C4

At noon, Gongsun Xu was wearing a brand-new gray colored embroidered robe. Under the protection of seven or eight cloth-clothed guards, he casually walked on the streets of Ji County.

All traces of war had been erased. The shops on the streets were reopened, and the citizens had returned to the streets. People's stalls were everywhere, and people were either buying or selling. All sorts of shouts rose and fell. More than half of the reason the Ji County was able to recover its vitality so quickly was due to Liu Yu.

The loud cheers at the entrance of the county magistrate court fifteen days ago had always lingered in Gongsun Xu's ears to this day.

Gongsun Xu wandered around the city and found something very interesting from the eyes of the commoners — they were afraid of him, but were grateful to him.

Due to Gongsun Zan's secret announcement, the current Gongsun Xu had already become the great benefactor who saved Liu Yu's entire family's life. Adding on the three promises that he made, his reputation had instantly skyrocketed. In the past, when Gongsun Xu was walking on the streets, the citizens would hide as far away as they could.

'Too few people, too poor! ' After Gongsun Xu finished his patrol of the city, he could not help but sigh in his heart. In such a large city, the population was not even three hundred thousand, and there were fifty thousand soldiers and ten thousand auxiliary force s.

The houses in the city were low, there were very few buildings on the second floor and above, and even fewer luxurious and spacious houses. The people were dressed in tattered and coarse linen, and their faces were full of pale-faced people. There were more than a hundred shops in the area, but other than the food shops and salt shops, there were not many customers. A few restaurants were empty, and the waiters were all napping on the floor.

"Has the Ji County always been this poor?" When he arrived at the southern gate, Gongsun Xu looked at the few caravans, and finally couldn't resist anymore and asked Gongsun Jia who was following behind him.

"Poor?" Gongsun Jia opened his eyes wide, and scratched his head in puzzlement, "Ji County is very rich, how could Young Master say that you are poor?"

"This can be considered wealth?" Gongsun Xu coughed and almost gasped for breath.

Behind him, Gongsun Jia's little brother, the short and stocky Gongsun Yi continued to speak. "Sir, big brother's words are correct! In the past, only the Ji County was poor. Every winter, they would freeze to death and starve to death. Two years ago, Lord Liu opened up the upper valley borders and the Hu people trading market, he then started mining the Yang Salt Iron, causing the income of the treasury to increase by more than ten times. Every year, during the cold winter, he would open up to provide assistance, and from then on, the Ji County did not freeze to death nor starve to death.

"No one can get rich if they freeze to death?" Gongsun Xu was depressed in his heart, immediately losing the interest to continue strolling around, he turned and prepared to go back.

Just at this moment, a small squadron of forty to fifty red-clothed riders dashed in from outside the city. They shouted as they went, "Get out of the way! Get out of the way! "

A few villagers, who had just entered the city with a load on their shoulders, were unable to dodge in time and were hit by the flying horses in front of them. They were turned into rolling gourds, and all kinds of fruits and mountain wares sprinkled on the ground.

However the knights didn't stop. They rushed into the room and trampled all over the ground.

Just as Gongsun Xu was about to berate them, he suddenly remembered that these knights were dressed in red, obviously not from the Youzhou's army. Thus, he restrained his anger and asked about the origins of these people in a low voice.

"Young master, these are the left general of Huainan."

"Huainan's Left General? Yuan Shu? " Gongsun Xu was startled.

"Exactly."

After just two sentences, the group of red-clad Knights had all rushed in. In the middle of the crowd was a youth wearing silver armor. He looked very handsome, but his expression was brimming with arrogance.

The silver-armored youth reined in his horse's head, roughly glancing at the city before sneering, "Truly a dilapidated place!"

The subordinates all agreed, belittling Youzhou and raising him up.

"Dirty thing, I feel disgusted just by looking at it!" The silver armored youth spat at a villager lying on the ground, waving his horsewhip and shouting, "Come, let's go meet Marquis Jin!"

Gongsun Yi saw that Gongsun Xu's face was gloomy, and asked softly: "Young Noble, do you want to teach that brat a lesson?"

Gongsun Xu shook his head. When the silver-armored youth and his group disappeared, he walked over to the villagers and comforted them with a few words. Then, he took a few hundred copper coins from Gongsun Jia and distributed a few dozen to each of them.

It took them a while to regain their senses. They respectfully asked the guard at the city gate: "Master, who is that young master?"

"You are truly fortunate! The noble young duke had personally gifted you with coins! Don't spend the money, go back and pay for it. "Haha!"

"Which young duke?"

"Who else could it be? Of course it's the young duke of Marquis of Ji's Mansion! "

"Ah!" The villagers quickly kneeled down and kowtowed in the direction of the house of the Marquis.

An hour later, Gongsun Xu, who had returned to the house of the Marquis, intentionally went in through the side door to prevent anyone from being in a bad mood when they saw Yuan Shu.

Behind the door, there were a few rows of small houses, which were the servants' residences. When the servants saw Gongsun Xu, they opened up a path and bowed.

Gongsun Xu passed through this place, passed through two more crescent gate, and arrived at the large garden of the Marquis Mansion. It was full of chrysanthemums, planted on all sides with evergreen trees, and in the middle of the garden there was a round pond where the lotus flowers had withered, and where groups of fish swam leisurely a few feet in the water.

Just as Gongsun Xu was about to go around the pond, he suddenly heard a person on the other side of the wall who was laughing obscenely.

Gongsun Xu asked in surprise, "It seems to be Rui Er?"

Gongsun Jia nodded to confirm: "It's the voice of the young miss."

