354 [The one who fights becomes the one who rescues the disaster]
Mid October.
Fei Ruhe took a boat all the way and led his troops to Yizhou.
Standing on the bow of the boat, Fei Ruhe looked at the scenery on both sides of the strait with blank eyes and a dull expression.
Yizhou is a prefecture governed by Fei County and Tancheng County.
When we were on the border of Tancheng, although it was miserable there, it was not very different from northern Jiangsu.
As the boat sailed to the northwest of Tancheng, the situation became increasingly terrifying.
As far as Yizhou is concerned, the content of the history books translated into vernacular is: "Locusts were all over the mountains and fields, and the piles were one foot thick. All the leaves were eaten away, and the ground was bare for thousands of miles. The people dug up grass roots and gnawed the bark of the trees. Fathers and sons ate each other. Corpses were everywhere, and babies were abandoned everywhere. Road, there are people selling their heads everywhere, and there are countless corpses piled up in the ravines."
More and more soldiers stood on the boat and looked at both sides of the river, dumbfounded and speechless.
Deputy General Wan Sitong muttered: "No wonder the bandits didn't come to capture this place, no wonder Zuo Liangyu didn't send troops here. What are we doing in Yizhou?"
At this moment, the locusts have disappeared, and there is no sight of the locusts piled up one foot thick.
But the vegetation is all bare, the villages along the coast are deserted, and even the big landlords have fled.
In the evening, when we went ashore to cook, we saw bones not far away. Sometimes we could even guess that several members of a family had died because the bones of an adult were also holding the bones of a child.
The fleet carrying the army arrived at a small town, which has also become a ghost town. All the residents in the town disappeared, not because they starved to death, but because they fled. No one could withstand the robbery of the hungry people.
Perhaps the wealthy households along the way were also scared away by the hungry people, and no matter how high the courtyard wall was, they could not stop the hungry people.
As the fleet was approaching Yizhou City, there were finally more and more people alive, and at least 20,000 to 30,000 hungry people gathered outside Yizhou City.
These hungry people looked at the fleet with numb eyes and expressionless faces.
Fei Ruhe suddenly smelled the aroma of meat and was surprised at first. Then he woke up and felt nauseous. His stomach was churning and he wanted to vomit it out.
Datong soldiers and civilians disembarked from the boats and landed. The city gate was quickly opened. An official led the crowd to kneel down to greet us and cried loudly: "General, you are finally here!"
Fei Ruhe asked: "What is your name? What is your position?"
The official wiped his tears and replied: "The official is Liang You, a fellow magistrate of Yizhou."
Fei Ruhe felt angry and asked, "Where is Zhizhou?"
Liang You replied: "He ran away with the money."
"Where's the defense?" Fei Ruhe asked again.
"Run away too." Liang You replied.
Fei Ruhe was furious: "He's already run away, why are you still here?"
Liang You said: "Xiaguan is a fellow magistrate of the state, and if the magistrate has run away, he is the local parent. How can there be any reason for parents to abandon their children? Xiaguan sold his belongings and begged the rich in the state to chip in money and food, but to no avail. Ah, there are too many hungry people outside the city. Nowadays, people are starving to death every day in the city. We can only... we can only..."
After hearing what he said, Fei Ruhe lost most of his anger and asked, "What can I do?"
Liang You cried and said: "We can only clean up the unclaimed dead bodies in the city every day and throw them outside the city for the hungry people to cook and eat."
"vomit!"
A Datong soldier nearby couldn't hold it back and became nauseated and vomited on the spot.
Fei Ruhe asked: "Do the rich households in the city still have food?"
Liang You replied: "Rich families don't have much surplus grain at home, only in the grain merchant's warehouse."
"Enter the city!"
Fei Ruhe ordered: "Twenty people will be left to guard each boat to keep food in check to prevent robbery."
Datong soldiers took over the city defense and dispersed to maintain public order in the city.
When they arrived at the government office, military medical officer Hao Dadian said: "General, too many people have died, and the bodies are not buried. Beware of a major epidemic next year!"
Fei Ruhe suddenly became alert: "How to prevent it?"
Hao Dadian said: "First, burn all the corpses immediately; second, order the people to boil water and cook clothes; third, scatter lime in places where there are many dead people."
