The further north he left Shunde Mansion, the worse Zhu Youcong's mood became!
Can he be in a good mood? From the moment he entered the border of Shanxi Province, Zhu Youcong kept seeing hungry people appearing along the road. At first, there were a few, then a dozen hiding far away; gradually, there were hundreds and hundreds of people.
The hungry people were on the roadside first, and although they were still trembling as they watched his party pass; but he also saw that not far away from them, someone was picking up horse dung and carefully looking for undigested beans in it.
Yesterday, just yesterday! Zhu Youcong even saw a group of crows standing on the tree, staring at the dying boy under the tree. If he hadn't seen him, maybe the boy would have become the crows' dinner! Now!
The young man was still lying in the carriage at the back, and he didn't know if he could survive this or not...
"Little prince, what's wrong?" Lu Xiangsheng, who had been riding behind the car, caught up and asked quietly from the window. He didn't dare to ride in the same car with Zhu Youcong. The guy pulling the car was so cruel. Last time
He was almost kicked before he even got in the car!
"Go! Call Mr. Lang Qian from behind!" Zhu Youcong's expression was very bad. He saw thousands of victims gathered together in the wasteland beside the road. Children were crying, women were sobbing, and men were sighing helplessly.
Not far away, there were hungry people digging up grass roots. Some simply dug up Guanyin soil and stuffed it into their own mouths and those of the children around them.
"What are your orders, young prince?" Although Mr. Lang Qian is a deputy, he has a strong backing. He is the nephew of Huang Zunsu, the imperial censor. In Luoyang, let alone Mr. Qian, even the commander-in-chief would not dare to give it.
The look on his face showed that Zhu Youcong didn't cause him any trouble along the way, but he didn't do him any favors either. If it weren't for the fact that Xiao Lezi gave him a lot of gold and silver in private, he wouldn't be so respectful.
.
"Mr. Lang Qian, how much food and grass does our army have left? How long does it take to reach Hejian Mansion?" Zhu Youcong still had a gloomy face, which made Mr. Lang Qian feel very uncomfortable.
"Back to the young prince, there are still one hundred and thirty stones left in the army, which is enough for our army for five days. According to this itinerary, we can arrive at Hejian Mansion at You hour today." Isn't he just a prince? Isn't that what you did?
How dare you show off your face when you have only three acres of land?
"Well," Zhu Youcong thought for a moment and said, "In this case, you take out fifty stones and set up a stove to cook porridge now to help these hungry people! When we get to Hejian Mansion, I will buy some for you to make up for it!"
"This... I'm afraid it's not appropriate!" It's a joke. If you ask me to give it to you, I'll be so embarrassed!
"Buy, my prince is buying the head office? Fifty taels of gold will buy you fifty shi of grain. When you get to Hejian, I will still replenish the grain for you. Will you sell it happily?" It's not like Zhu Youcong didn't know the price of grain at this time.
But now that he had no food in hand, he was so anxious that he could only grit his teeth and admit it.
"Sell!" You should have said it earlier! Couldn't you have just said the money? This young prince is so generous. One tael of gold buys one stone of food? Why are we deducting the food payment? I just told the truth,
If you still have two hundred stones, wouldn't you make more money?
"Old man, where did you come from?" After Mr. Lang Qian rushed to drive with the gold in his arms, Zhu Youcong also got off the carriage and came to the roadside despite Xiao Lezi's strong obstruction.
He took an old man's hand and asked.
"Back to... to the little official..." The old man didn't know who he was in front of him, but seeing that he had an extraordinary bearing and that there were several tall guards following behind him, he knew that this person was of noble status, and he couldn't speak clearly at the moment.
.
"Don't be afraid of this old man. Whatever the young prince asked, just tell the truth." Lu Xiangsheng didn't expect that the usually treacherous little fat man, who would think about selling money even if he was about to break a piece of cloth, would actually do good things along the way.
He made a lot of money; he suffered such a big loss today, buying grain at exorbitant prices to get porridge on credit...
"Wang...Prince?" The old man had never even seen a county magistrate in his life. When he saw the legendary prince, he almost fainted.
"Old man..." Zhu Youcong glared at Lu Xiangsheng bitterly, are you okay and scary? What are you talking about, prince? He pointed to a child next to him who looked about the same age as him but was very thin and said: "Look at me at my age and
Your little grandson is no different, just think of me as a passing descendant."
"Grass people...Grass people don't dare!" The old man wanted to kneel down but was held tightly by Zhu Youcong. Looking at the smile on his fat face, the old man seemed to feel good intentions. "We all escaped from Liaodong.
of……"
Liaodong? Tatars again? Zhu Youcong couldn't help but hate it with itch.
"The young prince doesn't know, we are suffering..." The old man couldn't help crying when he thought of the hardships along the way. "Since the Tatars occupied Liaoyang a few years ago, we have not lived a stable life for a day. How good were the past few days?
It is easy to escape to the capital, but...but the officials are afraid that we will cause trouble, and want us to continue moving south!"
"Bastard!" Zhu Youcong was furious. The capital city is so big that it can't accommodate thousands of refugees? Continue to move south? Look at the crowd gathered over there. Most of them are in ragged clothes; only a small part of them is carrying a tattered small baggage.
. It is conceivable that they were driven out without even receiving the most basic relief in the capital.
