Become a founding empress in ancient times with the system

It is particularly lively today. The government has recently recruited some people and set up a cafeteria where office workers can eat for free.

People like Wu Xiancheng have prepared a room here for a long time. Now the temperature outside is extremely low, so basically no one has gone back.

It was also Sheng Chang'an's birthday, so almost everyone who could come came.

Now life in the county is basically back on track. There are both meat and vegetables on the table, and the number of shops in the county is gradually increasing. At the instruction of Sheng Chang'an, Guangping also has its first inn.

The winter here is extremely cold. There is already a thick layer of snow outside, and there are several charcoal basins in the hall.

Even so, they wore thick cotton-padded jackets inside, covered themselves with animal hair cloaks outside, and held a stove in their hands, but they were still talking enthusiastically.

At this moment, she felt that the things of her previous life seemed to be getting farther and farther away from her.

The weather was cold and Sheng Changan didn't want to go out. For a southerner, it was a remarkable thing for her to get up at six o'clock every day in such weather.

As soon as she left the room, she felt her whole body shivering. She had left early last year and was already in the south at this time. Although it was cold, she could still bear it.

But there is no floor heating here, only a kang and a stove that she never leaves. It takes a lot of courage to go out.

Fortunately, there was no need for her to go out recently. Since she couldn't waste time, she started practicing martial arts indoors. Occasionally, the Shen family's grandparents and the Li family's siblings would take turns to give her guidance.

"Sir," a hurried voice said, "someone from Qi County is asking for help and must see you immediately."

Sheng Changan was a little surprised. Qi County? Someone coming at this time, it seemed like something had happened. "Let him in."

A man with blue lips from the cold walked in. He didn't know how to walk with his hands and feet. His body was covered with snow and his eyes were red. He wanted to say something but couldn't even utter a complete word.

"Don't worry, there's hot water on the table." Looking at the person who was about to cry, he comforted her, "Drink some water first. You can't speak like this."

He huddled beside the charcoal stove, holding a pot of tea in his frozen hands. He drank the warm water only after he felt his hands move again. "Sir, I am a citizen of Qi County. I came here to seek help at the request of our county magistrate."

As he spoke, he knelt on the ground tremblingly. No matter how Wang Liu pulled him, he could not get up and just kept kowtowing.

"What's the matter first? Why are you here?" She had heard a little about County Qi. He was an honest official, but if someone was sent to ask for help, it shouldn't be an ordinary citizen, unless he was desperate.

"Several people escaped, but I was the only one who collapsed alive." He burst into tears when he thought of this.

Sheng Changan sighed. This man was wearing a lot of clothes, layer upon layer, but they were all tattered and most of them didn't fit him. "What do you want to talk about first?"

"It was the Xianbei people," the man said, his eyes revealing a trace of deep hatred. "Not long after the plague ended, several hundred people, coming from nowhere, rushed into the county town."

"We heard they were nomadic Xianbei people. This year was a drought, and they had no food. They decided to come here and seize a city to spend the winter. After much deliberation, they chose us."

"They killed everyone who resisted. They took away our wives and daughters. They humiliated the county magistrate, and his wife committed suicide, unable to bear the humiliation. They also took over all the food supplies."

"Old women who are not good-looking can only get half-full, but men can only keep themselves from starving to death, and they also have to play games with them." As for what games they were, he did not say any more, so as not to dirty the ears of this adult.

Even if he didn't say anything, seeing his ashamed and angry expression, Sheng Changan knew that it was not a good thing. "Didn't you send anyone to the company for help?"

It can be said that it was too late for Lan Yang at that time, but Qi County should not have done that. If these people did not kill them at the beginning, one or two of them would have escaped at least. The county magistrate of Qi County was not so incompetent.

"They looked for him! How could they not have looked for him? They looked for him right away." The man who was speaking covered his face and started crying. "He, they sent the person who brought the message back."

Sheng Changan's face changed, he was a little bit unbelievable. You can choose not to send anyone to help, but how can you send people back?

"And then this..." He looked terrified, his words failing him. "They flayed him alive and placed him at the gate to make ice sculptures."

"Chop the skin into pieces and give it to the master to eat." As he said this, his whole body began to tremble.

Looking at this man's appearance, Sheng Changan's eyes darkened slightly. "Did he call you all over to see him?"

The man was already curled up on the ground, his face was covered with melted snow or tears. "Look, my husband, you are being humiliated."

