Xie Chen was hesitating whether to ask the girl what was going on, but the girl made a move before him.
The girl naturally pulled the reins of his horse and said to him: "Master, it's too chaotic here. Let's go aside and talk."
The look on her face was full of goodwill, making it difficult to refuse. The most important thing was that she seemed to have already arranged it according to her own wishes without waiting for his response.
Cao Ben on the side was anxiously trying to figure out the current situation in Taozhou City, where he could stay here, and was about to move forward with gratitude.
Unexpectedly, the girl said: "The road ahead is crowded with people. You can't pass it. If you really want to go, you have to go around the alley next to it. I know the way."
Cao Ben frowned.
The girl continued: "I'll take you over there and I'll give you twenty cents."
Hearing this, Cao Ben breathed a sigh of relief. Asking for money would make people feel more at ease. There are always some children in the city who can help people show the way and earn some money.
Cao Bendao: "We are going to the government office."
"You two are so busy, I guessed it," Zhao Luoyang said, "The closest to the government office is from here. Do you two need the government office to change the road permit?" Traveling long distances requires documents for inspection.
Cao Ben didn't say anything, but Xie Chen responded.
Zhao Luoyang seemed to have expected it, and stretched out his hand to touch the horse's back: "You two, the sweat on this horse's body is already sticky. You need to drink water and take a rest now, otherwise you will die of exhaustion, so I will stop."
Twenty pennies for you is not much."
Zhao Luoyang said this to those who secretly monitored Xie Chen and Cao Ben. When these two officials arrived in Taozhou, the mute sent a secret message early in the morning.
The reason why the Feng family chose to cause trouble today was because of these two capital officials, so when the two adults entered the city, there were naturally people following them secretly.
Zhao Luoyang also dressed up before leaving the village. After all, Fengxia Village was also a thorn in the side of those people...
In short, this arrangement is just to "meet" the two adults here.
So you have to arrange everything carefully.
Zhao Luoyang was very skillful in leading the horses. One person led two horses and two people forward... No, in fact, in Shi Jiu's eyes, he was leading four horses. Xie Chen and Cao Ben were with the two dumb horses.
Horses are no different.
Avoiding the crowd, they arrived at a corner, where Huaiqing's people were ambushing them. Even if the Feng family came, Huaiqing would stop them.
Therefore, Zhao Luoyang can talk to the two adults with peace of mind.
Zhao Luoyang stopped, took off the water bag from his body, and then fed the two horses water with his hands.
"These two horses are very good, it would be a pity if they died from exhaustion," Zhao Luoyang said with a smile, "You two had to use the horses to travel from the government office, and something went wrong, which delayed your trip."
After Xie Chen heard this, he had no doubts at all. The girl obviously didn't know their identities and really thought they were passing through Taozhou, otherwise she wouldn't have said that they would need horses to travel.
Xie Chen said: "What happened in the city today?"
Zhao Luoyang's smile faded, and the expression on his face looked a little heavy: "There is no rice in the city. If this continues, the refugees and emigrants will starve to death."
Cao Ben took a breath, so it was indeed Zhao Jingyun who failed to deal with it properly and caused the civil unrest.
"However," Zhao Luoyang smiled again, "Everyone will have food to eat soon."
After Zhao Luoyang finished speaking, he looked around and whispered softly: "If someone promises us, we will definitely let us spend this winter well."
"Whether this can be realized depends on today."
Xie Chen couldn't help but said: "Why do you want to watch today?"
Zhao Luoyang shook his head and did not respond to Xie Chen's words. Instead, he said: "Actually, you can't walk to the government office by taking a detour. There are people in the alley in front. I just said I would lead the way. I lied to you."
Cao Ben was shocked. Even Xie Chen couldn't help but frown. Did this girl lie to them?
Zhao Luoyang continued: "Maybe it's not a lie, I won't charge you 20 pieces of silver, and I also gave your horses water."
So they still have to thank her?
After all, Cao Ben was young. After experiencing such a thing, he would inevitably lose his composure and would show a stern look on his face, ready to open his mouth and scold the girl.
Little did he know that when the girl looked at him, a kind smile appeared on her face again, and that smile came from the bottom of her heart.
Shi Jiu's voice came from Zhao Luoyang's mind: "Charm value +32."
It can be seen that the anxiety of the two officials turned into dissatisfaction with her.
Zhao Luoyang continued: "I have good intentions. Something will happen soon. We don't want unrelated people to get hurt."
Xie Chen found that his thoughts seemed to be led by the girl. He no longer cared that the girl had just lied to them. From the girl's tone, he could guess that the girl knew a lot about everything that was happening right now.
Zhao Luoyang said: "Really, all the men in our village have passed away. Not just us, all the immigrant men around us left the village early in the morning."
Xie Chen understood: "You want to grab food?"
Zhao Luoyang nodded: "Yes, we want to grab food."
Cao Ben and Xie Chen had never seen such a person before, who described the robbery in such a logical manner, with a smile on his face and no trace of panic.
Just like those fierce bandits in the mountains.
…
Not far away, Zou Guangda's people kept staring at Cao Ben and Xie Chen. The two capital officials entered the city, but instead of going straight to the government office as they thought, they were called away.
They vaguely heard the man say: "I want to lead the way for these two people."
The man took the two officials aside but stopped again, and the three of them talked for a while.
Zou Guangda's people were a little anxious, but they couldn't come forward to pull the two adults over, lest they realize that everything was arranged by the Feng family.
But the longer the delay, the more anxious they became.
"We can't wait any longer," one of them said. "Although the two officials from the capital didn't make it to the government office, they should be fine."
If the time is delayed, their sin will be serious.
A few people nodded, and then they split up and pushed their way into the crowd. They had to tell all the informants and start provoking and encouraging everyone to take action.
"Besides killing people, what else can a government official do?"
"What's the use of besieging this place?"
"You must give us rice today."
"Yes, give us rice."
"Go in, go in and look for Mr. Zhao..."
"We want to get back the relief food from the imperial court..."
"Let's go..."
There was a lot of noise, and the crowd immediately became excited.
Cao Ben and Xie Chen also heard the news. Xie Chen's expression changed drastically and he was about to get up to take a look. Unexpectedly, he was stopped by the girl again.
Xie Chen believed that he was an upright official and always asked for orders for the people. Even though he was thinking about the safety of the people at the moment, he looked at Zhao Luoyang and said, "Do you know that robbing the court's food and threatening the court's officials is against the laws of Daqi?"
Zhao Luoyang nodded: "I know."
Xie Chen said: "I know you still..."
Zhao Luoyang said, "Who said we want to rob food and threaten the imperial officials?"
Cao Ben had already taken a few steps away. When he heard this, he couldn't help but look back at the girl.
Zhao Luoyang said: "Master Zhao has long said that Taozhou does not allow anyone to sell food at high prices, but some people deliberately hide the rice and sell it to the relocated people at three times the price in secret. Today, Master Zhao will punish those people severely.
day."
After Zhao Luoyang finished speaking, the shouts and shouts from all directions in the crowd stopped abruptly.
The informants arranged by the Feng family were shouting at the top of their lungs, but just after shouting two or three sentences, several hands stretched out from behind them, held down their shoulders, and blocked their mouths with cloth balls.
The gate of the besieged government office suddenly opened at this moment. Standing at the door was Zhao Jingyun, dressed in official robes and with a majestic face.