Chapter 41 A grain of rice can feed thousands of people

The Jin Dynasty implemented a three-level division of prefectures, counties and districts.

Because refugees often caused chaos and to prevent martial artists from acting recklessly, each level of division had standing soldiers.

Juhe County naturally had some as well.

However, most of the land and resources in the county were controlled by the Huang family before, so there were not many standing soldiers, only less than two hundred.

If there was a war, it was necessary to recruit civilians or train militia.

Now these less than two hundred soldiers were all handed over to Monk Huishi.

When the many soldiers on the city gate tower saw him coming, they immediately stood up and saluted.

"Yeah." Hui Shi nodded, walked to the parapet, looked outside the city, and frowned immediately, "There are so many disaster victims."

Juhe County is adjacent to Honghe River. The overall terrain is quite flat, and the area in front of the city gate is even flat. There are many houses and farmlands in the distance, which looks like a small town.

In fact, this is because the Huang family oppressed them too much before. Many people had no place to stand in the city, so they could only move outside the city to build houses and reclaim some thin fields to make a living.

However, after Cui Heng ordered the distribution of the Huang family's land and property to the people, the people in the town outside the city moved back to the city.

A few days ago, these houses were already empty.

Now it is occupied by the disaster victims who have fled here. Judging from the number of people who have fled here, there are really three or four thousand people.

"Captain Chen, what do you think we should do?" A soldier guarding the city came over to ask Monk Huishi.

Monk Huishi's secular surname is Chen, and his identity in Juhe County is called Chen Hui.

As for the "Captain", it is a respectful title for his identity.

The commander of the troops in the county can be called the county commander. Although Monk Huishi does not have this position, he is actually leading the troops. It is normal for his soldiers to respectfully call him Captain Chen.

And those yamen runners who follow him still call him the squad leader.

"Tell ten people to get ready." Huishi said in a deep voice, "When the county lord's notice arrives, follow me out of the city."

"Yes!" The soldier nodded immediately.

...

Zhao Goudan huddled in a shabby house outside Juhe County, his eyes fixed on the big pot with steam rising in front of him. He

kept swallowing

his saliva. Although what was cooked inside were just some wild vegetables caught from the farmland, they made him drool.

He hadn't eaten for two days and was extremely hungry.

A fifteen-year-old boy was in the growth period and couldn't stand being hungry at all.

"Uncle San, can I eat now?" Zhao Goudan asked weakly, and then he began to breathe heavily. Just saying these few words made him feel that he had used up all his strength.

So hungry!

"Wait a moment, just wait a little longer." Uncle San was a middle-aged man in his forties, very tall, but looked very weak.

At this time, he was also staring at the wild vegetable soup in the pot, swallowing his saliva continuously, "The wild vegetable soup must be cooked thoroughly, otherwise it will upset your stomach and you will die."

After a long while,

"Okay, it should be ready!" Uncle San's eyes lit up, and he quickly took a broken bowl and scooped a bowl of soup from the pot, blew on it a few times, and handed it to Zhao Goudan, "Drink it, drink it."

"Okay, Uncle San, you, you should drink it too! Woohoo, it's so hot!" Zhao Goudan picked up the bowl and drank it, and screamed because of the scalding, but he just blew on it a few more times symbolically, and then drank it again. He

was really hungry!

It was just a bowl of soup made from rotten wild vegetables, but he felt like he was eating delicacies from the mountains and the sea.

"Uncle San, here, drink it." Zhao Goudan handed the broken bowl to Uncle San.

The two of them had to fight over a broken bowl, so they had to take turns to drink the soup.

"Haha, you have a conscience." Uncle San laughed heartily and scooped himself another bowl of soup. When the hot soup went into his mouth, a satisfied smile finally appeared on his gray face.

"Uncle San, do you think the county magistrate here will take us in?" Zhao Goudan regained some spirit and began to look forward to the future, "Will he give us food to eat?"

"I'm afraid not." Uncle San shook his head, scooped another bowl of soup and handed it to Zhao Goudan, sighing, "Our Dachang County was conquered by Yan Gou, and the next one is Juhe County.

"And Juhe County is adjacent to Honghe River, which is definitely a place that Yan Gou must take. For this county magistrate, every portion of food is the confidence to resist Yan Gou, and it is impossible for him to distribute it to us, the troublemakers."

The battle to defend the city, to a certain extent, is a battle for food reserves.

"Yan Gou must die! "Zhao Goudan gritted his teeth and said fiercely," If I can become strong one day, I must kill that Yan Gou with my own hands to avenge my father, my mother, my brothers and sisters, and my uncles! "

Since the Yan army encountered strong resistance in Dachang County, a massacre was carried out after the city was captured.

Not only were the county government officials and the garrison soldiers killed, but the soldiers also looted, killed people, set fires, raped women, and committed all kinds of evil. Dachang County almost became a purgatory on earth.

Zhao Goudan's father was beheaded by the Yan army in front of him, and his mother died by hitting the wall because she could not bear the humiliation.

