Chapter 191 of Dafeng’s Watching the Wind and Storm in Beijing: Killing the Enemy Dafeng’s geographical annals record that Yunzhou is 60,000 miles across and is rich in products, such as mulberry, porcelain, herbal medicine, etc. Before Emperor Wuzong rose to power, Yunzhou’s

The level of wealth ranks among the top five in Dafeng Prefecture.

The official road is long and winding to the horizon, with black soil fields on both sides and rolling mountains in the distance.

Not long after the sun had risen, the low temperature from last night was still in the air, and a team of more than a hundred people slowly walked along the official road.

The "clack-clack" of the horses' hooves was mixed with the rattling of the wheels.

"In the early years of Yuanjing, the total population of Yunzhou reached 5 million. After that, the Yellow Book was compiled every ten years, and the population gradually decreased sharply. In the 30th year of Yuanjing, the population of Yunzhou was more than 3.5 million. Now in the Yuan Dynasty

In the 36th year of Jing Dynasty, in four more years it will be the year of rebuilding the Yellow Book. I wonder how many people are left in Yunzhou?"

Governor Zhang opened the curtain and said with emotion.

The population has shrunk by 1.5 million in 30 years, which is very scary, but the actual population shrinkage will only be greater than this. Because the land in Yunzhou is fertile, there is no need to consider the problem of famine unless there are natural disasters.

In other words, within 30 years of normal reproduction, the population can grow steadily.

From 5 million to 3.5 million, it is not a simple subtraction. The actual population reduction has at least doubled. Xu Qian shouted a national curse: "What the hell is this place."

Governor Zhang glanced at him and continued: "Half of this loss of population is due to heavy taxes. People abandoned their fields and became refugees, went to the city to find other livelihoods, or became bandits. These people are not recorded in the Yellow Book.

inner.

"Then there is a serious banditry, burning, killing and looting, which makes things worse. Sometimes the bandits in the village will take the initiative to go down the mountain to rob the people in order to supplement their labor force. Oh, of course bandits are not included in the yellow list."

Xu Qi'an looked into the distance silently, listening to Governor Zhang's words in his ears, and analyzing in his heart

In the early years of Yuanjing, there were still 5 million people. In the tenth year of Yuanjing, the population was still shrinking. By the 30th year of Yuanjing, there were no more than 1.5 million people. There were really even more people. Yunzhou was in these 20 years.

Over the years, there has been a sharp turn, and it is almost the beginning of Emperor Yuan Jing’s practice of Taoism.

Because Emperor Dafeng was obsessed with cultivating Taoism, the Witch God Sect felt that there was an opportunity to take advantage of it? The Witch God Sect had been plotting for more than 20 years and would never make a small fight. There would definitely be a war between Dafeng and the countries led by the Witch God Sect.

As he thought about it, he tilted his head and almost fell asleep.

"You are not in a good mental state." Governor Zhang looked at him and frowned: "What's wrong?"

The Governor remembered that Xu Qi'an had stayed on his own terms during this trip and did not linger around the Jiaofang Bureau, so he should not have been so exhausted.

Xu Qian turned his head and smiled bitterly at the governor: "It's nothing, I just became a master of time management."

This was the eighth day of sleeplessness for him. His brain was in sharp pain, and his blood vessels seemed to burst. When he was eating this morning, he even had a slight hallucination, thinking that Xu Lingyin was snatching his meat buns.

The eyeballs were bloodshot and the eye circles were dark blue, which reminded Xu Qi'an of living in a 996 society of blessings and occasionally experiencing 007, which was just as miserable.

"There are still two days left. After these two days, I should be able to advance to the realm of refining gods. I can't let myself fall asleep, otherwise I will fall short. My heart is beating so hard."

Xu Qian took a deep breath, took off the water bag and poured it on his head to stimulate his body and cheer him up.

A caravan of 300 people trekked along the official road, with flatbed carriages pulling goods. Covered under tarpaulins were silk, tea, porcelain and rouge and gouache, which are abundant in Yunzhou.

Here are some Yunzhou specialties, such as snake saliva inkstone, citrine, etc.

The owner of the caravan is a man with a sinister face named Zhao Long. In his early years, he was also a famous hero in the Yunzhou arena, and he was a master of both black and white.

Tired of living a life of licking blood, he started a caravan business by relying on his reputation gained in his early years and his connections.

He could always take care of the cottages along the way, leave Yunzhou safely, and distribute the goods to various places, making a lot of money.

As time passed, many merchants were willing to spend a lot of money to join Zhao Long's caravan for peace.

Zhao Long's caravan has developed to this day and has evolved into half merchant and half dart.

Yang Yingying was one of the people who hid under this big tree to enjoy the shade, but she left Yunzhou as an individual and spent twenty taels of silver to ask the caravan for protection.

After all, it is impossible for a weak woman like her to leave Yunzhou independently. She may be kidnapped by bandits on the official road one day and become the wife of a village.

With her beauty, she is more than enough to be the wife of a stronghold.

Yang Yingying was originally a woman from Yunzhou Jiaofangsi, and she was also an oiran when she was young. Later, she was lucky enough to meet her husband and redeem her body, so she was raised in the courtyard and became an outhouse.

As she turns thirty this year, her beauty has not diminished, but her figure has become more plump, adding to the charm of a mature woman. She has a pair of bright almond eyes, which sparkle when she looks at people.

Yang Yingying, who was riding on horseback, noticed the fiery gazes of the escorts around her and couldn't help but tighten her cloak tightly and bury her head lower.

At first glance, her hands seemed to be protecting her plump breasts to avoid being desecrated by some men's eyes. In fact, she was protecting an object in her arms.

