The harsh winter in the Sichuan Basin is wet and cold everywhere, and Hezhou is no exception, although there is no snow, but there is a chill that is cold to the bone marrow, and the ground moisture is more unbearable than the dry and cold in the north. [No pop-ups. 】

The national natural disasters that began during the Chongzhen period were very violent, as far as Sichuan is concerned, since the great drought in the Chengdu Plain that began in the 14th year of Chongzhen, the large drought in the Chengdu Plain caused a large area of grain production in the past three years, although it began to rain after the first year of Hongguang, but because there was no harvest in the previous years, the grain was in short supply, and a bucket of grain could even be sold for five taels of silver, which was an unbearable high price for most of the people.

How to survive the winter without food?

In the bleak villages, outside the walls of the big cities, the corpses of those who died of cold and starvation lay on the side of the road and no one to clean them up, even in the bustling towns, there are countless homeless people huddled in the corners of the walls and shivering, many of them are unable to survive this cold winter.

The government will not come out to help, the great western country from top to bottom is busy exterminating the rebellious party, the middle of the Sichuan and the west of the Sichuan, is shrouded in the horror of killing, every day there are fresh heads hung at the gates of the various prefectures and prefectures, and people who enter and exit dare not raise their heads. Zhang Xianzhong's Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies was the busiest yamen, and the rebels captured from all over the country were escorted into Chengdu one by one, and after hastily cutting off their heads at the entrance of the vegetable market, they hung their heads on the city gates, and threw their corpses into mass graves for wild dogs to gnaw.

In the whole of Sichuan, only the three provinces in eastern Sichuan have another world, under the rule of Wang Huan, everyone lives and works in peace and contentment, there is land to grow and wear, and the poor people have a lijia to report to the county government, and the food and winter clothes for relief are sent out in a cart, although there are not many in the hands of every household, but it is enough to persist in surviving the cold winter.

A large number of displaced people are like migratory birds, fleeing from west to east over the mountains and mountains, staggering towards the east of Sichuan, which can survive, but when they follow the official road to the various passes of Shunqing Mansion and Baoning Mansion, they are driven back by Zhang Xianzhong's soldiers.

The poor refugees cried in the cold wind, so they had to turn around and go back, and many people died on the side of the road along the way, screaming on the way, and the bones were all over the field.

Only a few people avoided the pass from the trail between the mountains, climbed the mountains and waded through the rivers to the east of Sichuan, and survived, but the number was very small.

The entire central and western parts of Sichuan, starvation is everywhere, there are no people for hundreds of miles, and the country of abundance, which was prosperous and prosperous in the past, is almost a ghost country.

A few hungry people slowly walked on the loess official road outside Chengdu, carrying a few tattered burdens on their backs, as if they were going out of the city to seek refuge with relatives and friends.

A team of freshly dressed and angry horse knights galloped from a distance, splashing dust, horses are healthy horses, people are strong men, horses are dressed in brocade and people wear armor, hanging on the saddle against the winter sun's blades shining, discerning people can see at a glance that this is the most elite general in the Great Western Army.

The leader is a strong man, tall and strong, sitting on a five-flowered horse, wearing bright silver chain mail, a purple brocade robe covered with cotton, a long knife hanging on a cowhide belt inlaid with white jade, wearing a soft warm hat, under the brim, a young face in his twenties is frowning, and the lines of his face are as clear as a knife and axe, like a granite engraved with the word "Sichuan" in the cold wind.

The hungry people saw the cavalry coming in front of them from a distance, so they avoided the roadside early, and they lowered their heads in fear and did not dare to come out.

Unexpectedly, the group of knights galloped to the front, and the leading purple-robed man glanced at them, grabbed the reins, and waved his hand, and a group of well-trained knights suddenly stopped at the same time, formed a column in front of the hungry people, and stood silently, and immediately no one made a sound, only the hot snort that came out of the war horse when he snorted rose in the cold air.

Several hungry people, male and female, old and young, seemed to be a family, and one woman was holding a baby in her arms, probably so cold that she stayed in swaddling clothes without crying or making a fuss.

Several adults were frightened terribly, looking at the brightly armored soldiers and the shining blades in front of them, they knelt down in the mud with a "plop" and trembled with their heads on the ground.

The purple-robed young man rode his horse in a circle, and then jumped off the horse neatly, his cowhide boots creaked in the mud, and came to the hungry people, and Wen Yan asked, "Where are you waiting for someone, and where are you going?" ”

An old man in his fifties or sixties who was kneeling in front of his head stole a glance at the pair of black leather boots standing in front of him when he heard the sound, but he didn't dare to look up again, he lowered his head and replied tremblingly: "Back to the military master, the little ones are residents of Jinguan City, at the end of this year, there is no food at home, there is no way to live, and those who are ready to go back to their hometowns to join relatives and friends in the clan do not want to hinder the military master's itinerary here, the crime deserves death, and I hope that the military master will forgive the crime." ”

"No food? Isn't there alms in the city? How can there be no food? The purple-robed man frowned and asked, "The official warehouse also allocated a batch of grain a few days ago, didn't you receive it?" ”

The old man was stunned in confusion, turned his head uneasily to look at the family members kneeling on the side, and then looked up slightly blankly and said: "Master Jun, the little ones have lived in this city for half their lives, and they have never seen the official warehouse put grain." ”

"Huh?" The purple-robed man's brows furrowed more and more deeply, almost screwing his two eyebrows together, and his face turned iron-blue.

