After Yang Zhao left Chang'an City, the topic of famine that was hotly discussed in the streets and alleys subsided within a few days. Without the gimmick to talk about, the people of the Great Wall would naturally not waste their precious time caring about the drought in Hedong. Anyway, in all dynasties,
There have all been droughts. In the end, when the government released grain, didn't the victims solve their food and clothing problems? In the eyes of these Chang'an people, the famine in Hedong this time was just a small farce staged by the prosperous Tang Dynasty.
It wasn't until half a month later that a large number of victims from Hedong flooded into Guanzhong, and the people of Chang'an realized the seriousness of the drought. But they couldn't figure out why these victims had to leave the land and the heated kang when the imperial court opened warehouses to release grain.
To escape from famine.
Later, things became more and more serious. Disasters were also reported in Henan Road, which is adjacent to Hedong Road. Then there was a drought in Hebei Road. What was a small farce in the eyes of the people of Chang'an City turned into a great famine that affected the Tang Dynasty. Everyone swallowed.
I was frothing at the mouth, thinking about how much brown rice was left in my rice vat. Should I buy some corn in advance to prepare for the New Year?
Although the imperial court repeatedly clarified that the drought was only limited to a few states and counties, the people of Chang'an City believed their own eyes more. They found that more and more victims were gathering outside the city walls, and ugly and simple shacks were unknown.
It emerged from the ground, swaying in the wind, as if mocking the majestic Chang'an Imperial Capital. As soon as the gust of wind passed, the smell of sourness spread, filling the air and making people sick. Under the city wall, every day
Some people died, but people came every day. One shack collapsed, and another shack was erected...
After a few days, the imperial court seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation and sent the Minister of Household Affairs to urgently transfer rice from Zuozang and go outside the city to prepare porridge for relief. However, the two meals a day of gruel were not enough to be eaten.
If you get late, you may not even be able to drink rice soup. Some strong men may be able to grab several bowls of gruel, but the old, weak, women and children are left in misery, watching helplessly as the villagers rush towards the porridge shed like wild beasts, carrying their hands to the porridge shed.
Holding a rough porcelain bowl with a chipped tooth, he went to fight for the life-saving bowl of food.
The city gate so close at hand was like a bloody mouth, swallowing up the hopes of the victims alive. It was absolutely impossible to open the city gate. Since the victims from Hedong flocked to the outside of Chang'an City, the imperial court issued a strict martial law.
No matter what, the victims cannot be allowed to sneak into Chang'an City and endanger the normal order of the imperial capital. As for whether these victims can have enough to eat and whether they will suffer from cold or cold, they, the city gate guards, are not concerned.
The three battalions of Tongwu, Zhenwu and Xiongwu were stationed not far outside the city. The Tongwu battalion closest to the city wall was only three or four miles away from the shacks of the victims. Seeing so many fellow villagers suffering, the veterans of the third battalion
Naturally, I felt uncomfortable. Finally, under the mobilization of the school captain Wang Xiaochun, the direct descendants of the three battalions entered the city one after another, asking their own soldiers and horses to cook porridge to help the victims.
Li Kuo's heart sank after hearing Wang Xiaochun's report. It was definitely inappropriate to use the military rations from the third battalion to help the victims, but he could not just watch the victims in Hedong starve to death. After thinking for a long time, he decided to come forward with a few friends.
Provide relief to disaster victims on a private basis.
After thinking about it, the young man went straight to Su Jinghong, the eldest son of Su Ji Mipu. After he expressed his thoughts, the eldest son Su held up his palms and praised him, and agreed to sell japonica rice to Li Kuo at a fair price to help the victims.
Although the food obtained in this way is still a drop in the bucket in front of the ant-stricken victims, the young man feels at ease by doing so. No matter what the rich and wealthy families do, no matter what the stingy merchants who hoard goods do, he is who he is, he is who he is.
You have to live up to this conscience.
With food, manpower was not a problem. The soldiers of the three battalions worked together, and in a short time, small carts loaded with food left the city.
Set up the pot, add fuel, light the fire, and cook porridge.
More and more victims noticed this group of philanthropic soldiers and came over one after another. When they saw a pot of fragrant porridge with foaming foam, their confused and confused eyes immediately shot out two rays of light.
One bowl, two bowls, three bowls...
The victims who received the porridge suddenly discovered that the rice porridge given by the army was much thicker than the porridge served by the imperial court. The rich rice aroma moved them to tears.
"Dad, why are you here serving porridge?" A little girl about six or seven years old asked in a low voice, holding the hand of a middle-aged man.
"The porridge here is thick, and one bowl is worth two bowls. You two will be obedient for a while, and daddy will serve the porridge. Don't run around. Do you understand?" The middle-aged man touched his daughter's head lovingly and used a hand full of oil stains.
His sleeves rubbed against his gray-black cheeks, and he followed closely.
