By the time the sun had completely set, the camp where thousands of victims had gathered had finally burst into smoke.

Bonfires were rising everywhere, lighting up the camp, and everyone couldn't wait to drink the porridge as soon as it was cooked, or even just boiling water, and they were not afraid of burning their mouths, but they just poured it into their stomachs desperately.

Xia Yuan didn't ask these people how many days they had been hungry, maybe they had been hungry for a short time, maybe they had been hungry for two or three days, none of this mattered.

As for whether anything evil had happened under the ravages of hunger, he still did not want to ask.

"Go and tell the people that it doesn't matter if the porridge is cooked or not, but you must wait for the water to boil, otherwise you will get an epidemic."

With a command, Xia Yuan used the branch in his hand to stir the bonfire in front of him, and then looked at the stone mountain.

Shi Dashan, as the leader of this camp, or the leader of the bandits, has not entered the water for more than a day. I was going to take my men and go to the rest of the camps to see if I could grab some, but I met these disaster relief teams from the 'imperial court'.

Now that he had food, he was swallowing it heavily, and when he noticed Xia Yuan's gaze, he hurriedly stopped. He was already big and consumed a lot, and although he ate a few bites, it made his stomach even more uncomfortable.

But he didn't dare to drink it anymore, and then he said: "The collapse was in the evening, and it was almost time for curfew. Most of the people in the city were at home, and suddenly they collapsed, and they didn't have time to escape, so they were crushed under the house.

Then the Yellow River on the edge of the city burst its banks and flooded, and the water poured in. The water is afraid that it is two or three feet high, and many people are swept away by the water, and there is no time to save people."

"There were many people who could have been saved, but when the water came in, they drowned alive under the house."

As he spoke, Shi Dashan's tiger eyes were full of tears, and he choked up, "My wife and children are small, and that's what they are. I, I wanted to save them, but I was too late, so I was washed out by the water, and the city was watery and still alive, but those who couldn't water were drowned."

"I'm afraid these thousands of people are all the people who have survived in the city, miserable, really miserable, in a city of 80,000 or 90,000 people, only these thousands are still alive."

Hearing this, Xia Yuan's nose was a little sour, but he still looked around and asked, "The victims here are all the surviving people in the city?" ”

"Originally, there were nearly 10,000 people, but many of them died later, some were sick, some drowned, and some died of starvation.

"In this Pucheng, only you, Shi Bantou, a member of the yamen, survived?"

"There are more than a dozen servants, right there." As he spoke, Shi Dashan stretched out his hand to point, and finally pointed to the place a little farther away, "My lord, they are over there." ”

Xia Yuan turned his head to see that more than a dozen men were sitting there drinking porridge scattered, and then he moved his gaze back, "Where are the officials in Pucheng?" ”

"Originally, there was a canonical history, a county prince, but then they all died. The landslide came too fast, and there was still a lot of water behind it, so there was no time to bring food.

Within two days, the big guy was really hungry and couldn't do anything, and the county lord said that this was not a hit, and he had to go to the city treasury to get food, and then he took a few hundred people to the city, and then drowned inside. ”

The duty of the county is to take charge of the county treasury, granary, taxation, and archives. The key to the treasury of the granary was also kept by him, either at home or in a special place. If he hadn't gone, the rest of the people wouldn't have been able to find the key to the granary.

In order to facilitate the preservation of grain, the granaries are all underground, and the cellar doors are also the strongest and thickest. Perhaps the door of the granary was still intact after the collapse.

The claim that this county was drowned is quite reasonable.

After a turn of thought, Xia Yuan took his thoughts back again, and then asked, "What about the classic history?" ”

"The history of the classics drank dirty water, and then fell ill and died."

Hearing that the officials were dead, Xia Yuan didn't ask whether this Shi team leader was on the throne or whether he used improper means to become the leader of the disaster, but asked: "Puzhou governs six counties, except for Pucheng County, where you govern, what is the situation of the rest of the counties?" ”

"They are all miserable, and they have all been flooded, but they are not as miserable as our Pucheng, and our Pucheng is the most severely affected."

"Have you been to the rest of the county?"

"Some have seen it, some have not, but they have more survivors than we do."

“.”

Xia Yuan didn't say anything more, Pucheng was originally the easternmost county seat of Puzhou, which was under the jurisdiction of Puzhou from Shandong during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, and then went west, there were five county seats.

That is to say, there are about six large-scale disaster victim forces in Puzhou, with their respective counties as units. As for the rest of the small forces, such as the same village, or those who have united with the same villagers, we will not mention it for the time being.

The Pucheng Governance Station belongs to the epicenter area, which is the most severely affected and the least surviving people.

The remaining five counties are estimated to be no better, and they have probably become dead cities like Pucheng.

