Chapter 71: The Unexplained Recruitment Order at the Pier

Seeing his wife's reluctant face, Cheng Su froze, then sighed and comforted his wife. Li Yaoguang took the opportunity to use the excuse that he had a stomachache and needed to go to the bathroom, and asked his uncle who was a car driver to drive to the village entrance to wait for him.

Cheng Su didn't want his wife to be depressed after seeing the things, so he quickly agreed and drove slowly towards Zhuangzikou. Li Yaoguang took the opportunity to stay at home.

After all the tidying up, the space was indeed a bit empty. There was only a narrow aisle left in the kitchen from the refrigerator to the oven and microwave. It was full of charcoal and firewood, but it hadn't reached the top yet, and there was still a small amount of space that could be stacked. Except for the brazier, the bar outside was still empty, and there was still room for some things to be stacked on the fire pit.

After collecting everything, Li Yaoguang did not dare to delay and was about to leave. At this moment, her stubborn donkey appeared from nowhere, and when he saw her, he quickly came over and rubbed against her.

Li Yaoguang sighed. This guy can’t pull a cart either. It’s hard to let him go. After all, I bought it with money and his legs are pretty strong. Do you want him?
Li Yaoguang stuffed another small apple into the little guy's pocket and pinched his ear to negotiate in a gentle voice.

"Little donkey, little donkey, I am going to run for my life. You are too small to pull a cart, so I will take you with me. It is dangerous and I am afraid that your legs are too short to keep up. So, if you are willing, you can run beside me. If you don't fall behind, how about you follow me in the future?"

The little donkey couldn't talk, it just howled twice and ran around her, then stopped at the gate of the yard and turned back to look at her with blinking eyes, as if to ask why she wasn't here yet since they had agreed to leave.

Li Yaoguang couldn't help but smile, "Okay, I'll take that as your agreement. Let's go."

Then Cheng Su, who had been waiting for his niece at the entrance of the village, saw his own child running towards him riding on her little donkey.

Cheng Su couldn't help but smile, "How could I forget about this little thing!"

Seeing someone approaching, Cheng Su raised his eyebrows, "Sister Guang, are you planning to ride the donkey instead of the car?"

Li Yaoguang patted the little donkey's head and said, "Uncle, my donkey is not an ordinary donkey. It has great endurance and can understand human language. I named it BMW, and it will be a member of our family from now on."

Cheng Su was choked by the name of his own child and kept coughing. He had no objection to the fact that the donkey, ahem, or BMW was a part of the family. But when he saw his son curiously sticking his head out of the car to look at the BMW, Cheng Su did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"Okay, let's go with the BMW. Let's go now."

Li Yaoguang nodded and pointed towards the village where Sandan and the others were.

"Well, let's go right away. But uncle, Sandan's family is very nice. I will feel uncomfortable if I leave like this. You drive the car first and go slowly. BMW runs fast. I will ride it to tell Sandan's family first, and then I will catch up with you."

Cheng Su thought of the honest family that was not unfamiliar to him, and nodded without hesitation. He told Li Yaoguang to go quickly and come back quickly and be careful, then flicked the whip in his hand and set off again. Li Yaoguang urged the BMW under him, and the man and the donkey headed towards the village ahead again.

In the quiet night, Li Yaoguang entered the village where dogs could be heard occasionally, and found his way to Sandan's house as if he knew the place well. He opened the door, notified people, and left without waiting for the family's thanks.

As she reunited with her relatives, she had no idea how Sandan's family would react to the sudden news of the tragedy. She also had no idea that at this moment, notes were flying all over Kyoto and the city was in chaos. As she sat on the cart side by side with her uncle to learn how to drive, she only knew that they had to go faster and faster.

