The infinite heavens start from the red building

Chapter 238 8.14 On the Edge of the Yangtze River Flood
Chapter 8

8.14 Yangtze River Floods, on the verge of eruption

Heavy snow covered the entire city, and the snow even covered half of the calf. This is rare in Jinling City, which is located in the south of the Yangtze River. In this snowstorm, the Spring Festival of the 13th year of Yongzheng is coming.

Although it is said that "auspicious snow heralds a good year", it is not necessarily so optimistic for the people in the city. In the cold weather, refugees who froze to death in the city are carried out every day. .

In fact, it is not only the Dashun Dynasty. It is the same in all dynasties of the feudal society. No matter how "prosperous times" are painted in the history books, the life of the people is nothing more than the difference between having enough to eat, not starving to death, or being in disorder.

Even at the best of times, the huge China is bound to be affected by disasters. Most of the time, the so-called "disaster relief" is just shouting, and it is commonplace for people in disasters to starve to death.

Together with the disaster, there are almost countless refugees. They go wherever they go, or they can't even go, and they fall silently in an unknown corner. If they encounter wild animals, there will be no corpses left.

In comparison, this kind of stiff corpse that froze to death in the city was considered "good treatment", at least it could be mixed with a roll of straw mats, and a special person was responsible for transporting it out and burying it in a mass grave.

As a modern man with a military background, Wei Xu has never forgotten the credo of "serving the people". He prepared to arrange disaster relief immediately after the severe cold and heavy snow, but was persuaded by Qin Keqing, so he could only helplessly watch at home.

In the living room of the back residence of the Wei Mansion, Wei Xu is discussing with Qin Keqing, Du Dao Saeko and Dongfang Bai, because the Yangtze River flood in summer has been less than half a year, but there has been no effective rescue.

"The one in the north is blowing, the snowflakes are blowing, the wind and snow are fluttering, and the new year is here!" With a bitter expression, Wei Xu thought of "The White-haired Girl", and understood why this opera, which modern people think is very superficial, can be played in It had a terrifying effect that year.

"Husband, you are a general and you control the military power in your hands. If you spend more money and food to help the victims, I am afraid that you will be labeled as an 'inviting to buy people's hearts and plotting evil', and you will soon be dismissed." Qin Keqing said with a wry smile.

"That's right, military generals are not allowed to make friends indiscriminately, otherwise the group of rotten scholars will get rumors about it, and the impeachment will be one after another." Wei Xu smiled wryly and shook his head, "But now that the people are so miserable, who should play the role?
What's even more painful is that there are still a group of salt merchants in Xu's family who are shedding crocodile tears, buying people's hearts with a few pots of gruel that can almost reflect people's shadows, turning many refugees into their own servants, and even getting "good deeds" 'evaluation of. "

"Brother Xu, I have asked Sister Bao to set up a porridge shed in the name of 'Xue Zihao', and now I have started to help the victims, but now the price of food in Jinling is rising three times a day, unless we use military rations, it won't last for a few days.

This large-scale disaster was mainly caused by the summer floods on the Yangtze River. These disaster victims had accumulated in the city and its surrounding areas for more than a day, but Jinling City did not provide any rescue, and completely let it develop.

The only good news is that we also took advantage of this opportunity to easily collect all the places on the mountain, and they were all the best soldiers on the left and right, and we had to pick and choose repeatedly. Dongfang Bai said with a sigh.

"Now Jinling City and even the entire Jiangnan, we are the largest grain merchants, right? Unexpectedly, because of disaster relief and cheap grain sales, the inventory is insufficient. What a joke!" Wei Xu angrily crushed the teacup in his hand.

"Master, since the Yangtze River flood in summer, the imperial court has actually been providing relief, but mainly in the vicinity of the flooded area, and there are no substantive arrangements for the refugees who have fled.

Although reports of 'on-the-spot relief' have been received everywhere, even in the south of the Yangtze River, which is famous for its wealth and wealth, there are actually few places to help. The few who opened porridge sheds are mostly like Jinling.

Not only the south of the Yangtze River is the case, but the lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin have been greatly affected. The only good news is that the floods have stopped now, and because of the proper measures, the plague problem has not occurred.

But this does not mean that everything will be fine. Our intelligence shows that the total number of refugees from various places has exceeded 50, which is almost a pile of powder kegs. " Saeko Busushima said with a sigh.

