Chapter Forty-Six: Checking the Disaster Situation
The old man looked at Da Kui with his eyes, and he said as if he wanted to see through Da Kui: "Your Excellency, you are from Shunyuan, don't you know?" Da Kui shook his head and said, "I am not from Shunyuan, I am from Longping.
Come." The old man asked in surprise: "Longping is more than two thousand miles away from here, how do you know about the disaster in Shunyuan?"
Dakui said frankly: "I came to Shunyuan City a few months ago and learned about the disaster from an old man. But I saw very little. I came here this time to verify the matter." The old man looked at it.
Dakui asked: "Your Excellency, you have traveled all the way from Shunyuan. Can you see the disaster?"
Dakui nodded and said: "The hungry people exchange their children and the food is terrible." The old man held his beard and sighed: "It's more than terrible." Dakui asked why, and the old man continued: "There is no one living within a hundred miles around Shunyuan Fucheng.
There are more than 100,000 hungry people outside." Dakui asked in confusion: "I heard that Master Yin Meng of Shunyuan Prefecture is a good official, but why did he turn a blind eye when the people were suffering?"
The old man sighed: "Mr. Meng has been deposed, but now the governor is named Liang. This man is greedy for money and has a cruel heart. Just because the people affected by the disaster are not Han Chinese, Master Liang actually said, 'If you are not of my race, your heart will be different.'"
'For this reason, they exploited the people in every possible way. The Han people usually paid 500 silver to buy food. If they were not Han people, it would cost 30 taels of silver per load. All our ethnic groups mainly farm in the mountains and forests, but how can we have the money to buy food? Now Shun Yuan
The thirty-two villages in Jiuzhaigou nearby are already starving to death."
Dakui asked hurriedly: "This person named Liang is the former Master Liang? Where did he come from?" The old man said thoughtfully: "Your guess is good, this man is called Liang Youcai. He was indeed the Master of Shunyuan City Yamen. As for the truth,
What the origin is, this old man doesn’t know.”
Dakui couldn't help but ask: "I saw that the people in your village today don't look like hungry people, but why?" The old man held his beard and smiled and said: "In addition to farming, our Yao people can still eat bamboo, rice and wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger. Now is the year of great famine.
Fortunately, there are thousands of loads of bamboo and rice in the village. But it won't last long."
Dakui nodded and said: "Now that I'm leaving, I can ask someone to go back to Shunyuan with me. If anything happens, I can inform my husband." The old man nodded and said, "This is best. I'll see you off."
On his way back to Shunyuan, Dakui brought a young man from the Yao ethnic group with him. His name was Panbu. Although he was only twenty-three years old, he was considered an outstanding hunter in eight villages. Before leaving, the old man asked him to change into a Han Chinese trousers.
He took off the scarf from his small coat. Because Shunyuan City now has a rule that no foreigners or hungry people should be left in the city.
Pan Bu was very talkative, and he knew everything from the etiquette and customs of various ethnic groups to the wild animals and small animals in the mountains. Da Kui liked Pan Bu's character very much. Although everyone was starving in the disaster year, he was already a good person.
A happy smile.
Entering Shunyuan City, it was already dark. Da Kui took Pan Bu to the Shunyuan Inn.
Yang Xiaohu and Tian Feng had already arrived at the inn and booked a room. Seeing that Dakui was busy, they led them to the upper room. The four of them sat around the table, and Dakui asked Yang Xiaohu and Tian Feng in detail about the information they had found.
It turned out that the former Governor Meng had written to ask for grain for disaster preparedness a few months ago, and the King of Wu approved that Huguang Province should allocate 200,000 dans of rice nearby. Also arriving with the grain truck team was Liang Youcai.
Liang Youcai was the nephew of Wang Fu who participated in politics in Huguang Province. When he arrived in Shunyuan, he became the governor and master of Yin Yamen of Shunyuan Prefecture. Later, all matters related to grain and grass were handled by Master Liang and he took the opportunity to make money.
