My father ordered me to kill the emperor, but His Majesty bestowed a princess upon me instead.

Du Cheng did not die.

If this sentence were written into the old archives of the Ministry of War, it would have made at least eleven officials involved fall ill on the spot.

Because his record of deaths from the epidemic was too complete.

The epidemic was reported at Qingxia Post Station.

Southwest Military Warehouse write-off.

The Ministry of War removed him from the register.

The Ministry of Revenue suspended salaries.

The local temple also holds a memorial service.

When a person dies, the imperial court stamps the document in six different departments.

Now he lies under a lime truck, still clutching a Qingfeng warehouse master list in his hand.

I asked, "Who put you under the car?"

"Myself."

Why?

"Wait for you."

"You knew I would pursue you?"

"Sun Jinghui will leave a summary table."

"If you see my name, you will definitely follow me."

I looked at him.

"You know me very well?"

"I don't know."

Du Cheng coughed twice.

"All I know is that your mother's son, upon seeing a living person being written to death, will not sit still."

This sounds like a compliment.

It's like he figured out my weakness.

Madam Wang forced me to come to Yong'an with seventy-three people.

Du Cheng then used thirty-six men to force me to chase the car.

These old folks all believed that as long as they placed living people on the road, I would surely leave.

They were right.

It's precisely because it's not wrong that it makes me uncomfortable.

Doctor Song is not here.

Bai Zhi could only clean the blood from Du Cheng's mouth first.

He had a fresh wound on his chest.

It doesn't look like a knife.

It looked like it had been hit by a blunt object.

"Who hit him?"

"Aunt Lan".

Which one?

"Missing a little finger."

Why didn't she kill you?

"You want me to lead the way."

"Where to?"

"Qingxia General Warehouse"

"You agreed?"

Du Cheng closed his eyes.

"I agreed."

Ah Liu couldn't help but say, "You agreed quite quickly."

Du Cheng looked at him.

"When someone held a knife to your throat, were you slow to agree?"

Ah Liu thought about it seriously.

"It should be faster."

I asked, "If you agreed, why did you hide it under the car?"

"Because she didn't intend for me to live to see Qingxia."

"How did you know?"

Du Cheng looked at the axle that had been filed in half.

"I've used this method before."

I didn't speak.

Bai Zhi also stopped.

Du Cheng remained calm.

"In the fourteenth year of Chengxi, when I first built a warehouse, I used a broken axle cart."

"The ones who chased us were former members of Wang Song's inner guard."

"I'll be changing personnel at Baishuidu."

"Let the empty car plunge into the river."

"They thought everyone was dead."

"So you invented the portable storage unit?"

"I'm not alone."

"Who else?"

"Bai Song".

"The first Lan Gu".

"Your mother."

I stared at him.

What was the initial purpose of a live warehouse?

"Tibetan Witness".

Du Chengdao said: "After the late Empress inspected the old accounts of the Imperial Treasury, many accountants, warehouse workers, and post station staff began to die of illness."

"Bai Song can't save everyone."

"So they killed off some of the characters."

"Then they were sent out of the capital region from grain carts, sick clothes carts, and river work carts."

"He died in the tent."

"A person is alive."

"Was there forced labor back then?"

"have."

He answered very quickly.

I didn't expect him to admit it.

"Living people need to eat."

"You must conceal your identity."

"I can't go back to my hometown."

"You can only work in places where people don't ask about your place of origin."

"River works, salt fields, and grain transport routes all hire this kind of person."

"What about your wages?"

"It existed at the beginning."

"And then?"

"It's been taken."

"Who took it?"

"Wang Shi".

"Local grain merchants."

"Account Settlement Meeting".

I looked at him.

"And you."

Du Cheng remained silent.

It was accepted by default.

The live warehouse may have originally been a secret passage for rescuing people.

They would write the names of witnesses who were about to be silenced off the books, and then send them elsewhere to live on.

However, once this secret route, which had no names, no official records, and could not be used to openly return to one's hometown, fell into the hands of the Wang family, it became the most cost-effective human storage facility.

The method of saving lives has not changed.

The user changed it.

In the end, saving lives became using people.

The Tibetan witnesses became Tibetan laborers.

Du Cheng is still inside.

He may have saved someone.

Indeed, this resulted in many people working anonymously in river works and salt fields for many years.

I asked, "Qingfeng suffered twenty-three casualties. How did they die?"

"have no idea."

"You're in charge of transferring people."

"After the Qingfeng harvest, it has nothing to do with me."

He chuckled as soon as he finished speaking.

very bitter.

"Like Sun Jing?"

I asked.

"picture."

"Each person is only responsible for one section."

"In the end, anyone can say they didn't kill anyone."

Du Cheng closed his eyes.

"If you want to take me, take me now."

"I will take it."

I said, "But please finish asking your questions first."

"ask."

Where is my mother?

It was very quiet inside the ash kiln.

The 36 rescued people gradually regained consciousness.

The sounds of crying, coughing, and untying ropes were all in the distance.

Du Cheng looked at the top of the kiln.

The last time I saw Mrs. Shen was nine years ago.

"Not eleven years ago?"

