Pingyang Fu of the Red Chamber

Chapter 431: Starving people everywhere in Jingnan
Rongguo Mansion,
The place of family education in the southeast corner of the house is the Jia family's school.

Jia Lan put down the book and chased him out in a panic. Then he followed the path to the entrance hall of the wing where the master lived, and knocked on the door.
"Master, are you there?"

"Well, come in,"

Qian Fangshan was packing his luggage when he heard the movement outside the door. He put down his work, sat on a chair, made a cup of tea and waited.

Jialan heard the master's voice,

Carefully pushing the door open, he saw the Master sitting in the main hall, as if waiting for him, he respectfully stepped forward and bowed.
He bowed and said,

"Student Jia Lan, please pay your respects to Master. Master, why are you leaving?"

Although Jialanren was young, he was not stupid. He looked at the master packing clothes and packages on the bed in the inner hall, knowing that the master should be leaving the house, and was quite puzzled as to why Hao Hao would leave.

Qian Fangshan laughed at himself, his face looked a little vicissitudes of life, and then he answered his doubts,
"Lan'er, sit down, why am I leaving? Of course I have to rush for the exam. Now that Enke is approaching, I have also signed up for my teacher's reference. Who doesn't want to be named on the gold medal list and have a glorious ancestor? How can I be a teacher here for the rest of my life? What you have learned, I also looked at your homework, and you can give it a try for the children's exam."

Seeing that his master was really about to leave, Jia Lan felt reluctant and his eyes turned red.
"Master, can you not leave?"

"Chier, what you just said is clear enough,"

After a pause, and for some unknown reason, Qian Fangshan suddenly felt inspired, looked into Jia Lan's eyes, and asked,

"Jialan, are you willing to worship me as your teacher?"

Jia Lan looked at the Master in front of him and his eyes lit up. He had studied so hard that he couldn't get started. If he hadn't met Master Qian, he might not have known how to read the book. He immediately knelt down and worshiped.

"The disciple is willing."

"Okay, Qian doesn't want to waste time here. Come and serve tea to the teacher."

Jia Lan walked to the table, served tea to Qian Fangshan respectfully, and kowtowed. Then, Qian Fangshan took out an Analects of Confucius from the bookcase and handed it over,

"This is for the students who were rushing to take the exam. There are annotations on the interpretation of the scriptures. If you read them thoroughly, you must pass them. As for future scholars, they still need to study other scriptures for several years. You are much younger than time. This year , I can take part in the palace examination as a teacher, and you need to be fully prepared. After I leave, you should not go to the clan to study, wasting time, I will leave today as a teacher, and we will meet again in the future."

I glanced at Jia Lan, fearing that he couldn't bear the feeling of separation, so I kicked him out.
"Go back and study hard."

Jia Lan stood outside the door and looked at the concierge. Suddenly, he kowtowed at the door again and shouted,

"Teacher will definitely be named on the gold list."

After saying that, he stood up and left.

Qian Fangshan was in the house, with a look of relief and a smile on his face. After finishing cleaning up, he glanced at the house, bowed to Rongguo Mansion, left a letter on the table, opened the door and laughed, then I walked out of Jia's house and left, feeling relaxed and indescribably happy.

Jia Lan returned to the family school and looked at the mess in front of him. The children of the Jia family only knew how to play and have no intention of studying, so it was indeed useless.

But from the bottom of my heart,

After understanding the teacher's advice, I decided not to come here again tomorrow. I returned to my seat and silently packed up my pen, ink, paper and inkstone. I took the book the teacher gave me and put it in my bag, got up and left.

The rest of the people were not surprised when they saw it. Many of the disciples also packed up their things and left, wanting to go back and have some fun, laughing and laughing.

Jia Baoyu couldn't calm down in his heart. He wanted to go with him, but when he thought about going back, he would be stared at by Xi Ren and others in the courtyard reading books. He might as well stay here, so he didn't rush to pack his things.
Instead, he picked up the book and read it again, but he couldn't read it anywhere. He was listening to other people talking about interesting things about the house, and he felt quite contented.

