I was pulling trees in Daming, and Lao Zhu begged me to come out of retirement

Chapter 72: Open the river! King Zhao Han Shantong!
"Brother, look!"

Zhu Yuanzhang and his entourage left Fengyang and headed straight for Caozhou.

The sight of corpses strewn all along the way made everyone feel heavy-hearted.

The situation was worse than they had imagined. Almost all the people in the Yellow River flood-affected areas were killed or injured.

Whether on official roads or country roads, there were corpses emitting a foul stench almost every few miles, and there were even a lot of charred bones.

The team stopped and started along the way.

Whenever Zhu Yuanzhang encountered scattered refugees, he would stop and order people to distribute porridge.

Serving the people is not just a slogan. Only when you agree with this statement from the bottom of your heart can you establish faith.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang was not a saintly person. He would only leave the necessary food for the victims, point out the route to Taoyuan Township, and then leave.

He knew very well that his purpose this time was not simply to fight floods and provide disaster relief, but to make a desperate effort to gain a greater victory.

After walking and stopping for more than half a month, they finally arrived at the edge of the flood.

At this time, the river channel where the Yellow River and Huitong River meet has flooded, and the turbulent river water almost submerged everything in sight.

“Is this the Yellow River flood?”

Zhu Yuanzhang muttered to himself as he looked at the swamped Caozhou. His hometown was hit by drought, locust plague and epidemic, and he had no real sense of flood.

Now seeing the shocking scene before my eyes,
He felt a sense of powerlessness from the bottom of his heart. In the face of natural disasters, human resources seemed extremely scarce at this time.

Xu Da, who was standing by, took out a spherical globe from a box, and then took out a magnifying glass to compare carefully and said:

"This should be considered a disaster area. The actual breaches should be at Baimao Dike and Jin Dike."

This thing was also found on the bookshelf. After having the real object, Tianyu could easily copy the same thing using the workbench.

After all, a globe is not a very technical thing, it only needs to be reproduced one-to-one using a picture.

"This time, Tuotuo seems to be planning to dig a new river to cure the Yellow River, but according to the intelligence we received, the court does not have enough money to carry out this huge project, so he chose to change the currency to pay salaries."

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered and said:
"If the Yellow River had not been repaired, the Yuan Dynasty might have been able to last a few more years. This Tuotuo is also a fool. Doesn't he know what has become of the officials in his own court?"

Xu Da on the side laughed and said:

"This is what the gods call an information cocoon. They have trapped themselves in the small city of Dadu, trying to govern the country on paper. People below only report good news and not bad news. Tuotuo might think that his court is full of wise officials."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled crookedly:
"Yes, this is what the land god said about the importance of going to the grassroots. Only after working at the grassroots level can we truly understand the suffering of the people and effectively solve their needs. Officials will definitely not be able to fool us."

Tang He and others nodded and praised Tianyu.

Zhu Chongba waved his hand and said, "Let's go! Go upstream to the flood area!"

The group responded and formed a long line and rushed towards the Baimao Dike.

At the same time,
On both sides of the river upstream of Baimao Dike,

The densely packed people were crawling outside the river bank like ants.

Two hundred and fifty thousand migrant workers were forcibly imprisoned here to build a new river, hoping to divert the Yellow River and solve the flood problem once and for all. Everyone moved their bodies numbly like zombies.

Almost all of the 200,000 conscripted laborers were forcibly brought in to dig the river because they could not pay the wages.
A skinny middle-aged man knelt in front of a Yuan soldier in pain and begged:

"Uncle Bing, please give us something to eat. We really can't hold on any longer. We have already finished the biscuits we brought with us."

In all dynasties, when conscripting civilian workers, even if they were not paid, they should at least be provided with food.

The Yuan Dynasty not only did not care about food, but also required people to bring their own food for disaster relief. The most desperate thing was that these officials were still eyeing the few remaining rations of the people. It had only been less than 7 days, and the little surplus food that the migrant workers brought with them had been completely consumed.

Having to do such heavy physical labor every day, he no longer has the energy to continue.

However, the Yuan soldiers had no sympathy for the man in front of them.
He kicked the migrant worker to the ground and yelled:

"Get lost! You bunch of damn southerners, if it weren't for you, I would still be enjoying the best food in the city! You still have the nerve to ask for food, drag me out and chop me off!"

The two soldiers beside him dragged the man away with a grin, and soon a scream was heard not far away.

The migrant workers watched the tragedy unfolding before their eyes numbly and unmoved. They had seen the same thing too many times.

Although they had 25 people, the supervisors sent by the Yuan Dynasty this time had troops.

A group of hungry refugees had no power to resist 2 well-rested Yuan soldiers.

This scene was seen clearly by a spy from a distance.

He turned and ran towards the south, and soon arrived at a forest.

"When the world is in chaos, Maitreya Buddha will be born."

Following a secret signal, several people flashed out from the forest and stood beside him.

"follow me."

The group passed through a defense line and came to a large tent.

"See General!"

At this time, a group of seven or eight people in the big tent were pointing and talking around a sand table.

Seeing someone coming,

The two leaders stopped discussing and personally helped the spy up:
"how?"

The spy said angrily with an indignant expression:
"As expected by King Zhao, the abominable Tartars wantonly exploited the people, not only not giving them food to eat, but also beating and killing people at will."

The man named King Zhao was overjoyed.
"Good! If this plan succeeds, you will definitely have contributed to it!"

He looked at a slightly rough man beside him and said excitedly:

"General Liu, what shall we do next?"

The man called General Liu's eyes were filled with excitement.
"If we can succeed this time, great things will be accomplished!"

Everyone else in the tent was extremely excited. They felt their blood boiling at the thought of being able to divide the territory in the future.

This group of people is Han Shantong, Liu Futong and others.
Last year, they used the one-eyed stone man to incite rebellion and successfully gathered 3000 White Lotus followers under their command.

As a result, when they were about to swear an oath of blood, they were suppressed by soldiers sent by local officials.

A group of people scattered and Han Shantong was almost arrested. Fortunately, I don’t know if it was because Fengyang County was in front, this time Han Shantong successfully escaped the siege and led a group of defeated soldiers to hide.

A lean camel is still bigger than a horse. Even if the Yuan Dynasty was on the verge of collapse, it was still not something that a peasant uprising like theirs could challenge.

Historically, they were the ones who stood out. Although the time has been advanced now, they still become the miserable chickens that serve as a warning to monkeys.

Fortunately, their days of hiding from place to place are over.
Tuotuo ordered the river to be opened, which gave them a glimmer of hope. As long as they could gather these 25 refugees under their command, the Yuan Dynasty could be destroyed easily!

Han Shantong and Liu Futong are full of energy and they can already imagine the bright future!
(End of this chapter)