There were a total of four people who came, and the two stunned introduced the four people into the living room and introduced them to Xia Xun, who immediately took off their robes, revealing a military attache robe with a brocade bullfighting over-the-shoulder pattern, and the leader saluted Xia Xun with a fist: "The humble guard is injured by the general Mingjia of the direct army, and he has seen the grandfather of the country" As soon as Xia Xun saw his bullfighting suit, he knew that it must be someone from the palace, and when he heard him report his identity, he was indeed a palace guard, and he couldn't help but be moved: "The generals came in the rain, what happened in the capital?"
Although the four Tianwei generals were dressed in robes, they came all the way in the rain and walked such a long way, and their bodies were still soaked, and the rain was dripping down from the copper swallow of the saber on their waists.
Wu Wound wiped the rain on his face, leaned on the knife, and said respectfully: "Since this spring, it has rained rain, Suzhou, Songzhou, Jiading, and Huzhou have become a vast ocean, the people are scattered, and the mourning is everywhere, the emperor is worried, and he is anxious to return to Beijing to preside over disaster relief."
Xia Xun exclaimed: "In the Susong area, is the flood so serious?"
Wu said with a wry smile: "The humble position is just a decree, and the details are not clear, but looking at the appearance of the emperor and the scholars, I am afraid that Su Song's flood is better than what the humble position said."
Listening to the general's words, he had read the book for a few days, Xia Xun did not hesitate when he heard it, and immediately said: "I will go back to Beijing with you immediately."
Wu was stunned for a moment, and asked: "Won't the prince wait for the rain to stop today, this kind of rainstorm, the prince of the country?"
Xia Xun said: "I, the prince of the country, am not a delicate and expensive gentleman, I am stunned, and I will prepare horses and clothes immediately."
"Yes" The second stunned agreed, and rushed into the rain with an umbrella.
Xia Xun turned around and thanked him: "The matter is urgent, I won't say goodbye to everyone one by one, you can tell everyone in a while, don't worry."
The child is having a good time here, I think you are also more casual, just stay here for a while, anyway, I am not in Beijing for a while. ” Thank you for enduring hardships since childhood, and naturally understand that the continuous rainstorm is just to increase the interest of children in a family like her now, but what a heavy blow to the poor people who are digging in the fields, and immediately agreed, and gently instructed: "Master pay attention to your own body, don't overwork." ” Xia Xun agreed, and after a while, the second stunned man hurriedly came, reported that he had prepared his mount, and at the same time brought rain gear, Xia Xun was neatly dressed at the entrance of the hall, and walked quickly with the four palace guards who also put on their robes again.
Siyu stood under the tree and could see clearly, and asked in a childish voice: "Daddy, where are you going?"
Xia Xun paused slightly, and smiled at her: "Daddy is going to catch loaches for you."
Siqi immediately licked his lips, and said in a milky voice: "Huang Python is delicious" Xia Xun laughed: "You gluttonous kitten, Daddy Cheng will go and catch a big yellow cockroach for you" said and left in a hurry.
Xia Xun was very anxious, he had spent more than a year at the lowest level of society, and he even rushed from Huzhou to Qingzhou all the way to beg for food, and he knew very well the lives of the poor people at the lowest level of society.
He was even in the city of Jinan, watching countless people starve to death.
He is not hard-hearted, and his nerves are not as tough as a tightrope, and everything like hell is deeply engraved in his heart, and he has been awakened by nightmares several times.
He knows very well that in April and May, when there is no harvest, if there is a big flood, what does it mean, the people do not have much surplus food at home, once they are washed away by the flood, there are no grains left, it is going to die, and people will die every day, and if he goes early, he can save many lives, which has nothing to do with the national fortune, the court, and the future, it is for the poor people who are suffering at the moment, and the hardships of braving the rain are unbearable This is a person's most simple feelings What's more, there is Huzhou in this disaster-stricken area, for so many years, although his father-in-law has long since died, and he has long left the small village in Nanxun, Huzhou, but he has never forgotten where he is, but he did not appear there in person for fear of being recognized.
When the family was developed, he had already instructed the family to make all kinds of charities and donations to the villagers there, and these things have always been done by thanks.
Now that his "hometown" has been devastated by the disaster, he is naturally more anxious.
It rained and it rained It's raining, and it's raining again The river was full, the river was full, the ponds and lakes were full, and even the well water rose three feet out of thin air.
It was only the middle of April, and several heavy rains turned Huzhou into a swamp, the fields were washed away, the seedlings were drowned, and the low-lying areas had become an ocean.
In the high terrain, the lowest flood is also a foot, the peasants use the car to save the field, but the big water is a piece of water, constantly flowing, to save the water by the car is just a drop in the bucket, how can it be saved to the end, the people who push the water cart fell to the ground exhausted, can only watch the hope of the whole family soaked in the ocean, looking up to the sky and crying bitterly.
