At the same time, Lu Yunyou forced himself to calm down, and then said: "Brother Li, it's okay."
"Brother Li, let's continue on our way," and then the two of them were silent for a long time before Lu Yunyou spoke again.
After leaving the middle area, the further forward, the wider the road became. Lu Yunyou also found some traces left by ferocious beasts on the road. The official road between the two cities should usually be frequented by ferocious beasts. Due to the war, there is no manpower now. The problem of beast infestations is eliminated regularly, and the ferocious beasts are constantly expanding their territories. If this continues, sooner or later, the outside of Qu City will become the territory of ferocious beasts.
Similar situations must be extremely common in the huge Central Territory, but unfortunately they are beyond his control. After some exchanges with Li Shuangxi, Lu Yunyou thought of many things, and eventually the accumulated dissatisfaction in his heart turned into helplessness against reality.
Another hour later, the army arrived at the location of the village that Li Shuangxi had mentioned before. It was in the evening, when farmers were cooking, but there was not even a wisp of smoke in the village in front of them, and it was lifeless. .
"It's so desolate," Xing Hu, who had just returned to Lu Yunyou, couldn't help but sigh after looking around.
"You can't even see a wisp of smoke. Is it an empty village?" Wang Yihou then asked.
"The village in front is called Lanhua Village, which is the farthest from Qucheng, but because it is on the edge of the official road, it is the largest village nearby. Unfortunately, it was attacked by ferocious beasts a few days ago and has become a deserted village." At the critical moment, Li Shuangxi came forward to explain so that everyone could understand the situation ahead.
"I see," Wang Yihou nodded, already understanding the situation in the village ahead.
"We won't enter the city tonight. The troops are temporarily stationed in Orchid Village." After learning the situation from Li Shuangxi, Lu Yunyou issued an order to the stationed troops. Based on what Li Shuangxi told him on the way, he expressed his attitude towards the lord of Qucheng. He didn't want to rush into the city when it was still unclear, and there was not enough time. They would not be able to reach Qucheng before dark.
"General Xing, please arrange for several teams to search for ferocious beasts near Orchid Village. If you encounter a few ferocious beasts, kill them directly. If there are too many ferocious beasts, do not act rashly and send people back as soon as possible to ask for help."
"General Wang, you are responsible for arranging food and lodging issues. There are many vacant houses in the village. Try to arrange people to rest in those houses." After a pause, Lu Yunyou continued: "Don't forget to arrange for rotating night watchmen. After the arrangements are made, Report directly to me.”
As the leader, Lu Yunyou knew how to arrange things.
"yes."
"yes."
The next moment, Xing Hu and Wang Yihou agreed one after another, then took the order and left. In a blink of an eye, only Yu Tong and a few people were left beside Lu Yunyou.
"Brother Li, take a few of us around the village and tell us about the situation in the city." After Xing Hu and Wang Yihou left with their respective men, the rest were Lu Yunyou's people, in front of them , Lu Yunyou didn't need to avoid taboos and still called Li Shuangxi "Brother Li Da."
"Sir, please come with me," seeing Lu Yunyou's instructions, Li Shuangxi nodded and wanted to take Lu Yunyou to the ancestral temple in the village. According to what he knew, there might be some old people from the village staying there.
"Brother Li, are you familiar with Orchid Village?" Lu Yunyou asked again, following Li Shuangxi.
"To be honest with you, my wife is from Orchid Village." After complaining to Lu Yunyou before, he was comforted by Lu Yunyou. When he mentioned his wife again, Li Shuangxi's expression was much calmer than before.
"Then tell us about the situation in Orchid Village first," Lu Yunyou sighed, and had no choice but to continue.
"Lanhua Village and the surrounding villages have not existed for a long time. Most of them are only a hundred years old. At first, the villagers migrated from Qucheng. They can be said to be real common people. In recent years, each village has been closely connected. , we are very united, and everyone will help each other if there is any difficulty. Over the years, it has not been destroyed by ferocious beasts, but the population has multiplied more and more."
Sighing, Li Shuangxi continued: "But since Yiguo started fighting with you, everything has changed. At first, there were no more troops coming regularly to clean up the ferocious beasts. After that, there were very few business people coming and going. The two cities were almost cut off from Shiyan City in the end. In short, because no one came to hunt the ferocious beasts, more and more ferocious beasts attacked the village, and finally it ended up like this."
