The abandoned coal mine is thirty miles away from Sioux City.
If these thirty miles were traveled in a previous life, it would not have taken an hour to ride a battery-powered bicycle, but in this era, the thirty miles would have taken an hour and a half, or three hours.
Moreover, Jiang Yifeng felt that his bones were being shaken apart along the way, and there was no comfort at all.
As they got closer to the abandoned coal mine, the surrounding environment began to change. The plants on the ground became sparse and there was wasteland as far as the eye could see.
Continuing to drive inside, a huge mine pit soon appeared. This was caused by the surface coal being dug away.
The victims who fled from Yuzhou were placed in huge mines.
Viewed from above, the scene in the low-lying area can only be described as horrific. Thousands of victims were huddled together in twos and threes, too hungry to move. The person lying on the bed not far away may have starved to death, his body is covered with flies, and maggots are multiplying in large numbers.
everyone...
Whether they were men, women, old people or children, their eyes had lost their light, as if they were walking zombies controlled by hunger.
Seeing this scene, Song Yuan, the timidest of the three, pulled Jiang Yifeng's clothes nervously, his whole body trembling.
Jiang Yifeng did not offer any words of comfort, but looked at Su Dongchu and Wang Kun. The situation of these two people was better than that of Song Yuan, but their faces were also ugly.
After all, as the top rich second generation of Su City, the three of them had everything they wanted, and they couldn't understand the scene in front of them.
"Who are you?"
Just when Jiang Yifeng was about to lead the three people into the mine, three soldiers stopped the carriage and shouted sharply.
In order to prevent the victims from running around and affecting the public order in Sioux City, the county governor sent 500 soldiers to guard the mines, which could not only prevent the victims from running around, but also prevent outsiders from entering.
"I'm going down to Jiang Yifeng..."
"Jiang Yifeng? I don't know him."
Just as Jiang Yifeng was about to introduce himself and explain his purpose, he was rudely interrupted by the leading soldier, "This place has been taken over by county soldiers, get out of here immediately, otherwise don't blame me for being ruthless."
Clang!
The three soldiers pulled out some of their knives at the same time and looked at Jiang Yifeng with a playful look.
They would not look down upon a poor scholar like Jiang Yifeng.
But at this moment, a figure jumped out from behind Jiang Yifeng, quickly came to the three soldiers, raised his hand and slapped the three soldiers in the face three times.
"You've blinded your dog eyes, and even we dare to stop you. Are you tired of living?"
The one who beat them was Su Dongchu. He showed no sign of timidity when facing the three soldiers. Instead, he acted like he was scolding a domestic servant.
The three soldiers were stunned and stunned for a few seconds. They pulled out all their swords with a cold face and looked at Jiang Yifeng and the others with sadness.
Obviously, they have evil intentions.
"Come on, come on, chop here."
Not only was Su Dongchu not afraid, he even stretched his neck forward.
Seeing this scene, Jiang Yifeng was scared to death and stepped forward to pull Su Dongchu back.
As the saying goes, when a scholar meets a soldier, there is no reason to explain.
If a fight really breaks out, these soldiers will not be polite to them.
And how could he, a weak scholar with three teenagers, be a match for three soldiers armed with weapons?
"Yes, yes, kill him quickly."
"This is the third young master of the Su family. If you kill him, you will become famous in no time."
"Just chop at the neck. We haven't seen anyone beheaded yet."
"How about we beheaded too? My third brother is the eldest son of the Wang family, and I am the eldest son of the Song family. One for each of you."
As soon as Jiang Yifeng arrived in front of Su Dongchu, Wang Kun and Song Yuan started to make noises, as if they were afraid of chaos.
"..."
Hearing this, Jiang Yifeng was about to explode with anger, secretly thinking that these three guys were really causing trouble.
Even a normal person would take action if they were provoked like this by you, not to mention these three are still soldiers.
However……
The three soldiers were shocked and looked at Su Dongchu and the others with panic on their faces. Not to mention taking action, they even threw away the swords in their hands.
Finally, the three soldiers knelt down in front of Su Dongchu with a bang.
"..."
Jiang Yifeng was confused and didn't know what was going on.
After the three soldiers knelt down, they had panic expressions on their faces, "Young...I'm blind and have offended several young masters. I hope...I hope these young masters will raise their hands and treat us like shit."
"snort!"
