The search for grain continued until late at night. After the new order of the Great General was issued, the number of people executed in the streets decreased significantly. However, those who were whipped and screamed, and the families of the deceased wept in mourning, one after another.

This night, the whole city was filled with weeping, which made people listen to miserable and miserable.

Early the next morning, Zuo Shaoyang woke up from his dream and heard the faint sound of carpenter work coming from the next ward. But it turned out that as soon as Li Dazhuang's curfew was lifted, he came to work before dawn. The plaque with the inscription written by the general himself should be carved and hung as soon as possible. It's a lot of work, and I can't be in a hurry, so I came early in the morning.

Bai Zhihan changed into loose clothes and put them on herself, and helped Zuo Shaoyang get dressed. Zuo Shaoyang went out and opened the door of the medicine store, there was no snow last night, and the headless corpses and blood on the street were gone, as if there had been no tragic massacre on the street. If you look closely, you can tell the traces of shoveling snow left on the ground.

However, it turned out that the soldiers had searched and cleaned up according to the order before withdrawing to the barracks. Those whose bodies were claimed were taken away, and those whose families were killed and no one claimed them were gathered together in carts and pushed to mass graves outside the city to be buried.

The enemy did not take the opportunity to attack the city, did not even appear near the tower, and no one came to interfere with them to bury the corpses.

Although the grain requisition has ended, the ban is still being enforced. Commander Pang Huo led the troops to be responsible for the inspection of this area, and there were patrols of the officers and soldiers on the streets, and there were also guards of the officers and soldiers at various street intersections to check suspicious pedestrians and strictly check the grain trade. Once someone is found selling grain, they are still to be put to death.

However, the large-scale grain requisition has ended, and it is time to start putting porridge for disaster relief. The family discussed and immediately began to boil porridge and give alms to the porridge.

Asked Pang Huochang to discuss and asked him to lead the troops to maintain order, Pang Huochang naturally nodded and obeyed the order. But at the end, I made a small request, can I also give a bowl of porridge to each soldier who maintains order? These brothers only have one bun a day, and they are also hungry and have no strength.

Zuo Shaoyang promised to give each of them a bowl of thin porridge, emphasizing that it was mainly boiled with medicinal herbs, and it might not taste good. Pang Huochang said that he could survive at this time, and he didn't care if it was boiled with medicinal herbs, and he was grateful at the moment.

The herbs that were cut in the porridge last time had already been ground and there were still a lot of useless lefts, so I decided to use them up first. However, because the rice grains cannot be seen, the rice should also be ground into flour. I didn't dare to add too much, so I only added a small half spoon and mixed the herbs ground into powder to cook porridge together.

After boiling, he first scooped a bowl for each of the soldiers of Pang Huochang. The soldiers were so hungry that their eyes lit up, and they took a few gulps.

However, soon the soldier stopped drinking, and frowned with half a bowl of porridge: "What is this?" Bitter death! ”

Pang Huochang originally let the brothers drink porridge first, and then drink it later, but when he heard this, he hurriedly scooped a spoonful and drank it, and immediately spit it out, his brows furrowed together: "Zuo Gongzi, what kind of porridge are you?" ”

"Medicinal porridge." Zuo Shaoyang smiled, "Didn't I tell you? It is mainly based on edible Chinese medicine, and boiled with a little grain. ”

"Why is it so bitter?"

"The medicinal herbs are actually all kinds of wild vegetables on the mountain, and the wild vegetables are so bitter, can the medicinal herbs not be bitter?"

"But it's too bitter, and there's not a single grain of rice."

Zuo Shaoyang smiled bitterly: "I'm sorry, Team Fu is saying that you can't add more food, and you can't see rice grains." So I don't dare to add more. What's more, we don't have so many food homes, and the pharmacy only has medicinal herbs. ”

Pang Huo put down the spoon and said to the soldiers, "Drink!" Drink whatever you want! Don't waste what you don't want to drink, pour it back into the bucket. ”

Most of the soldiers poured the gruel back into the pot in disdain, except for a few older soldiers who were really hungry and accustomed to suffering.

Zuo Shaoyang asked the soldiers to help put the wooden barrels at the door, and Pang Huochang ordered the soldiers to set up a cordon.

Zuo Gui knocked on the wooden barrel and shouted to put the porridge, and the hungry people came in surprise. Soon the street in front of Guizhitang was crowded, and they waited anxiously one by one.

This time, there were soldiers to maintain order, and from the beginning they let the queue line up, and if they didn't listen, they would whip it, so the order was not bad, and they lined up one by one to get porridge.

However, the development of things was very embarrassing, and after the hungry people in front of them ate the porridge, many of them only drank one or two sips and were unwilling to drink any more, and secretly poured it. Seeing this, the queue at the back took the porridge of the hungry people who were unwilling to drink in front and tasted it, but even the queue didn't bother to line up and left.

Zuo Shaoyang was very strange, stopped an old man and asked, "Old man, why don't you drink this porridge?" ”

The old man smiled cautiously: "Thank you for your kindness, but you are really the porridge that is donated by the medicine shop, they are all medicinal herbs, what is the difference between them and wild vegetables?" Now there are many places in the city to find wild vegetables, and the rebels do not come to attack, and the officials and soldiers also allow people to go out of the city to pick wild vegetables, which are still fresh, and don't they taste better than yours? If you want to give with all your heart, give some food. ”

Zuo Shaoyang smiled bitterly, the porridge they boiled for the first time last time, half of the grain and medicinal materials, and the rice was not ground, and it could be seen that there was rice in it, especially the life-saving bucket of porridge, and rice accounted for the majority. Hungry people naturally flock to it. And now the general does not allow them to give food alms, so most of this medicinal porridge is medicinal herbs, that is, wild vegetable porridge, and only a little bit of real food is added. The smell of food is also masked by the smell of medicine. Unable to distinguish and unable to see the rice grains, the hungry people thought it was pure medicinal porridge, but now they can pick fresh wild vegetables, so they are naturally reluctant to drink this bitter porridge boiled with dried medicinal herbs.

