"Open the gate!"
"Let us in!"
The soldiers retreated into the city,
The heavy gate closed. The people who had been expelled by the soldiers surged back like a black tide,
Slapping against the gate. The soldiers on the city gate tower roared, "Retreat! Retreat! Those who have received their travel expenses can go on the road. Go east, don't stay! "
However, these Yong An people left their hometown and fled the wilderness,
To the imperial city closest to them. The gates of the imperial city were closed to them,
If they wanted to live,
They had to go around the imperial city and take a longer way,
To the city further east.
But all the way here,
It was already extremely difficult and dangerous, with countless casualties,
How could they still have the strength to continue forward? Even if everyone was given some travel expenses,
Water and dry rations, how many days could they last on the road?
They were all covered in dust,
Some dragging pots and pans, some carrying dolls,
Some carrying stretchers, some supporting,
Some lying down,
They could no longer walk, sitting on the ground in front of the city wall. The young men still had the strength to be angry. They hammered the city gate and shouted, "You can't do this! You want us to die! "
"We are all Xian Le people,
Do you have to be so ruthless! "
A man shouted until his voice was hoarse, "It's fine if you chase us out, I won't go in, but let my wife and children stay, okay?!"
Like an ant trying to shake a tree, the city gate did not move at all.
Xie Lian stood on top of the city tower. His white clothes fluttered as he crossed the parapet and looked down. Outside the imperial city, all he could see were slowly squirming human heads. They were black and dense, very much like the ant swarms he saw when he was playing in the imperial garden when he was a child.
At that time, out of curiosity, he took a few more glances and stretched out a finger, wanting to secretly poke it. Immediately, a palace servant shouted, "Your Highness, this thing is so dirty, you can't touch it, you can't touch it!" She lifted her skirt and rushed over, crushing the ants with a few steps.
When the ants were alive, other than being densely packed, there was nothing to see. When they were trampled to death and turned into a pile of mud, there was nothing to see.
Inside the imperial city, tens of thousands of homes were brightly lit and music could be heard. A city wall separated two completely different worlds.
It was one thing for the Yong An people who came later to not be able to enter, but those who were originally inside had to be chased out. Although they were cold and hard, Xie Lian roughly knew that this was because in the past few months, there had been more and more friction between the people of the Imperial City and the people of Yong An. Leaving a group of such men in the city, they were afraid that if they worked together, they would cause trouble.
However, there was one point that he felt could still be discussed. He asked absentmindedly, "Why do women and children have to be evacuated as well? Some of them won't be able to go far. "
Feng Xin and Mu Qing stood behind him. Mu Qing said: "If we want to retreat, we must retreat together. One should not worry about scarcity, but about unevenness. One should not discriminate, otherwise it would be hard to avoid provoking others. Why can they stay, but I can't? "
Feng Xin said, "You think too much."
Mu Qing said indifferently, "There will always be people who think that way. Moreover, if his wife and children hadn't left, those men wouldn't be willing to go too far away. They would come back sooner or later. Leaving people in the city is akin to leaving behind future troubles. "
These Yong An people weren't willing to leave, and the soldiers in the city tower couldn't leave either. They all said, "Hmph, let's just waste time like this!"
Since His Majesty had given the order, did they think that sitting here and wasting time would be of any use? If it took a day or two, could it take a month or two, or two years?
The soldiers and commoners of the Imperial City all thought so. Some of the Yong An people accepted their fate in despair and decided to gamble and continue eastward. However, there weren't many of them. Most of them were still sitting at the city gates, hoping that the Imperial City would open the gates to let them in. At least, they would be given a place to rest before continuing on their journey. More and more Yong An people came. Although they were very disappointed to see that the city gates were tightly shut, seeing that there were so many people guarding, they also joined the main group with anticipation.
Thus, after three or four days, more and more people gathered at the city gates. Tens of thousands of people practically set up camp here, forming a spectacular spectacle. They relied on the water and dry rations distributed by the Emperor to barely hold on, but they were almost at their limit.
