At the beginning of the summer of the second year of the Great Song Dynasty, when there was a great drought and locust plague in Jianghuai, Renzong listened to Fan Zhongyan's advice, allocated 2 million yuan of disaster relief money, and appointed Fan Zhongyan as a special envoy for disaster relief, and supervised hundreds of officials along the way. Fan Zhongyan was worried about state affairs and went on the road early.

In the summer of the same year, there was a flood in Luzhou Mansion on Jiangnan Road in Zhili, and the torrential rain continued, and many places in the entire Luzhou were flooded.

In a large mansion in the county town, a young man in an official robe was sitting on a small bench in front of the door, staring at the pouring rain outside.

"Brother Bao, are you still going to Yamen today?"

"It's raining so hard, what are you going to do? There is no sedan chair again! ”

Bao Qing was a little irritable at this time, perhaps related to the heavy rain outside.

"Da Niu, as soon as the weather clears up a little, you will go to Xiaohe Village and pick up your father and mother. We now have enough money for a big guy to live on. I just thought about the noodles your mother cooked. ”

"Okay, Brother Bao! You see the rain is lighter outside, why don't we go to the Yamen! You haven't been there for almost seven or eight days, I'm afraid that the county commander will blame you. ”

When Bao Qing heard this, he had no choice but to stand up. The habits of the house I liked in my previous life haven't changed yet, and I'm really afraid of going to work.

"Brother Bao, I helped you rent a sedan chair, why don't you leave now?"

"You kid, didn't you rent it early? Why didn't you just say that? ”

"The rent was already rented, but people said that they would not come until the rain was lighter, and they came just now."

Bao Qing smiled freely, and the two people dressed as sedan chairmen had already arrived at the back door of the middle hall, and the big cow held up an oil-paper umbrella for Bao Qing.

Bao Qing's sedan chair is small enough, and he can't move it when he sits in it. I thought to myself, this big cow is afraid that he is worried about money, why not rent a big sedan chair.

Bao Qing's sedan chair stopped suddenly, only to hear Da Niu shouting outside: "Get out of the way!" The county lieutenant's sedan chair, you dare to stop it. ”

"Sir, please enjoy the stuttering!"

"Good job, sir! Give me something to eat! ”

After Bao Qing heard it in the sedan chair, he felt that something was wrong. Where did this county come from so many called Hanako. So, I lifted the curtain of the sedan chair and stretched out my head to take a look. I was stunned by what I saw.

The street leading to the yamen in the county seat of Changchang was crowded with people. Disaster victims, to be exact. These days, his face is sallow, skinny, and he looks like he has been hungry for days. What made Bao Qing unbearable the most was that many of the victims were holding children, and the children seemed to be so hungry that they couldn't even cry.

Bao Qing thought to himself, it has only been raining heavily for a few days, why did the people leave their hometowns and run to the county seat. Don't you have any food left at home?

The victims on the street saw the old man in the sedan chair sticking out his head and shouted loudly. At this time, the skinny girl, holding a little girl of seven or eight years old, broke through the crowd and knelt down in front of Bao Qing's sedan chair.

"Sir, please save my sister! I don't want to eat, just give her something to eat, she's dying. The girl didn't know where the strength came from, so she pulled the sedan chair with one hand and didn't let the sedan chair driver leave.

Where has Bao Qing seen such a situation, Zhu Daniu saw this, went over and pulled away the girl's hand, and shouted to the crowd: "Get out of the way!" ”

Bao Qing looked at the crowd outside bitterly, and returned to the sedan chair, the sedan chair had just walked a few steps, and Bao Qing said to the big cow outside the sedan chair: "You will take the girl and her sister to the yamen in a while and get something to eat." ”

Bao Qing came to the county office, and happened to see Bao Xianling sitting in the middle hall drinking tea indifferently.

"Hey, Lieutenant Bao, why are you free today? Oh, the rain is lighter. By the way, Xiaowen comes every day to inquire if you are there. Bao Hong saw that Bao Qing's face was gloomy and he didn't speak, so he asked: "This rain is really heavy, so I didn't let Xiaowen go out to find you!" ”

Bao Qing was furious when he heard this, and said: "You care about your daughter, but have you ever gone out to see, the daughters of many people outside are dying of hunger!" ”

"Disaster victims, you say? Do you think I didn't care? I have already reported to the imperial court immediately, but I have to wait for the imperial court's disaster relief money and food to come down. I can't help it. Bao Hong sighed and said.

"What? Then you sit in the yamen and drink tea as a dignified county magistrate? It doesn't matter if the people of your jurisdiction live or die? What's the congestion outside, haven't you been out to see it? ”

"See? This happens every year, and in recent years, flooding has occurred in the summer. What can I do! I have ordered the gates to be closed, and I guess there are still many people outside. If you think there's a way, you can do it yourself, and I'll let the whole class of officials catch them at your disposal. ”

"Hmph, you are shirking your responsibility, can't you set up a porridge shack, at least you can't let the victims starve to death!"

