Chapter 147: Sending You to the Sky (15)

In the memories of everyone in Yandu, the second half of the 23rd year of Pingzhi passed very quickly, like the tail of a white horse passing by in a flash, leaving only a deep and unforgettable light and shadow.

When Prince Shen entered the palace one time, he encountered an assassination. The thief was so bold that he dared to commit a crime under the towering imperial city.

Prince Shen's carriage was given by the Emperor of Yan. The specifications were the same as those of the crown prince of Yan State. It was extremely luxurious. When others saw it, they could only avoid and salute, and there was no possibility of accidental injury.

The nearby guards came quickly, and Prince Shen was not injured, but he was weak to begin with, and he fell seriously ill after being frightened.

The Emperor of Yan was furious and issued three edicts to order a thorough investigation. In the end, the investigation led to the fourth prince, the fifth prince, and the sixth prince.

The fourth prince was the mastermind and was sentenced to death with a cup of poison wine. The fifth and sixth princes were deprived of their royal family status and imprisoned in the palace, and were not allowed to leave for life.

The court was in a state of silence.

You know, the Third Prince poisoned all the royal family members, including His Majesty. He was demoted to a commoner for murdering the prince and attempting to kill the emperor.

Although Zhao Yuanduan had offended many people, he had lost his status and status and lost the emperor's heart. He was bullied a little, but he was still alive. The Fourth Prince just wanted to assassinate Shen Minghuan, but he was not successful yet, but he was directly sentenced to death.

The love of Emperor Yan for Shen Minghuan can be seen.

The nobles did not dare to provoke Shen Minghuan at first because Emperor Yan loved him so much.

Later...

Later, they were close and sincere brothers. As an elder brother, he loved his younger brother so much that he could not bear to provoke Shen Minghuan.

I don’t know if more and more people can’t survive, and there are more and more mountain bandits in Yan State. They seem to have seen the direction of success from the victory of their compatriots in Mingshan and Hongshan, and began to learn excellent experience.

They were all a group of skinny, hungry, old, weak and sick people. If they really fought, they would definitely not be able to defeat the elite army, but they were good at harassment.

The lush forests were their best hiding places. Grass roots, tree barks and dead leaves could all be used as food. They could afford it, but the local soldiers could not.

Anything that could be solved with money was not a problem.

The nobles saw that Hongcheng could live in harmony with the bandits, and they thought they could too.

Many people used to secretly laugh at Shen Minghuan for using a bunch of slaves to build a chamber of commerce, but now the benefits are obvious. The bandits are very wary of the nobles and are only willing to communicate with Shen Minghuan's people.

In desperation, the nobles had to prepare a heavy gift to invite Shen Minghuan to come out.

The kind-hearted Prince Shen only symbolically collected a little travel expenses, and the rest was "transferred" to the bandits on his behalf.

And he kindly pointed out a clear way, asking them to register all the slaves in their homes, so that the bandits would have a better impression of them.

The nobles readily agreed.

It doesn't matter whether they are slaves or not. They still exploit them even if they are registered as commoners. Only these lowly commoners will feel how noble they are. In fact, to them, they are just low-class laborers.

Although the slaves no longer have the title of slaves, they have long been homeless.

In order to eat, to survive, or because they have long been accustomed to the life of being whipped and working hard, they can't leave even without the contract of selling their bodies.

Sometimes they lie on the ground at night, unable to sleep, looking at the eternal bright moon in the sky, and suddenly they realize that they are already commoners protected by the "Yan Law", and the nobles can no longer beat them to death as before.

But the law and justice are dead in name only, and it seems useless.

The days are still passing by as plain as water, as if nothing has changed.

It seems that a lot has changed.

Mr. Zhou Yan still doesn't plan to become an official, but he finally agrees to come to Yandu to give lectures.

At the last court meeting a year ago, the Emperor of Yan finally issued an edict to confer the title of Crown Prince to the eldest prince.

After the eldest prince was named the crown prince, the first thing he did after leaving the court was not to tell the queen, but to go to see Shen Minghuan respectfully with gifts.

The current emperor and the future emperor of Yan State, one treats Shen Minghuan more lovingly than his own son, and the other treats him more respectfully than his biological mother.

The court officials sighed, what can they do? They had to be more respectful to Shen Minghuan than the emperor.

*

Unknowingly, it was New Year's Eve.

According to the rules of Yan State, the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month is the Little New Year. In the morning, the court officials finish the last court meeting of the year, enter the palace in the evening to participate in the annual banquet, and then start their vacation.

There are no poor officials in the court of Yan State. The truly poor people can't even afford to eat, let alone study and become officials. Therefore, no matter what the harvest is this year, it has nothing to do with these royal relatives and nobles, anyway, they won't starve.

Even if the granary is empty and taxes are collected, the taxes will not fall on them.

But there are too many wealthy families in Yandu, and the firecrackers they light can easily resound throughout the city.

The lights and decorations of a few families make the city look like a gorgeous red silk.

So if you don't look carefully, it is easy to overlook some sufferings, such as the beggars huddled in a ball on the street, the people who celebrate the festival with a bowl of porridge under the broken house, and the refugees circling at the city gate and refusing to leave.

