The first snow season has arrived, beggars appear on the streets, and homeless people can be seen everywhere outside the city.
This military disaster caused many people to lose their homes, and the Northern Liang army wreaked havoc wherever they went. Although they only stayed in Suzhou for ten days, they had already turned the place upside down.
Especially in the capital city of Suzhou, the people here were the most severely affected. By the time the inspection censor arrived, they were already in a miserable state.
"Sir, please enjoy the food."
As soon as the inspection censor arrived at the city gate, a group of ragged men came around, crying and begging.
Some of them are not dressed like beggars, but most of them are people whose family fortunes have rapidly declined and who cannot afford to eat.
But no matter whether they are wearing fine clothes or coarse linen clothes, they are all facing hunger at this moment.
In the face of belly and life and death, everyone is equal.
"Disperse, disperse!" The Xuanjian Sifu soldiers accompanying the censor displayed their weapons to drive the crowd away.
"Just a few days after the defeat of the Northern Liang Army, the city is now like this?"
Cai Yan was the first censor to rush to Suzhou. After the defeat of the Northern Liang army, he set off and came from the northwest.
Before entering Suzhou, he saw the scene of refugees migrating. Outside the city, he even saw vultures gnawing on dead bones in the distance.
"Master Cai, if you don't eat for three days, you will starve to death, and you will starve to death in six or seven days." Zhang Feng, the Xuanjian Division inspector who accompanied Cai Yan to protect Cai Yan, said calmly.
Outside Beijing, Yushitai and Xuanjiansi often cooperate in patrolling cases.
The Xuanjian Division could not hear about the matter, even the emperor's ministers had to rely on Yushitai's mouth to tell the matter.
The Yushitai could not be left to the mercy of the Xuanjian Si, so someone had to come and witness the scene in person so that he could report back to the capital.
Zhang Feng said: "The Northern Liang army was defeated. We set off after learning the news. It took at least three days before the news came. It's another five days' journey for us to get here..."
"It is already the eighth day. If the Northern Liang army robs the food and burns down the houses when they leave... there will be no wild vegetables to eat at this time of year. I am afraid that more than three or five people will starve to death."
"What's more... this situation may have already started when the Northern Liang Army was in Suzhou."
Cai Yan understood immediately.
The Beiliang Army deliberately created such a situation. Naturally, they would not start taking action just before leaving. They must have started searching for food and burning supplies after entering the city.
So based on this calculation, it has been about twenty days now.
The 20th... was enough to starve many people to death.
"You can't kill without a nod. Do you want to see someone on our border rise up because of Beiliang's ambition?" Cai Yan gritted his teeth and hated the commander of the Beiliang army.
Some things are inappropriate to say, but they are true.
If the Northern Liang army had massacred the city in Suzhou instead of causing chaos, it would have been much easier for Xia to deal with it now.
"Master Cai, let's go into the city..."
Cai Yan nodded: "The entire Suzhou garrison was wiped out. It is said that most of the state officials died in the city. Now there is no one in charge of the city. I'm afraid there will be chaos."
"Don't worry, sir, Xuanjian Division will protect you." Zhang Feng said confidently.
A city gate is like a barrier, separating the two worlds.
After entering this door, the two of them originally expected to see people dying of hunger everywhere, but unexpectedly they found that the street was quite clean, and there were no people lying around who were too hungry to walk.
On the street, a few dozen steps away, stood a sword-wielding sergeant wearing cotton or cloth armor.
"This is?"
"It's the Yulin Army." Cai Yan had been to the capital and had seen many things in the world, so he immediately realized that it was the Yulin Army who was in charge of the situation.
"That's great. The Yulin Army is here and there will be no more chaos in Suzhou."
Zhang Feng also nodded: "It takes one day's urgent march from Liangzhou to Suzhou. It seems that General Lin Bei is in charge of the overall situation here... But why are there no soldiers guarding the city gate?"
"It must be because there are not enough manpower. Now that there are no external enemies, and with Liangzhou as a barrier, Suzhou naturally does not need to worry about city defense."
"That's it..."
The news that the inspection censor from Yushitai and the inspection envoy from Xuanjian Division arrived in Suzhou at the same time was soon known to Lin Bei.
He personally led the team and came to greet the two of them.
"Thank you for your hard work, you two came all the way." Lin Bei knew that someone would come, so he first made a briefing to Suzhou and sent it back to Beijing to prepare specific disaster relief matters.
"General Lin?"
Cai Yan saw that Lin Bei was accompanied by only two soldiers. This was not the appearance of a third-grade military attaché.
Lin Bei smiled bitterly: "What do you call this lord?"
