Song Xiaofei and his entourage rushed to the Yimen of Kaifeng Mansion, it was almost dusk, tired and hungry. When the porter heard of their identities, he said that the governor was having dinner with his family in the backyard, and he immediately went in to report them.

Song Xiaofei looked up at the sky, there were still a few traces of sunset left in the sky, thinking that Li Henian would have dinner at this point, and he was really "full and hungry and hungry", plus he just learned on the road that the six counties of Kaifeng had not opened a warehouse to release grain for disaster relief, his impression of Li Henian was greatly discounted, and he was angry, so that the porter did not have to report, and led the way directly, he was ready to humiliate the governor of Henan, who did not know how to sympathize with the people. Wang Shizhen led four personal soldiers to follow Song Xiaofei.

When I arrived in the backyard, I saw a large square table in the middle of the courtyard, and the gray-bearded Li Henian was wearing a patched old official uniform, and was sitting around the square table with twelve family members to eat. Seeing that Song Xiaofei was angry and led his troops to break in, he put down his chopsticks, stood up and asked, "Who are you?" ”

Song Xiaofei showed his waist card and Li Hongzhang's handwritten letter to identify himself, and Li Henian saluted: "The lower officials didn't know that the Admiral had arrived, and they didn't greet him from afar, so they were rude." ”

Li Henian's official rank is the rank of Henan Governor and Imperial Envoy of Youdu, and he is also a member of the imperial court, and he is at the same level as Song Xiaofei's official position as the Admiral, but Li Hongzhang is the minister of the Qincha, and Song Xiaofei is the envoy of the Qincha, so Li Henian calls himself a subordinate official. Song Xiaofei listened, and he didn't be polite to him, walked to the table, and said sarcastically: "This official saw countless starving people starving to death in the lord's governance along the way, but Lord Li opened a small stove in the backyard of this bright mansion and ate happily." I'm not afraid to choke myself after dinner so early..."

Before Song Xiaofei finished speaking, he choked first, and was speechless in surprise: he stepped forward, wanting to see what delicacies Li Henian and his family were eating, but as a result, he found that on the huge table, there was a large pot of porridge with corn residues, and a few yellow-green bitter cabbage leaves floating on it. Looking at Li Henian's family again, his two sons are so thin that they are only skinny, and their three grandsons are also yellow and thin, Song Xiaofei's heart was greatly touched, this is the governor of a province, and his family is like this, which shows how serious the disaster in Henan is.

Li Henian listened to Song Xiaofei's words and knew that he had misunderstood, so he explained: "The lower officials are not talented, and now Henan is in this ancient disaster, and it is iron-hearted and should cry." The old man just went to the countryside to inspect the disaster, not for dinner, but for me and my family, we now have one meal a day, and the rest of the rations are taken out to help the hungry. ”

When Song Xiaofei heard this, he knew that Li Henian was a Qing official, and he was ashamed of his recklessness just now, and hurriedly admitted his mistake and apologized. But he was still puzzled and asked: "The 'Chang Ping' reported by Henan has more than 950,000 stone valleys. The disaster is so serious, why doesn't Master Li still open a regular position for disaster relief? ”

Li Henian shook his head and sighed: "Corrupt officials and corrupt officials kill people." In the past three months, Xia Guan has verified the province's Changping storage capacity, and found that there are serious false reports in various localities, and the actual grain shortage is one-tenth of the reported amount. As soon as the lower officials got the news, they immediately went to the imperial court and dismissed these false officials from their posts and imprisoned, but this did not help, and among the ten households in Henan, six households were affected by the disaster, plus many farmers planted crows. There was no surplus grain in his hand, and the lower official wanted to wait until winter to open a warehouse. Otherwise, the weather will be cold and freezing, and the people will starve to death in large numbers. ”

Song Xiaofei heard that the grain production "satellite" has been the surname of the unscrupulous bureaucracy from ancient times to the present, even if Li Henian is the reincarnation of Bao Qingtian, it will not change the current disaster in Henan. Song Xiaofei said to Li Henian: "This official has already seen people starving to death in a village on the road, so you quickly organize the official to open a warehouse and release grain." I immediately asked Nakado-sama to bring grain from Jiangnan and Kumi from the northeast to support the disaster area. ”

After handing over the disaster relief with Li Henian and settling Rong Rong, Song Xiaofei and Wang Shizhen took forty horsemen and rushed back to Chenzhou Mansion overnight. When they arrived at the gate of Yuan Zhai, they found that the gate of Yuan Zhai was closed, and Yuan Shidun personally led the regiment to train on the turret to watch the wind, they held bright knives in their hands, carried foreign firearms, and guarded beside the earthen cannon.