Beijing,

Southeast Linshan County,
The residence of the chief envoy to the south of Beijing,

Main hall flower hall,

Chief Secretary Yu Shiyuan stood in the hall, pacing back and forth with a gloomy look on his face, watching Zeng Ze, the prefect of Linshan, standing there tremblingly, reporting on the famine situation in Linshan County.

"Are you saying that all the prefectures and county offices in Linshan County have no food?"

"Sir, in addition to the food in the county granary, the food in the government and county warehouses has long been exhausted. Now the victims will gather together and swarm towards the county. It will take at most two days for them to arrive."

Zeng Ze also said with a pale face, and he was even more at a loss in his heart. If a civil uprising was triggered, not only the black gauze hat would not be saved, but also the head on the neck.

In earlier days,

I had already handed over the certificate and sent letters to the Ministry of Household Affairs several times, but there was no reply.

There was a severe drought here last year. During the year, not even a single snowflake was seen. People say that spring rain is as precious as oil. Even if it is the beginning of spring, it will not rain at all.So now the land is cracked, the lakes have dried up, and the people are miserable. They don't even have much water to drink. Where can they grow food? Now there is a famine, and people are dying of hunger all over the land. The people can't stand it anymore, and they run away from home one after another. No matter how virtuous they are, , Without food and money, how can we save ourselves?

"Sir, the plan now is to prevent the victims from coming to this county."

Chief Minister Yu Shiyuan was silent, and his dry and hoarse voice sounded.

"What's going on with Lin Yue Mansion in the south? Where's the prefect Li Cheng?"

Zeng Ze had a wry smile on his face. This was the case in all counties and cities, especially in Fucheng. He replied helplessly,

"Sir, Lin Yue Mansion has long been tightly surrounded by a large number of victims. Li Chenggong asked the garrison general Qin Yunjiang to close the gate of the city. Now he is waiting for help. There is no food in the city. Only the government office still has some food, which is only enough for the soldiers. The only thing you need is one meal a day.”

Zeng Ze swallowed his saliva and continued with some fear,
"Sir, Mr. Lu, the co-president of Lin Yue Mansion, came to report the news, but he was almost stripped naked by the victims on the way. If it weren't for the guards around him desperately protecting him, he might not have been able to reach the county seat. Now he is frightened and is unconscious. , I asked the doctor to arrange for Mr. Lu to come immediately."

"Well, let's leave it like that for the time being. Let the garrison general Gu Ping order all the troops to defend the city. We must not let the county and city be in chaos. I will report it to the court immediately. You can also calm down the city first and wait for the court. letter."

The Chief of Staff did not know that the situation was urgent, but the official warehouse had just been inspected by the Ministry of Revenue and a seal was affixed. Without a warrant from the Ministry of Revenue, anyone who opened the warehouse to get grain without authorization would have been dismissed from office, or even lost his head, and there was not much food in the government treasury. There is only enough for the city, and we dare not open warehouses to store grain.

Zeng Ze's face was full of disbelief. The Chief Minister would actually do this. The victims were right in front of him. If he didn't reply, he couldn't imagine the consequences.

"Sir, I have to give up, but I also need to save the victims. Although I came late, I also know that disaster relief is like putting out fire. The government office is short of food, but those aristocratic families, distinguished merchants, and warehouses full of food are piled up like mountains. As long as you dare to "

"Shut up, this is something you, the prefect, can ask."

Chief Minister Yu Shiyuan's expression suddenly changed, he slammed the table hard and rebuked angrily.

However, his face suddenly softened, and he changed his tone to comfort;
"Zeng Zhifu, Mr. Zeng, you have been in Linshan County not long ago. There are some things you don't know. There is no one behind those aristocratic families and noble businessmen in the capital. Don't those people in Linshan County's famine court know that you should have been in Zhezi?" Yes, I also gave a discount, but the answer he gave us, besides asking us to comfort him, was not to give him a grain of grain or a tael of silver. Instead, he exempted the governments from tax and disaster relief. The little money was enough to stuff your teeth. Is it sewn? Are you asking us to use our own money to provide disaster relief? Do you think so?"

