"Look, there's a big river ahead!"
Just as she was about to join Dapeng and rush to the imperial capital, Mei Ruyu suddenly pointed at a large river flowing from west to east not far ahead.
Ling Han's eyes moved forward and he noticed something was wrong, "This place is also heavily guarded?"
The river is relatively gentle but endless as far as the eye can see. The river is very wide. There is only a stone bridge connecting the two banks. Military camps stand on the opposite side of the river, and two teams of officers and soldiers patrol the bridge alternately.
This bridge is the key to connecting the northern plains and the southern plains of the Tianfu Empire. If you want to get from the northern plains to the southern plains, you must first cross the Qishan Mountains. There is a natural pass there, and further south is this stone bridge.
I learned from the old man just now that they were not allowed to migrate to the southern plains privately. Fortunately, General Tai Shiyuan took pity on them and allowed them to pass. However, they would still be blocked by this big river. Except for this stone bridge, At least there is no other way within a thousand miles.
"Are these officers and soldiers subordinate to General Tai Shiyuan?" Mei Ruyu asked. If they were under the control of Tai Shiyuan, these common people would naturally be able to pass.
Ling Han shook his head and said, "I don't know. I'll take a look at the situation and wait and see what happens."
Passing through this small forest was the big river. Groups of people soon came to the bridge. Ling Han and Mei Ruyu looked at this side silently from a big tree.
"stop!"
"This bridge is blocked! Please return the way you came!"
The officers and soldiers of the two teams stood in a line on the bridge, each holding a spear in his hand with a mighty look, his eyes widened, and he seemed to be ready to stab them with his spear if they disagreed.
Some of the common people who were bolder summoned up the courage to ask: "Why is the military master guarding the bridge and blocking my way?"
"This bridge is blocked! Please return the way you came!"
His answer was still such a cold word.
"General Tai Shiyuan promised us to let us seek a way out near the imperial capital. Please be kind and let us go." An old woman begged with her hands clasped together.
"Yes, General Tai Shiyuan didn't make things difficult for us. Why didn't he let us cross this bridge?"
"Maybe these officers and soldiers are not the general's subordinates."
"If you don't let us pass, what can we do... We have walked for several days, and if we don't reach the villages or towns, many people will starve to death..."
"We can't go back. Let's wait a moment. Maybe their leader will come out soon and let us cross the bridge."
"That's not necessarily true. Look at this posture. It's obviously been prepared in advance. I've already told you that there are so many of us, and the villages and towns near the imperial capital can't accept them."
"I see, they are all dead anyway. There are not many of them anyway. There are seven or eight thousand of us. If we charge forward together, we might be able to get through." There was a commotion among the people, and everyone said something to me. Discussion started.
The military camp across the river probably heard the commotion here, and a group of officers and soldiers rushed out and crowded the entire bridge. They moved forward in an orderly manner, forcing the people to retreat and not dare to step onto the stone bridge.
After a while, the officers and soldiers on the bridge made a way, "Tap, tap, tap..." Riding a group of tall horses, a majestic general came out. He was probably in his thirties and had extraordinary equipment.
The general said: "You go back. The imperial capital is holding the final examination every five years and the selection of qualifications for the Spirit Master Conference. The villages and towns near the imperial capital are not allowed to accept refugees from other places."
Upon hearing this, some of the people quit and muttered: "What does the imperial capital's holding of events have to do with the surrounding villages and towns? We didn't hinder the final selection of the spiritual master."
"That's right, we can't all starve to death here."
The general explained patiently: "It's because the imperial capital is holding a grand event that happens every five years. There is an endless stream of people from all over the country coming to watch it. Not to mention the imperial capital, even the nearby villages and towns are crowded with people. Where can I There’s room for you.”
"What's more, if you all leave your hometown, then the land in your hometown will be deserted without people cultivating it."
"More importantly, what if some of you are infected with the plague and it spreads to the imperial capital? That would be serious."
"Besides, Your Majesty has already opened the granary to store grain, and allocated tens of thousands of stones to provide food relief, which is enough for you to survive this winter. Why are you still not satisfied?"
Someone among the people immediately shouted angrily: "Who are you trying to coax? We haven't seen a single grain of food. Who would be willing to travel thousands of miles and leave their hometown as long as they have some food!"
"And the plague has been under control for a long time. We just happened to encounter a flood and all the crops were destroyed, so we had to go out to find a way to survive. We will go back after the next spring."
The general spread his hands and said helplessly: "I understand your difficulties very well, but letting you cross the river is really bad. As for whether you have received relief food, I don't know. You should ask Tai Shiyuan , he is responsible for the mobilization and distribution of disaster relief food."
Then he said slyly: "Oh, he was the one who let you pass the natural pass. Could it be that he had tampered with the food and secretly withheld the relief food? He was also afraid that you would be blamed for starving and causing trouble, so he had to let you go to the imperial capital to beg. Survive?"
An old woman was furious when she heard that he had falsely accused Tai Shiyuan. She immediately stood up and defended her: "You are talking nonsense. General Tai Shiyuan would never do such a thing."
The person next to him thought for a while, smacked his lips and said in denial: "Not necessarily, we really haven't seen a single grain of grain. If what he said is true, then where did the grain go?"
Someone got excited and yelled: "Huh, it's Tai Shiyuan's fault. He stole the food and dared to deceive us. Let's go back and settle the score with him."
The old woman argued bitterly: "General Tai Shiyuan is a good man. He not only cares for the people, but also saved my life. How could he withhold food?"
