"Your Majesty, we are approaching Wucheng ahead, but Sui Gong's convoy has not been found yet!" A Yulin Army scout came over to report.
"Are we almost arriving at Wucheng?" Zhao Yizhi frowned, "Did they pass by?"
The scout replied: "We have reported on horseback. The Wucheng defenders said that regardless of the official roads and small roads, they guarded day and night and did not see the convoy of Sui Gong passing here."
"Have the scouts from the south returned? What's the situation in Ningcheng and Chuncheng?" Zhao Yizhi asked.
"The scout over there hasn't come back yet." The scout replied.
"I know, let's go first." Zhao Yizhi nodded.
Zhaixing and the other four men were wearing Yin Mengwei's clothes and hiding in the team, right behind Zhao Yizhi's horse, protecting Zhao Yizhi personally.
Nafeng was restless by nature, and he was really tired of following the team all day long. He carried a stick and said: "Your Majesty, we have many people, and the opponent only has a hundred people. If we scatter into the mountains and forests, we may not be able to find them. How about I go look for them again?" ?”
Fanyu glared at him: "We want to ensure His Majesty's safety, so don't get too involved."
Nafeng glared back with dissatisfaction, but didn't say anything more and followed him obediently.
Zhao Yizhi looked at Nafeng and Fanyu, thought for a moment, and said, "Okay, this is all official, and since the Yulin Army and Yinmengwei are here, nothing will happen. Nafeng , why don't you and Fan Yu go south and look for it."
When Nafeng heard Zhao Yizhi's order, he felt happy and went to poke Fanyu with a stick: "Did you hear that? His Majesty ordered us to find him!"
Fanyu didn't pay attention to Nafeng's movements, but he instinctively reached out and grabbed the stick, threw it away, and said to Zhao Yizhi: "Your Majesty, please change someone else, I don't want to go with this kid."
"Are you going or not?" Nafeng muttered and said hello to Zhao Yizhi, "Your Majesty, I'll go first." After saying that, he tapped the ground with his long stick and jumped out from the Yinmengwei team, dancing. He jumped into the country road with a long stick and disappeared in a flash.
"Zhaixing, you have good eyesight, you go. There will be a care with Nafeng." Zhao Yizhi saw that Fanyu was unwilling and did not force him, so he called up Zhaixing.
Zhaixing nodded, left the team, and chased Nafeng in the direction.
Zhao Yizhi watched Zhaixing and Nafeng leave together, and felt a little more at ease. After walking for half a day, he could already see the gate of Wucheng in the distance. Zhao Yizhi ordered: "The whole army will rest for a while, and tonight we will be in Wu... "
"Report to your Majesty, we found a team behind us, with about a hundred people from a distance." A scout came from behind the team to report.
"Have you found Sui Gong?" Zhao Yizhi asked with concern.
"Not found."
Zhao Yizhi looked at the sky. The sun was still high, not long after noon.
"The back team is transferred to the front team, go back and have a look!" Seeing that it was still early, Zhao Yizhi decided to go back and have a look. Just after giving the order, Zhao Yizhi turned his horse's head and followed the scouts to the rear team.
Fanyu and Lijiang looked at Zhao Yizhi who was driving away, and shouted: "Your Majesty, then we..."
Zhao Yizhi was so anxious that he didn't notice the shouts of the two men.
"Your Majesty didn't hear, so stop asking and chase after him!" Lijiang was a little anxious when he saw Zhao Yizhi running away, and he was about to jump out of the group with a giant ax in hand.
"Wait a minute, this distance is only a blink of an eye. If we are exposed at the slightest movement, I'm afraid it will be detrimental to His Majesty's plan." Fanyu analyzed calmly and calmly.
Lijiang scratched his head and looked at the rear team again. Sure enough, it was not too far away, so he returned to the team and waited.
Zhao Yizhi came to the rear team. As expected, there was a group of people not far away. They were divided into several waves. There were about a hundred people in total, but... they didn't seem to be all human...
"What is that..."
"It seems like some people...and some dogs? There are also bears and wild boars...won't bears and wild boars get into a fight?"
"That person...why is there only a skeleton left on the left? Is he a monster?"
The Yulin troops behind Zhao Yizhi also saw it and started talking among themselves.
On the other side, the beggar in front of them gradually came closer, and then someone noticed that Zhao Yizhi's army was waiting for them by the official road, and they quickly sent a message back.
"What? There are officers and soldiers? Why didn't you report earlier! You bunch of losers!" When Elder Wang heard about the officers and soldiers, he panicked and cursed at the beggar who came to report.
Elder Sun spoke up to stop him: "It's useless to blame them at this time. Let's think about how to escape. Don't speak so loudly. Although there are officers and soldiers on the other side, if there are good people inside, they will have heard what is said here."
Elder Tang nodded and said: "Elder Sun is right, tell us to go down, and when asked later, we will tell you that we fled from Nanhuai."
The beggar ran away quickly and gave the order. If Elder Sun hadn't been here today, he wouldn't have dared to be the messenger even if he was beaten to death. Elder Sun was the only one with a good temper among the four elders.
The Yulin soldiers were talking a lot, and Zhao Yizhi heard all of it. He who came from a later generation was naturally staring closely at this group of people. Compared with the people of this era, Zhao Yizhi was undoubtedly more knowledgeable. Out a lot.
Zhao Yizhi only saw "picking and cutting" on the Internet in later generations. At that time, Zhao Yizhi tried his best to imagine, but he could not imagine how terrible it would be to destroy a living person and turn him into a disabled person or even an animal. Today I read it When he saw this group of beggars, Zhao Yizhi felt that his horizons had been opened.
