The three well-dressed officials were sitting on a high platform in the porridge shed.

The table was made of fine wood, with a thick blanket on top and a few tables with wine and food and seasonal fruits and vegetables.

If it weren't for the fact that there was a big pot of porridge next to it, and those scrawny victims, it would have made people think that this was not a porridge shack for soup kitchen, but a Qinglou restaurant on Yongan Street.

At this time, the three officials, dressed in gorgeous official uniforms, were frequently raising their glasses and drinking from time to time, feasting on them, causing the surrounding victims to swallow their saliva, and many children just stood in the distance, smacking their fingers.

It's just that they are afraid of the long knives in the hands of those soldiers and horses of the Five Cities Division, and the victims can only watch with their eyes, quietly waiting for the time to put the porridge and give the porridge.

Fortunately, they still have one last bit of hope.

On the high platform in the porridge shack, several officials who were drinking and having fun had another pastime, which was to check the posture of the female victims who were sent over.

Every time a woman is sent, several people first look at each other's eyes, and if they feel that the appearance is still eye-catching, they reach out and touch each other's waist, chest, and buttocks, and then break each other's mouths to look at the teeth.

It's as if what they're examining isn't a living person, but an animal.

The one they had chosen was pushed with their hands, and immediately several servants and servants who were serving by them came and pulled the woman to the side of the shack.

Those who were not selected waved their hands, and someone dragged the women who were not selected away.

The chosen ones were smiling, and even their parents, husbands, children, and families were overjoyed, and followed a few officials to the side of the shack to get a bag of things, and some of them opened and devoured them on the spot.

but corn in the shell.

Those who were not selected were directly driven out of the porridge shed, and a few of them were quick to pick up some broken bone kernels on the ground and stuff them into their mouths, stretching and swallowing them in their throats, causing the sticks of the officials and the officers and the soldiers below to laugh.

Li Yun got out of the carriage and stood on the side of the road watching from a distance, with no expression, no joy or sorrow, as if he was watching a picture of a human tragedy.

The little light on the side hurriedly leaned over and whispered:

"Childe, these three are all officials who are in charge of soup soup and disaster relief, and the one in the middle is the head of the Gyeonggi Province Qing Officials Division of the Ministry of Households, Zheng Liupin, named Xu Jiyuan, I have seen him in the Metropolitan Governor before...... The other two, looking at the dress, one is an official of the household department, and the other should be a ...... of the Five Cities Terracotta Division."

Li Yun didn't speak, but turned his head to look at the victims present.

More than 100,000 victims, black and pressed, everyone is yellow and thin, long-term malnutrition, skin and bones are considered light.

What's more, there are some children who are obviously dying, and they are held in the arms of their emaciated mothers, silent.

More than 100,000 victims waited silently, and in the porridge shack guarded by hundreds of soldiers, the three officials on the high platform were still drinking and having fun.

It's just that no one thinks there's anything wrong with this scene, whether it's the victims, or the soldiers, or the passers-by, or even the officials.

It's as if that's the way it makes sense.

Li Yun waved his hand to signal Zhou Quan and the other Jinyi guards to not follow too closely, and walked to the team of victims with Xiao Guangzi, and asked an old man with white hair:

"Uncle, why hasn't this porridge shed been given porridge yet? And what about the women who were sent in? ”

Although the old man was wearing a patched garment, he was very clean, and he was wearing a scarf on his head, and he seemed to have some knowledge.

Hearing Li Yun's words, the skinny old man turned his head, also glanced at Li Yun, and said:

"This official is the master of the capital, right? Tsk, there are rich and noble families in this capital, and it's normal for officials to not understand it......"

Then he grinned and continued:

"Those women were all sold by their parents or their husbands, and if they sell one person, they can be exchanged for two catties of brown rice, two catties!"

As he spoke, the old man stretched out two fingers and gestured, with a smile on his face that was more ugly than crying.

"After being sold, their families will have a full meal, and they won't have to go hungry in the future...... It is said that the officials in this soup kitchen have a way, and the woman who is sold can enter the capital! ”

"Either send it to the Qinglou, or be picked up by the dignitaries and nobles in the capital, and be a slave who warms the bed, hehe, it's not a beautiful birth, but it's not this great blessing!"

The little photon on the side whispered:

"The household department has set up a special soup kitchen, and dispatched people to take care of this soup kitchen......

Li Yun frowned and asked the old man:

"Didn't this imperial court set up a soup kitchen, which specializes in soup soup for disaster relief? Everyone at least has a full bite to eat, so why sell women and wives? ”

The old man smiled, looked at Li Yun and said:

"You are Jing Ye, how do you know the suffering of the victims of our Hedong Dao...... You'll take a closer look later......"

Then he said with some unspeakable sneer:

"I've been chatting with you for a while, but all the strength that the old man has saved has been spent, and I don't know if I can still make it to the soup kitchen......"

Li Yun immediately made a gesture to the little light on the side, and the little light child hurriedly ran back to the carriage, and when he came back, he took out an oil paper bag from his arms and quietly stuffed it into the old man's hand.

The old man hurriedly squatted down and carefully held the thing in his arms, for fear that the other victims around him would see it, and then carefully opened the oily paper bag and saw two oily sesame baked cakes.

He burst into tears in an instant, carefully wrapped the sesame baked cake again, stuffed it into his arms, and then picked up the only sesame seed that fell from the ground, stuffed it into his mouth with the dust, and chewed it carefully.

