Ji Qingwen and his entourage of more than 200 people and dozens of carts first took the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal to enter the Yellow River, disembarked in Henan Province, and then went west to Shanxi Province.

When Ji Qingwen went north, the decree from Emperor Chongzhen was to ask him to act cheaply and decide for himself how to implement disaster relief measures.

Therefore, he saw that the drought in Shanxi was not so serious that it was out of control, and that the grain and rice raised by the imperial court in Beijing were constantly crossing the Yellow River and entering Shanxi, so he did not rush to use the silver taels brought this time.

So the group continued westward to the town of Mokou on the bank of the Yellow River.

It is an important ferry port between Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces between the Yellow River, and it is also the hometown of Li Yan and Huang Degong.

Therefore, Ji Qingwen made a special trip to stay here for two more days, and after visiting Li Jingbai, he asked Li Yan and Huang Degong to stay here for a few more days, and he led Duo Jiugong, Xing'er, Chen Wenzhao and others to lead two hundred regiments to escort Yinliang to continue westward.

Crossing the Yellow River, it is the territory of Shaanxi.

The drought in Shaanxi is much more serious than in Shanxi.

Although there are no grains in the fields of these two provinces, there are still a few green seedlings in the fields in Shanxi, and they are also a little angry. But when I arrived at the boundary of Shaanxi, it was a thousand miles of red land full of yellow and clear, not to mention the seedlings of crops, and even a few old trees on the side of the road were cleaned of their bark and leaves.

Ji Qingwen saw that this situation was wrong, and wanted to find a few local villagers to ask about the situation, but unexpectedly, after walking for a day, he only found an old farmer waiting to die at home.

Ji Qingwen saw that he was pitiful, and rewarded him with ten taels of silver and a bunch of dry food, and then he got the news from his mouth, saying that the people who could walk had all fled to the provincial capital Xi'an to make a living, and the landlords who stayed in the local area except for the landlords who had surplus grain at home were the old people and children who couldn't walk.

Ji Qingwen is also a "four-haves youth" who was born under the red flag and grew up in New China, and there are still some class feelings, hearing such a tragic situation, his heart suddenly tightened, and he couldn't take care of his rest, so he went straight to Xi'an.

The road from the bank of the Yellow River to Xi'an City, Duo Jiugong is very familiar, and he also has many relatives inside and outside Xi'an City, so he is naturally very anxious, so he led everyone day and night, escorting Yinliang to Xi'an.

Sure enough, as the old farmer said, the closer you get to the provincial capital of Xi'an, the more people will flee from all over Shaanxi. When I arrived at the city of Xi'an, I saw a dense crowd of hungry people, not to mention 70,000 or 80,000 people, lying or lying under the tall and thick walls of Xi'an.

Ji Qingwen saw that this group of hungry people were yellow-skinned, withered, and weak as if they were lonely ghosts wandering in front of the ghost gate, and a little compassion suddenly felt in his heart.

However, in addition to the small amount of dry food and water and rice that he carried with him, he only had 70,000 taels of silver and dozens of silk horses to be escorted—silver and silk were not edible—so there was no way to start giving relief on the spot, and he had to go to Xi'an City to talk about it.

Unexpectedly, after Ji Qingwen and his entourage passed through the layers of victims, what they saw was the locked gate of Xi'an City, and the flags on the city wall were tightly organized, as if they were facing a great enemy.

Ji Qingwen was a little incomprehensible, so he asked Duo Jiugong: "Jiugong, when have you ever seen Xi'an's defense so tense, could it be that something happened?" ”

Duo Jiugong pondered for a moment and said: "I remember that it was about the twentieth year of Wanli, Ningxia was in turmoil, and Xi'an was also affected. But I didn't see it like this......"

Li Yuanyin said: "This is to prevent the hungry people from entering the city and plundering, so the defense is so strict." I don't know which lord is in charge of the city now, although he is a little cold-blooded in doing this, but he can handle it effectively......"

"Then you can't let all these hungry people outside the city starve to death, right?" Ji Qingwen interrupted Li Yuanyin's words.

Li Yuanyin sighed and said: "It's about that there is not much food in the city, and letting the hungry people enter the city is just after eating and drinking indiscriminately, everyone starves to death." Closing the gates would at least ensure that the people in the city would have enough to eat. Alas! Let's choose the lesser of two evils......"

When Ji Qingwen heard this, suddenly the saint's heart burst and said: "That's not good, human life can't be measured by numbers, and it is one that these victims can save one." Anyway, we're going to go to the city now before we can discuss anything else. ”

So Ji Qingwen asked Duo Jiugong to raise his throat and call the door under the city.

