Three days later, Zuo Liangyu made arrangements and took dozens of servants to sail to Nanjing, while the army was handed over to his son Zuo Mengeng as commander.
It is said that I am going to Nanjing to report on my work, but in fact it is also a negotiation, but this time I am not qualified to raise conditions. Everything depends on the attitude of the court.
Hou Xun did not follow him back to Nanjing, but was preparing to leave for Beijing to take office. He was staying in Nanjing because he was ill. Now that he had traveled and traveled all the way to Wuchang, it would be unreasonable for him to go back to recuperate, and he could not look like that old face.
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As Zuo Liangyu went to Nanjing and Zhang Xianzhong temporarily surrendered, it can be said that the entire Ming Dynasty ended more than ten years of war in one fell swoop.
This may mean that if something is extremely prosperous, it must decline; if it declines but does not perish, it will prosper.
Hou Xun took his servants and servants north along the Han River. After passing Xiangyang, he looked at the decadence along the way and was filled with emotion.
The surrounding areas are sparsely populated, and the fields are barren and overgrown with weeds. In the past, there was not a single car or horse on the official road where business travelers frequently traveled for dozens of miles.
"Sir, the Xinye County town is just ahead. It's getting late, so we'd better go to the city and spend the night!"
"Um!"
Hou Xun in the carriage nodded. Now let alone the inn, along the way from Xiangyang, almost all the bustling market towns along the way had been abandoned, and the group could only spend the night in abandoned houses.
Seeing that a large number of people had finally gathered outside the city, Hou Xun's face looked better. Seeing that they seemed to be giving out porridge, he got off the carriage and wanted to take a look.
As the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Hou Xun also wanted to make a difference, so he wanted to experience the people's sentiments along the way and understand the current situation in the north.
"Everyone line up, don't be crowded, just wait a while and you'll be ready!"
At the gate of the city, thousands of ragged people were holding bowls, all of them staring and swallowing.
A group of soldiers with swords were standing by to maintain order.
A civil servant and a group of government servants looked on, looking like they wanted to help but didn't know how to help. Not to mention how embarrassing it was.
On the other side, a dozen gentry in fine clothes were also watching with their servants.
Coming closer, Hou Xun obviously discovered this abnormal scene. Logically speaking, the court's disaster relief should be organized by officials and gentlemen.
But now he discovered that the people responsible for maintaining order were soldiers, and the people responsible for cooking porridge were obviously women among the common people.
The arrival of Hou Xun and dozens of people also attracted everyone's attention, and soldiers immediately came to question them.
After the servant revealed Hou Xun's identity, the soldier didn't say anything and just ignored it. This undoubtedly made Hou Xun's beard stand up in anger.
Fortunately, after a while, the county magistrate and a group of gentry hurried over to pay their respects, and Hou Xun found some dignity as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
But his face was still ugly, and he pointed at a woman who was obviously responsible for distributing porridge and said: "Wuzhi County, what is going on? Why is a woman taking care of such a big disaster relief matter for the court? You are standing aside and watching.
?”
"Alas! Hou Butang doesn't know something. It's not that the official doesn't want to help, but that they don't let me intervene."
Wuzhi County was a little embarrassed, and all the gentry nodded aggrievedly.
"What is going on? Who is that woman? Shouldn't the disaster relief work be handled by the local government office?" Hou Xun frowned suddenly.
It would obviously not make sense to say that the woman was the wife of a wealthy local family and was serving porridge on her own initiative.
At least those soldiers are not found in this small Xinye County. At first glance, they are veterans who have been on the battlefield.
"Going back to the headquarters, this Miss Liu is the shopkeeper of the Royal Branch in Xinye County. Those soldiers were also sent by General Gao. They started giving porridge half a month ago. The imperial court has issued a document regarding the disaster relief work in several northern provinces.
, the local royal branch manager is responsible, and local governments are not allowed to interfere."
Wuzhi County explained carefully.
After hearing this, Hou Xun was also shocked. His Majesty clearly did not believe in their civil officials at all.