Su Dongchu snorted coldly, "If you offend me, I can give you a shit, but you just scolded my elder brother. If I let you off easily, we younger brothers will be laughed at."
Brother!
The three soldiers looked at Jiang Yifeng in disbelief, secretly guessing how terrifying Jiang Yifeng was to be the eldest brother of these three young masters.
Thinking of this, they felt aggrieved and thought to themselves, why do you still ask for our opinions if you have such a distinguished status and just come over and slap us and tell us to go away?
He is obviously a person with a terrible identity, but he still has to pretend to be polite. Are you kidding us?
Play!
The three soldiers suddenly realized that this might be a new trick of the upper class, deliberately pretending to be low-status people and taking the opportunity to play with them.
This man is so scary, he deserves to be the eldest brother.
Jiang Yifeng naturally didn't know what the three soldiers were thinking, so he showed a friendly smile on his face. Of course, in the eyes of the three soldiers, this friendly smile was the devil's smile.
"Three military masters, my three brothers are ignorant. Don't take it to heart. Get up quickly. The ground is dirty."
"Master, I have an old man above me and a young man below me. Please spare us. We will kowtow to you!"
As they spoke, the three soldiers kept kowtowing, making Jiang Yifeng feel embarrassed.
"never mind."
Jiang Yifeng sighed helplessly, "Get up, I forgive you and I won't embarrass you."
After hearing this, the three soldiers looked at me and I looked at you, but they still knelt and did not dare to stand up.
The reason is very simple. In their imagination, the rich young master should be like Su Dongchu and the other three. They are afraid that the world will not be in chaos, how can they be gentle.
Therefore, as long as you are polite, you are playing tricks on them.
"Master, please stop playing with us and just let us go!"
"???"
Jiang Yifeng had a question mark on his face, wondering if he had such a good attitude, why were these people even more scared?
At this time, Wang Kun walked up and whispered in Jiang Yifeng's ear, "Brother, just beat them up and then let them go."
Jiang Yifeng couldn't understand, frowned and asked: "Why is this?"
Wang Kun explained: "The three of us are playboys, so the eldest brother is also a playboy in their eyes. If he offends a playboy, they will not be able to feel at ease if he is not punished."
Hearing this, Jiang Yifeng somewhat understood the reason for this. It was like a person offending the leader. If the leader acted like nothing happened, the person would be on tenterhooks all day long.
But if the leader reprimands the person severely, it will make the person feel relieved, because it means that the matter of offending the leader is over.
This is the situation these three soldiers are in right now. If they don't do something, they won't dare to stand up at all.
"Oh, that's all!"
Jiang Yifeng shook his head and sighed, stepped forward, and kicked someone first.
Perhaps because the three soldiers felt that such a lesson was too light, they still knelt on the ground. When Jiang Yifeng saw this, he smiled helplessly and could only kick each of them a few more times.
The three soldiers felt the increased strength on Jiang Yifeng's feet, and smiles finally appeared on their faces, and they were constantly grateful.
"roll!"
"yes!"
The three soldiers stood up quickly, took the initiative to move out of the way, nodded and bowed, and watched the horse-drawn carriage and ox-cart drive into the mine.
Taking advantage of the fact that there was still some distance from the entrance to the bottom of the mine, Jiang Yifeng looked at Su Dongchu and the others with a cold face.
"Safety comes first when you go out. What you did just now was too dangerous. If your status cannot restrain those three soldiers, we will all be in danger."
"Danger?"
Su Dongchu laughed and said, "Brother, don't worry. Even if our identities cannot suppress the three of them, they are no match for me. I am very powerful."
"You are talking nonsense again. They have knives in their hands. You are just a teenager and unarmed. How can you be their opponent?"
In Jiang Yifeng's eyes, Su Dongchu was only a little better at fighting than his peers and could not be an adult opponent.
Even if there were adults who couldn't beat Su Dongchu, they probably let Su Dongchu do it deliberately for the sake of the Su family's sake.
In his eyes, Su Dongchu was always a young man.
"Brother, the second brother is really not bragging. Those three ordinary soldiers really can't beat the second brother." Wang Kun got a chicken leg from nowhere and said while eating.
"Third brother is right."
Song Yuan had no idea and could only nod in agreement.
Seeing this, Jiang Yifeng knew that it was meaningless to continue discussing with the three people that minors could not beat adults.
