In the spring of the fourth year of Jianwu, the continuous rain turned the lower reaches of the Yuanhua River into Zeguo. On 17 March, three consecutive days of heavy rain caused the Yuanhua River to swell, and the river embankments collapsed in many places in Fangzhou, Renzhou, Weizhou, and Duanzhou, and a total of 47 counties on both sides of the river were affected to varying degrees.

Duanzhou Linhua County is located in the north of the Yuanhua River, since ancient times it is the main road of water and land transportation, to the west dozens of miles is Renzhou, crossing the river is Weizhou, the large and small ships on the Yuanhua River will load goods on the wharf in the south of the city to rest. Linhua County is the upper county, there are more than 40,000 people, relying on the trade wharf, the shops, restaurants, inns in the city are lined up, many wealthy businessmen buy houses in the city to live in peace, the county has expanded several times, there is the nickname of "Duanzhou sub-government", the Jiangnan transit envoy is located in Linhua County.

Although it is not as prosperous as Huaixing Fucheng, it is close to the main road, and you have everything you need for food and clothing, and you can enjoy the things that you can enjoy in Fucheng here. Duanzhou is Shangzhou, the history of the assassin is from the third grade, and the Jiangnan transfer envoy is an agency specially dispatched by the Ministry of Industry of the court, but the transfer envoy is only from the official rank of the fifth grade, and nominally has to be under the jurisdiction of the assassin history. No one wants to have more mothers-in-law on their heads, and as a thorn historian, they don't want to have multiple special agencies around them, so they tacitly set up the Jiangnan Transit Envoy Yamen in Linhua County, the "Duanzhou Sub-Prefecture".

The Yuanhua River burst the embankment, Linhua County opened an opening ten miles upstream, the terrain of Linhua County is higher, the water poured into the city two feet deep, three days later, the water retreated, the loss is not big. However, the four villages and eight townships in Linhua County suffered great losses, the embankment burst in the middle of the night, many villages were flooded, the people barely escaped for their lives, and all their belongings were soaked in water, and they had no choice but to flock to the county seat.

Yuan Decheng, the commander of Linhua County, ordered to open a warehouse for disaster relief, built a simple shack on the edge of the four cities, ordered the county school and temple to receive the victims, and asked the squires for help to shelter the fleeing villagers. Yuan County's order was properly treated, and the help was effective, and the victims in Linhua County were able to eat hot porridge and have a place to live, which was finally a blessing in misfortune, and the people were glad to have their parents and officials pick up their lives.

Compared with Linhua County, the situation in other counties is not good, some counties close the city gate to prevent the victims from entering the city, and the soup soup at the city gate can also be seen by the human figure, this porridge is still cooked by old grain and bad grain, and you are considered strong if you don't have diarrhea after eating. I don't know where the news came, telling the victims of the disaster relief situation in Linhua County, so countless victims dragged their families and mouths, braved the drizzle to rush to Linhua County to find a way to live, within five days the number of victims in Linhua County increased by 100,000 people, and countless victims along the avenue and road continued to pour towards Linhua County.

ァ新ヤ~(8)~1~Chinese 網ωωω.χ~8.~1zщ.còм

The granaries in the county have been in an emergency, shops have closed, the price of grain has skyrocketed, a steamed bun costs 100 wen, and many people sell their children to wealthy families or merchants in the city, hoping to survive this natural disaster. The streets and alleys are crowded with people who come to beg for begging, and the gruel in the 30 cauldrons at each city gate cannot meet the needs of the victims, and the porridge in the pot is exhausted, and there are countless people who use broken bowls in their hands to catch the rainwater in the pot, hoping to salvage a few missing porridge grains.

The influx of people from other places into Linhua County quickly deteriorated, and the rice shop in the north of the city was smashed open by the victims. The local disaster victims because of the arrival of the disaster victims from other places, the gruel that was enough to eat became thinner, and they could not eat it later when they went, and every time the local people and the outsiders inevitably had several fights, the whole Linhua County was like a powder keg, I don't know what

It's going to blow up.

Yuan Decheng returned to the county government with a few officials, took off the wet poncho on his body, stood in front of the lobby, looked at the gray sky, looked up to the sky and sighed: "Heaven and earth are not benevolent, the people are innocent, I hope that the relief food of the court can arrive sooner, and fewer people will die of hunger." ”

"My lord, let's eat first, if you fall ill, it will be even more difficult to support in this county." Personally followed Yuan Kang's persuasion, in the past 20 days, the flesh on the uncle's face seemed to have been cut off, and he was very thin.

Yuan Decheng shook his head and said, "Go and call Qiao Jie from the house, I have something to ask him." ”

Yuan Kang was helpless, so he held an oil-paper umbrella and went to the house, but with little effort, Qiao Jie came to the lobby. Two candles were lit in the lobby, and Yuan Decheng sat behind the public desk in the dim light, dozing off with his forehead on his hands. Yuan Kang was about to pull Qiao Jie away quietly, Yuan Decheng tilted his head, came to his senses, and asked directly: "Qiao Jie, how much surplus grain is there in the warehouse?" ”

"Back to my lord, there are only two thousand stones left."

"Two thousand stones, five days can't support it." Yuan Decheng muttered: "Didn't Huaixing Mansion send three thousand stones of grain five days ago? Combined with the original grain stockpile, I thought there were at least 4,000 stone left? ”

"There have been 100,000 new victims at the city gate these days, each victim has three taels of food, and more than 400 stone of grain is consumed a day, and the cauldron of soup soup at the city gate has increased from 40 to more than 100, and each pot of soup is given three times.

