Also in the face of victory, if the mood of the people under the rule of Shandong Xuanfu was overjoyed, the mood of the people in Zhongdu could only be described as surviving after the disaster.
For them, Ding Haijun is an unfamiliar force after all, and it is really difficult to predict what Guo Ning, the leader of Ding Haijun, will do after he takes control of Zhongdu. For two consecutive days, remnants of the people fled in fear in more than a dozen neighborhoods in the city, while many rebels and even gangsters in the city were scattered everywhere, and from time to time they came out to commit crimes.
No matter how powerful Zhang Rou and Miao Daorun are, many things cannot be accomplished overnight, and both of them are smart people. After gathering the old troops, they mainly focus on the outside of Zhongdu City, especially on a series of military strongholds such as Qingbaikou and Juyongguan in the north of the city. Recover and recruit troops.
Chen Ran is now directly responsible for most of the city's public security and daily management, and the task of calming people's hearts will eventually fall to Guo Ning.
Yongpingfang in the north of the city.
Guo Ning had been here before when he first came to Zhongdu. At that time, Du Shisheng took him in from Zhangyi Gate, turned around here, and went to Tai Chi Palace.
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He still remembered that Yongpingfang was not small in size. It was divided into two lanes, the north and the south, by roads. Both places were crowded with pedestrians, the shops on the street were busy selling goods, and there were at least thousands of residents in the square.
But at this moment, everyone entered the area of Lifang and looked at the desolation. Most of the walls and buildings collapsed, and the simple shacks erected on the ruins showed signs of being burned. The ground was covered with black ash and dried blood. Guo Ning continued to move forward along the road. After walking a hundred steps, he still saw no one.
"Where are the people? Did they flee and not come back yet? Or were they raided by the Mongols the night before yesterday?" Guo Ning asked.
Li Chunfu, the governor of Zuosi, Shangshu, replied: "Xuanshi, this place has been deserted for more than a day. It is not the result of the fighting the day before yesterday."
"oh?"
"Last year, when the Mongolian army attacked the city, the defenders demolished the buildings in the inner square to roll wood and stone. The main demolition was the four squares of Guangyuan, Fengxian, Ganquan and Yongping south of Tongxuanmen. At that time, the people in the old residence had dispersed. Subsequently, in The people living here are mainly refugees from all over the country. This year, the Mongolian army besieged the city again. In order to provide food and relief, Xu joined the government and specially counted the Dingkou of each neighborhood. I remember that the record at that time showed that there were more than 1,100 refugees here. The day before yesterday Naturally, a lot of them have dispersed. But there are always some left. Most of them are hiding behind shacks because they don’t dare to show their heads because of our great power.”
This Li Chunfu had a pure character and was born in the Han Dynasty. His father Li Cai had been the governor of Yidu Prefecture, and he himself was a general of Xu Ding's line. In the past two days, although Xu Ding himself did not show up, he sent several capable men to help Guo Ning organize order in the city.
Xu Ding himself was a person who attached great importance to practical matters among the Han officials, so he took charge of the general affairs of the city twice in a row when the Mongols besieged the city. Most people in his faction are like this, but Li Chunfu's performance is particularly dry.
After hearing what he said, Guo Ning thought for a while and said, "It's better to see it with your own eyes."
Li Chunfu also brought several minor officials with him. He turned around and gave a few instructions. The two minor officials were the first to turn into a fork in Qi District.
"Evangelist..."
"Let's go." Guo Ning gently pulled the reins and followed him in.
The desolation of Zhongdu is different from the piles of corpses on the battlefield. You can clearly still see some traces of the old prosperity, but only the collapsed shacks are left, which makes people feel particularly desolate.
The two clerks walked for a long time and pointed to the dark ruins in front of them: "Envoy, there should be someone there."
Guo Ning squinted his eyes and looked repeatedly, but he didn't find anyone there.
Li Chunfu winked, and the clerk went up and shook the board directly. I saw fragments of bricks and tiles and dust falling, and under a collapsed beam, a child pushed aside the board and stretched his head out to take a look. The child was about three or four years old, short and thin, with hands and feet like reeds. He was shirtless and could see two rows of skinny bones, but his belly was very protruding and his head looked big.
When he first stretched his head out, his vision was blurred by the sunlight. After rubbing it twice, he realized that a large group of people had gathered in front of him. He screamed twice in fright and dived into the ruins again.
