“Hahaha!” Wei Jinyong burst into maniacal laughter upon hearing Su Wen’s words. He patted Su Wen’s shoulder with a smile and said, “Brother Qiang, you’re wise!”
Su Wen also smiled along.
After leaving Jiashan City, they continued to advance towards the innermost area of Li Prefecture.
Along the way, Su Wen finally understood what it meant to be starved to death.
There were actually skeletons with no flesh and blood by the roadside.
Their surroundings were filled with the smell of decay.
However, what shocked Su Wen was that there were already people preparing for the spring plowing in many farms.
It could even be said that along the way, there were very few fields that no one was tending to!
Beside these fields, there were many well-dressed men riding on horses, supervising the process.
“Why are there people still preparing for spring plowing?” Su Wen couldn’t help but ask. In his opinion, this was completely unreasonable.
Wei Jinyong sneered and said, “The commoners don’t have food, so they can only sell their fields. Because other than their fields, they can only sell themselves. Even property can’t be sold in Li Prefecture!”
“How much does one mu of farmland cost during the famine? 80 copper coins! Only 80 copper coins! If it’s too much, no one will buy it! How much does one catty[1] of grain cost? 40 copper coins! And it’s even grain mixed with wheat bran! Do you want to buy? One mu of farmland can only buy two catties of grain! Even if an ordinary family sells off all of their farmland, how long can they last? The young and strong sell themselves as slaves, and they don’t even want money. They only want food for one person. The old, young, women, and children, even if they want to sell themselves, nobody will buy them!”
“After the famine, these young men and women, as well as the farmlands, will be taken over by the rich and powerful families! They naturally will place importance in farming!”
“In fact, the properties of the commoners are all considered barren after they escaped. The rich just have to use some random excuse and the properties will also belong to them. Everything will fall into their hands.”
Su Wen felt a chill down his spine. All along, he had always thought that as long as the rich did not break the law, it was only right for them to have money.
But now, were the methods of these noble families against the law? At the very least, they did not violate the laws of the Great Zhou!
But this method was so evil that it made one’s hair stand on end!
At this point, Su Wen finally understood why the disaster in Li Prefecture couldn’t be stopped.
These wealthy families were probably the biggest source of trouble.
The disaster relief official was even killed when he came over!
Why was he killed?
Because the rich families here did not want the disaster to stop!
So long as the disaster did not stop, they could use a small amount of inferior food to wantonly take over the land and purchase adults in their prime.
Su Wen frowned. What role did this local government play in this?
The disaster relief official was dead, but the food should still be there. How could it be stolen by the rioting mob?
What’s more, were those people even considered refugees or civilians any more?
In addition, a token from the Ma Family would immediately allow all taxes to be waived!
Then what was the relationship between these families and these martial sects?
“They deserve to die!” For the first time, Su Wen was unable to suppress the rage in his heart. Killing intent surged.
Wei Jinyong burst into laughter. “Hahaha! These bastards deserve to be killed! What a pity, who can kill them? This is the world! The weak are prey to the strong, this is how it is.”
His eyes dimmed at the last word, and his voice dropped to a whisper so low that only he could hear it. “No one can change that.”
The group advanced towards the depths of Li Prefecture…
On the other side, Xue Wanjun and the others had long arrived in Li Prefecture.
But they were currently still stationed within Jiashan City.
They had no idea that Su Wen had already entered the depths of the Li Prefecture before them.
Within the relay station, Xue Wanjun was slightly anxious.
“Why isn’t Su Wen here yet? How many days has it been? He should be here even if he was crawling!”
Ruan Ze said helplessly, “I’m just afraid that Young Master Su has really gone to have fun in some area! Otherwise, if he had arrived at Li Prefecture, he would definitely come to the government to find out about our whereabouts.”
Xue Wanjun gritted his teeth and said, “Isn’t he afraid that His Majesty will punish him?”
Ruan Ze looked at him like he was an idiot and sighed. “Guilty? Believe it or not, even if we get punished when we return, it still wouldn’t be his turn to get punished!”
“I…”
Xue Wanjun was speechless. When he thought about his nephew, what the fatty described wasn’t impossible!
He felt extremely aggrieved.
“What the hell is this! You said that Inspectorate Head specifically wanted him to temper himself and fight more powerful enemies, but look at what happened now! He’s already gone! Are you and I going to do this mission to exterminate the Moon Worship Sect?”
Xue Wanjun’s face was full of worry.
Ruan Ze smiled bitterly. “I know. Should we do it or not? If we go and exterminate them now, Master Si will definitely not be happy when we return. But if we don’t do it, and the other teams complete their missions, won’t we be able to keep our faces? We won’t be able to explain to His Majesty either! Furthermore, this Moon Worship Sect acts quite strangely. If we don’t act quickly, how are we going to exterminate them if we can’t catch them at the last minute?”
Xue Wanjun suddenly thought of a possibility. “This fellow wouldn’t have died halfway, right?”
Ruan Ze’s face was full of fat as he shook his head. “You’d better not expect this to happen. Otherwise, it’s unknown whether you and I can keep our lives!”
“Then what exactly should we do!?” Xue Wanjun was slightly driven mad.
Ruan Ze said, “Send people to scout for traces of the Moon Worship Sect first. In the meantime, we’ll pay attention to the completion of the other teams’ missions. If the young master really doesn’t come, then we can only make our move. At most, leave some leftovers for Young Master Su to practice on!”
Xue Wanjun gritted his teeth and said with grievance, “Are we this fellow’s wet nurses? We have to prepare everything for him?”
“Heh heh, it’s about the same. If you don’t want to displease Inspectorate Head and His Majesty, you should obediently become this nanny.”
“Sigh….”
The two of them let out a long sigh at the same time, expressing their helplessness!
In the capital after Su Wen left…
Xie Yiyi followed Su Wen’s instructions and contacted Xie Bingrui once more.
Finally, the two of them met at a teahouse in the Capital.
When mother and daughter met, they were not intimate.
Xie Yiyi only calmly stated, “Mother, I have already controlled Su Wen. What should we do next?”
“Really?!” Xie Bingrui’s eyes were filled with joy. She pondered for a moment and said, “Then we’ll think of a way to get Su Wen to persuade Su Changqing to use the power of the Royal Court and attack Taihao Palace! It’s best if we destroy this bunch of bulls! Also, I want the plot of land around Mount Taicang! With the land, we can start mining and our Demonic Music Sect’s income will soar!”
“That’s all?” asked Xie Yiyi.
Xie Bingrui nodded. “That’s all for now! I’ll tell you when I’ve thought it through. You can settle these two matters first.”
“Can’t do it right now…”
Xie Bingrui frowned. “Why?”
She thought that Xie Yiyi was up to something and was rather displeased.
Only to hear Xie Yiyi replying, “Su Wen went out of the capital on official matters and I don’t know when he will be back.”
Xie Bingrui :”…”
Why didn’t you say so earlier?! She could not help but mock her daughter in her heart!
“Where did he go? When can he come back?”
Xie Yiyi shook her head and said, “They said they were going to exterminate the Moon Worship Sect. As for when they would return, I guess it should be after the sect has been eliminated, right?”
As she pondered, Xie Bingrui suddenly stood up and looked at the corner of the street!
An old Daoist stood there.
Xie Bingrui’s figure shot out in a flash. The old Daoist ignored Xie Yiyi and chased after her!
[1] A catty is about 500g
