When Long Yu appeared in front of him holding the waistband of the Longwei Mansion's personal guard, the first thing Wang Hao thought of was the gossip that had been widely circulated throughout the Qin Dynasty.
No one knows how many personal guards of the Longwei Mansion around Hu Hai are. Although many of the personal guards of the Longwei Mansion around Hu Hai may have never shown their faces in front of others, the commander of the personal guards, one of the twelve personal guards around the emperor,
, as long as the officials in the court can participate in the court meeting, even the seventh-rank petty officials will no longer know Long Yu and Long Hong, the only remaining personal guards who stayed with Hu Hai.
Needless to say, Long Bing and Long Xue were known by many people throughout Guanzhong, not to mention Xianyang.
Seeing Long Yu, Wang Hao's heart trembled.
There are only two possibilities for Long Yu to appear on the official road east of Hedong. The first is that the emperor sent Long Yu north to investigate the disaster. This possibility is not impossible, but it is obviously very low. How many people are there in Longwei Mansion? Where can they get to the emperor's side?
The commander of the personal guards took action personally.
Wang Hao didn't dare to think about the second possibility, but he was almost certain of it in his heart.
So when Long Yu said that someone was summoning him, Wang Hao immediately jumped out of the carriage as quickly as possible and found a war horse to follow Long Yu in a hurry.
Who else in the entire Qin Dynasty could use the word "summon" to the Minister of War Zuo?
…
The place where Hu Hai stopped was a small earth mountain close to the official road in Hedong.
Looking at the familiar figure with his back turned to him, Wang Hao was about to bow and pay homage when Long Bing stopped him with his eyes.
The emperor was obviously in a bad mood, so Wang Hao could only carefully wipe the cold sweat from his head and stand aside.
a long time!
"Wang Aiqing, why did I ask you to lead the army north?" Hu Hai's faint voice suddenly sounded.
"Ah!" Hu Hai suddenly spoke, which made Wang Hao, who had always been worried, be stunned for a moment, and then he immediately came to his senses and said respectfully: "Back to your majesty, your majesty loves the people like a son and is worried about all the people. The reason for letting me lead the army north is to rescue the people affected by the disaster.
"
"Oh? It turns out that Wang Aiqing knows why he went north!" Hu Hai turned around and looked at Wang Hao, who was constantly wiping cold sweat, and said quietly.
This faint sentence frightened Wang Hao, the left minister of the Ministry of War, to the point where he was almost out of his wits.
"Then the people at the foot of the mountain are not victims of the disaster? Why did Wang Aiqing turn a blind eye?" Hu Hai pointed at the large number of victims supporting the elderly and the young at the foot of the mountain, speaking in a slightly high voice.
"Your Majesty is guilty, please punish me!"
If Wang Hao still doesn't know why by this time, then he really should die!
"Stop all the victims and bring them back to Pingyang City for resettlement. The Pingyang County Magistrate ignored the decree of the Central Government and not only did not try to resettle the fleeing people, but also closed the city gates and strictly prohibited the fleeing people from entering. It is so audacious and abominable! I will leave this matter to you.
Handle it, find out the cause and report it to the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Punishment for disposal!"
"I obey your order!" Wang Hao hurriedly bowed and responded.
"Go!" Hu Hai waved his hand, somewhat disinterested!
What Pingyang City did made Hu Hai angry. And Wang Hao's performance really disappointed Hu Hai!
As a dignified third-rank official of the imperial court, he only knew how to act in accordance with the imperial court's orders. He watched a large number of victims appear in front of his eyes but did not know how to direct the soldiers to resettle the victims. It is no wonder that although Wang Hao, as the elder of the Wang clan, always
He did not hold any official position in the government.
He did not tell Wang Hao to keep his identity secret. Unless Wang Hao was really wet, he would foolishly spread the news that he had gone north.
…
By the time Hu Hai arrived at Pingyang City, a large number of soldiers were already setting up tents and other equipment outside Pingyang City. Countless pots and stoves were set up, with sticky rice porridge being cooked in them.
A large number of disaster victims lined up in a long line under the command of the county guards and were waiting for dinner!
Wang Hao moved very quickly. Before Hu Hai left, the county soldiers on the official road had prepared a large number of carriages to load the victims on their way to Pingyang City. Wang Hao was busy running around in person.
Hu Hai naturally knew that Wang Hao was doing this for himself.
It's just that as the highest official of the imperial court who went north to provide disaster relief this time, he ignored a lot of important things and instead did things that only a pawn should do in order to show off in front of the emperor. It was really a bit incomprehensible!
Pingyang City, which was supposed to have its gates closed, now has four gates wide open.
Hu Hai did not stay in Pingyang City, but sent Long Yu and others into the city to replenish some drinking water and food, and then directly left Pingyang City and continued northward.
It is no longer important how Wang Hao investigates and punishes the Pingyang County Magistrate. A small county magistrate is not enough for Hu Hai to think about him all the time.
Shangdang and the east of Taiyuan were taken care of by the large army that entered from Julu and Handan three days ago, so it was okay. There was only one road going south. The soldiers of Lantian Daying County who went north from Guanzhong had just arrived in Pingyang, and Pingyang City was closed.
Judging from the fact that the city gate prohibited the victims from entering, it was impossible to send officials north to participate in the disaster relief.
In this way, one can imagine the plight of the people who came south from the disaster area!
…
The bright half-moon hangs high in the sky, and the moonlight like mercury fills the earth.
Along the way, within a few steps on both sides of the official road, you can see the corpses of victims who fell to the ground, including old people and children. Most of the corpses of these victims were still intact, and it was obvious that they died less than a day ago.
The murderous intention in Hu Hai's heart was getting stronger and stronger.
In fact, these people did not have to die at all.
Although Pingyang City is close to the Fen River, the Fen River has never flooded or burst its banks. As long as the Pingyang County magistrate can send people into Tongdan and Wu counties to rescue according to the court's orders before the arrival of the disaster relief army, these victims will not be able to rescue at all.
It is possible that the corpse was exposed in the wilderness like this.
In addition to the victims whose bodies were exposed in the wilderness, Hu Hai could still see a large number of victims sleeping in the wilderness in groups of three or two, leaning against each other to keep warm.
These victims had no possessions, and many of them were even barefoot and shirtless, let alone lighting a fire.
Black mountains have green grass, insects hum, and the moonlight is bright. This should have been a beautiful moonlit night scene, but it looks particularly desolate at this moment.
"Your Majesty, these victims did not all die by themselves!"
After Long Yu hesitated for a while, he finally mustered up the courage to take two steps and whispered behind Hu Hai.
"You said it was man-made?"
Upon hearing this, Hu Hai turned around suddenly, stared at Long Yu and said coldly.
In the moonlight, Hu Hai's eyes were extremely bright, shining with a faint cold light that made people tremble.
"Back to Your Majesty, I just went to see it in person. Most of the victims on both sides of the official road were starved to death or died of being exposed to the scorching sun, but there were dozens of people who were beaten to death with blunt objects! And!
These people seem to have been scratched, nothing was left, and they died within an hour!"
Hu Hai had no doubts about Long Yu's words.
What does Longwei Mansion do? It specializes in killing people. If you can kill people, you can naturally tell how people died! (To be continued...)