lady, please calm down

Chapter 223 I Have a Promise

Night, Xu time.

In the barracks of the military guards, Chen Chu was only wearing a pair of short-nosed trousers and sat on the stilt. Mao Er twisted the soaked handkerchief half dry, and carefully wiped the body of the officer.

"Officials are getting more and more childish! Take good control of everyone, and insist on pretending to be a big soldier"

An hour ago, Mao'er was busy with the work at hand, stepped forward to talk to Chen Chu, and only said "officer", which immediately stunned the mother and son of the Shi family who were persuading Chen Chu to escape quickly.

"I didn't pretend to be a big soldier, and they didn't ask. Could it be that I told everyone that I was the husband of Zhao Anren, the governor of Caizhou's left-behind department?"

Chen Chu smiled and said, Mao'er pursed his lips, squatted down beside him, then pulled Chen Chu's arm on his shoulder, and helped him scrub his ribs.

"You are like a mud monkey today. No matter who sees you, you will not know that you are Chen Dutong."

"Hehe. By the way, you can go back to the city tomorrow."

"There are no officials like you. When I just arrived today, the officials drove me away."

"This is not a very good place, and there is no guarantee that there will be no plague. What if you get sick?"

"The officials can stay, so the cat can stay. There are so many women in the camp for the victims, and you men alone will definitely be inconvenient." Seeing that Chen Chu wanted to persuade him again, the little hand that was helping him wipe his ribs suddenly moved up A few inches, the crystal nails scratched the itchy flesh under Chen Chu's armpit lightly like a kitten.

"Hiss~ oops! Dare to tickle me!"

Chen Chu folded his body, reached out with both hands, stretched out to Mao'er's armpit and started to scratch, thus throwing aside his words of persuading her to go back.

"Yeah, hahaha, haha, stop scratching, the cat is wrong hahaha."

The cat couldn't stop backing up and begging for mercy, but Chen Chu chased after him.

There wasn't much room in the barracks, and the two had a quarrel for a while before they both fell on the floor made of straw piles.

A few days ago, all the bed boards in the barracks were burned as firewood, and Baoxi and Mao Dan had to travel a long way to find just this straw.

"Stop making trouble, officials stop making trouble"

The smiling cat with a flushed face lay on Chen Chu's body, and pressed Chen Chu's hands with all her strength.

The weather was hot, and the body that had just been wiped was sweating again.

Chen Chu stopped at this point, and the cat lay on Chen Chu's chest, listening to the clear and powerful heart beating in his chest, and looked sideways at the candlelight, and suddenly murmured: "Officer, do you still remember?"

"Remember what?"

"At the beginning, when we first went up the mountain, we slept on piles of straw"

"Follow me and suffer."

"Mao'er doesn't mean that." Mao'er wanted to say that on the night she went up the mountain, she dreamed of getting married in a wedding dress, but she changed her mind in the end, "Mao'er never felt bitter, and the official Every day after we met, the cat lived happily."

The cat rubbed its cheek on Chen Chu's chest attached, and stretched its arms around Chen Chu's waist.

May fifteenth.

It has been four or five days since the flood, and almost all the people who could be saved have been rescued. The two camps for victims in Zhenyang County have gathered more than [-] victims.

The efficiency of search and rescue has dropped significantly today.

After going out for a whole morning, Chen Chu's team found only one girl who was still alive, and it was not known whether she could be saved or not.

In the afternoon, I took a boat and passed a concave-shaped hill. Due to the terrain in front of the hill, a backflow bay was formed. A large number of corpses washed up here floated up from the water after soaking up.

A dense layer floated on the surface of the water, pale and swollen, making one's scalp numb.

The stench permeated for miles.

Chen Yingjun, who was accompanying him, lay on the side of the boat and vomited faintly, with tears and snot running down his nose. He didn't know if he was choked, scared, or maybe it was because of heartache.

That night, after returning to the camp, Chen Chu successively received news from Linfu Yingzhou and Shouzhou, but the situation became more and more pessimistic.

Compared with Caizhou, which still maintains order, Yingzhou and Shouzhou can be described as extremely bad.

The news from Yingzhou came from Chang Dechang, a local direct store partner of Sihai Commercial Bank, who said that on the night of May [-]th, an embankment broke [-] miles upstream of the Yinghe Estuary in Huai River. He ordered the four gates of Fucheng to be closed tightly. In order to prevent refugees from fleeing into the city, entry and exit were strictly prohibited.

