The era of all the princes

Chapter 124 Recruiting refugees
In the first year of Emperor Mingzong, in the early winter, Tang Guogong Yu Wentai rebelled and Bingzhou fell. According to historical records, Yuwentai allowed the Mobei cavalry to burn, kill and loot in Bingzhou. Millions of people were displaced and starved to death everywhere!
"People. Bitter"

On the bank of the river in Guankou County, the county magistrate and his friends who came from afar watched the tragedies of selling children and selling women, and couldn't help but sigh and shake their heads.

"It was a good year, and we escaped natural disasters but not man-made disasters." The county magistrate looked sad. He came from a poor family, and he was just assigned to Guankou County as the county magistrate. Disadvantages, the government office has been rectified, and when it is planning to make a big splash, it did not expect this to happen.

The Mobei army used the military order as an excuse to plunder everywhere. The plundering of food was not enough, and they also forcibly arrested the strong men. As a result, countless people had to flee. Now a look of doom.

Those rebels did not touch the government office. After all, Tang Guogong rebelled suddenly, and what he lacked was management talents. If it was not necessary, he would not attack scholars, let alone official Jinshi.

But now this kind of chaos, even if the local governments are retained, it still can't stop the chaos.

"My lord, I found out clearly, there are Tang Guogong's people on the other side of the river bank, recruiting short-term crew members who go to sea, and they will provide meals, two steamed buns for a meal!"

The county magistrate frowned upon hearing this, saying that life is cheap in troubled times. Just now, in the county seat, a certain landlord recruited a foster daughter, and the embryo of a beautiful woman who could read was only worth two buckets of rice. It is also generous.

He has seen this kind of thing a lot. Every time there is a famine, the landlords will drive up the price of grain, annex the land, and recruit more tenants.

Sighing, the county magistrate said quietly: "Go and see, I will try to talk about it, let him recruit more people, so as to relieve the pressure on the county."

Now that the grain depots in the county are exhausted, Tang Guogong has no intention of helping them, and it is impossible for him to ask the rebels for help, so he can only continue to dilute the amount of porridge, but there are more and more hungry people in the county, and it will not last like this For a few days, if Tang Guogong was recruiting for a big project, he would have the cheek to ask the other party to recruit more people.

A group of people walked all the way to the north bank, but the further north they went, the more doubts the county magistrate felt. The north bank was relatively desolate, so many refugees came here. So many people flooded in again, but now they have walked all the way for a long time, and they can't see a single person?

"My lord, there!" Yacha pointed to the rough port road on the north bank.

The county magistrate looked up and suddenly felt something was wrong.

Guankou County is located in a remote area, tens of miles away from the commercial road. Few sea merchants are willing to dock here. The port is basically used for fishermen to park their boats. Now there are six or seven large ships standing there. , It was the first time he saw it after taking office.

"Who is coming?"

As soon as he approached, there was an angry shout from the same place. The county magistrate and his friends next to him looked up, and immediately saw a group of fully armed cavalry riding over.

"Li Wenshan, the county magistrate of Guankou County, come to pay my respects!"

As the county magistrate blew himself up, the cavalry leader in the distance obviously paused, and then shouted: "Please wait a moment, I will inform you."

The county magistrate nodded, and after a while, a young general in silver armor riding a white horse came to meet him. After dismounting three feet away, the young general politely took off his helmet and gave it to the soldiers next to him, and said: " It turned out to be the magistrate of the county, who was far away to welcome him."

Upon hearing this, Li Wenshan replied: "I heard that Tang Guogong's people are recruiting short-term labor here, so I came to have a look."

"Ah yes, my lord has a big business overseas and needs manpower. That's why we organized the recruitment. I didn't say hello to the county lord beforehand. Please don't be offended."

A few yamen servants next to me curled their lips when they heard the words, as if you burned, killed and looted here before, with the consent of the county magistrate.

"Really?" Li Wenshan looked at the recruitment situation in the distance, and said in a low voice: "I have come all the way, and there are almost no people on the north bank. I vaguely remember that there are at least nearly [-] refugees here. , Your Majesty’s business needs so many people?”

The young general smiled when he heard the words: "If only a hundred or so people are needed, we can go by ourselves. Why is it so troublesome to recruit people?"

"But there are a large number of women and children among the 3000 people, and this is what the Lord needs?" The county magistrate squinted his eyes.

"It can't be helped." The young general spread his hands helplessly: "These unscrupulous people insist that they are worried about leaving their wives and children here, so we will accept them together."

"Oh?" The county magistrate sneered: "Then the Duke is really kind."

"That's natural!"

"It can be heard that the general's accent is obviously the same as the local accent of the state. When did the Duke have a team of local cavalry under his command?"

As soon as these words came out, the whole atmosphere suddenly cooled down, and the young general who was originally smiling gradually put away his smile, sighed, and his eyes became cold: "It's really troublesome."

As he said that, he slowly put his hand on the handle of the knife at his waist, and the soldiers behind him also looked cold. This aura immediately scared the servants back again and again, and they kept complaining in their hearts why their lord was crazy?Don't come here to provoke others!
"I'm not here to stop you." Li Wenshan didn't panic when he saw that the other party was about to attack, but shook his head and said: "I don't care who you are, what you take these hungry people to do, even if it's overseas as slaves If you sell it, you have to give me an explanation."

"Confession?" The other party frowned suddenly: "What do you want to explain?"

"I have received the great grace of the Holy One. As the herdsmen, disaster victims are everywhere. As their parents, I cannot give them a way out. It is because I am incompetent. But I want to know where the people in my county will go in the future. do what."

To be honest, he thinks that these people are most likely to be bought and sold as slaves, but even so, he still wants to know, wants to know where they are.

These words made the other party silent for a while, and he glanced at him with some deep meaning, and his tone became a little gentler: "Please wait a moment."

As he spoke, he drove back, and after a quarter of an hour, the young general came back again, clasped his hands and said, "My lord invites you to talk!"

Master?Li Wenshan was taken aback for a moment, it seems that this is still a big shot.
-
Apart from Li Wenshan himself and his friend in long robes who were invited, the two of them followed the young general into the boat.

On the deck, Li Wenshan could see clearly that the hungry people on the boat were queuing up to get their meals. I don't know where to go for the gruel that is almost water-like.

Not to mention now, even in the past years of peace and prosperity, ordinary people may not be able to eat so well!

This made Li Wenshan feel a little more relaxed. At least these people have a way to survive, although they don't know how long they will live.

Following the tall soldier, Li Wenshan walked all the way to the interior of the cabin. As soon as the door opened, the friend who had remained indifferent beside him suddenly lost his voice.

"His Royal Highness??"

(End of this chapter)