Song Mingyue

Chapter 201
Beijing Northwest Road.

In the wild land, everything that can be eaten is eaten, hares, fish, turtles, shrimps, crabs, snakes, frogs, voles... On the vast land, only poisonous toads and winged toads are left. Flying birds, and later, even flying birds were not immune to death under bird nets and slingshots.And the wild vegetables all over the mountains and plains have long been eaten up, but even so, people are still starving to death one after another.

Caizhou, Xiping County, one of the hardest hit counties.

At the south gate of the county seat, a row of porridge sheds was set up. Several iron cauldrons big enough to cook cattle were steaming on the firewood stove. Countless hungry people lined up to wait for the porridge.The porridge is served with a large wooden spoon with a long handle, one spoon per mouth, regardless of the size of the bowl.The sweet and sweet porridge was chugging, I don't know how many tears dripped into the bowl, hundreds of tongues licked it up in a short while, and after drinking a bowl, they lined up again, and poured a few sacks of broken grains and a few more into the cauldron. Big wooden bucket of water.

This is a porridge donation spontaneously organized by some wealthy and conscientious families in the county.Even if the porridge is very thin, this kind of disaster relief will not last long. With the current situation of soaring food prices, the big families don't have much food left. As for the county treasury, it has long been clean enough to starve rats to death.

In the outskirts of the city, from time to time, you can see corpses lying on the side of the road. They are the hungry people who failed to make it to the county seat, but no one has the strength to bury them, even the closest relatives, because burying the corpses consumes the little bit Energy, may also determine a person's life or death.

It's just the situation in Xiping County, which is also a microcosm of the entire West of Beijing.

The entire west of Beijing is in a hurry, and relying on the relief of big families in various states and counties is simply a drop in the bucket.

In the north of Henan Mansion, on the official road leading to Luoyang, a group of about three to forty victims in ragged clothes and disheveled faces were staggering towards Luoyang City.There is porridge in Luoyang City, and they may survive, but only God knows how many of them can make it to Luoyang City, maybe half of them can enter the city alive, or maybe they are all wiped out...

On both sides of the official road, there is a barren land, thousands of miles away.

rumbling~
There was a sudden sound of carriages and horses coming from the north of the official road, and all the victims turned their heads one after another, and looked northward with their dim eyes. soot.

The team of chariots and horses was getting closer and closer, and right in the middle of a big flag, it was gently waving against the slight hot wind, and the word "Zhao" could be vaguely seen, and on both sides were men with sabers in fresh clothes and angry horses. In the middle is a gorgeous carriage, followed by a row of carriages. The team is endless at a glance, at least a team of thousands of people.

Seeing such a magnificent and grand team, the disaster victims on the official road subconsciously retreated to both sides, with a little shrinking expression, not daring to look directly.

However, there are also some brave people in the team. Seeing that the team of chariots and horses was a hundred steps away, a young disaster victim in ragged clothes suddenly rushed out like crazy, blocked the middle of the road, and waited until an old man beside him By the time the man shouted "No", it was too late.

The young man fell to his knees in the dust with a thump, and hissed, "Senior officials, please do me a favor and give me a stutter!"

Xi Yuyu~
Following the neighing of steeds one after another, the convoy stopped abruptly.

All the victims were stunned, raised their heads in bewilderment, and looked at the convoy in unison. The young man also raised his head, staring at the front, his eyes were full of hope and fear. Fortune is curse.

A young man in a purple official uniform stepped down slowly from the carriage. He was only seventeen or eighteen years old. He was extremely handsome. His brows were full of heroism, and there was a bit of majesty. He was the representative of Tian Xunhun Imperial envoy Zhao Hao.

Zhao Hao strode forward, went straight to the kneeling young victim, lifted him up, and gently patted the dust for him.

The young man suddenly became nervous, and said in a hoarse voice, "Thank you, sir!"

Zhao Hao nodded with a smile, turned around and said, "Twenty steamed buns and a pot of water per person."

"Here!" Someone behind him responded.

At this moment, the stunned victims finally woke up like a dream, and fell to their knees with a thud. The young victim fainted immediately due to excitement.

The big and soft steamed buns, coupled with the cool water in the throat, quickly restored the vitality of the forty or fifty victims, and the gratitude was endless.

After Zhao Hao waited for the victims to eat and drink enough, he questioned them carefully, and left a large bag of dry food for each of them, and then led the chariots and horses to move on.

