Please ask me to be the emperor

"Sow in spring, grow in summer, harvest in autumn, and store in winter!" Zhao Yutou muttered after hearing this, "People plow according to the time, and don't go against it."

"If you don't sow in spring, you will have nothing to grow in summer, nothing to harvest in autumn, and nothing to hide in winter. If people have nothing to eat for a year, they will die!"

"If there is a military disaster again, thieves will pass by like a comb, and soldiers will pass by like a grate. Twenty-three out of ten people will die!"

"Some of these people died of starvation due to drought or locust plagues; some were killed by military disasters or humiliated to death; some suffered from man-made disasters and were eaten by others!"

Only then did Zhang Shun understand why there were so many bones in Henan, which had always been a major agricultural province.

In the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign, he also passed by Luoyang. At that time, the wheat harvest had just been completed, and there were patches of wheat stubble in the cultivated fields on both sides of the road. There are also some ears of wheat that have been left in the fields, and they are being picked up by the elderly and children in baskets.

Although the Tao may not be that Tao, and the people may not be those people, they must have been as happy and joyful as those people at that time!

"What's going on in this field?" Zhang Shun was silent for a while and then asked again.

"Some died and became ownerless land. Some borrowed seeds to farm cattle, but last year they had no harvest. They could not repay the loan, or they hanged themselves; or they fled with their families."

"There are also some who have long been unable to bear the taxes and have fled to mountain dens such as Song County and Lushi. Some have had to go out because they were killed in war, or lost their young men, or their young crops were eaten up by cattle and horses. Go begging for food."

Zhang Shun lowered his eyelids and whispered: "Let's go and look elsewhere!"

Seeing that Zhang Shun was in a bad mood, Ma Yingniang and Gao Guiying did not dare to laugh.

After a long while, Ma Yingniang asked in a low voice: "What's the matter, sir?"

"Going north out of the city, there are no fields with weeds. Skeletons are carried away by the wind, and corpses are abandoned in ditches." Zhang Shun sighed and continued chanting, "Jackdaws are singing in the wild, and their eyes are ferocious!"

Although Zhang Shun had some literary skills under the perfect education in his previous life.

He had been pretending to write a poem before, and he had been thinking about it for a long time before he finally managed to piece together a poem.

But now he didn't have this intention, but he blurted it out naturally.

The sentence is very simple, but it gives people a sense of sadness, "the bones are exposed in the wild, and there is no rooster crow for thousands of miles."

Everyone felt heavy when they heard this. Only Gao Guiying gave a word of advice without hesitation: "What is this? Dad is so sad? At least there is still grass growing in this land. Our Mizhi area has been suffering from drought for many years. Even the grass is withered..."

"Say less!" Ma Yingniang saw Zhang Shun's expression and couldn't help but interrupt Gao Guiying.

After everyone walked for a while, they saw the village in front of them.

As a land in the Central Plains, Henan has a dense population and villages are located one after another. It is easy to encounter one.

Zhang Shun led everyone in and saw two people lying in a semi-open shack at the entrance of the village.

He hurriedly took a closer look and saw an old man and a young man, dressed in rags, with gray and pale faces, lying there motionless, with a few straws stuffed in their mouths.

Zhang Shun couldn't help but ask: "Old man, where is this?"

As a result, there was no response from the two of them. Zhang Shun asked a few more questions, but it was still like nothing happened.

Wukong stepped forward and took a look, and couldn't help but muttered: "Dead?"

"Not...dead", a weak voice soon came.

This shocked everyone, as it turned out that the voice came from the old man's mouth.

"So you're not dead? Are you pretending to be a ghost if you're not dead? Why don't you answer my master's question?" Wukong couldn't help but get angry after hearing this.

"Without food for three days, I can't talk anymore!" The old man responded like a mosquito when he heard the words.

"Nonsense! I've heard of people who can't work or walk, but I've never heard of people who can't talk. I'll slap you twice. If you shout a word of pain, you must be cheating. Wait, I, Old Sun, want you to look good!" Wukong couldn't help but scare him.

"Wukong, don't be rude!" Zhang Shun quickly stopped him and asked Gao Guiying to take out a piece of cake from the package and handed it over, comforting him, "Don't be the same as him, he is a fool. Just eat it." I have something to ask you about this cake."

It turned out that the cakes were leftovers from last night. Gao Guiying knew that Zhang Shun was used to eating three meals a day, so he brought a few cakes to keep him for lunch, but he didn't expect that they would come in handy at this time.

When the old man saw the cake, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he was about to grab it like a vicious wolf.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Yutou snatched it away first. Without waiting for Zhang Shun to ask, he explained: "This cake is hard and dry. It seems that he hasn't eaten for a long time. He is afraid of hurting his stomach and intestines. He needs to soak it before eating."

After speaking, Zhao Yutou looked for a half-rotten black clay pot in his shack, borrowed some drinking water from the soldiers, and tore open the cake and soaked it.

The old man did not dare to step forward to snatch it. He just stared at the cake with green eyes like a vicious wolf, for fear that something had happened.

Seeing how pitiful he was, Zhang Shun couldn't help complaining: "How pedantic is this old man? I'm almost starving to death, so why do I care about maintaining health and stomach?"

As a result, Gao Guiying heard it and explained to him: "This is not like your usual meal. It's soft and hard. It's just that my stomach is a little uncomfortable."

"He has been hungry for a long time, and there is nothing in his intestines and stomach. If he gets scratched, there may be no cure."

Well, Zhao Yutou was wrongly blamed, and Zhang Shun quickly apologized to him.

How can Zhao Yutou afford it? I almost knelt down to him before giving up.

At this time, the cake was almost soaked. With Zhao Yutou's consent, the old man rushed forward, picked it up with one hand and stuffed it into his mouth, and picked it up with the other hand and handed it to the children beside him.

The two of them were so choked that they just rolled their eyes, and Zhang Shun was so frightened that he only said that this time his good intentions turned out to be bad. Finally, after they picked up the jar and drank a few sips of water, they gave the food away.

The two fished for a long time and ate all the cake before giving up.

The old man hugged the broken jar into his arms and said to the child with great joy: "My child, if we save some of this soup and drink it for tomorrow's meal, it will be settled!"

Zhang Shun looked at the water that was a little turbid because the cakes had been soaked in it and the earthen pot was not very clean. He didn't know what to say for a while.

With food in their stomachs, the two of them seemed to be alive and a little angry.

When the old man saw that he was well-dressed and had a large number of people, he did not dare to default on his bill. He had no choice but to ask: "I wonder if you have anything to ask me, sir? I'll tell you everything I know!"

In fact, Zhang Shun had already obtained enough information at this time, and it made no difference whether he asked or not.

Since the old man took the initiative to mention it, Zhang Shun couldn't help but ask: "How many people are there in the village? Where have they gone? How many people are still without food?"

"Three or four out of ten families have already left the village." The old man responded after hearing the words. "There are about ten families who can't live. If there is no harvest in summer and autumn, they will not be able to survive. Those who starve to death are begging for food, and some are stealing He stole other people's food and was beaten to death on the spot."

"Several households were devastated by the war, and their legs and feet were slowed down. Some women were insulted, some men were captured, and some were wiped out by the army. No one in the family was left alive!"

"There are also those who cannot afford to pay back the rent to their landlords, who have gone bankrupt and fled. Some have become bandits and rob others of their life-saving food."

"The rest are either landlords with old wealth, who have food and people, and no one dares to touch them. Or they are like us, either old or young, unable to walk, and can only lie down and wait for death. Live a little longer. Count on it for a while, if you meet a noble person, you can live for two more days!"