Chapter 135 Good people
Whether it is the distribution of various guard posts, the strength of the troops, or the geographical and hydrological environment, Fang Ge is extremely familiar with the situation in northern Sichuan. But after all, he was just a member of a thousand households. Not only did he know nothing about Chengdu, he also had a deep-seated respect for the provincial capital. Therefore, Fang Ge's advice to Zhang Hu was to go south: first capture Langzhong, the capital of Baoning Prefecture - in this way, from north to south, all the strongholds in Guangyuan, Zhaohua, Jianzhou, Cangxi, Langzhong... will be connected. With one line, the upper reaches of the Jialing River are firmly under control. Depending on the situation, we can continue to attack Shunqing Prefecture and then Chongqing Prefecture along the river. If the war is unfavorable, we can also go north along the river and run back to Hanzhong Prefecture in Shaanxi Province.
Guan Shengyun also started an uprising in Shaanxi Province, but Guan's march south had a strong purpose and was marching in full accordance with the strategic plan of "separating Huguang" formulated for him by military advisor Luo Yonghao. Everywhere along the way, Daluo and Daluo would collect official maps and look for guides to prepare for the army's next move. But Zhang Hu is completely different: when he was an officer, his original station was Ningxia Wei (today's Yinchuan). To the east, north, and west were the vast Gobi Desert and the Mongolian compatriots who were busy sharpening their swords. After being forced to rebel, they could only live without a head. I headed south like a fly, not to mention knowing nothing about Sichuan. Ever since I stepped into Pingliang Mansion in the central part of Shaanxi Province, my eyesight had gone dark and I didn't know anything about the place. Being able to reach northern Sichuan alive and well was entirely due to luck and the blame-shifting of officials from various places in the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, after listening to Fang Ge's suggestion to attack Langzhong, he agreed without saying a word.
It wasn't until Jianzhou was captured by the bandits that Duan Yuanji, the prefect of Baoning, learned from the escapees that there was a big trouble under his rule. But apart from asking for help everywhere, there was no other way. Apart from going to Huanhou Temple to pray every day, he just sat in the government office and sighed.
Baoning Mansion connects Sichuan and Shaanxi and requires land for military strategists. In theory, there are many garrisons around it. Moreover, even if Jianmen Pass in the north is lost, there are still two passes along the river, Tieshanguan Pass and Liangshanguan Pass, to rely on. To the south of the city were Nanjin Pass and Hexiguan Pass, so they were not afraid of being attacked from both sides. However, these are just theories - otherwise, Duan Yuanji would never be so anxious.
The whole story begins with the flood two years ago.
It rained heavily for more than forty consecutive days, and then the roaring Jialing River swallowed up everything along the way: crops, houses, people... It was better inside counties, prefectures, and prefectures, after all, they were protected by city walls; but within a few hundred miles outside the city , it was a marsh country at first, but when the flood receded, it turned into a hellish scene: there were bloated corpses of people and animals everywhere, many even hanging on trees, the air was filled with the stench of decay, and the hungry people who had nothing were like ghosts and displaced, and occasionally more Heard rumors of cannibalism.
Sichuan is known as the land of abundance. The fertile Chengdu Plain is rich in grain. There are many reserves in the official warehouses of each government. If the warehouses were opened in time for relief, the refugees could have received relief quickly. In time, after proper resettlement, social order could be restored. It won't be long.
The government does the same thing. It's a pity that a good person happened to come at this time...
Tu Jichun (also known as Yongnian), the supervisory censor, is really a good man: clean-minded, selfless, unafraid of the powerful, caring about the people... Tu censor's nickname: Tu Guanren. This is of course the reason why his surname is Tu. As the name suggests, there are not a few corrupt officials who have been taken down by him - wherever he goes, there are as few as three or five people, as many as more than ten people, and all the officials are frightened by the news.
But Tu Yushi had two shortcomings.
One is unconditional favoritism for the poor. As long as there is a dispute, whether it is a civil lawsuit or a lawsuit against an official, as long as the case is known to Yushi Tu, regardless of whether it is justified or not, the old and poor one will definitely win. In this regard, Tu Yushi said plausibly: Even if he doesn't take any account, but look at how poor he is, a rich man, even if he suffers a little loss, it doesn't harm his overall body, so he just takes it as a relief. What's wrong? You read the words "I am old and you are young" in the sage's book and got it into the dog's belly!
Another shortcoming is to read dead books, accept dead principles, and follow all behavioral standards according to the books of sages and sages.
