with two children."
Although they were dressed as medicine merchants when they came out of Kyoto, the Dragon Tiger Army sent word that if they got closer to Zhangzhou, they would have to change their clothes. So at this time, An Xiyue only wore a coarse cotton jacket and her hair was only The woman's hair was tied up into a bun with a cloth ribbon.
Seeing the guarded look in the woman's eyes, An Xiyue explained: "We also passed by here because of the snowstorm and wanted to find a place to rest."
Seeing that An Xiyue didn't look like a bad guy, the woman told him, "Madam, don't go any further. Go somewhere else. I'm going to find some food for my two children. The children are really hungry."
"Xiao Shi, give them some dry food." An Xiyue glanced at the two children, they must be really hungry.
When the woman saw the big cake, she took it gratefully and said, "Thank you, thank you." The woman gave the cake to her children without thinking, and she didn't eat a bite.
When the two children saw the food, they ate without thinking about anything.
Xiao Shi took another one out of his arms and handed it to the woman: "Sister, you can eat some too."
"Thanks……"
Xiao Shi had never been hungry since she was a child, and Lao Jiu protected her very well. Seeing this scene, he felt sad.
An Xiyue helped the woman aside and asked, "Sister, are you all fleeing? Hasn't the imperial court transported disaster relief food to various counties and ordered local officials to distribute it to the people?"
The woman said: "We all escaped from the village and had no idea that the government was going to distribute relief food. However, Mayor Zhu of Yangjiao Town ran away when he saw more and more victims. The government didn't care about our life or death at all. There were also people who fled. We went to Zhangzhou City to beg, but they were kicked out and we were not allowed to enter the city at all. We had no choice but to take refuge in the town."
Nangong Yuanyi also asked: "Does Magistrate Fang of Shan'an County not care about your life or death? I heard that he is an upright official."
Magistrate Fang was Li Zheng's teacher, so Nangong Yuanyi decided to go to Zhangzhou first to understand the situation.
"I heard from people who fled to the town that Magistrate Fang of Shan'an County was imprisoned. He seemed to have been accused of distributing food for disaster relief. They also said that what he stole was military rations, and that stealing military rations was a capital crime. Specifically, We women don’t know much about it, but everyone says that Magistrate Fang is a good person..." the woman said.
An Xiyue glanced at Nangong Yuanyi and said secretly: "There is indeed a problem. No matter how impulsive a county magistrate is, he will not touch the army's rations. He must be executed according to the laws of the Northern Dynasty."
Nangong Yuanyi was worried that Magistrate Fang might have opened a warehouse to release grain as normal and was falsely accused of releasing military rations. Another possibility was that Magistrate Fang was forced into desperation and there were more and more victims, so he had to use military rations. Disaster relief was finally plotted against.
The person who could plot against him was probably the Zhangzhou magistrate or an official at the prefecture level. Because the news was sealed so tightly, not even the slightest hint of it was revealed.
At this time, the people in the town rushed out and surrounded them.
It was not women who came, but a group of men with "weapons."
Xiao Shi and Yuan Bao were immediately on guard.
Nangong Yuanyi glanced at the crowd and saw that the "weapons" they held were all sticks with no lethality.
