BXBX NOVEL Chapter 221
The official road was long and winding, leading to the horizon. On both sides were black soil and fields, and in the distance were rolling mountains.
The sun had just risen, and the air was still cold from last night. The team of more than a hundred people slowly advanced on the official road.
The clattering of the horse’s hooves was mixed with the clattering of the wheels.
“In the first year of the yuanjing era, the total population of Yunzhou reached five million. After that, the Yellow Book was compiled once every ten years, and the population gradually decreased. In the year 30 of yuanjing, the population of Yunzhou was more than 3.5 million. It’s the 36th year of yuanjing, and in four years it’ll be the year of the Yellow Book. I wonder how many people are left in Yunzhou?”
Governor Zhang lifted the curtain and sighed with emotion.
It was terrifying that the population would decrease by 1.5 million in 30 years, and the actual population reduction would only be more. Yunzhou’s soil was fertile. As long as there were no natural disasters, there was no need to worry about famine.
In other words, the population would be able to grow steadily in 30 years.
.... From 5 million to 3.5 million, it was not a simple subtraction. The actual population reduction was at least doubled ... Xu Qi ‘an cursed, “”What the hell is this place?”
Provincial governor Zhang took a glance at him and continued,”This loss of population, half of it is because the taxes are too heavy. They abandoned their fields to become refugees, or entered the city to find another way to survive, or they became bandits. These people are not recorded in the Yellow Book.
“Then there’s the serious banditry, burning, killing, and plundering, adding to the already bad situation. Sometimes, in order to replenish their manpower, the mountain bandits would take the initiative to go down the mountain and Rob the people. Ha, of course, mountain bandits are not included in the Yellow Book.”
Xu Qi ‘an looked into the distance silently. He was listening to the words of provincial governor Zhang, but he was analyzing the situation in his heart.
.... In the first year of yuanjing, there were still five million people. In the 10th year of yuanjing, the population was still shrinking. By the 30th year of yuanjing, there were 1.5 million people gone. The number of people was even more ... Yunzhou had taken a sharp turn in the past twenty years, and it was almost the beginning of Emperor Yuan jing’s cultivation.
Was it because the Emperor of Da Feng was obsessed with cultivation that the witchcraft cult felt that they had an opportunity to take advantage of him? The witchcraft God religion had been plotting this for more than twenty years. They would definitely not cause a small ruckus. Da Feng and the various countries under the control of the witchcraft God religion would definitely have a war.
As he thought about it, he tilted his head and almost fell asleep.
“You’re not in a good mental state.” Governor Zhang examined him and frowned, “”What’s wrong?”
The provincial governor remembered that Xu Qi ‘an had been well-behaved all the way and did not linger in the education workshop. He should not have been so exhausted.
Xu Qi ‘an turned his head and smiled bitterly at the provincial governor.”Nothing much, I just became a time management master.”
This was the eighth day of his sleepless night. His head was throbbing with pain, and his blood vessels felt like they were about to burst. When he was eating this morning, he even had a slight illusion that Xu lingying was snatching his meat buns.
His eyes were bloodshot and his eye circles were dark blue. This reminded Xu Qi ‘an of the 996’s society where he had to experience 007 occasionally. He was just as miserable.
“Two more days. I should be able to advance to the spirit-refinement realm after these two days. I can’t let myself fall asleep, or else all my efforts will be in vain ... Why do I feel like my heart is beating so badly ...”
Xu Qi ‘an took a deep breath, took off the water bag, and poured it on his head to stimulate his body and cheer himself up.
....
A caravan of 300 people trekked on the official road. Flat carriages were pulling goods, and under the waterproof cloth were silk, tea leaves, porcelain, and Rouge and gouache that Yunzhou produced.
There were also some specialties of Yunzhou, such as snake spit inkstone and Yellow Crystal Stone.
The owner of the caravan was a fierce-looking man called Zhao long. He was a famous hero in Yunzhou’s Jianghu in his early years and was involved in both the underworld and the underworld.
He was tired of the days of bloodshed and relied on the reputation he had built up in his early years as well as his connections to start a caravan business.
He could always manage the villages along the way, leave Yunzhou safely, and distribute the goods to various places, making a lot of money.
As time passed, many merchants were willing to spend a lot of money to join Zhao Long’s caravan to seek peace.
Zhao Long’s caravan had evolved into a half-merchant, half-escort caravan.
Yang Yingying was one of the people hiding under the tree. However, she had left Yunzhou as an independent person and had spent twenty taels of silver to ask for the protection of the caravan.
After all, it was impossible for a weak woman like her to leave Yunzhou on her own. Who knew when she would be kidnapped by bandits on the official road and become the wife of a Bandit chief?
With her beauty, she was more than enough to be the wife of a Bandit chief.
Yang Yingying was originally a woman from Yunzhou’s education square. When she was young, she was also a courtesan. Later, she was lucky enough to meet a good man who redeemed her body. She was then raised in the courtyard and became a mistress.
She was over 30 this year, but her beauty had not decreased. Instead, her figure had become more plump, which added to the charm of a mature woman. She had a pair of bright almond-shaped eyes, which were full of tears when she looked at people.
Yang Yingying, who was riding on the back of a horse, sensed the burning gazes of the bodyguards around her. She couldn’t help but tighten her cloak and lower her head even more.
At first glance, her hands seemed to be protecting her full chest to avoid being blasphemed by some men’s gazes, but in fact, she was protecting an object in her arms.
It was this item that forced her to leave Yunzhou.
One of the bodyguards drooled as he looked at yang Yingying’s back. Riding on the back of a horse with her long dress sticking to her body, the outline of her tight buttocks was really attractive.