The beggars on the opposite side had dull eyes, covered with abscesses and pustules, and salivation at the corners of their mouths. Flies were flying up and down in the queue, circling and circling, which was as disgusting as you can say. What's even more frightening is that there is no decent, complete person among the entire crowd.
The missing arms and legs are considered normal people. The bears and wild boars mentioned by the Yulin Army are all real people. They have injured their tendons and hamstrings, and their lumbar spine is damaged. They cannot stand and can only crawl on the ground with all four limbs like wild beasts. Even their original skins were peeled off and covered with animal skins while they were still hot. Once the wounds healed, the animal skins grew together with their bodies.
"I would like to know who came up with this cruel and inhumane method first! He should be punished by the nine tribes!" Zhao Yizhi stared at the beggars and said bitterly.
The Yulin army who were close to each other secretly stupefied and winked at each other.
The criminal law of Daqi is quite light. After Zhao Shikui, the ancestor of Taizu of Daqi, conquered the world with other previous kings, he formulated the criminal law of Daqi. When referring to the criminal law of the previous dynasty, he felt that it was too heavy, so he ordered that all punishments be reduced by one degree. wait. In this way, the most severe punishment of slaying the nine clans would no longer be punishable, and the heaviest punishment would be to slay the three clans instead.
Now that they heard His Majesty's words of "killing the nine tribes", the Yulin troops were a little surprised. His Majesty's ancestral system had not dared to change for hundreds of years. In the past two months, His Majesty has repeatedly changed and invalidated it, which is evident from his skill.
"The whole army obeys the order!" Zhao Yizhi said.
The Yulin Army and the messengers on both sides who were close behind them quickly raised their ears and listened attentively.
"If these are really the people who kidnapped Sui Gong, try not to kill him until you have no choice..." Zhao Yizhi ordered with his back to everyone. Everyone could not see the expression on his face and did not dare to make any assumptions. , I just feel that something is wrong with His Majesty’s current mood.
The messengers did not dare to neglect, and galloped backwards with their horses on the left and right, conveying Zhao Yizhi's order.
The messenger soldiers have not yet returned, and the official road is so wide, so there is still some distance between the ranks of 1,500 people. When Zhao Yizhi saw the other side approaching, he tightened the reins in his hands. The Yulin army behind him also spontaneously walked up and wrapped Zhao Yizhi, his men and his horses, into the formation.
At any time, escorting is paramount. This is the consensus of the Yulin Army, the Royal Guards and the Twelve Heavenly Guards.
"Stop! Who are you?" Wang Zhenliang was not following him. At this time, a deputy general of the Yulin Army had to speak. He rode to the front of the army and asked loudly. He also wanted to show off his voice in front of Zhao Yizhi. Loud and full of energy.
"We...we...came from Nanhuai...to escape." A scruffy, armless little beggar in the front row answered vaguely while drooling.
The deputy general looked at the beggar. He felt really disgusted and didn't want to look at it anymore. Now he just wants to wave to them and tell them to leave quickly. This face should never appear in front of him. But His Majesty was right next to him, and he would rather be disgusted to death than lose face like this. The deputy general suppressed his nausea, nodded, and scanned the crowd, trying to spot some clues.
Zhao Yizhi stared at the two arms of the armless little beggar. The arms were missing from the shoulders. Zhao Yizhi didn't care how miserable the little beggar was. He noticed something else.
"You have healed your broken arm. Including other people, no matter what the injury is, they all look like old injuries. Doesn't this have anything to do with Nanhuai?" Zhao Yizhi asked aloud, "Or should I say ...Why is there a...beggar gang in Nanhuai?"
"Hahahahaha, sir, what are you talking about? There are so many poor people in this world, how can there not be a few beggars?" The front team was blocked. Elder Tang, Elder Sun and other four people came from behind and leaned against each other. It's okay for this group of monsters and monsters to scare ordinary people, but if they really meet the army, pretending to be gods and ghosts won't work.
"I'm talking about the beggar gang, not beggars. By the way, you guys are still healthy people, which is really rare. It's getting late, and Wucheng is in front of you. Why don't you go to Wucheng with us to rest for a while? How about it?" Zhao Yizhi corrected Elder Tang's secret correction and emphasized the Beggar Gang.
"We are used to it. We are all poor people. If you have something to do, sir, please go to work first. We will not cause you any trouble." Seeing Zhao Yizhi's reluctance, Elder Sun quickly stepped forward and thanked him.
"It doesn't matter whether you are poor or not. I will bring my troops, and you will also bring your troops. We are destined to meet each other. Why don't we go to Wucheng together? I still have some money. I can treat you to a meal or a drink. Anyway, you don’t have any big carts to pull.” Zhao Yizhi had already determined in his mind that these people were the beggar gang that robbed the annual tribute, and he was testing every word.
Elder Tang and the other four people's faces froze, and the other party told them about the cart. It seemed that they already knew about Sui Gong. No matter how hard Elder Tang fights, he can't defeat thousands of people. A few hundred people can kill him here. Since the other party knows about Sui Gong, as long as it hasn't been exposed yet, it means it's a good thing. But I don't know why this seemingly young official hasn't taken any action yet.
Zhao Yizhi looked calm and calm, but in fact he was extremely anxious. According to the reports from the Ziyin guards who had fled back to the capital, these people's martial arts were extremely high, and he didn't know if he, with more than a thousand people, could fight against them. Fanyu and Lijiang were forgotten in the front team just now, but now they are in the back team.
If Zhao Yizhi was a little probing, he was trying to verify whether the other side was the beggar gang he was looking for, and he was waiting for Fanyu and Lijiang to come back to escort them.
Because just now, while Zhao Yizhi was talking to the four people, he quietly spread his spiritual consciousness to find out more, but found that he could no longer control his spiritual power...
