Wuguan.

Xu Shu stood on the city wall with his hands behind his back, looking at the refugee team under the city being inspected and entering the city with a cold look.

The severe drought in Guanzhong was getting worse and worse, and the imperial court failed to provide disaster relief, so many refugees chose to flee Guanzhong. Compared with the refugee wave in previous years, the number of refugees this time was not that large, and the order was relatively well-organized. First, the refugees had experience in escaping, and were not as panicked as they were at the beginning; second, they all knew that as long as they entered Wuguan, their lives would be saved. If there was no less, they could not be less, and at least one bowl of porridge would be wrapped around their belly every day.

Usually, this bowl of porridge is insignificant. But now, this bowl of porridge can save lives and allow them to enter the hinterland of Nanyang alive.

The people of Guanzhong came to hear the news. Before Wuguan, they were crowded every day. The big pot of porridge was almost idle. Not only did they consume a lot of food, but even the firewood was a heavy burden. Xu Shu thought of a way and sent someone to post a notice in front that any refugee who could bring thirty kilograms of firewood could get an extra bowl of porridge.

As soon as the news came out, refugees went to the nearby mountains to cut firewood. Thirty kilograms of firewood were not heavy, but there was no burden when going out, let alone these hungry refugees. The problem of firewood was solved, but soon there was a tragic incident in which someone abandoned the children who could not walk in order to bring the firewood to the rescue. After receiving the news, Xu Shu had to send someone to inform him that anyone who abandoned the children was not allowed to enter Wuguan.

The situation of abandoning children has been curbed. Even so, many children are abandoned every day and are thrown into the gully to die. When adults cannot live, who can care about the children? The children can be reborn after they die, but they really have nothing left. In the face of life and death, any moral preaching seems pale and powerless.

As the guard of Wuguan, Xu Shu also carries a heavy psychological burden. He also wants to save everyone, but he knows that this is impossible. In order to help these refugees enter the pass, Zhang Hong and others sought help from loans, and had already plundered all the savings from several surrounding counties, waiting for the autumn harvest to make up for it. If the autumn harvest is not satisfactory, there will be famine in Nanyang this winter.

What is even more critical is that once Guanzhong launches and invades, Wuguan does not have enough food to maintain, and there will be a risk of losing.

After guarding Wu Pass for several years, Xu Shu has never been as stressed as today.

"Emperor Xu, Emper Xu!" Suddenly someone shouted loudly in the team under the city. When Xu Shuxun saw it, he saw a middle-aged man, holding an old white-haired woman, and a middle-aged woman, holding a child in her hand, carrying a back, and a thin boy of thirteen or fourteen years old stood beside him. The middle-aged man was carrying a large wooden box on his back, and he probably saw him. He waved his hand and asked the soldiers to let the middle-aged man come over.

The soldiers let go, and the middle-aged man was overjoyed. While supporting the old woman, he called his wife to follow him. The family squeezed through the crowd with countless envious eyes and entered the city. The middle-aged man settled his family under the city, carried a wooden box to the city, and came to Xu Shu. Seeing Xu Shu looking at him with confusion, he knew that Xu Shu couldn't remember who he was, so he immediately took off the wooden box and placed it on the ground, untied several straw ropes wrapped around the box, revealing more than a dozen iron-smashing tools.

Seeing these familiar standard tools, Xu Shu remembered. "Are you a craftsman from Nanyang Wood School?"

"Yes, yes." The craftsman was overjoyed. While responding, he took out a small cloth bag from the box and opened it carefully. The cloth bag was a wooden waist tag with Nanyang Wood School written on the front, and the craftsman's name and level were written on the back: Uncle Pu, Class B.

Xu Shu took the waist card, weighed it, and couldn't help laughing. He remembered that this craftsman came from Nanyang with his mother. He had good craftsmanship and was a B-class craftsman from the Wood School. He once came to Wuguan to help build a city with the master craftsman Mo Ze, which was quite trusted by Mo Ze. When he heard that Guanzhong had hired a craftsman at a high salary, he immediately resigned and wanted to return to Guanzhong to make a fortune. Mo Ze was furious and scolded him fiercely, announcing his friendship and never seeing each other again.

