Shouzhang County Ya. Looking at the drifting heavy rain outside, Xu Jin and Xiao Huai couldn't help frowning, but Song Chi, the prefect of Yanzhou, and other magistrates were secretly happy, the heavy rain fell in time in the early morning.

Eunuch Huang Jin sighed and said: "Heaven is not beautiful, Lord Xiao, Lord Xu, it is better to wait for the rain to stop before setting off, it is not bad for half a day." ”

Xiao Huai's face suddenly sank, and he scolded: "Nonsense, the flood is like a beast that eats people, and it can't be delayed for half a moment, the Yellow River has been missing embankments for six days, and I don't know how many people are looking forward to it on the edge of life and death at this moment, and every time we delay for half a moment, more people may be killed." If Huang Gonggong is worried about getting his clothes wet, then he will stay here and wait for the rain to stop before catching up. ”

Huang Jin was red-faced, but he didn't dare to refute, so he could only bow his head and remain silent. Now that the civil official group is dominant, the powerful eunuchs of the Zhengde Dynasty have been cleaned up, the power of the eunuch group has been greatly weakened, and even the eunuchs of the internal officials and prisons are supported by the civil official group, such as the eunuch Bi Yun. In addition, Emperor Jiajing entered the throne as a vassal king and relied on civil officials everywhere, and the eunuchs had no right to speak. So the current situation is that even civil officials of the sixth or seventh rank dare to point at the noses of the internal officials, eunuchs, and eunuchs.

After Xiao Huai reprimanded Huang Jin, he said to Lu Xing, a thousand households in Jinyi: "Lu Qianhu, immediately send an order to go down and set off for Fan County as originally planned!" ”

Lu Xing immediately received the order to mobilize his subordinates, Xiao Huai put on his coat with the help of his entourage, put on his hat, and then strode out of the county office and turned over his horse. Lao Xiao, who is over sixty years old, works so hard, Xu Jin, as a young man, naturally can't lag behind, so he immediately put on rain gear and got on the horse.

The prefect Song Chi and the same acquaintance Zhang Wensheng couldn't help but secretly complain, they were the chief officials of Yanzhou Mansion, and their responsibilities were to accompany them throughout the process, so although they were very reluctant, they could only "sacrifice their lives" to accompany Qincha.

At about 7 o'clock in the morning, a long procession braved the heavy rain and left the city and marched towards Fan County, 80 miles upstream of the Yellow River. 500 Jinyi guards sounded gongs in front to open the way, and behind them were nearly 500 disaster relief vehicles, oxen and mules, in short, the livestock that Shouzhang County could use were all requisitioned. In addition to food, there were also medicines, clothing, pots, quicklime and other materials for disaster relief.

In addition to the 300 servants of Shou Zhanggu, there were 1,000 people who were recruited and transferred, plus 500 Jinyi guards, and a team of nearly 2,000 people braved the heavy rain and waded through muddy water to the direction of Fan County.

Thankfully, half an hour after the relief team set out, the rain finally stopped and the sun began to shine, but the situation only improved slightly, and in fact it was quite bad.

Because the official road has already become muddy after being soaked in rainwater, vehicles loaded with food can easily get stuck in mud puddles and cannot get out, and there are cars that break down from time to time along the way, or encounter roads that have been washed away by floods, landslides, etc., and need to make temporary detours. The officials and men in charge of the escort were miserable and tired like dogs.

The sun rose higher and higher, and the temperature became scorching in vain, at this time Xu Jin had already taken off his coat, wearing only a hat to shade the sun, and the clothes wet by the rain were dried by the scorching sun, and they were soon wet with sweat, which felt really sour.

Xu Jin rode his horse up a small hill, looked back at the disaster relief team struggling in the muddy water behind him, anxious but helpless, it had been an hour since he set off, and he had only walked about ten miles. It is no wonder that so many people died in the floods in ancient times, and entire villages and towns were wiped out at every turn, and with such transportation conditions and disaster relief efficiency, the victims were starved to death even if they were not drowned.

As it progressed by noon and the temperature was getting hotter, the relief team was moving more and more slowly, the animals in charge of pulling the carts were panting, and a few donkeys were so tired that they were spilling their picks.

I don't know when, behind the disaster relief team, there were three or three of the victims, and more and more gathered, it is estimated that there are more than 100 of them, they follow from a distance, staring at the grain truck, their eyes glowing green, but they are afraid of the weapons in the hands of the soldiers, and do not dare to get too close.

Xiao Huai did not order to stop distributing food to these victims, because this would obviously slow down the pace, and it was better to wait for the team to stop and rest and camp.

In this way, from time to time, disaster victims came out of the mountains, forests and wilderness, and nearly two or three hundred people accumulated behind the disaster relief team, and the disaster victims, who had long been so hungry that their eyes were green, began to approach the convoy with great courage, and the official in charge of escorting them had to wave the weapons in their hands and shout at them to drive these hungry and red-eyed people away.

Looking at these victims in rags and with hungry flames in their eyes, Xu Jin couldn't bear it, and his scalp was numb, people in a state of extreme hunger could do anything, if it weren't for the protection of the army at this moment, these victims would probably have started to grab food.

