Just after the first month of the twenty-second year of Kaiyuan, when the twelve states under the jurisdiction of Longyou Jiedu were at peace because the military affairs came to an end, a sudden earthquake suddenly hit Qinzhou.

As the hub of Shanzhou and other states to and from Gyeonggi Province, Qinzhou is adjacent to Longzhou in Gyeonggi Province in the east and Weizhou in Longyou Province in the west. Although it is also under the jurisdiction of the envoy of Longyou Jiedu, because he does not care about the army, in fact, most of the time, it is the governor of Qinzhou and the chief military government of Qinzhou Assassin Shi, and Longyou Jiedu does not interfere.

This earthquake and the aftershocks that followed almost all of Qinzhou Prefecture's Shangqi County were razed to the ground. After such a catastrophe, the governor of Qinzhou, who escaped death, ordered people to quickly report to the Son of Heaven who was now stationed in Luoyang, and at the same time reported to Shanzhou, requesting the dispatch of manpower for support.

When Du Shiyi saw the embarrassed messenger, he saw dust all over him, and his face was also open with two big cuts, as if he had been dug out of the mound.

"What is going on with this earthquake in Qinzhou?"

The messenger who was paralyzed on the ground didn't react until Du Shiyi asked twice in a row after reading the emergency report, and even cried in his voice: "Du Dashuai, please, please send rescuers to save the people of Qinzhou!" I am Kang Chengde, the chief bookkeeper of Shangtai County, when the earthquake came, I happened to be outside the city, watching the sky collapse, and the entire county almost collapsed in front of my eyes! The county party has all collapsed, it is said that Xu Mingfu was killed on the spot, in addition to countless dead and wounded officials, after I entered the city, I threw two colleagues from the mound of earth, and I really couldn't save the others. Moreover, the earthquakes continued continuously, and the ground cracked and then reunited in the county, and it was like several times in a row......"

Kang Chengde spoke almost incoherently about the tragic situation under the series of earthquakes. Including the Qinzhou Governor's Mansion, there are almost no intact houses in the entire Qinzhou, and Li Jie, the Governor of Qinzhou, himself was dug out of the mound by someone, and his legs were seriously injured, and the rest of the subordinate officials were also killed and injured. Compared with the city, the situation of many remote villages is even more worrying.

If you want to talk about the power of the earthquake, even the most developed places in later generations often suffered from it, and now that such a natural disaster will be, how it will be a scene of grief and wilderness, Du Shiyi no longer dares to imagine. What's more, the question now is not anything else: how many people to deploy, how many supplies to deploy, how to save people, and how to formulate a plan for post-disaster reconstruction...... It's all a fatal problem. He rubbed his temples, which were gradually swollen and painful, and immediately bowed his head and said, "Needless to say, it is needless to say that the deployment of manpower and materials, but let me ask you first, can the official roads in Qinzhou still be unblocked?" ”

The official road is equivalent to the only lifeline in this year, and Kang Chengde's face suddenly turned pale. After a while, he said in a difficult voice: "It's because many places on the road are blocked by flying stones, so I have to take a small road and escape from death before I can get out of Qinzhou." When I passed through Weizhou and Lanzhou, I had already asked for support from Feng Zhijun of Weizhou and Zheng Zhijun of Lanzhou......"

Du Shiyi knew that Kang Chengde could hold on to this time, and he was already completely dependent on his will in his chest, but he still glanced at the urgent report in his hand that did not have a payment and a date, and asked a key question.

"How many days have you been on the road?"

Kang Chengde's pupils suddenly contracted violently. After a while, he said tiredly, "I don't know the way either, because the mountains are so difficult to walk, and sometimes I am so tired that I can't take care of the day and night...... All I know is that the day of the earthquake was the 10th day of the second month. Dashuai, I beg Dashuai to send someone to rescue the people of Qinzhou immediately. Not only the county seat of Shangtai in the state, but also the Xiaokeng River where the county seat of Chengji in Qinzhou is located was also seriously damaged. The soldiers and civilians in the two places suffered heavy casualties, and no matter whether they were government or private houses, there was not one in ten. ”

The tenth day of February? It's February 24 now! I remember that on the 10th day of the first month of February, there was indeed an earthquake in Huangshui City, Shanzhou, and the people even ran out of the house in panic for a while. Fortunately, only a few houses in Huangshui City collapsed, and the damage was not serious, and many places where earthquakes occurred in this year were inaccessible. Unexpectedly, it was Qinzhou that had an earthquake, and it was so destructive!

Du Shiyi gasped, and knew very well in her heart that although Kang Chengde was almost sleepless on the road, because the road was blocked, he even had to grope in the wilderness to cross the path, and the traffic conditions in this year, he was able to reach Shanzhou within half a month, and this person had done his best. But after 14 days, the so-called rescue was completely impossible, because he had to transfer people from Shanzhou to Qinzhou, and then it would take corresponding time. At this moment, Duan Xingchen, the judge of Jiedu who was standing beside him, stepped forward and helped Kang Chengde up considerately.

"The marshal has always been kind to the people, and he will definitely send people to Qinzhou as soon as possible, you can rest assured."