When he heard the news about the flooding in the Jialing River, Tu Yushi, who was about to take office in Sichuan, had just sailed to Chongqing. After hearing the news, he did not go to Chengdu, the provincial capital, and would go north without saying a word. The skyrocketing Fujiang River could not stop Tu Yushi's determination to save the people, so he abandoned the boat and landed on the shore, and the fast donkey added the whip... Well, the fast donkey added the whip... The supervisory censor had a high status but a low rank, so he could only ride a donkey. ,All the way north. Near Qingju Mountain, on the outskirts of Shunqing Mansion (now Nanchong), Tu Yushi saw a scene that he would never forget: an old woman set up a fire, and the body of a baby was roasting on the fire. People bake and cry while eating!
Tu Yushi, who almost collapsed, immediately ordered the old woman to be taken away. Just as he was about to order execution on the spot, the old woman's call made him change his mind: "This is my grandson, sir! My son and wife are both dead." , my grandson just starved to death! If I don’t eat, I will be dug out and eaten by others..."
"Why don't you provide relief? Are the local officials like snakes and scorpions!" Full of anger, Tu Yushi's donkey kept galloping northward in the starry night. At dawn, he finally saw the south wall of Shunqing Mansion from a distance.
There was a large group of people crowding in the distance, trying to grab something.
Although they were very hungry, the clear sound of the gongs that opened the way represented the majesty of the imperial court and the government, and the crowd cheered and knelt down respectfully. Tu Yushi saw clearly that a row of more than a dozen large pots were steaming with steam, and next to them were a group of soldiers holding swords to maintain order.
"Well, it turns out they are giving relief. It seems that the officials of Shunqing Mansion should be okay. What I saw yesterday may be too far away and beyond reach. Alas, that's it." Tu Yushi felt slightly comforted just now, but when he waited When I got closer and took a closer look, I couldn't help but get furious again: hungry people were kneeling beside the road, and the gravel in the broken bowls of rice and beans porridge beside them was visible to the naked eye! Tu Yushi came to the row of large pots, stirred a few times with a wooden spoon, and scooped up a spoonful: That's right! There is indeed a lot of sand and soil in the porridge!
snort! You provide symbolic relief, but add dirt to the rice and beans - and then you can report it for write-off and line your own pockets! The angry Tu Yushi Tie waved his hand with a livid face, raised his whip, entered the city, and went straight to the official warehouse. As soon as I entered the door, I saw a guy in a red official uniform instructing the clerks to pour the whole bags of rice on the ground. Someone next to me was using a wooden shovel to push sand into the rice pile! Next to the red official uniform is a guy wearing a blue official uniform - great! There is a magistrate and a general judge, but you dog officials are colluding together! I am entrusted by the emperor to investigate corrupt officials like you!
"Someone, get it for me!"
Before they could understand, these two unscrupulous dog officials were pinned down at Tu Yushi's feet.
"Your Majesty the Inspector, please..."
"Hmph, you still want to quibble? I saw it with my own eyes, how can I lie? Give me a thumbs up! Give me a slap!"
The follower took off his shoes and used the soles of his shoes to whip the two dogs into pig heads that could only purr and have teeth all over the floor. Then Tu Yushi told the officials who were kneeling on the ground to say "the sky is clear" and turned to go to the government office. The magistrate Tongzhi who was supervising the relief operation in the north of the city came over after hearing the news. Tu Yushi also knew that if all the officials were caught at this moment, the people would starve to death, so he scared him a few words and continued northward.
In the end, Mr. Tu personally sat in Baoning Prefecture for more than a month, forcibly suppressed the high rice prices, and saw with his own eyes that order was in order, and then he went to Chengdu with satisfaction.
Unfortunately, Lord Tu didn’t know that Baoning Mansion and Shunqing Mansion were in a state of ruin that was almost beyond control.
Cheng Xi is from Fengle, Xichong. During the flood, he managed to escape with his life due to his physical strength. Later, he got together with some people who had survived the disaster, a total of one hundred people. After the flood, there were no wild vegetables, snakes, rats, etc. They all ate leaves, barks, and even dead people. When they were about to starve to death, they finally received relief from the government. There is a lot of sand in the porridge, but who cares about this when you are so hungry? I ate porridge twice a day, morning and evening, and my life was finally saved. Tu Yushi saw Cheng Xi among the hungry people receiving porridge outside the south gate of Langzhong.
