"Your Highness, wait!"
Seeing that Liu Deng was about to run away, Dou Ying hurriedly shouted again.
"If you have any matters under your command, just discuss it with the Prime Minister. I won't give you any permission!"
Liu Deng said simply and directly.
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid you really need to be present for this matter!"
Dou Ying said with a wry smile.
"What's going on?"
Liu Deng frowned and said with some doubts.
"Take a look at this first!"
As Dou Ying spoke, he handed a document directly to Liu Deng.
"What the hell is this?"
Looking at the blood stains on the document, Liu Deng's eyebrows suddenly wrinkled.
"Your Majesty, you don't know. This is a letter from the people sent by Tingwei Mansion."
"You still care about this?"
Liu Deng opened the envelope with some confusion.
"Your Majesty, let's finish reading it before talking!"
Dou Ying's face looked a little strange.
"Prime Minister, let's take a look!"
After Liu Deng read the above content, his expression became solemn.
"When did you receive this?"
After reading the petition, Chao Cuo's expression became serious.
"This was forwarded by Tingwei Mansion three days ago. They didn't know how to deal with it, so they transferred it to Honglu Temple..."
"Is this reliable? Where is the owner of the suffering?"
Chao Cuo frowned and considered his words.
"The name of the sufferer is Li Xiu'er. He traveled all the way from Donglai to Chang'an, and now he lives in Honglu Temple!"
Dou Ying said quickly.
Hearing what he said, Liu Deng became a little embarrassed.
"How about we go meet together?"
After thinking for a moment, Liu Deng looked at Chao Cuo and said.
"It's easy to go, just..."
As Chao Cuo spoke, he looked at the document in his hand again.
"Let's talk about it after reading it!"
After Liu Deng finished speaking, he walked directly towards his carriage.
Dou Ying and Chao Cuo looked at each other and immediately turned to follow.
Along the way, the three of them were each thinking about their own concerns, but no one said much.
A quarter of an hour later, the three finally arrived at Honglu Temple.
"Sir, please save my husband! Save this whole boat of people!"
As soon as they got off the bus, a woman in linen clothes fell to her knees on the ground, hugged Dou Ying's thigh and started crying.
Looking at her skinny bones, sunken cheekbones, and dusty look on her face, even Liu Deng frowned.
"You should get up first. These are His Majesty the King and the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. If you have anything to do, just tell them directly!"
The entrance to Honglu Temple was originally one of the liveliest places in Chang'an City. Now seeing such excitement, people naturally gathered around it quickly.
"Your Highness! Please show mercy and send someone to save my husband. Please save the men of the women's clan!"
When Li Xiuer heard what Dou Ying said, she immediately turned around and kowtowed to Liu Deng.
Before he finished speaking a few words, his entire forehead turned red.
"Get up first. This is not the place to talk. Let's go inside and talk!"
Chao Cuo glared at Dou Ying angrily and quickly reached out to help Li Xiuer up. Although he also knew that Dou Ying was helping this woman.
However, with so many people watching, Chao Cuo was really worried about Liu Deng's safety.
"It doesn't matter, find someone to bring some chairs, I'll make a deal here!"
After Liu Deng pondered for a moment, he took a deep look at Dou Ying.
How could he not understand that this matter was Dou Ying's intention, but there was no need to pursue anything now, as this was a good opportunity.
"Your Highness, the name of the commoner woman is Li Xiuer, and my husband's name is Xu Wanshan, who is from Ye County, Donglai County. They have made a living by delivering goods and fishing at sea for generations. In March of this year, they followed the government's call to open up a trade route to the north. The whole clan teamed up to buy a big boat.”
"However, as soon as he arrived near Wei's North Korea, he was kidnapped by a group of barbarians. Only after the other ships accompanying him came back did the civilian woman know that he had been in trouble overseas."
"There are fifty-three men on this boat. These are all the men of my Xu family. Please save them, Your Majesty!"
"If they don't come back, all the 370 members of my Xu family may lose their livelihood!"
When Li Xiuer said this, she was already crying.
Developing merchant ships to go to sea was part of Liu Deng's previous plan, but the original scope was only near Buqicheng.
Unexpectedly, people from Yexian County actually started to respond.
"You said they followed the imperial court's call and went to the north. Do you have any proof?"
Liu Deng frowned and then asked.
"Please see, Your Majesty, this is a letter of guarantee signed by a total of 453 merchants, merchants and sailors accompanying me!"
As Li Xiuer spoke, she reached out and took out a document from her arms and handed it to Liu Deng with both hands.
"Your Majesty, when we set out in March, the April people fell into the hands of the barbarians. It has been several months now, how can this be..."
After Chao Cuo was silent for a moment, he frowned and said.
Of course Liu Deng understood what he meant. Even if this matter was true, at this time, several months had passed.
I'm afraid it doesn't matter whether they are alive or not. What's more, they are overseas now, so it is not so easy to save people.
Furthermore, it is still a period of national mourning, and according to the rules, there should be no conquests for three years.
Let’s not talk about whether it’s worth the effort and the crowd. Just sending people out to rescue people at this time is somewhat inappropriate in terms of etiquette!
After hearing Chao Cuo's statement, Liu Deng remained silent again, and Li Xiuer's heart suddenly felt as if it had fallen into an ice cave.
This was her last glimmer of hope. For this matter, she spent the last bit of money and food in her family, and then came all the way to Chang'an City.
But I didn't expect that this last glimmer of hope would be gone...
"You said that your husband has made a living by fishing and delivering goods for generations. Does he pay taxes to the court every year?"
Just when she was in despair, Liu Deng suddenly asked.
Hearing Liu Deng's question, not only Li Xiuer was dumbfounded, but even Chao Cuo was stunned.
What does this have to do with taxes?
Even if this means not paying taxes, what else can be done to this woman at this time?
"Of course we have this. The documents from previous years are still in the clan. These are from last year and the year before!"
While Li Xiuer was talking, she actually took out two crumpled documents from her arms.
Although he didn't know what Liu Deng meant, Dou Ying hurriedly took it.
"Master Prime Minister, is this thing real?"
But when he was about to hand it to Liu Deng, Liu Deng directly motioned for him to hand it to Chao Cuo.
Chao Cuo was completely confused. How could he, the prime minister, know whether this thing was real or not.
