Chapter 149 Rescue
In ancient times, earthquakes were called "earth movements" or "earth dragons turning over". Every earthquake had a huge impact on people's lives, destroying houses and fields at the least, and crushing people under rocks and rocks at the worst.
Song Yuzhu and Zhao Xiao didn't have time to think about it, and immediately drove back to the palace and summoned all officials to the palace to prepare for earthquake relief.
It was already 3:00 p.m., and the ministers received the urgent summons and did not dare to delay, and hurried into the palace.
Zhang Qikai came without even putting on his official uniform, and the jade crown on his head was worn crookedly, so Ji Mingli reached out to help him straighten it.
"What's the emergency, Your Majesty? Why have you called everyone here?"
Ji Mingli shook his head: "I don't know, I was called here suddenly..."
Liu Lin interrupted their conversation: "Hush, His Majesty is here."
Song Yuzhu didn't even have time to change her clothes and went to court in her casual attire.
This was the first time that the system issued an alarm for geological disasters. Song Yuzhu didn't know how to explain it to his ministers, so he had to make up a story to fool them.
"I had a dream today. There is an evil dragon in the southwest, which is causing disasters and earthquakes. Hundreds of thousands of people will be affected. My dear ministers, please find a way to provide disaster relief as soon as possible."
When the ministers heard this, they all became confused. Can what happened in the dream be counted?
However, they did not dare to ask this question. The hall was silent for a moment, and Xu Bing stepped forward and asked, "Your Majesty, do you know the exact location of the earth dragon turning over?"
"Near Shuzhou."
Xu Bing stroked his beard and said, "That should be correct. There have been many earthquakes in Shu since ancient times. From the Zhou Dynasty to the present, there have been more than 30 major earthquakes recorded. This time it is a warning from God, so that we can prepare early."
It takes at least a month to transmit the news from Shuzhou to Shangjing. By the time they receive the news and organize earthquake relief efforts, it will be too late!
Song Yuzhu sighed silently in her heart, Xu Bing is still reliable!
There are many things that need to be prepared for earthquake relief, the most important of which are food, medicine and clothes.
Earthquakes are often followed by heavy rainfall. It is May now and there is already a lot of rain in the south. The people who have no place to live will definitely get sick after being drenched by the heavy rain.
Once more people die from the disease, a plague will follow, so we cannot be careless at all.
The Ministry of Revenue worked overtime and sent seven officials to Shuzhou overnight to fight the epidemic. In order to save time, food and medicine were purchased directly along the way.
Teachers and students of Shangjing Medical College also participated in the disaster relief mission as medical volunteers. Led by Song Bai himself, more than 1,380 people boarded the southbound carriage.
The army also began to move out. Except for 10,000 people left to guard Shangjing, the rest all followed Zhao Xiao to Shuzhou for disaster relief.
At the same time, the provincial capitals near Shuzhou also received the news and organized the people in the city to donate supplies, medicines and clothing to Shuzhou. It can be said that when one side is in trouble, all sides will come to its aid.
At times like this, the benefits of building roads were reflected. Normally, it took three months to travel from Shangjing to Shuzhou by horse carriage, but now it has been shortened to one month.
The rescue team met the Shuzhou Tongzhi who was on his way to Shangjing for help.
The other party looked at the huge convoy in confusion, not understanding how they knew that an earthquake had occurred in Shuzhou.
*
Qinghe County in Shuzhou was one of the counties hardest hit by the earthquake, with thousands of houses collapsed in the county.
Many civilians were buried under the eaves, and countless people were killed or injured. Looking around, one could see the widespread grief.
Today is the third day of the earthquake. The sky is gloomy and there is a drizzle.
The magistrate of Qinghe County, wearing a bamboo hat, is leading more than 30 young and strong men to organize a rescue operation. They started rescuing people the day before yesterday and have been busy until noon today. They have not slept or even had a sip of water.
"Everyone, work harder and save as many people as possible!" Hao Liangshan said with a hoarse voice as he encouraged others.
"Hey!" everyone responded in unison.
There was a woman in front of them crying and wailing. She saw them kneeling down and begging, "My lord, please save my child!"
"Don't worry, sister-in-law. Where is the child?"
The woman pointed to the broken wall next to her and said, "He was trapped underneath, but he's still alive!"
"Okay, we'll help right away."
A group of people rolled up their sleeves and began to move the beams above. This was a brick and stone house with extremely heavy walls. Four or five men worked together to lift a piece of wall debris, and sure enough, they heard a child's cry for help coming from underground.
"Mom! Mom, I'm scared!"
"Don't be afraid, little one. Mom is here. The uncles will rescue you right away!"
Hearing the child's voice, everyone worked even harder. After clearing the tiles above, they finally saw the child buried underneath. There was more than one child buried, but only one survived...
The woman fainted after taking a look, and the others also had red eyes and were choked with sobs and unable to speak.
Although we have seen more than one tragedy like this in the past few days, everyone still can't control their emotions.
Hao Liangshan took off his raincoat and put it on the child's head: "Dear child, don't be afraid, uncle will take you out soon."
"Yeah!" the child responded tremblingly.
This child is very lucky. He is trapped between two walls, but because the gap is too tight, he cannot get out directly. Both walls have to be moved away before the child can get out.
The walls were very heavy and there was no way to lift them up at the same time, so we had to tie two pieces of the wall together with ropes and pull them apart at the same time.
It would not have been a difficult task originally, but the aftershocks had not yet passed and the ground was shaking from time to time, and I was afraid that the children would be hit in the middle of the journey.
Hao Liangshan made the decision that there was no time to delay and the people had to be rescued immediately!