The specific situation of the five counties under the Yingzhou administration is unknown, but since May [-]th and [-]th, a large number of victims of the disaster have gathered under the city.

On May [-]th, in the face of more and more resentful victims gathering in the city, the magistrate had no choice but to find rich households to donate food for relief.

But I don't want to, but a huge prefectural city only raises seven hundred catties of old grain. This little grain can be very useful.

That night, as soon as the porridge-handling official came out of the city, he was surrounded by hungry victims. The victims, young and old, were scrambling to grab food. Women, children, old and weak were trampled on, and one official died and the other disappeared.

So far, no one in Yingzhou city dared to come out, only waiting for the imperial court to relieve the disaster.
Waiting for the court to take action?
Chen Chu shook his head, and looked at the situation in Shouzhou again.

The information from Shouzhou was sent by Li Luzi and Li Ke, the commanders of the military, after they contacted Luo Hong, the head of the Cao Gang's local hall.

Compared with Chang Dechang, who was trapped in the city, Luo Hong, who ran the rivers and lakes, got more news from outside the city.

Among the seven counties in Shouzhou, five counties were flooded. The Guangxiao army barracks of the Xiang Army stationed by the Gushui River were swept by the flood in the early morning of the [-]th. Numerous soldiers drowned and disappeared.

Even Shouzhou Fucheng was not spared. After being soaked in the waist-high flood for two days, the south wall collapsed with a gap of seven or eight feet.

The local area also failed to organize any rescue and appeasement in the first place. According to the letter written by Li Ke: "The five counties were lost, the flood was great, and the corpses were floating for hundreds of miles. The surviving victims no longer knew the government and the court. A piece of old clothes draws a knife to each other, but it can be a life-and-death struggle for a wild fruit.

In order to protect themselves, the hooligans gathered and wandered through the countryside.

According to the news on the 170th, the bandits in Huoqiu County took the opportunity to gather the refugees and broke through Zhangjiaxu at night. All the men among the more than [-] people in the village were beheaded and killed, and the women and women were cooked and eaten after being raped.

The image of chaos in Huaibei has appeared, and it is hoped that the capital will make preparations early.So as not to bring disaster to Caizhou."

That night, Chen Chu tossed and turned, unable to sleep for a long time.

The cat noticed that the official was in a state of confusion, so he patted the official on the back as if coaxing a child, and hummed a lullaby, "The wind is light, the moon is bright, and the leaves cover the window lattice."

This is her unique way of comforting officials, and Chen Chu's mood is indeed much calmer.

May sixteenth.

The rescue work was coming to an end, so Chen Chu urgently recruited the [-]st Battalion of the Jing'an Army to come to Zhenyang to take over the work of maintaining order and post-disaster reconstruction.

The next day, Chen Chu led the Zhenhuai and Wuwei armies back to Caizhou.

Suddenly hearing that the sergeants of the two armies were about to leave, the camp of the victims was immediately bombed.

Almost all the victims of the disaster crowded the official road, and several old men grabbed Chen Chu's horse reins and refused to let go.

The eldest son was in a dilemma. Normally, they should not be allowed to block the way of the first brother, but these old men were crying like three-year-old children, and they only said: "The master is gone, what should we do?"
In the past two days, people from Yingzhou in twos and threes have come to Caizhou. The local people learned from the victims of Linfu that the gates of Yingzhou Mansion were closed and the victims were not allowed to enter the city. ten people.

Instead of staying under the city and having no place to go, now the countryside of Yingzhou is full of strong men in groups, including bandits, rogues, and farmers who have become refugees due to disasters.

Those who stutter often kill people, and there are even horrible rumors of cannibalism.

The people of Yingzhou can't live or die, they are in a dilemma.

On the other hand, in Caizhou, even though they were also hit by a disaster, under the protection of Chen Dutong, everyone had food, medicinal soup and order every day.
Compared with Linfu, which is almost like a hell on earth, the simple word "order" has turned Caizhou into a paradise.

Now that they heard that Chen Dutong was leaving, how could they not be afraid.

Chen Chu repeatedly assured that the food in the camp would be provided as usual and that the Jing'an Army would maintain order, but everyone didn't believe it.

It's not that they don't believe in the Jing'an Army, but they don't believe in any sergeant. They only believe in Chen Dutong who saved them from danger, ate a pot of rice with them, and got along day and night.
Speaking of the emotion, several old men knelt and kowtowed in front of Chen Chuma, and before the eldest son stepped forward to stop him, the common people who had blocked the road for several miles all knelt down as if the tide was ebbing
For a moment, the Hujiagang was full of black heads, crying loudly.