"Never mind it, go back and ask Taishi what's going on with the food." There was gradually a commotion among the people, and some younger ones immediately turned around and returned, deciding to ask clearly. His departure attracted many people. But the vast majority of people still choose to stay here and wait.
"Should we do something?" Mei Ruyu asked Ling Han. She was warm-hearted and kind-hearted and wanted to help these refugees.
Ling Han whispered: "We are not far from the imperial capital. We are not in a hurry. We just want to see what is going on."
"Will those who go back ask about the food situation?"
Ling Han said: "I have met General Tai Shiyuan before, and I don't think he looks like someone who embezzles disaster relief food."
"So there is something wrong with this general?"
Ling Han whispered: "I don't think he is a good person."
Mei Ruyu nodded in agreement: "He obviously means to attack others when he speaks, and he deliberately makes things difficult for the people. He is definitely not a good person."
Then he continued to ask: "What do you want to do? With these officers and soldiers guarding the stone bridge, they will not be able to pass."
"Um, there are only about a hundred officers and soldiers, kill them all?"
Ling Han glanced at her and said, "Well, aren't they just not allowed to cross the bridge? If they don't kill people, I'll build a bridge for them in minutes."
Mei Ruyu rolled her eyes and chuckled: "Ha, let's see if you can do it. When will you build a bridge? The river is so wide. They will all starve to death by the time you finish building it."
"follow me."
Ling Han walked eastward for only a few miles before stopping. It was already dark.
"I want to see how you build a bridge." Mei Ruyu looked like she was watching a show. She didn't believe that Ling Han could conjure a bridge out of thin air.
The corner of Ling Han's mouth curled up slightly, and he turned his gaze to the top of a mountain behind him. He looked up and down and found that the sunny side happened to be a relatively flat cliff, so he smiled and said, "It's up to you."
Thunder patterns flashed under his feet, and the Heavenly Demon Steps moved. Ling Han was as light as a swallow as he approached the cliff. The Heavenly Demon Sword sprayed sword energy and drew a horizontal line on the cliff. Then he cut two lines vertically, like cutting tofu, and a large The long stone wall gradually separated from the mountain.
Ling Han jumped up to the top of the mountain, raised the Sky Demon Sword, charged up his strength, and slashed down hard. With a stabbing sound, the huge long stone wall fell off.
"Hey! It's quite heavy." Ling Han jumped and held up the middle of the huge stone wall with both hands, and slowly fell back to the ground.
Mei Ruyu on the side was dumbfounded, "This is okay..."
"Hurry up and help me, it's really heavy." It's really unbelievable that an earth-level essence and blood cultivator can carry a large piece of cliff.
The beautiful jade dragged the stone wall with its strong energy, helped Ling Han walk over step by step, and stood the stone wall upright on the shore.
"You use your essence to hold it back. I'll let go. Don't let the stone wall suddenly fall down with a loud bang and startle the officers and soldiers." Ling Han ordered, slowly removing the power of the essence and blood, and the stone wall stood firmly on the shore.
"Okay, now we need to slowly lower the stone wall and build it on both sides of the river."
"You use your energy to pull up the stone wall here, and I'll go to the other side of the river and push against the stone wall to fall."
Mei Ruyu thought for a while and then came up with an idea: "We might as well shape two big stones and place them in the middle of the river as bridge piers."
"Good idea." Ling Han ran to the foot of the mountain again, cut out two large stone piers and placed them in the middle of the river.
Stepping on the Demonic Steps, he walked lightly across the water to the other side of the river. Then, the magic power in his body started to move, and he pushed out the powerful essence against the top of the stone wall. He nodded towards Mei Ruyu, and the two of them worked together to slowly bring down the stone wall little by little. , and finally quietly built a stone bridge out of thin air.
Ling Han waved the Sky Demon Sword again, and with a few swipes of his sword, he flattened both ends of the stone bridge and aligned it with the ground, so that the people could walk up it smoothly.
Mei Ruyu praised: "It's really you who can even come up with such crazy ideas."
Ling Han smiled proudly and said: "Hey, I didn't learn this from your ghost clan predecessors. When we were at the Xixia Dynasty Mausoleum, the ghost messenger seniors cut a mountain to make a monument to pay homage to the old man of Chaos. I cut a mountain to make a bridge to help these people." Thousands of people crossed the river.”
"What a great job of cutting a mountain to make a bridge!" Mei Ruyu gave Ling Han a thumbs up, and then said: "Let's go back and tell everyone quietly to let them cross the river here."
Only some of the people listened to the general's words and ran back to scold Tai Shiyuan, while the remaining half of the people returned to the woods to rest and wait.
After Ling Han and Mei Ruyu told the news to the people, they didn't believe it at first, but there was no way to just wait. Seeing that Ling Han and Mei Ruyu gave them food during the day, they were dead horses. The horse doctor and others followed him one after another.
When they saw a stone bridge appearing out of thin air on the river, they were overjoyed. Some of them had sharp eyes and saw at a glance that there was a large piece of stone wall missing on the hilltop behind. After such a comparison, they swallowed their saliva and knelt down without saying anything. Just kowtow.
"It's really like meeting a living god!"
"The living gods who save people in distress cut mountains and make bridges to help us cross the river!"
Aren't they gods? How could a mortal cut a large stone slab from the cliff of a mountain and lay it on the river to serve as a bridge? The spiritual master is not so kind to help poor people like them. This must be something that only gods would do.
In this way, thousands of people successfully crossed the river and traveled all night toward the imperial capital.
