Chapter 1072 Dugu Ce's Concealment

After enjoying a few days of bliss in Shuofang, Yun Zheng finally went to the Northwest Protectorate.

On this trip, he only brought his personal guards and asked Miaoyin to stay in Shuofang to help Jiayao recuperate.

After passing Tianqiong Pass, Yun Zheng and his team slowed down.

There is a grain road from Tianqiong Pass to Yufeng City.

However, this original grain route was relatively narrow.

Now, due to the large-scale construction of highways, this grain route has been widened a lot.

The progress of the construction of the Chidao was much slower than Yun Zheng had expected.

They started building the highway last year, and it has been more than a year now. Although they mobilized a large number of manpower, this highway only connects Tianqiong Pass and Yufeng City.

The highway connecting Lingzhou was only a few dozen miles long.

It will take at least more than a year to connect Tianqiong Pass and Lingzhou.

As they traveled along the way, they occasionally saw some caravans, but because the Northwest Protectorate was still suffering from famine, there were not many caravans coming and going.

"Your Highness, there was a robbery ahead, and he was captured by our people!"

Not long after passing the section of the highway that was being built towards Lingzhou, Tang Zhao came riding back to report.

Tang Zhao is one of several outstanding students in the military academy.

Yun Zheng brought several people with him on this trip to Sawtooth Ridge.

There will be no war at the Yanhuishan Camp in the short term, so it would be a waste to keep them there.

It would be more practical to let them become bandit leaders and train through fighting.

"Robbery?"

Yun Zheng almost laughed out loud, "Are you sure they are going to rob?"

Damn it, he has so many guards with him, and yet someone dares to rob him?

Isn't this just seeking death?

"Yes!"

Tang Zhao replied: "They look like refugees. Your Highness, do you want to go and take a look?"

"Let's see!"

Yun Zheng nodded.

Since they are refugees, it is not difficult to understand.

To say he was robbing, I guess he just wanted to get a meal.

Otherwise, no matter how bold a group of refugees are, it is impossible for them to rob them.

Under the leadership of Tang Zhao, Yun Zheng met the group of refugees who were surrounded by the Royal Guards.

These people were all ragged and skinny.

At first glance, most of them are old people with white hair.

The weapons they threw on the ground were just some sharpened sticks and some stone axes.

Faced with the Royal Guards who were armed to the teeth, these people didn't dare to resist at all. They didn't even dare to raise their heads. They all knelt on the ground in fear.

"Who is your leader?"

Yun Zheng raised his eyes and glanced at the group of people.

Although he had known about the situation in the Northwest Protectorate for a long time, as a person with a modern soul, he still felt a little bit of pity when he saw these skinny refugees.

Everyone was silent, with their heads buried, and no one answered Yun Zheng's question.

"The prince asks you a question!"

Shen Kuan shouted: "Tell me quickly, who is your leader?"

Amidst Shen Kuan's shouting, an old man with a thin face raised his head with difficulty and answered hesitantly: "Your Highness, it's... it's me..."

"What's your name?" Yun Zheng asked.

"Ha...Ha five."

Yun Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly: "Tell me, how did you come up with the idea of ​​robbing this king?"

Ha Wu said in a hoarse voice, with a face full of fear: "I... don't... don't know it's the prince, I..."

"Just because you met someone other than this king, you can rob people?"

Yun Zheng interrupted Ha Wu and said, "Who gave you the courage to rob people like this?"

Ha Wu replied trembling all over: "I didn't really want to rob the government troops. I just wanted to be caught and forced to build the road. I beg Your Majesty to show mercy. I will never dare to do it again..."

"Oh?"

Yun Zheng frowned slightly, "Why, no one is willing to accept you for labor service?"

Ha Wu nodded with difficulty and carefully told Yun Zheng about their situation.

The famine in the Northwestern Protectorate was too severe.

They were all from the same village, and there was no food left in their village.

They wanted to do corvée labor to earn a living.

But now there are too many people who want to perform labor service, and the government army simply does not accept those old and weak people like them.

In desperation, they thought of trying this method.

Because they heard that someone had robbed someone before and was captured by the government troops.

What they thought was that even if they were captured by the government troops and forced to work like slaves, as long as they had something to eat, they would be satisfied.

If you are killed by government troops, you will have no choice but to accept your fate.

"Isn't it right?"

Yun Zheng frowned, "As far as I know, there should be someone distributing disaster relief food here, right?"

We haven’t even passed Lingzhou yet!

The disaster situation in the south of Northwest Protectorate was better than that in the north.

Although Qiuchi also forcibly requisitioned a lot of grain at the beginning, it was not as cruel as Lou Yi. Last year's war did not spread here, and the people here were still able to farm for a year.

Even if their harvest was poor, as long as the imperial court distributed some appropriate relief grain, the people here should not have suffered so miserably!

If the people north of Yudai River were like this, it would be understandable.

But the people south of Yudai River are all like this, there is obviously some problem!

Could it be that someone swallowed the relief food?

"There is relief food, but... it's too little."

Ha Wu raised his cloudy eyes and said, "This year's new grain has not come out yet. Each family only has one bushel of disaster relief grain a month, which is barely enough for one child. If old people like us don't go out to find a way to make a living, the children at home will have no way to survive..."

No wonder!

Yun Zheng sighed in sudden realization.

There is only one bushel of relief grain per month. If the whole family eats it, the end result is that everyone in the family will starve to death.

After thinking for a while, Yun Zheng instructed Shen Kuan: "Give each of them a day's worth of dry food! Also, send someone to notify the people in charge of road construction in the back to take them in and let them build the road as well!"

This place is not far from the road construction site, and one day is enough for them to get there.

Since they have met me, it is their good fortune, so I will help them if I can.

As for those who haven't encountered it, we can only say that they are unlucky.

He is not a god, so it is impossible for him to help everyone.

"Yes!"

Shen Kuan took the order and immediately ordered people to distribute dry food to these people.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Ha Wu was so excited that he shouted to the people kneeling on the ground: "Quick, kowtow to the prince!"

At Ha Wu's call, everyone kowtowed to Yun Zheng.

"Okay, hurry up and get some dry food!"

Yun Zheng stopped everyone and ordered the guards to leave.

Sometimes, out of sight, out of mind.

Boil it!

We have endured such a long time, and new food will be available in more than a month.

As long as they can hold out until the new grain comes out, they will have overcome the biggest difficulty.

After the people distributing dry food caught up, Yun Zheng ordered Shen Kuan again: "Send someone to Yufeng City and order Dugu Ce to rush to Lingzhou as soon as possible!"

It seems that Dugu Ce was hiding the real situation in the Northwest Protectorate.

He needs to have a good talk with Dugu Ce.

He could probably guess why Dugu Ce concealed it.

Even if Dugu Ce had good intentions, he still wanted to know the true situation of the Northwest Protectorate...