Sheng Changan barely pieced together the sentence. It seemed that the person who delivered the message was sent back by the upper company. In order to warn these people that day, the person was skinned on the spot and everyone was forced to be present.

In order to punish the mastermind, the Qi County magistrate and his wife were brought over and their skins were fed to the Qi County magistrate. His wife was also humiliated in public and eventually committed suicide.

"Then why do you dare to send people out?"

"Yes, sir. He said the court doesn't care. We have to save ourselves. He said you might help us." When he left, the sir had already made up his mind to die, and he might be dead now.

He was now the hope of everyone in the county. Thinking of this, he began to kowtow repeatedly, "Sir, please, please."

"I'll go. Wang Liu, take the others downstairs to rest, and find someone to check on him." Sheng Changan walked up to him and was about to help him up, but when he touched his cold skin, he paused and looked into his eyes.

His throat seemed to be blocked, and he said firmly, "I promise that Sheng Changan and I will personally lead people to Qi County, rescue everyone, and then kill those beasts."

The person in front of him seemed to be relieved, his lips moved slightly as he said "thank you" and then burst into tears.

Wang Liu put his nose to it and said, "Sir, the man is dead."

Sheng Changan whispered, "I know, take the person down and bury him!"

In order to prevent people from running away, those people certainly would not give them thick clothes. What he was wearing were all given to him by others, so his clothes were so ill-fitting.

Although I was wearing a lot of clothes, I wasn't very cold, so there were a lot of wet and yellow leaves inside my clothes.

All the exposed skin on his body was bluish purple, his face was pale and swollen, and there were cakes that fell from his sleeves on the ground, like pieces of iron.

It would take Qixian half a month to walk day and night. In addition, the temperature outside is at least below ten degrees, and the temperature will drop again at night. She didn't know how long it took this person to get here.

He probably knew that he would not survive, so he insisted on seeing her, but he couldn't hold on any longer after he finished speaking.

"Wang Liu, summon Wu County Magistrate, Lin Chuan, and Shen Huaizhi...to discuss matters."

Sheng Changan knew that since someone had done this, would it be only one person who came up with this idea? Qi County was not the only one that fell, but only someone in Qi County ran out to ask for help.

Or is it that the upper company was the only one that received the request for help? That is impossible. The reason why they were unwilling to help was because of the rebels in various places, because they could easily get the throne.

If they rescued them, the Xianbei might attack Jingguo in anger, so they retreated, became afraid, and even sent the people who asked for help back, just for the sake of temporary peace.

Don't they know that this is to seek the skin of a tiger and to raise a tiger to harm it? No, they know, but how can long-term interests compare to what can be seen in the present?

At this moment, Sheng Changan realized the importance of the intelligence point. Their request for help must not be done secretly, and the civilians in the upper company must have witnessed it. If she left someone there, they could be rescued in time.

But if she left them behind, the high cost of going to the company would prevent her from buying sulfur and making explosives. Using these people to rescue people would be a pipe dream.

Sheng Changan took a deep breath. It didn’t matter. They focused on the internal troubles, and she would deal with the external troubles!

People came one after another, and Wei Zhu circulated the recorded content to them one by one.

The people from Qi County came seeking help, and soon after they entered the city gate, most people knew about it. After all, in this weather, a person coming here is too conspicuous, and it is estimated that most well-informed people in the city will know about it soon.

They also guessed that something had happened and had already started rushing here. On the way, they happened to meet Wang Liu sending people to call them, so they were not delayed for long.

The water marks on the ground had not dried yet, and those who arrived early even happened to see Wang Liu carrying people out.

"Beasts!" Shen Pingyang gritted his teeth and pounded the table. "How could they send people back?"

The people who were present could not hide their anger on their faces. Although they were angry at the behavior of the Xianbei people, they were even more angry at the court for complicity in the evil deeds.

Lin Chuan barely suppressed his anger and said, "Sir, the snow is very deep outside. If we send troops at this time, it will probably cause a lot of difficulties."

Shen Pingyang exploded. "If it gets difficult, won't we go? If we don't go, there will be no one to save the people in Qi County, and maybe even more counties. I'm willing to go, sir, I'll go."

"Grandfather, that's not what Lin Chuan meant. He is right. We can't ride horses, we can only walk and carry weapons. In this weather, marching will be very difficult." Shen Huaizhi frowned.

