Chengping 5th year, December 15.

There is only the last half a month left from the New Year, every household in Fengjing City is making the final preparations for the upcoming New Year, at this time, many relatives outside have returned one after another to reunite with their families, and some officials, their hometowns are not very far from Fengjing, they also began to ask for leave, return to their hometowns, and spend the New Year with their families.

Dozens of miles outside Fengjing City, in the cold and freezing, there are tens of thousands of displaced people, who have no land, wander around all day long, begging for a living, and their lives are not as good as dogs.

It began to snow again, and the sky and the earth were white.

Dozens of carriages, escorted by hundreds of soldiers, left Fengjing City and headed towards the gathering place of the displaced people.

Although the imperial court provided disaster relief, it was also a drop in the bucket, and many people died of starvation.

Li Xun looked at the tragic scene in front of him, and couldn't help but think of himself five years ago, struggling on the verge of death, in a desperate situation, letting life be lost little by little.

"The importance of land annexation has reached a point where it is impossible to regenerate, and this is the root cause of the war."

Fan Zhongyun shook his head and sighed softly.

"The magnates wantonly grabbed the land, causing hundreds of people to be displaced, and the imperial court didn't care?"

Li Xun once lived at the bottom of the society, and he had a great understanding of this, and the powerful in various places often took advantage of the disaster year to grab the land on a large scale, and forced to buy and sell, some local officials, in order to maintain the stability of taxes, did not look at the actual situation, and wantonly increased taxes, many even if they had land, they were overwhelmed, abandoned the land and fled, and those who had official titles and knights, occupied a vast land, but did not pay taxes and the court, no matter how chaotic the world was, they could still live a luxurious and rich life, and those people who were forced into a desperate situation, In the end, it will either fend for itself, or rise up and stir up in all directions.

Fan Zhongyun said silently: "The emperor once thought about reform, but it was too much involved, and in the end it was not done. ”

Li Xun was silent, he was just a small person now, and it was not his turn to consider these major military affairs.

Zhu Zhengguo rode to Li Xun and said: "Brother Gou'er, a few miles ahead is the gathering place of the homeless people, so much food fainted, let those homeless people see it, I am afraid it will cause a riot." ”

Li Xun nodded: "In this way, leave the food here, let Yan Yi lead a hundred soldiers to guard, and you lead the rest of the soldiers, follow me to the gathering place of the displaced people, and recruit soldiers." ”

Zhu Zhengguo smiled: "This is the best, I will go and order." ”

Zhao Zhi has agreed to set up a new patrol battalion, let Li Xun command, under the command of Jingzhao Mansion, Li Xun was overjoyed, raised 3,000 denier of food, and found Zhu Zhengguo, let him lead hundreds of soldiers in the headquarters, escort together, Zhu Zhengguo reported this matter to the superior right guard general Zhao Feidu, Zhao Feidu because some time ago, Li Xun said good things for him in front of Zhao Zhi, so he did not shirk, agreed to Li Xun's request, and let Zhu Zhengguo go with Li Xun on the pretext of going out to train troops.

Li Xun and the others came to the gathering place of the displaced people, and it was almost an hour after noon, and the dozens of disaster relief points set up by the government had just started eating.

Li Xun walked to a disaster relief point, glanced at the cauldron, picked up a spoon and stirred it in it, the clear soup is not watery, there is not much rice at all, this is porridge? It's no different from water.

The person who distributed the food glanced at Li Xun and saw that he was dressed extraordinarily, and there were soldiers behind him, so he didn't dare to say anything.

Li Xun put down the spoon in his hand and said lightly: "What is the difference between this kind of thing and water?" ”

Li Xun remembered that five years ago, at that time, the imperial court provided disaster relief, two meals a day, porridge at noon, and porridge plus a steamed bun at night, although it was very poor, but the porridge in the cauldron was somewhat rice, barely able to save his life.

The person who distributed the food smiled bitterly: "This son, our disaster relief site here has been out of food for more than ten days, and these grains are still thanks to the donations of large households in the city, and we have been able to maintain it until now. ”

Li Xun sighed deeply and had nothing to say.

"Let's get started!"

Li Xun ordered.

