Chapter 53 The Gamble Begins

The lavish banquet finally ended in the middle of the moon, and Ouyang Xiu ignored the hospitality of the Qingxiang Valley waiter who invited him to take a hot spring bath. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

hurriedly asked the Qingxiang Gu Xu official to take him into the official residence.

The residence is not very large, but it is very exquisite, and there is even a flowing spring running through the courtyard in the courtyard.

Ouyang Xiu didn't care about admiring the fragrant wood in the courtyard, and after finding the study, he began to hurriedly look through the documents on the desk, and all the conditions of the Hami Qingxiang Country could be found one by one in these documents.

The lights in the study were on all night.

When the sky was white, Su Shi came back from outside with a yawn, soaked in the hot springs for most of the night, and drank wine for most of the night, and now he wants to find a place to sleep well.

Seeing that the light in the gentleman's study was still on, he tiptoed over and secretly looked inside, but found that there was no one inside.

"Zizhan, are you back?"

Mr.'s voice came from behind, Su Shi was startled, and turned around to find Mr. standing under the flowing spring in his clothes and letting the spring water pour on his body.

Most of the spring water in Qingxiang Valley is made from the snow water of the Tianshan Mountains, and it is cold to the bones even in the daytime, let alone on a night like this.

Su Shi exclaimed, hurriedly dragged Mr. out from under the flowing spring, and hurriedly asked, "What happened?" ”

Ouyang Xiu's lips were bruised from the cold, and he sat on the stone bench for a long time and said, "There must be something to ask for in courtesy, but Hami's affairs have exceeded the old man's ability, and he can't help it!" ”

Su Shi found a dry cloth towel to wipe off the water stains on Mr. 's head, and dragged Mr. to the bedroom, found dry clothes for Mr. to change, and then said, "What happened?" ”

Ouyang Xiu pointed to the study opposite the bedroom and said, "The paperwork is on the table, you read it slowly, and you want to sleep for a while." ”

After speaking, he pushed Su Shi out of the door, lay on his bed, stared at the gauze tent with two red eyes, and muttered: "One and a half million mouths, put together are bigger than the city gate, what can the old man use to fill these mouths?" ”

Su Shi came to the study and hurriedly glanced at the document that Mr. spread out on the table, and after reading it, he was also stunned.

Ouyang Xiu didn't go to other places because of his niece's affairs, so Su Shi, a student, did not take any subject exams, but was brought into Taixue by Ouyang Xiu. Now is the time to look at politics.

Like Tie Xinyuan, they have also been to the gate of the palace and cursed the so-called traitors with their eyes, therefore, Su Shi is also proficient in political affairs, if he stays in Hami for five years this time, he will at least be sentenced to a lower state after he goes back.

He was originally cultivated as a pro-people official in the Great Song Dynasty, so disaster relief and soothing the people were his compulsory courses.

The most serious disaster relief experienced by Su Shi was the heavy snow in Tokyo, which crushed the houses of several families, and he took the officials to help.

At most, the affairs of a dozen people will be finished when they are done, even if the government does not help, his personal help can give these people a place to live.

It's different now, the entire population of Tokyo City is hungry, and Su Shi feels that he has no way to deal with this kind of thing.

In Taixue, he learned from books what the consequences of poor disaster relief were. Even the book only tells about the affairs of thousands, tens of thousands of people, and the affairs of 1.5 million people are not his turn to take care of.

Now, he's going to worry about it......

Su Shi felt that he was at a loss, and he was a little ashamed last night, but now, there is no such feeling left.

Iron Frog never does anything at a loss...... Now, his wife is like this, and his wife is like this......

Thinking of the way he patted his chest last night, Su Shi wanted to hit the wall with his head.

He stood up and wanted to find Peng Li and Huang Yuanshou and them, but saw that his husband got up again, looking at the Tianshan Mountain outside the window with his hands behind his back and was stunned.

"Let's go!"

"Where are you going?"

"Hami City!"

"Sir, it's supposed to be hell there......"

"Then it will also be seen, and after reading it, I will come back and study it to see how many people can be saved."

"Too many people......"

"yes, that's too much......"

The people of Qingxiang Valley don't have much feeling for the displaced people in Hami, and for them, Qingxiang Valley is a paradise.

Everyone enjoys the prosperity and wealth of Qingxiang Valley behind closed doors, and it has little to do with whether or not the foreign victims can eat.

Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi walked on the bustling streets of Qingxiang City with their subordinate officials, feeling that the prosperity here was so dazzling now.

Tie Xinyuan was not there, it was obvious that he had already gone to these places in Hami, after all, he was the king of Hami, and once the Uighurs began to riot, it would only destroy the Hami Qingxiang Kingdom.

In fact, Tie Xinyuan is already in Hami.

The first thing he did when he came to Hami was to start scattering the exiles in Hami.

Groups of displaced women and children began to take boats along the Hami River, which they would follow down the river to Balikhun Lake.

The reason for separating the women and children from the young and strong was to make it easier to control the young and strong Uighurs, and at the same time, the chances of finding food near Lake Balikun were much greater than in Hami.