However, the city wall of Xi'an is about ten zhang high, and when the slightly old voice of Duo Jiugong fluttered to the top of the city wall, it had become a moan, and it had long been drowned in the wails of the hungry people under the city.

Therefore, Duo Jiugong shouted for a long time, until his throat smoked, and he didn't see half of the soldiers in the city come to respond.

Chen Wenzhao, who was leading the army on the side, looked anxious, and said: "Jiugong, please take a break, let us two hundred brothers shout together, and see how the people in the city pretend to be deaf and dumb." ”

So Chen Wenzhao asked Ji Qingwen for instructions, and then organized two hundred regiments to practice and shouted in unison to Xi'an City: "Open the door!" Open the door! Open the door! ”

The two hundred sergeants recruited by Ji Qingwen were already strong and healthy, and after three or four months of training and recuperation, they shouted more energetically and loudly.

I only heard the shouts of "open the door" in their mouths one after another, one after another, as if the waves were stormy, and like the thunder of the nine days, which completely suppressed the cries of tens of thousands of victims under the city, and finally attracted the reaction of the soldiers guarding the city on the city wall.

I saw a head suddenly sticking out of the wall and shouting to the city, "Who? Who's making the loud noise? So that you can wait for relief in peace, what are you talking about? ”

Ji Qingwen looked up, but saw that the person was very familiar, so he shouted: "Good boy, have you forgotten who I am?" ”

This person is the long history of the Qin Wangfu in Xi'an City, specializing in leading the palace guards, and somehow he will be here to guard the city wall today.

Fortunately, Ji Qingwen was very familiar with Zhu Cunshu, the son of King Qin, so this long history also recognized Ji Qingwen, and immediately changed his tone, and responded respectfully and loudly: "It turns out that Young Master Ji is here, do you want to enter the city?" Well, wait for me to put the basket down. ”

As he spoke, Na Changshi waved his hand back, and saw a basket hanging from the city with ropes as thick as two bowls.

When Ji Qingwen saw this basket, he immediately understood the intention of the long history, and raised his head again and scolded loudly: "Hey, what do you mean? Let me sit in this basket and go into the city? ”

The chief of the palace on the city wall didn't hear Ji Qingwen's question clearly, but Chen Wenzhao on the side replied: "Lord Ji, when the enemy army besieged the city, they all entered the city like this, how many years of old rules......"

Ji Qingwen knew that Chen Wenzhao was a veteran of a hundred battles, and what he said must not be a lie, but he still couldn't accept the fact that he was hung from the basket to the city wall, and the muscles on his face twitched and said, "This ...... It's a shame, isn't it...... And if the rope breaks, I won't fall off and fall into a meatloaf? ”

Li Yuanyin, who was on the side, pulled the rope and said, "Lord Ji, I see that this rope is very strong, why don't I go up first, if there is no danger, Lord Ji will follow." ”

As he spoke, Li Yuanyin turned over and sat down in the basket, and made a "pull up" gesture to the city wall.

Shi Shi, the chief of the palace on the city wall, saw that Ji Qingwen did not sit in the basket, and just felt a little strange, but when he saw that a person dressed as a brocade guard wanted to enter the city, he did not dare to slack off, and immediately beckoned his soldiers to pull Li Yuanyin up, and hung the basket down again.

Ji Qingwen saw that Li Yuanyin had climbed the city wall very safely and securely, and felt a little relieved, so he also climbed into the basket, and was just about to signal to pull himself up the city wall, when he suddenly felt that it was a little inappropriate for a woman to stay in the pile of victims under the city, so he also beckoned Xing'er to go to the city together.

Xing'er was naturally grateful, and quickly climbed into the basket, hugged Ji Qingwen tightly, and was also hung on the high Xi'an city wall.

Ji Qingwen went up to the city wall, and as soon as he jumped out of the basket, the long history of the Qin Wangfu greeted him, and said with a smile: "Young Master Ji, the current situation is like this, and there is no way to wronged the young master......

Ji Qingwen also didn't greet him, and said directly: "Don't be long-winded, you open the city gate, and my brothers will enter the city." ”

Na Changshi said with a sad face: "I'm afraid this is not very convenient......

Ji Qingwen took out a silver ticket worth ten taels of silver from his sleeve, stuffed it in Changshi's hand, and said: "What's convenient or inconvenient, I think you are the biggest official here, you asked your subordinates to open the door, who dares to object?" ”