The next day after the man riding the donkey left, the porridge I received was obviously much better. There was not a grain of sand or soil in it, and there was even salt in it. The salty taste could be felt all the way down the tip of the tongue and into the heart. , that taste is so wonderful! However, Cheng Xi was not happy at all.
Because he knew: his group of people might really starve to death this time!
Unlike Master Tu, who has always lived in the sun, Cheng Xi has lived at the bottom of society since he was a child. Therefore, he knew that no matter how dazzling the sun was, there would always be corners that the sun could not reach. What happens there will determine the life or death of a little guy like him. There is sand in the porridge. This is the good intention of the prefect. Only officials who are truly down-to-earth and start from the grassroots level and truly care about the lives and deaths of the people will do this. Chief secretary, squad leader, official, minzhuang... Along the way, each level has absolute authority and power over the next level. The white rice and the yellow beans are irresistible temptations in themselves! If it is mixed with sand, those men with huge power may not look down upon it. Those who are greedy below have limited abilities and cannot take much. In any case, about half of it will always fall to the hungry people. In the belly.
These are enough to keep people alive!
When Cheng Xi ate the delicious food, he knew that at this moment, the sun was indeed shining on the corner where he lived - but at the same time, Cheng Xi also knew that it would not be long before the sunshine would move away, and he would definitely wait. If you don't enjoy the sunshine again, you will die quietly and miserably.
Sure enough, the delicious salty porridge only lasted four or five days, and then it was served once a day instead of twice in the morning and evening. At this time, Cheng Xi heard that the adult had gone to Baoning Mansion.
Once a day then became intermittent, the porridge no longer tasted salty, and the clear soup was so watery that people could be seen. The porridge shed in the south of the city was the last place to run out of food. The hungry people in other places had spread word of mouth and came over, and a small number of 2,000 people had gathered. After not seeing the grain keeper for three consecutive days, someone shouted "Let's go to the city to eat", and Cheng Xi was rushed into Nanchong City by the crowd.
The frantic crowds rushed into all the houses and looted everything they could see.
The officers and soldiers arrived, and there was a scuffle, with dead people everywhere.
By the time Cheng Xi led everyone to escape from the north gate, the fire in Nanchong City had been burning for five days and five nights. Nanchong became a white land.
"Go to Pengzhou (today's Peng'an). You can only find food in the city!" Cheng Xi led the remaining few hundred people to kill Pengzhou in the north.
Pengzhouli also burst into flames. However, this fire was not started by Cheng Xi and others, but caused by the people in the city themselves: Tu Yushi was angry again when he saw that the price of food in the rice shop in the city was as high as three taels and five yuan per stone!
They caught the profiteers who were driving up prices to make money for the country, and forcibly limited the price of rice to one tael or less... Then, seeing that there was no profit, no more grain merchants sold rice to Peng'an, and there were many wealthy households in the city who had grain stores. They were no longer willing to sell their belongings at low prices... Then, people began to starve to death in the city!
The order in Tu Yushi's eyes was just that Duan Yuanji, who had witnessed the overthrow of the Nanchong Prefecture, used all the power at hand to barely maintain it under the eyes of the Yushi. However, Tu Yushi could not see it. Wherever we arrived, it had already been corrupted beyond repair. Not long after Master Tu left Baoning for Chengdu Prefecture in high spirits and full of pride, Cheng Xi's group of hungry people had already built a scruffy camp in Fenghuang Mountain south of Peng'an City. It gradually became a habit in more than a year, and they crossed the Prefecture from time to time. They went to the southern part of Boryeong Province ("South" refers to the south of Boryeong Province and is also the name of a place, so it is called Nanbu County) to grab a handful, and the number of people expanded to more than 3,000...
Preventing these people from crossing the border to rob Duan Yuanji is already a headache. How will Zhang Hu deal with it if Zhang Hu pounces again?
*Zhang Fei was killed by his subordinates Zhang Da and Fan Qiang in Langzhong, and his head was taken by the two men in an attempt to surrender to Soochow. On the way, I heard that Wu and Shu had negotiated peace, so I abandoned their heads in the river. Later, he was caught by fishermen and buried in Yunyang. His body was buried in Zhang Fei's tomb in Langzhong, and a temple was built to commemorate him. During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, an iron-cast martial arts statue of Zhang Fei was erected in the tomb pavilion. In the Chenghua year, a "Ten Thousand Enemies" Tower was built to commemorate his martial arts. Duan Yuanji came here to pray.
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