First Prince of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 386

Zhu Biao closed his eyes and sighed quietly. It was a habit formed by his education in his previous life to give priority to helping women and children. It stands to reason that there should be old people, but in the current situation, a trade-off must be made. The future is always more important than the past. .

Not to mention the young and strong men, the food supply they need far exceeds that of women and children, and it is difficult to manage, and the Chen family has no suitable reason to help the young and strong.

It was also noon during the conversation, and the caravan took refuge outside the official road to set up a tent to rest. Chen Rongyan immediately arranged the amount of food that should be left and the management staff. Han Zheng would also leave a group of guards. It can be predicted that after the large troops leave , There will inevitably be hungry and crazy people who will try to gather crowds to rob food.

After just two hours, nearly [-] women and children gathered in the camp. The children were overjoyed after taking a sip of the clear soup and porridge. The more obedient ones licked their lips and gave it to their mothers.

There was also a family of three. The father squatted outside the camp and looked at his wife and children with a gratified smile on their Adam's apples after eating. There were also those who begged the guards with tears in their eyes, hoping to reunite the family.

Zhu Biao looked at everything in front of him silently with his hands behind his back, and he didn't order the man to come in. There is no rule, and his order today is very out of line. It is not known whether it will arouse the vigilance of corrupt officials in the disaster area. relented,

The so-called small intolerance leads to chaos and great conspiracy. Zhu Biao is not a fairy god, and he has no magical powers to make the world unified and the people of the Li people to reunite with their families in peace and happiness. go down.

After a while, Han Zheng came over and said, "My lord, there are hundreds of people gathered in the forest in the distance. They seem to have evil intentions, but they dare not do anything now. They are probably waiting for our large army to leave."

Zhu Biao ordered: "Leave more guards, and show off the bows and crossbows. The left and right are in the name of gathering the dead for the prince. The hungry and crazy people are far more crazy than those rebellious mobs. Don't be careless."

Han Zheng agreed and went down. He naturally knew how crazy the food was for the extremely hungry people. Unless the leader of the rebellion knew that he would die, most of the rest were still lucky when facing the officers and soldiers. Many kneel down and beg for mercy.

The deterrent power of the government army and guards soared after the order to hold weapons, Zhu Biao didn't want to delay any longer, and directly ordered a large army to set off, and arrived at Pingyang Prefecture three days later. place.

Zhu Biao also went to take a look from a distance, the scene can only be described as wild dogs robbing food, the government's porridge water is only a few pots a day, not only there are not a few grains of rice in it, but most of them are eaten by strong local ruffians The hooligans took over, and the old, weak, women and children couldn't stand it at all.

No wonder so many women and children chose to flee the famine. They stayed here, even if they had relief food, they couldn’t get it in their mouths. Talking and laughing withdrew.

After arriving at Pingyang Fucheng, Zhu Biao saw that the gate of the city was crowded with endless victims, and he couldn't see the leader at a glance. Many soldiers maintained discipline majestically,

There are dozens of pots and stoves standing not far from the city gate, and it seems that they have never stopped making porridge for distributing porridge. Chen Rongyan on the side snorted: "This is to prevent the victims from rushing into the city, and it is just to make porridge in a fashion, to give the victims hope. Just dozens of big pots in the area boil clear water and white porridge continuously day and night and consume a lot of food.

Zhu Biao nodded when he heard the words. The city gate here should be similar to the city gate in the other direction, but no matter how you count it, it is only a few hundred pots and stoves. Facing the many people gathered around the city, it is not a drop in the bucket.

While talking, a member of the Chen family came to report: "My lord, the shopkeeper, Chen Bingxian asked to see the shopkeeper, and there was an official beside him, who said he was the governor of Pingyang."

Chen Rongyan ordered: "Please come here."

The clerk responded, and Chen Rongyan turned to Zhu Biao and said, "Chen Bingxian is my cousin. He is the shopkeeper of the Chen family business in Pingyang Mansion. The family lives in their hometown. I dare not have other thoughts. Please rest assured, my lord."

Zhu Biao nodded in satisfaction. After getting along with him for this period of time, Chen Rongyan is indeed very good. He is experienced and the most important thing is to be sensible. Now that he is helping Zhu Biao to do things, then everything should be considered from his point of view.

After a while, a man with a big belly and a scarf on his head came over, leading a thin middle-aged man in an official robe. Chen Rongyan went to greet him first, while Zhu Biao stood there arrogantly, with a look of disdain to communicate with others Brother son looks like.

Chen Rongyan clasped his hands to the two of them with a smile on his face and said, "I'm really sorry to welcome you two in person. I have met Governor Zhao, and I heard from my cousin that it is convenient for you to spend a lot of time with my Chen family. This time, I specially brought It is a generous gift, and I hope the governor will not be offended."

The governor of Zhao Xing is no more than a ninth-rank official, so he naturally became polite. The Chen family in the south of the Yangtze River is a big family, not to mention that there is now an envoy who is a direct descendant of the Eastern Palace. So what if he spit in his face.

After a while, the three of them walked over together, and Chen Rongyan introduced: "This is my young master, who was originally enrolled in the Imperial College in the capital, and the Tongzheng envoy specially sent him here to increase his knowledge."

Governor Zhao immediately understood that the noble family of the Chen family, among them, no matter how poor the direct descendants are, they would not come here to sell food. It seems that their backgrounds are not right, but they can also enter the Imperial Academy to study, which means that their father has a very high status. It should be that Chen Tongzheng's illegitimate son.

It is estimated that Chen Tongzheng, who was ignorant and incapable of learning and incompetent in the Imperial Academy, was dismissed by Chen Tongzheng, who was sent here to take over the business. It seems that it will be difficult to return to the capital in the future.

Disdainful in his heart, but on the face Xu is flattering. He knows that young masters of this kind of background are very extreme, and they are prone to riots if they are slighted.

On the other hand, Chen Bingxian was a little nervous, but after all, he was a person who had been in the business for many years. He greeted him politely, not coldly but not too close. Governor Zhao at the side also understood, after all, who would like to come to grab a job.

After being polite to each other for a while, Governor Zhao smiled and said, "The Chen family brought a lot of food, but I don't know how much they plan to pay for it?"

Chen Rongyan said with a smile: "Naturally, the higher the better, the hard times come at a good time, if you don't make a fortune, it would be a waste of time."

Governor Zhao stretched out four fingers and said with a smile: "Brother Chen is happy, so the official is not welcome. What do you think of this number?" "

The smile on Chen Rongyan's face disappeared immediately: "Governor Zhao is joking, if it's only for the purpose of raising food prices by [-]%, then why should I come to Pingyang Mansion on purpose?"

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(End of this chapter)