The last rays of the setting sun disappeared into the horizon, and the dove-gray twilight spread into the desolate valley.
The helmet brimming with the flag removed and the eyebrows pressed down low, the red frontier army cotton armor covered the strong man with a gloomy face.
Gao Xian leaned on the side of the car, put down the cowhide water bag decorated with bells on the shaft of the car, broke into pieces the green onion cake and slowly put it in his mouth, as if he was savoring the taste.
A few steps away from him, Liu Chengzong, who was also wearing armor, walked back from the river, put the bucket in his hand on the carriage, and said angrily: "Unlucky, someone died on the other side of the river."
Gao Xian didn't say anything, but silently took a big bite of the pancake. He reached down with his left hand and hung the rope from the handle of the knife on his belt.
"It's okay, go ahead and taste it slowly. It's about to explode when you soak it in the water. It's a man with its face turned up. It probably happened three to five days ago. There's no one around."
The corpses were arranged in order in the water. Men had less fat on their buttocks and were face up when soaked in the water, while women were face down.
After saying that, Liu Chengzong patted Gao Xian on the shoulder, and also took a piece of cake wrapped in linen and oil paper from the car. He frowned and ate while walking. He squatted down a few steps away and lined it up with pebbles and dead branches.
Yang Dingrui sighed as he set up a bonfire.
"Sir, is Ansai County so chaotic?"
It can't be called chaos. They have walked forty miles. The shallow river next to it is called Mudanchuan. It is only twenty or thirty miles away from Ansai.
After all, at the border of Fushi, Anding, and Ansai counties, even in peaceful times, bandits rob and kill passers-by and smuggle goods in the border area.
But Ansai has already seen the phenomenon of people cannibalizing each other.
Yang Dingrui said that he had returned to Ansai on official business, and in the same year he accompanied him, Ma Maocai, a counselor sent by the emperor to Shaanxi, investigated the famine situation in various counties.
They didn't even get into the city. Three miles outside the city, people rushed up to chase them for food. They had no food, and others wanted to kill his horses. Yang Dingrui was afraid, so he shot one of them with a bow and arrow.
But they never expected that after one person was shot and injured, those people saw that he was difficult to deal with and stopped pursuing him, so they started killing the injured person and dragging him away.
Yang Dingrui by the bonfire raised his head and looked towards the shore. He couldn't see the corpse Liu Chengzong mentioned in his sight. In the end, he just sighed silently: "Too many people have starved to death. The county magistrate has no other choice. To prevent the disaster,
The epidemic can only dig several large pits outside the city to hold the corpses, each pit can hold two to three hundred people.
When I went back, the big pit was already full of three people. In Ansai County, there are only two thousand households and twenty thousand people in the whole county. It is like this outside the city. No matter how you think about it, you will not be surprised by the lion."
Liu Chengzong, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, pushed up the brim of his helmet and rubbed his forehead with the nails of his thumb, thinking: I really should have brought two more people here.
He said: "We have to hide the car when we get closer to the city."
Yang Dingrui immediately nodded: "I asked you to accompany me just for peace of mind. It's not for the purpose of killing. It's best not to kill if you can."
In fact, Liu Chengzong's changes were so great that Yang Dingrui, who hadn't seen him for several years, was shocked.
The children who followed me up the mountain in those days are now fully clothed, armed with bows and slaying bandits, facing off against captors, as if they are used to life and death.
"The government, such a big thing..."
The dead branches crackled loudly in the bonfire. Liu Chengzong pulled the door panels from the abandoned cave dwellings on the road from the carriage and stood them aside to protect them from the wind. He asked: "Why don't the government provide disaster relief?"
"Disaster relief is not just about providing relief, especially for such a huge disaster. If one county or one government is unable to provide relief, the local government must first report it, and then the imperial court will send people to check the severity of the disaster, and the envoys will also check and allocate funds, and then send out talented people.
Scholars brought money to help.”
Yang Dingrui said: "I am here to accompany the envoy on official business, just to check the severity of the disaster."
