Keqing, it’s just cultivating immortality, is it that difficult?

The number of people is a criterion for measuring combat effectiveness, and good weapons and equipment are also essential. Otherwise, soldiers without weapons are just poor people with one more identity than ordinary people.

Why did the common people have no power to resist the bandits? In addition to the advantage in numbers, what was more important was the advantage in weapons. After all, fists and flesh could not withstand sharp swords, guns, and cavalry.

"It seems that we need to go look for those private soldiers. It would be best if we can find an iron mine as soon as possible."

Keqing thought about it and decided that she had to take action herself. With the little silver dragon around, she would be able to find the person even if he had disappeared for a long time.

Hengshan County is currently very stable. Although the general is not here, the subordinate Ji Mian he left behind is also very capable. He has trained those people well and there is no problem in maintaining public order.

The capabilities of Qizhou were also outstanding. The chaos in Hengshan County was quickly pacified. Everyone performed their duties, and identity verification for new refugees was quickly arranged. It can be said that no problems would arise here if they were not there.

In this case, perhaps I can go and look for the traces of the private soldiers and look for iron ore.

After observing for a while, Keqing found that Hengshan County did not need her care, so she told Ji Mian and Qizhou that she was going out to look for iron ore.

"Princess, you..." Ji Mian subconsciously wanted to persuade her, but then he swallowed his words when he remembered the princess's terrifying martial arts and abilities. "If you go alone to look for her, won't it take a long time and you have to spend the night outside? How about I send someone to go with you and take care of you? Miss Yunling should also go with you to take care of the princess."

We can't let the princess sleep outdoors...

"We also need to prepare food, carriages, and some necessary insect repellent..."

Listening to Ji Mian's mumbling, little Keqing sighed.

"I'm going to find private soldiers. There might be conflicts or even fights. I'm not going on a picnic. Why are I bringing so many people with me? Are you going to delay my retreat? Do you think the enemy can't find me?"

"But……"

Ji Mian really couldn't imagine the little princess going out alone. It was nothing to go find water before, it was just a short absence, but hearing what the princess said, it was obvious that she would be gone for a long time, maybe half a month.

The princess is so young, and she is living alone outside in the open air. What if something unexpected happens?

In short, Ji Mian disagreed.

Not only him, Qizhou also disagreed.

In their eyes, the princess was just a child. Although she was very strong in martial arts and had outstanding abilities and was extremely intelligent, it was a joke to let the little princess go alone to find the private soldiers of the iron mine. What if something unexpected really happened?

All of them rely on the princess. If something happens to the princess, their group will be disbanded.

They are just private soldiers. When General Geng comes back, they will start to search one by one. They will eventually find them. But there is only one princess, and they cannot let her take risks!

Although iron ore is good, it is nothing compared to the princess.

Unfortunately, their opposition was completely ineffective. Seeing that she could not convince them, Keqing pretended to give up the idea. In fact, she left a letter to the two of them, asking them to get rid of them and manage Hengshan County properly. Then she slipped away the next night. By the time the two found out, it was too late and they could only regret it.

What else could they do? With the little princess's strength, they might not be able to catch up with her now.

The princess is the master. Can they stop her from doing anything?

The only thing that comforted the two was that the little princess was highly skilled in martial arts, so if she encountered someone, it would be others who would get into trouble, not them.

But having said that, they were still worried. They were very anxious, but they had to calm themselves down and hide the news of the princess's departure from anyone else!

Ji Mian was even more at a loss and couldn't help but pray.

General Geng, please come back soon! The little princess has run away!

……

On the other side, Keqing, based on the information she had received previously, walked as fast as the wind and rushed towards the Hengshan Mountains in the south.

Chapter 569: Guess, Broken Dog Leg (5500)

The sky was getting light, the heat had dissipated after a night of wasted time, and the morning breeze became a little cool.

Keqing did not take a carriage, but walked alone by circulating her true energy.

The noise made by a carriage was too loud and could easily cause trouble. On the contrary, traveling alone was much more convenient and could reduce unnecessary trouble. In terms of speed, the speed at which one could walk by raising one's true Qi was not inferior to that of a carriage.

Therefore, if someone could see, they would see a small figure on the road like a ghost, moving as fast as the wind and disappearing in a flash.

"Let me check the direction. It should be this direction..."

After traveling for half a day, this place is already more than 100 kilometers away from Hengshan County. Thanks to the blessing of true Qi, her speed is very fast.

More than a hundred kilometers away from Hengshan County is already very far away. She would pick up the map and compare it every hour to avoid going in the wrong direction.

General Geng had marked on the map the transit points for the food from the last search for the granary, as well as the possible locations of the private soldiers. However, since he was not sure where those people were and was afraid of alerting the enemy, he did not conduct a large-scale search.

However, this incident did allow her to make some guesses by comparing the map.

