Zheng Kaicheng said: "Grandpa Guo, I propose to sell the cheaply purchased grain on a large scale to the south of Beizhili and the north of Henan, where there are continuous famines, and it is said that the price of grain has risen to several taels and one stone. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info but because of the collapse of order and rampant thieves, ordinary grain merchants do not dare to sell grain in the past. Ordinary grain sellers have not yet started selling grain over there, and they are basically robbed by thieves or hungry people. ”

"Trade that is not possible for ordinary businessmen is not difficult for us. The army of thieves could not cross the Yellow River, and only Kaifeng was controlled in the far north. If we sell grain in Henan, north of the Yellow River, we will definitely succeed. As long as we send the Tiger Ben Army to protect the grain delivery team, we can deter the ordinary thieves. ”

Hearing Zheng Kaicheng's words, everyone's eyes lit up.

Hong Chengchou also said: "Grandpa Guo, I agree with the opinion of the Chief Military Officer. Although it is very important to control and accumulate grain in troubled times, more than 10 million mu of new fields will be put into production in eastern Liaoning next year, and the grain output next year will be in the tens of millions. We buy a lot of cheap grain from the private sector, and it is not cost-effective to let the grain rot in the warehouse, and we still have to find a way out for this grain. ”

"Selling grain to the disaster area can not only earn silver, but also alleviate the disaster situation in the disaster area and provide food for some people in the disaster area. The spring wheat in Liaodong Province is not delicious, and no one in our territory eats it, but when it is sold to the disaster area, it is the best cheap relief food. ”

Several other officials also agreed, agreeing with Zheng Kaicheng's words and supporting the sale of grain to the disaster area.

Li Zhi nodded when he heard everyone's words.

"Okay, we'll send some troops to escort the grain convoy and sell the cheaply purchased grain to the disaster areas north of the Yellow River."

####

On August 26, in Zhangde Mansion, Henan, Boss Wei sat on the grain cart transporting grain, looked at a dark field in the distance, and took a breath.

"Mantou, how many victims are salivating in that dark place?"

This time, after purchasing a large amount of cheap grain from the people, he organized an army to escort the grain to sell grain to the disaster area. Boss Wei's company was requisitioned and ordered to protect 500 grain trucks and sell grain to Zhangde Province, Henan, where it was most dangerous.

Zhangde Mansion is also separated from Kaifeng City, where the thieves are located, by a Yellow River, because the thieves did not cross the Yellow River, and Zhangde Mansion is barely under the control of the official army. But when Boss Wei arrived in this place, he realized how depressed this place was. Along the way, Boss Wei only saw the scrawny victims, uninhabited towns, abandoned villages, and from time to time he could see groups of "hungry people" on both sides of the road.

The hungry people are called hungry people, and they are actually no different from thieves. If it weren't for the 200 soldiers of the company protecting the food team, those hungry people would have rushed up to grab the food team.

When he arrived in Henan, Boss Wei felt like hell on earth. Every few miles along the road, you can see the bones of hungry people gnawed clean by crows.

The young soldier who was called "steamed buns" by Boss Wei heard Boss Wei's words, looked at the night in the distance, and sniffed.

"Squad leader, don't think about it, you can't sleep after thinking about it."

Boss Wei looked at the bonfire arranged by the grain team in a circle around the periphery and sighed. In order to prevent thieves from attacking the camp at night, the grain convoy placed 27 bonfires near the grain convoy. With these campfires, riflemen were able to kill the thieves attacking the camp from a distance at night, without getting caught up in chaotic hand-to-hand combat.

Changing the rifle with good bullets from the left shoulder to the right shoulder, Boss Wei said: "Mantou, how can you say that this Henan has suffered disasters for four or five years in a row?" I heard about the disaster in Henan five years ago, and now that it has been so many years, there is no good year in this year? ”

Mantou was stunned and said, "This... I don't know. ”

Boss Wei frowned, and was pondering there, when he heard a voice behind him.

"Henan is no longer a problem of natural disasters, it is a problem of the complete collapse of the entire order!"

Boss Wei turned his head and saw the company commander "Old Man Han".

Old man Han held three cigarettes in his hand, and threw one to Boss Wei and the steamed bun, and Boss Wei and the steamed bun hurriedly caught it.

This kind of cigarette was originally produced by the grandfather of the country, and because of the simple process, it was quickly learned by private businessmen. Nowadays, there are several cigarette factories in Tianjin, with several popular brands such as "Ruihe", "Fanjiazhuang" and "Xiaokang". The cigarettes that the company commander threw to Boss Wei were "Fanjiazhuang" brand cigarettes.

Without waiting for the company commander to speak, Mantou ran to the bonfire, picked up a burning wood in the bonfire and lit a cigarette, then ran back and used the cigarette in his hand to help the company commander and Boss Wei light a cigarette.

The company commander, Old Man Han, took a puff of his cigarette and said, "At the beginning, Henan was in chaos because of the drought. But after two years of chaos, order in Henan completely collapsed. ”

"I've heard people say that in fact, the seventeenth and eighteenth years of Chongzhen in Henan are good. In those two years, many Henan people who had survived the drought and locust plague harvested grain. Originally, the grain was harvested, the people were able to feed themselves, and the order could gradually improve. However, the government and gentry, who had been guarding the city for two years to eat and store grain, jumped out and demanded to collect the land taxes and land rents that had not been received in the disaster year. ”

"Of course, those cunning and slippery people will not be exploited in this way, and those who are exploited are the most honest farmers. But honest peasants also have to eat and live, and in the end, those honest peasants who were oppressed will go hungry after paying the land tax and rent, and they will stop doing it. ”

"Actually, where is the problem of land and rent? These are the same hungry officials, gentry and peasants fighting for food for survival. The gentry were afraid of another famine, so they wanted to stock up some life-saving food, regardless of whether the peasants lived or died. When struggling for survival, the ugliest faces of those traitors were all revealed. Those honest peasants could not rob the government and the gentry, and the result was that they would starve or even starve to death in good years. ”

"Anyway, if you are going to starve in a good year, no matter how you look at it, there is no way to live, it is better to do the opposite. In the end, the peasants quit, and many people were forced to obey the thieves. Li Zicheng shouted the slogan of not paying grain in one fell swoop, and the peasants in Henan stopped farming and followed Li Zicheng into the city to rob the official gentry. ”

So there were fewer and fewer people farming, and more and more people were hungry. The more hungry the people, the more the gentry intensified their efforts to grab food from the most honest peasants. When honest people are oppressed, they follow thieves, and even fewer people farm the land, and so on. The whole of Henan has completely turned into a colosseum. ”

Hearing the words of the company commander, Boss Wei and Mantou were a little shocked. They held the cigarette for a long time without taking a puff, and ended up with a long line of cigarette ash stuck to the cigarette end.

"In the end, it's a matter of order. In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, Shaanxi was also known as a famine, but Sun Chuanting, the governor of Shaanxi, used thunderous means to mobilize hundreds of thousands of displaced people to tuntian, and as a result, he obtained a bumper harvest and fed countless hungry people. It can be seen that as long as the social order is restored, the so-called famine can be overcome. ”

Old man Han looked at the grain cart behind him and said, "If we bring in cheap grain, so that the gentry can eat enough and let them have a stockpile, they will not snatch the peasants' rations recklessly, but we can alleviate this vicious circle a little." ”