Chapter 1165
Staying in Dongming Prefecture
Chapter 1165 Staying in Dongming Prefecture
Further on were Qin Mei and Zhu Sanhong's vehicles, Qin Xiaogu and Madam Guan's vehicles, Qiao Lizi's car, and Qin Ertao's car.
In short, the women all lived together, so they could take care of each other in a timely manner if anything happened.
……
The next day, just as dawn broke, the clanging started again.
"My ancestors, get up and assemble quickly, or this broken gong will keep clanging forever!"
The villagers had had enough of the gongs and hurriedly got up to pack up their camp, assemble, and line up to wait for the inspection by the government troops at the two gates of the prefectural city, as well as the arrangements for the subsequent desertion disaster.
There were so many people, a huge crowd. As far as the eye could see, they were all people fleeing the war, along with flags of the county, town, village, and the surnames of major families or clans.
After waiting for ages, the latest news finally arrived.
Dangdang Dangdang!
The gongs were nearly worn out when Magistrate Kang and Magistrate Lin stepped forward together to inform the people of Wei from both counties: "After discussions with the prefectural government, the deserters and disaster-stricken troops from our two counties will stay here for three days to replenish supplies and rest!"
"All Wei citizens can fetch water from the imperial post stations and the wells in the military camps without paying any water fees!"
"If you don't want to queue, you'll have to pay to get water from a private home!"
"You can go into the city to buy grain. If the grain price in the grain shops increases by more than 10%, it is considered that the merchants are maliciously raising prices during wartime. Wei Min can come and report this, and the county government will report it to the prefectural government, which will then confiscate the grain shops to rid the people of this scourge!"
Hey, you merchants are trying to make a quick buck during wartime?
What a coincidence, the government troops are also waiting to make a quick buck from you!
However, in the Northeast Prefecture, there was a merchant alliance formed by Xue Dongjia, with thousands of merchants working together with the Provincial Administration Commission to allocate resources, which prevented the price of grain in the capital city and Dongming Prefecture from rising.
"You must not steal, you must not harm others, and you must not sell your own women and children. Otherwise, you will be punished according to wartime military law, and all the men in your family will be beheaded and displayed to the public!"
Without this last sentence, Magistrate Kang was afraid that some people would sell their daughters and granddaughters to the brokerage firm in the prefectural city.
"Yes!" the villagers responded, and began to return to their own camps to discuss with their families and clansmen what supplies to replenish.
The Qin family, Xu family, Qiao family, and Guan family, relying on military tokens, brought their families and relatives from the Zhou, Lü, and Han families into the city, intending to return to the Qin residence on Qiming Street and stay for three days.
Xue Mingyi, along with Li Zhiyuan, Steward Xue Xing, and others, entered the city together.
Upon entering the city, they encountered Xue Lie and a group of Xue family members who remained behind.
"Yi-ge'er, your uncle has come to pick you up!" Xue Shiwu shouted, leading dozens of men over. He looked at Xue Mingyi and smiled, "Alright, alright, we'll be fine once we get to Dongming Prefecture City."
Xue Lie also brought ten martial arts masters to greet Xue Mingyi: "Young Master."
"Fifteenth Uncle." Xue Mingyi bowed to Xue Fifteenth, then nodded to Xue Lie: "Brother Lie."
Like Xue Feng and Xue Lei, Xue Lie was a trusted martial arts master raised by Xue Dongjia, comparable to a death squad member.
Xue Dongjia was very worried about Xue Mingyi, his only son, so he sent Xue Lie to pick him up.
“Grandpa Qin and Qin Dongjia are over there. Uncle Fifteen, I’ll take you to see them.” Xue Mingyi then led them to see Grandpa Qin.
This was the city gate, so it wasn't appropriate to talk. After exchanging greetings, the two convoys headed together towards Qiming Street.
The convoy of over a hundred people was quite impressive, and when it arrived at Qiming Street a little over half an hour later, it caused quite a stir.
The neighbors were frightened by Mo Xi's story, and when they saw so many people suddenly appear on Qiming Street, they all came out to see what was going on.
Upon seeing Zhu Liushi personally come out to greet them, some neighbors asked, "Zhu Liushi, is this your master?!" The neighbors all knew that Zhu Liushi was the gatekeeper, and that his master did not live here, but in the countryside, in the Qin family, who were famous in Northeast China for exposing a century-old spy case.
