C4 Tiger Dog and Son Roadway

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

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.

In the Youzhou, the most respected person was Gongsun Zan, while the most respected person was Liu Yu. The former repeatedly defeated the Hu people and bandits to ensure peace within their borders; the latter ploughed fields, mined salt and iron, settled hundreds of thousands of refugees, exhausted their efforts to recuperate with the people, and lived in countless numbers.

After Liu Yu was captured, panic filled Ji County City. All kinds of rumors spread, and even the other places were in a depression. When Liu Yu stood at the entrance of Ji County County wearing his official's robe and said a few words, the citizens were completely at ease.

The loud cheers at the entrance of the county magistrate court 15 days ago were still lingering in Gongsun Xu's ears.

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

Due to Gongsun Zan's secret proclamations, the current Gongsun Xu had become the great benefactor that saved Liu Yu's entire family. Adding on the three promises that they made, his reputation instantly soared. Previously, when Gongsun Xu was walking on the streets, the commoners would hide as far away as they could. Now that he was walking in the city, there would occasionally be villagers greeting him.

'Too few people, too poor! ' After Gongsun Xu had finished his tour of the city, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart. In such a big city, the population was not even three hundred thousand, and among them, there were fifty thousand soldiers from the Youzhou Army and more than 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 they arrived at the south gate, Gongsun Xu looked at the few caravans and finally couldn't hold it anymore and asked Gongsun Jia, who was following behind them.

"Poor?" Gongsun Jia stared with his eyes wide open and scratched his head in confusion. "Ji County is very rich, how could young master say that he is poor?"

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

The short and stocky Gongsun Yi, who was the younger brother of Gongsun Jia behind him, said, "Young master, big brother is right! 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 extremely depressed. He immediately lost the interest to continue strolling around and turned around 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 scold them, he suddenly remembered that these riders were dressed in red, obviously, they were 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 stunned.

"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, waved his horsewhip and shouted, "Let's go see Marquis Jin!"

Gongsun Yi saw the dark expression on Gongsun Xu's face and asked in a low voice, "Young Master, do you want to teach that young master a lesson?"

Gongsun Xu shook his head. After the silver-armored youth and his group disappeared from sight, he walked up to the townspeople and comforted them. Then, he asked for several hundred copper coins from Gongsun Jia and distributed it 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 Marquis Jin Manor's Junior Marquis! "

"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, went in through the side door on purpose. He didn't want to see Yuan Shu's men in a bad mood.

After the side door was opened, a few rows of small houses could be seen. They were the residences of the servants. When the servants saw Gongsun Xu, they let him pass and stood there bowing.

Gongsun Xu passed through this place, passed through two more crescent gate, and arrived at the large garden of the house of the Marquis. 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.

Gongsun Xu was about to circle around the pond when he suddenly heard a lecherous laughter from the other side of the wall. He then heard a girl's scream and running.

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

Gongsun Jia nodded to confirm: "It's the voice of First Miss."

Gongsun Rui is also Hou Yue's own daughter, age 14. 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 crescent gate at the side. Recently, he had started to have some kinship with Hou Yue and her daughter.

Just as he reached the door, a pretty girl dressed in yellow rushed out. When she saw Gongsun Xu hug 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!

Angry, Gongsun Xu grabbed him by the neck and hurled him into 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 edge of the pond and said lightly, "Grab him and bring him here."

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

Gongsun Xu pulled the boy's hair and pushed him into the water without saying a word.

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 shirt and asked timidly, "Big Brother, would you drown?"

Gongsun Xu smiled and shook his head, lifting the boy out of the water.

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

Gongsun Xu sneered. Before he finished cursing, he pressed his head into the water again.

"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 teased, "Do 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 shouted, "Cut the crap! Who are you?"

The teenager trembled as he replied, "I am the son of the Huainan's Left General, Yuan Lu."

It's actually Yuan Shu's son? Gongsun Xu was surprised, what did Yuan Shu send his son to Youzhou for?

At this moment, Hou Yue, along with a few servant girls, ran over from outside the door. From afar, she waved her hand and shouted, "Qian'Er, don't try to act recklessly. Let go of Young Master Yuan!"

Yuan Lu suddenly became high-spirited and shouted arrogantly, "Brat, hurry up and let this official go. Be careful, this official will report this to Madam Hou and let your head fall to the ground!"

Gongsun Xu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This Yuan Lu was really a scarecrow. Just now, Rui Er called him 'Big Brother', but this brat didn't notice? He pushed with his palm and 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 and pushed Gongsun Xu away, cursing, "Oh, you're such a troublemaker! Gongsun Jia, quickly help Young Master Yuan up! "

"Cough, cough, cough." The moment Yuan Lu landed on the shore, he immediately began to cough and vomit.

"You've got guts!" Hou Yue frowned and grabbed Gongsun Xu's ear.

Gongsun Xu grit his teeth and yelled, "Mom, this kid insulted Rui Er, I'm just punishing him a little."

Gongsun Rui quickly hugged Hou Yue, sobbing as she said, "Mother, this bastard, Young Master Yuan, bullied his daughter first. Eldest brother taught him a lesson, it's all Young Master Yuan's fault!" While speaking, Hou Yue kicked Yuan Lu in the face while he was not paying attention. She asked gently, "Young Master Yuan, is it?"

Yuan Lu shuddered and finally realized that this fellow was Gongsun Xu. He hurriedly nodded his head, "Miss Gongsun is right. Madam, I was rude to 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 couldn't help but praise them as she laughed. She turned around and shouted, "The two of you learn a little! Gongsun Xu, hurry up and go to the ancestral hall and kneel. You're not allowed to eat at night! "Someone come, invite Young Master Yuan to change."

"Thank you Madam." Yuan Lu thanked her and left with the servant girl.

Hou Yue sighed, "I didn't expect that Yuetao would have such a son!"

Gongsun Xu asked with a smile, "Mother, can we skip kneeling in the ancestral hall?"

"No way!" Hou Yue flatly refused.

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

Hou Yue's face darkened as she 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 hand and walked away for a few steps. Then, he turned his head and asked, "Mother, what did that brat come here for?"

"I'm here to ask for Rui Er's hand in marriage." Hou Yue replied snappily.

Gongsun Xu said scornfully, "What morals do you have? "That brat is not even fit to carry Rui Er's shoes!"

Gongsun Rui immediately covered her face and started to wail. As she cried, she peeked at Hou Yue's expression through the gaps of her fingers. Her crying was earth-shattering, but unfortunately, there wasn't a single tear left.