Maybe it was because she was reunited with her family and felt relaxed with her relatives around. After learning how to drive a car for a while, Li Yaoguang's eyelids kept fighting. Cheng Su couldn't bear it and forced her to go into the car to rest. Li Yaoguang yawned and agreed. Even so, when she climbed into the back car, Li Yaoguang didn't forget to ask her uncle to help her watch her BMW running beside her. Although the road was not good, the car was well padded. In addition, her uncle was born into a powerful family. Although he was treated harshly, his life was much better than that of ordinary people. Their family did not have night blindness. Her uncle had good eyesight and tried to drive on a flat road.

There was a soft quilt on my body and below, my gentle aunt patted me gently beside me, and my little cousin was sleeping soundly in my arms like a small heater. The only flaw was the gap in the car door and the windows on both sides, which always let in air due to the high speed.

Li Yaoguang smacked his lips and tucked his head completely into the quilt. He slept peacefully until dawn. He woke up slowly when he heard his uncle's voice outside the carriage saying that they were about to enter Tongzhou.

Yawning, Li Yaoguang took the silk handkerchief handed to him by his gentle aunt, wiped his face quickly, and drew aside the curtains. Sure enough, he saw that the official road had become much smoother, the dirt road had turned into bluestone slabs, and the number of people around him gradually increased.

Li Yaoguang returned the silk handkerchief to her aunt, tucked the quilt for the little one beside her, opened the car door and climbed out. When she sat on the shaft, the BMW that had been running beside the car saw her and howled happily twice. Li Yaoguang couldn't help but stretch out her hand to stroke this happy thing, and then asked her uncle.

"Uncle, are we going directly to the dock?"

Cheng Su nodded, "Yes, let's go directly to the dock. What, are you hungry? This way, if we pass by a food store later, we can buy some food on the way. We are in a hurry and didn't bring any dry food with us, so it's better to buy some on the boat."

Li Yaoguang would naturally not say that she had no shortage of food. No matter how much space there was, there had to be an excuse to take it out, right? So she nodded and simply agreed.

When they were almost at the pier, there were many shops and stalls, which was a different scene from the recent Kyoto city. The only thing that was the same was that there were much fewer pedestrians passing by. This was confirmed when Li Yaoguang got off the car to buy some dry food and took the opportunity to ask the store owner.

I'm afraid that the emperor and all the powerful people have fled, and the situation has also affected here, right?

Li Yaoguang was thinking this as he was carrying a large basket of things back. However, he didn't know that when he actually arrived at the dock and personally pushed his uncle to find a boat, the news he received from the dock made Li Yaoguang's heart sink to the bottom in an instant.

After asking several shipping companies in succession, they all got the news that the imperial court had suddenly requisitioned all official and private ships near the nearby docks a few days ago, and even the grain transport ships were requisitioned to transport grain to the south. This really caught the two of them off guard.

Li Yaoguang was disappointed when he came out of the boat again. He was worried and asked the person in front of him who was pushing the boat, "Uncle, there is no boat. What should we do now?"

Cheng Su refused to believe it, thinking that this had never happened before. The old emperor had already run away, so what kind of grain was being requisitioned? Moreover, grain had always been transported from the south to the north, and had never been transported from the north to the south. Could the government and the court have gone crazy?
"I just don't believe it. Even if I offer a high price, I still can't find a private boat! Sister Zouguang, let's not go to Guandu, let's go to the surrounding private ferries to see the situation."

Li Yaoguang had no other choice but to follow his uncle's instructions and take his men to the private ferry.

Unexpectedly, it was really as the shipping company said. After several consecutive private crossings, there was not a single ship to be seen, not even a small fishing boat. Li Yaoguang and his companions had to return disappointed again. They couldn't understand what this conscription order was.

Little did they know that this was a suggestion made by a 'capable' person in the court, who intended to clear out all the grain reserves in the north so that when the Hu and Di people came, they would have nothing to rob. Once they could no longer endure the hunger, they would plunder the property and retreat. This was the so-called best strategy. The foolish emperor and the court actually adopted it, and thus issued the so-called conscription order.

But they didn't think that if they did so, where would the people in the north who were abandoned by them be left, and where would the tens of thousands of soldiers who stayed behind be left...