This limit was reached on the fifth day.
In these five days, Xie Lian divided his food into three portions every day. One portion was used for the followers of the Crown Prince Hall, one portion was used to arrange for the water and rain, and one portion was used to take care of the commoners of Yong An outside the city. Even with Feng Xin and Mu Qing's help, there were times when he felt overwhelmed and powerless. On this day, when he wasn't guarding outside the city, under the scorching sun, a scream suddenly rang out in front of the city gates.
The scream came from a husband and wife who were carrying a child. Everyone surrounded them and asked, "What's wrong with this child?" "Is he hungry or thirsty?" After a moment, they exclaimed, "Everyone, bring some water over, this child's face can't be looked at!"
The wife cried as she fed water to the red-faced child, but all the water was spat out. His father said, "I don't know what's going on, he's sick, doctor, we need a doctor!"
He carried his son and rushed to the city gates, banging on the gates, "Open the gates, open the gates and save someone! Someone is going to die, my son is going to die! "
The soldiers inside the gates naturally didn't dare to open the gates. Regardless of whether someone was really going to die or not, there were tens of thousands of people outside the gates. Once the gates were opened, they wouldn't be able to close it again, so they could only report to their superiors. The weather was hot, and the soldiers who had been guarding for a few days were a little impatient. They perfunctorily said, "Give him water and food." Thus, they used a rope to hang some water and food down. The man said, "Thank you, thank you all, but we don't need water and food. Can you help us find a doctor?"
This made things difficult for them. They couldn't let him in to find a doctor, nor could they hang a doctor down for him. God knows what this group of starving people who had been starving for four to five days would do outside the door. Thus, a few generals said, "Forget it, don't worry about it, just ignore it, no one will die. If you ask again, just say that we've already reported to His Majesty. "
The monarch had been extremely vexed over the matter of Yong An for the past few days, frequently getting angry. Naturally, no one dared to disturb him over such a small matter. A few soldiers answered accordingly, and the man felt at ease. He thanked the monarch profusely and knelt down to kowtow. However, hour after hour passed, and the shadow under the scorching sun moved from one side to the other. The doctor didn't appear for a long time, and the child in his arms was getting hotter and hotter.
The couple's hands kept trembling as they carried the child. The man's head was covered in cold sweat as he muttered, "Is there anyone else coming? Are they still going to open the gates for me? "
He finally couldn't take it anymore and shouted towards the top of the gate tower, "Generals, I'm sorry, I want to ask … where's the doctor?"
The soldier replied, "We've already reported to His Majesty, please wait a little longer."
A commoner below couldn't hold it in any longer, "He said he went four hours ago, why isn't he back yet?"
The soldiers obeyed their superiors' instructions and ignored them after answering. The people below the walls were angry, helpless, and heartbroken. They surrounded the child and began to doubt, "Did they really report to His Majesty? Could they be lying to us? "
The child's father couldn't wait any longer. He made up his mind and tied the child on his back, giving a few instructions to his wife. The woman took off an amulet from her neck and wore it around her husband's neck. The man ran towards the city wall and tried to climb up.
The outside of the city wall was extremely difficult to climb. He grabbed a few times but couldn't climb up. The rest of the men said, "Let me help you!" and went over to help him. Dozens of people piled up like a human pyramid and sent him up to a height of about ten feet. At this point, the man was barely able to grab the rope used to carry water and food and continued to climb. The tens of thousands of people below looked at him nervously and didn't dare to cheer for him for fear of being discovered. The soldiers on the gate tower had been guarding for a few days and this group of Yong An refugees didn't cause any big trouble, so they inevitably became a little relaxed. When the man had almost climbed halfway up the wall, they suddenly realized that there was a person on the wall and shouted, "What are you doing! Don't climb the wall! Those who climb the wall will be killed without mercy! Do you hear me, those who climb the wall will be killed without mercy! "
They threatened. The man also said loudly, "I have no ill intentions! I just want to take the child to see a doctor, I won't do anything else! "He shouted as he continued to climb. A general was originally eating, but when he heard about this, he became extremely angry. If this person climbed up safely and set a precedent, wouldn't there be countless Yong An people who followed suit? He had to be stopped! Thus, he took large strides and shouted down from the wall, "Do you want to die! Go down immediately, if you don't go down, I won't forgive you! "
The man had already climbed to a very high place and was already halfway up. If he put in a bit more effort, he would be able to climb back up, so he naturally wouldn't stop. That general had always been a man of his word in the military camp. No one dared to disobey his orders. It was also very simple for anyone to disobey him. He came to the side of the wall and pulled out his sword. The rope was cut.
