"These people are worse than bandits. I offered them cocoons, but they didn't want them. I gave them my money, but they didn't want it either. When they came up, they pulled off our clothes and robbed us of our food and drinks... They all had disheveled hair and looked very similar to each other. A starving ghost crawling out of hell!"
Lao Zhang sat on the ground with his knees up. Not only was his nose and face swollen from the beating, but his clothes were also stripped off, which was both sad and funny to people.
He added: "Old Li and his companions were all kidnapped. The leader of the Gang also threatened that if he doesn't redeem himself with three carts of grain within three days, he will wash and skin him, cook him and eat him!"
"Then why were you let back?" Song Che asked with a smile.
Li Tian then spoke up: "Look at his appearance, he is as thin as a monkey, with not much meat, so of course we let him come back to report the news."
"Hahaha..." making the whole room laugh.
"Madam, please take care of my uncle and the others. Even though I'm like this, they still have the heart to laugh." Lao Zhang asked Shen Wenjun for help.
"As long as your uncle is willing to smile, it means that this matter is not difficult to handle," Shen Wenjun looked at Song Che, "right? Uncle Song."
These gang members don't want money or goods, so how can they eat people? At most, it was because he was hungry that he committed robbery, so there was nothing terribly wrong with him.
Every once in a while, the Shen family would buy some grain and rice to provide relief outside the city. However, the gang gang has made too much trouble recently, so the porridge relief has been suspended.
"Manager Li, you go to the grain store and buy two carts of grain. Then go to the pork store and buy three fat pigs. Separate the fat and thin pigs and cut them into minced meat. Also prepare three large pots. We will leave the city in the afternoon to redeem people." Song Che ordered.
Li Tian was confused: "Uncle, the people from the Gang said that it takes two carts of grain to redeem Lao Li and the others. You bought pork and prepared pots. Are you going to cook for them?"
Song Che smiled and said: "It is easy to redeem a person, but it is difficult to redeem a heart. It makes sense for me to do this. Just prepare."
Shen Wenjun was worried: "Right now, the refugees outside the city are going crazy and the plague is raging. Why do you have to go there in person?"
“If you cannot understand the sentiments of the people, how can you find a way to salvation?”
After lunch.
Grain, rice, and pork are all ready.
Song Che took Li Tian, Lao Zhang and about a dozen dye shop workers out of Suzhou City from the west.
"Uncle, the leader of the stick gang told us to go to Shilipo in the north to redeem people. You have to leave a long way out of the city from the west gate."
"The situation is chaotic in the suburbs of Beicheng. We have brought so much grain and rice, and the government will definitely not let us leave the city. When we leave the west city gate later, if the officers and soldiers ask, we will say that we are merchants. Remember?" "
The guys nodded.
"Uncle, if we send so much grain and rice to refugees, if the government finds out, will they cause trouble for us?" Lao Zhang asked again.
It's really hard to say.
Originally, all the good people in the city would donate money to give porridge to the refugees. Now that He Qiu took office, in order to completely defeat the Gang, he ordered a ban on all donations. As a result, the refugees who did not join the Gang could not even drink a sip of porridge.
Suppression by force is actually not undesirable. After all, if the refugees really make too much noise and turn into an uprising, and the news reaches the ears of the emperor, even if they take off their He Qiu Wu gauze hats, their heads may fall to the ground.
But to suppress it, you have to have the strength to suppress it. If you can't suppress it, it will be counterproductive. If the refugees really wake up that "princes and generals have the guts", then it will not be a bowl of rice porridge to fill their stomachs. It can be comforted.
It can be seen that this new magistrate has acceptable literary talent but poor political ability!
"Let's take it one step at a time. In short, we will rescue Lao Li and the others first."
With Song Che's reputation in Suzhou, he left the city gate easily. After walking for three or four miles, he turned from west to north and walked around the outskirts of the city towards Shili Slope.
After walking for more than half an hour, Song Che stopped the convoy in the woods three miles away from Shilipo, and then ordered the guys to set up a stove, collect firewood, set up an iron pot, and cook porridge.
"Uncle, we haven't reached Shilipo yet, why are you cooking here?"
"The aroma of wine is not afraid of deep alleys, and the aroma of meat porridge floats ten miles away. Once the oily pork is cooked, people will soon come looking for the aroma."
Press the fat meat into oil, stir-fry the fine meat dumplings, add several barrels of water, and pour a stone of rice into each large pot. The cooked meat porridge is the most delicious, thickest, and most filling.
Sure enough, before the water was boiled, some refugees came over smelling the smell.
“What a fresh scent!”
"It's meat porridge! It's meat porridge!"
The refugees who came first hid at the entrance of the forest, staring directly at the big iron pot, but did not dare to approach easily.
"Fellow fellows, come here, this porridge is just for you!"
Hearing Song Che's greeting, the refugees crawled over and looked at the boiling rice grains and minced meat in the pot, swallowing their saliva with greed.
"Master, when will this porridge be ready? I haven't had any oil in my mouth for almost three months."
"Fellow fellows, don't be anxious. The meat porridge can be cooked in a short time, but you must prepare all the bowls and chopsticks first and line up in order to get the porridge."
Although the refugees were dirty, the bowls in their hands were shiny white. They did not rush to grab food when they saw it, as in the rumors, but lined up in the woods in an orderly manner.
Gradually, more and more refugees came after hearing the news, and within a short time, a long queue formed.
At this time, the meat porridge was almost done, so Song Che asked the guys to have the three of them guard a pot and ladle porridge for the refugees in turn.
The refugees who got the meat porridge looked for a shade of trees and devoured it without caring about how hot it was.
"Today, my Shen family has prepared more than a thousand kilograms of grain and three big fat pigs. You can refill the bowl as many times as you like after eating. It doesn't matter if you eat more slowly. Don't burn your mouth."
Unexpectedly, as soon as Song Che finished speaking, the refugee ate faster.
After finishing the porridge, I hurriedly went to line up again. When I got the second bowl and the third bowl, the white porcelain bowl was so clean that even the oily flowers on the side were licked clean.
A measly bowl of meat porridge brought countless tears.
Looking at the weeping refugees, Song Che inadvertently thought of his worldly appearance of playing on a swing and eating grapes. His sympathy came from nowhere, and when he suddenly compared it, his heart always tightened.
"Uncle." Lao Zhang came over and whispered: "Aren't we here to redeem people? Have you forgotten?"
"You haven't forgotten, how can I forget?" Song Che pointed with his chin at a few men wandering at the entrance of the link, "Well, the people from the Stick Gang have been here a long time ago."
Compared with the listless old women and children who were struggling to walk, these men were really conspicuous.
