Tian Mingwu traveled at full speed with the disaster relief supplies and the army. He only ate two meals a day, mostly dry food and cold water. He could only eat instant noodles after traveling for two or three days.
It took nearly fifteen days to reach Cangzhou at this speed.
The governor of Cangzhou received the news in advance and had long since gathered officials of all ranks to welcome them at the city gate. Along the way, there were many suffering people who looked at the food on the carriages with shining eyes.
If there weren't any military escort, they would have just started to rob it!
After a brief exchange of greetings between the two gangs, Qin Wen stepped forward to hand over the disaster relief grain to the prefect.
The ten carriages prepared by Tian An were not included in the court's disaster relief supplies. After Qin Wen and Tian Mingwu discussed it, they decided to keep them for themselves in case of emergency.
When the prefect saw that they had left behind ten carriages of things, he compared it with the imperial court's list of disaster relief supplies again, and after confirming that it was correct, he said nothing.
After leaving behind a cart of food and arranging for people to provide porridge on the spot, he sent people back to the city to distribute the remaining supplies.
He stayed behind and prepared to lead Tian Mingwu's army to the post station personally.
But Tian Mingwu rejected his kindness. Delivering relief supplies was just one of his missions this time.
Once the supplies are delivered, the mission is half completed. However, all the bandits must be wiped out before the mission can be considered successfully completed and we can return.
In order to return home and reunite with his children as soon as possible, Tian Mingwu planned to ask the prefect to find someone to take them directly to Mapo Town, Wuqiao County, where the bandit problem was most serious.
When the prefect learned of Tian Mingwu's intention, he immediately flattered him, saying, "General, you are truly dedicated to the people! You have just arrived and haven't even had time to rest, but you are already trying to eliminate this evil for the people."
So he unceremoniously handed over the county magistrate of Wuqiao County and the supplies that had just been allocated to Wuqiao County to Tian Mingwu.
Wuqiao County was plagued by serious banditry, and he was worried about how to get Magistrate Wang of Wuqiao County to bring the relief supplies back safely! Unexpectedly, just as he was dozing off, someone handed him a pillow.
With Tian Mingwu's escort, if the supplies could still be robbed, it would not be his fault.
He was naturally happy to see someone volunteer to be the scapegoat.
Tian Mingwu didn't know what he was thinking, but even if he knew, he wouldn't think anything of it. Wasn't the purpose of the court sending him here to suppress bandits?
He was bound to run into them sooner or later anyway, and with the Wuqiao County Magistrate leading the way, he didn't bother looking for anyone else. He had also been escorting the supplies all the way here, so it was just a matter of carrying them a little further. He could also ask Magistrate Wang about the gang's situation on the way.
So, while Tian Mingwu unloaded the disaster relief supplies, he also took the supplies allocated to Wuqiao County and followed County Magistrate Wang to Wuqiao County without stopping.
According to County Magistrate Wang, there were not just one group of bandits stationed in Wuqiao County, but two groups.
One of the groups was a real bandit group called Kaishanzhai. They suddenly appeared from nowhere at the beginning of winter and occupied a barren mountain outside Mapo Town.
The leader of the other group was a former idle thug in the county. He had spent several years in prison for accidentally killing someone and was released last year.
When the cold disaster came, they saw the people who opened the mountain stronghold robbing passing merchants and villages, so they followed their example and gathered a group of people to form a Tiger Stronghold.
They would go to the nearby villages to plunder every few days. The cold disaster was already serious, and their disruption made the people even more miserable.
In order to protect their food, many villages took up hoes to resist. They were relatively lucky when they encountered the Menghu Village, because they had not been established for long and had few weapons. Although both sides suffered losses, they were still able to fight.
But it would be troublesome if they encountered a bandit gang, because the bandits would have horses and swords, and the common people would be beaten when they came.
At the beginning, there were some brave young people in the village who organized everyone to resist them, but in the end, the hoes in their hands were no match for the other party's swords.
The young men who led the resistance were immediately covered in blood. The villagers were frightened by the beating and as soon as they heard the stronghold invaders were coming, they all hid and let them do whatever they wanted.
Those who couldn't escape could only hand over their remaining rations to save their lives.
The county government office was short of staff and did not dare to confront the other side head-on. After County Magistrate Wang sent a letter for help to the provincial government.
The prefect sent people to clear out the rebellion several times, but to no avail.
There are many villages around Mapo Town, and you can't be sure which village they will go to. If you protect one village, the other village will suffer.
If the manpower was divided among several villages, they would not be able to defeat the enemy when they came, and many yamen runners would be injured.
Let's take the initiative! The mountain is their home turf, and the people from the government office were surrounded before they even reached the mountain.
Or when you get to the top of the mountain, you won’t know where the people have gone, and you won’t know what will happen next.
The yamen runners were either injured or killed, and there was nothing we could do about them.
Tian Mingwu also felt a headache after listening to County Magistrate Wang's words. It would take a lot of effort to clean up all this hiding and hiding. He was afraid that he would not be able to go back in time to celebrate the New Year with his children this year.
We can still work harder during the Lantern Festival.
Wuqiao County is two days' journey from Cangzhou Prefecture. Thanks to the military escort, County Magistrate Wang spent two days relaxing and comfortable.
On the morning of the third day, the army arrived at Wuqiao County. The county magistrate paid for lunch for the army out of his own pocket, and then he took the village head who was waiting at the county government office and followed them directly to the village.
Originally, he only wanted to invite Tian Mingwu, Shen Cheng and Qin Wen, but unfortunately Tian Mingwu insisted on eating and living with the soldiers.
He had already said that he wanted to welcome the army, so he had no choice but to knock on the doors of several small restaurants in the county town and take out the little remaining food from the government office to let the chefs cook for the entire army.
It was enough food for hundreds of people! He had almost used up all the remaining stock.
Tian Mingwu and his team arrived at the largest and most severely affected village in Wuqiao County.
There are more than 300 households in the village. When the heavy snow came, one-third of the thatched houses in the village were crushed. Later, they were robbed by Kaishan Village and Menghu Village repeatedly, and another one-third of the houses were damaged.
Even the remaining houses were in tatters, with gates smashed open, windows broken, and even walls torn down, demonstrating the ferocity of the criminals.
The villagers were frightened by the beating. They heard some noise from a distance and thought the bandits had come again, so they all hid in the remaining remnants of the Hengduanwali.
Even though the broken walls and tiles could not protect them at all and there was even a risk of collapse and crushing people to death, they still took the elderly and children and tried their best to squeeze in.
After the army entered the village, the whole village was so quiet that it seemed as if no one was there, not even the barking of dogs.
Tian Mingwu looked at the desolate and deserted village and frowned at County Magistrate Wang, "Where have all the people in this village gone?"
County Magistrate Wang was also confused, so he looked at the village head beside him.
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