Return of the Swallow

Qin Yining's lips trembled, looking at the familiar city gate and the once familiar streets, the sourness and sadness in his heart flowed through his body like lava.

This is a troubled place. The people living here, in addition to being disturbed by war, are also constantly being tortured mercilessly by various natural disasters.

Does God really want to drive everyone away?

Although she did not live in the capital for too long, she always regarded this place as her hometown after acknowledging her ancestors and returning to the clan. Although the time she spent in this city was short, it was richer and more exciting than the time she spent in the previous fourteen years. , let her remember deeply.

Therefore, among the group of people, Qin Yining least wanted to see the old capital like this.

Pang Xiao put his arm around Qin Yining and patted him on the shoulder, then turned around and ordered: "Let's go to the city and go to the Yamen first."

"yes."

A deep pit appeared in the originally spacious and flat street, and most of the houses on both sides were in ruins.

The street was filled with a smell of death, the air was mixed with the smell of white lime, the burnt smell that lingered after the corpses were burned, and the stench of corpses that had not been disposed of in time.

It is now July, and the old capital is located in the south. In such weather, those buried among the ruins will soon emit an unimaginable stench.

However, in such a harsh environment, there are ragged people building rough shacks everywhere around the streets to live in. Of course, there are also those houses that are intact, but with cracks in the walls, and generally remain the same, but those are all wealthy families after all.

Usually, a lot of care is taken in the construction and material selection of a well-maintained courtyard. Most ordinary people live in mud houses, so how can they withstand the constant tossing of earth dragons?

Qin Yining's brows furrowed as he watched. Those streets that were either familiar or unfamiliar have now become dilapidated.

Pang Xiao knew that she was feeling sad. This was her hometown after all, so he couldn't help but hold her shoulders tightly and protect her in his arms.

When this group of people walked to the original "Shuntian Mansion" and now the "Old Capital Magistrate's Office", the people they met saw the appearance of this group of people, and they were too hungry to even raise their eyelids to take a look. look.

They were so hungry.

The supply in the city is insufficient, and the roads leading to the city outside the city are blocked.

The food in the city is limited, and the shops that have food in their homes are unwilling to open for business. Even if they have money, they can't buy food now.

But the relief from the imperial court never came.

They were the people of Great Yan who surrendered to Great Zhou, and it was difficult for them to have a sense of belonging in Great Zhou.

And now, as they expected, the Zhou Dynasty could not think of their common people in times of crisis. Just like the former emperor of the Yan Dynasty, he could never think of caring about the life and death of the people.

So if the sky changes, what will happen? What should be abandoned will still be abandoned.

Along the way, Pang Xiao saw those refugees with sallow faces and skinny muscles, and their long sword-shaped eyebrows had a few wrinkles between their brows.

"Sister-in-law Liu, sister-in-law Liu!"

At this moment, a weak cry suddenly came from the roadside.

Everyone looked towards the source of the sound and saw several victims rushing towards a remote alley in the corner.

In the alley, a withered woman hung her belt from a thick branch leaning out from the side. Her worn skirt and bare feet were dangling under a canopy of green shade. Under her feet were a few scattered overturned bricks. Tile stones.

Qin Yining exclaimed and covered his mouth.

--\u003e\u003e

; Then Pang Xiao covered her eyes with his hands.

Huzi hurried over to ask, and after a while he came back dejectedly. In the midst of the voices of the victims who had no energy to cry, he whispered:

"That woman was a widow. Her husband died of starvation during the famine last year. Her son and mother were buried under the old house. She was the only one who survived as a servant to a wealthy family in the city. But the wealthy family couldn't afford to keep their servants and women, so they drove them away. The woman had no hope of living in the first place, and she had been hungry for so many days. In despair..."

Pang Xiao frowned and nodded, "I know. Let's go."

The group of people continued to move forward, leaving those weak cries in the distance.

However, where are there less tragedies like this in the city?

A section of the courtyard wall of the old capital magistrate's office also collapsed due to the earthquake, and it was obviously patched up later.

The door of the yamen was locked, so Pang Xiao ordered someone to knock on the door.

The people inside answered the call weakly. After learning that the person who came was actually an imperial envoy, several people hurriedly opened the door together.

Several pale-faced men hurriedly looked behind Pang Xiao and his party, but they only saw a traveling carriage and horses, but no food or grass.

Disappointment flashed in their eyes, but they still respectfully invited people in and closed the door carefully.

Li Qitian later arranged for the local official in the old capital to be named Gong, named You, and given the courtesy name Zhongtang. He was forty years old and was a Jinshi during the Northern Hebei Dynasty. He has always been favored by Li Qitian and was appointed as the prefect of the old capital, with jurisdiction over the old capital and several surrounding counties.

Seeing Pang Xiao and his party coming, Gong You hurriedly greeted them and saluted.

The two parties were polite and entered the front hall.

Gong You got straight to the point and asked, "Did the prince bring food and grass when he came this time?"

Pang Xiao smiled bitterly and sighed, but he couldn't directly say that Li Qitian didn't allocate food, so he had to say: "I was worried about the situation when I left, so I came first. The food and grass prepared by the Ministry of Revenue should arrive later."

Gong You didn't doubt his presence and sighed: "It's not a good journey, isn't it?"

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have walked for so long.

Pang Xiao heard the implication, and his smile became more and more bitter, "I am also chasing a duck. The disaster relief ambassador appointed by the Holy Emperor was King Yan. Unexpectedly, King Yan actually rebelled and ran away in the middle of the journey. For this matter Son, after a delay of several days, the Holy Emperor later appointed me as the Disaster Relief Ambassador, taking over the task of Prince Yan."

"So that's how it is!" Gong You now fully understood, "The Prince of Yan County is too ungrateful. His Majesty placed him in such a high position and trusted him so much, thinking that he was familiar with this place before arranging for him to come here for the benefit of the people. He was safe, but he actually used a way to escape!"

When Pang Xiao saw Gong You like this, he knew that he was a straightforward, passionate and upright person. Working with such a person requires a straightforward approach, which happens to be the way he likes it.

"Oh, don't mention him." Pang Xiao sighed and asked: "How is the situation in the city? I didn't see the porridge shack along the way?"

Gong You smiled bitterly and shook his head, and said sadly: "My lord, you don't know something. The old capital of Yan has been emptied out a long time ago. Last year during the famine year, 60%, 60% of the people were gone!"

Gong You gestured painfully with the thumb and little finger of his right hand, "The fall of the Yan Dynasty was not unjust at all! Gouhunjun was incompetent and caused the people to become homeless. To be honest, it was last winter when I was appointed. That winter, the city was a dead city! It was lucky that no large-scale plague broke out.

"Who would have known that the remaining four people would encounter an earth dragon and turn over in the next year. I don't know how many people died at this time."