Zuo Shaoyang's family looked at the hungry people eagerly rejoicing, and shook their heads in disappointment, and there were fewer and fewer people waiting in line for porridge, and in the end, no one lined up and left, but there was still a small half bucket of porridge, and the family was deflated, looking at each other and smiling bitterly.

Zuo Shaoyang said: "Now there are wild vegetables on the mountains outside the city, so the hungry people don't eat this kind of medicinal porridge, and when the wild vegetables on the mountain are all gone, they will naturally come to eat." ”

Zuo Gui's father also stroked his beard and said: "Yes, we hope that the hungry people can still have something to eat, that is the best, and this is also the purpose for us to put porridge to help the hungry." ”

Zuo Shaoyang said: "Now there are more than 100,000 people in the city, and the army now only has one meal a day, and each person has only one bun. When all the wild vegetables on the mountain are picked, I am afraid that our medicinal materials will become a hot commodity. ”

Since the hungry people are not willing to eat medicinal porridge now, there is no need to continue boiling.

After tidying up, Liang prepared a small basket covered with a small blue cloth.

Zuo Shaoyang asked curiously, "Mother, are you going out?" ”

"Well, I'll go to Longquan Temple to burn incense and wish to go."

Although there is a Qingfeng Temple in the back alley of the house, because the monks in the temple are very eccentric, they always ignore the donors who go to give alms and burn incense, and the temple is also dilapidated, so almost no one in the city goes to this temple to burn incense and worship the Buddha. There is also a big temple in the north of the city, called "Longquan Temple", the abbot of the temple knows how to count the etiquette, and treats people very warmly, the monks inside are also very friendly, and the temple is also clean and tidy, so the people in the city burn incense and make wishes to go there.

Zuo Shaoyang said: "Now that the war is in chaos, it is not safe for you to go alone." ”

"I've already told your Aunt Miao, let's go together. Let Miss Miao accompany us. ”

Hearing that Miao Peilan was going with her, Zuo Shaoyang was relieved.

At this time, Zuo Gui also got up, and Liang ran a large vat of strong tea mixed with salt and seasonings for him as usual. After Zuo Gui washed up, he sat down behind the long table and began to drink tea.

Miao Peilan and her mother came over, greeted Zuo Shaoyang and them, carried the basket, and accompanied the Liang family out. This kind of excitement will not be let go of a few children, and they also went to Longquan Temple in Beicheng together.

In Guizhi Hall, Zuo Gui was busy treating patients who came to seek medical treatment. Zuo Shaoyang also wanted to come out to help with crutches.

Zuo Gui said to Zuo Shaoyang: "You are seriously injured, don't get up to help these days, anyway, there are few people who come to see the doctor these days, and there is nothing to take care of the follow-up there." You go back to your room and rest. If it's too busy outside, I'll call you again. ”

After Zuo Shaoyang's blood loss, although there was the best old ginseng conditioning, the vitality recovered quickly, but after all, it was only the beginning, and he was dizzy after standing for a long time, and the cold wind in the hall was very cold, so he was worried that he would catch a cold, so he agreed, and returned to the house with the help of Bai Zhihan on crutches. Bai Zhihan helped him lay out the floor and helped him lie down and cover the quilt.

She picked up the sewing basket next to her, there was a half-made sheepskin hat in it, which was sewn to Zuo Shaoyang, this icy Zuo Shaoyang only brought a cloth head, not warm, she made half of the robe for Zuo Shaoyang last time, and felt that she urgently needed a fur hat to keep him warm, Liang had already said that she felt that Zuo Shaoyang was missing something, so she would do it herself, and she didn't need to report it to her, anyway, the fabric and leather goods were available at home, and Bai Zhihan began to sew leather hats for him.

Although one hand was injured and could not be strengthened, the right hand was not injured and had little effect on sewing. She took a low stool and sat by the door of the pharmacy, where she could see clearly, she flew the needle and sewed the threads, and suddenly heard an ouch chirp, and hurriedly raised her eyes to see that an old lady at the door fell to the ground.

Bai Zhihan hurriedly put the clothes in the sewing basket and ran over to help the old lady up: "Old man, didn't you fall?" ”

The old lady fell and screamed, and while saying that it was okay to thank you, she rubbed her ass and walked away slowly.

Bai Zhihan just returned to the pharmacy, there was a sound of falling behind him, and when he looked back, it was a young man, this young man was also neat, he got up, a little embarrassed, and looked around with a red face for fear that someone would see his embarrassment. stepped forward again, walked in a panic, and fell on his back in two steps. I fell enough to choke on this, and it took a long time to get up and limp away.

The snow on the street was originally mixed with rain, and it was blown by the cold wind, and then it was trampled back and forth by the soldiers who had cleaned the scene on patrol yesterday, and the pedestrians, cars and horses who got up early and stepped on it, and it formed [***] ice.

Bai Zhihan had only been sitting at the door for a while, and he saw several pedestrians falling, some of them so hard that they couldn't get up for half a day. She put down her needlework, found a shovel, and went to the street at the door, ready to make a way out of the doorway.

(To be continued)