He didn't move, and neither did the hungry people who knelt on the ground.

A knight stepped forward and whispered beside the purple-robed man: "General, General Pingdong is already waiting in the palace, we have been delayed for a long time just asking these people along the way, the last general is afraid that General Pingdong will wait too long, and it will not look good below, is it time to go?" ”

The purple-robed man waved his hand impatiently, and the knight immediately bowed down and retreated, and the purple-robed man thought about it, then summoned him back and said, "Leave something for these people according to the rules just now." ”

After that, he turned over and got on his horse, shook the reins, and shouted: "Drive!" Kicking the horse's belly, the five-flowered horse neighed, its hooves flew over, and it ran away in the blink of an eye.

A group of knights followed behind, and one of them dropped a piece of something as he passed by the hungry people kneeling beside the road, and then a voice came from the horse that ran away: "This is the reward of the king of Anxi!" ”

The hungry people knelt on the ground, and waited until the cavalry had gone far before they dared to get up, and the old man took a few steps forward, picked up what the knight had just dropped, and was surprised to find that it was a piece of silver weighing five taels.

Several hungry people gathered together in surprise, and the old man was in tears, holding a silver ingot in his hand, and knelt down with his family, facing the dusty knight's place, kowtowing.

And that group of knights, without looking back, galloped all the way forward, and rushed into the magnificent Jinguan City.

Chengdu City is also known as Jinguan City, legend has it that during the Shu Han Dynasty of the Three Kingdoms, the brocade handicraft industry in Chengdu was particularly developed, and the silk handicrafts known as Shu brocade were well-known throughout the country, and were the main commodities of Shu Han's foreign trade, and became the bulk source of financial revenue of the Shu Han regime. Therefore, the Shu Han Dynasty specially set up Jinguan to manage the production of Shu brocade, and specially built a city to protect the production of Shu brocade, so it was called Jinguan City.

Jinguan City was built in the Song Dynasty, in the tug-of-war at the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty was burned down many times, and later in the early Ming Dynasty, Li Wenzhong, the Duke of Cao Guo, entered Shu by the order of Zhu Yuanzhang, sighed at the key topography of Chengdu, and re-rammed the earth to build the city. To the eighteenth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that "Shu is a state, in the southwest corner, Qiang Rong admires, not magnificent and no demonstration", so he ordered Jingchuan to wait for Cao Zhen to begin large-scale repair of the city, and later in order to resist the increasingly fierce peasant uprising, after the governor Zhao Qing and others many times of business repair, to the Chongzhen period, Chengdu City has become a wall width of two zhang five feet, three zhang four feet high giant city, inside the loess and glutinous rice juice mixed tamping, plus blue brick wrapping, firmness is equivalent to modern concrete, leading the inner and outer rivers around, with five gates, Each city gate is built outside a crescent gate, there is a gatehouse built on the door, and there is a corner tower built at the four corners, standing proudly on the Chengdu Plain, magnificent and infinite.

Li Dingguo drove the horse into the city from the south gate, went straight to the center of the city non-stop, there was originally the Ming Dynasty Shu Palace, in August of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong captured Chengdu, after the suicide of Zhu Zhishu, the last Shu king, it became the palace of the Great West Kingdom, Zhang Xianzhong showed generosity, and rewarded the four courtyards around the huge Shu Wangfu to the four righteous sons, as their palace.

The four major palaces are located in the four corners of the palace in turn, the mansion of the king of Pingdong is located in the east, Li Dingguo is familiar with the road, and he goes straight to the horse, and when he arrives outside the palace gate, he kicks off the horse and drives straight in.

Entering the second hall, a middle-aged man with a short beard with a national character face and a beard was standing happily on the steps of the second hall, waiting for his arrival.

"Big brother, the little brother is late, and the tired big brother has been waiting for a long time." Li Dingguo, a purple-robed man, stepped forward quickly and arched his hand to Sun Kewang.