Lord Meng was an upright and honest official, so naturally he couldn't stand what Liang Youcai did, so he angrily reported what Liang Youcai had done to the court. Then two months later, the court dismissed Lord Meng as a commoner for his inability to provide disaster relief.
Dakui couldn't help but feel his teeth itching when he heard this: "It's that Wang Fu again!"
Nowadays, most of the disaster victims in Guizhou Province are around Shunyuan City. What Yang Xiaohu and Tian Feng said is basically the same as what Dakui saw. Dakui said: "Send me a greeting card for me at noon tomorrow. I will go and meet with that person."
Mr. Liang." Tian Feng and Yang Xiaohu accepted the order. Dakui said: "It's getting late, let's go have a meal together and go to bed early."
The funny thing is that there is a famine outside the city and the city is in a panic. The restaurant in the front hall of the inn has everything you want to eat, but it is just like the last time we came to Shunyuan City, except that the price is a little more expensive. Da Kui, Yang Xiaohu and Tian
The three of them had walked such a long way, and it was time for Feng to have a good meal while sleeping in the open air. Dakui asked the innkeeper to order a table of dishes and a jar of wine. Everyone sat around the table and prepared to have a good time.
of eating and drinking.
Panbu is very reserved and behaves like a little daughter-in-law when eating. Dakui can't stand it: "Panbu, you eat like this at home? Men, you should eat like me." Dakui said.
He grabbed the chicken leg and took a big bite. At this time, he let go and the Shandong dialect burst out again.
Pan Bu blushed and said: "I don't do this at home. This is the first time I have dinner with a high official. I can't..." Dakui chewed the meat and said with a smile: "What are you embarrassed about? Come on, come on, let go."
Eat." Panbu agreed and started to move.
Dakui was dumbfounded, Yang Xiaohu was dumbfounded, and Tian Feng was stunned. Is this called eating? It is said that the martial arts is about the same, but his posture is much better than Dakui. What about sweeping thousands of troops (using chopsticks), and fishing for the moon from the bottom of the sea (using a spoon)?
A two-pronged approach (chopsticks in one hand and a spoon in the other), good guy, you look like a Lianjiazi at first glance.
The other three people did not dare to neglect and started to fight for it. Maybe the food they were fighting for was particularly fragrant, so the four of them fought happily, eating and drinking happily, just like a family. This also allowed Dakui to see the generosity of the Yao young man.
I feel like I have a very different temperament with me.
Everyone was eating and drinking when a government servant walked in outside the door. When he saw Dakui and the other four, he came over and bowed to Dakui and said with his hands in his hands: "My lord, I am sent by Lord Yin Liang of Shunyuan Prefecture to serve as the general secretary.
Your Excellency has sent you an invitation." He said and took out an invitation from his arms.
Dakui took the invitation, opened it, took a look at it and couldn't help but praise: "What a nice word, Tian Feng, please help me keep it first." After saying that, he handed the invitation to Tian Feng, who stood up, took the invitation with both hands and put it in his arms.
The yamen servant once again bowed his hands and saluted, "I'm such a villain, I'll take my leave." After saying that, he bowed, took three steps back, and walked out the door.
Dakui smiled and said: "What a quick news. I didn't go to him, but he came to me." Tian Feng whispered: "Sir, please be careful what you say, and beware that walls have ears." Dakui nodded and said: "Let's go tomorrow.
Pay a visit to Mr. Liang."
Dakui got up early the next morning, washed up, and left the room. He walked around the courtyard but saw no one else getting up. He knew that they must be very tired after traveling thousands of miles to saddle their horses, so he couldn't bear to wake them up.
He left the inn alone and walked to the street. He strolled and followed his memory to the small ruined temple he had been to before. Those refugees must have been driven out of the city long ago. Thinking about the misery outside the city now, Da Kui couldn't help but feel palpitations.