After leaving the military camp, Zhao Yanxun and his party only walked three to four hundred meters before a carriage caught up to pick him up.
Zhang Meng squeezed out the coachman and took over the job of driving the coach again.
"Zhang Meng, thank you very much when you leave the city. Are the other guard posts as seen yesterday?"
Zhang Meng replied: "Report to the Emperor, some are good and some are bad, but they are always better than the original ones!"
Zhang Meng was once a soldier of Longyou Dusi, so he naturally knew the situation of the guard station.
"As for the situation in each capital, although the Privy Council has strict supervision, I always feel uneasy!"
"After returning to Beijing this time, I plan to send you to inspect various places. What do you think?"
Zhang Meng was stunned for a few seconds and then replied: "I obey the emperor's orders!"
Zhao Yanxun laughed a few times and asked: "Is it possible that you are still reluctant to leave me?"
These words really spoke to Zhang Meng's mind. He was really not willing to do these mind-consuming tasks.
Before Zhang Meng could reply, Zhao Yanxun continued: "In the past few years, they have led troops to fight many tough battles, but you have always stayed by my side. This is not an option. I have to go out and gain experience!"
"I understand!"
The carriage moved forward slowly, and the two started chatting and rushed along the official road to a remote place.
Although he has been in this era for more than three years, the places where Zhao Yanxun goes in and out are either large cities at the county level, places surrounded by zombies, or military strategic locations...
He had never seen the most ordinary villages and towns of this era in person.
Those villages and towns that can be found next to official roads are actually relatively prosperous places, and Zhao Yanxun seems to have basically found no problems along the way.
Therefore, Zhao Yanxun finally decided to abandon the carriage and walk to the remote countryside instead.
Along the trail, Zhao Yanxun and the others walked forward for seven or eight miles, and the scenes they saw along the way were indeed different.
The people I met along the way were obviously much thinner than those living around the official road. It would be an exaggeration to say they were skinny and bones.
At this moment, Zhao Yanxun stopped in a wild area. In the ditch next to him, there was a body that had been eaten by wild dogs.
What he had seen before made him realize that in the world he ruled, the people were suffering, but it was still within the acceptable range in his heart.
But the devoured corpse shocked him greatly and made him feel particularly sad.
"Find a place to bury the person!"
"yes!"
Immediately afterwards, Zhang Meng called to the two people accompanying him and began to dig a hole to bury the body.
Looking at the uncultivated fields in the distance, Zhao Yanxun murmured: "Right now, wild dogs are eating people. If there is a shortage of food, people may be eating people!"
After a while, the body was buried, and Zhao Yanxun and his party continued on their way.
After walking another four or five miles, several farmers' houses appeared in the mountain col ahead.
"Go look over there!"
The few people continued to move forward, but only a few hundred meters away, Zhao Yanxun heard crying and howling.
Soon, they approached the nearest hut, and the crying came from inside.
These were obviously the most ordinary people, and Zhao Yanxun originally wanted to ask them about their living conditions.
But with things like this right now, no matter who asks, everyone knows that this family is living a miserable life.
"Is there anyone inside?"
Zhang Meng shouted several times before an old woman came out. Her patched clothes could hardly be called clothes.
Gray hair, sunken eyes, thin body... Zhao Yanxun just felt sad when he saw it.
The world he governed was not only composed of scholar-officials, but also the vast majority of the common people.
And the person in front of me, although miserable enough, at least has his own house, which is much better than those refugees.
Thinking of the wealthy families in the capital, they have occupied more than a dozen lifetimes of wealth, but they still do some illegal things. They deserve to be raped.
Although the old woman did not know how to recognize people, she knew that they must be important people just from the clothes of Zhao Yanxun and others, even though Zhao Yanxun was already looking for the most ordinary commoners.
"Kowtow to you gentlemen!" The old woman hurriedly knelt on the ground.
"Old man, please get up quickly!"
Zhao Yanxun stepped forward to help, but Zhang Meng took the first step and directly helped the old woman up.
Although they acted very easy-going, they still frightened the old woman so much that she didn't know how to deal with herself.
With a smile on his face, Zhao Yanxun asked: "Old man, you are the only one at home? Why don't you see other people?"
"Master, my two sons have gone into the mountains to cut firewood, and the head of the family is in the fields with his wife and grandchildren!"
Nodding, Zhao Yanxun asked again: "It's a good thing that the whole family is here, but are you living a good life now?"
Upon hearing this, the old woman began to cry again, and the meaning was obvious.
"If you have any difficulties at home, you can tell us. We are sent by the government to help the people solve their problems!"
As soon as she heard that Zhao Yanxun was from the government, the old woman immediately said: "No... there is no difficulty!"
It was obvious that he did not mean what he said, but when Zhao Yanxun thought about it for a moment, he realized that this old woman did not believe in the government.
"Old man, if you have any difficulties, just tell us and we will definitely help you!"
Trust is something that cannot be easily established.
The old woman suddenly knelt down, kowtowed and said, "Sir, this little family is really out of food. If you keep pushing, my whole family will die!"
This sentence contains a lot of information.
"Old man, we are not here to collect food!"
It took a lot of persuasion to make the old woman believe what Zhao Yanxun said, but the worry and fear in her expression did not disappear.
At this moment, Zhao Yanxun was sitting on the doorstep of the other party, and the old woman was sitting next to him.
"Old man, the government has recently requisitioned your food?"
"yes!"
"Each family is charged per person, and each person pays fifty catties!"
"Who came to your house to collect it?"
"Master Wang's house!"
"That Mr. Wang?"
"It's Mr. Wang from Anxi Village!"
When he heard that he was a local landowner, Zhao Yanxun immediately asked: "How much land does his family have?"
"Countless, many fields belong to his family!"
"This Mr. Wang, is he always collecting taxes?"
"yes!"
"Why don't the government collect it themselves?"
Unexpectedly, the old woman asked: "Do you want the official to collect it?"
In today's era, the county government directly governs only the county town and its surrounding areas, while further areas can only rely on township officials to govern themselves.
A big landowner like Mr. Wang will naturally assume the responsibility of being a wise man in the countryside.
"Where does Mr. Wang live?"
"It's right in front!" The old woman pointed the direction to Zhao Yanxun.
"Thank you very much!"
Before leaving, Zhao Yanxun asked if he had any money with him. Of course he would help if he could help a little.
They didn't take much money with them when they went out, but together they had more than twenty taels, but Zhao Yanxun only left three taels of silver for the old woman.
It's not that he is reluctant to part with it, but that he is afraid that giving too much money will harm the family.
Three taels of silver was enough for them to tide over this difficulty.
However, there were so many suffering people in the world, and how could Zhao Yanxun have so much money to save them?
Just as he was about to leave, he saw a young man running quickly from a distance, shouting "Wang Po".
"Master, this is the eldest grandson of the family behind me!"
Having benefited from Zhao Yanxun, Wang Po had put down her guard and took the initiative to introduce the person to Zhao Yanxun.
"Dalang, what's the matter?"
After taking a look at Zhao Yanxun and the others, the young man was obviously wary, so he did not answer Wang Po's words.
"If you have anything to say, just say it, there are no outsiders here!"
After Wang Po said this, the young man said: "Wang Po, the county magistrate has gone to Mr. Wang's house!"
