Ye Zhou said goodbye to Tang and did not allow her to follow him. He led a team of 6,000 people and traveled day and night. As soon as he arrived at the border between the two prefectures in southern Yunnan, he heard about the riot in southern Yunnan.
When Prefect Yun Zhao sent an urgent epidemic message to Kyoto seeking help, the situation in southern Yunnan was already very serious.
People died every day and panic spread in southern Yunnan. The first to collapse was the medical industry in southern Yunnan. Pharmacies were completely sold out and there were no medicines left.
People fought over the position of doctor, and later the doctors' houses were distributed to different villages. Different families fought each other for a doctor. The positions of doctors and female doctors were occupied by a few people with powerful means. Ordinary people had nowhere to find medical treatment or medicine, and panic and anger spread further.
Then the price of rice began to soar, and the money in the hands of the people in southern Yunnan plummeted. Like a fire burning through the coalition, the people couldn't grab rice, so they started grabbing noodles, sugar, oil, salt, all kinds of beans, sweet potatoes, anything they could get...
The yamen runners of each county government resolved all kinds of fights and disputes, dealt with the burial of unclaimed corpses, rescued trapped doctors, recorded and reported first-hand data... They were so busy that some yamen runners were infected with the epidemic and fell down, some were too tired to get up, and some went to rescue people and never came back. The losses could not be replaced, and the workload was shared by the remaining tired people. This cycle repeated itself, and soon one county government after another lost its ability to execute.
After the collapse of the ruling body, the situation deteriorated further. Various grassroots forces spontaneously formed groups, banding together for support, and armed conflicts broke out. Many people viewed southern Yunnan as a living hell and wanted to leave. However, the surrounding prefectures and counties saw it as a scourge, organizing young and strong people to strictly guard the area and prevent people from leaving.
There was a riot in southern Yunnan, and some people even raised the banner of rebellion.
After Ye Zhou arrived, he followed Xuanyuan Hao's orders and first opened the Guangcang. With the continuous influx of grain from Guangcang into southern Yunnan, rice prices returned to normal. He also set up porridge distribution centers, distributing porridge to the poor, the weak, and the orphans who had no place to cook and no place to eat.
More than 300 doctors and nurses began to set up mobile clinics to practice medicine.
Ye Zhou assigned 1,000 men from the 6,000-strong army to the three completely paralyzed counties, another 1,000 to the ten partially paralyzed counties, and another 1,000 to protect the 300-plus doctors and maintain order.
After order was restored, people began to live their normal lives, with each walk of life doing their own job.
In troubled times, Ye Zhou arrested rice merchants who hoarded grain and raised prices; arrested thugs who took advantage of the chaos to rob and rape innocent women; arrested accomplices who beat to death and kidnapped yamen runners and threatened to release the serious criminals from the prison...
Once the evil deeds of the wicked were contained and retreated, the kindness and mutual assistance of ordinary people spread like wildfire, and southern Yunnan began to recover.
But the more than 10,000 people who participated in the riot were afraid of being punished later. They had once rebelled against the Xuanyuan Dynasty and were so-called "rebels", a crime punishable by the extermination of their entire family, so they did not dare to return home.
Ye Zhou brought a total of 6,000 men, 3,000 of whom he took with him, and then led 3,000 men to confront them. The two sides had not yet clashed, but the situation was as tense as walking a tightrope. If they were not careful, southern Yunnan would be plunged into chaos again.
Ye Zhou, who was born as a military general, actually thought about starting a fight. Although he only had 3,000 people, he was leading elite soldiers. The other 10,000 people were just refugees and thugs. Most of their weapons were farm tools. Although they had two or three people as leaders, they had no real generals. They were a group of scattered sand and leaderless. If a fight really broke out, I am afraid they would be unstoppable and easy to defeat.
But these people were not real enemy troops after all. Although there were some evildoers among them, most of them were just civilians looking for a way to survive. Ye Zhou was a little reluctant to take action, but he was not sure if these more than 10,000 people would cause disaster to the current situation in southern Yunnan and more civilians if they were not wiped out quickly. So he wrote a memorial.
