Ying Zheng and others took a carriage and headed to Nanzhou City with several officials from Kuaiji County.
On the way, Xiao Zhengtai and others opened the curtain of the carriage from time to time to check the situation outside.
As the distance gets closer, the situation in the fields gets worse and worse!
At first, you could still see a few seedlings emerging from the water in the fields, but later, you couldn't see anything but the murky river water!
"It's over! The food here is completely gone!"
Looking at the farmland outside, Ying Zheng couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.
Food is the most important thing for the people. Now that there is no food production and there are floods, how can the people survive?
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, the relief food will arrive soon, and the people will definitely not go hungry!"
Zhang Han said firmly.
He is the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu, and he knows best how much grain and how much money there is in the warehouse of the Ministry of Hubu!
Not long ago, a batch of gold and silver was delivered to Wodao.
Meng Tian won another victory in the northeast. In addition to bringing back a large number of prisoners, he also brought back a lot of trophies.
Even if these people rely entirely on government relief, they can survive until next spring and start farming again!
"Well! That's all we can do now!"
Ying Zheng nodded slightly.
"Father, have you noticed that we didn't see a single disaster victim along the way?"
Ying Feiyu tilted his little head, looked out of the carriage, and said doubtfully.
"Huh? If you don't tell me, I really didn't pay attention!"
Previously, Ying Zheng's attention had been on the farmland.
After being reminded like this, he noticed that since they left the city and arrived in the flood-affected area, no one had been seen!
"Perhaps the county magistrate gathered all the victims together to facilitate the distribution of supplies!"
Wang Ben guessed.
"Yeah! It's very possible!"
Several other veterans also nodded.
"This is a good thing. At least it can ensure that these victims do not freeze or starve!"
After hearing this, Ying Zheng's attitude softened somewhat.
Let the Nanzhou County Magistrate do something practical!
…
"Dang...dang...dang...!"
In Nanzhou City, there was a sound of spoons hitting iron basins. The refugees were like crazy, each holding a broken bowl or basin in their hands, rushing towards the place where the porridge was placed.
After the flood occurred, all the villages and towns suffered varying degrees of floods.
Fortunately, those who have relatives in the county can go and join them, and at least they will have enough to eat!
But most of them have no relatives, so they can only be recruited by the government to Nanzhou City for unified management!
To put it nicely, I am afraid that they will starve and freeze.
But when we arrived, we realized that they were all sleeping on the street without even a mat.
Every exit in the city is also guarded, and they are not allowed to go out at all!
Adults can make do with it, but children can't stand it. Many of them have become sick from the cold, coughing and sneezing constantly, and even developing high fevers.
While the porridge was being served, he asked the officials for some herbs and wanted to cook them for his children, but he was insulted instead!
There is really no other way, so the adults can only take off all their clothes and give them to the children, and try to cover the children as tightly as possible!
Even if it is porridge, the soup is still watery and extremely thin!
"Master, my child is sick, can you give me some more?"
A middle-aged man, shirtless and weak, with trembling hands, begged the government servant serving the porridge to give him some more.
"Get out, get out, get out. This is the order from our county magistrate. One spoon for each person. If you want more, just go to our county magistrate!"
However, the yamen serving the porridge waved an iron spoon and cursed.
"But... my child is very sick. If he doesn't have enough to eat, he may not be able to survive tonight!"
The man knelt down on the ground with a plop, with tears in his eyes, and kept kowtowing to the yamen servant who was serving the porridge, "Please, give me another spoonful, just one spoonful!"
"I advise you to get out of here quickly. Don't delay me in putting out the porridge. There are so many people waiting behind me! After putting out the porridge, I have to go back to sleep!"
Even so, the yamen who served the porridge had no intention of giving more. On the contrary, he was even more impatient.
The man turned his head, looked at the people behind him, and had no choice but to leave angrily.
In fact, even though the refugees behind him were so hungry that their chests were touching their backs, no one urged them!
Because everyone has children and brothers, we all understand this feeling!
However, the yamen who put the porridge on the table refused to give it, so there was nothing we could do!
"well……!"
The man walked out of the crowd with a grimace on his face. His tears could no longer be held back and flowed down.
Just the few grains of rice in the broken bowl, I wish I could count them with one hand.
The rice soup is also clear and watery, no different from boiled water, but it has the taste of rice!
That's it, they still refuse to give more, obviously they are going to starve to death!
"How is the child's father? How much does Sheng bring back?"
The man walked with heavy steps towards the foot of a locust tree not far away.
Before they could reach the place, a middle-aged woman's voice sounded.
That voice was full of urgency and expectation!
In the woman's arms was a child less than two years old.
The child's body was burning hot, his face was flushed, his eyes were closed tightly, and he seemed to be dying!
"well……!"
The man sighed deeply and shook his head helplessly, "They won't give it to me!"
"No? Our baby is going to die, so we want an extra spoonful of porridge, and they won't give it to us?"
When the woman heard the sound, she burst into tears and cried heartbreakingly.
"No! Hurry, feed this porridge to the baby, and I'll ask for it again!"
The woman cried bitterly for a while, seemed to suddenly remember something, and tried to wake up the child in her arms to hand it over to the man.
"Forget it, you can't get it! When I went, there was only half a pot left, and there are so many people behind, you can't even get in line!"
The man shook his head helplessly.
"Then...then we won't eat it and let the mistress eat it. The boss and the second child will drink the porridge themselves!"
The woman wiped away her tears and continued to call the poor child in her arms.
…
The guards in civilian clothes took the lead. After arriving at Nanzhou City, they were immediately blocked by the soldiers guarding the city and refused to let them in.
"What's going on ahead? Why hasn't the carriage left yet?"
The carriage did not move for a long time, and Ying Zheng asked impatiently inside the carriage.
"Your Majesty, our people seem to have been blocked by the soldiers guarding the city!"
said the guard driving the carriage.
"What? Were you blocked?"
Ying Zheng opened the curtain and prepared to get out of the car.
Unexpectedly, Ying Feiyu's movements were faster than him, and he jumped out in the blink of an eye!
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please slow down...!"
Yuan Pengxing and others seemed to have realized something. They quickly got out of the car and reached out to help Ying Zheng.
However, Ying Zheng ignored him and jumped off the carriage!
"Your Majesty, please wait a moment. I will negotiate with the soldiers guarding the city right now!"
After saying that, Yuan Pengxing led other officials and ran quickly towards the city gate.
This is the order he issued before, telling Chengjiang Dalei in Nanzhou County not to let the victims run around and try to control them together.
But he didn't expect that this guy would directly seal off the entire city, and no one was allowed in or out!
It would be fine if His Majesty and the six ministers don't come.
But now that he was blocked outside the city, he had to go over to negotiate quickly, otherwise, the consequences would be serious!