"Okay!" Fei Ruhe said.
Missionary officer Li Shikui said: "I suggest that military missionaries take over government affairs. Each missionary officer leads ten soldiers to work, and the officials in the city are ordered to coordinate with the officials. Outside the city, the hungry people are divided into areas, and how many people can be accommodated in each area to prevent the emergence of hungry people.
trouble."
Fei Ruhe nodded and said, "Let's do it like this." After that, he asked Liang You, "How much is the price of food in the city?"
"Two thousand bucks of wheat." Liang You replied.
Fei Ruhe sneered: "That's 20,000 yuan and a stone of wheat. They are all rich and unkind people. Where is the grain merchant's warehouse? Send troops to take over all of them. If there is any obstruction, kill them directly!"
In this critical moment, there are no rules.
Fei Ruhe asked again: "Is there any disaster in Fei County and Yishui River?"
Liang You said: "It's generally the same. First there was a drought, then there was a locust plague. In Fei County and outside Yishui City, hungry people also gathered, and many hungry people fled to the direction of Qingzhou Fucheng."
Fei County and Yishui are also strategic targets, but in the face of such a catastrophe, there is no need to capture them anymore.
Yizhou is already suffering enough and has absolutely no ability to provide relief to other states and counties.
The hungry people over there have no choice but to fend for themselves!
Liang You selected some of his confidants and led Datong soldiers to several granaries in the city.
"General, up ahead is the Bai family's grain depot. Many gangsters have been recruited as guards." Liang You pointed forward in a back alley.
The leader of the army was just a captain named Wang Song, who had thirty people in charge.
He came to the gate of the warehouse and immediately gave an order: "The grain warehouse has been taken over by the Datong Army. The rest of the people should leave immediately!"
The steward of the warehouse hurriedly ran out and said with a smile: "Masters, I have something to say. If you need to raise food and grass, my master will definitely honor you according to the rules. Master, please lend me a moment to speak."
The steward put his hand into his arms, obviously intending to pay for a bribe.
"Qiang!"
Wang Song pulled out his sword and hacked the steward to death, shouting: "Come in, anyone who dares to stop him will be shot to death!"
Strictly speaking, Wang Song was suspected of violating military orders, but he couldn't help it at the moment.
Inside and outside the city, there are people dying of hunger everywhere, but these grain merchants are still sitting on the ground and raising prices!
There was an instant uproar in the grain depot, and the guards fled one after another.
Liang You saw that several grain depots had been captured, so he trotted to see Fei Ruhe. Along the way, he found Datong soldiers taking off their clothes, and asked hurriedly: "Brother, why are you taking off your clothes?"
The soldier replied: "The medical officer said that to prevent the plague, he asked the hungry people outside the city to take off their clothes and cook them. We can't let the people be naked. The clothes brought on the ship were not enough, so we gave the people what they were wearing first. We just put on cotton armor."
yes."
Liang You raised his eyes and saw that the soldiers on the street were taking off their clothes one after another, then collecting them and transporting them outside the city.
He couldn't help but follow them outside the city, only to see bags of grain being carried to the shore by civilians, and thousands of soldiers guarding them to prevent others from snatching the grain.
Then hundreds of military cauldrons were set up, and an officer shouted to the hungry people who gathered around him: "If everyone picks up some firewood, they can drink hot porridge!"
After hearing this, the hungry people who could still walk dispersed to collect firewood, and even got into fights for collecting firewood.
Datong soldiers stopped some hungry people, took the opportunity to let them carry the corpses, and piled all the corpses together for burning.
As for the hungry people who were too hungry to walk, they were moved to one place and given priority when the porridge was cooked.
Firewood was collected one after another, pots were boiled to boil water, and the hungry people who had returned were also ordered to line up.
Half of the large pot is used to cook porridge.
Half a large pot for boiling water.
The piled corpses were also doused with kerosene and burned fiercely.
All hungry people, regardless of gender, were ordered to take off their clothes and throw their clothes into large pots for cooking.
The hungry people were naked, first filled their stomachs, and after they had gained strength, they slowly boiled water to take a bath. The bath water had to be boiled, and then the residents of the city were organized and carried the well water out of the city one by one to mix the boiled water into something suitable for bathing.
temperature.
