Chen Qi was taken back to Yingge Village by Yi Tianhu and his wife, and after living for a few days, he had to say goodbye.

"Why don't you stay longer?" asked Mrs. Yi reluctantly looking at Chen Qi. Although they have not seen each other for eighteen years, Yi Tianhu and his wife are still extremely happy about Chen Qi's sudden appearance and treat him as if he were their own child.

"Godmother, I still have some things to do, I should have spent more days with my father and mother in the mountains, but that matter is also very important, I will have time to come back to visit you and my father-in-law in the future, and I will accompany you for a few more days at that time. ”

"Since you have something to do, we won't force you to stay, and you must remember to come back more often in the future, this is your home. Yi Tianhu said.

"Remember, child!"

Yi Tianhu took out a letter and handed it to Chen Qi with a beast tooth, "My brother is in the Xiang Cheng army not far from the capital, he is a deputy general, and my son is also there, you have something to do outside, you can go there to find them, they will help you when they see this letter and this wolf tooth." ”

Chen Qi took the letter and the wolf fang, and said, "Thank you, father-in-law!"

Chen Qi said goodbye to Yi Tianhu and his wife, and left Yingge Village with the clothes and some dry food that Yi's wife had sewn for him.

All the way over the mountains and mountains, five or six days out of this continuous mountain range, onto the official road. This official road leads to Yuezhou on one side and Yunzhou on the other, Chen Qi determined the direction and walked towards Yunzhou City.

Along the way, Chen Qi met many victims of the disaster in Yuezhou, and he often saw people starving to death on the roadside. Chen Qi was very heartbroken when he saw this, and the dry food he brought had already been distributed to those victims in need. When he saw something to sell, he would buy it all and give it to the victims.

Chen Qi learned from the conversation with the victims that not only Yuezhou, but also Hengzhou and Qingzhou were also very seriously affected, and last autumn, the three states did not receive any grains, and the state government reported to the imperial court, which not only exempted the three states from taxes, but also distributed relief food to every household.

After the beginning of spring after the New Year, the relief food issued by the imperial court gradually ran out, but the state government did not distribute the relief food again, and slowly began to starve to death, people began to flee, and people began to rob official food. The looting of official rations was quickly suppressed, and many people were killed.

Those who were the first to run out of food fled in the early spring, and some people were forced to flee their hometowns where they had lived for generations, and Yunzhou, which was closest to the disaster and was not affected by the disaster, was the first choice for evacuation. On the way to escape, many people did not make it to the end and starved to death on the way.

"Since someone grabbed grain, it means that there is grain in the granary of the government, why don't they help you?" Chen Qi looked at a fleeing man and asked, this man was just rescued by him, in his twenties, called Ah Niu, as his name suggests, and his body is as strong as a cow.

Ah Niu ate some food given by Chen Qi, drank some water, slowly recovered his strength, and chatted with Chen Qi.

A Niu said: "Although the relief grain allocated by the imperial court is not much, it can also allow most of the disaster victims to survive the spring planting, and when the autumn harvest comes, there will be new grain, this disaster year is over, but most of these officials and masters are full of private pockets, regardless of the life and death of the people, deduct the disaster relief grain of the imperial court, and then unite with profiteers, sell it at a high price, and make a fortune from the disaster." ”

"Since the imperial court has allocated disaster relief money and food, it will definitely send officials to supervise, why don't you sue these corrupt officials?"

"Sue us can't even see the faces of these officials, how can we sue?" Ah Niu said angrily, "Although the imperial court has sent people to supervise, but these dog officials are all the same, as soon as they arrive in the place, the local officials will eat and drink well, and then send a lot of silver tickets, will these people still make decisions for the people?"

"Just to fill their own pockets, regardless of the life and death of the people, these dog officials, really deserve to be killed?" Chen Qi said angrily.

Although he listened to the hard laborers who escaped in the mountains mentioning the situation of the disaster that day, Chen Qi did not expect the disaster to be so serious, he did not expect that there were three prefectures affected by the disaster, and he did not expect that these officials would dare to deduct the money and food of the imperial court for disaster relief regardless of the lives of the people, so when he knew this, he was extremely angry, and at the same time blamed himself for going out of the mountain earlier, so that he could help these victims earlier and starve to death less.

"Kill them? Those who have robbed a little food will be beheaded if they are caught, and who dares to kill them, besides, they are protected by guards around them, and they can't get close at all. Ah Niu shook his head, his face full of helplessness.

"You can't just do it, you have to find a way. Chen Qi said to himself.

Chen Qi asked Ah Niu to go with him, which could not only ensure his life, but also allow him to help him save people on the way.

Ah Niu's family left one by one due to hunger and illness on the way to escape, and he was left alone here, if it wasn't for Chen Qi's timely rescue, he would not have died now. Now that Chen Qi asked him to hurry with him, he was naturally very willing.

Walk all the way, rescue all the way, all the way to the outside of Yunzhou City.

In the afternoon of this day, when he arrived outside Yunzhou City, Chen Qi saw a shed selling food at a glance, and the strange thing was that although there was a lot of food in the shed, there were only a few men in black sitting and no diners. None of the hungry refugees came forward to beg.

