Xu Mu and his party bypassed the refugees and rushed to the foot of Wangzhou City in embarrassment.
Fortunately, the camp soldiers took over the defense, and all the refugees near the city gate had been wiped out by the camp soldiers in armor.
"Open, open the city gate!" Before Xu Mu opened his mouth, Li Xiaowan, who was behind the carriage, shouted loudly with a tearful voice.
The horrific scenes she saw along the way were enough to keep her from closing her eyes for several days and nights.
Many people died, including headless, dismembered, disembowelled, hanging from trees, lying in streams and rivers...
She was born into a family of officials, and she had only seen the lives of wealthy people since she was a child. She had never seen anything like this.
"Open the city gate!" Fan Gu and Wang Yun also shouted anxiously. Compared with Li Xiaowan's performance, they were even worse. Fan Gu was better, and Wang Yun was so frightened that his crotch was wet.
Xu Mu sat silently on the carriage, and Zhou Zun and Zhou Luo, who was riding next to him, also had a worried look on his face.
If you can't enter the city, it's too late and you can't get back to Zhuangzi, it will be extremely dangerous in the wild mountains and wilderness.
The three or four battalions guarding the city had desolate expressions on their faces. The leading captain held a torch and approached coldly, his expression becoming more and more serious.
"Where did he come from!"
"Sitong Road, Old Racecourse." Xu Mu said calmly.
If the captain in front of me is more suspicious, I might have to drive them away.
"We know there is a disaster in Wangzhou! What are we doing in the city at this time?"
"Look for the official! I am the official's family member!" Li Xiaowan shouted.
Xu Mu secretly cursed an idiot.
Sure enough, Li Xiaowan, who was unable to produce the notarized official certificate, was so frightened that she hurriedly retreated into the carriage under the cold looks of several groups of soldiers.
"Master." Xu Mu put on a smile, hurriedly got out of the carriage, and sadly thrust the small half bag of silver into the captain's hand.
"My lord, I am the owner of Sitong Winery. Look at the wine on my carriage. If this business does not continue, the people in the village will starve to death."
The captain took the silver and tossed it a few times, then his expression softened slightly. After checking the private wine again and confirming that there was nothing wrong with it, he nodded expressionlessly.
"Be careful when entering the city and don't disturb things. Remember, you must leave the city as soon as possible."
"My lord, don't worry."
"Come in."
Xu Mu breathed a sigh of relief and asked Si Hu to slowly drive the carriage and drive across the suspension bridge on the moat. The group finally entered Wangzhou without any danger.
"These soldiers! How unreasonable!" Li Xiaowan was still angry and kept chattering for a while, then suddenly remembered something.
"Hey, Master Xu, go to Guanfang first!"
"That's exactly what I think." Xu Mu nodded crisply.
He couldn't help but feel happy when he thought that these three ancestors were about to break off their relationship.
"Brother Mu, there is no one left."
The carriage drove through the mottled stone road. Different from the past, the bustling downtown street suddenly became empty.
You know, when I was in Wangzhou, even late at night, there would be many small vendors setting up stalls selling boiled noodles and cereals.
Now, there is nothing.
As far as the eye could see, the silence was terrifying. Occasionally, an old alcoholic would lie down on the cold stone floor and make a chest-breaking cough.
"It's only dusk, and even the officials patrolling the streets are gone." Zhou Zun uttered a sentence in a trembling voice.
Xu Mu's face turned gloomy and he did not dare to delay any longer. He asked Si Hu to urge his horse and continue running towards Guanfang.
Unfortunately, when they arrived at Guanfang, the scene in front of them made Xu Mu even more disappointed.
In the huge Wangzhou official square, at this moment, only the old official who recorded the land deeds was left, holding a grease lantern and sitting on a chair in front of the official square.
He seemed to be asleep, but also seemed to lower his head and not want to speak.
The carriage stopped and a group of people hurriedly got out.
"Senior." Xu Mu hesitated, took two steps closer, bowed and clasped his fists.
After shouting three times in a row, the old official opened his eyes in a daze and raised his hands to wipe away the tears in his eyes.
"Everyone—" the old official said hoarsely, and before he finished speaking, he fixed his gaze on Xu Mu.
"I remember you, the young boss of the old horse farm, you were a stickman... Let me think about it, your name is Mu, Mu?"
"Senior, Xu Mu."
"Ha, I remember." It seemed that someone was coming. The old official was very happy. He stood up, holding a grease lantern with his rickety body, and greeted the person into the official room.
Li Xiaowan in the back was about to ask a question urgently, but Xu Mu glared at her and choked back her words.
"Senior, why don't you see me anymore? The official, Tian Song, is still familiar with me."
"There's no one left, there's no one left. Those who left the city a few days ago, these people who are on the imperial salary, are all useless people."
"Where are the officials? There are many officials?" Li Xiaowan finally couldn't help it and spoke in a low voice.
"Everyone has left. The entire Wangzhou City has been defended by soldiers. All the big families in the city have left. Even the poorer people did not dare to stay in the city. They were so frightened that they ran out.
"
"Then why doesn't Senior leave the city?"
The old official stopped and turned around. His face looked a little tragic under the light of the lantern.
"Since I was seventeen years old, I have been banging seals in the official workshop. My half-money per month has increased to eight coins. I sit down to open the workshop at dawn, and light lanterns to close the workshop at dusk."
"Hey, I've counted seventeen of the stone slabs of Qingshui Bridge broken by treading on them."
"Under the gate building in the east of the city, I have posted at least a thousand official lists."
"I loved eight of the old bustards of the Qing Dynasty."
"I can't walk anymore."
The old official took a breath and seemed to be faltering more and more.
Xu Mu hurriedly stepped forward and supported the old official's body.
"That year when I was twenty-four, some Beidi people bypassed Yongguan and deceived me into having no troops in Wangzhou. I got angry, so I picked up my sword and followed the others to fight. They killed the Beidi dog and turned around.
run."
"Later, later Daji couldn't beat it."
The old official had a painful look on his face, "When the old scholar was not crazy, he would often tell me that the Daji could not beat Beidi. The reason why we could not defeat Beidi was because the Great Wall was no longer in our hearts."
Xu Mu stood silently.
The three scholars at the back, as well as Si Hu and others, did not dare to say anything.
"Now, let's go into the workshop." The old official took another step and stubbornly refused Xu Mu's support. He was still stumbling. The simple knife that was attached was also as old as his age, so rusty that it had no edge.
.
"We'll stay here for one night and leave the city tomorrow. It's almost done. Almost everyone in Wangzhou City will be gone."
"Thank you, senior." Xu Mu earnestly handed over his hand.
"Little stickman, Tian Song told me that you seem to have defeated the bandits. Tsk, tsk, I have a few more heroes like you in my lifetime, so I don't have to worry about the border being unstable."
The old official staggered, held a grease lantern, turned around and walked out.
"Although I am a little older, I can still draw a sword to kill the enemy. Tonight, I will not close my shop."
Xu Mu turned his head sideways, and Li Xiaowan happened to look over. At the same time, both of them let out a heavy sigh of helplessness.