"Mom, why do we have to leave our hometown?"
"There is nothing to eat, so naturally I have to go out to find something to eat..."
"Don't eat it now, keep some."
"Mom, I'm hungry..."
Seeing the child's innocent appearance, the woman couldn't help but wipe her tears. It is said that women are weak by nature, but mothers are strong. She couldn't bear to eat the cake, so she only tore two pieces and fed them to the child, then quickly wrapped them up. Hidden again.
Liu Changqing's eyes were a little sour.
He is a minister of the Qin State. There is a severe drought in the north, the red land is thousands of miles away, and the people are suffering. How can he not be affected by it?
Following these refugees, the closer they got to Guiyang, the more people fled the famine. In the end, they numbered in the tens of thousands.
On this day, outside Guiyang City.
Looking around, there are crowds of people, and the mighty army fleeing from famine has gathered under the city, and they can't be counted.
Some people were lying on the ground, some were comforting crying children, and some were sitting on wooden carts...
The tall and heavy city gate was tightly closed. On the city defense, there was a row of soldiers standing guard. On both sides of the city gate, there were also several sharp horses, in a posture of defending the city.
All the victims in front of them had already requested to enter the city, but no one paid any attention to them.
These people fled from all over the country and put their hopes for life in Guiyang. In the end, they were turned away from the city and could not enter Guiyang. Everyone had to starve to death. How could it not cause riots.
As a result, before the victims could get close to the city gate, low-level officers on the city shouted:
"Bold! Whoever dares to take a step forward will be dealt with by the enemy in wartime!"
After he stopped drinking, he waved his hand forward neatly.
Following his movements, the soldiers on the city all loaded their bows and arrows, aimed at the city, and launched a volley of fire.
Dozens of sharp arrows were thrust into the ground near the city gate, blocking people's progress.
In such a situation, how could the victims dare to come forward? In despair, almost instantly, everyone knelt down and began to scream and beg.
"Please General, please let us in..."
"Please open the city gate..."
Amidst the wailing, all you can see are the victims kneeling on the ground, some of them are still holding their children, some of them are supporting their old mothers...
Liu Changqing and Yang Zhao, as well as the Qingyi Guardsmen, were also among the victims. Of course, they did not kneel down. Looking at this scene, Yang Zhao stammered: "This, this, why don't you let them in..."
Liu Changqing became angry with shame: "This is unreasonable! This Guiyang County Governor dares to seclusion and lock up the city and defend like this. Who gave him the wartime order!"
In anger, he immediately said to Yang Zhao: "Open the city gate!"
"Yes." Yang Zhao clasped his fists and walked directly from the kneeling crowd to the bottom of the city.
"Hurry up and open the city!"
When the shouts came, the officers on the city leaned over and saw that Yang Zhao was not dressed like a refugee fleeing the famine. He couldn't help but feel moved in his heart and asked loudly: "Who is under the city!"
"Tsing Yi Guard." Yang Zhao said concisely and to the point.
ah! ? The officer was startled. Why did the Tsing Yi Guards appear here? Could it be that the inspector had arrived? Shocked, he still hesitated: "What proof...is there?"
"You're blind!" Yang Zhao was furious: "Call Guiyang County Sheriff immediately!"
Seeing that he was so confident, the officer did not dare to retaliate even though he was reprimanded. Instead, after swallowing, he quickly gave instructions to a soldier.
The current governor of Guiyang County is not Chen Zhongshu, but has been replaced by Du Mingsheng.
It happened that he was not far from the city gate at this time. Hearing that the Tsing Yi Guards were coming, Du Mingsheng did not dare to delay. After a while, he hurried up to the city defense.
At present, Liu Changqing was standing near the city gate, talking to the woman holding the child.
"The old gentleman seems to be a literate person at first glance, but he must help us." The woman said with a sad face: "Remember the great disaster before, the court didn't care about our life or death, and wanted to rob us of our remaining rations, then I don’t know how many people starved to death at that time..."
She was talking about the Shang Rui period, when wars broke out all over the place. Even in times of famine, countries still imposed taxes in order to supply food and fodder for the military.
Liu Changqing heard this and said gently: "Don't worry, this is the Qin State. The imperial court will never be like this, and will never ignore you."
At this point, Du Mingsheng leaned out half of his body on the city and shouted tentatively: "Is this Mr. Liu below the city?"
"Du Mingsheng!" Liu Changqing looked up and called him by his name.
ah? The latter took a closer look and was immediately startled. As a county guard, a dignified third-rank official, and everyone was a minister in the same court, how could he not have seen Liu Changqing? He also quickly said to the officer: "Hurry, come with me to welcome the inspector, protect him." So safe.”
"Yes!" The officer also panicked and began to quickly mobilize nearby officers and soldiers.
Seeing Liu Changqing's conversation with the city, the woman couldn't help but said in surprise: "Is the old gentleman a high official?"
"Then we can be saved..."
"Don't worry, the country is working hard to solve the disaster, but remember one thing: don't cause unrest, otherwise it will be suppressed by force and lead to tragedy."
Liu Changqing and the others comforted him. Soon, the sound of teeth squeaking began to sound, and the tall and heavy city gate was slowly opened.
Immediately afterwards, there was an orderly running of infantry, mixed with the sound of armor scraping. A large number of officers and soldiers took the lead to leave the city and immediately stopped the rioting victims.
"Back off! Everyone, back off!"
When the city gate opens, the scene can be imagined.
The crowd surged forward, and in the chaos, Liu Changqing was escorted into Guiyang. A large number of officers and soldiers retreated in a well-trained manner, and the city gate was closed again.
The crowd was desperate again and screamed.
Among the victims, one person couldn't help but said: "Will the old gentleman save us?"
"He will definitely do it. He distributed food to us along the way. He is a high official, so he will definitely not sit idly by..."
The chaos lasted for a while, and the victims once again retreated away from Juma, sitting or lying down because they didn't have much strength left.
In the city, seeing that Liu Changqing was safe, Du Mingsheng couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He hurriedly stepped forward, bowed his hands and bowed, and gave a deep salute: "I have seen the inspector."
"Master Du." Liu Changqing said straight to the point: "Who asked you to guard Guiyang in a wartime state and seclusion in the city?"
"This..." Du Mingsheng swallowed, with a confused look on his face: "These victims are flocking to Guiyang. Once they enter the city, they are afraid of chaos. As a county guard, I have no choice but to do so."
"That's nonsense!" Liu Changqing was slightly angry: "Are you going to watch tens of thousands of people starve to death outside the city!? If you had opened the city earlier, would the victims have gathered in so many numbers!"
Yes, if Guiyang did not lock down the city as usual, the victims would only come in small groups, and the current situation would not be possible.
Du Mingsheng was scolded as soon as he came up, but he said a little aggrievedly: "Xiaoguan, this is also in accordance with the disaster relief strategy of Lord Xiangguo. Local disasters should be solved on the spot."