"The ordinary people deserve to die! The ordinary people deserve to die!" It is said that officials protect each other. This young prince seemed to be doing well just now. Why did he become so angry all of a sudden?
"Old man, please get up quickly. I'm scolding those beasts who are officials in the capital!" It was clear at a glance that the old man had misunderstood.
"Young prince, you can't do it!" Lu Xiangsheng quickly looked around. Fortunately, none of the accompanying officers and soldiers came with him. There were some refugees around him, and he hurriedly stopped Zhu Youcong. "Young prince, you can't do it. Those are all from the court.
Sir! It’s better that we don’t cause any trouble when we go to Beijing this time!”
"Important minister?" Zhu Youcong sneered, pointed at the old man and said: "Who are they? They are not Tatars, not mobs! They are all our subjects of the Ming Dynasty, our compatriots, our fellow villagers, and us.
brothers and sisters are ours
Food, clothing, parents, are the flesh and blood of my Ming Dynasty. But look, look, what did they get in the capital? Move south? What did they use to move south? Do they want to move so that they starve to death everywhere? Important ministers? Damn it, I scolded them
They’re just beasts and you still lift them up!”
"Young prince..." This was also the first time Lu Xiangsheng saw Zhu Youcong swearing, and he didn't know how to persuade him!
“Grass people…Grass people…” This was the first time that the old man heard someone call them compatriots, and it was also the first time that someone regarded them as the flesh and blood of the Ming Dynasty, not to mention that the man in front of him was still a young prince!
"Little prince, the porridge is ready!" Fortunately, Xiao Lezi's call stopped Zhu Youcong from roaring in time!
"Old man, let's go have some porridge!" Zhu Youcong took the old man with one hand and his grandson with the other and headed towards the marching stove. Following him were some hungry people who didn't know when they had gathered around. They had just
They also heard it. They heard with their own ears that the young prince called them fellow villagers and called them brothers and sisters.
Looking at the refugees gradually gathering around, although they were hungry and still scared, they lined up in an orderly manner. They held broken pots and bowls with trembling hands, and some even used a broken tile; they waited quietly.
Waiting for them to be given a bowl of porridge that is not that thick!
Seeing this, Zhu Youcong couldn't help but feel sour in his heart. He bowed respectfully and said, "I'm sorry, everyone. I, Zhu Youcong, only have so little ability. I can only give you a bowl of hot porridge to satisfy your hunger for the time being! Zhu Youcong is here,
I apologize to everyone!"
"No, Your Majesty! Please come up quickly, Your Majesty! The common people...the ordinary people are so grateful! I'm so grateful!" No one had any guidance. All those who heard and those who didn't heard knelt on the ground like this, with tears in their eyes.
Looking at the young prince with hot tears! In their hearts, this is not a bowl of porridge, but a life-saving jade liquid!…
Seeing this scene, the eunuchs who declared the decree and the royal guards spontaneously came over to help share the porridge. The soldiers in charge of escorting the gold also wanted to come over and help, but Mr. Lang Qian glared back.
Mr. Lang Qian cursed in his heart: "What a bullshit little prince! Aren't they just a group of refugees? My uncle has already given instructions, and he must drive away all the refugees he encounters! How dare you buy porridge on credit? Don't think that it's a big deal if you have two stinkers."
! Huh! When I enter the capital, I will definitely report this matter to my uncle! The scholars have no excuse to deal with you, the royal relatives!"
After being busy for several hours, Mr. Lang Qian kept urging him to get on the road. In desperation, Zhu Youcong had to spend another fifty taels of gold to buy fifty stones of grain and a few marching pots, so that the hungry people could nominate the most respected leader.
Distribute it among the people and then continue on the road.
Looking at the hungry people who were still kneeling in the distance, Zhu Youcong gently said to Lu Xiangsheng by the window: "These are my people of the Ming Dynasty! They are always so kind, always so humble, and their curved backbones support
They depend on my Ming Dynasty for thousands of miles! All they ask for is two meals a day! But what have we done? We can’t drive away the Tartars externally, and we can’t establish a clear government internally! Can we be worthy of them?
It wasn't until the smoke and dust left by the large army could no longer be seen that the hungry people slowly got up.
They whispered: "Who is this young master?"
"You don't know? I heard from the guard just now that he is the eldest son of King Fu of the Ming Dynasty!"
"King Fu?"
"Yes, King Fu of Luoyang!"
"Folks, please be quiet, folks!" The old man who was talking to Zhu Youcong just now was also elected to distribute food. He stood on a high place and shouted: "Folks, when the young prince left, he was afraid that everyone would continue to suffer from hunger.
I was starving, so I left two thousand taels of silver behind so that I could buy some food when I got to Shunde Mansion ahead!"
Zhu Youcong originally wanted to leave more money, but the one million taels of gold had been reported and was now the emperor's internal money, so he was not qualified to use it. And he didn't bring much money with him, and everything he had with him in the capital was
King Hua Fu had already asked someone to take it away first.
"Living Bodhisattva!"
"Yes! With such a kind-hearted prince, there is hope for the revival of Ming Dynasty!"
"By the way, did you see what was pulling the cart for the young prince just now?" A sharp-eyed hungry man suddenly remembered something and shouted.
"The one pulling the cart? Isn't it a horse?"
"No, no!" An elder pondered for a while and suddenly shouted: "Hae deer! That's a hae deer! What an auspicious beast!"