Under Hong Gaogong's arrangement, the male victim quickly left Nanguan Village on horseback and headed south to find his fellow victims.
Zhao Junchen's temporary act of kindness may very well be a turning point in the fate of these victims, but for Zhao Junchen, it is just an inconsequential, small impromptu thing that is not worth investing too much attention into.
At present, there are many more important things that need to be dealt with by Zhao Junchen.
After the male victims left, Zhao Junchen turned his attention to the remaining three female victims and asked them many details about the disaster in Xinzhou, the dynamics of the local government, and many of the experiences of these victims on their way to escape.
The three female victims were grateful to Zhao Junchen for his action in rescuing their companions, so they answered all of Zhao Junchen's inquiries in as much detail as possible.
After asking, Zhao Junchen's expression was a little solemn, and he became more and more convinced that what happened in the northwest provinces was not simple! As for the disappearance of the court's disaster relief food and grass, I am afraid it was not just the corruption of local officials.
According to the explanations of the three female victims, the drought in Xinzhou was extremely severe, and more than half of the fields had no harvest. In addition, the Xinzhou government not only failed to provide disaster relief, but also continued to tax and levy grain from the people, so the people of Xinzhou simply lived in poverty.
In the hell on earth, whole villages often flee for their lives.
The villages of these three female disaster victims couldn't stand the disaster and government oppression in Xinzhou, so they fled the famine. This team of victims initially numbered more than 300 people, but they were repeatedly intercepted and arrested by the local government along the way.
After they arrived at Lu'an Mansion, there were only about twenty people left.
However, after local governments arrested people fleeing famine on a large scale, no one knew the details of where the arrested victims ended up, what their fate was, and their current situation.
Based on the descriptions of the three female victims, Zhao Junchen made a secret calculation and was secretly surprised!
The disaster victims in Xinzhou were very serious. At least 30% of the victims fled the famine, and most of these fleeing victims were arrested by the local government! In other words, in Xinzhou alone, nearly 10,000 people fleeing the famine were arrested by the local government.
Got it!
This is only the situation in Xinzhou, and there are a total of 23 state capitals in Shanxi and Shaanxi and Gansu provinces! There are a total of 14 state capitals like Xinzhou with serious disasters! If the situation in every place is the same as Xinzhou,
Doesn’t it mean that local government offices in Shanxi and Shaanxi and Gansu have arrested more than 100,000 victims during this period?
After getting this number, Zhao Junchen was naturally a little surprised!
Arresting 100,000 victims is no small matter! And there is no news at all about the whereabouts of these 100,000 victims, which makes this matter even more bizarre!
At the same time, Zhao Junchen had vaguely guessed the truth about the disappearance of the food and grass provided by the court for disaster relief. After arresting more than 100,000 victims, he needed to provide these 100,000 victims with food rations to survive, which meant astronomical food consumption.
!
However, why did Shaanxi, Gansu and Shanxi arrest so many people fleeing famine? What was their real purpose?
Zhao Junchen has not guessed this yet.
In other words, Zhao Junchen vaguely guessed a possibility, but the idea was too terrifying for Zhao Junchen to dare to think about it deeply!
*
In the end, Zhao Junchen shook his head slightly, threw some of his suspicions out of his mind, and waved the three female victims to leave.
Then, Zhao Junchen's expression was a little stiff, but he still squeezed out a smile, turned to Zhou Dafu and asked: "Nanguan Village is a large village near Lu'an Prefecture. As a big householder in Nanguan Village, Mr. Zhou must have
Is there a chance to meet the prefect of Lu'an?"
Zhou Dafu was stunned for a moment, and then quickly replied: "The grassroots have little virtue and talent, and I dare not let Mr. Zhao call me sir. Mr. Zhao, just call the grassroots by their first names... In reply to Mr. Zhao, the grassroots are indeed the same as Lu'an
I have met Master Sun, the prefect, several times."