Several cooks took out a large pot of firewood and began to cook on the fire.

Jiang Daxiong moved the fine iron stone pier, and someone brought knives, guns and sticks, and a simple examination place quickly took shape.

The soldiers began to enter the homeless people, and loudly publicized that the imperial court would build a new patrol camp, and that the soldiers needed would be recruited from among the homeless people, and all young men who were over eighteen but forty-five years old could participate.

The homeless people suddenly stirred, and some people began to walk towards Li Xun's side.

"My lord, I want to join the army."

Li Xun glanced at the visitor, about thirty years old, with a square face, tall and strong, but the whole person looked a little weak, obviously hungry.

"This stone pier weighs one hundred and twenty pounds, if you can lift it ten times in a row, it is passed."

This person nodded, came to the stone pier, picked up his hands, and lifted ten times in a row, all of which were over the top, looking very relaxed, although he was a little panting, but he could see that this was because of the weakness of the stomach without food, if he was well recuperated, it would not be so.

"What's your name?"

"Xiaomin Lei Fanghai, a native of Liaozhou, Hedong."

Li Xun nodded: "You passed, go to the side to register your name!" ”

Lei Wanhai was about to step to the table next to him, but he hesitated, then turned back to Li Xun and hugged his fist and said, "My lord, the people are also good at swords and guns." ”

Li Xun was stunned and asked, "Can you ride a horse?" ”

Seeing Lei Wanhai nodding, Li Xun said happily: "Use your means, if you really have martial arts, I will give you the position of being the right team." ”

Lei Wanhai's spirit was shocked, he strode forward, got on the horse, danced with a knife and a gun, and had quite a routine, and it could be seen that he must have practiced martial arts before.

Li Xun was very happy, but he didn't expect that as soon as he started recruiting, he got off to a good start, patted Lei Wanhai on the shoulder, and laughed: "Follow me in the future, go to eat next to you!" ”

Lei Wanhai received a big bowl of rice, smelled the rice, and his stomach was hungry, but he didn't eat it, Li Xun watched from the sidelines, and said in surprise: "Lei Wanhai, the food is in hand, why don't you eat it?" ”

Lei Wanhai smiled bitterly: "There are five old mothers and young brothers, and they haven't eaten food for several days, how dare I enjoy their food alone?" ”

"But he is a dutiful man."

Li Xun glanced at Lei Wanhai appreciatively, and said with a smile: "You can bring your relatives with you, and I will arrange a place for you later." ”

Hearing this, Lei Wanhai was overjoyed, and he actually knelt on the ground, kowtowed a few times, and said loudly: "If this can be done, the little people are willing to serve the adults to the death." ”

The recruitment went very smoothly, in less than two hours, a thousand young and strong men were recruited, those who were not selected, they had been crying and begging, Li Xun shook his head, he could only ruthlessly let Zhu Zhengguo lead the soldiers to disperse them, tens of thousands of displaced people, what way and ability did Li Xun have to manage?

The 1,000 soldiers recruited plus their relatives, also as many as five or six thousand, led them to the location of the grain a few miles away, and Li Xun immediately distributed the food to each soldier.

"Thank you, sir."

The displaced people were grateful, and immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowing again and again, for them, Li Xun at this moment is tantamount to their reborn parents, allowing them to get out of the brink of life and death.

Li Xun arranged for these people to go to Qinghua Mountain, thirty miles away, there is a vast manor covering an area of five hundred tilts at the foot of the mountain, it was Zhao Zhi who gave it to Li Mancang some time ago, this manor has always been owned by the royal family, and it has been idle for more than ten years, and now it is just right to house these people.

Li Xun watched the displaced people leave happily, and couldn't help but shake his head, the powerful have a lot of land, even if the manpower is not enough, they would rather waste the land than let the poor cultivate, and this kind of people's attitude towards life is so simple?

Fan Zhongyun patted Li Xun on the shoulder: "Go home!" ”

Li Xun nodded, glanced at him, and said slightly apologetically: "I'm really sorry to make you tired for a day." ”

Fan Zhongyun smiled: "Take ten taels of silver from you every month, after all, you have to do something." ”