It was this object that forced her to leave Yunzhou.

An escort looked at Yang Yingying's back with salivation. She was riding on horseback, her skirt clinging to her body. The tight outline of her buttocks was so alluring.

The strong escort clamped the horse's belly, caught up with Yang Yingying, grinned and said: "My beauty, I will play with you tonight. All the money I earned from this trip will be yours. There are ten taels of silver."

Yang Yingying turned a deaf ear, did not respond or refuse, and pretended that he was not the person he was.

The escort said a few more words, but when the beauty ignored her, he left cursingly.

Several escorts who were familiar with him burst into laughter and ridicule. But everyone had disappointment in their eyes. This woman was incompetent, and they had no chance either.

The eyes of the several bodyguards who had lives in hand flashed with cruelty. If this kind of water spirit woman traveling alone had not met Boss Zhao, she would have been eaten without leaving any bones.

Zhao Long, who was at the front of the caravan, raised his hand and made a gesture, and the escorts immediately drew their weapons as if they were facing a formidable enemy. However, the swords were only half unsheathed. This was an unwritten rule of escorts.

What everyone wants in the world is money. Unless there is a huge gap in strength between the two parties, they will not fight to the death. What's more, Boss Zhao has always been a bit thin in the underworld, otherwise he would not eat this bowl of rice.

Seventy or eighty people jumped out of the dense forest on both sides of the trail, their swords and spears bright, and more than twenty riders came out on the side road, all of them strong men and horses.

Zhao Long was a little puzzled. He walked this road several times every year. He knew exactly which sections needed maintenance and which hills needed filial piety.

When did such a group of path-cutting bandits appear in this forest? Zhao Long pressed his hand, signaled his bodyguards to be calm, rode his horse forward for a short distance, and said loudly:

"My lord, Zhao Long, which way did my friends do before?"

As he got closer, he suddenly realized something was wrong. These gangsters had military crossbows hanging on their waists and standard long knives in their hands. These were all military equipment.

Zhao Long has heard that some strongholds are not short of military supplies, including sabers, crossbows, and even firecrackers. But those are top bandit strongholds and should not appear here.

"Ning Yan, you look like a sick man who was eviscerated by a woman." Song Tingfeng and Xu Qi'an walked hand in hand, taking the opportunity to joke and ridicule.

Xu Qian glanced at him and said calmly: "I have a friend who asked me if I have Si Tianjian's pills to strengthen yang and nourish the kidneys."

Song Tingfeng's smile froze.

"That friend of mine is Zhu Guangxiao. Guangxiao, you already have a fiancée, so why bother working so hard." Song Tingfeng passed the blame to Zhu Guangxiao.

Zhu Guangxiao glanced at him silently, then felt unwilling to give in, and retorted: "I am a compassionate person, but you look so ugly when you eat, and every morning, the girl who sleeps with you can't get out of bed.

"You don't know how to control yourself, and you are wasting your life."

A martial artist is physically strong and full of energy, but even a bull demon king will be depleted of energy and blood if he plows from late to early morning every day.

"I am so powerful." Song Tingfeng was unconvinced and smiled proudly: "Only the girls from Jiaofangsi can fully cooperate with me, even though they are also tired of resisting."

"Ting Feng"

Song Tingfeng heard Xu Qian calling him and turned to look over: "What are you doing?"

"It's not that you are great, it's that people can tolerate your insignificance."

"go away."

While laughing and cursing, Jiang Lvzhong, who was leading the team, said in a deep voice: "There is the smell of blood ahead, everyone is ready."

The sound of Qiang's blade being unsheathed was uniform, and the tiger guards and watchmen drew out their sabers and took off their crossbows at the same time.

"Charge!" Jiang Lvzhong pinched the horse's belly and rushed out.

The governor's team instantly entered a marching state, extremely fast and orderly.

After marching for ten minutes, a dense forest appeared ahead, and the wind brought a strong smell of blood.

The moment they entered the dense forest, sharp arrows were shot from both sides, attacking the running Dageng and Hu Ben guards.

Jiang Lvzhong raised his hand and pressed it down. The arrows hit the invisible air wall and fell powerlessly.

He waved his hand and said: "Tiger and Ben troops, enter the forest and kill the enemy."

As he spoke, Jiang Lvzhong looked ahead. Hundreds of corpses were lying on the official road, and the ground was stained with blood. The horses were unable to escape the murderous hands, and the goods transported by the caravan were scattered all over the ground.

He immediately analyzed the situation because he smelled the smell of blood in advance and ordered the team to attack. When the bandits heard the sound of horse hooves, it was too late to retreat, so they ambush in the woods.

The sound of fierce fighting came from the dense forest. The Hu Ben Guards were one of the five guards in the capital. Although they were not as brave and skilled as the Forbidden Army, they were far better than the local army.

There was not much difference in the number of people on both sides, arrows and blades were interlaced, and they were fighting back and forth.

Jiang Luzhong was stunned for a moment, a little surprised, and turned to look at Xu Qian: "Ning Yan, have you ever killed anyone?"

"Killed one and seriously injured another." Xu Qian looked at the caravan lying dead on the ground and casually reported the results.

Jiang Lvzhong chuckled: "Young boy."

People burst into laughter during the watch.

Except for Xu Qi'an, a rookie who had joined the watchmen less than two months ago, the others were experienced warriors and could kill without batting an eyelid.

Jiang Lvzhong pointed at Lin Zi and said: "Go, practice your skills and kill at least ten."

Xu Qian looked back and breathed out slowly: "Okay!"
Chapter completed!