Outside Huzhou, countless refugees rushed to the city to escape the famine.
Chang Yinglin, the prefect of Huzhou, made a decisive decision, and immediately ordered the city gate to be sealed, not a single refugee was allowed to enter the city, and then escorted by officers and soldiers, and sent people to put grain outside the four cities for disaster relief, and the gruel that was slightly thicker than the water and brighter than the mirror was only given for half a day, and then announced that the Huzhou government had done its best, and there was no food in the city, and then the people outside the city no longer cared about it.
Those refugees, young and strong, can barely trek, and then struggle to other places to beg for a living from kind-hearted people, but what about the old and frail and the woman holding the child There are some unscrupulous rich gentry in the city, who quietly found the Chang Governor's Mansion and asked him to send troops to escort him, go out of the city to pick among the refugees, select the young and beautiful girl, sign the deed of sale on the spot, and enter the house as a slave, which can be regarded as doing some "good deeds" for the refugees.
Such a house slave is cheap, good in character, and if you are lucky, you may be able to buy a talented and good-looking lady, and after going back, she was instructed to do this and that during the day, and drank two sips of wine at night, and did this and that to her, wouldn't it be happy that the prefect admired the minds of these merchants, so he asked his housekeeper to go out with him, and really collected a few girls and ladies who were originally gentry's families, and bought them back to be their own girls.
Of course, these things had to be carried out in secret, and there were still many officials and gentry in the city, who protested all day long against his practice of closing the door of the palace and asking to go out of the city for disaster relief, and some of them voluntarily donated rice and grain.
As for the donated grain, he cleaned the bottom of the treasury, and used the little old grain mixed with sand to cook porridge outside the city gate for half a day, even if he gave an account to the gentry, the new grain donated by the gentry was of course sent to his own treasury.
Those who were bought back by the rich gentry were obviously maids, but in fact the girls who were through the room were already considered good luck, most people did not have such blessings, some people saw the opportunity early, as soon as they saw the closure of the city and forbidden, they immediately fled to beg elsewhere, and they did not die for the time being, but the old, weak, sick and disabled, many women, including some people who did not give up, still relied on the city, and as a result, the city gate could not be opened, and there was no grain of rice to help, and when they wanted to leave, they were unable to escape.
In desperation, many people covered their faces with their sleeves and jumped the moat under the watchful eyes of the defenders at the head of the city.
There was also the woman, holding a baby in her hand and a baby on her back, pointing to the city and cursing in pain, and then jumping into the river together, and becoming a floating corpse that was still hugging each other until death, and the prefect was in a hurry, he was really anxious, and after a while, his mouth was full of blisters.
In this big flood, Suzhou, Songzhou, Jiading, and Huzhou were all flooded, and the situation was very serious, but the most serious one was him.
His Huzhou Mansion is not the ground with the most rivers around, nor is it the lowest-lying place, and there is only one reason why the disaster is so serious, that is, the money allocated by the Ministry of Industry to repair the river and water conservancy has been put into his personal pocket.
Chang Zhifu was in a hurry, he was really anxious for a while, and his eyes were red.
The grain paid by the people of Huzhou Mansion was a lot of greedy ink by him, and he pointed to the harvest this autumn, and then take a good look to plug the loopholes, but as a result of this big flood, if the imperial court issued an order to exempt the food in the disaster-stricken areas, how could he live, what would he do to plug the deficit I was afraid of something, but there was news from above, the imperial court was going to send ministers to inspect the disaster area, release grain for disaster relief, and at the same time check the disaster collection situation in various places, so that the imperial court could reduce the grain in the affected areas accordingly.
In a hurry, he remembered his good sister-in-law Ji Gang.
If you want to talk about this sister-in-law, it can be regarded as him putting gold on his face.
Because his uncle's family suffered from the plague a few years ago, there was only such a cousin left in the family, and he defected to him, for the sake of so many family properties brought by his cousin, plus he couldn't afford the notoriety of refusing to save his relatives, so Chang Yinglin took in his cousin.
In the autumn of last year, Lord Ji went to Huzhou on business, Chang Yinglin was hospitable, and then a glass of medicinal wine sent his cousin into Lord Ji's bedroom.
Lord Ji liked it very much, and turned her into a concubine, although his cousin had a grudge, but he was already in the people, and he had to marry a dog and follow the dog, just like that, Chang Yinglin was a relative with Lord Ji, and he didn't care about him at this cheap relative, but most of the gold and silver he exploited honored Ji Gang, and Ji Gang didn't care So, the prefect of Chang hurriedly repaired a book and sent it to Beijing like a burning buttocks To be continued: