Zhu Biao closed his eyes and sighed. Giving priority to rescuing women and children was a habit formed by his education in his previous life. Logically speaking, there should be elderly people, but in today's situation, choices must be made. The future is always more important than the past. .
Not to mention the young men. The food supply they need far exceeds that of women and children, and it is difficult to manage. The Chen family has no suitable reason to save the young men.
It was noon when we spoke, and the caravan took shelter outside the official road to rest in tents. Chen Rongyan immediately arranged the amount of food to be left and the people to manage it. Han Zheng would also leave a group of guards. It was foreseeable that after the large army left, , there will inevitably be hungry people trying to gather people to rob food.
In just two hours, nearly three hundred women and children gathered in the camp. The children were overjoyed after taking a sip of clear soup and porridge. The more obedient ones took a sip and licked their lips before giving it to their mother.
There were also families of three who came. The father squatted outside the camp and watched his wife and children with their Adam's apple rolling and a smile of relief on their dark faces. There were also some who looked at each other in tears and begged the guards, hoping to reunite the family.
Zhu Biao looked at everything in front of him silently with his hands behind his back, and did not order the man to come in. There were no rules. His order today was already out of line. It is not known whether it would arouse the vigilance of corrupt officials in the disaster area. It really can't be done. I softened my heart,
As the saying goes, a small impatience will ruin a big plan. Zhu Biao is not a fairy. He does not have the magical power to make the world unified and the people of Li to reunite and live happily. He can only be down-to-earth and step by step so that the vast majority of the people in the world can live in peace. Go down.
After a while, Han Zheng came over and said: "Master, there are hundreds of people gathered in the forest in the distance. It seems that they have evil intentions, but they dare not take action now. They are probably waiting for our large army to leave."
Zhu Biao ordered: "Leave more guards and bring out all the bows and crossbows. In the name of gathering dead soldiers for the prince, people who are hungry and crazy are far more crazy than those rebellious mobs. Don't be careless."
Han Zheng agreed and went down. Naturally, he also knew how hungry people were crazy about food. Unless the leader of the rebellion knew that he would die, most of the others were still lucky when faced with the officers and soldiers. Many people knelt down and begged for mercy.
After the government guards were ordered to take up arms, their intimidation power increased sharply. Zhu Biao had no intention of delaying any more and directly ordered the large troops to set off. Three days later, they arrived at Pingyang Prefecture. Along the way, they saw piles of refugees, especially those from the government giving porridge. place.
Zhu Biao also went to take a look at it from a distance. The scene could only be described as wild dogs snatching food. There were only a few pots of porridge in the government every day. Not only did there not be a few grains of rice in it, but most of it was eaten by burly ruffians. The gangsters have taken over the place, and the old, weak, women and children cannot get in.
No wonder so many women and children chose to flee the famine. Even if they stayed here, the relief food would not be distributed to them. The guards who cooked the porridge and distributed the food did not organize discipline at all, but looked at them indifferently. Talking and laughing, he withdrew.
After arriving at Pingyang Fucheng, Zhu Biao saw an endless crowd of victims crowded at the gate of the city. At a glance, there was no end in sight. Many soldiers maintained discipline majestically.
There are dozens of pots and stoves standing not far from the city gate. It seems that they have never stopped cooking and serving porridge. Chen Rongyan on the side hummed: "This is to prevent the victims from rushing into the city, just to make porridge in a formal way and give hope to the victims." , just dozens of large pots boiling water and white porridge can consume a lot of food day and night. For the victims, it is just looking at the plum blossoms to quench their thirst."
Zhu Biao nodded when he heard this. The city gate here should be similar to the city gates in other directions, but no matter how you calculate it, it is only a few hundred pots and stoves. Facing the many people gathered around Fucheng, it is a drop in the bucket.
While they were talking, a clerk from the Chen family came to report: "Master, the shopkeeper, Mr. Chen Bing first asked to see the shopkeeper. There was also an official beside him, who said he was the governor of Pingyang."
Chen Rongyan ordered: "Please come over."
The waiter responded and Chen Rongyan turned to Zhu Biao and said: "Chen Bingxian is my cousin and the shopkeeper of the Chen family business in Pingyang Mansion. My family and I all live in our hometown. I don't dare to have other thoughts. Please don't worry, Master."
Zhu Biao nodded with satisfaction. After getting along with him for this period of time, Chen Rongyan was indeed very good, experienced and most importantly, sensible. Now that he was helping Zhu Biao do things, everything would be considered from his perspective.
After a while, a pot-bellied man wearing a scarf led a thin middle-aged man in official robes over. Chen Rongyan was the first to greet him, while Zhu Biao stood there arrogantly, disdainful of communicating with others. He looks like a young man.
Chen Rongyan held his hands to the two of them with a smile on his face and said, "I'm really sorry for not welcoming you two in person. I've met Governor Zhao and heard from my cousin many times that it's convenient for you to travel with my Chen family on weekdays. I specially brought this with you this time. It’s a generous gift, I hope the governor doesn’t take offense to it.”
The governor of Zhao Xing was only a ninth-rank official, so he was naturally happy to be polite. The Chen family in Jiangnan was a wealthy family, not to mention that they now had a general envoy who was a direct descendant of the East Palace. Not to mention giving him face, he was just polite. So what if you spit on him in front of him.
After a while, the three of them came over together. Chen Rongyan introduced: "This is my young master. He is studying at the Imperial College in the capital. The general affairs envoy was specially sent here to increase his knowledge."
Governor Zhao immediately knew something in his mind. The Chen family was a wealthy family, and the direct descendants of them would not come here to sell food no matter how poor they were. It seemed that they were from the wrong background, but they were able to study in the Imperial College, which meant that their father had a very high status. He should be that Chen Tongzheng's wife had an illegitimate child.
It is estimated that Chen Tongzheng, who was ignorant and unskilled in the Imperial College, was disliked by Chen Tongzheng for being incompetent in literature and martial arts, so he was sent here to take over the business. It seems that it will be difficult to return to the capital in the future.
Although he was disdainful in his heart, Xu was indeed very flattering on his face. He knew that young men of this background were very extreme and would easily get into trouble if they were slighted. He, a mere ninth-grade sesame official, couldn't stand it.
Chen Bingxian, on the other hand, was a little nervous, but after all, he was a person who had been doing business for many years. He greeted him politely, not coldly but not too close. Governor Zhao on the side also understood, after all, who would like to come to grab a job.
After being polite to each other for a while, Governor Zhao smiled and said, "The Chen family brought quite a lot of food, but I don't know how much they plan to sell it for."
Chen Rongyan smiled and said: "Of course the higher the better, it's hard to hit a good time, if you don't make a fortune, it will be in vain."
Governor Zhao stretched out four fingers and said with a smile: "Brother Chen is happy, so I am not polite. What do you think of this number?" "
The smile on Chen Rongyan's face suddenly disappeared: "Governor Zhao is joking, if it's just to raise the price of food by 40%, then why should I come to Pingyang Mansion?"
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