"The disaster in the north of Luoyang is relatively light. It is only [-] miles away from Luoyang, and only two groups of victims were encountered. The real hardest hit area is in the south of Luoyang. Du Gong only knew that the north of Luoyang is close to Gyeonggi, so he is very concerned about the people in the north of Luoyang. Disaster relief is the most attentive thing." Sitting next to Zhao Hao is Xu Churen, a scholar of Wenguan University, one of the representatives of the Qing school.

Zhao Hao said bitterly: "With 300 million shi of disaster relief food, only 150 million shi are left when we leave Kaifeng Mansion, and 100 million shi is left on the Northwest Road of Beijing. There are only 50 people in the north of Luoyang, and only 10 victims. There are still so many victims of disaster relief in the north of Luoyang, it can be seen that none of the food actually used for the victims of the disaster, such greed is outrageous!"

Xu Churen sighed and said: "Fortunately, the son gave 50 guan of money and food, and asked for another 50 guan from the official, and got 50 shi of food, which may temporarily relieve the disaster. The son sacrificed himself for the public, and the lower officials sincerely admire him. Everyone is like a son, how can the national conditions be like this..."

Zhao Hao didn't feel happy about Xu Churen's compliment.

Although the territory of the Song Dynasty was much smaller than that of the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang dynasties, it occupied the most affluent place in the world, and the wealth of the country was unprecedented. Some disasters were nothing at all, and man-made disasters were the biggest disaster.The victims of the two roads in the south, south, and north of Beijing add up to 500 million people. If the food storage in the prefectures and counties of the two roads has not been corrupted, plus the 300 million shi of grain released by Kaifeng Prefecture, there will be 800 million shi, which is one and a half shi per capita. , which is 90 catties, and with some wild vegetables, how can it last until the autumn harvest, how can it be hungry?
In fact, according to Jin Yiwei's inquiries, in addition to the government's corruption of ink and food disasters, those grain merchants also took the opportunity to hoard grain and raise prices on the ground, which caused the price of grain in many areas to soar to five cents a stone or even higher.The soaring price of grain has made the people who had some money in their hands looted by the grain merchants and become disaster victims.

The chain reaction of this market situation is that the price of grain in Gyeonggi has also risen from one to two. He paid 50 yuan out of his own pocket, and asked Zhao Ji for another 50 yuan, and he only got 50 shi of grain.The battle of Yanyun is imminent, Zhao Ji is determined to recover the sixteen prefectures of Youyun, and attaches great importance to this battle, and he can't give too much money and food, so he can only let him figure out a way.

On the Northwest Road of Beijing, corrupt officials and profiteers joined hands to cause starvation everywhere.But on Jingxi South Road, fortunately, the corruption of ink is still relatively minor. Although only 50 shi of disaster relief food was sent to Jingxi South Road, and the gangsters along Song Jiang's road robbed a lot of official food, the disaster situation was better than Jingxi Xi Road.

Seeing Zhao Hao's gloomy face, Xu Churen frowned again, and said worriedly: "There are four to five million victims on the two roads in the west of Beijing, and 500 stone grains are just a drop in the bucket..."

Zhao Hao's expression calmed down, and he said indifferently: "I have sent people to the south of the Yangtze River, and asked my mother to raise 100 million yuan for me to help the victims of the disaster on the Northwest Road in Beijing. Huang Wenhu, the grain gang in Huaixi, has always been with me, and this time he will also Send people to borrow 50 shi from him to relieve the disaster on the Southwest Road of Beijing. This will take a month or two, and then we will thoroughly investigate corrupt officials and collect their stolen money, so that the disaster can be solved."

Xu Churen was stunned for a while, then suddenly knelt down on the ground with tears in his eyes, and said in a sobbing voice: "Master's benevolence and righteousness are so far, there is no one in the world, I thank you on behalf of the victims of the two roads in the west of Beijing!"

Zhao Hao hurriedly helped Xu Churen up, and said in a loud voice: "Sir, there is no need to be too polite, as Zhao Hao is an official of the imperial court and a member of the clan, this is his duty."

Although the three families of mother, uncle and father-in-law raised 100 million guan, even if the three families are rich in the south of the Yangtze River, this is an extremely huge amount.It's just that for saving 500 million souls, it's worth it even if it costs money, because sooner or later, these souls will all be his people.

What's more, to save 500 million victims, the merit value will be tens of millions, and it is no problem to upgrade the merit system to another level.