It is now the end of June, and these people must build themselves a house and store some food before the first heavy snowfall, or they will die in the snow like cattle and sheep without good fat.

Summer and autumn are the time when food is abundant, and at this time, no one can starve to death no matter what, and the small ponds around Balikun Lake can scoop fish with water scoops.

Although it is not enough for 100,000 people to eat, at least they will not starve to death.

The real crisis is after the beginning of spring in the coming year, when the real death toll is at this time, and it is at this time that the highest number of deaths in every famine.

If the Hami government wants to help these people, then now is definitely not a good time, once people have something to rely on, they will not take the initiative to survive, and those who do not have the initiative to survive will not be able to survive this huge disaster.

This is a real disaster, and it will take at least three years for Hami Qingxiang to return to its original level of wealth!

The sound of his father crying for his mother was heartbreaking, and the scene was even more unbearable when the slave traders took away the Uighurs who had sold them.

Although the people were transported away by boats and the slaves were dragged away by groups, Tie Xinyuan found that the people in Hami City did not seem to have decreased at all.

When Ouyang Xiu came to Hami City, Tie Xinyuan had been here for two days, and when Ouyang Xiu saw groups of women and children getting on the raft on the Hami River, he asked with a gloomy face, "Where are you going to transport them?" ”

Tie Xinyuan said expressionlessly: "Balikun Lake, only there, can they find food to fill their stomachs." ”

"Isn't there an organization of officials?"

"I've been waiting for you guys to come!"

Ouyang Xiu's face looked much better, waved his hand to Peng Li, and said to Tie Xinyuan: "Give him as much food as possible, and no less than three thousand soldiers, and a hundred craftsmen who can help the homeless people build houses, and the homeless people of Balikun Lake, he has the final say." ”

Tie Xinyuan nodded and said, "There are soldiers, craftsmen, tools, and military rations, but the rations are limited to the rations of three thousand soldiers, officials, and officials, not including these Uighurs. ”

Ouyang Xiu said in a trembling voice: "Without rations, how do you let them live?" ”

Tie Xinyuan said with a gloomy face: "The summer and autumn of Balikun Lake is the time when food is the most abundant, whether it is the fish in the lake, the wild fruits on the mountain, and nuts, all kinds of wild vegetables on the ground are their rations.

The food in Hami Qingxiang Country is not enough, and it can only be used when the green and yellow are not harvested, Mr. Ouyang, from today on, Hami Qingxiang Country will implement a ration system. ”

Ouyang Xiu is no stranger to the rationing system, which means that everyone in the Hami Qingxiang Country will start to go hungry from now on.

Ouyang Xiu looked at Hami City, which was still overcrowded, with his hands behind his back and said, "Every disaster year, it is the time for construction projects, what are you going to do?" ”

Ouyang Xiu has such an understanding, Tie Xinyuan is not surprised, this is one of the disaster relief models of the Great Song Dynasty's standard cash-for-work.

"Build the Tianshan Road Fortress, build the Hami City, and dig the canal from the Hami River to the Boxwood Forest. The construction of a road connecting Hami, Qingxiang City, Daxue Mountain, Balikun Lake, and Tianshan Road must start from now on. ”

Ouyang Xiu took a look at the map of Hami Qingxiang Country and said, "Yes, how many people can you support?" How many people can you feed after leaving next year's life-saving food? ”

"Four hundred and fifty thousand, this is the limit, even after my rations are halved to have such ability."

Ouyang Xiu sighed and said, "It's far from enough, how do you plan to survive this crisis?"

1.5 million people, if you can save them, there is no doubt that the Hami Qingxiang Country will completely gain a firm foothold, if it fails, once the displaced people make a rebellion, once the people are dissatisfied with your behavior, the Hami Qingxiang Country will be in vain......"

Tie Xinyuan sighed and said: "The best way is to expel the useless old and weak, let them expose the corpses in the wilderness, and leave only the strong, but unfortunately, I can't give such an order."

Since I can't make this ruthless heart, I can only gamble once, and bet that the people of Hami Qingxiang Country can live a hard life with me for a year or two, and finally usher in glory.

Bet that these Uighurs will hold out until next autumn's harvest, and before that point they will not rebel, but try to survive!

Bet that the Qarakhanid will not launch a large-scale attack on our Hami next year, and bet that the Uighur king will not give up and still have the strength to entangle with the Qarakhanid! ”

Ouyang Xiu was silent for a moment and said, "What if the Khitan and Western Xia people come to attack Hami? ”

Tie Xinyuan sneered, "I'll drive the hungry Uighurs to their country!" And give them weapons! ”

Ouyang Xiu sighed, took out a stack of documents from his arms, handed them to Tie Xinyuan, and said, "This is the materials, manpower, money and food, and the official dispatch order I need, you approve it, and it is already urgent to disperse the displaced people."

In addition, the homeless people are the most taboo, especially the young and middle-aged, and the old man can't use too many people for work, how are you going to deal with the rest of the people? ”

Tie Xinyuan gritted his teeth and said, "What else can I do besides eating the enemy?" (To be continued.) )