"Bao Qing, you are still young, I advise you not to wait for the minister of disaster relief in the imperial court to come down. Most of the victims in the city are victims of the disaster in my county, and I have already sent people to distribute dry food every two days, but even if they starve to death, not many of them will starve to death. If you set up a porridge shed, the victims outside the city gate are all from other counties, and I am afraid that if they all rush into the county seat, the situation will be out of control at that time. ”

"Strong words!"

"Strong words? I'm teaching you. If it weren't for Xiaowen's face, I wouldn't have bothered to tell you. Do you know why the victims from outside the city came to my county? Because they know that only by entering my long-term county will they basically survive. If I had stayed in other counties, I would have starved to death. That's because I was given dry food every two days. Think for yourself! After Bao Hong finished speaking, he turned around and left.

Bao Qing panicked in her heart, and at this time, Zhu Daniu brought the girl and her sister who stopped the sedan chair on the road.

When the girl saw Bao Qing, she hurriedly kowtowed: "Thank you, eldest master, for your life!" ”

Bao Qing hurriedly picked up the girl and said, "What's your name?" Where do you live? ”

"Minnu, Xiaocui, sister Xiaoyun. We came from Wu County, and we heard that people who had escaped the disaster in previous years said that only when they arrived in Changchang County could they have any hope of survival, so we ran with the people. We were lucky enough to have just entered the city when the gates were closed. Xiao Cui said.

The county order really didn't lie, didn't other counties rescue the disaster at all? Bao Qing couldn't help frowning, and said, "Da Niu, this way, there is just a shortage of people at home to pour tea and water, so let Xiaocui Xiaoyun stay in the mansion." ”

When Xiaocui heard this, she was pleasantly surprised, she thought that her face was yellow and thin, and she had no color, so she couldn't enter a big family to be a concubine, and she thought about whether she could find a job to call a girl, so that she could not only keep herself, but also her sister would have something to eat. Who knows, it's so lucky, before I opened my mouth, the old man brought it up himself. So he cried excitedly.

"Master Bao! Bag Adult! "Outside hurriedly broke into a catcher, this person Bao Qing knew, it was his subordinate Qian Catcher's son, Qian Qiang.

"Which bag are you looking for?" Zhu Daniu was a little unhappy when he saw him reckless!

"Huh? Lieutenant Bao, are you too? It's not going to be good, a lot of people have starved to death at the city gate, and some people have already hit the city gate, so I'm afraid there will be a civil uprising. Qian Qiang said.

"What? A lot of people died? Let's go, take me to see it? Bao Qing couldn't help but feel anxious, there was such a big flood in his previous life, and he didn't see a few people die. When it came to the Great Song Dynasty, why did it rain heavily for a few days, and many people died.

Qian Qiang looked at Bao Qing in some surprise, and asked cautiously: "Lieutenant Bao, are you going to the city gate?" This, not good! ”

"Why?" Bao Qing was a little puzzled.

"Master, don't go, those victims will be even more excited when they see that there are officials. Sometimes there are thieves mixed in, and I am afraid that it is dangerous. When we arrived, we heard that some people had been killed by the victims. Xiaocui couldn't help but be a little nervous when she saw that Bao Qing was going to the city gate, she didn't want to, she just found a master, and she lost it so quickly.

"It's okay! Let's go, let's see! Bao Qing was young in the end, relying on the fact that he still had a treasure coat on his body, and insisted on going. The point was that he wanted to know how many people had died.

Bao Qing was about to rush to the city gate, at this time Bao Liuwen came, only to see her with a few sets of clothes, and said with a smile: "I just came from the city gate, I wanted to come back to find my father, I heard the official outside say that Brother Bao is here." I'll just say, my big brother will definitely not care. ”

Bao Qing couldn't help but have mixed feelings in his heart, he didn't expect the situation to be so bad, lying at home and sleeping in a daze, thinking that he was misunderstood by outsiders as this Bao County Lieutenant was afraid of taking responsibility, ignoring the flood, and hiding.

Bao Qing didn't explain much, put on his robe, and followed Qian Qiang to the city gate.

When he arrived at the city gate, Bao Qing stood on the Tucheng Tower in the county seat of Changchang County, and looked at it, completely stunned, there were about four or five thousand people who were densely packed at the city gate, and many people had already fallen to the ground hungry. Is this called starvation? Bao Qing couldn't help but think.

When Bao Qing looked down, there were also people in the crowd below the city wall staring at him with their eyes fixed.

"Brother Zhan, this dog officer, let me shoot him!"

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