There were more than 1,000 victims in front of Yuan Zhai, and the black pressure was full of human heads, Song Xiaofei saw that these people were not thugs, half of them were women holding children, their lips were cracked, and some took out shriveled **, so that the hungry children could hold them in their mouths, but there was no milk, the children were so hungry that they couldn't do it, and it was useless to bite the blood. There was a middle-aged peasant, staggering as if drunk, and after being blown down by a gust of wind, he crawled on all fours, unable to stand up; A mother cries with her dying son on her shoulder. Walking further, I saw the two of them lying on the ground, motionless, and I didn't know if they had lost their breath.

This situation made Song Xiaofei completely recognize the reality: China's 30,000 peasants still have to rely on God to reward food, for them, they are tied to the land by fate, even if they are cattle and horses, they must let their families have food to eat, so that they will not starve to death, this is the most important thing in the world, this is related to those self-righteous "scum brick family" criticized slave surnames, stupid and not half a dime!

When these victims saw Song Xiaofei wearing an official uniform, riding a high-headed horse, and a team of cavalry with muskets behind him, they all consciously made a way out of the way. Song Xiaofei and they didn't receive much hindrance, they entered Yuan Village, Yuan Shidun, who was in charge of housekeeping, hurriedly went down to the turret to greet them, as soon as they met, they were like meeting a big savior, and took Song Xiaofei's hand and said: "Fourth brother, are you back, how many people did you bring back this time?" You can see the hungry people outside, they have been outside Yuan Zhai for almost two months, and they don't leave, I sent someone to report to the officials, and the officers and soldiers came to drive them away twice, but they just refused to leave. ”

Song Xiaofei darkened his face and asked, "This is what you said in your letter to the family that the officers and soldiers were ineffective?" ”

Yuan Shidun did exaggerate in his letter to his family, he interrupted and said: "Now that there are more and more victims, and Yuan Zhai's food self-sufficiency is not enough, you should quickly find a way to get rid of them, otherwise it will change for a long time, and those hungry people will do whatever the king's law and what hurts heaven and reason!" ”

Song Xiaofei asked: "How much grain is stored at home?" ”

Yuan Shidun saw that Song Xiaofei didn't say a word about driving the victims away, but asked about the food at home, and became suspicious, and said: "Fourth brother, you don't live at home, why are you asking this?" Although our Yuan family has been divided, it is now a famine year, and we can't watch anyone in the family starve to death, so Yuan Zhai now has more than 100 mouths to eat, and the grain storage is estimated to only last until next summer. ”

Song Xiaofei said: "Let's open a warehouse and put half of the grain, and I will find a way to buy it again in the spring next year." ”

Yuan Shidun was not happy when he heard it: "What are you kidding, this is the life-saving food of our family." This year, there was a catastrophe in the nine northern provinces, and grain has a price a day, and money may not be able to buy it. ”

Song Xiaofei said: "If you don't release grain, I'm afraid that the hungry people outside won't survive this winter, and they will burn down Yuan Village." ”

Yuan Shidun said: "That's why I wrote to you asking for help, and you sent troops to drive them away!" ”

Song Xiaofei shook his head and refused: "No matter what, I won't let my soldiers drive away these defenseless victims!" ”

Yuan Shidun saw that his younger brother refused to help his family, so he was furious and said, "Okay, fourth brother, you forgot your book when you became a big official!" You go outside to play prestige, this family is still my master! I will never give away my family's rations. Whoever dares to come in and rob it, I will kill him! ”

Song Xiaofei said calmly: "It's too late for you to say this. When I first entered the village, I had already ordered Wang Shizhen to lead the cavalry to open the granary of Yuan Village. I will tell Nakado-sama that you voluntarily donated to the victims, and maybe even ask you for a meritorious donor! ”

"I'm not uncommon to be a broken official!" As soon as Yuan Shidun heard that Song Xiaofei had sent someone to open a warehouse to release grain, he hurriedly ran to the warehouse in the backyard. Wang Shizhen and the housekeeper have opened half of the granary, leading the troops to distribute the grain of the Yuan family, and the victims are queuing up to receive millet.

Yuan Shidun was so angry that he called the housekeeper forward, scolded him with his head and face, and asked Song Xiaofei to leave immediately: "You are not welcome in this family from now on!" ”

Before Song Xiaofei left, he said to Yuan Shidun: "You can do it yourself, in this year of great disaster, with excess food in your hands, you are likely to get into trouble!" ”;