If his third uncle had not arrived in time, he would have been killed too

. In the end, only Zhao Goudan and his third uncle were left in the family, and they fought hard to escape from the city.

"Yan Goudan must kill himself for doing too much evil! "

Uncle San also started to curse, but after cursing he sighed and smiled bitterly, "I don't know how many days we can live. These wild vegetables won't last long."

At this moment, there was a sudden noise outside...

"The military lord from Juhe County is here, the military lord is here, everyone come out quickly, come out quickly! "

Someone was shouting outside.

Third Uncle and Zhao Goudan looked at each other, and they couldn't help feeling panicked. Could it be that the commander of Juhe County sent troops to drive these rioters away?

The two hesitated and went out.

No matter what they were about to face, it was the best choice to stick together with others at this time.

Zhao Goudan followed Third Uncle, mixed in the crowd, and looked forward on tiptoe.

They saw a military officer in fine iron armor coming here with ten soldiers.

The military officer was a burly man with a gleam of lightning in his eyes. Just looking into his eyes would make one feel terrified.

Many disaster victims were agitated and were all very alert.

They were all afraid that the military officer was coming to chase them away.

Although the house here was shabby, it was still a place to live. There were also farmlands where they could get some food and barely survive.

If they left here, they would probably die in a few days.

No one wanted to die.

"Everyone, don't worry, don't be afraid!"

At this time, Zhao Goudan heard the leading military officer shouting.

His voice was not very loud, but it was heard clearly.

"The county lord is kind and not only allows you to continue living here, but also promises to open the warehouse to release food to you!

" "The county lord also promised that if the Yan Wang army attacks, you can take refuge in the city and will not let you encounter war again.

" "Remember, this is all the favor the county lord gives you!"

Boom!

The disaster victims were immediately boiling, and everyone showed an expression of disbelief on their faces.

Then they became ecstatic.

Three or four thousand people knelt down one after another and kowtowed in the direction of the county city.

"The old man,

the county magistrate, is such a kind man!" "I will never forget the grace of saving my life!"

"Long live the old man, the county magistrate!"

Everyone cheered, and the cheers were mixed with sobs, tears of joy.

Zhao Goudan also cheered in the crowd.

He also fell into ecstasy, and deeply imprinted the county magistrate of Juhe County in his heart.

This is a grace of life, and he vowed to repay it with all his life!

...

In a house in the city.

Fang Min had just settled down with Zhou Caiwei when she heard the news outside that the county magistrate was going to open the warehouse to release grain to help the disaster victims outside the city.

This shocked her and even found it difficult to understand.

So, she found Zhao Guang and asked, "Zhao Zhubu, are the rumors outside true? The county lord is going to open the warehouse to release grain to help the victims?"

"That's right." Zhao Guang nodded and smiled, "The county lord is a kind-hearted person, and naturally he can't bear to see the people suffer."

He also received Cui Heng's message and knew the decision to release grain.

"But the King of Yan's army is coming!" Fang Min said anxiously, "If we release grain now, how can we defend the city? If we hold on for too short a time, I'm afraid we won't even have room for negotiation, and the people of the whole city will suffer from the war..."

Even if the top masters attack the rear of the King of Yan, it will take time.

This requires Juhe County to hold on for a while.

"Sister, I heard that there are three to four thousand disaster victims outside." Zhou Caiwei suddenly said, "If the county lord doesn't release food, they will all starve to death."

"That's true, but..." Fang Min hesitated, she didn't know what to do in this situation.

"This county lord is very smart." Zhou Caiwei smiled, "I think since he decided to do this, he must have prepared a backup plan and will never let the city be short of food."

"Sister, you are so confident?" Fang Min was surprised.

"Senior sister, have you forgotten?" Zhou Caiwei said with a smile, "When we were asking for news before, you were amazed when you heard the various actions of the county lord. Such a powerful person will definitely consider all aspects of the problem."

"..." Fang Min was silent after hearing this, and then bowed to Zhao Guang to apologize, "Zhao Zhubu, I was a little anxious just now and was a little disrespectful to the county lord. Please forgive me."

"Actually, the county lord has already expected that the young lady would feel anxious." Zhao Guang smiled, "The county lord has already told me that if the young lady has any questions, she can ask him in person tomorrow."

Fang Min was stunned after hearing this, and couldn't help but exclaimed: "The county lord is as predictable as a god."

...

Inside the Juhe County Yamen.

Lu Zhengming looked at the granary account book in his hand with a bitter face and said with a wry smile: "County Lord, there is not even a few kilograms of grain in the official granary, which is not enough to help three or four thousand people."

The grain previously received from the Huang family was basically distributed to the people. The granary did not increase at all and was still at the original bottom level.

"Don't worry, take me to the granary to have a look." Cui Heng stood up from his chair and smiled, "As long as there is a grain of rice, the granary can be filled with rice and the people can live."

Three thousand words, hehe, it's not short~

(End of this chapter)