As the sound of horse hooves sounded, dozens of cavalry riding war horses and wearing red cloaks roared from behind. They were either holding crossbows or holding sabers, and were lying half-dead on the horse's back.

Their sabers tilted downward at an angle of thirty degrees and quickly passed by the hungry people. As the sword light flashed, they were just a charge. The hungry people who were looking at the brutal eyes just now fell into a pool of blood like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, and there was no room for fighting back.

“Well…”

After killing all these hungry people, the cavalrymen stopped fighting one after another, and dozens of eyes were concentrated on the remaining three young and strong men and more than a dozen women and children. The timid children were frightened and cried out on the spot.

The middle-aged man in the head swept the cavalry around him several times. Although he was already unarmed at this time, he still used his body to deliberately or unintentionally protect the women and children behind him, and asked hesitantly: "Do you guys, are they the soldiers of the court?"

“That’s right!”

A cavalry in the lead nodded slightly, "We are the Jiangning army under the command of the Duke of Xinguo of the Ming Dynasty. Who are you? Why are you besieged by these mobs?"

"It's the imperial army... it's the imperial army that's saving us."

The middle-aged man's heart, which was originally hanging, finally fell down, and he knelt on the ground with a thud and started crying bitterly. He cried so heartbrokenly and so heartbroken.

The only two young and strong men who could still stand behind him, the children and women and children on the cart, also cried. These days, too many relatives have fallen on the road. The only thing they can do is dig a shallow pit and bury their relatives with a straw mat, and then pile up a simple small pile of soil without tombstones. Perhaps even they can't remember the specific location after a while.

This is the troubled times, famine, disease, hungry people, and bandits. They may take their lives at any time. Everyone feels in danger. No one can describe their inner fear and despair. The appearance of these imperial soldiers now is like a dawn of hope in the dark sky.

Looking at the people who were heartbroken and crying, the cavalry in the lead relaxed a little: "Who are you and why do you appear here?"

The middle-aged man said sadly: "It's so good for this military man to learn that we are all from Lujiang County, Luzhou Prefecture. Last month, the bandits suddenly broke into Luzhou Prefecture, and Hefei County, Shucheng County, Lujiang County, Chao County and other places under Luzhou Prefecture fell one after another. Caomin and others rushed to Luzhou City to take refuge, but at that time, Luzhou City had already been closed and no one was allowed to enter and exit.

The grass-crown had no choice but to join several familiar neighbors and relatives to flee together. He thought he could escape to Hangzhou Prefecture to join relatives and friends, but he never thought that after only ten days of leaving, there were only so many people left in the team of seventy or eighty people. If it weren't for the few military officials today, I would probably have to be buried here."

The cavalry officer asked, "Since the road is so difficult, wouldn't you find a prefecture and county along the way to settle down first, and then look for an opportunity to go to Hangzhou?"

"Caomin naturally knows this truth, but the county town along the way has either fallen into the hands of bandits or has already been so scared that the city gates are closed, so the grass people cannot enter at all."

"So that's how it is." The officer pondered for a moment and suddenly asked: "I remember those bandits shouted the slogan of 'eat and wear them, and the King of Breaking will not pay food when they come,' and called on everyone to join him, and said that they would not harm innocent people. Why do you want to escape again, or why don't you just surrender to the bandits? At least you can still survive if you surrender to the bandits."

"Terror to the bandits?"

The middle-aged man laughed smirked, "Mr. Jun. Although Caomin didn't read much, he also knew the principle of loyalty to the emperor and serving the country. Besides, what slogans were shouted by the thief? The king of dynasties did not pay food, and these words could only deceive fools and wives. Which court in all dynasties did not pay food? What did they eat if they didn't pay food? They couldn't just drink water? What is the difference between this and the White Lotus Sect, which used to deceive the people to drink talismans and paste talismans and think they were invulnerable to swords and guns."

"You're a sensible person!"

The officer nodded in praise, then looked at them again. Seeing that each of these people had a bad face, he called a cavalry and gave a few instructions. After a while, a cavalry handed a bag to the middle-aged man.

"You can take these dry foods. Remember that the biscuits in them are enough for each adult to eat one piece of the cookies. Children can't eat too much, otherwise it will be broken. I guess these dry foods should make you last to Hangzhou Prefecture."

The middle-aged man took the bag and suddenly knelt down and cried, "Thank you for your help, the people will never forget it."

"Forget it, let's go!" The officer waved his hand and shouted. The cavalrymen boarded their horses, and soon a team of cavalry disappeared from their sight.

On the streets of Runing Mansion, Yang Feng, dressed in military uniform, walked slowly on the streets surrounded by dozens of servants. Gou Xingma, Chen Tian and several officers also followed him. Everyone looked at the empty streets and remained silent.

After walking for a while, Yang Feng sighed: "I didn't expect that the situation in Jiangnan was worse than I expected. How long has it been? Several prefectures in Jiangnan were poisoned by the bandits. The governments in various places had no way to do anything except crying and asking the court to send reinforcements."

"Who said no?"

Gou Xingma also smiled bitterly and said, "Originally, the general thought that a place as big as Jiangnan would be as good as it would be possible to draw out a few capable soldiers and horses to deal with the bandits, but he never expected that these soldiers in Jiangnan were simply made of tofu shit. No... Tofu shit is better than them, at least tofu shit won't even dare to defend the city wall."

Chen Tian also shook his head and said, "Jiangnan is no longer the same as before. But now most of the fertile fields have been planted in mulberry trees, dug into fish ponds or planted with various fruit trees. So the grain from the former fish and rice town still needs to be transported from other places, which is really sad and lamentable.

Judging from the various information sent in the past few days, there has been a serious shortage of food in Jiangnan now, and even the phenomenon of cannibalism among the people is really a sin."

Hearing this, Gou Xingma asked with some concern: "Dude, the degree of decay in Jiangnan has exceeded our expectations. Do we still have to act according to the original plan now?"

"Why not?" Yang Feng sneered: "Who is the fault of Jiangnan's decay? Now it's time to let those people taste the bitter fruits. You immediately pass on the general order of this minister and let the ministries act according to the original plan. If anyone disobeys the military order, he will punish them strictly! "

"Abide by the order!"
Chapter completed!