While he was thinking about it, suddenly a Jinyiwei galloped over, turned over and fell off the horse, and said forward: "I am here to report to the imperial envoy, Du Gongcai, the transfer envoy of Northwest Beijing Road, led the officials of Northwest Beijing Road ten miles out of the city to meet him."

Zhao Hao froze for a moment, then sneered and said, "This fellow is indeed not an idler."

The chariots and horses continued to move forward, and there was a bustling crowd in front of them, like a dark cloud floating, at least two or three hundred people, seeing Zhao Hao's chariot and horse team coming, they rushed forward again.

The banners were unfurled, the ceremonial battles were complete, the drums and music were contending, and they were dressed in red and colorful. The scene was very lively. From among the red or green official robes, a purple-robed official sprang out and galloped towards Zhao Hao's chariot and horse.

"Du Gongcai, the transfer envoy of Northwest Beijing Road, leads the officials of Northwest Beijing Road, and welcomes the imperial envoy!"

Zhao Hao fixed his eyes and saw that this fellow was born with a fat head and big ears, a big belly, a round and chubby face covered with a flattering smile, the kind of smile that was superficial, and he frowned slightly.

"Du Gongcai, force 40, intelligence 69, politics 49, leadership 23, health 81, affection for Zhao Hao 30."

The transfer envoy, a third-rank official, is at the same level as Zhao Hao, but Zhao Hao, as an imperial envoy, patrols hunting on behalf of the heavens, and belongs to the clan, so his status is naturally much higher than Du Gongcai, so Du Gongcai also has to perform the ceremony of dismissing an official.

Immediately afterwards, the people behind Du Gongcai, who were dressed in vermilion and blue official robes, came forward and greeted Zhao Hao.

Zhao Hao glanced over, and saw that these parents and officials on Northwest Beijing Road, in this calamity year, were still full of fat, thin skin and tender flesh, and felt more and more disgusted.

However, hating is hating, if you stretch out your hand and don't hit the smiling person, you still have to make a superficial effort. After returning the salute, the two exchanged some pleasantries. Go to Luoyang City.

In the city of Luoyang, the capital of the Qin, Han, Wei, Jin and Tang dynasties, the prosperity in the Central Plains was second only to Bianliang.At this time, outside Luoyang City, rows of porridge sheds were densely packed, tens of thousands of victims gathered, and people were bustling everywhere.

Zhao Hao was not in a hurry to enter the city, but accompanied by Du Gongcai, he visited the porridge shed and the residential area of ​​the victims.

Looking at the bowls of thick porridge, Zhao Hao suddenly smiled: "Lord Du, what a great handwriting, the porridge is thick and full of meat, if you add a little green onion and coriander, it will be even more fragrant."

Du Gongcai's face turned red slightly, he laughed and said, "Your Imperial Envoy is laughing."

Xu Churen who was beside him snorted coldly: "If there is such thick porridge and meat every day, why are they still pale and weak?"

Du Gongcai's face froze, and he laughed urgently: "Some have only been here for a few days, so they haven't been recuperated well, and they are displaced, and they are naturally anxious, so their complexion is not good."

Zhao Hao laughed and said: "Mr. Xu don't have to make things difficult for Mr. Du. Kaifeng Mansion released 150 million shi of grain, and Beijing Northwest Road only got 100 million shi. Thick porridge and meat every day, how can we afford it?"

Du Gongcai's face softened a little, showing a hint of a smile, and then his face changed drastically, sweat rolled down his forehead, and he said anxiously: "Your Imperial Envoy made a mistake, the Kaifeng government released 300 million shi of grain, and the Beijing Northwest Road got 200 million shi, not 100. Wan Shi also."

Zhao Hao said with a faint smile: "Oh, I have made a mistake in my memory."

Xu Churen said angrily: "Since it is 200 million shi, there are less than 300 million people affected by the disaster on Northwest Beijing Road, and each person can reach six buckets of rice. If they drink porridge, they can last for three months. Why do so many people starve to death?"

Du Gongcai's face became extremely ugly, and he said in a deep voice: "Master Xu, there are accounts for the whereabouts of 200 million stone grains, one liter and one bucket. If you have doubts in your heart, just check the accounts. If Du is corrupt , go ahead and arrest him!"

Xu Churen was impatient, his face flushed suddenly, he was about to retort, but he heard Zhao Hao slapped him: "Today I'm new here, don't talk about this matter, let's go to the city to rest first."

(End of this chapter)