A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 501 The world is suffering

There was a severe drought in Guanzhong, Hebei Province, and the government's disaster relief efforts were not successful. Millions of people were displaced. In order to survive, they had to go to other places to seek survival. Liu Jing was ordered to go to Hebei to rescue the victims.

After receiving the imperial edict, Daliang Lingyin immediately mobilized grain and grass as quickly as possible, and as soon as Liu Jing, the imperial censor, arrived, he immediately left for Hebei.

Because of the Chi Road, the army was very fast. The army first crossed the Yellow River and then continued northward on the Yan Chi Road. The army traveled all the way north and arrived in Hebei in only five days.

Handan.

In the land of Hebei, the red land is thousands of miles away. Wherever it passes, the farmland is completely barren, and countless cracks like tortoise shells appear on the ground. The trees on both sides of the road have long since died, the tops of the trees are even more bare, and all the book covers have long been chewed up.

There were a large number of dead people beside the road. Seeing people dying of hunger everywhere, Liu Jing's face was heavy and his brows were furrowed.

"Doctor Yushi, Doctor Yushi, there is a living one here." At this moment, a soldier suddenly shouted while holding a skinny child.

Liu Jing hurriedly stepped forward and saw that the child was dying, and he was so hungry that he only had one breath left.

"Hong'er, bring the glutinous rice wine quickly!"

"Yes." An attendant quickly fetched the water bag and fed it to him carefully. After drinking some glutinous rice wine, the child finally regained some strength, then ate some more food, and then fell asleep again.

The convoy moved forward again, and by evening, the child finally recovered.

"Child, where is your father?"

"Dad gave food to my mother and me, but he himself starved to death."

"Where's your mother?"

"My mother is starving to death too! My mother and my brother are starving to death together!"

"Where's your land?"

"Sold, to Zhang Daguan."

"How much did you sell?"

"One hundred catties of cakes."

"." Liu Jing was silent for a moment and continued to ask.

"Didn't the government distribute food?"

"Posted."

"Why do people still starve to death if they receive food?"

"I gave out fifty kilograms of millet and later fifty kilograms of wheat bran. I finished them all."

"Why is there wheat bran?"

"do not know."

A thin child was devouring corn porridge. Over the years, due to the continuous increase in population, many people have divided their families and distributed land. Most of these people only have ten or twenty acres of farmland.

Although these farmlands can keep the people fed, they cannot save any money or food at all. Once there is a severe drought, it will go bankrupt. This kind of family is very common in the Central Plains of Hebei. Guanzhong is better, because Guanzhong is close to Hexi, and many people migrate to Hexi and the Hehuang Valley.

The child quickly finished the corn porridge and then carefully put the pancake in his arms into his arms.

Seeing the child's actions, it was clear that he was not full yet, but he still put away the remaining cakes. Liu Jing asked with some confusion: "Child, why don't you eat?"

The child carefully collected the pancakes and said, "My father told me to leave some for the next meal. After one meal, I will be hungry. Keep it for the next meal. It will not be easy for me to starve to death." After finishing the meal, I still had some doubts in my heart, why my father left something to eat every meal, and why he still starved to death. But he didn't know that all the food left by his father was given to him and his mother.

What does it feel like to starve to death? My father seemed to be asleep at the time and couldn't wake up no matter what. He slept so soundly, so he shouldn't be hungry anymore.

My mother carried her brother around with her everywhere. Finally, one night, she never woke up again. Her brother fell asleep with her. He didn't know why his mother took his brother away and left him here alone. But even if he fell asleep, his brother didn't have to complain that he was hungry.

The child told the story of the family in a childish accent. The lips of the guard next to him trembled slightly, a trace of sadness appeared on his face, and the soldiers around him were also silent. An embroiderer next to him had an even more angry look on his face. He whipped his whip into the tree next to him, directly breaking the tree trunk.

Liu Jing was silent for a moment, rubbed the child's head and said, "Child, what is your name?"

"Zhang Gouwa."

"this name"

The child said: "My mother said, it's easy to get angry when you have a low reputation, just like the weeds on the roadside."

Liu Jing sighed slowly. As a royal doctor, although he was not well-dressed and well-educated since he was a child, his family also had hundreds of acres of fertile land. He belonged to the Liu family. Because he was talented and talented in reading, he was favored by the family. He was provided with supplies, sent to the county school, and invited famous teachers to give lectures.

Never encountered this situation at all.

The convoy escorted the grain and fodder, continued moving forward, and soon arrived at Handan. When we arrived outside Handan City, we saw a large number of straw huts built in Handan City, and all the people gathered in the hay huts.

Outside the hut, there were more than a dozen large pots, and groups of people, like zombies, were queuing up to receive food.

Seeing this scene, Liu Jing stopped directly, and then led people to the porridge shed. The porridge was so thin that people could be seen, and what was cooked in it was not only corn but also wheat bran and the like.

Liu Jing frowned, stretched out his hand, picked up a pair of chopsticks and thrust it into the pot. The chopsticks floated immediately after being inserted into the water.

"The imperial court decreed that the porridge shed for the victims must be set up so that the chopsticks do not fall over. If the chopsticks float, the heads will fall to the ground!"

"My lord, your lord, you don't care about my business. Your Majesty just gave me these corns, and there's nothing I can do about it!" The official in charge of the porridge shed nearby quickly knelt down and begged for mercy.

"Get up, I know it's none of your business. Where is the Handan Ling? Go and call the Handan Ling!"

"Little man, go right now, little man, go right now!"

As he said that, he saw the man rushing towards the city. After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, I saw several officials rushing over.

Liu Jing did not wait for him to salute and asked directly: "There is always food in Changpingcang, why do the hungry people need to drink this gruel?"

"And there is a lot of wheat bran in this gruel. Where did the grain go?"

"Shangguan, the grain is all here. There is no grain in Changpingcang." Handan Ling sighed and said: "As for the wheat bran, I asked people to exchange it for grain. The grain is not enough, so I can only replace it with wheat bran. "

"Where's the food? There are at least 500,000 shi of food in the Changping warehouse of the imperial court. How could there be no food?" Liu Jing said angrily.

"And this porridge. As the Order of Handan and from the Academy, you should know that the law of Daqian is strict and the court has iron rules. When you serve porridge in the porridge shed, if you put the chopsticks in, they will not fall down. The chopsticks will float up and the head will fall to the ground!"

"Shangguan, the food is gone." Handan Ling smiled bitterly.

"Come here, take this person under custody!" Liu Jing ordered directly.

"Wei!" The guard next to him immediately stepped forward and took down the Handan order.

Immediately afterwards, Liu Jing sent someone to the convoy to fetch food, immediately cooked porridge again, and then sent the remaining food into the city.

(End of this chapter)