The Yellow River passes through the border, and almost all the county towns are near the Yellow River. Such a large-scale landslide shook thousands of miles, affecting five provinces, and there must be more than one place where the Yellow River bursts.

Seeing Xia Yuan pondering, Shi Dashan took the opportunity to drink the porridge again, gulped down, and drank the jar full of porridge before he said, "Adult, I don't know if I can ask a question for the little one?" ”

"Say."

"How did the Imperial Court get the news so quickly?"

Hearing this, Xia Yuan asked rhetorically: "What does Shi Bantou think?" ”

"The little one thinks."

"Don't hide it, on the second day after the collapse of the land, the county lord sent people. I want to go to Beijing to give the imperial court and tell the emperor that our Puzhou has suffered a disaster. But everywhere there was water, and there were vibrations from time to time, and the horses could not walk, and the pigeon lofts collapsed, and the carrier pigeons did not know where they had flown to.

I had to let a few people with good water characteristics carry dry food and walk all the way, but only by foot where would it be so fast. ”

"So you are suspicious of the identity of this official?"

"No, the little ones don't, and the little ones don't have the slightest suspicion."

Speaking of this, Shi Dashan hurriedly put the clay pot in his hand on the ground, and immediately bowed to the northeast, and then kowtowed: "The emperor is virtuous, and the court is virtuous."

Zhu Houzhao had just washed his hair by the river not far away, and was walking over with a long dripping hair.

When I got closer, I saw this scene, heard these words, and said: "You should say that the master is virtuous and the prince is virtuous." What does it have to do with the emperor and that court? ”

"Prince?"

"Not bad!" Zhu Houzhao raised his head and straightened his waist as much as possible, "This palace is the prince!" ”

Shi Dashan froze and looked up at him, "You, you are His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. How is it possible, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince could be like you."

Zhu Houzhao was angry, glaring at him, what is the crown prince, how can he be like this, what is not like the prince in this palace?

Immediately, he wiped it vigorously on his chest with his hand, just lying on the river, there were some large water stains on his chest, and now he wiped it with his hand, and his clothes were a little dirtier, but the mud was melted away by the water, and the dragon pattern on his chest was gradually revealed.

"Do you see the dragon pattern on the chest of the main palace? It's not the prince, how dare you wear such clothes. ”

Xia Yuan had no choice but to say: "This is indeed His Royal Highness the Prince, and the doctors sitting in the shed over there are all the imperial doctors in the palace." ”

“.”

After some long silence, Shi Dashan continued to kowtow to the northeast, much harder than before, "The emperor is virtuous, and the court is virtuous!" ”

The voice was crying, hoarse, echoing under the starry sky of the wilderness.

Zhu Hou grinned angrily, and said that it was the master and the emperor who were virtuous in the palace and stepped on horses!

Xia Yuan looked up at the starry sky, there were no bright neon lights flashing, no air pollution.

Above the dome, the stars are brilliant, and countless stars reflect each other, showing an auspicious image.

It must be auspicious.

More than 1,000 miles from Puzhou to Jingshi is a long distance in this era, and a landslide makes the separation of more than 1,000 miles like a moat.

When the sky was slightly bright, Xiao Yan from the East Factory and the Tongzhi who stayed behind by the Jinyi Guard entered the palace with their own reports.

These days, they don't know how many times they have entered the palace like this. First of all, the political envoy of Hebei Province rushed to attack, saying that there was a land collapse in the territory. It's not serious, but some houses and houses collapsed in several county towns in the west, and there were casualties in each, and I am afraid that there are hundreds of dead and wounded in total.

Then there was the Shanxi Political Envoy, who said that there was a landslide in the southeast corner, and thousands of people were killed and injured.

This was followed by the political envoy of Shandong, who asked the southwest to suffer serious disasters due to land collapse, the water transportation was cut off, the embankments were destroyed and the fields were flooded, and I am afraid that thousands of people died in this catastrophe and tens of thousands of people suffered from the disaster.

The situation is getting worse and more serious every time, and every time it is more and more frightening, the presentation of Shandong came up, and His Majesty even fainted because of it. And this time, it is still the report of the political envoy of Shandong, but it is the matter of Puzhou.

At this time, the sky was slightly bright, and it was the hour, and the civil and military officials were already standing in front of the noon gate waiting for the court.

The entire Qianqing Palace is still brightly lit, and one hundred and eight lanterns reflect the brightness and glory of the entire hall.

Emperor Hongzhi, who had not slept all night, put on his court clothes, his face was sallow, his eyes were bloodshot, and even the white hair on his head suddenly grew a lot, and he was immediately covered by the crown of wings.

Seeing that Xiao Jing went out for a long time, and then bowed back again, Zhu Youzhu pursed his lips and said faintly: "Let's talk about it, but what happened to the disaster." ”

"If you go back to the emperor, no, there is no disaster."

