The news of capturing Bianliang finally reached Chen Qing's big tent. Although he had expected it, the great joy brought by the news still made him extremely excited.
Chen Qing immediately ordered the news to be spread throughout the entire camp. It was still the fourth watch, but there was joy inside and outside the Bianhe River. The soldiers were so excited that they rushed out of the tent and threw their helmets high into the sky.
"Long live! Long live His Highness King Yong!"
Cheers spread throughout the countryside, and Chen Qing immediately ordered a grand entry ceremony to be held tomorrow morning. In the evening, the soldiers would be rewarded with mutton and wine, and the three armies would celebrate their victory.
At dawn the next day, the news spread like wildfire, and the whole Bianliang City was boiling. Fifteen years after the fall, the Song army from Sichuan and Shaanxi finally defeated the Jin soldiers and regained the former Song Jing.
This meant that the common people were no longer slaves of the Jin Kingdom and returned to the embrace of the Song Dynasty. The common people ran into the streets, beat leather drums and wooden barrels, sang and danced, celebrated the end of the war, and welcomed Chen Qing's army into the city.
When the neat army appeared outside the south city, the whole city was boiling. Tens of thousands of residents poured out of the city with loud drums and drums to welcome the Western army into the city. They used bread, fruits, eggs, hidden chickens, ducks and
Game, with all their food to reward themselves for the arrival of the army.
Tears of excitement flashed in everyone's eyes. In the past hundred years, no army has ever been treated like the Western Army in Bianliang. They are regarded as the saviors of Bianliang and the last hope of the people of Bianliang.
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In Bianliang City, 200,000 people lined the streets to welcome the Western Army into the city. The common people sang and danced to express their inner joy. Three hundred elders knelt down the street to welcome the arrival of King Yong Chen Qing. This is the highest etiquette and is only reserved for the emperor.
treatment, but at this time, no one cared whether it was inappropriate, as if the emperor of the Song Dynasty was among the team.
But it is no longer important. They need a ceremony to express the joy and excitement in their hearts. Kneeling in the long street to greet them is undoubtedly the best ceremony and the greatest sincerity.
An old man raised his head and shouted loudly: "Since Jingkang, Bianliang has been massacred many times. Countless families have been destroyed. The dead have lost their dignity, and the living have been devastated. But we have never lost hope. We have been waiting."
We have finally waited for this day, today."
After saying that, everyone burst into tears. Chen Qing quickly helped the old man up, and then asked the soldiers to help all the old people up.
With tears in his eyes, he loudly said: "You are my father and mother, you are my brothers and sisters, and your children are my children. I only regret that I came too late and caused my relatives to suffer so much humiliation, but
Starting from today, you all stand tall! No one will go hungry or cold anymore. Starting from today, the people of Bianliang will be tax-free for ten years. This is my promise to everyone!"
"Long live! Long live His Highness King Yong!"
No matter how nice the words are, they are not as practical as the promise of ten years of tax exemption. Cheers resounded throughout the city. This was the heartfelt cheers and support of the people.
The crowd supported the old and young, women held their children, girls wore colorful long skirts, and groups of children ran with the cavalry. Many cavalry carried the children onto their horses, which attracted applause and laughter.
After the city entry ceremony, Chen Qing immediately ordered twenty porridge relief tents to be set up in Bianliang City to provide porridge to the hungry people. He could clearly see that most of the people were sallow and thin, and it was estimated that many families had no food left.
Especially since Du Rong has been in control of Bianliang for several days, he has stopped providing relief to the people, and many people have no food in their homes.
So the first thing to do was to set up porridge tents to help the hungry people. Soon, long queues formed in front of all the porridge tents. Chen Qing ordered the soldiers to make the porridge as thick as possible so that the hungry people could eat.
Accompanying Chen Qing on his inspection tour of the city was Li Ji, the general magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture, who was also the magistrate of Bianliang County. He was about fifty years old. During the Northern Song Dynasty, he was a doctor in the Ministry of Household Affairs and knew about Chenzhou affairs. During the period of the puppet Qi, he was idle at home, and the puppet Qi was destroyed.