Everyone immediately took ropes and tied the walls on both sides. More than ten people pulled the ropes at the same time, and Hao Liangshan stayed in the middle to carry the child out.
"One, two, three!" With force from both sides at the same time, the broken wall slowly opened and the gap became much larger. Hao Liangshan squatted down and reached his hands into the gap to grab the child's arm.
"Try harder!" The gap became a little bigger, and the child's head was able to come out, and then the body was pulled out.
At this moment, a sudden aftershock struck again, scaring them so much that they lost their strength. The two huge walls closed together again, making a muffled sound!
"Mountain boy!" the oldest man shouted, and everyone then remembered the county magistrate.
"County Magistrate! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Hao Liangshan was lying on the ruins nearby holding the child. The child was almost trapped in the middle, but fortunately he was quick-eyed and quick-handed and pulled hard, and in the end only one shoe of the child was caught and lost.
Everyone cried with joy. The child's mother also woke up and kowtowed to the child, holding her child in her arms: "Thank you, magistrate. We cannot repay you for saving my life. We will serve you like slaves in our next life!"
Hao Liangshan helped her up and said, "Sister-in-law, take the children and go out to avoid the rain."
As the woman left with the child in her arms, a yamen runner on horseback came running over and said, "My lord, something bad has happened! The road to Shuzhou Prefecture is blocked by rocks, and we can't get through!"
When the others heard this, their faces turned pale. If they couldn't report the news, it would mean that no one would take care of them. They would be trapped here and fend for themselves...
I don't know who in the crowd was the first to cry out, but then the cries spread everywhere, and everyone was venting their emotions of despair and anger.
"Why are you crying? Get up and continue saving people!"
Hao Liangshan stood up with the help of a stone, wiped the rain off his face and said, "The government will definitely not ignore us. We must rescue everyone we can before they come!"
Everyone looked up at him and asked, "Will you come?"
Hao Liangshan said firmly: "Yes! The emperor has abolished the poll tax so that the people can have enough food, and has set up schools for us so that the children can learn to read. Daqi is different from the previous dynasty. They will definitely send people to save us."
His words gave everyone hope again, and they wiped away their tears and joined the rescue again.
The uninjured civilians also joined in, and the number of people increased from the original thirty to one hundred, three hundred, and six hundred!
Some people even shared their own food with them so that they could have the strength to rescue more people.
*
On the tenth day after the earthquake, Huzhou, the closest city to Shuzhou, sent a rescue team of 3,000 people.
Some of these people were soldiers, and some were civilians organized by themselves. They rushed to Shuzhou carrying food and medicine.
Qin Hanqing, the prefect of Shuzhou, personally went out of the city to greet them. With red eyes, he held the hand of the co-prefect of Huzhou and said, "Thank you for your hard work!"
The governor of Huzhou was a cheerful man. He shook his hand and said, "Our two states have been brothers since ancient times. It makes no sense not to help a brother in need. Everyone, hurry up and deliver the food to the city!"
Three hundred carts full of millet solved the urgent problem. Qin Hanqing was so excited that tears came to his eyes. This time the people were saved!
Soon, Suzhou, Yunnan, and Guizhou also sent relief supplies. Although not as much as Huzhou, they were all kindnesses, and the people of Shuzhou kept them in mind.
*
At the same time, Binzhou produced the first batch of rubber waterproof cloth, which was loaded onto trucks and sent to Shuzhou.
Before rebuilding homes, we must ensure the living environment of the people. Waterproof cloth is a very good tent material. A simple tent can be built with a few bamboos to provide shelter for a family.
These days, Song Yuzhu would look around the map every day to observe the situation over there.
When he transferred to Qinghe County, he was shocked by the place. There were ruins everywhere and not a single living person could be seen. Could it be that they were all buried?
After searching for half a day, Song Yuzhu finally found the county magistrate who was leading the people to rush to plant rice in the fields.
These days, Hao Liangshan led the local people to complete self-rescue. In order to avoid people's wild thoughts and prevent food shortages at the end of the year, he organized everyone to replant the fields damaged by rocks in the remaining time.
Song Yuzhu looked at the green rice fields with mixed emotions. Only with such responsible grassroots leaders could the people survive the disaster!
*
On the ninth day of June, the relief from the capital finally arrived in Shuzhou. Thousands of carts of food were transported over and then distributed to various counties one after another.
The blocked roads in Qinghe County were cleared, and when horse-drawn carriages loaded with food arrived, people from the entire county came out to greet them.
Hao Liangshan cried with excitement and knelt on the ground, shouting: "Long live the emperor, long live the emperor!"
According to the county annals, in June of the third year of Hongwu, Qinghe County suffered an earthquake, which killed and injured tens of thousands of people, killed countless livestock, and destroyed all the fields.
Due to the long distance and difficult mountain roads, the relief supplies were not delivered until the autumn of the following year, and there were only 760 survivors in Qinghe County...
A county town with a population of over ten thousand people was reduced to only seven hundred people. It sounds horrifying, but it is indeed what happened in the Wu Dynasty.
That is why Hao Liangshan finally understood what it meant for relief supplies to arrive in a month, and how lucky they were to be born in this dynasty!
Zhao Xiao sent soldiers to clean up the bodies buried under the rubble.
Teachers and students of the medical school are responsible for treating the people injured in the earthquake.
Rubber sheets also come in handy. June is the rainy season in Shuzhou, and heavy rain lasts for several days. If it weren't for these waterproof sheets, many people would definitely get sick from the rain.
Song Yuzhu exempted Shuzhou from taxation for three years and allocated three million taels of silver for infrastructure construction. Rich merchants from all over the country also generously donated one million taels of silver.
Next, the strong people of Shuzhou will build a new home with their own hands.
(End of this chapter)
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