Chapter 90: The Drought of 1909 in the North

From Henan Province back to Yangzhou, need to pass through Lu Province, after Yu Province, the weather is also comfortable in the morning and evening, the time is the end of September 1909, although the noon is still scorching, but the weather in the morning and evening is very pleasant. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Wang Yongan also took into account that Yuan Nianzhen's delicate body was not suitable for walking in hot weather, and it was stuffy to sit in a sedan chair, and after thinking about it for a moment or two, Wang Yongan decided to hurry morning and evening from now on, and rest at noon and night to avoid the attack of this autumn tiger.

When the marrying team arrived in Xuzhou, everyone finally relaxed, and then they sailed along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, without worrying about mountain bandits and horse bandits. It's just that Gong Wuyuan reminded that the Cao Gang was only the rudder of the Yangzhou Cao Gang was destroyed, and the other Cao Gangs were still safe and sound, although the Cao Gangs in various places had long been out of contact with each other, but after all, the Cao Gangs in other places might take the opportunity to take revenge.

"It's okay if they don't come, but if they come, I will kill as many as they come!" The young and vigorous Lu Chengwu said proudly.

Xuzhou has been a battleground for soldiers since ancient times, when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Northern Expedition, the imperial court was heavily stationed in Xuzhou, forcing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Northern Expeditionary Army to enter Zhili from Henan Province by detour to deter the capital. Even a hundred years later, Xuzhou is a military location, and if you talk about military value, Xuzhou is simply the center of China.

Arrived in Xuzhou, Wang Yongan put his mind at ease, and the army stationed in Xuzhou is the 36th standard of the 18th Association of the New Army of Suzhou Province, the standard commander Chen Nianfan is quite popular in the Beiyang Army, and has a very good relationship with Wang Yongtai, he arranged Wang Yongan and his party smoothly, and arranged a reassuring fleet, and even proposed to personally escort them back to Yangzhou all the way.

Where can Wang Yongan let General Chen really escort his wedding team, he expressed his gratitude again and again, Chen Nianfan sent a congratulatory gift of two hundred taels of silver, saying that he was slightly sorry for not being able to participate in Wang Yongan's wedding, and it made Wang Yongan feel that this person is really comprehensive.

Later, Chen Nianfan personally sent Wang Yongan's wedding team to the wharf, and when everyone carried the luggage on the passenger boat, Wang Yongan saw that on the official road by the canal, many people were dressed in tatters, helping the old and the young to push the cart or carry the burden to the south. Wang Yongan was puzzled, so he asked why these people fled the famine, could it be that there was an insect plague in Xuzhou.

Chen Nianfan smiled bitterly: "Fourth son, have you noticed that it rarely rains this year?" ”

Wang Yongan recalled the weather of the whole year in 1909, as if he only experienced a typhoon that lasted for more than half a month when he was in Shanghai, and the rest of the time, whether it was Xuzhou or Yangzhou or in Henan Province, it rarely rained. ”

Chen Nianfan shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Even in this northern and central Jiangsu region, it rarely rains, let alone the Central Plains and North China, this year is a big drought year, although it has just been autumn, but many lands have long been drought and extinct." Some of the people of Lu Province went north to the east of the country, and some went south to the south of the Yangtze River to beg for food. What you see is the people who are going south. Alas...... Generally speaking, the people who go south are all doing business, and they have some of their own skills, and those who have no ability have to work hard to go to the barren land outside the customs, and they will not come back nine times out of ten. ”

Wang Yongan said that in history, most of them seemed to start and finish well, and there were very few dead people, how could it become a lifelong act in the mouth of Chen Nianfan, so he couldn't help but ask.

Chen Nianfan, whose hometown is Jinan Mansion, sighed and explained: "The people of Lu Province who went to Guanwai are better, but the road is far away and the road is difficult, some of these people from Lu Province are tired and die on the road, some are robbed and killed by bandits, some are eaten by wild beasts, and some are starved to death on the side of the road, but nine times out of ten they will still survive." However, there were still some villagers in Jiaodong, who took wooden boats from Weihaiwei to Port Arthur, which is now ruled by the Japanese, and then from Lushun to various parts of Manchuria outside the Guan. At the beginning, the local Manchu and Han people in Lushun were slaughtered by the Japanese, and now Lushun is full of Jiaodong people in our Lu Province, so many people are willing to cross the sea to Lushun and be able to receive the care of their fellow villagers. It's just that the wind and waves on the sea are together, many people are drowned in the Bohai Sea, fed fish and shrimp, and even the corpses can't be found, but only half of these Jiaodong villagers can survive. ”

Wang Yongan remembered that during the Republic of China, the large-scale immigration to the Guannai was still done by Zhang Zuolin, who spent five years immigrating 10 million young and strong people to the Northeast and was at marriageable age, so he quickly took root in the Northeast and continued the incense. It coincided with the war in the Guan, and the Northeast was calm, so in the four northeastern provinces during the period of the Beiyang Republic of China, the people lived extremely peaceful and peaceful, until after the Japanese invasion of the Northeast, the quiet life in the Northeast was broken.

Therefore, the victims are still spontaneously fleeing the famine, and unlike Zhang Zuolin, who used trains to relocate the victims from North China to the northeast, the lives of the victims who have lost their protection are much more difficult.

The fleet headed south, and the boatmen toiled on the shore, and the boats that passed on the river from time to time also filled the eyes of the slender men with despair, and perhaps it would not be long before these slender men would be completely abandoned by history.

"The peaks and mountains are like gathering, the waves are like anger, and the mountains and rivers are on the surface of Tongguan Road. Looking at the western capital, he hesitated. Sad, the Qin and Han dynasties, the palace and thousands of rooms have been made of soil. Prosperity, the people suffer, death, the people suffer. ”

After sighing, Wang Yongan was about to turn around and sit in the cabin, only to hear a bang, a bullet flew from the side, hit Wang Yongan's hat, and flipped his hat and fake pigtails to the ground.

"There are assassins! There are assassins! The soldier shouted.

Wang Yongan hurriedly lay on the deck and entered the cabin under the cover of Gong Wuyuan, and in shock, Wang Yongan did not dare to look out, and could only hope that the assassin would not want to assassinate him at this time. After a while, the assassin seemed to be gone, and Gong Wuyuan and someone called the slender men back, and asked if the slender men had seen the assassin, but the slender men hurriedly said that they didn't see it, and the matter could only be stopped.

At this time, Wang Yong'an jumped faster, and he was afraid, if the bullet was a little lower, his head would become a broken watermelon, ending his journey through the country and becoming a glimpse of history. Perhaps a hundred years later, except for Yangzhou Zhi, no one will ever remember that there was a young man named Wang Yongan who existed in the troubled times of the late Qing Dynasty.

"Whew...... Call...... Huh, ......" adjusted his breathing several times, Wang Yongan calmed down, and couldn't help but say fiercely: "The remnants of the Cao Gang must be the desires of the Cao Gang, Lao Tzu and you don't share the sky!" ”