Xiao Jing lowered his head, then bowed down and walked to the squeaky charcoal stove over there, put a towel on his hand, picked up the clay pot sitting on the charcoal stove, and poured out a bowl of the decoction inside.

A bowl full of soup and medicine, Xiao Jing held it in both hands, in order to prevent the soup from spilling, he walked very slowly and carefully.

Slowly held it in front of Emperor Hongzhi, and slowly handed it to the emperor's mouth, "Emperor, you drink the medicine first, and then the slave will wait for you to go to the court." ”

Emperor Hongzhi stared at him for a long time, then lowered his head and took a sip first, then stretched out his hand to take the medicine bowl, took a deep breath, and drank the bowl of bitter decoction in one gulp.

Xiao Jing's eyes were red, and he hurriedly took the medicine bowl, and hurriedly put his hand into the silver basin held by the palace maid next to him. He swung out the towel in the water a few times, wrung it out, and then used this warm towel to wipe the side of Emperor Hongzhi's mouth and the medicine stains on his beard.

Zhu Youzhu looked at him deeply, "Anyway, I can stand it." ”

"The Emperor." The bitterness in Xiao Jing's eyes flashed, "The slave doesn't dare to deceive the emperor, there is really nothing to suffer, and now the factory guards have been sent to inquire around along the Caoyun, and I think there will be news soon." ”

"Don't deceive, even if you hide it, what can you do, in the end, you don't want me to know."

Emperor Hongzhi stretched out his hand, his palm spread, "Take it out."

"Emperor." Xiao Jing's voice was a little sobbing, he wiped his tears with his sleeve, and there was a moment of silence, and then he took out two copies of the report from his cuffs, one from Jinyiwei and one from Dongchang, and put them into the hands of the emperor.

The two letters were very light, light and fluttering, and there was no weight, but they made Zhu Youzhang's wrist tremble a little, he calmed down, took out the thin piece of paper from the seal and looked at it.

"Puzhou."

These two words swiped into Zhu Youzhang's eyes, and what followed was a line of content,

"On the day of Renyin in August of the fifteenth year of Hongzhi, the dragon in Puzhou, Henan Province turned over, the Yellow River burst its embankment and flooded, and the flood may have flooded the entire Puzhou, and the six counties under the rule of Puzhou were seriously affected, the deaths and injuries of the officials and the people were not counted, and the details of the road blockade were not known.

Looking at it word by word, Emperor Hongzhi's cheeks trembled. The words on this newspaper are very neat, but the strokes do not look like words, but like sharp swords, along his eyes, and straight into his internal organs.

Stirring his abdominal cavity and five organs ache and tear, Puzhou, Puzhou He remembered the words of that day - "Please Your Majesty send people out of Beijing, to the west, to Henan to the direction of the Central Plains"

Obviously, I have already told you, why didn't I listen to me in the first place

My son, and my son-in-law, I am afraid that they have already been in Puzhou and have started the so-called disaster relief.

But what calamity did they save?

What calamity they saved!

That Puzhou didn't even send the report to Beijing, and the neighboring Shandong political envoy needed to play on behalf of the Puzhou what a miserable situation they were born at this time

Emperor Hongzhi's sallow face was as white as paper all of a sudden, and his teeth were tightly closed. The figure began to shake, looking like it was about to fall down at any time, but he grabbed the lamp holder next to him with his hand, gritting his teeth and refusing to fall.

Xiao Jing hurriedly reached out to help, but at this moment, he found that Emperor Hongzhi's pale face gradually turned red again, and then a wisp of blood slowly flowed down from his nostrils, and then blood overflowed from the corners of his mouth.

Xiao Jing instantly burst into tears, and shouted loudly: "Come on, go to Xuan Taiyi!" ”

Immediately, the entire main hall of the Qianqing Palace was immediately rushed and mixed footsteps, one by one running out, some people were nervous and didn't know what to do, and they collided together in a hurry.

"All back!" At this moment, Emperor Hongzhi held his breath and shouted these three words.

One by one, the eunuchs who had just run out of the hall immediately stopped.

Emperor Hongzhi wiped his hand on his lips and nose, looked at the bright red blood stains on his fingers, and called out, "Xiao Jing." ”

Xiao Jing immediately knelt on the ground, "The slave is here." ”

"Go get a wet handkerchief, wipe the blood stains on my lower lip, and then go and prepare Luanyu, and wait for me to go to court."

"Emperor."

Hearing this, Xiao Jing raised his head suddenly, but met the miserable but resolute face of Emperor Hongzhi, with a tone that could not be refused, "Go quickly!" ”

"Slave."

Xiao Jing's eyes had already been covered with tears, but he kowtowed heavily, "Slave obeys!" ”

(End of chapter)