The World of Yellow Sky

Chapter 294

"I have heard that the land of Sili is the most affluent place in the world, but why are there so many...refugees..."

Hao Zhao looked at the villagers who were queuing up to get the porridge, with a look of unbearable expression. He hadn't seen it clearly by the official road before.

The tent where he is now is close to the porridge shed, and Hao Zhaocai can clearly see the villagers in front of him.

There are many people who can hardly cover their bodies in ragged clothes, and those who describe their haggard bodies as skinny are also common.

Hao Zhaonian is only fourteen years old, and when he wanders in the countryside, he is only within the clan. Even if he rides alone to Jinyang, what he sees is the residents of the city. He has never seen so many poor people.

Hao Zhao turned his head to look at Xu Zhangliao and Fu Qi.

When Zhang Liao and Fu Qi noticed the villagers receiving porridge, their expressions didn't change much, as if they were used to it.

Fu Qi used to be an official in the Han court, and such disaster victims, ordinary people, and refugees are all commonplace.

As a county official, Zhang Liao followed Xu An through the rice fields and into the mountains, and he also knew how rare it is to have no clothes and no food.

Although Hedong is a rich place, the people who are rich are not ordinary villagers. The people who are really rich are powerful, aristocratic families, and those big businessmen.

Zhang Liao felt Hao Zhao's eyes, looked at the villagers in front of him again, shook his head and sighed.

"The situation is getting worse, but taxes are getting heavier, and those who go bankrupt and lose their homes are more than that... In the second year of Zhongping, the civil uprising in Jizhou was caused by the plague, and the famine continued, but the court increased its taxes instead."

"Hao Zhao."

Xu An stood up, walked out of the shadow under the tent, and walked under the sun.

His eyes stayed on the group of villagers under the shanty who had received porridge and ate under the scorching sun, and he waved to Hao Zhao.

"Come to me."

"promise."

Hao Zhao nodded in agreement, and walked slowly to Xu An's side.

After stepping out of the tent, the sunlight suddenly became much more dazzling. The dazzling sunlight almost made Hao Zhao unable to open his eyes.

The scorching sun was in the sky, and there was no shelter around. The sun directly shone on Hao Zhao's body, which also made him feel slightly uncomfortable.

A shadow covered Hao Zhao's eyes, allowing Hao Zhao to open his hard-to-open eyes that were illuminated by the sun.

Hao Zhao was a little surprised. He raised his head and looked up. It was Xu An who was covering the sun for him.

"Look ahead."

Xu An's voice sounded beside Hao Zhao's ear.

Directly ahead, under a well-built hut, a thin woman was sitting on the ground, and beside her stood a child who was pulling the hem of her clothes.

The sackcloth on the child could not cover his body at all.

The thick dust almost covered the child's face, as if half of it hadn't been washed for many days, and the hair was as dirty as a hemp rope stained with mud, knotted together into strips.

The thin woman with rice porridge in a ceramic bowl was sitting on the ground feeding rice porridge to her child.

It wasn't until the pottery bowl almost bottomed out that the child couldn't eat anymore, and the thin woman ate the rice porridge bit by bit.

She ate very carefully, until there was not even a single residue left on the bottom of the bowl, then she reluctantly put down the pottery bowl in her hand.

Although the Yellow Turban Army has prepared food, it is not much. The successive battles and subsequent plans require a lot of food and grass.

I don't know why Hao Zhao's eyes felt a little uncomfortable again, and even his nose felt a little sore.

He thought of his mother, and the embarrassment when his family was in trouble.

"These people are all tenant farmers. Farmers with little land can only have a way of life if they live under a tyrannical rule. They work all day, but they can't even eat enough."

Xu An sighed and said: "The tyrannical government is fiercer than a tiger. Although you come from a powerful family, don't join forces with those powerful nobles."

"You are still young, don't learn from those high-ranking officials who live above the temple, formulate policies in a small area, don't think that it is a good thing to strategize and win thousands of miles away."

"Nowadays, many high-ranking officials who live in temples don't know the sufferings of the people, and they don't know the small things in the fields. They raise taxes, but they don't follow the truth, and they don't even give those small people a way of life."

"While strategizing and decisively winning thousands of miles away, Liuhou is not just like Zhao Kuo who can only talk about it. He has experienced countless battles, witnessed countless changes, and he has personally participated in the battle, which is why he is so praised."

Hao Zhao was a little dazed, but still nodded.

Xu An looked at Hao Zhao in front of him in a daze for a moment. The Zhang Ji he picked up from the side of the road was also the same age as Hao Zhao now.

"I have a younger brother."

Xu An showed nostalgia on his face, and Hao Zhao listened carefully to Xu An's words from the side.

"His name is Zhang Ji. I picked him up beside the official road. When I first saw him, he was skinny and almost dying, but now he is as tall as me."

Xu An's face gradually became serious, and his voice gradually became low.

"The bones are exposed in the wild, and there is no rooster crowing for a thousand miles..."

"You don't know what happened in Jizhou... Changing children to eat, using bones as salary, utterly miserable, severing human relations..."

"I was ordered to scout the surrounding area. I found some unusual movements in a dense forest that day. When I led the soldiers to push through the bushes, I saw a scene that I will never forget in my life."

Zhang Liao and Fu Qi were also standing behind Xu An at this time, listening to Xu An's narration.

"Behind the bushes are the mutilated bodies of two people. Their upper bodies are still there. Beside the two people, there is a bonfire. Beside the bonfire, there are three people sitting around the bonfire..."

Xu An's body was trembling slightly.

"I have killed countless people on the battlefield, I have seen them all cut open, beheaded and broken arms, but I will never forget that scene..."

"They're eating human flesh..."

Xu An clenched his fists and said almost gnashing his teeth.

Fu Qi sighed slightly and shook his head lightly.

"Exchanging children to eat, using bones as salary, starving to death everywhere..."

"I don't want to see that kind of scene again in my life. The world is in chaos, rebellions are rampant everywhere, and the Han Dynasty is overthrown. If those heroes who live in temples and regard the people as puppet dogs seized the world."

"If the melee continues, foreigners like the Xiongnu, Xianbei, and Wuhuan may even invade the land of the Central Plains..."

Xu An held the Yanling Saber at his waist, and he didn't know when it started, only holding the weapon would make him feel at ease.

"Look, this thousand-year-old strategy of fooling and weakening the people will definitely be broken, and the age of Huang Tian will definitely descend on this land of China!"

Xu An stared ahead with bright eyes.

"I, Xu An, will definitely end this troubled world!"

"Let this land of China come back to life, and there will be no more tragedies like this, and no more tragedies like cannibalism among compatriots!"

(End of this chapter)