The man held the broken rope and fell from midair. Amidst the screams of countless people, he fell heavily onto the hard ground outside the city gate.
Xie Lian appeared at this time.
The man was carrying a child on his back. With a "pa ji" sound, the child was crushed into a ball of exploding meat paste. A flower of blood sprayed several zhang. His neck was also broken. His eyes were wide open and a protective talisman fell from his twisted neck. In the middle were two words, "Xian Le", embroidered with golden thread. It was the Blessed Light Protective Talisman from the Crown Prince's palace.
The moment before he climbed up, this man and his wife held onto the protective talisman and silently prayed for the Crown Prince's protection. Thus, Xie Lian heard their prayers and rushed here.
However, he wasn't the main character of those legendary novels. Every time, he would appear just before his sword was about to fall, saving people in the nick of time. The woman didn't have the courage to flip over her husband's corpse to see what had become of her son. She covered her face and screamed. Without even looking, she ran forward and hit the wall. With a "dong" sound, she fell down and stopped moving.
Right in front of Xie Lian, there were three more corpses at the bottom of the imperial city walls!
Before he could react, the commoners outside the city gates couldn't take it anymore.
Someone cursed, "Dead, a family of three, all dead! Look, this is the good general who works for our king! He didn't save us and instead forced us onto the road to death! "
"You don't let us in and you don't send us out. What do you want us to do? Three bloody lives are waiting for you! "
"They say that the people of Yong An are leaving the imperial city. Why don't the rich people leave as well? Do we deserve to die because we don't have money or power? I've seen through it! "
"I can't take it anymore … I really can't take it anymore. The taxes that should have been collected every year are still there. Where did the disaster relief go? "
"He would rather use the money to feed the worms to repair his son's temple than to help the victims. He only gives us some water and dry rations. Who do he think we are? A fatuous ruler, a fatuous ruler! "
The soldiers on the city walls shouted for him to stop. That general had seen all kinds of situations and didn't take it to heart. However, the situation was slowly getting out of control. Thousands of angry hands pushed against the city gates. Some people even used their heads and bodies to slam against the gates. This time, it wasn't an ant trying to shake a tree.
The city gates moved. Even the entire city walls were faintly trembling!
Xie Lian had never seen such a situation since he was born. All the people he had seen were friendly, happy, prosperous, and loving. These people with distorted faces and crying and shouting made him feel like he had come to a completely unfamiliar world. He couldn't help but feel his hair stand on end. Even when he faced the most terrifying demons and evil spirits, he had never felt this way. At this moment, an angry roar came from above the city walls.
He suddenly turned around and saw a tall and thin figure grabbing the general who had cut the rope and caused the death of the three people below the city walls. With a crisp crack, the general's neck was broken.
The soldiers didn't know how this person suddenly appeared. They turned pale with fright and shouted, "Who are you?!" "How did you get up here?!"
Xie Lian quickly noticed the general's hands. They were already badly mutilated. This person had actually used a pair of bare hands to grab the city walls that didn't have a single crack and climbed up. And that figure turned around. It was indeed Lang Ying!
Lang Ying, who was surrounded by the soldiers, didn't panic at all. He flipped over the parapet wall and threw the general's body down the city walls. He also stepped on the body, using it as a cushion, and jumped down.
The moment before he jumped down, he looked straight at Xie Lian. But he wasn't looking at Xie Lian. Instead, he looked past him and saw the imperial palace in the center of the imperial city.