Women Wearing Men: The Growth Path of the Bastards of the Aristocratic Family

After the Spring Festival, Gu Yunji and Cheng Yan boarded the carriage back to Luxi Academy and continued their school journey for the new year.

Along the way, Gu Yunji saw many refugees, either kneeling and begging on the side of the road in twos and threes, or wanting to migrate south in groups.All of them are in ragged clothes, yellow and thin, as if they will exhaust their energy and collapse at any moment, which makes people unbearable to watch.

The further south you go, the more refugees there will be, and strands of refugees will gather together and rush to the city one after another.However, the gates of the major state capitals were guarded by heavy soldiers, and the refugees were not allowed to enter the city, so they could only set up shacks outside the city and settle down temporarily.

The terrain outside the city gate of Hangzhou Fucheng was open, at least thousands of refugees gathered, and the ground was covered in darkness. If it weren't for the officers and soldiers clearing the way, Gu Yunji and Cheng Yan's carriages might not even be able to get in.

Gu Yunji looked forward and found that there were at least five times more officers and soldiers at the gate of the city than usual. frightened.

The carriage was moving slowly in the queue waiting for inspection, and Gu Yunji was a little impatient, so he raised the curtain and asked a soldier standing guard by the roadside: "Brother! Why is it so slow to enter the city? I haven't seen such strict inspections before?"

Seeing that he was dressed in extraordinary clothes, he seemed to be the young master of a rich family, and the soldier's attitude was more gentle: "Young master, please be considerate. If the inspection of this city gate is not slowed down and the guards are stricter, the refugees will take the opportunity to sneak in. Yes. The magistrate has issued a death order, not even a single refugee is allowed to enter."

Gu Yunji frowned: "Don't let the refugees enter the city, don't you just ignore everything and let them stay outside the city and slowly starve to death? What's the reason for that!"

When there are too many refugees, it is easy to cause chaos. Under normal circumstances, local officials will not easily let refugees into the city.But that doesn't mean nothing, at least the government will come forward to provide porridge, set up a shed, provide clothes and food, and let the refugees settle down.

But looking at these refugees outside the city, they are disorderly and chaotic, and there is clearly no government management.Not to mention the porridge, even the few dilapidated shacks were built by the refugees themselves.At the moment, many people are picking up the bark and grass roots, preparing to use these things to satisfy their hunger.

Hearing this, the soldier showed a wry smile: "The young one is a big soldier. He only knows how to do things according to orders, and I can't take care of anything else. These refugees are not completely starved of food. Occasionally, some wealthy households will come to give porridge. Still alive."

The voluntary porridge donation by rich households cannot guarantee time or quantity. Even if the refugees fill their stomachs today, what will they do tomorrow?There will be a day when the bark and grass roots will be exhausted. At that time, the refugees who can't even barely survive will stay outside the city obediently, waiting for the occasional charity?
Thinking of this, Gu Yunji sighed, and sat back in the car helplessly.

In the distance, the steward of a certain rich family in the city was selecting maids and servants among the refugees. He easily bought a few half-grown children at a very low price.Hearing the child's reluctant sobs and sobs when parting from his family, Cheng Yan couldn't bear it, so he simply put down the car curtain, neither listening nor watching.

Closing his eyes, the faint cry still came into his ears clearly.Gu Yunji lowered his head and said in a low voice: "Even if you can't enter the city, don't you have to give porridge and set up a shed? It's still the first month, and many refugees are still wearing single clothes. I'm afraid that many people will be frozen to death. Lu Xian knows that they are really ruthless." Make up your mind."

Cheng Yan sighed, and said: "The regulations for accepting refugees have not been published in the residence newspaper. Master Lu and the others probably haven't received the order from above, so they don't want to take the risk and use the treasury to appease the refugees without authorization. In this case, we have to delay One day at a time, wait until the imperial court appropriates Anmin's money and food."

"But every day, how many more people will die? Don't they know?" Gu Yunji's eyes were red, and his voice was a little astringent. As long as it's over, they don't care how many people died!"

Gu Yunji didn't think there was anything wrong with protecting one's life wisely, but that was also a situation of fighting each other in the officialdom, and he would rather watch the refugees die in front of him than take the risk of doing something outside the scope of jurisdiction.

Hearing what he said, Cheng Yan's expression darkened, but he didn't answer any more.

After a long wait, the carriage finally moved to the gate of the city. After several people inspected it, they asked the driver to send the carriage back to the carriage house, while Gu Yunji and Cheng Yan prepared to enter the city on foot.

Just as the two got out of the car, they suddenly heard an anxious voice from the side:

"Master, please do me a favor! Let me in! My daughter has a high fever, and we can't wait any longer. I promise, we will come out as soon as we see the doctor, and we will never stay in the city!"

Gu Yunji followed the prestige, and saw a middle-aged man with the appearance of a refugee holding a child in his arms, speaking a crappy official dialect with a strong local accent, and kept begging the officers and soldiers to let him in. A pair of tattered straw sandals were so anxious that they were about to kneel down to the officers and soldiers in front of them.

Impatient with his begging, the officers and soldiers flashed their bright blades with a swipe, and immediately scared the man back a few steps, and said in a cold voice: "If you can't do it, you can't do it! If you keep pestering me, I won't be polite!"

Seeing that the man was trembling with fright but still refused to give up, Gu Yunji's heart moved, he stepped forward and asked, "What's going on?"

The officers and soldiers put away their blades, and spoke softly at him: "It's nothing, but there was a refugee who didn't follow the rules and insisted on progress, so I stopped him. Didn't you disturb the young master?"

Gu Yunji shook his head, looking at the thin child in the man's arms whose face was flushed with fever, he frowned, and asked a little bit unbearably: "Can't he go in and take the child to see a doctor?"

The officers and soldiers had a look of embarrassment on their faces: "This... really can't be done. The magistrate has said that not even a single refugee can be put in."

Gu Yunji pointed to the stewards who were buying the children of refugees in the distance, and asked, "Then why are they able?"

The officers and soldiers forced a smile and explained: "This is different again. They are buying servants. With a big family as a guarantee, they can naturally bring them into the city."

"Okay, then I will guarantee them both and let them enter the city." Gu Yunji's eyes were firm and his tone was unquestionable, "I am a student of Luxi Academy, although I am not as big as the big family in the city, I can bring dozens of them with me. The refugees go in, but it’s okay to bring their father and daughter with them, right?”

Hearing this, the officers and soldiers froze: "My lord, this is inappropriate..."

Gu Yunji took out an ingot of silver from his bosom and put it in his hand, raised his eyebrows and asked, "Now, is it suitable?"

"Appropriate! Appropriate!" Feeling the heavy weight in his hands, the officers and soldiers suddenly smiled, and their attitudes changed drastically. "You can take them in now!" He said, pulling down the fence and letting the man in.