Kang Chengde thought of Du Shiyi's reputation, and then saw Du Shiyi also bowing slightly to himself, and he finally let go of the biggest thing in his heart. Relieved, he finally couldn't continue anymore, and his head tilted and he fainted. Seeing this scene, without Du Shiyi's orders, Duan Xingchen naturally immediately helped people out of the room, and waited until the servant carried Kang Chengde to the guest room to rest, and then he came back quickly, and said worriedly: "Dashuai, the matter has come to this, I am afraid it will be difficult to save people, and if it is according to what Kang Chengde said, I am afraid that there will be thousands of casualties." “

"Without further ado, immediately convene a civil and military assembly!" Du Shiyi forced himself not to think about issues such as death and injury, and immediately ordered such a sentence.

Knowing that it was the Qinzhou earthquake, the civil and military officials who were ordered to gather in the Shanzhou Governor's Mansion couldn't help but change their colors in unison.

This year's earthquake also means a warning of mountains and rivers, not to mention an earthquake with great casualties. Think about the Kaiyuan Dynasty, which is known as the peaceful and prosperous era, from the locust plague at the beginning of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the Hebei flood in the Kaiyuan Dynasty, and then to the current earthquake, it can be said that the natural disasters have not stopped. If it weren't for Li Longji's high merit when he was crowned the crown prince back then, and he would have sat firmly on the throne over the years, the Tang Dynasty would have been able to present a prosperous atmosphere in these natural disasters and military disasters over the years, and there would have been continuous small rebellions and rebellions, coupled with natural disasters, it would be enough to make this son of heaven restless!

After being silent for a while, Guo Jiancai was the first to speak: "Shanzhou soldiers and horses, the most important thing is to prevent Qiangrong. Since Qinzhou was an earthquake, instead of dispatching people from Shanzhou, it should have been transferred from neighboring Weizhou, Chengzhou, and even Longzhou in Gyeonggi Province first, so it was far more appropriate than Shanzhou. You must know that far water cannot quench your thirst. What's more, it is no longer possible to save people by rushing over now, and it is useless. ”

This analysis is not unreasonable, but it also shows a blatant coldness, and many civil officials frowned. And Shanzhou Sima Cui Xingzhen even opened his mouth and said: "Although Shanzhou does not supervise Qinzhou, the marshal and Longyou Jiedu, except for the states under the jurisdiction of Hexi Jiedu, are all under the jurisdiction of Longyou Jiedu, how can the marshal abandon the military and people of Qinzhou?" Even if you can't save people, there's more to do. ”

Du Shiyi waved his hand to signal Guo Jian, who was a little unconvinced, not to say any more, nor to ask for the opinions of others, but stood up and said: "As General Guo said, half a month has passed since the Qinzhou earthquake, and when the soldiers and horses pass, it is indeed impossible to save those who have been buried under the rubble. However, with sufficient manpower and food, and doctors to prevent the epidemic, we can at least save the hearts of the people in Qinzhou who are almost collapsed, so that those survivors can survive! ”

This undoubtedly set the tone for the matter. Even if Guo Jian was still a little unconvinced, he could see that the civil officials nodded in unison, and the military attachés such as Wang Zhongsi also agreed, so he could only shut his mouth in annoyance. Immediately after, he only listened to Du Shiyi's words, so he ordered Duan Xingchen and Ma Jie to go to Qinzhou, accompanied by 500 soldiers and horses, of which 200 were from the tooth soldiers of the Longyou Jiedu Embassy, and he had nothing to say.

Du Shiyi was able to allocate 200 from the 1,000 tooth soldiers to Qinzhou, and his Lintao army only allocated 300 people, if he still had to be verbose, it would be too ignorant!

If he could, Du Shiyi would also want to rush to Qinzhou by himself, but he knows better what the situation of Qinzhou is like now. Instead of pointing fingers in the past, it is better to send Duan Xingchen, who has rich experience in governing the people, and Ma Jie, who is good at building a good relationship with his soldiers and horses. However, on the eve of his departure, he still gave Duan Xingchen thousands of instructions in front of the Shanzhou Governor's Mansion, and only then did he say: "Grain and grass are probably the most lacking things in Qinzhou now, and I won't be able to wait for the allocation of the imperial court for a while." Therefore, when you pass through Weizhou, you will pass by my order to allocate 2,000 stone of grain for backup, and the Shanzhou Governor's Mansion will send someone to settle this due money next. ”

"Yes, don't worry, I will take care of it." Duan Xingchen nodded solemnly, and then said to Kang Chengde, the chief bookkeeper of Shangtai County, who insisted on returning to Qinzhou, "I'm afraid you have to hurry up on the road, Master Kang really wants to go?" ”

"My wife has died in this earthquake, leaving only a son and a daughter, and they are still in the city, and I have to rush back." Although his eyes were deeply sunken, Kang Chengde still said in a firm tone, "What's more, I'm afraid that I'm the only one left in the Shangtai County Party is still complete, if I don't go back to clean up the mess, I can't help the people under my rule." ”

Speaking of which, after Kang Chengde turned over and bowed to Du Shiyi, he got up and got on the horse first without looking back. Seeing this scene, Duan Xingchen no longer delayed his work, and after saying goodbye to Du Shiyi, he and Ma Jie got on the horse and led the army to leave. And Duan Xiushi, who was standing behind Du Shiyi, looked at his father's distant figure, and suddenly felt a heavy chest.

In the past, I only thought that people would die in war, but I didn't expect that a sudden natural disaster would be so serious. My father hurried to Qinzhou, but what about Longzhou's hometown? Longzhou and Qinzhou are next to each other, and on the tenth day of the first month of February, Shanzhou still felt the earthquake, not to mention Longzhou? Why didn't my father mention a word to Du Dashuai, didn't he worry about his mother and brothers in Longzhou?