On November 12, the 13th year of Chongzhen's reign in the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Cheng led his army to Wu'an County under the jurisdiction of Cizhou, Zhangde Prefecture, which already belonged to the territory of the Chief Secretary of Henan Province.
Zhang Chengce was riding on his black horse and looked around. Not only was his heart twitching, but the scene in front of him was simply like hell.
Zhan Zhan was surrounded by yellow and white areas. Not a leaf, bark, or even a blade of grass could be seen, because all of them had been eaten up by the hungry people.
Without the bark, the bare and protruding trunks were trembling in the yellow soil. A strong wind blew up, and the dust blew up in the wind.
The land is barren, yellow sand is flying all over the sky, many rivers have dried up, the river beds are also cracked, and there are leaking cracks everywhere.
The original Beiming River in the north of Wu'an County has dried up. Only the Nanming River in the south of the city is about to dry up. Zhang Cheng led his army to camp on both sides of the Nanming River. Although the water he brought up was full of mud, it was not dry.
Much better than no water.
Since they entered the territory of Wu'an, most of the villages and forts they passed on the way were deserted. Starvation was everywhere, bones were lying everywhere, and dead people of all kinds were everywhere. The remaining people also had strange eyes open, they were dizzy from hunger.
Performance.
What Zhang Cheng couldn't bear was that there were even hordes of hungry people cutting and eating the flesh of those who had just died. Abandoned dead babies could also be seen everywhere.
Although the hungry people were going crazy with hunger, when they saw the army approaching, they stayed away from them. Even if they were crazy, they were afraid that the officers and soldiers would behead them and use them to claim military merit.
Zhang Cheng originally wanted to use the food and grass stored in the army to help these hungry people, but along the way, he saw too many scenes along the way. He was afraid that even if the army rations were all scattered, how many people could be saved?
Moreover, if the military rations are distributed to these hungry people, how long can they survive, and what will the nearly 10,000-strong army eat?
Zhang Cheng also knew that the entire northern part of the Ming Dynasty had suffered from severe droughts for the past two years. Although the north road had opened up a lot of wasteland due to the construction of canals to store water, the east road was much worse, but the disaster was less severe than that in Henan.
Can get through it.
Even Baoding Prefecture and Zhending Prefecture are relatively better, but after entering Shunde Prefecture, what I saw and heard...
Zhang Cheng just ordered Liu Jinhai to set up one or two porridge shacks every hundred miles from Wu'an County to the north, and send some casual riders to guide the hungry people to the east and north roads of Xuanzhen.
If they can make it to Xuanzhen alive, at least they won't starve to death, and those who can persist to Xuanzhen must be strong people, and the number of entrances on the east and north roads can be greatly increased.
…………
In the Wu'an County Government Office, Zhang Chengzheng was sitting and talking with Ji Youci, the magistrate of Wu'an County.
"The drought this year has been particularly severe. The rivers have dried up, the earth has cracked, and the crops have almost failed to come out. As parents in this county, I feel deeply powerless. I really feel ashamed of my fellow villagers in Wu'an!" Ji Youci looked haggard and looked tired.
, the word helplessness is written all over his face.
Zhang Cheng saw a lot along the way, so he asked: "Although the disaster in Wu'an during the journey was severe, there are many valleys, so there are always some streams, so we won't lose everything."
"well!"
Ji Youci sighed and said: "Brother-in-law, you don't know something. Even if you still have some grain income, it has been deposited into the homes of those wealthy families such as scholars and gentry. Not only the people are hungry and have no food, but even the blades of grass
There is no bark left.
Even in this county government office, the warehouses are empty, the officials and servants are all hungry, and it is difficult to survive!"
Zhang Cheng said with doubts on his face: "In this case, why not let those wealthy gentry families send some grain to the county to survive the disaster years?"
"Brother-in-law, what you said is wrong. If it had been earlier, it might have been feasible. In order to take into account their reputation, those Jin gentry would have donated some grain to alleviate the people's poverty. But now that the imperial court is no longer powerful, the Jin gentry are particularly selfish.
What's more, the grain is stored in the high-walled village outside the city. Even if I want to send officers to collect it, I can't get it, and I have no choice but to sit back and watch." Ji Youci also lamented in his words.
"Brother, if I hadn't sent people to transport thousands of stones of grain, how much would the county get?" Zhang Cheng asked again.
Ji Youci smiled bitterly and said: "General Liu under my brother-in-law has indeed sent thousands of stones of food and grain, but how can we support the tens of thousands of people in the city and outside the city? The current plan can only be taken one step at a time.
At worst, I will starve to death in Wu'an with the people in the county."
Zhang Cheng's expression was grim, and he said word by word: "How much silver is there in the county treasury?"
"What do you mean, brother-in-law? Now that I have money, where can I buy grain?"
"Brother, there is no need to bother, just tell me where there is grain in the village, and then give me the money in the county treasury, and I will buy grain to alleviate the urgent shortage in the county. At least the hungry people will sigh like this.
Stay here and you won’t starve to death!” Zhang Cheng said decisively.
…………
On November 13, Lijiazhai, more than ten miles west of Wu'an County, was built according to the mountains. There were two springs in the village, both of which were occupied by Li Guangqi, who was in charge of the village.
In addition, the village is diverted to streams from the mountains all year round, so the crops are quite harvestable. The Li family is a large family in the county, with fields all over Wu'an, and the village has a lot of money and grain.
At this time, several villagers guarding the village wall looked nervous. They kept looking to the northeast, wondering what was going on with the large smoke and dust over there. After a while, they heard the sound of horse hooves trampling on the ground, and there was a faint sound.
No less than a hundred horses.
"Quickly...quickly...quickly report to Mr. Li..."
An old man in his fifties shouted loudly and seemed a little incoherent.
I saw a young man in his twenties, nimbly climbing down the wall of the village, mounting a mule and horse, and galloping towards a large courtyard in the northwest of Lijiazhai.
The smoke and dust in the distance gradually receded, and a one-eyed fierce man wearing Ming army armor rode his horse to the gate of the village. Behind him were eighty or ninety strong knights, all wearing helmets and armor and wearing bright red cloaks.
.
"May I ask if the person outside is an officer or a soldier?" the old man stood on the wall of the village and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"We are the border troops of Xuan Town, and we have been transferred to Zhongzhou to suppress bandits and bandits!" the one-eyed fierce man replied loudly.
After the old man confirmed that they were officers and soldiers, he felt a little relieved, but he asked loudly with a suspicious look on his face: "Since the general is going to Zhongzhou to suppress bandits, why did he stay in front of Xiaoren's village? We are good citizens of the county.
You are not a bandit!"
The one-eyed fierce man was Zhang Guangda, the guerrilla general in charge of the cavalry camp under Zhang Cheng. He galloped forward a few steps and shouted loudly: "We are waiting for the army to cross the border, but we don't have enough food and grass. I have been ordered by my commander-in-chief to come here."
Raise food."
The old man looked disdainful and replied loudly: "The general should go to Wu'an County to raise military supplies. It is also difficult in the grassroots village. There really is no food for the general!"