Three hundred and seventieth chapters strange town
Early next morning.
Under Lin Ying's reluctant farewell, Lin Yun, Yun Ruoxi and several other disciples set off with Ren Tan Qian towards the royal city located in the royal domain.
The royal domain is thousands of miles away from Yuzhou, located in the northernmost part of Nanxia Kingdom, very close to the border fortress.
To the north of the border fortress is the Beiyan Kingdom, the enemy of the Southern Xia Kingdom.
The reason why the first Nanxia king built the royal city so close to the enemy country must start from the history of Nanxia Kingdom.
Three hundred years ago, the people who ruled the Southern Xia Kingdom were not the Nangong family, but the Dongfang family, which had long since declined.
The descendants of the Dongfang family did not want to make progress, stayed in their ways, and never thought about danger in times of peace. As a result, their military power gradually declined, and they were captured by the Northern Yan Kingdom in one fell swoop and suffered the disaster of annihilation.
At the time of crisis, the Nangong family joined forces with the Shangguan family, the Murong family, and the Hua family to fight back, and finally saved half of the kingdom.
When the war stabilized, the Nangong family established themselves as kings.
The first generation of the Southern Xia king was a heroic man, and he vowed to recover his blood debt from the Beiyan Kingdom. In order to prevent future generations from being indifferent to progress, he deliberately placed the royal city in the north, far away from the territory occupied by the enemy.
The seemingly risky decision of the first Nanxia king laid a strong foundation for the continuation of the Nanxia Kingdom.
Under the threat of the enemy, the survival instinct aroused people's bloodshed. Descendants of the four major families went to the battlefield one after another to experience, and each generation became more outstanding than the last. Countless heroes were born in the past two hundred years, making the Southern Xia Kingdom more and more tenacious and more and more powerful.
Strong.
It is precisely because of the countless heroes of the royal city who confront the enemy in the north. The people of the eight major states and counties in the south can live and work in peace and contentment, prosper and lay a strong enough foundation for the kingdom.
The group of people rode on horseback and marched several hundred miles north that day. That night they marched to the border area of Yuzhou County, passing by a large town.
"It's getting late. Let's camp here tonight and start our journey again tomorrow." Ren Tan Qian stopped at the entrance of the town and turned around and said to everyone.
After all, horses need a night's rest after traveling all day.
Everyone nodded, and then led the horses into the town.
After entering the town, everyone felt that something was wrong with this town.
The town was not small, enough to accommodate thousands of households. But at this time, there was not a single pedestrian on the street, not even a light.
The whole street was dimly lit and pitch black. The houses on both sides of the street also had their doors and windows closed, making them look lifeless and lifeless, like an abandoned ghost town.
Walking on the deserted street, the sound of footsteps echoed clearly in everyone's ears, which seemed very strange.
"What's going on in this town? How come you can't even see a ghost?" Yuan Xiaofeng asked with curiosity on his face.
"Isn't this the legendary ghost town?" Hu Jin said with a grin.
Ren Tanqian looked up at the sky and found that there was still a trace of afterglow on the edge of the sky: "At this time, it's not even bedtime yet, there is a problem in this town."
Lin Yun never spoke, but he could clearly sense the scent of humans from the surrounding houses. This meant that all the people in the town were hiding in the houses.
None of them have gone to bed yet, but for some unknown reason, they all huddle up at home and dare not go out.
"The townspeople are all hiding in the houses, as if they are afraid of something. It seems that something must have happened in this town." Lin Yun said to Ren Tanqian expressionlessly.
Ren Tanqian nodded and said: "Let's find an inn to stay in first, and ask the innkeeper about the situation of this town."
"Okay." Everyone nodded, and then walked along the block, searching through most of the town, and finally found an inn.
The doors and windows of this inn are also closed, and even the signboard is covered with cobwebs, giving it a desolate feel. It has obviously been closed for a long time.
Ren Tanqian walked to the door of the inn, tapped his knuckle bones on the door frame, and asked if there was anyone inside.
I have been calling for a long time, but no one has responded.
Ren Tanqian could only cling to the wooden door and speak as loudly as possible: "We are businessmen passing by here. Seeing that it is getting late, we have nowhere to stay, so we want to come to your hotel to stay overnight. Money is not a problem. I hope the owner will be kind to you."
It’s convenient.”
Perhaps it was the phrase "money is not a problem" that impressed the shopkeeper, and soon an old voice came from inside the house: "Are you really businessmen?"
Ren Tanqian hurriedly replied: "We are indeed businessmen. We carry a lot of money with us, but we can't find a place to spend it when we come here."
Crunch…
As soon as Ren Tanqian finished speaking, the door of the inn opened with a vertical crack.
The eyes of an old man then appeared in the crack, looking at the door warily.
"A guest room, one hundred gold coins per night." The old man did not open the door immediately, but said tentatively.
"Okay, we'll live in four rooms." Ren Tanqian agreed immediately. Although the price was very low, to Ren Tanqian, it was nothing at all.
"Come in quickly, hurry up." The old man hurriedly opened the door and nervously waved to everyone and urged.
After several people entered the house, the old man looked outside and looked around. After confirming that there was no one on the street, he nervously closed the door and locked it.
Seeing the old man's behavior, Ren Tanqian asked curiously: "Excuse me, shopkeeper, what are you doing?"
The old shopkeeper said with a sad look on his face: "The guest doesn't know something, so we have no choice but to do this."
Ren Tanqian took the words of the old shopkeeper and asked: "Is there any reason? I would like to hear the details."
The old shopkeeper lowered his voice and said with a look of horror: "I think the guest officer must have noticed just now. Our town is inaccessible and almost deserted."
"Excuse me, what happened to this town? Why did it become what it is now?" Ren Tanqian had already placed four hundred gold coins on the counter while asking.
Seeing the gold coins that Ren Tan Qian put down, the old shopkeeper's eyes flashed and he hurriedly accepted the gold coins. Then he said politely to everyone: "Everyone, please take a seat first. Sit down and let's talk slowly."
Under the greeting of the old shopkeeper, everyone sat down at the dinner table.
The old shopkeeper took out another menu and asked everyone to order some side dishes. When everyone was using their chopsticks, he sat down and told everyone everything that happened in the town.
This town is located on the border of Yuzhou and was named Linzhong Town because it is surrounded by dense forests.
Linzhong Town was originally peaceful and peaceful, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment with simple customs.
But in recent months, a group of violent bandits suddenly appeared and made trouble in this area, causing chaos.
In the name of offering sacrifices to heaven, they forcibly kidnapped the townspeople. None of the townspeople who were kidnapped came back.
Yuzhou City also sent patrols to suppress the bandits, but the bandits were so powerful that even the Yuzhou City patrols never came back, so they could only be allowed to continue their misdeeds.