"Please also ask Madam and several guests to go back. Fontaine County cannot entertain foreign guests now," Nan Muyu snorted coldly, not even looking at Yue Jinghua and others.
"How outrageous, Nan Muyu. As a former deputy captain of the county guard and a soldier of the Duke's Palace, you dare to chase away the guests when you meet the madam and the young masters." Hongling couldn't stand this man's rudeness and rushed forward.
Go and question the middle-aged man.
"I receive the salary of the Duke and accept the orders of the Duke. Now I am just a hunter in the mountains. A few years ago, I received the salary from the Duke's Palace, so I naturally have to obey the Duke's Palace. Now I don't have food and salary, and my parents, wife and children are also attacked by beasts.
When someone is in danger, with heaven as his father and the earth as his mother, how can he be so arrogant?" Nan Muyu glared angrily, like a tiger in the mountains, making people shudder.
"Nanzi, don't talk like that. Since the Duchess is here, she will naturally welcome you. It's just a few distinguished guests. Fontaine County is under pressure both internally and externally. If I don't greet you well, please forgive me, Madam and everyone," he walked out of the crowd.
The old man with a backbone is the head of the village in this area.
The Lord's Mansion in Fontaine County had been crushed by an avalanche long ago. Everyone had nowhere to stay, so they could only bring the carriage in to temporarily serve as a resting place.
On the day they settled in, everyone discovered that except for the village chief and Erwang, most of the people in the village were hostile to them, and the most obvious one was the former captain of the county guard named Nan Muyu.
When the village chief came over with a few bags of corn, Tengwu started chatting with him.
"Don't blame Nanzi, he is also a miserable man. A while ago, Steward Hong signed a poll tax agreement with Bailu County for the safety of Fontaine County. It was at that time that his parents, wife and children were arrested by Bailu County.
Until now, life and death are unknown," the village chief sighed, explaining Nan Muyu's bad attitude, and put down the few bags of corn.
In the village, there were many people like Nan Muyu. They all resented that the people in the Duke's Palace had signed a head tax agreement with others, so they were so hostile to Yue Jinghua and others.
In order to avoid the poll tax in Bailu County, the people of Fontaine County either migrated or hid in the mountains and forests. Today, there are only more than a thousand people living in the villages, among which there are only a few dozen young and middle-aged people.
Nan Muyu stayed because he saw that the old, weak, orphans and widows in the village had no one to look after them.
This year's winter came early and lasted for a long time. When the winter is over, most of the village will probably starve to death and freeze to death again.
"What's going on with the mysterious formation at the entrance of the village? It looks like it's a defensive formation? And where is the red steward?" After Yue Jinghua entered the village, he discovered the mysterious formation at the entrance of the village. Look at that
The structure of the profound formation should be an intermediate-level profound formation, and it is also a comprehensive profound formation, which can not only play a defensive role, but also resist cold air.
"Guanshi Hong is a good man. He was the one who set up the Black Formation. He has always been at odds with the people in the village. Half a month ago, heavy snow closed the mountain and there was really no food left in the village. So he took a few people down the mountain to Bailu.
County borrows grain
Gone. It has been half a month and there has been no news. People in the village said that he could not bear the hardship and returned to the imperial capital." The village chief lowered his voice. Hongling listened, gritted his teeth and remained silent.
Take the corn to the side and light a fire to cook.
Everyone set out from the Shang Kingdom, and when they arrived at Fontaine County, they had already run out of dry food and fresh water. Hong Ling took the corn and was about to wash it for cooking. Looking at those shriveled grain bags, it was not difficult to guess.
, there is really very little food in Fontaine County.
Seeing Hongling taking the well water and just about to clean it, Erwang came out like a puppy and said, "Sister Ling, this is not how rice is harvested."
Erwang quickly picked up a bucket and soaked all the water in the rice bag. He didn't wash it, but just watched helplessly.
After a while, a dense swarm of bugs emerged. After cleaning up all the bugs, Erwang started to scoop up the rice.
Yun Luo, who was watching from the side, looked as if she had seen a ghost, "You can still eat rice like this, but I won't eat it, even if I starve to death, I won't eat it."
Erwang was startled and looked at the corn in his hand. This was all the corn in Fontaine County. They couldn't even eat this kind of corn on weekdays.
"Yun Luo, put down your temper," Yue Jinghua frowned.
Yun Luo stamped her feet, didn't say anything, climbed directly onto the carriage, and ignored everyone.
"Everyone will just spend the night tonight. Tomorrow Hong Yao and Hong Ling will drive a carriage down the mountain to Bailu County to buy rice and clothing. Mother, you and Yue Chen will take a walk in the village to learn more about the situation in the county. As for
Tengwu and Salman, accompany me for a walk around the outskirts of Fontaine County, I want to see the defense situation in this area."
Yue Jinghua is not picky. She does not have high requirements for food, just as long as it can satisfy her hunger.
Nothing happened all night, and when they got up in the morning, everyone went down the mountain to do their business according to Yue Jinghua's arrangement.
At the end of the day, Hong Ling and Hong Yao brought a cart of rice and cotton clothes up the mountain and distributed them to the villagers. In addition, Lie Rou and Yue Chen wandered around the village during the day, and the villagers' attitude towards them became slightly better.
Only Nan Muyu still looked hostile and refused to come to receive winter clothes and rice.
Hongyao was also very cautious. When she was purchasing in Bailu County, she even inquired about it. There was no news about the group of people who were sent back. It seemed that Viscount Moore had no intention of sending troops to invade Fontaine County again.
"Don't worry, you are still a viscount after all, so you must be cautious when doing things. I'm afraid that people have been sent to the Imperial Capital of Ottawa to inquire about the news. As long as he finds out that the eldest brother is still in the Imperial Capital, he will definitely send people to cause trouble," Yue Jinghua was not in a hurry.
Don't wait, the Danxuan Card she has on hand is not enough to repay the debt of the Duke's Palace, but it is more than enough to rebuild a village where thousands of people live.
She has already inquired. In another month, the snow line on the ridge will melt, and the village can be rebuilt by then.
"Rebuilding is not difficult. The problem is how to resist the attacks of mysterious beasts in the mountains. I heard from the villagers that groups of mysterious beasts appear here from time to time. Even if a village is built, a city wall that can resist the mysterious beasts must be built.
"This is what Yue Jinghua is really worried about.
"When I visited Qihu City, a frontier fortress of the empire, I once saw the mysterious craftsmanship. It is to carve a permanent profound formation on each city wall stone. In this way, even if there are groups of mysterious beasts attacking, they can still attack.
It will have a certain defensive effect," Teng Wu pondered and made a suggestion.
"The production cost of black stone is very high. The foundation stone is long rock, and then making the rock into black stone requires at least an intermediate formation master to make it. It is time-consuming and labor-intensive. We don't have the manpower and material resources," Yue Jinghua immediately denied
His plan.
"Either reorganizing the county guards and patrolling day and night can also have a certain deterrent effect, but no one is willing to station in Fontaine County now," Hong Ling muttered.
When everyone was hesitating, Lierou walked in with a worried look on her face, "Have any of you seen Miss Yun and Miss Ye? They are gone."