He asked solemnly: "Does it mean that there are branches of the Royal Store in all the northern counties?"
"Going back to Butang, I don't know about other provincial officials, but there is one in every county in Henan, there is a branch in the prefecture, and there is a main store in Kaifeng, which ships grain to branches every half month."
"So, this royal shop only sells porridge and doesn't sell grain or salt?" Hou Xun took a breath of air.
"It's still for sale. It opens every three days. It only sells polished rice and salt. The price is too expensive."
This time the answer was from a gentleman next to him, who was obviously extremely dissatisfied.
"Wuzhi County, how many people are there in Xinye County as a whole?"
"This...except for the city, all the people from all over the country should be here."
Hou Xun looked at the thousands of people, his heart sank, and he didn't ask any more questions, but walked towards the hut.
The woman in charge, who was naturally an old palace maid, also knew Hou Xun's identity. When she saw him coming, she just knelt down and saluted, while Hou Xun just nodded.
"Why is the food cooking in the pot different?"
Hou Xun looked at dozens of large pots and asked in confusion. Most of the porridge in these large pots was obviously mixed with a large amount of rice bran and wheat bran. Only a few of them were real white rice porridge.
"Those who are shorter than the wooden stake, pregnant women and lactating women drink white rice porridge, while others eat these." the palace maid explained.
"How many times do you give porridge every day? How many times does it take?" Hou Xun nodded and asked again.
"Every day, once in the morning and once in the evening, one bowl each time. After today, we will no longer give porridge together."
The palace maid was obviously also a little afraid of Hou Xun, the household minister, so she answered all his questions.
"It is stipulated above that after the census records of each county are clear, grain will be borrowed on a household basis. Each person can borrow ten kilograms of coarse grains, five kilograms of refined grains, and two taels of coarse salt per month. In addition, each household can borrow another
I'd like to borrow five pounds of cotton and a piece of cotton cloth." The old palace maid said slowly.
"This...this...have you calculated everything clearly? There are enough supplies in the store? How will the people repay it in the future?" Hou Xun's scalp felt numb. This is the job of the Ministry of Household Affairs.
"Well, there are a total of 2,300 households and more than 5,000 people in need of assistance in the county. All supplies will be converted into silver and repaid in five years. The supplies will definitely not be enough, and they will be shipped again in the future."
The old palace maid picked up a dozen account books she had made and handed them to him, and explained.
At this time, the porridge in the pot was also cooked, and the people lined up at a very fast speed. Among them, two or three-year-old children and pregnant women with big belly were lined up together, but there were very few of them, only a few out of four to five thousand people.
Ten.
None of the old men, who were also in their forties or fifties, were seen.
Hou Xun stood aside and watched the people receive the porridge in an orderly manner and squat on the ground to eat.
Here, the palace maids and their waiters began to lend food, salt, cloth and cotton to the people who had finished their porridge. There was no mistake. Hou Xun also sighed and silently turned around and entered the city.
He naturally understands the virtues of officials at all levels. If they are allowed to do such complicated and complicated work, it is hard to say how much materials these people will receive in the end.
Sure enough, the gentlemen and officials on the side looked at the bags of polished rice and cotton cloth being carried away by the common people, with greedy eyes in their eyes.
In their opinion, rice bran and wheat bran are enough for these mud legs. Giving them ** rice is a complete waste, and the fresh cotton cloth is also a waste to wear on them.
But after looking at the old palace maid, everyone had no choice but to return to the city.
The news coming from various places these days is that almost all the officials and officials who dared to make plans were arrested by the Dongchang people, and the officials and gentry had their homes ransacked and killed on the spot.
The next day, Hou Xun left Xinye and continued northward.
Along the way, the prefectures and counties he passed were almost as unique as Xinye County, which made the ambitious man inevitably become a little decadent.
When he arrived in the capital, it was already the end of November, and Zhu Cihong also returned to the capital from Datong.
Although Zhu Cixiang has been staying in Datong these few months, his orders are conveyed to the capital all the time.