"Didn't you go to the city to ask the city lord for help?" It stands to reason that so many refugees flooding into Qucheng will cause trouble to Qucheng. Even if it is out of kindness, the people in the city will help. Lu Yunyou can't imagine why he was so short-tempered. In just one or two months, Li Shuangxi and the others encountered such a huge change.
"Your Excellency, you don't know. The city lord of Qucheng is a powerful man. He only recognizes money and not people. The villagers once sent representatives to ask them to send people to exterminate the beasts. Unfortunately, the city lord will never send people to help unless he sees the money." With a change of tone, Li Shuangxi continued: "Actually, at first, we collected a lot of spiritual stones and hired some helpers. Then things got better for a while. Later, the villagers had no money to ask for help, so they had no choice but to let those ferocious beasts do it. Raging."
"We had no choice but to organize our own manpower to solve the problem of ferocious beasts. However, most of the people in the village were ordinary people. How could they defeat the ferocious beasts? As a result, the more people were beaten, the fewer people were killed, and the number of ferocious beasts increased. In the end, when they couldn't defeat those ferocious beasts, they had no choice but to flee, leaving only some old people and young children who stayed in the village because of the difficult and dangerous journey." At the end of the sentence, Li Shuangxi's tone was extremely helpless.
"Is the city lord of Qucheng still in the city?" Once again affected by Li Shuangxi's emotions, Lu Yunyou was also very helpless and a little angry about what happened to these villages.
"I heard earlier that the city lord of Qucheng and some forces in the city were amassing money in order to escape from Qucheng as soon as possible. They may not be in the city now. It's just that I haven't been to the city for many days and I don't know the specific situation in the city." Shaking his head, Li Shuangxi didn't know the current situation in Qucheng.
"That's it." Nodding, Lu Yunyou already had some guesses as to whether the lord of Qucheng was still in the city. At the same time, he also had a premonition that their trip to Qucheng to collect grain would not go smoothly.
"Brother Li, where are you taking us now?" Taking a deep breath, Lu Yunyou asked again.
"Go to the ancestral temple in the village. Those villagers who have not left should be hiding there." Li Shuangxi looked eagerly and wanted to know if there was anyone alive in the village.
"Aren't they afraid of being found by ferocious beasts?" Lu Yunyou wondered.
"No, those places have been sealed from the outside. The ferocious beasts can't smell them and won't find them," Li Shuangxi said and quickened his pace.
"Can the people inside come out?" A look of surprise appeared in Lu Yunyou's eyes. He was very surprised by what Li Shuangxi said.
"I can't come out, and I don't plan to come out," said this, Li Shuangxi's face showed a look of sadness, and his mood was indescribably complicated.
When Lu Yunyou was talking to Li Shuangxi, Zhang Jiutian and Yu Tong, who came with them, always felt awkward about the way Lu Yunyou called Li Shuangxi, because Li Shuangxi was too weak in front of them, both in terms of status and strength, but in After listening to Li Shuangxi talk about so many tragic situations, the two of them were indeed a little moved.
When they thought about the limited food and water in that closed place, and when those things were used up, the people inside would only die. The two of them couldn't bear to listen, especially Lu Yunyou, who also considered this.
While Li Shuangxi was trying to control his emotions, Lu Yunyou was already thinking about what he would do if the person locked in the secret room was not dead yet. As the leader, he already had the right to make decisions in this regard.
In this way, they arrived at the ancestral temple. Li Shuangxi took Lu Yunyou and a group of people to go in directly, and then found a newly sealed stone gate in one place. From the outside, it looked like the workmanship was very sloppy. It was obvious that the person who built the wall was in a hurry at that time. .
"Sir, all the villagers should be inside," Li Shuangxi quickly reminded Lu Yunyou after finding the stone gate.
Following what Li Shuangxi pointed out, Lu Yunyou guessed that behind the stone gate was the darkroom in the ancestral temple. He didn't know how big the area was, but the situation inside was indeed worrying.
"You two go over and smash open the stone door," Lu Yunyou ordered to the two centurions behind him, and then motioned to Yu Tong and others to get out of the way.
"Dong, dong, dong," the two centurions who received the order took a few steps forward and each slashed at the stone door with their weapons. Soon, the stone door with several cracks shattered, revealing the dark room. The scene inside.
As a strong stench hit their faces, Lu Yunyou and others who were about to look inside quickly covered their mouths and noses, and then took a few steps back, but Li Shuangxi next to them continued to move forward as if they were not affected.
Under the dim candlelight, you can see some figures huddled in the corner from a distance, as if they are afraid of any danger outside. Those people are crowded together, with a look of fear on their faces.