"Don't be anxious, don't be anxious, everyone has a share, everyone has a share!" Zhang Yanji was arrested by Li Kuo for his labor, and now he is leading a group of soldiers to maintain order near the porridge shed. When he encounters someone cheating or pretending to be the leader, he
They were caught on the spot and rushed to the end of the team. There were also some street gangsters in Chang'an who were eating and drinking. They came over when they saw porridge being given outside the city. Most of these people were familiar faces, and some were recognized by the soldiers.
He immediately blushed and ran away with his head drooped and a gray face without any words from the soldiers.
"Ah!" The more people walked forward, the more people gathered. Erya didn't even take a step and was knocked to the ground by several strong men.
"Be careful!" Seeing this, Li Kuo rushed forward and helped Erya up.
"Be careful." Li Kuo patted Erya on the shoulder and smiled slightly.
"Brother, I'm afraid!" Erya was so frightened that she cried out and threw herself directly into Li Kuo's arms.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid." Li Kuo patted Erya's back and consoled him.
"Erya, Erya, daddy is back with porridge for you!" The middle-aged man rushed over looking for the cry and found Erya clinging to an officer. He immediately panicked.
"Erya, hurry up, let go." The middle-aged man grabbed Erya's arm and tried to pull him out, but Erya hugged her tighter and tighter, refusing to let go.
"Master Jun, look, this little girl is ignorant and has offended you..." The middle-aged man sighed and nodded to Li Kuo with a smile.
"It's okay, she is probably scared." Li Kuo smiled slightly and said softly: "Tell brother, why did Erya come to Guanzhong to escape?"
Erya pointed her finger and said: "There was nothing to eat, so Erya helped her father pound elm bark and peanut bark at home, then steamed them and ate them. But those things hurt the throat."
"How could this happen? Didn't the Hedong Economic Envoy arrive at Jinyang City a long time ago and open a warehouse to provide relief to the victims?" Li Kuo frowned and asked suspiciously.
The middle-aged man sighed and said: "What kind of manager? I only know that a high-ranking official named Yang came from Xijing. When he arrived in Hedong, he asked Pei Fuyin to hold a banquet to welcome the wind and wash away the dust. Everyone is a connected tree.
He can't even eat the skin, but he still has his mind on tasting the delicacies from the mountains and seas in the house."
After a pause, the middle-aged man continued: "There is a severe drought in the east of Hedong. Since the beginning of summer, there has been no rain in the whole province for three months, and the best wheat has dried up to death. Then there was a locust plague, and the villagers were waiting for it.
After all the waiting, the imperial envoy arrived. Everyone was staring eagerly at the city gate building, expecting to see a notice announcing the opening of warehouses for grain distribution. But who knew, who knew..."
"Brother, what's wrong? Please speak more slowly, ah." Li Kuo vaguely felt that something was wrong with the situation and asked in a friendly voice.
"I heard that this imperial envoy is good at calculation. The warehouse was opened and the grain was put out, but not many grains of rice fell into everyone's rice vat. How much can each person get in such a small bucket of rice?
?Why does the mouth of the bucket look like a mallet when collecting the royal grain? In previous years, it would have been fine, but this is a famine year. There has just been a famine and a locust plague. How can everyone live?
ah."
A man next to him also complained: "Yes, there are a few iron pots at the east end of the city, and they pretend to give porridge there every day. How many states in Hedong have been affected by the disaster, so how about ordering rice to cheat people? You
I didn’t notice that the porridge was very thin. It would be good if there were a few grains of brown rice floating in the bowl. How could a good family like you have such a solid porridge? Good people are rewarded with good things, and good people are rewarded with good things.”
"After the bark was eaten, everyone looked for weeds to eat. But some people were inexperienced and ate poisonous weeds. Their whole faces were swollen. Their nostrils and corners of their eyes were black, and their limbs were sore and weak. People died every day.
, today Xiao Si Fang'er died of hunger, tomorrow I heard that a woman accidentally ate poisonous weeds and closed her eyes, and the day after tomorrow I saw Er Mu falling from hunger beside the stone mill at the end of the village..."
The middle-aged man sighed and said word by word: "Everyone is looking for it. This imperial envoy dare not release all the food because he is afraid of eating the emperor's food. But everyone has to live, so we will
We fled from the famine all the way from Jinyang Prefecture to this pass. Everyone knows that there is food in this pass, but who knows that we still can't have enough to eat."
The strong man took over the conversation: "It's easy to deal with now. When autumn comes, the weather will get colder and it will be hard to find a place to warm up. It's hard to say whether you are older and can survive this winter."
"Brother Kuo'er, this, this is too much. I said before, this Yang Zhao is not a practical leader..." Zhang Yanji couldn't bear to see this kind of scene, he clenched his fists and said bitterly.
"Brother, how many people like you are there who have escaped from the famine?" Li Kuo's heart sank, and he thought about his next plan.
"This is hard to say. Ten of the hundreds of households in our village have fled the disaster. When they heard that there was porridge in Jinyang, they all rushed over. But who knew it was the ghost blowing the lamp?
He didn't even say anything. No, everyone just rushed to Kyoto, wondering if they could give everyone a bowl of rice under the emperor's feet. After all, so many folks starved to death right under the eyes of the emperor's grandpa.
His old man can’t keep a look on his face, can he?”