"In the fourteenth year of Chengxi, she was still in Qingxia Qiancang."

"The following year, the six cards were divided among the owners, and she took one of them with her."

"Then he disappeared."

Nine years ago, she came to Qingfeng to find me.

"What are you doing?"

"Are they still rescuing people in the emergency warehouse, or have they already started selling people?"

My heart sank.

"How will you answer?"

I said they were still trying to save him.

"What about in reality?"

"Some people are already making money with live trading."

"She believed it?"

"no."

Du Cheng said, "She took away three transport registers."

"They also took away twenty-seven unregistered people."

"Mr. Wang pursued her."

"I altered her travel permit once."

"She was later arrested."

"Who arrested him?"

"Feng happy's people."

Door line.

Former palace servants.

"Where to take it?"

"Yong'an Qiancang".

"Why not just kill them directly?"

"She has a real card in her hand."

"I also know who is keeping the other five."

"The Wang family wants to open the Six Card Gate."

"She won't say."

I asked, "Who is the other person inside the door?"

Du Cheng shook his head.

"have no idea."

"You've never been inside before?"

"Without all six cards, no one can get in."

How should the medicine be delivered?

"The Wang family later took over the copper pipes from outside."

"They don't need to open the door."

"As long as the people inside can't wake up."

"You knew she was alive, yet you didn't save her?"

Du Cheng looked up at me.

"I only have one card in my hand."

"The remaining five are scattered."

"If you force the door open, she will die."

"So you waited nine years?"

"I've been searching for nine years."

"How many were found?"

Not a single one.

I almost laughed.

I don't find it laughable.

This answer sounds too much like the imperial court.

I've been searching for this for many years.

Got nothing.

The process was very tough.

There was no result.

Du Cheng took out a small cloth bag from his clothes.

There were no cards in the cloth bag.

It was a thin book soaked with sweat.

The cover reads:

Modify the movable book.

The first page records the witnesses who were transferred out after being written down as dead in the fourteenth year of Chengxi.

Name.

Place of origin.

New identity.

place.

Each person has two names.

Death name.

Living name.

Angelica dahurica was turned over very quickly.

"This is the original copy of the live warehouse."

Du Cheng nodded.

"Later, the Wang family took away the system."

"I'll leave my name."

"The real names of the 126 people from Qingfeng are listed below."

"What about the Qingzhou Saltworks?"

"Some of them."

"Qingxia?"

He shook his head.

"People from Qingxia do not read this book."

Why?

"Those who went to Qingxia were not there to work."

"What is that for?"

Du Cheng looked at me.

"To become a soldier."

My fingers tightened.

"Shen Lie's soldiers?"

"Some are."

"Some are not."

"The clearing of accounts will involve transporting the dead to Qingxia."

"Give them clothes, food, and a new name."

"When the Southwest Anti-Rebel Army is needed, they become the Southwest Anti-Rebel Army."

"When the court needed refugees, they became refugees."

"When the Wang family's grain protection team is needed, it becomes a grain protection team."

After a person is written to be dead, they can do more than just hard labor.

They can also become soldiers needed by either side.

No citizenship.

I have no home.

There is no past.

Give me a piece of clothing and I'll die for anyone.

I finally understand why the accounting committee kept sending grain, people, clothing, and badges to Qingxia.

It's not just a warehouse there.

It's a place where identities are created.

Ah Liu asked, "Where were those thirty-six people originally going?"

Du Chengdao: "Qingfeng."

Why is Qingxia listed in the summary table?

"I changed it."

Why is the bamboo slip marked with "Hai Shi" (9-11 PM)?

"I made the changes too."

Ah Liu was confused.

"Where exactly do you want us to chase?"

"First, pursue the wrong path."

Du Cheng said, "Lan Gu is keeping an eye on the official road from Yong'an to Qingfeng."

"If you always write 'Qingfeng,' you will be intercepted as soon as you leave the city."

"If you write about Qingxia, she'll think you're chasing after her along the western route."

"I'll have the truck transferred to the lime kiln again."

I looked around.

"But she still found you."

"So I got beaten up."

He spoke calmly.

The old man's explanation of failure was very simple.

Something bad is going to happen in Qingfeng tonight.

Du Chengdao.

"What is it?"

"The General Office of the River Conservancy Commission is going to open the old sluice gate upstream."

"Under the pretext of preventing autumn floods, they washed away the workers' sheds on the north bank."

Why?

"The imperial court wants to investigate the living register."

"You cannot see the 126 dead people in Qingfeng."

"Are they planning to wash people away?"

Not all of them.

"Those who can walk should head to Qingxia ahead of time."

"The sick, the old, the unable to work—"

He paused for a moment.

"Calculate the losses."

The Qingfeng Warehouse General Report shows a loss of 23.

That's not the number of people who have already died.

That's the number of people who are expected to die tonight.

Bai Zhi turned to the Qingfeng page of the revised volume.

Next to each of the last twenty-three names, a water droplet was drawn.

I asked, "When will the floodgates open?"

Du Cheng looked at the sky outside the kiln.

"Midnight"

There is only one hour left until midnight.