Seeing this, the eldest son wept again.

Chen Chu had to go back to Caizhou. Now that the surrounding area is in turmoil, in order to prevent Caizhou from being affected, he needs to bring the two armies back to prepare for the war.

Cat looked around, suddenly made up his mind, turned around and got into the carriage.

After a while, Mao'er, who had changed into a solemn uniform, stood beside Chen Chu again, "Officer, take the man back, and I will stay here for you."

"No!" Chen Chu immediately refused.

But Mao'er looked at the people all over the place, and said in a low voice: "Officer, you and I are one, and I will stay for the official, so that everyone can feel at ease."

Before Mao'er finished speaking, Chen Chu had already shook his head, so Mao'er said again: "It's not easy for officials to gain the love and trust of the common people. Don't delay the important event because of the love of children for a while! Besides, Mao'er Even if my son stays, she will be safe and sound, my family officials are heroes in the world, can't they still protect the little cat girl?"

At the end, Mao'er gave Chen Chu a playful smile, then jumped onto the shaft of the carriage, and shouted loudly: "Folks, don't panic! My family officials have important things to do when they return to the city, and he will definitely not abandon the villagers." .I am here with everyone. I have a promise. If the camp for the victims is not empty, I will not return!"

As soon as Mao'er tried his best to speak loudly, the surroundings fell silent, followed by a 'coax'.

Crying and shouting sounded from all directions at the same time.

"Xie'an people cherish"

"With An Ren's words, we can rest assured."

"Anren live a long life."

Everyone can figure it out, everyone in An has stayed with us, and they all have a heart for the camp.

In the border of Caizhou, I am afraid that there is no safer place than being with An Ren.

In the crowd, Shi Mu looked at Du Tong and his wife, wiped the corners of her eyes, and muttered, "Brother Chen is a good official, and Ren An is also a good lady."

"Mother, you're right." Shi Dalang and Shi Erlang, who just reunited with their mother the day before yesterday, supported his mother on the left and on the right.

I thought that something bad happened to my mother and younger brother Yao, and I didn't want to see each other again, the brothers from the Shi family smiled crookedly in the past two days.

What's even more strange is that, according to Brother Yao, it was the famous Chen Dutong from Caizhou who saved my mother and carried her back.
If the old lady hadn't confirmed it personally, the Shijia brothers would definitely not believe it.

The big official carries our old lady on his back?Really rare.
At this time, seeing Zhao Anren promised to accompany everyone to stay here, Shi Dalang sighed in his heart, and agreed with his old lady's words, Dutong and his wife are very good people!

As he was thinking about it, he felt that his old lady was tightly grasping his hand. Shi Da looked sideways, and saw that his old lady glanced at the mature, unruly, or immature faces of the brothers one by one with pity. , said casually: "You brothers, follow me."

The Shijia brothers didn't know what happened, but they saw the old woman coming out with trembling steps, and they hurriedly followed.

Only when she was about ten steps away from Chen Chu did Shi's mother stop, "Ms. Shi Zheng has met Dutong and Anren."

Chen Chuying stepped forward, supported Shi Mu's arm, and refused to allow her to salute, "Auntie, I still like you to call me Brother Chen, haha."

Mother Shi couldn't help thinking of the scene where Chen Dutong touched his wife a few days ago, and she was dizzy and persuaded him to run away, so she couldn't help laughing, then turned around and looked at her sons carefully, and said with a sigh of relief: "The Shi family Erlang! This Chen Dutong in front of you, Yu Gong saved more than ten thousand people in our Zhenyang. Yu Si saved your mother. This is my family benefactor. From now on, you need to treat him like an elder and not disobey him, remember!"

"."

"."

The brothers looked at each other, not knowing what the old lady was going to do, only Shi Wulang guessed what the old lady was thinking, and hurriedly responded, "Mother, I know."

Shi Mu immediately turned her head to look at Chen Chu, and then said: "Brother Chen, my Shi family is poor and has nothing else, only the seven sons in the family, and I will give them to the governor to listen to."

What does Chen Chu do?Naturally, she leads the soldiers. This old lady is going to send her whole family to serve as soldiers under Chen Dutong!

But then, more people reacted.

"Dutong, take me too, I can lift a hundred catties of stone locks"

"Dutong, look at my grandson's success"

In previous years, the Xiang army, which needed to arrest strong men, had a strange thing about scrambling to join the army.

(End of this chapter)