While chewing, he stood up tremblingly and shook Li Yun to the ground, and said:

"Gongzi Xie! The son is very kind, and the little old man is unforgettable! ”

Li Yun picked up the old man, sighed and said:

"My husband is going to give this cake to his family."

The old man said in a trembling voice:

"I'll tell you the truth, I still have a grandson who is sick and is lying on the side, the little old man is hungry, and the child can't bear the hunger......"

Li Yun said at the moment:

"Lead the way."

The old man turned and walked into the crowd, passing a stinking and dirty crowd of victims, and came to the bottom of a crooked-necked tree in the leeward side of the side.

All the bark and leaves of the tree had been stripped away, and under the tree lay a skinny eleven or twelve-year-old child, guarded by a woman with a numb face.

When she saw the old man coming, the woman nodded at him, looked at the child, and shook her head again.

The old man couldn't care about anything else at this time, shook his grandson awake, and hurriedly stuffed a baked cake into the child's hand, and at the same time blocked it with his body to prevent outsiders from seeing it.

The child was extremely weak, and when he saw this palm-sized oily sesame cake, he hurriedly devoured it, and he didn't care about talking at all.

At this time, the old man stuffed the remaining baked cake to the woman, and the woman's eyes lit up, and she hunched over and ate a few bites, and suddenly remembered something, tore off half of the baked cake in her sleeve, and stuffed it into the old man's hand, and the last piece in her hand was also put away by her.

The old man saw that his grandson had gobbled up the biscuit, so he immediately quietly stuffed the half of the biscuit to the child.

Seeing that after the child finished eating, the whole person was obviously a little more energetic, and he was no longer in the dying state, the old man was in tears, and he bowed deeply to Li Yun, and said:

"Thank you! Otherwise, my grandson will die of illness here......"

Xiao Guangzi frowned and said:

"Sick? Among the victims, there is also an epidemic? ”

The old man smiled miserably and said:

"What disease? Of course, it's a disease of hunger, and it's more terrible than any other disease......"

At this time, seeing that his grandson was in the woman's arms, and he still had the strength to call his mother, the old man was a lot more relieved, and then said to Li Yun:

"The son is very kind, and the little old man is willing to repay the grass ring...... The poor little old man is also a scholar in the township, and he used to have a few acres of thin fields, but when he encountered this military disaster and man-made disaster, he really couldn't continue, so he could only come out and escape the famine......"

Li Yun couldn't help frowning and said:

"Disasters of war and man-made disasters? Isn't the flood in Hedong Province a natural disaster? ”

The old man smiled miserably and said:

"In the shogunate of the Hedong Province Jiedu envoy in the imperial court, of course, it is said that it is a natural disaster, but who doesn't know that this is the Hedong Province Jiedu envoy who dug the embankment of the Qinghe River in order to help the wealthy family annex the land?"

"Digging the river embankment and encountering a torrential rain for ten days is more fierce than any harsh government! As for what kind of disaster it is, hehe, the official word has two mouths, let him go. ”

Hearing the old man's words, Li Yun's face became gloomy, and his heart was surging with murderous intent.

It turns out that this is the truth of the Qinghe flood!

The old man seemed to realize that he had said too much at this time, so he quickly changed the topic, pointed in the direction of the porridge shed, and said:

"This porridge shed gives porridge once a day in the morning and once in the afternoon, and there is already white smoke in the chimney, which is about to be given porridge."

At this time, those who were sitting or lying down got up one after another and squeezed in the direction of the porridge shed.

Apparently they all understood the timing of the soup kitchen.

A team of patrolmen from the Five Cities Terracotta Division rushed over with knives, and when they saw the people who were crowded together, they immediately raised the back of their knives and beat them, and those who couldn't dodge were drawn to their faces and bloodied, and they were driven together to line up like livestock.

At the same time, on the high platform in the porridge shed, Xu Jiyuan, the head of the household department, drank the wine in the cup, and a clerk next to him immediately came over to remind him.

Xu Jiyuan put down the wine glass, burped, stretched, and said:

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to feed again, and it's just the right time to watch the scenery and write poems, and drink with this wonder."

The clerk on the side laughed and said:

"If there were no living bodhisattvas like Master Xu, these victims would have starved to death a long time ago, and Lord Xu didn't save people this time, he really purified all sentient beings."

As he was talking, he saw that the antlers in front of the porridge shed had been moved away by the soldiers, and under the vicious gaze of a group of patrolmen with knives, a team of victims took the broken bowls in their hands, lined up in front of the cauldron with longing faces, and were given a spoonful of rice porridge, and immediately ran to the side to eat a mouthful.

Some of them have already drunk it all before it is cool, and they are so hot that they shout and scream, but they cry out for pleasure.

The old man couldn't take care of it at this time, entrusted his grandson to Li Yun, and went to get porridge with his daughter-in-law.

After a while, the old man cautiously ran back with a broken clay pot and handed it to his grandson.

Li Yun looked over expressionlessly, and saw that the porridge in this clay pot was only a few grains of rice, and there was even withered grass mixed in it, so clear that he could see the human figure.

He finally understood the meaning of what the old man said, why he had already opened a warehouse to give porridge, but there were still people pawning wives and selling daughters.

Kill!

At this moment, there was a noisy noise in the direction of the porridge shed.

Clashes broke out between the victims and the soldiers!

(End of chapter)