At this time, Helan City arrived in southern Yunnan. After arriving in Helan City, conscription began, but he did not recruit soldiers from the homes of the people.
He asked Ye Zhou for a hundred men, and preached the conscription conditions every day around the garrison of 10,000 people - there were no conditions, no household registration required, and no age limit. Those who came to apply had to report their name and age, and a new household registration would be opened for them.
Next to the conscription office, there was a porridge stall, where the aroma of hot, thick white porridge filled the air. Anyone who came to inquire about the conscription situation could enjoy a large bowl.
On one side were to be rebels, and on the other side were to be real soldiers, who would eat military rations and receive military salaries in the future. Some "bachelors" who had lost their families in the epidemic were the first to apply.
Anyway, if one person is well fed, the whole family will not be hungry, and it is a life no matter where you go. However, if you come to apply, the recruiting staff will repeatedly tell you that you are going to the northwest to serve in the army, and your new household registration will be issued in the western Xinjiang area. There, each person can be allocated two mu of land, but they have to reclaim it themselves.
The men who were alone and had no relatives in the local area went to the northwest, where there was land, salary and food. As long as they put in some effort, they could go.
Helan Cheng also wrote a memorial, asking Xuanyuan Hao for more than 10,000 sets of thicker military uniforms.
Xuanyuan Hao had just replied to Ye Zhou's memorial, and after reading Helan Cheng's, he realized what Ye Zhou was planning, and he was furious. Southern Yunnan had just passed the epidemic outbreak period, and judging from the figures reported by Yun Zhao, Southern Yunnan had lost one-tenth of its population. This number would probably increase when it was reported again.
Helan City had taken a fancy to these over 10,000 people and directly issued them household registration in Western Xinjiang, intending to abduct them to settle in Western Xinjiang. He even asked the emperor for another 10,000 sets of clothes. Wasn't this just taking advantage of someone's misfortune?
It is estimated that the memorial was submitted by him because he was a soldier in wartime and a farmer in peacetime, asking him for military pay. He simply approved it directly without waiting for him to ask, and reduced the pay by half if he asked for it again.
After receiving the approval, Helan Cheng saw that the emperor was quite smart. He said, "It's half and half." It was equivalent to tacitly approving the matter and agreeing to give the clothes.
Xuanyuan Hao approved the memorial that day and angrily went to Zhang Ru's palace for dinner. An epidemic had struck southern Yunnan, and the Empress had taken the lead in cutting spending and donating to the region. The Empress led the charge, and the concubines of the various palaces and the ladies of the capital responded, raising 300,000 taels of silver and handing it over to the Ministry of Revenue for disaster relief.
So this dinner was also very simple, but Xuanyuan Hao's mind was obviously still on the memorial. When Zhang Ru understood why he was angry, she couldn't help but persuade him.
He said, "When there are epidemics or natural disasters such as floods and droughts, it is normal for large numbers of refugees to leave their homes and move away. The refugees have to endure hardships and setbacks along the way, and they don't know when or where they will be able to settle down, or what their future livelihood will be. They are at a loss and it is very difficult, which is also inevitable that it will have an impact on the local people.
Now that southern Yunnan cannot be pacified locally, the gathering of more than 10,000 people has become a variable, and strengthening the western border is also a good thing. Speaking of which, the western border has powerful enemies outside, and it is a place with many ethnic groups and a sparse population. Compared with southern Yunnan, it is really not easy. "
Xuanyuan Hao said: "We transferred him over to help, and didn't let him take advantage of the situation."
Zhang Ru said, "Your Majesty, why bother getting angry with a high-ranking frontier official? He's always doing his best to do his job. At your command, he's come thousands of miles away. Even if it's just to ask for money, it's at least to solve the problem."
Xuanyuan Hao looked at her and said, "He traveled thousands of miles to come here, and you're really speaking up for him."
Zhang Ru also realized that what she said was inappropriate. Then she remembered who the border official was, so she said, "Since my husband is angry, let Ye Zhou have someone hold this official down and beat him with a hundred boards. Who made him angry? Who gave him the courage? I made this soup. My husband, calm down and try it first."
Xuanyuan Hao snorted, but drank the soup in the end.
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