"Exactly!" Zhu Liushi replied, not wasting any more time with the neighbors, and led the Qin, Jiang, Xu, Qiao, and Guan families to the large house at the end of the street.
After entering the house, the Zhou, Lü, and Han families were quite sensible and followed Aunt Zhu to settle in.
The Qin family went to the main hall, met Xue Shiwu, and listened to his story.
Xue Shiwu said, "My cousin has arranged a caravan for the Qin family. Part of the caravan is from the Li family, and the guards are escorts from the Qi family's escort agency in Taizhou Prefecture."
"The Qi family is the maternal family of Li Dongjia's mother-in-law. Their ancestors were soldiers who later retired and their descendants ran a security escort agency to make a living. They are all trustworthy."
The issue now is not whether it's trustworthy or not, but that nobody wants to run the Dongmingfu transport route.
“Our capital city also has a powerful Tong Family Escort Agency, but because of the package containing the epidemic, one of the Tong Family Escort Agency’s shipments had to be delivered outside the city. They had to pay porters to bring the goods into the city, and none of their agents set foot in Dongming Prefecture.”
The worst-case scenario is that if even one person is suspected of being infected, the entire escort agency's crew will be unable to return home.
"Nowadays, most of them take the route from the capital city to Beixiong Prefecture and Taizhou Prefecture."
"A letter from Cousin Zhui to the Qin family." Xue Shiwu handed a box to Grandpa Qin and asked, "Is there anything the Qin family and their relatives need to buy? Just give us a list of supplies. Cousin Zhui instructed us to help them purchase everything."
"Master Xue, you've really been a great help to us." Grandpa Qin thanked him without hesitation, took a leather bag from Uncle Qin, and handed it to Xue Shiwu: "Master Xue Shiwu, this is the list of supplies we need to purchase. Thank you for your trouble."
If you wait until you get to the city to think about what you need to buy, it will be too late.
Therefore, the families of Qin Jiang, Xu Qiao, Guan, Zhou Lü, and Han, as well as the villagers of Ghost Village, would discuss every night what they needed to buy when they camped out for the night. They would write down their supply lists well in advance so that they could be put to use as soon as they entered the city.
Qin Xiaomi's purchase order for supplies was also in the bag.
However, this time she wasn't buying food, clothing, or medicine, but rather sharp iron tools.
Xue Shiwu took the bag: "The Qin family is efficient. Okay, it's good to have the supply list. Don't worry, sir, the Xue family will definitely purchase all these supplies for your family at the lowest price."
"Thank you for your help, Xue family." Grandpa Qin said.
Seeing that everyone in the main hall was one of his own, Xue Shiwu then told Grandpa Qin and Qin Xiaomi about something else.
"After Mo's spy incident came to light, the Xue family dared not keep Yu Shi any longer and took her to the yamen... Fortunately, she was sent there early and they kept an eye on her, which is how they managed to intercept the infected package she was about to receive!"
Xue Dongjia was kind enough to give Yu a place to live, but Yu was not content to just be a fake concubine for Xue Zhui. She wanted to have a child with Xue Zhui so that she could leave behind new spies for Dongmo.
However, Xue Dongjia was disgusted by her overstepping of boundaries. Because of this overstepping of boundaries, he also noticed that the color of her pupils was different. He then concluded that she was a spy and sent her back to the old residence of Dongming Mansion to be imprisoned.
"Her missing brother, Brother Yu, has not been found yet. If he has returned to Dongmo, that would be fine, but I'm afraid he has entered the heart of our Great Wei... The matter is getting bigger and bigger, and the Xue family really can no longer afford to keep this spy as bait. They have no choice but to let the two gates of the government army take over the Yu family and continue to use her as bait."
Qin Xiaomi said, "The bait of the Yu family is useless now. Brother Yu is unlikely to look for her again, but he might look for Master Xue... If Brother Yu does come looking for her, it will definitely be his last desperate attempt before he dies."
Now that everything has been exposed, if they come looking for us again, they'll definitely use Xue Dongjia to orchestrate a mutually destructive scheme.
"So the two gates of the government army should keep a close eye on Xue Dongjia. He is the best bait right now."
"Does Sister Qin mean that my father and my family are all under the surveillance of spies? Wouldn't that put my family in great danger?" Xue Mingyi was so frightened that her face turned pale.