Zhou Lezhi saw his husband's face was pale, full of disappointment and disbelief. He was afraid that he would go crazy because he couldn't think about it for a moment, so he quickly whispered in his ear: "Sir! Sir!"
Only then did the gentleman come back to his senses and whispered: "I feel a little uncomfortable, so I won't listen to you for the time being. Mr. Gou has something to say. Please note it down and give it to me in the evening."
Zhou Lezhi was suspicious, wondering what happened to Mr. Wang Yehao, but Wang Yehao was secretly happy, knowing that Gou Chengxuan's words had impressed the Hearthstone Immortal.
These thieves are all rough, there are no good people at all!
It seems that his "provocation" has worked. This Hearthstone Immortal will not think of defecting to his accomplices for a while.
Wang Yehao immediately asked Mr. Gou to take a bath, change clothes, and arrange a place to stay.
"I'll leave him to you." Mr. Wang told Liu Zheng, "Take good care of him! Don't let him run away!"
"yes."
"One more thing, he said that his father and two servants are still there, and you have to try to find them."
"The younger one has connections with the Guandi Temple people. Just ask them. You can find him wherever you go in Guangzhou."
"You have to be careful about this matter. Before I came to Guangzhou, I estimated that there must be many thief spies in the city. There are about three divisions' yamen, and there are also their spies in the governor's yamen. So I plan to stay in Zhaoqing, and you stay in Guangzhou.
The department is investigating the matter of the thief - it must be done secretly. You go and recruit some brothers from the past, and I will give them a share of the money and food in the supervision bid."
"I understand, little one! Thank you for your grace, sir!"
"Mr. Jin..." Wang Yehao turned to Jin Wenchi, "You talk to Gou Chengxuan every day and write down everything he knows about the bandits, including this battle in Qiongzhou."
That night, Zhou Lezhi served his husband to rest and slept outside. During this period, he woke up and heard vague sounds of tossing and turning inside. When he got up early the next morning, he saw that his face was dull and his eyelids were swollen.
"Sir, did you sleep well last night?"
"Um."
"I'll help you wash up first and bring you some snacks while you take a nap..."
"No need, I can't sleep." The gentleman's face was stern, "Where is Mr. Gou now?"
"Master Wang has arranged for him. I heard that he knows a lot about Australians. I want him to write everything down..."
Hearing this, the gentleman nodded and said, "Where is Mr. Wang?"
"I heard that we are going to the Wuyang Station construction site in Nancheng today."
"Wuyangyi?"
"When we came to Guangzhou and disembarked at Lijia Pier, there was a large area of ruins..."
"That's Wuyangyi?!"
"Yes, I heard from Brother Liu that the Australians set off rockets when they besieged Guangzhou and burned down Wuyang Post Station. After taking office, I started to rebuild it."
"Rocket? Be good!" Mr. Zhou made a strange sound, "Unexpected, unexpected, Katyusha?"
"What sand?" Zhou Lezhi asked, not understanding.
"It's nothing," Mr. Zhou, who was originally very sick, suddenly became more energetic, "Hurry up and bring breakfast. After eating, we will also go to Wuyangyi to have a look!"
Zhou Lezhi didn't know why his husband suddenly became interested in Wuyangyi. When they arrived at Li's dock, it was nightfall, and they saw a large area of dark ruins, nothing special about it.
After breakfast, Zhou Lezhi, Liu Zhao and others followed the Hearthstone Taoist all the way south along Chengxuan Street to Guangzhou Nancheng. From a distance, they saw that the city tower had also been burned down, with only a small amount of carbonized wooden structure remaining.
.
Not far from the city gate, there is a large area of ruins after being burned by fire. Many shacks have been erected in the ruins, and refugees live in them. Among the broken walls, some low and dirty shacks have been erected here and there.
A shack was built, and several vegetable plots were opened.
Such a scene has no emotion for the Hearthstone Immortal, but he was very surprised by the large amount of ruins before leaving the city.
"This is Wuyangyi? Isn't it outside the city?"
"This was originally a residence in the city. I heard that the thieves also shot many rockets in and burned down many houses."
Mr. Zhou looked solemn, stopped the sedan, got out of the sedan and looked at the entire ruins. Without saying anything for a while, he saw a shed not far away, and many people gathered there, and asked: "What's going on with this shed?"
?”
Liu Zhao hurried over to inquire, and came back after a while to report: "Sir, this is a soup kitchen shack, where several wealthy families give soup every day to help refugees."
Mr. Zhou said "Oh" and strolled towards the porridge shed. Liu Zhao and Zhou Lezhi didn't know why - they didn't want to go to Wuyangyi? They quickly took their family to follow.
Many refugees have gathered around the porridge shed. After asking, I found out that porridge is given out once a day. Only the people who originally lived here and were affected by the war can receive it. So when you receive the chips, you have to go through the card.
"Where is the card?"
"Dad Jia was still here just now, but the housekeeper of the Liang Mansion came and was asked to speak."
"Liang Mansion?"
"That's Liang Cunhou and the Liang family in this city."
Liu Zhao had studied "Guangdong Jin Gentry Records" before coming to Guangzhou. He knew that the Liang family was a well-known local wealthy family, so he whispered: "The Liang family is the local Jin Gentry."