This is a cognitive issue.
Just like when Emperor Hui of the Jin Dynasty heard that the world was in panic and the people were starving to death, he would say such ridiculous words as why not eat minced meat.
Based on Emperor Hui of Jin's knowledge, he didn't know what it would be like not to have food to eat.
However, Su Dongchu and the others do not understand the difference in strength between minors and adults.
"Even if those three soldiers are not your opponent, have you ever thought that those soldiers are from the county guard. If you beat them, you will not give the county guard face and you will offend the county guard."
"Sheriff?"
Song Yuan was stunned for a moment, then looked at Wang Kun and asked: "Third brother, is the county guard that the eldest brother mentioned, the old man who visits our house every year but is turned away by my father?"
"Yes, that's him."
Wang Kun continued: "Also, don't call the county magistrate an old man. My father said that the magistrate's officials are quite big. Your father turned the magistrate away because your father was stingy and worried about the cost of entertaining the magistrate at home. Too many. So your father will first turn away the county guard, and then visit the county guard with gifts, so that the county guard entertains your father."
When Song Yuan heard that his father was so stingy, he blushed and argued, "Just... Even so, my father at least brought a gift. Doesn't the gift cost money?"
After hearing this, Wang Kun put down the chicken legs and asked, "Do you know what the gift your father gave last year?"
Song Yuan nodded, "Remember, it's a unique stone."
Wang Kun continued to ask: "What about the year before last?"
Song Yuan recalled, "It seems to be a unique stone."
"What about the year before last?"
"Uh... stone."
Song Yuan seemed to realize something.
Wang Kun said: "In fact, your father gives you unique stones every year, because each stone is different and of course unique."
“And the reason why we give stones is not because they are so precious, but because they can be easily picked up from the roadside.”
If Song Yuan didn't know his father well enough, he would definitely refute.
The problem is that he knows his father too well. As long as he thinks about it for a moment, he will understand that his father can really do such a thing.
After hesitating for a long time, Song Yuan said in a tone of hatred: "My father... is so ignorant. He knows how to embarrass me all day long."
Jiang Yifeng listened to the conversation between Wang Kun and Song Yuan and felt that the world was too crazy.
If he remembered correctly, the county guard was not a small official. An official of this level had the power of life and death in a county, and everyone who met him must be respectful.
As a result, Song Yuan's father not only dared to shut out the county guard, but also sent stones every year. This was too damning!
"Third brother, won't the county guard get angry when he receives a stone every year?" Jiang Yifeng couldn't help but ask. He really wanted to know how Song Yuan's father survived.
"Of course I won't be angry."
Wang Kun explained: "First of all, the Song family is not only the largest grain merchant in Su City, but also the largest grain merchant in the entire Jiujiang County. If the Song family is unhappy, the price of food in the entire Jiujiang County will rise, and many people will starve to death. , the county governor dare not take responsibility."
"Secondly, it costs money for the county guard to raise troops, but the imperial court has already owed military pay for three years, so the county guard can only turn to the major families in Sioux City for help. The major families have contributed money, and usually the county guard will turn a blind eye as long as it is not too excessive. Close one eye."
"Third, the stability of Jiujiang County depends on the major families. As long as the county governor is not stupid, he will not attack the families."
After Jiang Yifeng heard these three reasons, he finally understood the intricate relationships in Su City. He did not expect that in ancient times when agriculture was emphasized and business was suppressed, Su City's businessmen could actually make the county guards fearful.
If this development continues, it may not take long for capitalism to sprout in Sioux City.
Creak...
At this moment, the carriage suddenly stopped, causing the four people in the carriage to almost collide.
Su Dongchu asked dissatisfiedly: "What's going on?"
"Master, I...we are surrounded."
The coachman's voice was trembling, as if something terrible had happened.
"Who doesn't have the guts to dare..."
Su Dongchu cursed and walked out of the carriage, but the next second he stopped firing.
Seeing this, Jiang Yifeng took Wang Kun and Song Yuan out of the carriage, and was frightened by the scene he saw and took a sharp breath.
I saw that the victims were really like zombies, slowly surrounding them, gradually surrounding the horse-drawn carriages and ox-carts.
The victims kept extending their withered arms toward Jiang Yifeng and the others, and the sounds they made were like zombies whispering, but in fact they were shouting feebly:
“For those who stutter, do well and give to those who stutter.”
