Wu Yu prepared a lot of dry food for Fan Zhongyan and Ye An. The most feared thing on the way south was the food ration problem. Even if they were heavenly officials sent by the imperial court, if there really was a great famine, the local state capital would not be able to help.
It is difficult to provide much food.
Fan Zhongyan had already been mentally prepared. He had served as a local official for many years, managing embankments in Taizhou, and advising on civil affairs in Chenzhou. How could he not be aware of the local difficulties?
Although Ye An also served as a local official in Ganliang, the wealth of Wuliang Capital could not be compared to that of Jianghuai? What's more, before he went to the northwest for construction and development, and even more to defend against threats from the party, now he went south to Jianghuai,
The purpose is to provide relief to the victims and help the people, which is not the same thing.
Heading south all the way, when they arrived in Suzhou, Ye An was already numb to everything he saw on the road. After the large-scale drought and locust plague, people fled from famine. If they could still live at home, people in this era would never flee from famine.
Whoever wants to leave his homeland to go to another land is just to escape for his life.
If the victims outside Yingtianfu have other demands, the people in Suzhou simply cannot survive. Even the city of Suzhou is crowded with victims, and almost all the people from Linhuan, Lingbi and Jing'an counties nearby have gathered here.
Suzhou City, which originally could only accommodate 10,000 people, was crowded with tens of thousands of people, far exceeding the city's capacity. As a result, there were still a large number of victims outside the city crying and wanting to enter the city, and some had already begun to march towards the city.
Follow the footsteps of Tianfu.
Although it can't be said that people died of hunger along the way, people were no different from wild animals. The victims were not even clothed and had no food to eat. They didn't even spare the roots and bark of trees wherever they went.
Drought is never something that kills people, famine is what kills people. Famine caused by food shortage is an unsolvable problem. There will be some water, but if there is no food, then there is really no food.
For a mouthful of food, hungry people will do anything that goes against their moral bottom line. Ye An and Fan Zhongyan saw with their own eyes that in order to eat a mouthful of steamed buns, poor people would give their children to others. Just one steamed bun can exchange for a child!
Ye An wanted to organize, but Fan Zhongyan held his hand firmly and said: "This is a good thing. There is no chance that the child will survive if he goes to that family. If he follows that couple, he will probably starve to death."
On the way."
In comparison, a woman who sells her body for food is nothing, but this kind of thing still breaks through the bottom line of Ye An and Fan Zhongyan.
It’s not that they don’t know the sufferings of the people, but using a piece of cake to entertain and tease a group of women like prostitutes in broad daylight is despicable and shameless and violates the bottom line of morality. This is against human ethics and corrupts moral principles.
Tieniu and others went up, kicked the man down, and gave all the cakes in his backpack to the woman.
The man who was kicked down beat the ground and cried: "Is there any justice left?! Why should you snatch my cake?! Wuwu..."
"Give him a piece of cake!"
Fan Zhongyan frowned slightly, and finally asked Tieniu to give the man a piece of cake. In his opinion, doing so was very satisfying, but it also deprived the man of his life. Even if you go to the government, there is no way to punish him.
Stealing all his cakes would not kill him.
Ye An looked at Fan Zhongyan curiously and said, "A piece of cake can't save his life."
Fan Zhongyan shook his head and explained: "We can't save his life, but if we give it, we give him a way to survive. As for whether he can survive, that is his life. In terms of emotion, reason and law, we will wait.
No mistake!”
Ye An's eyes widened for a moment, what a ruthless scholar! Even if he wanted to kill someone, he could still say it so grandly and gave him a piece of cake. Yu Qing was able to stand up, Yu Li was justified, and Yu Fa was compensated by the government.
, only one thing is inconsistent with the facts...
I don't know whether it was God's good will or because the drought of many days had come to an end. A heavy rain came unexpectedly. At this time, Ye An and Fan Zhongyan had also arrived outside Suzhou City.
The banner representing the emperor's edict was raised, and the people around him were grateful for the benevolence of the officials in the heavy rain. Although everything was a coincidence, the victims believed that the heavy rain was the act of the emperor of the Song Dynasty that moved heaven.
On the Imperial Day, gongs were sounded to clear the way, and no one dared to block the convoy of the pacifier. There were only two gates in Suzhou City, and the convoy had to detour through the southern gate to enter.
As they circled the city wall, the victims outside the city followed closely behind the convoy, hoping to take advantage of the current opportunity to enter Suzhou City and seek refuge.
However, their beautiful vision was soon shattered by the ruthless fact. The city gate of Suzhou City did not open wide, but opened a small gate that could only accommodate a carriage. All ceremonial guards and vehicles must pass through the small gate.
to enter.
Even so, some victims still tried to squeeze into the city through the gaps, but were beaten out mercilessly by the police with water and fire sticks.
Only when you enter the city will you understand why the government did this. The streets that were originally spacious have been blocked with water. There are too many victims and they have occupied the open space on the streets.
If it hadn't been for the heavy rain, there would have been even more victims on the street. Some victims stood in the rain and kowtowed to the motorcade, but most of them looked at the motorcade with numb expressions.
For these disaster victims, the arrival of officials may not necessarily keep them alive. What they need most is not the rain right now, but food!
The official warehouse has not been stocked with food for so many days. They have been waiting in despair, and the price of food in the shops in the city is sky-high!
"Pooh!"
The ragged children spat at the convoy, then turned around and fled into the crowd. Tieniu waved his fist and put it down angrily. Who could really stand up to these half-grown children?
But Fan Zhongyan looked ugly. The victims did not expect much from the arrival of his comfort messenger. On the contrary, they were full of disgust.
The motorcade arrived at the Yamen of the Prefecture. Zhang Qian, the magistrate of Suzhou, was already waiting at the foot of the stairs. Seeing the motorcade arriving, he quickly came forward with the Yamen servants to personally help Fan Zhongyan out of the car. As for Ye An, he did not want him to help him at the time. After all, he was young.
It doesn't make sense for a fifty-year-old to support me.
"Fan Gong, two angels from Yehou are here, it shows that I, Suzhou, have finally won the favor of the Holy One!"
Zhang Qian quickly began to compliment Fan Zhongyan and Ye An. He was not a high-ranking official like Wu Yu who accompanied the capital. He could be the governor of a state and only got the position of prefect through nepotism.
Seeing Fan Zhongyan's unkind look, Ye An crossed his hands and sneered: "The governor is too modest. It's rare that you can accommodate tens of thousands of victims in Suzhou City, but why don't you open a warehouse to release grain? I'm afraid the disaster relief documents from the imperial court have already been sent to the Jianghuai prefectures."
Alright?"
"This... there are many pests in the Changping warehouse in Suzhou. This year I wanted to sell the old grain in exchange for new grain, but you two also saw the drought and locust disaster..."
Fan Zhongyan pulled Zhang Qian's sleeve and shouted coldly: "You dare to sell old grain before new grain arrives? How brave! I want to see where all the old grain in your state government office has gone.
What a price!”
Fan Zhongyan and Ye An received news on their way here that Zhang Qian, the magistrate of Suzhou, was secretly selling grain to merchants. They colluded with each other and raised the prices. As a result, the grain price in Suzhou increased sharply. The original grain price of thirty cents per dou has now increased to three hundred cents.
One bucket, a full improvement of ten times!
It's not scary to encounter famine. What's scary is that some people are hoarding food maliciously and speculating on food prices. Zhang Qian, the prefect of the state, is actually involved. That's a disaster!