Guo Ning moved his horse over, gently stretched his long arms, grabbed the back of the little kid's neck, and picked him up. When I was about to ask him a pleasant question, I felt a stench lingering on his body.
Guo Ning had waded through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and he was very familiar with this smell.
He immediately turned around and pointed at a few followers: "Go in and take a look! I'm afraid someone is dead!"
The servants quickly dismounted, stepped on the ruins, and got into the crumbling shack. After a while, someone muttered: "Evangelists, they are all dead! There are dead people inside!"
The servants who were hiding in other shacks also said: "Many people have died! All of them are dead!"
There were also some people who struggled to pull out one or two people who looked like evil spirits: "This one is still alive!"
Guo Ning turned to look at Li Chunfu.
Li Chunfu's forehead was sweating slightly, and he leaned over and said: "Envoy, since the war in the city, not many officials in Daxing Mansion have died, so there has been no food for three to five days. It is inevitable... ahem, It is inevitable that a number of people will starve to death.”
Guo Ning nodded.
He is a hard-hearted warrior, not a scholar. Having a few people die in front of him would not make him feel any special emotions. He knew that people were dying every day in Zhongdu, and Xu Ding was doing his best to maintain the general situation. He also knew that those high-ranking officials who were still well-dressed and well-fed in the besieged city were brutally killed by the Mongols and the rogue soldiers led by Shuhu Gaoqi. They probably died earlier than these refugees. It was a form of retribution. .
But he really hopes that after he takes over the central capital, the people will live a better life. Today, he specially patrolled the city to see the real situation, not just to put on a show to appease people.
He took out a piece of scone from the leather bag on the saddle, and before he handed it to the little baby, the baby's eyes turned green and he bit it, almost biting Guo Ning's finger. Guo Ning quickly let go and put him back on the ground.
The doll held the cake in its mouth and crawled back into the ruins on its hands and knees. It didn't look like a human being, but more like a skinny mouse.
"Mr. Jinzhi is now in charge of the daily affairs of Daxing Prefecture Yin, but no one said that Xu Youcheng will stop doing things, right? Zhichun, you still have to share the worries for Xu Youcheng, don't slack off, the relief and food distribution must be resumed immediately . If there is a shortage of people, go and recruit. You can choose from the barracks in the south of the city. If there is a shortage of food, I allow you to open the granary north of Lize Gate and use it. For the missing part, I will find another way."
"Yes Yes."
Guo Ning turned his horse back and slowly emerged from the ruins.
After walking a few steps, he reined up his horse in the street and said loudly to Li Chunfu: "Anyway, so many officials have died. Let's send people to search all their mansions. And those fellow party members like Gao Qizhi Man, I don’t believe they didn’t hide the food at the bottom of the box! The people are going to starve to death, what do you have to worry about?”
These words exposed the traitor's tail without any politeness. Li Chunfu was stunned for a moment and quickly responded again.
The entire Zhongdu City is still under martial law, and people are prohibited from traveling. However, when Guo Ning and other people passed by, the brave residents leaned on the windows or walls to watch.
After all, this Guo Xuanshi had never been seen again except for entering the city to fight a battle three years ago. When officials mentioned him, they either marveled at his ferocity or complained about his obvious betrayal, and rarely had anything good to say about him. Most of the people are curious and wary of the name Guo Ning.
But at this time, I saw a tall young man riding his horse slowly. Although his brows were furrowed, he did not look evil. He reined in his horse and shouted loudly on the street, saying that he wanted to collect food to supply the people. Everyone thought of the rice vat and noodle vat that was slowly bottoming out in their own homes, and they suddenly had a good impression of Guo Xuanshi.
"He is thinking about raising food..." someone said with emotion.
"I heard that Guo Xuanshi led tens of thousands of troops from Hebei to Zhongdu. He killed all the Mongolian troops along the way. The corpses blocked the Marco Polo River, and the severed Mongolian heads piled up like mountains. . I thought he was a murderer, but never thought he was a good person?"
"What about good people, and what about evil people? If you have food, you can live; if you have food, you can live your life." A person who looked like a subordinate sighed: "We can't control many other things!"
Guo Ning ignored the rows of heads peeking out from the courtyard wall across the road. He urged his horse to take two steps, and then he thought of something again, relying on the food supply in the city: "What do you say over there in Tongzhou? The Lushui Passage must be Reactivate it as soon as possible, Wanyan Chenghui really dares to keep me waiting?"