"Where, the third brother is a thief and a thief, and he travels back and forth, so he is tired, and the eldest brother is staying in the city and enjoying his success, why is he tired?" Sun Kewang followed Li Dingguo with both hands, welcomed him to the hall, sat on the chair, sat down next to him, and asked affectionately, "How is it?" The things that my father explained went well, right? ”

Li Dingguo took a sip of the bird's nest soup served by the maid, and said casually: "It's just a thief, it can't be a climate, the army is coming, and it will be wiped out overnight, killing thousands of its subordinates, capturing more than ten of its bandits, all of them are in the prisoner car, and walking slowly with the army, the younger brother is worried that the eldest brother is anxious, so he rushed back first, and it is estimated that the army will be able to arrive in Chengdu in a few days." ”

Sun Kewang was overjoyed, patted the table and said: "Okay, the third brother is worthy of being my Daxizhu country, and the eldest brother will write a report to his father to report the good news, and ask for a great contribution to the third brother!" ”

After that, Sun Kewang asked people to present the four treasures of the above room, personally polished the ink and paper, and prepared to write.

He was excited for a while, but suddenly found that his third brother was sitting on the chair, without the excitement of returning victoriously, and he was silent, as if he had something on his mind.

Sun Kewang frowned, shook the brush in his hand, and asked out loud, "Third brother, what's wrong?" Why is it listless? ”

Li Dingguo sighed, raised his head and looked solemnly at Sun Ke and said: "Big brother, you are the supervisor of the army, the most trusted son of the father, the emperor, in charge of the army, politics and people's livelihood, even the prime ministers have to consult with you about everything, and the younger brother has some things that must be reported to you." ”

Sun Kewang's eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked at Li Dingguo: "Third brother, it's okay to talk about it." ”

Li Dingguo pondered for a moment and said slowly: "The younger brother returned from northern Sichuan, all the way through the prefecture, saw a lot of places, like a ghost city, no one for a hundred miles, the village is deserted, the county town is scattered, the hungry people are everywhere, the bones are scattered, and we were in Shaanxi back then, it is miserable, and now it is the middle of winter, freezing and starving, and the poor can't stand it. ”

Sun Kewang put down the brush, put the pen lightly on the Beacon Mountain, and sighed: "In the first two years, there was a great drought in Sichuan, and there was no harvest in the fields. ”

Li Dingguo said: "What good strategies can my father and eldest brother have to alleviate the suffering of the people? Big brother, when I watched those starving people dying on the side of the road, I remembered that when we were living on the streets of Luoyang, we were so helpless, and I couldn't imagine that we fought the country, and the people under our rule were as poor as the government, which made us feel at ease. ”

Sun Kewang nodded and said in a deep voice: "My father has ordered that 10,000 buckets of military rations be distributed to the residents of Chengdu to alleviate the food shortage. ”

Li Dingguo frowned and said: "I'm afraid that ten thousand buckets of grain are just a drop in the bucket, and the population of Chengdu alone is more than 500,000, which is not enough for distribution." ”

Sun Kewang glanced at him, and said helplessly: "This is also a helpless way, third brother, you also know that there is not much food in the army, and it is really impossible to allocate too much, after all, after the beginning of spring, the Tartars and the officers and soldiers are eyeing each other, and the war is imminent, and the army has no food and no fighting spirit, how can it take care of one and lose the other?" ”

Li Dingguo gritted his teeth and asked in a low voice: "Big brother, it's not impossible, over the years, my father has collected wealth from all over the world, and just in Shubo alone, how much more than 10 million of gold and silver have been obtained?" If you take out a part of ......"

Before the words fell, I only heard Sun Kewang shouting angrily: "Silence! Third brother, do you know what you're talking about? ”

Li Dingguo gritted his teeth and gritted his teeth: "What am I talking about?" I'm talking about the national fortune of the Great Western Country! The common people are all dead, what are we going to fight with the Tartars? So what to fight with the officers and soldiers? Do you have to go back to the old path of thieves, where to fight, where to go, to grab a place? ”

Sun Kewang said angrily: "So what? My father started recklessly and conquered the world for more than ten years, didn't he lay down this huge country? Since you can get it, it doesn't hurt to lose it, but if you fight it again, what are you afraid of? ”

Li Dingguo was heartbroken: "Big brother, you can't say that, what are we trying to raise troops with our father?" Isn't it just to have enough to eat and have a way to live? If we only care about ourselves, what is the difference between us and those dog officials in the Ming Court? ”

Sun Kewang laughed angrily, moved the R at the corner of his mouth twice as if he was convulsive, then sat down, and said lightly: "Third brother, you are tired, go back first, your victory, you will naturally polish your pen for your brother." ”

He stretched out his hand and made a gesture to see off the guest.

Li Dingguo stood on the ground in amazement, stood for a while, and then bowed slightly: "The little brother is out of shape, don't blame the eldest brother." ”

Then he slowly exited the hall and walked out.

Sun Kewang held the pen in his hand, hanging in the air, and it didn't fall for half a day, a ball of ink on the tip of his nose slipped off the wolf's hair, dripping on the fine rice paper, and dyed black and white. He stared at the ball of ink, his eyes were complicated, he fixed for a long time, raised his head again, looked at the back of Li Dingguo outside the hall, and let out a long sigh.

(End of chapter)