"We should have reported the disaster in Qin last year, but the governor delayed it. After the defeat of the Saarhu army and the invasion of Qin, at that time in Shaanxi, the governors of Yansui and Yansui were cowards. They were both capable, but one of them was greedy for money.
He knew how to build three palaces for the imperial court. There were bandits and bandits every year, hungry people fled all the time, from the imperial court to the localities. The Qing Dynasty suppressed the Wei party in full swing, and there were countless official vacancies."
"The chief officials are all from the South and have no connection with the local area; the local adjutants are from many families and have a long history. They travel in sedan chairs to serve as officials. They often see documents but not the common people. The minor officials are aware of the disaster, but the situation recently is different from the past."
"In the past seven years, three emperors have ascended the throne. This year the Duke of Wei is in charge of the country, and next year the disciples of Donglin are in power. They have been changed from county officials to frontier ministers five times. The petty officials don't know which chief official dares to do something. Even if they know that they dare to do something, they don't dare to do it.
It has nothing to do with him."
He shook his head and said: "What's more, the three towns in Shaanxi are in arrears with their border taxes, and the tax arrears from the Qin land tax package are unavoidable. They are all inextricable knots."
"If the frontier army is in arrears with pay, the morale of the army will be shaken. If the army's morale is shaken, it will be difficult to defend against the barbarians. This is external. If taxes are paid and the tax is owed, the court will push the troops. If the court pushes the troops, the people will be scattered. This is internal."
"When something happens, the local area cannot control itself. If Shaanxi does not regard northern Shaanxi as the whole of Shaanxi, and the court does not regard Shaanxi as the whole country, then the land of Qin will be destroyed and the world will be in danger."
It was completely dark, and the carriage not far from the bonfire was only an outline in the darkness.
The biting night wind blew, and Yang Dingrui tightened his clothes. He seemed to feel that the situation he mentioned was a bit serious, so he smiled comfortingly, bowed to the east and said: "Fortunately, your majesty is wise and sent an envoy down if he knew about this. I
It is estimated that within three months at the latest, the imperial court will have regulations on disaster relief."
Three months?
Liu Chengzong was confused about this. If it were as simple as Yang Dingrui said, why was the Ming Dynasty in another memory destroyed by the peasant army?
He felt that Yang Dingrui was trying to prevaricate himself by saying this.
"If it's only three months, why did you resign?"
"Don't say three months, I can't wait even half a month."
Yang Dingrui shook his head and said: "I am a court official and a husband. My wife and children are all in Ansai City. They didn't tell me that something big happened in Ansai, so I didn't know. But I went to see it, and it was so close to Ansai."
, can you still go back to Fucheng to sit in court?
If things are bad in the world, there is no use having more Yang Dingrui; if things are good, there is no harm in having less Yang Dingrui.
I have an official position, but I can rescue my wife and children. I cannot send officers and soldiers. If I return to my hometown alone and I am harmed by others, the local government will definitely plot against the victims and more people will die. It is better to resign and be relaxed and return to my hometown to rescue my wife.
Son is the best."
He nodded slightly: "If I can't be saved, I will die together. It's just fate."
The night on the bank of Mudan River is quiet, and only at night here can you be lucky enough to hear the chirping of insects in spring.
Liu Chengzong's thoughts also drifted far away to the east in Yang Dingrui's thankful words. It was far away. The Forbidden City he had never been to was particularly clear in the memory that did not belong to this era.
He was very sad, sad that he was imprisoned in the palace. The young emperor who nominally ruled the world did not know what was happening in the land he ruled.
He was also very lucky for the emperor who was named Chongzhen that year. Fortunately, the emperor did not have the gift of knowing the aftermath, otherwise he might have gone to the back mountain to see his ancestors on the first day after he ascended the throne.
At this time, the Jinshi next to me said: "If things go wrong, you don't have to worry about me. With horses and armor, it shouldn't be difficult to break through."
Looking back, Liu Chengzong nodded seriously: "Don't worry."
"After picking up the family, we will have dinner at home the day after tomorrow."