"Why are you back? Isn't it good for Guanzhong?"

"Oh, don't mention it." Uncle Pu has been living outside for a long time, and he is very thick-skinned and does not feel embarrassed at all. "It was okay, but Guanzhong has been hit by a disaster recently. All workshops have started to reduce wages, and some of them simply don't give a single money. After thinking about it, it's better to go back to Nanyang. With my skills, it's more than enough to support a family."

Xu Shu smiled and said, "That's right, I'm afraid that craftsman Mo will not accept you. Otherwise, you can stay with me first, as I also lack blacksmiths."

"Uh..." Uncle Pu touched his head. "The captain looks down on me. It's okay for me to stay. I just can't let my family go to Nanyang first? Even if my son is alone."

"Why?"

"My son's name is Pu Yuan. It's fifteenth year and should have been enrolled in school for a long time, but the wealthy people in Guanzhong look down on craftsmen and say that my son should be born to make irons and not let my son study. I thought that even if he made irons, he still needs to be knowledgeable. Isn't Huang Dajiang a scholar? If he doesn't study and has no knowledge, he can't be a real master. If they don't let my son study, I will go to Nanyang. If he has the opportunity to join Huang Dajiang's disciple, my son will definitely be better than me in the future."

Speaking of his son, Pu Shu was blushing, his face was flushed, and he could not see the appearance of his family just now escaping from Guanzhong. Xu Shu felt aroused in his heart, and he remembered his mother's nagging, thinking that he should get married and have children.

"Then I won't keep you anymore. You'd better go to Nanyang first, so don't delay your son's future." Xu Shu joked and ordered someone to go through the customs clearance procedures for Uncle Pu. He then called Pu Yuan over and asked a few questions while he was free. Although Pu Yuan was thin and a little timid, he was very clever and answered with a straightforward answer. Xu Shu was surprised and gave Uncle Pu a message, so that their family could take the post car to Nanyang. After the autumn harvest, Nanyang County School was about to prepare for admission, and there were many people who signed up. If they were late, it would be difficult for Pu Yuan to have the opportunity to enter.

Uncle Pu was overjoyed and pulled Pu Yuan to lie on the ground, kowtowing Xu Shu twice.

Just now, Uncle Pu and his son were helped up, and someone came to report that the envoy from the court came. Xu Shu did not dare to be negligent, so he immediately went down to the city and rushed to the outside of the city with his personal guards. There were too many refugees in front of the city gate and could not give way to the envoy for a while. The envoy Zhao Wen had to stop outside the city and wait for Xu Shuqing to do so. Seeing Xu Shu and his people rushed over, Zhao Wen was a little surprised.

"You are Guan Duwei? You don't know what's the point of letting me pass, what's the point of coming out?"

Xu Shu was not in a hurry. "Let me see what edict you brought. If it weren't for the edict we were waiting for, you wouldn't have to go into the customs and just turn back to Chang'an."

Zhao Wen was furious. "It's outrageous. You, a Guan Duwei, dare to stop the imperial envoy. You have to read the edict. Do you want to resist the edict?"

Xu Shu was calm and smiled slightly. "Why, it's okay for the fake edict to be sent. The messenger wanted to detain me a serious crime first?"

Zhao Wen was speechless, his face turned blue and red. He shook his sleeves and shouted, "I'll ask you, Guanzhong has a severe drought, and the people are hungry. Why has the 300,000 stone of grain promised by General Sun never been transported? Don't lie to me, I know that the food is in Wuguan."

Xu Shu smiled and pointed to the refugee team beside him. "Aren't these people all the people in Guanzhong? Relief is not considered disaster relief?" Without waiting for Zhao Wen to speak, he shook his sleeves and shouted in a deep voice: "Sorry, I am just a commander in Guanzhong, who can't take care of the imperial court and those edicts. The order I received was the verdict of Yuan Shao's rebellion case. In less than a day, no grain must pass through Wuguan. If you have an edict, I will invite you to enter the edict. If you don't have an edict, you don't have to waste time. Go back to Guanzhong to request an edict."
Chapter completed!