"Master, look quickly, Pingliang County is ahead!" Yang Xiu, who was driving an oxcart, said excitedly, pointing to a shabby small town in the distance.
Zhou Yi, who was sitting on the bullock cart, also jumped out of the car and looked forward carefully.
After half a month of recuperation, the injury on Zhou Yi's butt was basically intact.
Zhou Yi is now able to sit up and stand, and even walking around is not a big deal, but he cannot do strenuous exercise.
Zhou Yi looked at the dilapidated city wall in front of him and couldn't help but frown.
Although he learned from Old Man Ding that Pingliang County was suffering from the war, Zhou Yi did not expect that the situation would be worse than he imagined.
Looking vaguely from a distance, you can still see a few arrows remaining on the city wall.
Half of the city wall in Pingliang County that was supposed to protect the people's safety had collapsed, and a big hole was cut out of the city gate.
If the enemy comes again, the existing city wall will not be able to withstand any enemy at all.
Even if the enemy is willing, the cavalry can swagger through the city and kill and plunder the people in the city at will.
Zhou Yi sighed and sat back on the bullock cart, then said to Yang Xiu: "Let's go into the city and have a look."
Yang Xiu drove the bullock cart and slowly walked into the city with Zhou Yi.
As soon as Zhou Yi and Yang Xiu entered the city, they saw a group of people with mutilated hands and feet and pale faces entrenched at the gate of the city.
This group of people either had their hands or feet broken off; Zhou Yi saw that the most miserable person in the crowd had his arms and legs chopped off, but he was still clenching his teeth and living.
The Ice Disaster happened half a year ago, and I think that person probably became disabled at that time.
Although it was said that it was better to die than to live, Zhou Yi didn't know how such a stick-like person could survive in such a harsh environment.
When Zhou Yi and Yang Xiu walked into the city, the group of people first looked at them with vigilant eyes.
After seeing that Zhou Yi and Yang Xiu were not barbarians from a foreign race, the crippled people in front of them lowered their guard a little.
"Sir, please give me some food!" A woman with a scratch on her face and three fingers missing knelt down in front of the bullock cart and begged.
With this woman taking the lead in begging, others also walked in front of Zhou Yi and Yang Xiu, blocked their way, knelt down and begged for a bite of food.
Seeing that the road ahead was blocked by these people in front of him, Yang Xiu couldn't force his way through with a bullock cart, and looked at Zhou Yi to seek his opinion.
"Master, this..."
Zhou Yi noticed that although these people blocked the way of the two of them, they always maintained a relatively loose distance from themselves. This distance would not make Zhou Yi and the others feel disgusted.
When Zhou Yigang was about to take out some grain from the straw and give it to the disabled people, a voice came from the crowd.
"You people, don't block the way of this noble man."
As he spoke, a path opened up in the crowd, and a man with a broken right arm walked out of it.
The visitor's dirty hair covered his entire face, making it difficult for Zhou Yi to see his appearance clearly, but the rusty knife with several notches slung on his left waist was very eye-catching.
"Oh, are you the leader of these people? What is your name?"
The man with the sword laughed self-deprecatingly and said: "I am not a leader, it's just that these people are afraid of the broken sword in my hand."
"If it's convenient for you, noble man, please give some food to us disabled people."
Zhou Yi originally wanted to give some food to the people in front of him, so he put his hand into the haystack, then took out two bags of rice and walked to the man with the sword.
"I see that although all of these people are physically disabled, they still retain some order. I think it should be your credit. There are two bags of food here, take it and share it with them!"
The man with the sword did not expect that Zhou Yi would personally deliver this precious food to him. This act gave the man great respect.
You know, this group of people have encountered charity before. When they rushed forward to beg, the eyes of those people were full of disgust and contempt, and the alms they gave were thrown directly on the ground like feeding dogs.
After receiving the food delivered by Zhou Yi, there was a sudden burst of gratitude from the people around them.
The man with the saber also weighed the two bags of grain in his hand. Being sensitive to weight, he knew that the two bags of grain weighed at least thirty or forty kilograms, which was enough for people like them to live frugally and eat two meals.
The man with the saber handed the two bags of grain to the first woman who stopped Zhou Yi's oxcart, and said, "Give these grains to everyone."
But the woman was shocked as soon as she opened the grain bag.
"Brother Wu, this is refined food..."
"Huh? What did you say?" The man named Wu, who was wearing a sword, thought he heard wrongly and asked again.
The woman directly stretched the food bag in front of the man named Wu and let him look carefully.
The next second the man with the saber froze on the spot.
Looking at the white rice, the man surnamed Wu was so excited that he wanted to reach out and feel for confirmation.
But seeing his dark and dirty palms, he was afraid that he would ruin the food, so he quickly reached out his hand.
"Sir, is this fine grain really given to us?" the man surnamed Wu asked in disbelief.
Zhou Yi nodded lightly, and said loudly to the group of disabled people around him: "I am Zhou Yi, the newly appointed magistrate of this county. From tomorrow on, I will organize the government to open grain warehouses and provide relief to the victims."
As soon as these words came out, the group of people around them suddenly shouted "Long live the county magistrate".
Zhou Yi waved his hand to stop the shouts of the people around him. And asked the man with the sword: "Your surname is Wu? What is your name? Would you like to take me to the county government office for a walk?"
The man with the sword looked excited and responded quickly: "My surname is Wu, and I am the sixth child in my family, so everyone calls me Wu Liuzi."
Zhou Yi nodded lightly and said, "Well, Wu Liuzi, then you can lead us to the county government office."
Wu Liuzi immediately took the cow rope from Yang Xiu's hand and led Zhou Yi and Yang Xiu towards the county government office in the city.
The further Zhou Yi walked into the city, the more frightened he became. Along the way, houses collapsed and were dilapidated.
Some people in the city have arms and legs. Although they are not as physically disabled as those in the outer city, there is no hope for life in their eyes.
Perhaps seeing this, Wu Laoliu, who was leading the ox cart in front, shouted to these people in the city: "The court has not ignored us, our new county magistrate has taken office."
"The county magistrate said that the warehouse will be opened tomorrow to release grain to help the victims like us!"
As soon as Wu Laoliu said these words, the originally dull eyes of the people in the city emitted a burning light as if they were ignited by something.