"Mr. Lu, please hold on for a while, we have arrived in Yandu, and we will see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince soon."

The refugees came from all over the world, but they all "looked" almost the same.

They all had disheveled hair, unkempt faces, ragged clothes, and gray-black mud all over their faces. There was almost no difference between them except their height when they stood together.

But one of the refugees was a little fatter.

In fact, his body shape is lean compared to ordinary people, but refugees cannot be considered human. Along the way, they ate grass roots, tree bark, and human flesh. People who were about to starve to death had no regard for morality or conscience.

Among a group of "skeletons" with skinny bones and protruding ribs, the one with a little bit of meat still attached to the skin is considered fat.

The desperate and numb eyes of the refugees glanced at this man with an empty and sad look, a little bitter, but more of a accustomed indifference.

He must have only been a refugee for a short time. If it had been longer, this little meat would have been gone.

The fat refugee was also supporting an old man, whose appearance was also indistinguishable. Only a few strands of silver that had not been completely covered in mud showed his age.

It was cold, so the old man didn't wear much, so he shivered when the cold wind blew.

The fat refugee had covered the old man with all the clothes he could take off, but it was just one more piece of cloth and one less piece of cloth, which was of little use.

At this time of year, the most vulnerable people to die are the elderly. Others look on indifferently, and the most kindness they can do is to surround them and use their bodies to block the wind.

Beyond that, they can't afford any more.

The old man whispered: "General Nie, it is the old man who has caused trouble for you."

There was a sound of teeth chattering due to the cold when he opened his mouth.

"Mr. Lu, don't say that. It's the fourth prince who is so bold. Don't worry, His Highness the Crown Prince is very powerful. He will definitely be able to help us." Nie Shiyun vowed, having 120,000 confidence in Shen Minghuan.

Lu Yu smiled bitterly in his heart, it was already difficult enough for His Highness the Crown Prince to protect himself alone in a foreign country, but how could he have the extra energy to protect them?

Refugees gathered at the base of the wall.

They went to the city to ask for money, but they had no money. They could only hope that the adults who lived in the city would pass by and give them a few coins for the sake of New Year's Eve today.

At least there are ruined temples in the city that can provide shelter from wind, rain and snow.

"Get out of the way, stay out of the way, get out of the way."

Suddenly a group of guards came to the city and pushed the refugees at the city gate.

The refugees did not dare to resist and retreated reluctantly. They were extremely uneasy. It was such a cold day and there was nothing to eat outside the city. They would starve to death or freeze to death.

The guard put his hands on his hips and shouted: "You are lucky, His Royal Highness is kind-hearted and will be here giving porridge for three days in a row."

Another group of servants arrived belatedly pushing a cart, carrying two large barrels of porridge. They found a good place and opened the lid, and the steaming heat rushed out instantly.

The guard looked at the pair of eyes that seemed to suddenly come to life, and sneered disdainfully: "Why don't you thank His Highness the Crown Prince for your kindness?"

It's just a bowl of gruel mixed with bran, and it has no future like this.

"Thank you, His Royal Highness, for your kindness." The refugees didn't care about the ridicule of the guards. It was just a word. It was worth it in exchange for a bowl of porridge.

This porridge is still steaming, so your body will feel much warmer after drinking it.

The guard sneered again, "Everyone lines up, one bowl per person, no fighting over it. If you drink our Highness's porridge, you must remember how good our Highness is."

Zhao Yuancheng didn't want to give porridge at first, because he looked down upon the popular support of these people.

If Mr. Zhou Yan, whom his father had generously invited back, hadn't asked him to do this, and if he hadn't known that Shen Minghuan was kind-hearted and valued these worthless refugees, Zhao Yuancheng wouldn't have bothered to care about them.

He made it for Zhou Yan and Shen Minghuan to see.

Nie Shiyun came back with a bowl of porridge and handed it to Lu Yu.

After three months of escaping, the young general who was born into a wealthy family has been able to put down his figure naturally.

He did not wait in line for the second time, but sat on the floor next to Lu Yu, watching him sip the scalding hot porridge, dragging his chin and saying sadly: "Mr. Lu, there is actually a prince in the Yan Kingdom. I came here last time Emperor Yan didn't have this plan at that time, when did they establish the prince? "

"It should be within the next three months." The porridge was very hot, but Lu Yu hadn't eaten for a long time, so he didn't drink it slowly.

After eating a bowl of hot porridge, he finally felt better.

Nie Shiyun took the bowl. This time there was not much porridge, so he only got half the bowl.

Nie Shiyun handed it to Lu Yu again, and then sighed sadly: "I don't know which prince this prince is."

He still had fresh memories of the third prince who beat people with a whip, but it must not be this third prince, otherwise His Highness would have had a hard time in the past six months.

Lu Yu pushed the porridge back and said, "I'm full now - you can ask the servants who serve the porridge later."

Nie Shiyun didn't doubt his presence, so he responded and finished the porridge in two mouthfuls.

He looked around with the empty bowl.

How should we think of a way to get into the city?

Is it feasible to shout that he knows Prince Shen of Yong Kingdom?