Yuan Decheng was silent, every time he came to the soup kitchen, he had to go to Simen to check, he knew that he couldn't prevent the officials and officials from profiting from it, but he could ensure that most of the food went into the stomachs of the victims, and the porridge cooked with three or two meters a day could barely ensure that the victims would not be starved to death, and this was the only thing he could do.

"I asked you yesterday to borrow some more grain from the squires in the city, and they will have a reply?"

Qiao Jie smiled bitterly and said: "My lord, I have already borrowed it once at the end of March, and this time everyone said that there is no surplus food, and the big squires of Master He and Master Ye simply went to Huaixing Mansion to do business, and they couldn't find anyone in charge at all." ”

Yuan Decheng leaned back in the chair tiredly, closed his eyes and gasped for a while, then opened his eyes and said: "There are still more than three thousand taels of silver in the treasury, all of them are taken out, and people are sent to Huaixing Mansion to buy grain. ”

"My lord, those silver are the funds of the yamen this year, and they are all used to buy grain, how will the county yamen operate this year?" Qiao Jie screamed. Without money, even the salaries of the subordinate officials cannot be paid, and this yamen must not be messed with.

Yuan Decheng's eyes were bloodshot, and he gritted his teeth and said: "I can't care so much, it is a merit to be able to save more people, even if I don't do this county order, it is worth it." ”

Seeing Yuan Decheng's physically and mentally exhausted appearance, Qiao Jie's heart flashed with a hint of emotion, this county master is a good official, and he can be called a son who loves the people like a son, but he is a little overwhelmed. After hesitating for a moment, Qiao Jie said: "My lord, the current difficulties are mainly caused by the influx of disaster counties in other counties, it is said that the grain stored in our county, the grain donated by the squires and the relief grain transported by Huaixing Mansion can cope with the difficulties, but the adults' approach has attracted the surrounding disaster victims to come and defect, and even the people of Weizhou have ventured to cross the river." My lord, the adults of his county are not called

It's a bit unfair that the job is piling up all the pressure on you. ”

Yuan Decheng sighed and said: "Right and wrong, when the disaster is over, the court will have its own public opinion, and the most important thing at the moment is not to starve to death." ”

"My lord, if you order people to close the gates of the city and stop accepting the victims from other places, those victims will naturally disperse when they see that there is no food. But if the adults blindly seek perfection, I am afraid that no amount of food will be enough, and those squires and wealthy merchants are afraid that the victims will make trouble, so they would rather hide the food than attract the victims to come. ”

Yuan Decheng pondered for a moment and said: "It's all the flesh and blood of parents, how to divide each other, let's discuss this matter again." Take the silver first, send people out of the city to the north to buy grain overnight, buy a batch of selected and transported back a batch of emergency, I hope that the court's disaster relief food will be in time. ”

It was already completely dark, the rain had stopped, and it was rare for the moon to peek out from behind the clouds, looking coldly at the miserable scene on the earth.

When the time came, and when they arrived at the city gate, the officials guarding the city were about to close the city gate, and two fast horses galloped along the official road, and the hooves of the horses splashed the mud on the ground. The official hurriedly dodged to the side, dodging the splashing mud, and the two horses rushed into the city, and Jiang Anyi rushed to Linhua County with the yellow pillar.

On April 11, they set out from the capital and arrived in five days after a thousand miles of travel, and at the same time, the envoy of the Imperial Mission, Yushi Zhongcheng Lu Congming, and his entourage, who set out from the capital, were still in Pingzhou, and there were still 600 miles away from Linhua County.

There are shacks outside the city, except for the county school, temples and other places, the victims are not allowed to sleep on the streets in the city, Jiang Anyi entered the city and found that the streets were quite tidy, but most of the shops on both sides were closed, it is estimated that they were affected by the victims. The inns in the city are still popular, and the merchants are profit-seeking, and the disaster is also a business opportunity for the merchants, and the most popular business is to buy people. The government stipulates that people under the age of 10 are not allowed to sell and sell, and whether they want to or not, they are guilty of deception.

150,000 or 60,000 victims poured into Linhua County, and Yuan Decheng could not save everyone with his deep skills, and those victims had to sell themselves as servants in order to tide over the difficulties, and sold their older children to save the lives of younger ones, and some even sold their wives and children together, and the children under the age of ten were not counted as being sold, they were considered to be a match. The court originally built a Salesian orphanage, but in this case, where could Yuan Decheng have the ability to take in tens of thousands of children, I was afraid that as soon as he opened his mouth, more victims would flock to Linhua County.

Next to the small courtyard where Jiang Anyi lives is a businessman from Pingzhou, taking advantage of the disaster in the Yuanhua River to buy women with outstanding appearance, bring them back and sell them to Qinglou, these girls have been carefully selected by him, and go back to train for a few years to be the red man in the building, this businessman surnamed Zhang bought more than 30 eleven or twelve-year-old women at a price of about five taels, the procedures are complete, and there is no need to be afraid of the government to track down.

Poor little girls left their parents, did not know the future and fate, frightened and frightened, inevitably wept, provoked the businessman surnamed Zhang to get angry, took a leather whip and shouted a lesson. This kid not only bullied women, but also underage girls, Jiang Anyi's heart was on fire when he heard it, and Huang Zhu said softly: "My lord, you want me to teach this kid a lesson." ”

Thinking of the purpose of this trip, Jiang Anyi was not ready to make extraneous branches, and said: "You go to the shopkeeper to inquire about this person's number first, and then teach him a lesson after finishing the errand." ”

The merchant surnamed Zhang was still showing off his might, not knowing that death had quietly stared.