"I'm the Censor Cai Yan, this is Zhang Feng, the Master of Hanging Swords."
The positions of the two of them were only the fifth rank, and they were considered minor officials in front of Lin Bei. However, there was no need to pay too much attention to the official rank since they were different in civil and military affairs.
"Master Cai, Master Zhang, we stayed in Suzhou for more than ten days before we managed to suppress some chaos. Now the city is under the control of our Yulin Army."
"It's just a lack of manpower."
After a while, Lin Bei took the two of them to the Yamen of the state capital.
The Futai Yamen in Suzhou is in the core area of the city, where the largest number of Yulin troops are located.
However, the originally tall and majestic Yamen has collapsed, and the Yulin Army is collecting among the ruins.
"This?" Cai Yan frowned, "It's been dozens of days, why are you still collecting it?"
Lin Bei: "Because I didn't have time, I spent the first three days suppressing the bandits who took advantage of the opportunity to plunder, and the next few days were busy suppressing the mob... I just recently started collecting these things, preparing to build the state government office first."
"Rogue bandits?" Zhang Feng said angrily, "Sure enough, these bandits are causing trouble."
Since ancient times, wherever there is a disaster, someone will take advantage of the situation to make a fortune.
The city of Suzhou was destroyed, there were no defenders, and all the government officials died in their duties or dispersed. Naturally, no one could organize forces to resist the bandits.
Under such circumstances, some thieves naturally broke into Suzhou City, which had no power to fight back, and looted the last rations from the people.
And took the opportunity to steal most of the property that could be taken away. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a fortune.
Cai Yan was furious: "This is taking advantage of the situation, more hateful than the Beiliang Army!"
Lin Beidao: "You two are coming from the west city gate. If you are coming from the north, you can see the heads hanging outside the city. They are all those who took the opportunity to cause trouble and were killed by the Yu Lin Army."
"Good kill!" Cai Yan and Zhang Feng said in unison.
With that said, Lin Bei took the two of them for a walk around the state government office.
"Huh?" Cai Yan saw a collapsed beam with a white silk tied to it.
Lin Bei sighed: "That's where Mr. Suzhou Futai hanged himself. No one cares about his body. Our Yulin army came to collect it."
Hang yourself?
After hearing this, the two of them stood in awe.
"When the city of Suzhou was defeated, the entire city's soldiers still fought bloody battles, and in the end no one was left. However, the various government offices in the state were unable to fight back, and most of the people scattered like birds and beasts. The Suzhou government knew that it was powerless to save the day, and was unwilling to accept the order of Beiliang.
The army left a desperate poem and hanged himself."
Lin Bei sighed: "This gentleman is also a bloody man. His whole family died in the city, and only one young son was left behind by his unbearable mother..."
After hearing this, everyone felt filled with hatred and felt like there was a burning fire in their chests.
Cai Yan gritted his teeth and asked, "What is this gentleman's name?"
Lin Beidao: "I heard from the people that his name is Liang An."
"I'll remember it. I'll mention it when I write the memorial." Cai Yan nodded.
I finished reading it very quickly, this state government office.
Lin Bei took the two of them and walked along the main street.
"How come this street is so clean?" Zhang Feng couldn't help but wonder, "The Yulin Army still has time to clean it?"
To put it bluntly, the inspection censor and the inspection envoy were looking for trouble. Faced with their repeated questions, Lin Bei was not angry at all.
This is originally one's duty.
Lin Bei explained: "The Yulin Army was too busy, so they had to recruit some strong men and let them help clean up the city... just give them a few meals to keep them from starving to death."
Cai Yan noticed that Lin Bei was only talking about not dying of hunger, not about having enough food.
Zhang Feng sighed: "The Yulin Army was originally riding in a hurry and didn't bring much food and grass. How did it persist?"
"The grain and grass stored in Liangzhou Camp have been misappropriated by us, and the matter has been reported to the capital."
Cai Yan was about to question, but after hearing the whole sentence, he nodded helplessly.
If you don't do this, what else can you do?
"But this is only a drop in the bucket. 90% of the people cannot get relief. We can only take care of our own food. If the court does not provide disaster relief quickly, Suzhou will really be starved to death." Lin Bei looked at the two people.
"I even ordered the soldiers to dig wild vegetables and hunt game outside the city... But you two also know that it has started to snow, and it will be difficult to harvest anything."
Zhang Feng said: "Master Cai, we have to make plans as soon as possible. I will send someone back to the capital."
The two of them didn't know that someone in the court was already preparing for disaster relief, and they just felt extremely urgent at this moment.
