A woman stretched out her trembling hands and took out a handful of yellow cotton from her thin cotton coat. She looked down at her five-year-old son in her arms and stuffed the cotton into the child's mouth.
The cracked scars on the fingers were like black ravines, painted red at the bottom.
It was freezing and snowy, not even the bark of the trees could be eaten, and the grass had withered.
There are no fruits on the trees, and the leaves are dead under the trees.
The woman propped herself up, but the cold wind blew, her clothes swelled, and the bone-chilling cold penetrated into her body. She couldn't help but shiver, stumbled, and fell heavily to the ground.
The wind is whimpering.
The child was kneeling on the ground, crying and shaking, but it was also clear that her mother would probably fall down like her father and never wake up again.
"Don't even talk!"
Guo Guan raised his hoarse voice and heard a faint cry. He followed the cry to a stack of wheat. Then he turned behind the stack and saw a swaddled baby crying. Inside the stack of wheat, She was a shriveled and frozen woman.
"Someone come quickly!"
Guo Guan shouted, and the Yamen servant quickly ran over and took the baby from Guo Guan's hand.
Huang Shun, the county magistrate, hurried over, his weathered face full of exhaustion, and said to Guo Guan: "Your Majesty, an official has come to the post station. I heard that he is a senior official sent by Jinling to Peiping. Do you want to pay me a visit?" Go down?"
"Visit him? How much food did he bring?"
Guo Guan asked with a cold face.
Huang Shun shook his head: "I didn't bring any food."
Guo Guan flicked his sleeves: "Why should I visit him when there is no food? How long would you have kept this from the court if I hadn't been here to take up such a huge famine? Huang Shun, look at the people who died, look at these people who are suffering from cold and hunger. The people who died were all killed by you!"
Huang Shun's face was a bit ugly, and he quickly said: "This has nothing to do with us. It's because Zhending Mansion refused to report it. The official assessment will be held next year. If the superiors know that many people died in the famine here, it means improper governance. How many officials have failed Can’t be promoted…”
Guo Guan was angry: "What is more important, the official career, or the life and death of the people?"
The corner of Huang Shun's mouth moved: "Your Majesty, the people are dying now, but if we don't get promoted, we will be the ones dying by then. With the meager salary from the court, who can support the family? All officials are looking forward to promotion, isn't it for this? How many more kilograms of rice can my family receive every month? Can we live on?"
"Shut up!"
Guo Guan roared and stared at Huang Shun murderously: "Now call all the big households in Raoyang County and tell them to provide food. If they still can't provide food, I can't guarantee what will happen!"
Huang Shun knew what Guo Guan meant.
Guo Guan had tears in his eyes.
The famine was not without signs. The autumn harvest had not yet been harvested. Locusts came over and helped the people collect it first. After the locusts that covered the sky and the sun passed, only the wheat straw was left.
The people knelt in the ground and searched for grains one by one. After searching for more than ten days, they found seven or eight kilograms of grain, which was not enough to eat. There was no harvest in the autumn harvest, and as long as Zhending's family petitioned the court to exempt him from the autumn tax, things would not have reached this point.
But the Zhending Prefecture did not allow the county magistrate to report the disaster to the court, and even ordered military supplies and levied autumn taxes in advance, robbing the people of their little rations.
Pay taxes no matter what your harvest is, how much you should pay. Even if you don't get a grain of grain, it's your business. If you don't have grain, then "Zese". The "Zese" here refers to all the valuable things in your home. .
Kicking down doors, grabbing things, and moving things have appeared on this land more than once. The people could only cry and beg for mercy, but they had to hand over all their grain and seeds.
In the middle of winter, the common people had no other place to go. If they wanted to eat, they could only exchange things for food. First it was ironware, then quilts and clothes, then children were sold, and then they could only eat dead grass, dead tree bark, and ashes. , eat mud, eat cotton.
When Guo Guan came to Raoyang, he realized that the famine was so serious. Regardless of the obstruction of his officials, he wrote to the court and began disaster relief. It's just that Raoyang is in Zhending Mansion, which is close to Peking and far from Jinling. It takes time to deliver documents and provide disaster relief to the court.
The disaster was like a fire, and Guo Guan was in urgent need of food, but the big households were holding back the food and selling it at a high price. Ten kilograms of food was actually more expensive than one stone of food in the past!
Guo Guan hated this group of wealthy people. If the county government hadn't maintained order, these people would have been eaten by the common people!
People are starving to death, so how can they care about laws and regulations?
It had been less than seven years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. How could these people have forgotten how the Yellow Turban Army revolted!
Raoyang Station.
Tang Jun, who was participating in politics in Peiping, looked at the four dishes on the table, two vegetables, two meats, and a bowl of rice. He called Yi Cheng: "Raoyang is famine, why is it so rich?"
Yi Cheng explained with a smile: "Famine belongs to the people. When did it happen to the officials?"
"Um?"
Tang Jun's face darkened.
Seeing that he had said something wrong, Yi Cheng quickly changed his words: "No, there is a famine, but the county has already brought it under control. These treats are all due to the filial piety of the entire Raoyang County government."
Tang Jun didn't move his chopsticks and asked, "Where is your county magistrate?"
Yi Cheng became nervous.
Tang Jun pointed to the dishes on the table: "The county magistrate is so attentive, I should get to know him a little bit, so that I can report to the court one day about his meritorious service."
Yi Cheng became happy and said quickly: "The county magistrate should be returning to the city soon. I will inform someone soon."
Tang Jun stood up: "That's all, I'd better go find it myself."
"But the official hasn't had his meal yet..."
"no appetite."
Tang Jun walked out of the inn and walked towards Raoyang County with his two followers. Halfway there, he saw a woman who had frozen to death, and a child who was also frozen to death kneeling beside the woman.
There is still some cotton at the corner of the child's mouth.
"died."
The attendant told Tang Jun.
Tang Jun looked into the distance in pain.
The withered poplars on both sides of the road were like thin and sad giants, swinging their dead branches and emitting a sad cry.
"These are peaceful days!"
Tang Jun shouted in pain.
Peaceful days, hell on earth, this is not a natural disaster, it is a man-made disaster, it is a sin!
Tang Jun thought of Gu Zhengchen. He was an official who called for the people to have enough to eat. But here Tang Jun realized how difficult it was to have enough food for the people!
The people starved to death at the end of the sixth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty!
This was a little hard for Tang Jun to accept, but he had to accept it.
Snow is coming.
Tang Jun entered Raoyang, wrote a memorial, and sent people to Jinling at high speed. He also wrote a document and sent it to Peiping. As a political participant in Peiping, he ordered grain transfers and went south for disaster relief!
The fire started.
Zhu Yuanzhang was angry, threw Guo Guan's memorial to the ground, and angrily scolded Chen Ning: "What are you doing at the Yushitai? How come such a big thing has been covered up for so long! Is this the nature of your officials to deceive the subordinates and hide the superiors? ? I was born in common people and know the sufferings of common people, but you dare to starve my people to death! Hu Weiyong, tell me, should the officials kill all of us in this matter?"