Shen Pingyang gradually calmed down. "What should we do?"

"The temperature outside is low enough to freeze people to death on the road," Lin Chuan continued, "by the time we get there, our people will probably have been mostly lost. If they had come to us in the first place, there would still be hope."

"If we were to go, we would have to carry quite a bit of stuff with us. Under these circumstances, I can only say that it would be very disadvantageous for us."

As soon as Lin Chuan said this, everyone fell silent. It was indeed true. In this weather, they all concentrated their work in one place.

When marching outside, it is inevitable to camp outside. In this weather at night, if anyone falls asleep, 80% of them will be dead. Of course they want to rescue Qixian, but the problem is how to rescue them?

Everyone's attention turned to Sheng Changan.

She lowered her brows and wrote and drew on the paper. Everyone fell silent and looked at the person above.

After being away from home for a year, the adults have changed a lot. At the beginning, they were still a little immature, but probably because they had already fought, now everyone can clearly feel a murderous aura emanating from them.

There was also a lot of determination between their brows. In this year, they have grown a lot as adults.

Sheng Changan took the painted object and blew on it. "Zheng Jun and Zhang Wen, take a look at this."

Zheng Jun's eyes fixed, and Zhang Wen also came over. They had seen horseshoes before, but this one seemed a little different.

"These two things can help us walk outside in this weather." As soon as Sheng Changan said this, he attracted the attention of everyone else.

The snow sled is made of wood, very simple and clear at a glance. One sled can pull about a thousand pounds, and the cow produced by the system may be able to pull more.

Ice horseshoes can prevent slipping and are just right for this weather.

Sledding is a substitute for horses as there are not that many of them. It is suitable for traveling, but the disadvantage may be that it is a bit cold.

"This time, Shen Huaizhi and Li Dashan will lead 3,000 soldiers, with Xu Bai, Zhang Yu, Chen Ze, and Xu Qing accompanying them."

It doesn’t matter if someone is not here, someone will notify him anyway.

"Sir, I want to go too," Li Hui stood up.

Sheng Changan agreed after seeing her determined expression. She originally thought that it would be inconvenient for women to travel in winter, but since they had chosen this path, there should be no distinction between men and women.

She pointed to the last one and said, "Make this sled as soon as possible. Everyone on this trip must learn how to do it within three days."

Seeing the hesitant expressions on their faces, she continued, "I'll demonstrate first. You learn first and then teach others. Of course, it's not just these people; everyone will have to learn."

It was at this time that she suddenly remembered this good thing, perhaps it would become their winter combat weapon in the future.

"Feng Zhihong, prepare the explosives and remember to avoid getting them wet."

"Zheng Qing, you are responsible for the cold-resistant clothing for this trip."

"Lin Chuan, get the food out as soon as possible."

"I will go this time too. The county follows the usual practice and my return date is uncertain. The meeting is adjourned," Sheng Changan said in a firm tone.

Knowledge gained from books is always shallow; true understanding comes from personal experience. She wanted to see and do things for herself, so that she could understand the difficulties faced by others and avoid making mistakes in the future.

She is not smarter than others just because she comes from the modern era. The original owner was able to pass the imperial examination at the age of ten, which shows her strength. However, she was not mature enough, so she could not bear it.

Just like Liu Zhao, although she had never met him, she knew that this person should not be underestimated. This failure was because he was too arrogant. He thought that he could crush these ordinary people with one hand.

So in order to realize his plan, he could directly sacrifice so many people, but he didn't expect that someone would actually dare to rebel. For this kind of thing, once there is the first one, there will be the second one, so how far will the third and fourth be?

This is what led to the current situation. Sheng Changan closed his eyes and thought about it, hoping that a true hero would emerge from among these people to hold him back temporarily, and preferably make him fall flat on his face.

Otherwise, if I take action one after another now, he will be the first one to be dealt with as soon as he has time.

------

Zheng Jun was very fast and made the sled as soon as he returned that day. Although he didn't make much, it was enough for Shen Huaizhi and others to practice.

Of course, they did not disappoint their expectations. Among them, Shen Huaizhi learned the fastest. Sheng Changan put the cold hand warmer aside. Even though she wore layer after layer of clothes, she was still very cold.

Three days passed quickly, and everything was packed up. We could go to Qi County early tomorrow morning. I hope the person is still alive.