"Someone is already preparing to light a torch." Dongfang Bai said with a sneer, "Ever since we started attacking the Xu family, or the peripheral forces of the White Lotus Sect, the other party has not been idle.

In the past few months, we have met with each other quite a few times, but their strength is still a bit weak, so far they have not won, and the losses have been very heavy. We even touched the Xu family's power for a while.

But the other party has always insisted on not giving in, even if it is a heavy loss, and even contacted the Zhen family, but now the claws of the Zhen family have been interrupted by us, and at most they can provide some financial resources or information support.

But just a few days ago, the Xu family relented and not only gave up all the salt road business outside the Jinling area and handed it over to us, but also gave away half of the surrounding Jinling area again. "Either they have other plans and other major activities, so they shrink their power and change direction, or they find other ways to make a fortune." "Wei Xu immediately realized the problem.

"There are two aspects." Saeko Busujima nodded and said, "Since September, because there are too many refugees, the major families in Jinling have collected the refugees in their own hands under various names, basically for stuttering.

However, in a little over three months, the number of servants and maidservants in each family has even doubled, and most of them are the type who have signed a death contract and have been slaves and maidservants for generations, which is considered good.

There are also many families who have started the business of selling servants and maidservants, bringing together these refugees at almost no cost, and then trying to transport them to the North or the capital to sell them, earning enough money with blood.

On the surface, the Xu family did not engage in this kind of business, but many of its subordinate families have taken actions in this regard. The total number is very large, and it is difficult to say whether these people were sold or accepted by the White Lotus Sect. "

"Including the Jinling branch of Wu Xun's family?" Wei Xu asked with suppressed anger.

"They are the most unscrupulous. Some even directly rob people in the refugee camps outside the city. It's just that the refugees have been hungry for a long time and have no strength, so nothing happened." Saeko Busushima said disdainfully.

"The good news is probably that we have caught the only trace of the connection between the White Lotus Sect in Yangzhou and the White Lotus Sect in Jinling, that is, a family under the Xu family sent many girls and young girls with good conditions to Yangzhou.

Xu Fei gave feedback that most of these girls and girls were accepted by the big flower boats, but the Jiangnan Huakui did not do these things in name, but most of them ended up in her hands. "Dongfang Bai said coldly.

"Didn't Xiezi just say that you have both? The Xu family should be doing more than human trafficking, right?" Wei Xu continued to ask, holding back his anger.

"These days the porridge shed of the Xu family has significantly increased their consumption, because they have increased the amount of gruel they use to send it to the refugee camps outside the city. The spies we arranged reported that they were preaching.

In the past month, at least hundreds of people in the refugee camp have been lured away by the Xu family or their subordinate families, but they only left at night, and our people couldn't keep up, so we couldn't find out the results.

But the most important thing is not these, but the shadows of people preaching in various names have been found in various places in the south of the Yangtze River. The targets are mainly refugee camps in various places. The action is really not small.

Furthermore, I learned from Sister Bao that although the price of grain has risen three times a day, the sales volume has not decreased but increased, and the number of large-scale grain transactions is obviously beyond the norm. "Saeko Busujima said calmly.

"The core personnel have been arranged, the cannon fodder has been found, and even the rations have been secured. It seems that the White Lotus Sect wants to do something big!" Dongfang Bai said disdainfully.

"Master, although it is cruel to say it, this is actually our opportunity. If there are no major changes, it may be difficult for the master to make progress. Isn't the opportunity now?" Saeko Busujima said seriously.

"I know." Wei Xu smiled wryly and shook his head, "It's just that I can't pass this test in my heart. If I don't do it with strength, I really want to kill all these people who have been playing cults for generations!"

"Then solve them as soon as possible, so that the people will suffer less, and by the way, take the opportunity to clean up the obviously too many families in the south of the Yangtze River." Dongfang Bai is not so hypocritical, "It happens that our personnel have completed the preliminary preparations.

Now each mountain is a strengthened township, the number is about 600, and the total number of soldiers is more than 2000, and they have completed the initial training. After the weapons are equipped, they will be elite soldiers. "

"Master, according to our inference, the White Lotus Sect is most likely to take action in March or April next year. It just so happens that we have roughly completed the preparations. The only thing we lack now is food." Saeko Busujima said calmly.

"Don't worry about this, I will arrange for Baochai to get ready." Wei Xu was just a little hesitant, so he wouldn't really get stuck, "Then get ready, when the White Lotus Sect makes a move, it will be the day we take off!"

(End of this chapter)