The wooden barrels in residents' homes were also temporarily requisitioned to provide bathing for the hungry people.
After taking a bath, the residents put on clean clothes provided by the soldiers and wrung out the clothes cooked in the cauldron to dry.
After eating enough, taking a shower, and putting on clean clothes, the 30,000 hungry people finally looked like humans.
This series of operations was done in an orderly manner and took less than a day.
Liang You was dumbfounded. What kind of terrifying execution ability does this mother have?
In less than a day, 30,000 hungry people were transformed from hungry ghosts into living humans again!
He found that the specific executors were all special officers with red bands on their arms. Each special officer, commanding ten soldiers to do things, could easily arrange for hundreds of hungry people.
There are also hungry people who are disobedient and their punishment is to have their hot porridge halved.
After punishing a few hungry people, all the hungry people nearby became honest, and the Datong soldiers did whatever they said.
There were always 1,500 soldiers standing guard at the place where porridge was given and food was piled.
Liang You walked to the side and asked one of the soldiers: "Brother, who are those generals with red hoops on their arms?"
"Preacher." The soldier replied.
"Are they all scholars?" Liang You asked.
The soldier said: "In the past, it was enough to be able to read thirty words, but now you need to be able to read five hundred. A regiment-level missionary must be able to read at least a thousand words, and he must also learn addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. If a missionary wants to be promoted, he must be literate. Not only do he learn it himself, but he also learns how to read.
With us learning, I now know more than sixty characters."
Liang You asked again: "What does a missionary do?"
The soldier explained: "He teaches us principles."
"What's the reason?" Liang You asked.
"The purpose of being a soldier is to fight for the common people, and the common people are their parents and parents. The great unity of the world means that everyone has fields to cultivate, food to eat, and clothing to wear," the soldier said. "If you have any troubles, you can talk to the preacher.
Write a letter home and ask the missionary for help. Soldiers are all brothers, and the missionary is our brother!"
Liang You did not continue to ask, but carefully considered these words.
He was not a serious Jinshi, but was just a civil servant. He was bought as a county magistrate. Although he bought the county magistrate, he did not stuff any money during the distribution, so he was thrown into hell as a county magistrate in Shaanxi Province.
At that time, the rogue bandits came to attack, and Liang You encouraged the people to defend the city, but they managed to defend it in a daze.
The gentry in the city refused to let him leave, and he served as county magistrate in Shaanxi for six consecutive years, and he was able to defend the city every time.
Liang You didn't understand the situation either. It seemed that the bandits were easy to deal with.
Two years ago, he returned to Beijing after completing his exams and was finally promoted to prefectural magistrate. Then came the hellish drought and locust plague, two consecutive years of severe disasters. He couldn't bear to exploit the people, and instead sold off the belongings he had brought.
.
Liang You squatted by the moat, watching Datong soldiers comforting the victims, and suddenly he laughed happily.
Suddenly, there was a shouting and cursing voice from behind: "Damn it, I'm looking for you everywhere. Come back to the city quickly to help with the work!"
Liang You looked back and saw that it was Fei Ruhe scolding him.
Liang You stood up quickly, but then heard Fei Ruhe say: "I asked the officials and people in the city, you are a good official, and the prefects and guards who escaped are corrupt officials. Follow me and work hard, and do a good job in disaster relief.
You can at least be a fucking magistrate!"
"Thank you for your appreciation, General." Liang You was very happy. After joining Zhao Tianwang, his official position was only reduced by one level.
Fei Ruhe was very depressed. He came to fight, but now he has become a disaster relief worker.
Zhang Tieniu's side is pretty much the same.
There was no battle to fight. Wherever he went, officials immediately surrendered and then begged him for relief.
If the Datong Army reaches Henan, this situation will happen everywhere.
What else could happen?
Do not save tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of victims and let them fend for themselves? That violates the theory of Datong!
But once aid is provided, food will not be enough.
In this situation, Zhao Han had to make a decision. How much food should be left for fighting, how much food should be left to resettle the victims, and how much food should be kept to resettle the victims. While relieving the people, he had to continue to expand his territory.