"Caught! Caught! ”

At this time, the victims who followed behind suddenly made a commotion, someone shouted, Xu Jin turned his head curiously, and saw a male victim who grabbed a vole and ran wildly, and stuffed the vole into his mouth and bit it while running, and his mouth was full of blood in an instant, and several victims were chasing after him, but when they caught up, the vole had been swallowed alive.

The victims did not catch the voles, so they scattered in frustration and continued to poke rat holes everywhere in the fields, and wherever they passed, whether they were voles, snakes, frogs or grasshoppers, they became the food of the victims.

Xu Jin couldn't help frowning, after the catastrophe, there will be a big epidemic, a large part of which is caused by poor hygiene, after the catastrophe, the hungry and red-eyed victims prey on all the creatures they can see, especially the creatures such as rats, and the bacteria carried on their bodies are very easy to cause plague. In the Middle Ages, for example, the terrible Black Death, which killed nearly two-thirds of Europe's population, was the plague

Of course, at this time, it is impossible for Xu Jin to stop these victims from preying on voles, and even if they do, no one will listen, and these victims are now so hungry that they may not even eat people, let alone voles.

"Ziqian, what time is it?" Xiao Huai suddenly asked.

Xu Jin took out his pocket watch and looked at it, and replied, "It's past three o'clock in the afternoon!" ”

Song Zhifu and the others couldn't help but glance curiously at the pocket watch in Xu Jin's hand, they had never seen this thing before.

Xiao Huai instructed: "Lu Qianhu, pass the order, rest on the spot and bury the pot to cook, and set off in half an hour." ”

As soon as the order was given, cheers suddenly rang out, and the people buried their pots to cook, and the victims who followed them all gathered around when they saw this, and their eyes were drooling.

In the face of the unarmed civilians, those officials were more deterrent than the officers and soldiers, and they fiercely brandished water and fire sticks and iron chains, and soon hundreds of victims were obediently waiting in line.

Soon, the porridge boiled, and everyone present was given a bowl of gruel, and they didn't care about boiling the soup, so they drank it well, and then continued to stare at the pot with bright eyes, but they were immediately blasted away by the water and fire sticks that came over from the splitting head and covering the noodles.

It's not that Xiao Huai is stingy and reluctant to let these refugees be fed, but once these victims are full of strength, it will inevitably pose a threat to the team transporting grain.

Half an hour later, the disaster relief team set off again, and it was estimated that there were as many as six or seven hundred refugees following the team.

After walking for about ten miles, a large village appeared under the hills as far as the eye could see, and the faint smell of rancid smell was carried by the wind.

At this time, a brocade guard who was in charge of exploring the road galloped back and reported: "My lord, many corpses have been found in the village ahead!" ”

"Let's go, go over and have a look!" Xiao Huai rode his horse and trotted over to the village in front, and Xu Jin and the others hurriedly rode their horses to follow.

The village was clearly flooded by the low-lying terrain of a river not far from the village, and although the flood waters had receded, the muddy river still overflowed near the entrance of the village, and the dirt road into the village was still partially submerged.

Xu Jin and the others cautiously rode their horses through the stagnant water area and came to the entrance of the village, where the rancid smell was even stronger, making people feel sick and nauseous.

At the entrance of the village, there was a large locust tree, which had been washed away by the flood, and the lower half of the tree was covered with mud, and a highly decomposed corpse hung on the locust tree, and some white maggots wriggled in the eye sockets and nostrils of the corpse.

"Gross!" The eunuch Huang Jin jumped off the horse, squatted in the mud and vomited wildly, and it was estimated that he even vomited out the overnight meal.

After all, Xu Jin had experienced a bloody battle that was more than ten times more tragic, and he was used to corpses, but when he smelled the stench of rotting corpses, he still couldn't help but feel sick in his chest.

Xiao Huai, Song Chi, Zhang Wensheng and other civil officials were even more unbearable, although they didn't spit it out, they were also pale, obviously forbearing.

"Drive!" Xiao Huai rode his horse to the village, and everyone hurriedly followed, leaving Eunuch Huang to continue squatting in the muddy water and vomiting.

The village is very large, estimated to be nearly 100 households, most of which have been washed away by the flood and littered with decomposing corpses, mostly women, children and the elderly. Under a toppled brick wall, Xu Jin saw a village woman holding a baby in her arms, her lower body pressed by mud bricks, still holding the baby in her arms tightly, and the two corpses were swollen with blisters.

They rode around the village, but found no living people, and the whole village was gloomy, with only corpses and a foul smell all over the ground.

After coming out of the village, Xu Jin's mood was extremely heavy, Xiao Huai's face was pale, and he glanced at Song Chi and the others who had dismounted and vomited with a cold expression, and said in a deep voice: "Ziqian, you have worked hard to arrange for people to clean up and bury the corpses in the village, and in addition, if there are villages nearby, they are also cleaned up, so there is no need to rush to the road." ”

Xu Jin nodded solemnly, if these corpses are not buried and disposed of in time, the possibility of plague will increase greatly. ()

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