Zeng Ze's eyes widened, the corners of his mouth trembled, and he said nothing, with a look of sadness and anger on his face.
"Sir, there are tens of thousands of people coming outside the city. The corpses of the victims who died on the road are probably scattered all over the field, my lord,"

"I know that this matter will be reported to the imperial court. You only need to suppress the city. That's it, steward, see the guests off."

Yu Shiyuan picked up the tea bowl and took a sip of tea, and his face became better. Zeng Ze looked sad and couldn't speak. He stood there in silence and said nothing. The housekeeper outside the door saw him, walked in and said;
"Master Zeng, please."

Zeng Ze looked like a zombie, turned around and walked out without saluting.

After people leave,

The steward approached and asked in a low voice;
"Master, Mr. Zeng,"

"Huh? He's a good official, but it's a pity that he came to Linshan County. Don't let this matter spread. Ask Gu Ping to send someone [-] miles away to rush him to the capital. Be quick."

After saying that, he actually handed the red folding book that he had prepared to the housekeeper. When the housekeeper saw the red folding paper, he was shocked. Knowing that the matter was important, he did not dare to delay. He turned around and trotted out of the house.

In Linshan County City,
The stronghold of the Imperial City Si Yamen,
Song Liang from a hundred households had already broken in on horseback with his men.
"My lord, my lord, something happened."

Qianhu Dingren's expression changed and he asked,

"What's the matter, so flustered?"

"Sir, the two county towns of Linyue Prefecture have been captured by the victims, and officials have been killed to release food. Now, more and more of the victims have gathered together and are heading towards Linyue City, the prefecture. I am afraid they will besiege the city within three days."

Baihu didn't care about his dry mouth and told Qianhu what he had inquired about. Qianhu was shocked. Why didn't there be any news about what happened? What did the people in the Imperial City Division do to eat there? It's not that I've been feeling uneasy in the past few days and sent close people to investigate, I'm afraid it's
As soon as I got excited, my back was wet with cold sweat.

"The victims of the disaster, all the victims of the disaster, are attacking the city. They are all traitors. But there is a message from Lin Yue Mansion."

In a panic, Qianhu felt anxious and directly called the victims as traitors, which also shocked Song Liang of Baihu. Could it be that the master in the city was already sending troops to suppress it? He pressed on what he thought and hurriedly replied;

"Sir, Feng Baihu from Linyue Fucheng has already sent someone to ask for help. He said that a large number of victims have surrounded the city and cannot enter or exit. They are just waiting for the rebel army from the three counties over there to come and attack the city. Qin Yunjiang, the garrison general of Fucheng, has already mobilized a large number of Fucheng troops to guard the city wall, but there are too many vacancies and I am afraid that we cannot hold it."

Song Liang hurriedly told the story about Lin Yue Fucheng. The military situation was like a fire. If it were too late, when the rebels arrived and captured Lin Yue Fucheng, the court would be shocked.

"Then what are you waiting for? Write a note quickly and go to the capital to tell the governor that the rebels are preparing to attack the city and send reinforcements quickly."

He took the pen, ink, paper and inkstone and was about to write. Just as he was about to start writing, he was stopped by Song Baihu. Qianhu didn't know why.
"What else?"

"My lord, I mean to tell the truth. I am afraid that there are secret guards at the Governor's place to deliver the message. If your lord is lying, I am afraid of getting into trouble. It was originally caused by the civil servants to force the people to rebel. I will come back." At that time, in the three lower towns of Lin Yue Mansion, it seemed that there were people from the Taiping Sect inside. Sir, we had to guard against the disaster caused by the White Lotus Sect back then."

"This"

(End of this chapter)