The night is deep, the stars and the moon are not light, and in ancient times when there was no artificial light source pollution, the night was really dark, so black that you couldn't see your fingers. Frogs and insects chirp in the deserted village, and the howl of a lone wolf and wild fox can be heard from the distant mountain, like a ghost howling at midnight.

A nearly three-meter-long black snake quietly climbed to the heel of the ancestral hall's wall, and when it smelled the pungent smell of lime, it immediately turned around and swam towards a nearby collapsed house.

"Lord Xu!"

Jinyiwei and Minfu, who were in charge of the night, saw Xu Jin coming out of the house, and hurriedly greeted him respectfully. Xu Jin nodded, walked out of the courtyard gate of the ancestral hall, and the two brocade guards who were close to him hurriedly followed out with torches.

The black snake, which was originally crawling slowly, was disturbed by the firelight, and in a panic, it burrowed into the pile of collapsed wall bricks, and Xu Jin only saw half of the long snake body.

A brocade guard reminded: "Be careful, there are snakes!" ”

Xu Jin nodded and said, "See, it's a black snake, non-venomous." ”

Jin Yiwei admired it: "Adults know a lot." ”

The open space outside the ancestral hall originally gathered hundreds of refugees, after nightfall to give a porridge, at this time all dispersed, each in the village to find a place to spend the night, only a dozen refugees in the open space, spread leaves and weeds on the ground and sleep, a few people saw the fire immediately sat up, looked expectantly, when found that it was not a soup porridge, immediately lost interest in Xu Jin, the Lord of the Qincha, continued to fall asleep. Now they're only interested in food!

Whew......

The cry of a beast came from the night, and it seemed that it had reached the outside of the village, Xu Jin looked in the direction of the head of the village, and saw a few blue faint lights moving in the darkness.

The brocade guard behind him said: "It sounds like a coyote, after the catastrophe, there is a shortage of food, and these things have come to the village to forage for food." ”

Although the Ming Dynasty invented firearms, for the time being, it is mainly applied to human cannibalism, and human beings are still in absolute weakness in the struggle against nature. The Ming Dynasty has a vast land, but the population is only 60 or 70 million, the land is vast and sparsely populated, and most of the mountains, forests and wilderness are still the world of wild animals. After a flood, barren villages will be reoccupied by nature within a few months.

"Send some brothers to chase away the wild things that roam outside the village!" Xu Jin commanded.

It is contradictory, on the one hand, Xu Jin has to guard against the riots of the victims to grab food, and on the other hand, he has to ensure the safety of the lives of the victims. The people are the foundation of the country, and the ruler can not care about the life and death of individual people, but he cannot ignore the life and death of a large number of people.

The purpose of disaster relief is to preserve the population as much as possible, and then rebuild the homes and resume production. At the moment, what Xu Jin has to do is to let as many people as possible survive, but there can be no civil unrest, so only giving refugees a bowl of porridge to drink at each meal and hanging for their lives is undoubtedly the best choice, which can not only save food and save more people, but also make these refugees have no strength to make trouble.

More than a dozen brocade guards were ordered to leave the village, leaning slightly, and several explosions of firearms were heard outside the village, so it was quiet, and even the lone wolf and wild fox on the distant mountain were silent.

Xu Jin turned around and returned to the ancestral hall, just in time to see Erniu entering the house with a bowl of millet porridge, it is estimated that the little boy has woken up.

Xu Jinxing entered the house, and sure enough, he saw that the little boy was eating millet porridge and drank two doses of Xiao Chai Hu, and the kid's spirit improved significantly.

"Well, the fever is gone, this little chaihu is still useful." Xu Jin stroked the little boy's forehead and nodded.

"It works, no matter what I'm drinking it for?" The little boy did not lift his head, and drank hot porridge with a sigh.

Xu Jin touched his chin speechlessly, it was obvious that this kid was a thorn. At the age of six or seven, he dared to touch the money and food of the head snake in the City God Temple, and his courage was not ordinary fat, and he had a chivalrous spirit, because all the money and silver he stole were distributed to the victims along the way.

The little boy drank millet porridge sweetly, and suddenly raised his head and said: "You just let people drive away the beasts outside the village, you are indeed a good official, do you catch those corrupt officials in Shouzhang County?" ”

Xu Jin didn't answer, sat down next to Xiao Mazha, smiled and asked, "Little guy, tell me what your name is first!" ”

One of the tasks of Xu Jin and Xiao Huai's envoy this time was to investigate whether there was a deficit in the local permanent liquidation, and after verification, there was no problem with the granary in Shouzhang County, but if the money and grain distributed to the victims were recovered, it was indeed instructed by the magistrate of Shouzhang County, then there was definitely something wrong with it. Of course, this matter still needs to be verified, and you can't just listen to the words of the little boy in front of you.

The little boy replied simply, "My name is Li Shizhen!" ”

Li Shi ...... What, again! Xu Jin was like five thunderbolts, and he almost jumped up.

"Li Shizhen, what's wrong?" The little boy glanced at Xu Jin strangely, then stuck out his tongue and licked the bottom of the bowl clean like a puppy.

Xu Jin looked strange, staring at the little boy up and down, the latter subconsciously shrunk his neck, leaned over to Er Niu's side and said, "Brother Er Niu, your master is a good man?" ”

Erniu scratched the back of his head in a daze: "South wind? Our lord wrote a poem, Ren Er, east and west, north and south! ”

Xu Jin almost fell, this kid was only six or seven years old, he was precocious, and asked, "Are you from Huguang?" ”

The little boy said curiously: "Hey, how do adults know, the kid is from Lake Guangqichun." ”

"What is that Ling's name?"

"After hearing the preface, the words are depressed!"

Li Yanwen, Xu Jin no longer doubted that the little thorn in front of him with a cupodle turned out to be the famous medicine saint Li Shizhen, the author of the pharmaceutical masterpiece "Compendium of Materia Medica".

"National treasure, legend!" Xu Jin couldn't help but hold Xiao Li's chubby little hand, of course, at this time, Xiao Lizi hadn't gotten out the "Compendium of Materia Medica" yet.

Li Shizhen withdrew his hand and rubbed the goosebumps on the back of his hand vigorously. Xu Jin woke up and felt a little out of shape, and coughed awkwardly: "Li Shizhen, your name is good, and you will definitely be famous for eternity in the future!" ”

Li Shizhen couldn't help but roll her eyes and said, "You are those bull-nosed Taoist priests in Longhu Mountain, can you still pinch it?" ”

Xu Jin smiled and said: "How can those Taoist priests in Longhu Mountain be as powerful as me, if you don't believe it, let's see." ”

"Come on, is it fun to fool children, and keep your name for eternity? I won't live to be a thousand years old, and the devil will know! ”

Xu Jin couldn't help but be dumbfounded, and said with a smile: "That's right, by the way, Li boy, how did you come to Shandong from Huguang?" ”

Li Shizhen suddenly said worriedly: "My father and I came to Fan County to look for a herb, who knew that the Yellow River lacked embankments, and the flood swept away, and the kid floated to the vicinity of Shouzhang County with a wooden basin, and luckily picked up his life, my father is afraid that it will be more auspicious!" ”

Li Shizhen's eyes turned red after speaking, and she cried with tears in her eyes, just like a six or seven-year-old kid at this time.