The muscular bodyguard squeezed his horse’s belly and caught up with yang Yingying. He grinned and said, “”Beauty, play with me tonight. All the silver that I’ve earned from this trip will be yours. It’s ten taels of silver.”
Yang Yingying turned a deaf ear to his words. She neither responded nor rejected him, pretending that he didn’t exist.
The bodyguard said a few more words, but when he saw that the beauty was ignoring him, he left while cursing.
The bodyguards who were familiar with him laughed and taunted him. However, everyone’s eyes were filled with disappointment. This woman was impervious to anything, so they didn’t stand a chance either.
Ruthlessness flashed in the eyes of the few bodyguards who had taken human lives. If this kind of beautiful woman who traveled alone had not met boss Zhao, she would have been eaten up without even leaving her bones.
Zhao long, who was at the front of the caravan, raised his hand and made a gesture. The bodyguards immediately drew their weapons as if they were facing a great enemy. However, it was an unwritten rule for a bodyguard to unsheathe his saber only halfway.
Everyone in the pugilistic world sought wealth. Unless there was a great difference in strength between the two sides, they would not fight to the death. Moreover, boss Zhao had always had some face in the underworld, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to do this.
Seventy to eighty people jumped out of the dense forest on both sides of the path with bright sabers and Spears. More than twenty strong men and horses rushed out from the fork road.
Zhao long was a little puzzled. He had to walk this path several times a year. He knew which path needed to be cleaned and which mountain needed to be paid respect.
When did such a group of Street-cutting bandits appear in this forest. Zhao long gestured for his bodyguards to calm down. After riding for a short distance, he said, ”
“I’m Zhao long. Which path did you guys come from before ...”
As he got closer, he suddenly realized that something was wrong. These bandits had military crossbows on their waists and standard long swords in their hands. These were all military equipment.
Zhao long had heard that some strongholds had military supplies, such as military knives, crossbows, and even handguns. But those were top Bandit strongholds and should not be here.
....
...
“Ningyan, you look like a sick man who’s been hollowed out by a woman.” Song tingfeng and Xu Qi ‘an walked side by side and took the opportunity to make fun of him.
Xu Qi ‘an glanced at him and said, “”I have a friend who asked me if I have any pills for strengthening the Yang and kidneys.”
Song tingfeng’s smile froze.
that friend of mine is Zhu guangxiao. Guangxiao, you already have a fiancée. Why do you work so hard? ” Song tingfeng pushed the blame to Zhu guangxiao.
Zhu guangxiao looked at him without saying a word, but he felt indignant and retorted, “”I have tender feelings for women, but you eat too unsightly. Every morning, the girl who sleeps with you can’t get out of bed.
“You don’t know how to control yourself and you’ve wasted your body.”
A warrior’s body was strong and full of energy, but even the Bull Demon King, who worked from night to morning every day, would be exhausted after a long time.
“I’m just amazing.” Song tingfeng was not convinced and laughed proudly, “”Only the girls of the Academy’s workshop can cooperate with me to their heart’s content, even though they’re also tired of warding off the attacks,”
“Tingfeng ...”
Song tingfeng heard Xu Qi ‘an’s voice and turned around. “Why?”
“It’s not that you’re powerful, but that they can tolerate your insignificance.”
...
“Get lost.”
Amidst the laughter and scolding, Jiang Luzhong, who was leading the group, said in a deep voice, ” there’s the smell of blood ahead. Everyone, get ready.
Clang ... The sound of blades being unsheathed was uniform. The Tiger guards and the night watchmen drew their sabers and crossbows at the same time.
“Advance!” Jiang Luzhong squeezed the horse’s abdomen and galloped out.
The provincial governor’s team instantly entered a marching state. They were extremely fast and orderly.
After marching for ten minutes, a dense forest appeared in front of them, and the wind brought a strong smell of blood.
The moment they entered the forest, sharp arrows were shot from both sides, attacking the night watchman and the Tiger guards who were running wildly.
Jiang Luzhong raised his hand and pressed it down. The rain of arrows hit the invisible wall of Qi and fell powerlessly.
“Tiger Troop, enter the forest and kill the enemy,” he ordered with a wave of his hand.
As he spoke, Jiang Luzhong looked forward. Hundreds of corpses lay on the official road, and the ground was stained with blood. The horses couldn’t escape the vicious hands and the goods that the caravan was transporting were scattered all over the ground.
He immediately analyzed the situation ... Because he had smelled blood in advance and ordered the team to attack, it was already too late for the trail-cutting bandits to retreat when they heard the sound of horse hooves, so they laid an ambush in the forest.
The sounds of intense battle came from the dense forest. The Tiger guards were one of the five guards of the capital. Although they were not as brave and skilled in battle as the Imperial Army, they were far superior to the local armies.
The number of people on both sides was not much different. Arrows and blades crossed each other, and they fought back and forth.
Jiang Luzhong was taken aback and surprised. He turned to look at Xu Qi ‘an.”Ningyan, have you killed anyone before?”
“I’ve killed one, and heavily injured another.” Xu Qi ‘an looked at the caravans’ corpses on the ground and casually reported the results.
sneer! Jiang Luzhong sneered. a brat who hasn’t even grown all his hair.
The night watchmen burst into laughter.
Except for Xu Qi ‘an, who was a rookie who had joined the night watchman less than two months ago, the others were all experienced martial artists who could kill without blinking.
Jiang Lu pointed at the forest with his middle finger. go and practice. Kill at least ten of them.
Xu Qi ‘an retracted his gaze and slowly exhaled. “Alright!”
....
[ PS: the background seems to have collapsed. I’ve already updated, but it hasn’t been refreshed for a long time? ]