At the beginning, I became a county magistrate with greed of 500 million. The empress asked me to be

"Zhangjia Village, which county does it belong to?"

Xia Yun looked at Chen Bao. The other party looked trembling with fear and obviously did not seem to be lying.

"In reply to your words, Zhangjia Village belongs to Chengtang County."

"It's not just our Zhangjia Village, several nearby villages are finished. I really had no choice but to lead my fellow villagers to do banditry."

The more Chen Bao spoke, the more aggrieved he felt.

If it weren't for this cannibalistic world, who wouldn't want to live peacefully and be a good citizen?

"Where is the magistrate of Chengtang County? Doesn't he care about your life or death?"

Xu Wan'er spoke at this time.

"You don't know, sir, that since the year before last, our Chengtang County has been hit by various natural and man-made disasters, and the county magistrate has long been unable to care about our lives."

"Last year, the government wanted to increase taxes. We ordinary people really had no money, so the government arrested us and forced us to do hard labor in exchange for money. Last year, hundreds of men from neighboring villages were arrested, and they haven't returned yet."

"I heard that they had died at the beginning of the year, but until now, the government has not given a clear explanation."

Chen Bao spoke one after another, telling everything he knew.

At this moment, Xia Yun's expression had turned gloomy.

Although he knew that the famine in the Southern Zhili region had lasted for several years, he had never imagined it would be so serious.

But in the final analysis, the county magistrate of Chengtang County really deserves to die. He actually forced thousands of ordinary people in a village to go up the mountain to become bandits!

"Sir, all the weapons have been collected, but..."

Chong Heihu, who had just confiscated the weapons, returned to Xia Yun and showed a hint of hesitation on his face while speaking.

Hearing this, a hint of doubt appeared in Xia Yun's eyes.

Then, more than twenty personal guards, accompanied by hundreds of women and children, appeared in front of Xia Yun.

At first glance, the women looked emaciated and the children were naked and skinny.

Among them, there were even twenty or thirty hungry babies crying in the women's arms.

The women were afraid of angering Xia Yun, so they trembled and covered the babies' crying mouths with their hands.

Seeing this, Xia Yun fell silent for a moment.

He was not a heartless man. If Chen Bao could not grab food today, these hungry babies would probably not survive tomorrow.

"General Chong Heihu, immediately cook the food you brought here and let these people have a full meal first."

Xu Wan'er saw what Xia Yun was thinking and quickly gave the order.

"Okay, I'll do it right away!"

Chong Heihu, who was used to seeing fighting on the battlefield, couldn't bear to see the people suffering in such a difficult situation.

After receiving the order, he quickly directed his personal guards to unload some of the grain from the grain carts and started to make a fire and cook on the spot.

"Give them some clean clothes and don't use any violence."

Immediately afterwards, Xia Yun also gave an order.

It is the hottest season now. If these people do not pay attention to personal hygiene, they will most likely get sick and die even if they do not starve to death.

Upon hearing this, Xu Wan'er quickly asked someone to fetch two or three hundred pieces of cloth from the back of the team.

Then he took the women and children to the shade of the woods to change their clothes.

"Chengtang County has suffered from famine for years. Didn't the governor's office allocate relief grain?"

Xia Yun's attention was once again focused on Chen Bao.

Before setting off for Nanzhili, he had some knowledge of the memorials sent from Nanzhili to the imperial court in the past few years.

Almost every two or three months, the Southern Zhili Governor's Office would submit a petition to the imperial court, requesting the Ministry of Revenue to allocate disaster relief grain.

Logically speaking, at least some of this disaster relief grain should reach the hands of the people.

However, when Chen Bao heard the words "disaster relief food", the trembling look on his face dissipated a lot.

Instead, there was a look of righteous indignation.

"The relief grain sent by the imperial court has long been embezzled by those corrupt officials, and there is no way it can be distributed to us ordinary people."

A burst of anger rose in Chen Bao's eyes.

They also want to live, but those corrupt officials not only do not give them a way to live, but instead block their only way to survive.

So they had no choice but to go up the mountain and become bandits.

Even so, they have been having no food to eat for the past few months.

They go up the mountain to rob during the day and go down the mountain to the village to sleep at night. They live as long as they can.

Hearing this, Xia Yun sighed inwardly.

This is the tragedy of the times.

In this feudal era of low productivity, once the weather was bad, the consequence for the common people would be reduced grain production and hunger.

"Zhao Xinlei."

Xia Yun withdrew his gaze from Chen Bao and turned to look behind him.

"The general is here!"

A thirty-year-old lieutenant general immediately responded and came to Xia Yun.

"Continue the trial. Remember, no violence."

Xia Yun immediately gave the order.

This Zhao Xinlei was a lieutenant general he promoted from the Hangzhou City Defense Army. He was young and determined, and had read a lot of military books.

"Yes, my lord,"

Zhao Xinlei accepted the order immediately.

Chen Bao was then taken to a large tree nearby and a detailed interrogation process began.

Xia Yun walked to the top of the mountain step by step, with Xu Wan'er and several personal soldiers following him.

Looking down the mountain, Xia Yun saw at least five or six villages.

However, the population in these villages is extremely sparse.

It's noon now, and normal people would cook.

But in the five or six villages at the foot of Huwei Mountain, Xia Yun could not see any sign of smoke rising at all!

"Sir, what should we do with these people?"

Xu Wan'er followed Xia Yun's gaze and asked a tricky question at the moment.

After all, these thousands of people went to the mountains to become bandits, and the law of the country is ruthless.

If they have killed someone, no matter how pitiful they are, they must be punished by the law.

Xia Yun did not answer this question immediately.

His gaze gradually shifted from the several villages at the foot of Huwei Mountain to further distances.

That is the direction of Ningdu City, the capital of Nanzhili.

……

In a blink of an eye, half an hour passed.

Twenty large pots of thick porridge were cooked on the spot.

Under the command of Chong Heihu, thousands of villagers from Zhangjia Village began to line up for meals.

At the same time, Zhao Xinlei appeared in front of Xia Yun.

"Your Excellency, according to the results of the interrogation, these thousands of villagers in Zhangjia Village have been bandits since three months ago."

"They mainly robbed passing merchants and government grain transport teams on Huwei Mountain. According to Chen Bao, they robbed at least three government grain transport teams."

But so far, no one has died on their hands..."

In just a few minutes, Zhao Xinlei reported the results of the interrogation in detail.

Hearing this, Xia Yun couldn't help but have a strange look on his face.

The villagers of Zhangjia Village were quite lucky. After robbing three government grain transport teams, they did not suffer any retaliation from the government.

This is a blessing in disguise.

"Pass the order. After these thousands of people have had their meals, let them follow the team down the mountain."

In just a few words, Xia Yun made the decision.