Chen Qi and Ah Niu stepped forward and said to a few sleepy people: "Do you sell food here?"

A man in black glanced up at Chen Qi, stood up, stretched his waist, and yawned a long time before he said slowly: "Not for sale?

Chen Qi said: "With so many fleeing victims, didn't the state government think of relief?"

The man said angrily: "Relief, you think beautifully, there are so many disaster victims, and the imperial court has not allocated money and food for disaster relief to Yunzhou, so how can the state government save it?"

"Didn't the imperial court save them if they didn't allocate money and food?"

When the man heard Chen Qi say this, he immediately became angry and said: "You kid is here to find trouble, whether you can save them or not is the government's business, what does Lao Tzu do, you have to talk nonsense again, be careful that Lao Tzu is not polite." ”

Seeing this, several other people immediately jumped up from their chairs, all of them were big men with tigers on their backs, each holding a steel knife in their hands, revealing their fierce faces.

Someone said, "The troublemaker also cut him down." ”

Ah Niu hurriedly smiled and said: "A few uncles are angry, we are not here to make trouble, my brother just asked casually." ”

Chen Qi also realized that he was a little excited just now, these are not people from the government, they are just doing business, although they are fierce, but the disaster relief really has nothing to do with them.

"How much do you guys have to eat? I bought it all. Chen Qi said.

The man in black sneered twice, and then smiled at the big men in the back, "He's going to buy all our food......"

After the man in black finished speaking, he looked Chen Qi and the ragged Ah Niu up and down, and said viciously: "It seems that you are really looking for death, and you dare to entertain Lao Tzu." ”

Ah Niu was a little scared, although Chen Qi spent a lot of money to buy food to relieve the victims along the way, but several people here looked obviously not good, or none of them came to buy, so he pulled Chen Qi's arm.

Chen Qi patted Ah Niu's arm, signaling that he didn't have to worry, and then continued to the man in black: "I didn't entertain you, you make a price, I bought it all." ”

At this time, the man in black was a little surprised, and looked at Chen Qi again, and saw that Chen Qi was dressed in coarse cloth, not like a rich man, but listening to Chen Qi's words, he was extremely resolute, not like he was joking.

He looked back at the big men behind him, and they all nodded to him, and then he turned around, raised his right hand, and stretched out three fingers, "Thirty taels." ”

"Thirty taels, you are robbing the money, just some white-flour steamed buns and gruel, you want thirty taels?" Ah Niu didn't care about being afraid, and said angrily, it was really the outrageous price offered by the man in black that made him forget to be afraid.

"Thirty taels is thirty taels," Chen Qi readily agreed, "I'll add another twenty taels to you, and you can sell me these tables, chairs and benches from this place." ”

"What? Fifty taels are you going to take this place and buy it all?" The man in black listened to Chen Qi's words, looked at Chen Qi with wide eyes in surprise, and when he saw Chen Qi nodded, he looked at the big men behind him again. The big men nodded to him with excitement on their faces, much larger than just now, and their movements were faster.

The man in black got the approval of his companions, and hurriedly turned around and said to Chen Qi: "Deal." ”

Chen Qi took out a silver ingot from his arms and threw it to the man in black, "This place is mine, you can go." ”

Ah Niu looked at Chen Qi in surprise, he didn't expect Chen Qi to really pay fifty taels of silver to buy all this place.

The man in black took the silver, stared at it and looked back and forth carefully a few times, and confirmed that there was no problem, before turning to the other people, and said excitedly: "Let's go, brothers, go back to the city to eat and drink, and come back tomorrow to build a shed." ”

Some of his companions echoed, and some looked at Chen Qi with puzzled expressions, but they didn't stop going back to the city, but they didn't understand that this was obviously slaughtered, but Chen Qi really bought it.

"Brother Chen, why did you spend so much money to buy this place?" Ah Niu asked puzzled after waiting for those people to leave.

"It is true that these foods and the items in this shed are not worth fifty taels of silver, but I bought them for use, and fifty taels of silver is not much compared to the usefulness. Chen Qi smiled, "Tomorrow you will understand, now hurry up and call those victims and distribute these food to them." ”

Hearing that there was free food to eat, the victims who had been hiding in the distance and staring at the shed all the time instantly surrounded them.

"Slow down, don't squeeze, there's ......"

Ah Niu shouted loudly while handing out steamed buns, but where can those victims still listen to him, some people crowded to him, grabbed the steamed buns and ran.

Faced with such a situation, Chen Qi had already prepared, he picked up a whole drawer of steamed buns and gave them to those elderly and frail victims.

Although the scene was a little chaotic, fortunately these people were not greedy, and they only took what they needed and left. After a short time, the steamed buns were gone, and Chen Qi and Ah Niu distributed the porridge to the victims.

When the porridge was delivered on the last night, Chen Qi said to Ah Niu: "I have something to do in the city, you will live here tonight, take care of this shed, and I will come to you tomorrow." ”

"Hmm. Ah Niu nodded.

Chen Qi took out two steamed buns from his arms and handed them to Ah Niu, and then walked towards the city.