"It's not impossible that they are hiding in the mountains, but the possibility is too low."

Keqing picked up the map and compared it. The mountain range marked on the map was long and wide.

Although the vast, undeveloped deep mountains and old forests are rich in resources, with undulating layers and numerous species, making it easy to hide, Keqing does not think that the resources therein can supply those private soldiers.

"It is inevitable that people eat grains. Grains need a dry and stable environment to be well preserved. It is not appropriate to keep them in the deep mountains. This group of people must have some contact with the outside world, or they may not even be in the mountains at all."

"Private soldiers should be near the iron mine. On the one hand, they can act as a supervisor, on the other hand, they can be used as a deterrent, and they can also protect the iron mine from being discovered."

Looking at the map in her hand, she recalled the places where the escorted people and grains were handed over as described by the bandits. Keqing moved her fingertips slightly on the map, rubbing against the grain of the rough paper, making a rustling sound.

"The iron mine is not far from the private soldiers. The environment is hidden, but it has convenient connections with the outside world. It is not completely in the deep mountains and forests." Keqing frowned, wrinkled her little nose, and her little oval face began to think.

Where will it be?

How was iron ore discovered?

No one would go out of their way to look for it in the Hengshan Mountains... I heard from the bandit that Song Zhi discovered the iron mine by accident, which means that the location of this iron mine is not a remote place. Maybe there are not many people, but there must be people.

Perhaps it was a hunter, or maybe it was a village near the Hengshan Mountains where people were walking around, so the iron mine was discovered by chance?

Keqing made many guesses and drew circles on the map with her fingertips. Combining her own guesses with the locations provided by the bandits and the yamen runners, as well as the terrain on the map and the nearby population, she quickly circled several places that she judged to be unusual.

“It’s probably in these three places.”

Keqing calmed herself down, glanced at the circled map she had drawn, then she moved her finger slightly and the map was put away.

After determining the next direction, Keqing found a shady place to rest. Even though she had the protection of true qi and was not afraid of the heat and cold wind, she still needed to rest and recover.

Although there is a lot of true energy, the fatigue caused by traveling will still accumulate little by little.

Although she felt that time was running out and a quick decision was the best, she also knew that too much is as bad as too little, so she didn't push herself too hard. She would find a place to rest every once in a while, constantly adjusting her state, trying to keep herself energetic and ready to deal with various emergencies at any time.

I took out the water spirit bead and held it in my other hand to collect some water. The cool and sweet spring water instantly made me feel cool inside and I felt much more relaxed.

Since only she could control the Water Spirit Pearl, there was no point in keeping it. So Keqing did not stay in Hengshan County, but released a month's worth of water early on and left it in Hengshan County.

Of course, there were other reasons for not keeping it. People were worried that the Water Spirit Pearl would fall into the hands of someone with bad intentions. After all, in this world, food is important, but water is more important.

Otherwise, why did so many refugees rush to the prefectures instead of staying in the county? Isn’t it because there is Tonghu Lake in the capital of Tongzhou Prefecture?

Places with water are often better off than other places when encountering such droughts. Rice and wheat that are short of water due to drought can be harvested quickly due to irrigation, and a certain amount of food can be saved in time. People can go without food for a few days but cannot live without water. Sooner or later they will die of dehydration after a long time.

No one knew how many people were displaced by this natural disaster. After a slight sigh, Keqing set off again.

She walked for many miles along the way without seeing anyone. She didn't know if there were really no people left, or if the survivors were all in Hengshan County, or had left for the provincial capital.

Keqing didn't know, but she could clearly see that the soil on the roadside was loose and there were even many small raised mounds with a few straw sticks next to them and signs of burning.

She knew what it was. Buried inside should be the remains of those fugitives who died on the road because they could not bear it anymore and were buried by their relatives. Keqing could even see traces of excavation on some hills, and the bones inside were exposed nakedly.

It can be seen at a glance that some people were so hungry that they dug up the graves, probably intending to take the corpses. However, they probably did not do so because most of the corpses were rotten, otherwise there would be no bones left in those graves.

In this situation, Keqing would kindly fill the soil back, and find a place to bury the corpses exposed in the wilderness. She had true qi, which made it much easier to operate. Then she could blow up a half-meter-sized pit with one explosion, and then sweep the corpses in with her true qi. She then controlled the true qi to push the dug soil, and a qualified grave appeared.

In order to prevent being discovered and dug out, Keqing used her Qi to suppress it firmly and even chopped it with her feet.

"Well, that's fine."

Keqing was very satisfied and continued on her way, as she wanted to save herself some trouble by avoiding the crowds.

However, even so, they still encountered several groups of people on the road. However, because she was moving too fast, they could not keep up with her at all, and naturally could not come up with any plan.

But Keqing had to rest eventually. When she found a place to rest, it happened to be near Qu County. There were many refugees there. Seeing that she was dressed so neatly and beautifully, and was still a tender teenager, it was inevitable that she would attract some people's attention. At this time, Keqing felt that there were some people following her.