Later, his classmate and friend Zhao Yuan became the Sima of the Liang Prince's Palace, and invited him to come out and serve as the general magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture and the magistrate of Bianliang County.
Although he was an official of the Jin Kingdom, Chen Qing did not make things difficult for him and let him continue to serve. The most important thing now for Bianliang is to stabilize it.
"Your Highness, Wanyan Wushu is not a bad person. When he withdrew, he left 50,000 shi of food for Du Rong, of which 30,000 shi were military rations and 20,000 shi were civilian rations. However, Du Rong withheld the 20,000 shi of civilian rations.
, refused to hand it over to the government, and we didn’t have a grain of food in our hands, so we had to borrow food from wealthy families and saved some people.”
"Does this mean there are still many people starving to death?"
"Yes! Basically they are all lonely old people and children beggars. We collect more than two hundred corpses every day, and they all died of illness and starvation!"
"Where is this Du Rong's family?" Even though Du Rong was dead, Chen Qing was still furious in his heart.
"He has two sons, a nephew, and a grandson, but there seems to be no one in his house."
Next to him, Yang Zaixing said: "Your Highness, I was ambushed outside Dongcheng last night. There were two carriages in Du Rong's team. There were women, children and two young men inside. They were all killed by random arrows. They brought a lot of gold and silver with them.
They should be Du Rong's family."
Chen Qing nodded, and the anger in his heart calmed down a little.
"How many people are there in the city now?"
"Three hundred and thirty-eight thousand people were counted just last month."
"What do the people do for a living, farming?" Chen Qing asked again.
Li Ji smiled bitterly and said: "There is no way to make a living!"
Chen Qing reined in his war horse and asked in confusion: "What do you mean?"
Li Ji pointed to the closed shops on both sides and said, "Your Highness, do you think these shops have been closed due to the war in the past two days?"
Chen Qing had wanted to ask for a long time. He found that almost all the shops in the city were closed, even the grocery stores, which really puzzled him.
"Is not it?"
Li Ji shook his head, "Ever since Wanyan Wushu took over Bianliang, he has issued a midnight snack order. All shops and stalls that make a living at night have been destroyed. There are no brothels in Bianliang City. There have been no brothels for a long time.
The music hall, dance hall and theater sheds all collapsed.
Then a month ago, the Jurchen army's meat supply was insufficient, and they began to plunder the city's meat and wine. The livestock were gone, the chickens, ducks, pigs, and dogs were gone. Now the cattle were gone, so there were no big cars or small cars in the city. Restaurants
All the shops were closed, which triggered a shopping frenzy. Every household spent all their copper coins. All the shops were empty and had no goods to sell. They were all closed, such as bookstores, engraving shops, handicraft workshops, and all other businesses.
No, they have all been closed down. Bianliang, which was originally mainly engaged in commerce and handicraft industry, has basically died, so I can't make a living in a humble job."
Chen Qingcai found that the problems he faced were quite serious, and the joy of capturing Bianliang was quickly fading.
He sighed softly and asked again: "What about the farmers outside the city?"
"Your Highness, all the grain harvested this year has been taken away by the army. Then tens of thousands of people brought their own dry food to help harvest the wheat. They agreed on three liters of wheat a day, but until now, they have not been paid.
When the Jin soldiers retreated, the people vented their anger on the government, because it was the government that organized everyone to harvest wheat. Why was there no one in the government? It was not because they were afraid of the Song army, but because they were afraid of the people's revenge!"
Chen Qing nodded, turned around and said to the general: "Pass on my order. Starting tonight, the curfew will be lifted."
Then Chen Qing said to Li Ji: "Publish the notice. The wages owed for harvesting wheat will be cashed starting tomorrow. You get all the officials back today, and I will give you food, and then you start cashing the wages!"
Li Ji breathed a long sigh of relief and said with great gratitude: "Thank you, Your Highness, for your tolerance!"
At this time, Li Ji remembered something and said: "Although there is no business in Bianliang, there is a black market in Bianliang, and bartering on the black market is now very large."