Zhao Junchen nodded and ordered: "In that case, I have something to ask you to do for me. That is to go to Lu'an Mansion in person tomorrow, and you must ask Sun Miao, the prefect of Lu'an, to come to Nanguan Village in person.
One trip...but you must not reveal my identity or whereabouts, do you understand?"
After hearing what Zhao Junchen said, Chow Dafu guessed that Zhao Junchen was going to make trouble for the prefect of Lu'an, so naturally he felt a little hesitant.
As a big family in Lu'an Prefecture, if you offend the Lu'an Prefecture, it will definitely be a disaster, and your family may be destroyed.
But under the gaze of Zhao Junchen, Chow Dafu finally gritted his teeth and replied: "Whatever you say, Master Zhao, the common people will do it! The common people will go to Lu'an Fucheng tomorrow morning and they will definitely invite Master Sun to the village."
Zhao Junchen smiled and nodded, and said: "In that case, I leave this matter to you... Don't worry, I will definitely benefit you in the future, and I will never leave you any trouble."
After hearing Zhao Junchen's promise, Chow Tai Fook's expression became slightly more relaxed and he thanked Zhao Junchen repeatedly.
Next, the people in Nanguan Village finally prepared food, which was all kinds of chicken, duck, fish and meat, as well as white flour steamed buns, rice, and various home-cooked dishes, which was extremely rich.
You must know that although Nanguan Village is a relatively wealthy village in Lu'an Prefecture, the villagers can only eat meat and white noodles during the Chinese New Year. Today, they have spent a lot of money to entertain Zhao Junchen and his party. There are many households
In order to entertain Zhao Junchen and others, they even slaughtered the hens that laid eggs!
Under the warm hospitality of the villagers of Nanguan Village, everyone felt what it meant to feel "at home". Whether it was Zhao Junchen's entourage or Hong Gaogong's Jin Yiwei, everyone was extremely satisfied this night.
Facing the enthusiasm and simplicity of the villagers in Nanguan Village, and thinking of their cruel methods towards outsiders, Zhao Junchen still felt a little complicated, but he did not intend to change anything, nor did he intend to make the people of Nanguan Village suffer.
, but after dinner, he gave Mr. Wang a hundred taels of silver and asked him to distribute it to the people of Nanguan Village. This amount of money was enough to compensate the villagers for their losses.
Mr. Wang originally did not want to accept Zhao Junchen's money, but under Zhao Junchen's insistence, he finally accepted the money with great gratitude, and repeatedly lamented that Zhao Junchen was a once-in-a-lifetime great master.
After dinner that day, the villagers had already vacated a large number of empty rooms for Zhao Junchen and his party to rest. Zhao Junchen, Bao Wenjie, Hong Gaogong and others, led by Zhou Dafu, went to Zhouzhai to rest.
After entering Zhou's house, Chow Dafu gave up his bedroom to Zhao Junchen. Bao Wenjie did not rest immediately, but stayed in Zhao Junchen's room to discuss the intelligence collected today with Zhao Junchen.
Because there was no evidence, Zhao Junchen did not tell Bao Wenjie his speculations, so the discussion between the two did not come to any conclusion.
Finally, seeing the moon hanging on the branches, Bao Wenjie took the initiative to say goodbye to Zhao Junchen.
However, before leaving the room, Bao Wenjie thought about Zhao Junchen's rescue of the victims today, and suddenly said: "Master Zhao said today that he is an official of the imperial court and needs to be responsible for all the people under the imperial government... Such feelings make
I deeply admire you, and I only hope that Mr. Zhao can be consistent in his words and deeds in the future!"
After saying that, Bao Wenjie turned and left.
Seeing Bao Wenjie's performance, Zhao Junchen shook his head and laughed.
Zhao Junchen knows very well that although he has many good deeds, these good deeds have nothing to do with feelings, ambitions, and ideals. They are just so that he can sleep more peacefully at night!
…
I had a stiff neck, felt uncomfortable all over, and was inevitably a little irritable. I couldn't concentrate when I was typing, so I reluctantly wrote a small chapter, and it was not well written. Please forgive me!