Gongsun Rui was also Hou Yue's biological daughter at the age of fourteen. This little girl was very mischievous and was loved by everyone.

After confirming that it was Gongsun Rui's voice, Gongsun Xu quickly ran towards the crescent gate at the side. Recently, he had become slightly closer to Hou Yue and her daughter.

Just as he reached the door, a beautiful girl dressed in yellow rushed out. When she saw Gongsun Xu hugging him, she cried: "Big brother, there's a thief bullying me!"

Before he could finish his sentence, someone followed him out the door and shouted, "My wife, don't go! Your husband is here too!"

So it turns out to be this kid from Huainan!

Gongsun Xu was furious, without saying a word, he grabbed him by the neck and threw him towards the pond behind him.

"Ouch!"

Plop!

After a blood-curdling screech, water splashed in all directions in the middle of the pond, scaring all the fish nearby away.

The fall of the Northern Lands was already very cold, and the water was also very cold. The youth curled up into a ball the moment he fell into the water.

Gongsun Xu walked to the side of the pond and lightly said: "Grab him and bring him over here."

Gongsun Jia immediately jumped into the water, grabbed the youth's collar and dragged him to the edge of the pond.

Without saying a word, Gongsun Xu pulled the youth's hair and pushed him into the water.

The youth struggled with all his might, but he was like an ant trying to shake a tree. He wanted to scream, but he could only spit out a few bubbles.

Gongsun Rui was scared out of her wits. She tugged on Gongsun Xu's clothes and asked timidly, "Big brother, you won't drown to death, right?"

Gongsun Xu laughed as he shook his head, pulling the youth out of the water.

The young man spat out a few mouthfuls of water and cursed, "Son, I will definitely kill you!"

Gongsun Xu laughed coldly, and before he could finish cursing, he pressed his head back into the water.

"You still dare to curse!" With a cold face, Gongsun Rui kicked the young man hard in the back.

"Spare my life!" After the second attempt, the youth quickly begged for mercy.

"A real man?" Gongsun Xu touched his own face and joked around: "I look like a bandit?"

The youth was so scared that he hurriedly shook his head, "No, no! I am speaking nonsense. Brother has a dignified appearance and a righteous face. How could he possibly be a bandit? Brother, can you allow me to go up first? "

Gongsun Xu bellowed: Enough of your rubbish, who are you?

The youth trembled and said, "I am the son of the Huainan's Left General, Yuan Lu."

was actually Yuan Shu's son? Gongsun Xu was shocked, why did Yuan Shu send his son to the Youzhou?

Just then, Hou Yue ran over from outside with a few servant girls. From afar, he waved his hands and shouted: "Lie'er, don't be reckless, quickly release Young Master Yuan!"

Yuan Lu immediately became spirited, and arrogantly shouted: "Brat, quickly get Your Highness to go up. Be careful that Your Highness may make a complaint to Madam Hou, and let your head fall to the ground!"

Gongsun Xu did not know whether to laugh or cry. This Yuan Lu was truly a scum, just now Rui Er had called him 'Big Brother', but this brat did not notice? With the strength of his palm, he pushed Yuan Lu's head into the water for the third time.

Gongsun Rui's mouth was wide open as she thought to herself, "Let go of my mother! Eldest brother is actually bullying this scoundrel! How audacious!" But it was so satisfying!

Hou Yue ran over, pushed Gongsun Xu away and scolded him: "Aiya, Little Brat, you really are a troublemaker! Gongsun Jia, quickly help Young Master Yuan up! "

"Cough cough cough" Once Yuan Lu landed on the shore, he immediately began to vomit on the ground.

"You've got guts!" Hou Yue frowned, and used all her strength to grab Gongsun Xu's ears.

Gongsun Xu gritted his teeth and shouted: "Mother, this brat insulted Rui Er, I am only punishing him a little."

Gongsun Rui hurriedly hugged Hou Yue, and said while sobbing, "Mother, this thief first bullied our daughter, and then Big Brother taught him a lesson. It's all Young Master Yuan's fault!" While speaking, he kicked Yuan Lu in the face while Hou Yue was not paying attention. On the surface, he gently asked: "Young Master Yuan, is it?"

Yuan Lu shuddered and finally realised that this fellow was Gongsun Xu, hence he hurriedly nodded his head. "Miss Gongsun is right, madam, this humble one has been rude Miss, it has nothing to do with the Young Marquis."

"As expected of the son of General Zuo, his magnanimity is truly admirable!" Hou Yue forced a smile and praised them a little, then turned and shouted: "The two of you learn well! Gongsun Xu, hurry and get on your knees at the Ancestral Hall, you're not allowed to eat at night! "Someone come, invite Young Master Yuan to change."

"Thank you Madam." Yuan Lu thanked her and followed the servant with a sway.

Hou Yue sighed, "I never thought that Yuan Du would have such a son!"

Gongsun Xu laughed: "Mother, so we can forget about kneeling in the ancestral hall, right?"

"No way!" Hou Yue flatly refused.

"Mother!" Gongsun Rui grabbed Hou Yue's arms and shook them vigorously.

Hou Yue's face darkened, and shouted: "If you say no, then no! If you don't want to be beaten up, then immediately scram to the ancestral hall and kneel! "

"Your son will go right now! "Right away!" Gongsun Xu waved his hands again and again, and after walking a few steps, he turned his head and asked: "Mother, what did that brat come here for?"

"I asked for's hand in marriage." Hou Yue replied snappily.

Gongsun Xu disdainfully said: "What morals do you have? That brat is not even fit to bring shoes for Rui Er! "

Gongsun Rui immediately covered her face and started to wail, while crying she peeked at Hou Yue's expression through the gaps of her fingers.