The twenty-first day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, the beginning of autumn.

Hushan Manor and Ziyangguan began to adjust and digest the resettlement of the victims for three days, and the number of ships put into operation to transport the victims increased from 6 to 7, of which 3 were large ships of more than 500 tons and 4 were 150-ton inland river transport ships.

Since the resettlement site of the victims was transferred to Longtan, 25 kilometers downstream, two fully equipped 450-ton warships needed to stay in the waters of Longtan for vigilance training, and the frequency of the fleet of seven transport ships was greatly reduced in response to the safety of the Longtan battalion.

Zhu Daolin had to give an order to stop the extremely dangerous night voyage, rest all at night, and then rush to the base camp of the sailors outside the Sanshan Gate to discuss countermeasures with Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei.

Regrettably, 18 large and small warships of the Longjiang Naval Division have already gone to the Jiangyin line downstream to carry out training to crack down on water bandits, and the other three inland river sand boats are still halfway through transporting copper to Beijing, and Xu Hongji only has the "Zhenjiang" flagship and seven small warships of 200 materials and 30 narrow bucket boats with a length of five meters in his hands to carry out the patrol task of the 100-mile section of the river, and they are unable to transport the victims at all.

As a result, Zhu Daolin's fleet could only make three trips a day to bring 21,000 victims to the resettlement sites.

With the intensification of peasant uprisings in southern Henan, Huaibei and Luxi, the victims who fled to the south showed no signs of stopping, and the victims of the Jiangpu wharf on the north bank gathered more and more, the number has exceeded 400,000, and the victims were deeply afraid that they would no longer be able to cross the south bank to get relief, so they spread along the north bank to the east and west, looking for all the boats and bamboo rafts that could cross the river and risk their lives to enter the water.

In less than three days, more than 100,000 ragged and emaciated victims poured out of Jinling City, and more than 200,000 victims rushed to Jinling City in addition to the more than 100,000 victims who had been stranded before. The senior officials of the six ministries hurriedly ordered the expulsion of the victims and the closure of the city gates, and the government at all levels, which was deeply afraid of triggering the riots, was under great pressure and had to open warehouses to release grain to alleviate the people's grievances.

More and more people gathered outside the gates, and the food that was hung from the city walls every day was surging up and looted by thousands of hungry and crazy victims before they landed.

Countless black hands tore through the cloth bags containing grain. Tear up the falling basket, directly grab the raw rice and quickly stuff it into the mouth, and people who trample to death due to chaos abound.

The vast majority of the elderly, weak, women and children can only stay on the periphery of the hungry and irrational young refugees, crying out in vain and begging and wailing.

There was also panic in Jinling City.

Rice that used to cost 1 tael and 2 taels of silver per stone has risen to 4 taels and 5 yuan, and the prices of daily necessities such as meat, vegetables, salt, and vegetable oil have doubled continuously, and the 750,000 people trapped in the city are terrified and resentful. I implore the parents and officials to come up with a way to deal with it, ensure the safety of hundreds of thousands of lives in Jinling, and provide relief to the victims as soon as possible to restore smoothness.

At this moment, the 10,000 copies of the Jiangnan Times special issue were grandly launched, and the front page of the special issue of 10 pennies was headlined with a straightforward headline printed in large lead letters: "The Story of Longtan's Suppression of Bandits," and the subtitle was even more eye-catching: Is it collusion between officials and bandits or official dereliction of duty?

As soon as the special issue came out, it instantly shook the whole city. Sold out in just one hour, ten bookstores and tooth stores selling "Jiangnan Times" sent people to the closed and heavily guarded Zizhu Garden. It is strongly requested that it be printed and reported as soon as possible on the process and results of the officers and men of the naval division led by the commander Zhu Daren to Longtan to suppress the bandits.

The people in the city were already panicked, and learned that there was a bandit who killed people and oversold goods in Longtan, which was close at hand, and existed for six years. Killing people and goods, killing hundreds of businessmen and travelers, robbing more than 30 women from good families, and handing over a large amount of money and goods to Longtan inspection in the past six years were openly sold, and the innocent victims in the town resisted slightly. The light ones are broken hands and feet, and the heavy ones either disappear for no reason or suffer inexplicable disasters.

The people of Jinling were shocked and extremely angry, and they went out of their homes one after another, and started discussions in groups, angrily scolding the collusion of officials and bandits, the injustice of heaven, the prestige of the government plummeted, the streets and alleys were full of complaints, and the entire Jinling City was soon shrouded in boiling public resentment.

Zheng Sanjun, the head of the household, finished reading the "Special Issue" sent by his subordinates. The first part was extremely shocked, and immediately ordered the Tianfu Ya to block Zizhuyuan, raid the "Jiangnan Times" office, and then urgently convened the six Shangshu and officials at all levels to discuss countermeasures.

"How's that going? Ill-intentioned, adding fuel to the fire! Feng Yuanbiao, the secretary of the military department, was the first to rush to the inner courtyard of the Yamen of the Ministry of Households, and shouted before he entered Zheng Sanjun's office.

Zheng Sanjun forgot to even salute, and hurriedly grabbed Feng Yuanbiao's hand: "Lord Feng came just in time, do you know how many victims have been accepted by Ziyang Temple and Hushan Manor so far?" ”

Feng Yuanbiao sighed: "Lord Zheng should dispel the blame...... According to the urgent report sent by the special inspector Yushi, as of an hour ago, 170,000 victims had been resettled in Ziyangguan! ”

As of the early hours of this morning, 150,000 victims have been placed along the river in Longtan, and 200,000 victims have gathered in front of 120 porridge sheds between Jinchuan Gate and Ziyangguan before the three forks, taking turns to accept the pacification and screening of Ziyangguan and Hushan Manor."

"According to the situation in the past few days, it is speculated that about 80,000 victims who have passed the screening will be resettled today, so if you calculate, it will exceed the agreed number of 500,000 resettlements, even if Ziyangguan and Hushan Manor close the passage now and stop the screening and acceptance of the victims, we will be helpless!"

Zheng Sanjun was stunned: "Why is it so fast?" How could they be so fast? They...... Where do they get their food? Where does the food come from? ”

Feng Yuanbiao shook his head again and again: "No one knows where they got their food, there are rumors that at the eastern foot of the Shogunate Mountain in the northeast of Ziyang Temple, there are dozens of boxy iron cabinets that are two zhang long and nearly one zhang wide, and along both sides of the widened official road, there are various tents that stretch for miles!" ”

"The victims of the disaster are uniformly accommodated, uniformly restrained, the old and weak women and children are given preferential treatment, no one can drink raw water, the patients are immediately taken away for isolation, even the toilet is also designated in a designated place, and the patrol guards have to be whipped three times when urinating anywhere, although the means are extremely harsh, but they are also well organized, and there is no riot!"

"Alas, I have to admit that the young wild Taoist Zhu Daolin is indeed a talent!"

Zheng Sanjun's face was full of bitterness, and when he saw five or six Donglin Party colleagues hurrying over, he immediately let go of the two hands that had been holding Feng Yuanbiao and led everyone into the official room. (To be continued......)