After a while, Pai Jia came back. Life was not easy for Pai A. He was disgraced and in rags. Hearing that a master was looking for him, he hurried over to answer the call.
Liu Zhao called Pai Jia over and showed his waist card. Pai A trembled all over and almost knelt down. Liu Zhao said: "No need to be polite! My master has a few words to ask you, please be honest!"
Pai Jia doesn't speak Mandarin very well, but fortunately Zhou Lezhi is a local native and can translate.
"Why is this place under fire? Didn't the thieves destroy the city?"
"I don't know what I know. The thieves used rockets, and a lot of them fell in Nancheng. This area was hit by the rockets, and the fire spread to cause disasters. Rockets also fell in several places in Nancheng, but the burned area was not so big...
…”
As he spoke, he described how the rockets struck that night, like meteors falling to the ground, instantly setting fire to many houses. Although the Dragon Society was ready to extinguish the fire, there were too many targets to take care of. Finally, the weather was humid at the time, so it did not cause a fire throughout the city.
.
"But there were many places burned, and this one was the largest. Alas, more than 500 people were burned to death in one night. I don't know what the thief's rocket contained. He burned anything he touched. Everyone was burned.
Burnt to charcoal! Alas, alas, it's so miserable..." Paijia said with lingering fear.
Mr. Zhou's face didn't look good at first. The more he listened to Pai Jia's words, the more ugly his face became. He whispered: "That's enough!"
Zhou Lezhi hurriedly scolded: "Stop talking!"
Zhou Lezhi and Liu Zhao saw that Master Hearthstone's face was livid, and they didn't know what taboo he had violated, so they didn't dare to say anything more. Paijia was even more frightened and didn't dare to say a word.
After a long time, Taoist Hearthstone let out a sigh of relief and said, "What's going on with the Liang family's porridge?"
Paijia said that this porridge shed was set up by Runshitang. Since this place suffered from war, a shed has been set up here to serve porridge.
"Although Runshitang has more than ten directors, he is now in charge of the Liang family. His housekeeper comes here every day."
After hearing this, Taoist priest Heshi said nothing. The group walked through the ruins and came to the pier outside the city. Looking at the ruins of Wuyangyi, the gentleman stood by the river for a long time, with a look of sadness and indignation on his face.
After a long time, Zhou Lezhi heard his husband whisper: "Go back!"
The next day, Zhou Lezhi came to his husband to ask for leave.
"...I want to go home and have a look. I heard from Brother Liu that there are many thieves killing and looting in the countryside. I'm worried about the people in the clan..."
"You can just go." Mr. Zhou waved his hand feebly, "Go early and come back early!"
"As long as the clan is safe, the student will return in two or three days." After saying that, he was about to leave. Suddenly, he was stopped by Mr. Zhou: "I will go with you."
On the second day, they took a boat to Hetou Village under the escort of the Liu brothers and others.
Hetou Village is only more than ten miles away from Guangzhou, but it has not been attacked by war. The chief said that when the bandit army passed by, he indeed sent people to the village to collect grain, grass and "reasonable burdens."
"When soldiers pass through the border, being able to avoid looting or burning is already a manifestation of the ancestors' spirit." The clan leader said.
"Did you do any other bad things?"
"We collected the grain and went there without doing anything bad," the clan leader said. "On the contrary, it was the local scoundrels who took advantage of the opportunity to plunder a lot of them. Later, they were all wiped out by the bandits."
After hearing this, Mr. Zhou's face looked better. He asked again: "Where are the nearby villages?"
"I heard that some villagers who refused to bear the burden organized brave resistance and were massacred in the village. How miserable!" The patriarch seemed to be frightened and a little happy when he talked about it.
"A massacre of a village?! Is this really happening?" The gentleman's eyebrows rose.
"You can listen to what others say, even if you are a villain..." The patriarch said in fear when he saw his ferocious expression.
"Can you tell me which villages there are?" Mr. Zhou asked.
The patriarch didn't want to say anything until Liu Zhen said, "Since I'm asking you, no one will be able to implicate you! Just say it!" Then he timidly mentioned the names of several villages.
"Sir, do you want to go take a look?" Liu Wei asked.
"Go! Go!"
After resting for one night in Hetou Village, the group set off on the next day, all the way to Sanfan. After staying there for half a day, they sailed along the direction of the original invasion by the bandit fleet, visiting villages along the way.
As the journey progressed, Mr.'s face became increasingly ugly: the burned-down houses, the new graves of the deceased, the cries of family members... one by one, they hit his heart.
In Zhou Lezhi's view, thieves can be regarded as "benevolent and righteous". Whether they are burning, killing or looting, they are very restrained. As long as they surrender in time and pay money and food, they are basically considered innocent. Except for the person in charge.
In addition, innocent people will not be implicated. The idea of massacre of villages is really too much.
The gentleman obviously doesn't see it that way. It can be seen that his anger is constantly gathering.
On this day, they patrolled to Sanliang in Dongguan. As usual, they searched for the local elders to interview the past stories of the thieves crossing the border. After hearing Qingxia's deeds, everyone sighed, saying that she was really a strange woman with love and justice. The group arrived
They offered libations at the gravesites of De Qingxia, Luo Tianqiu and others.
Returning to the boat in the evening, Zhou Lezhi only heard his husband muttering to himself: "Beast!" Then he gritted his teeth and said: "Scum!"