An hour later, all the news finally came back.
Not only up and down the city, we searched everywhere we could.
But the total amount of food found throughout the city was less than a thousand dan.
In that small mountain col where black smoke was rising, nearly 10,000 kilograms of grain were burned into coke.
Liu Deng's face was extremely gloomy. Needless to say, this kind of thing was Xu Yin's handiwork. This guy was simply a lunatic.
"Your Majesty, what should we do now?"
He Jin already felt a chill on his back.
Xiao Jialiang was so ruthless that basically everyone in the city was driven to the palace construction site by him.
Even eight- or nine-year-old children are not spared. They work from sunrise to sunset, and the exhausting work can be rewarded in the end.
It was just a bowl of gruel that was clear and refreshing, and then there were two steamed buns mixed with wheat bran.
It's fine now. Xiao Jialiang is dead and all the food has been burned. Looking at the hungry people in the city waiting for food, Liu Deng doesn't know what to do next.
"Gather all the officials and servants in this city, big and small, to me!"
After a long silence, Liu Deng took a deep breath and said.
"promise!"
Liu Deng now has a headache, but now he must face this cruel reality.
The city is full of old, weak, women and children. If their food supply is cut off at this time, it won't take long for everyone in the city to starve to death.
"How much food do we have left?"
"Reporting back to your Majesty, the total grain and dry food we have in hand is less than two thousand dan..."
He Jin said softly.
After all, this is a march within the territory of the Han Dynasty. If food is needed, it can basically be supplied at any time, so the army has not prepared too much food storage. There is nothing that can be done.
"Gather all the food together and implement a rationing system from today. Everyone will only be given the minimum ration every day!"
"But Your Majesty, even if this is the case, it is only a drop in the bucket..."
He Jin said with a grimace.
"I have a task for you!"
After a slight hesitation, Liu Deng finally made up his mind. No matter what, he decided to meet Xu Yin first before making any plans.
"Please give me your orders, Your Majesty!"
He Jin immediately knelt down on one knee, raised his hands towards Liu Deng and said.
"After gathering all the officials in the city, you will take them to count all the people in need of relief inside and outside the city. How many people are there in total? You only have one day, tomorrow's At this time, I want to know the exact number!"
"promise!"
He Jin responded, and then immediately went down to prepare. It took one day to count the number of people in a county. Even with the help of those officials, this was a very difficult task.
But now, this is indeed the most urgent matter for Liu Deng. He must know how much food he needs in total and how big the gap is before he can find a way to solve these problems.
"Go find me a piece of white cloth, and then find the biggest scratch pen you can get!"
After He Jin left, Liu Deng was silent for a moment, and then said to Du Ziteng.
"promise!"
Du Ziteng didn't waste any time and immediately rode straight to the city. In a short time, he found a whole piece of white cloth directly from the city.
After asking someone to open the white cloth, Liu Deng grabbed a pen and wrote a line of large characters on the white cloth.
"Hang this on the top of the city!"
After finishing writing, Liu Deng dropped the pen in his hand and said to Du Ziteng.
"Your Majesty, who are you waiting for?"
Du Ziteng was a little confused and looked at the line of large characters written by Liu Deng.
"He's the one who was almost killed by you!"
Liu Deng exhaled a long breath and said with a wry smile.
"Your Majesty, you must not do it. That guy is too dangerous! How can you see him at this time? What if he is harmful to your Majesty!"
Du Ziteng almost jumped up. Thinking of the scene that night, he still felt a chill on his back.
"Okay, stop talking nonsense here! Do you think the three thousand troops brought by this king are vegetarians?"
Liu Deng glanced at him angrily.
Tonight, he was also preparing to show courtesy first and then attack.
With that guy's arrogant character, as long as Liu Deng posted a message for him, he wouldn't dare to come.
However, if this guy can be kept, it will be a real surprise for Liu Deng.
"But the king..."
Du Ziteng still felt very unsure. After all, even gunpowder bombs were used that night.
Who knows if this guy would suddenly go crazy and stab Liu Deng as soon as they met?
If anything happened to Liu Deng, all of them would have to be buried with him.
"Okay, it's nothing more. I will give you a task. Now go and find out the details of all the rich families in this city!"
Liu Deng waved his hand somewhat dejectedly, signaling for Du Ziteng to go down first.
"promise!"
Seeing Liu Deng's headache, Du Ziteng had no choice but to respond, then turned around and led others down to prepare.
"Big, big king..."
Liu Deng turned his head and saw the frightened old man on the big rock next to him.
"Don't be nervous, old man. You have heard what happened just now. The construction of the palace has nothing to do with me. You can talk to the folks about it after you go back!"
Liu Deng smiled and patted the old man's shoulder, and said somewhat depressedly.
"Your Majesty..."
There were tears in the old man's eyes. He understood what happened just now. Liu Deng even wanted to take out the army's food reserves.
"Okay, old man, please go back first. Although all the food in the city has been burned, you don't have to worry. I can immediately transfer food from Jinyang. Please don't panic. I promise that there will be no panic." Let a common man starve to death!"
"Your Majesty, the old man has a little son who has just turned fourteen this year. Let him be a soldier beside the king. If he is not qualified, he can even lead the king's horse!"
The old man suddenly made a thump, knelt down on the ground, hugged Liu Deng's clothes and began to cry loudly.
"Old man, please get up first. If there is only one son left in your family, according to the laws of the Han Dynasty, the only son does not have to join the army! Don't worry, I guarantee that everyone will have enough food and clothing in just a few years. , all the people in the entire county will be able to have clothes, clothes and food to eat, and they will never go hungry again from now on!"
Liu Deng's nose also felt a little sour. These are the people of the Han family. As long as you treat them well, they are willing to pay you back ten points.