Now the sun

When she was going down the mountain, she was about to take a rest, so she found a small hillside and stopped by an old tree to have a good rest.

Seeing how young she was, those people looked at her with ill intent. Keqing pretended not to know, but she heard a few people whispering and discussing in the distance.

"What a tender girl! Can you still see such a beautiful girl in this day and age?"

"Tsk, she must be a girl raised in a wealthy family. Remember that a few wealthy families were robbed by refugees before? Maybe it was from that family."

"Hey, Zhuanzi, this girl is so pretty, do you think we should..."

A man in coarse cloth whispered, with an unknown light flashing in his eyes.

"Well, what do you want?"

Someone came forward with excitement.

"Hey, this little girl is pretty, wouldn't those brothels like her? I heard that the son of the county magistrate in Qu County likes pretty girls. If she were sold, he would get this much!"

Ergou gestured, his voice trembling with excitement.

"Anyway, if this girl is discovered by those cannibals, then... it would be better to sell her to the county magistrate's son. Isn't it better to go to their house than to be caught by those cannibals?"

Ergou thought he had found a good place for the girl. There were refugees everywhere near Qu County, and now the county magistrate did not open the city. They were starving from eating tree bark outside, and many of them had disappeared quietly.

They all knew why those people disappeared. They came out to look for tree bark in order to find new food. Who could have thought that they would encounter such stuff? It was simply pie in the sky.

"Go to hell! How can you say such mean things! You are trying to embarrass our ancestors!"

Ergou was quietly discussing with Zhuanzi and his companions, completely unaware that a dark shadow had quietly walked up behind them. When he heard what he said, he got so angry that his beard trembled and he hit them with his crutch.

"Ouch! What! What are you doing!?"

Ergou felt a pain behind him and quickly dodged. He looked at the old man behind him, grimacing in pain. When he saw who was coming, the corner of his mouth twisted in a weird way.

"Who was that? It turned out to be my second uncle! How come you're still alive, you old fool? You're so lucky! You even learned how to eavesdrop! Is this how you scholars work?"

"You! You unfilial descendant! You actually want to be a kidnapper! I will beat you to death, you conscienceless bastard!"

As he spoke, he swung his crutch over. Seeing his second uncle's excited eyes, Ergou sneered, quickly dodged, and then pushed him away impatiently.

"You're the one who's in charge. You were always complaining in the village and wanted to expel us from the clan. Now you're being too nosy. What? You still want to meddle in other people's business? Believe it or not, I'll ask those cannibals to kill you and let them eat you!"

"You! How dare you!"

"Tsk, why shouldn't I dare? Who do you think you are? Are you still the second uncle respected by everyone in Wangjiazhuang?"

Ergou was unhappy. This guy acted like an elder every day and always disliked him in this and that. He had just sneaked into the widow's room before, but who would have thought that he was discovered. This guy actually wanted to expel him from the clan!

Humph, that widow dressed up beautifully every day, and that seductive look was just to invite him, wasn't it? Why is she pretending to be a chaste and heroic woman?

And you, old man, have a good relationship with that widow. You send her things every day and even bring them with you when you flee from famine. Could it be that you two are having an affair?

Ergou expressed his thoughts in a harsh manner, which made his second uncle so angry that he raised his cane to hit him. Ergou would not tolerate him and directly grabbed the cane, pulled it, and then pushed him hard.

"Hey!"

"Dad, Dad, are you okay..."

"Uncle..."

Then you will hear the sound from this side and soon someone will come.

Seeing this, Ergou glared at him fiercely, a trace of fear flashed in his eyes, and then he glared fiercely at the old man who was wailing on the ground.

"Don't mind your own business, old man! Otherwise, your family will have a hard time. Don't forget how you ended up in this situation!"

As he spoke, he signaled to his companions and rushed towards Keqing who was resting nearby.

Wang Xun saw his father fall to the ground and hurried over to help him up.

"Dad, are you okay..."

"Dad, how are you?"

Li picked up the walking stick and quickly handed it to her father-in-law. Although she was only thirty years old and wearing a cloth shirt and petticoat, her demure temperament was not concealed at all. After all, as the daughter of a scholar, she had been carefully educated since childhood.

Now seeing my father-in-law so angry, I sighed inwardly, fearing that he was meddling in my affairs again.

Sure enough, what her father-in-law said next was just as she expected.

"No, it's okay, stop those little bastards quickly, they are really bringing shame to our ancestors!"

Then he told them the news he had just heard, hoping that they would stop it.

However, unexpectedly, his good son Wang Xun was slow to take action.

"What are you still standing there for? Go stop it!!"

He knocked his cane hard, but saw that Wang Xun looked embarrassed. Li saw her husband's embarrassment and sighed slightly.