Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 306 Refugees and Escape from Famine
After thinking for a long time, Li Yi decided to solve the current huge gap of 9 million people by expanding the share of grain imports.

You have to know that China's food supply was not abundant at that time. Even in ordinary years, there were many people who went hungry.

The area affected by the flood caused by the Yellow River bursting its banks belongs to the North China Plain.

This place was originally one of the main grain producing areas in northern China.

However, the current situation is that the main grain-producing areas have experienced reduced production or even total crop failure.

The apparent food gap is only nine million, but in reality, it is possible that this number could double.

Li Yi wanted to fill such a huge gap, but he couldn't save enough by relying on the province alone, and it would not be enough to transfer grain from various grain-producing provinces.

The only option is to purchase grain from outside.

The only thing to be thankful for now is that the Tang Dynasty and Britain and France have just signed peace treaties, opened up trade routes, and are able to purchase large quantities of grain from abroad.

Otherwise, the situation that the Tang Dynasty will face now will probably be even more dangerous than it is now.

Upon hearing this, Li Hongzhang immediately agreed.

"Wei Chen obeys!"

After saying this, Li Yi continued to give instructions.

"Oh, by the way, send another telegram to Du Shun of the Supervisory Department, asking them to organize a group of people to come to the disaster area as soon as possible to supervise the disaster relief work."

"Right now, disaster relief work is already tight, and the court is spending money like water."

"Anyone who dares to profit from the national crisis at this time must be caught and will not be forgiven."

Li Hongzhang agreed again.

Li Yi continued.

"By the way, the situation in Caozhou is quite tense recently. I am very busy with my affairs and really can't spare the time."

"Jianfu, you should go to Caozhou on my behalf to provide disaster relief and contact the Taiping Army at the same time."

After the Qing army blew up the Yellow River dike, Shi Dakai withdrew his troops from northern Zhili via Shanxi.

But he only withdrew the troops from northern Zhili, but did not withdraw those from Henan.

Shi Dakai sent his father-in-law Huang Yukun and the military general Chen Yun to Kaifeng to control the local area while also working on disaster relief.

Although the Qing Dynasty was not a humane people, Shi Dakai still had some dignity.

Since he was unwilling to give up Kaifeng, he would naturally start disaster relief and would not watch the victims outside the city starve to death.

This time, after the Tang Dynasty took control of Caozhou, the vanguard was not far from Kaifeng Prefecture.

As the two sides are in close proximity, there have been several frictions recently.

Although there was no physical fight, the relationship was somewhat tense.

Therefore, Li Yi planned to send someone to Caozhou to provide disaster relief, but more importantly, to contact Shi Dakai on his behalf and reach a consensus.

Although Li Yi has temporarily given up the idea of ​​recruiting Shi Dakai, he does not want to have a conflict with Shi Dakai's troops at this juncture.

Upon hearing this, Li Hongzhang clasped his fists again and said.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I promise to complete the task."

Li Hongzhang was very excited now, he was finally appointed as an official!
Ever since he, Li Hongzhang, Lu Xianji and others surrendered to the Tang Dynasty in Luzhou, Li Yi had gathered him around and arranged him to work in the secretariat.

Although due to his status as a secretary, officials in the court were all polite when they met Li Hongzhang, even the directors of various departments of the General Staff and the Ministry of the Interior greeted him with a smile.

However, the identity of this secretary, to put it nicely, is that he is Li Yi's confidant, but to put it bluntly, isn't he just a favorite and a flatterer?

Li Hongzhang had ambitions in his heart. He didn't want to spend his whole life as a secretary with only a position but no real power.

Now that Li Yi finally gave him an official position and a chance to realize his ambitions, how could Li Hongzhang not be excited?
As for saying that disaster relief is difficult to do?
Li Hongzhang said he didn't care.

Doing easy things well is just one's duty, but if one can also do difficult things well, that will greatly add points in Li Yi's eyes.

Li Yi nodded, then waved his hand to signal Li Hongzhang to leave.

He continued to deal with official documents.

……

Shandong, Qufu!
Qufu is located in Yanzhou, not far from the old course of the Yellow River, and is also one of the disaster areas affected by the Yellow River breach.

However, compared with those places that were turned into swamps under the surging rivers, Qufu is a lightly affected area.

But it was also because of this that a large number of disaster victims seeking survival flocked to Qufu.

Due to the influx of a large number of disaster victims, the area around Qufu soon became a mess.

Song Kangnian pulled his son and niece and followed the fleeing crowd, staggering towards the refugee camp.

The faint aroma of rice wafting in the air made the three members of the Song family swallow their saliva.

"Dad, I'm hungry!"

The youngest son, Song Xuewen, gently tugged at Song Kangnian's sleeve and said pitifully.

Due to long-term hunger, Song Xuewen's body became so thin that it seemed like only a bag of bones was left, but his head was exceptionally big.

Looks like a big-headed doll!

Although my niece Song Shi didn't say anything, the expression on her face made it clear that she was also hungry.

Song Kangnian gave a bitter smile, because his stomach was rumbling and he couldn't help feeling dizzy.

Long-term hunger made his body very weak. He used to be strong and powerful, able to lift a 100-jin stone lock with great vigor, but now he was so thin that he seemed like he could be blown down by a gust of wind.

Song Kangnian took a deep breath, pulled himself together, pulled his son and niece to his side, looked around vigilantly, stared with wide eyes to drive away those hungry wolf-like eyes, and then said, "It's almost there, just bear with it."

"I heard that Duke Yansheng's family is giving porridge to the victims. We will have something to eat when we get to Qufu."

The Song family was originally well-off, with two to three hundred acres of fertile land and three brothers.

Although the harvest in recent years has not been good, the family has still been able to have enough food and clothing.

It could even provide a means for Song Kangnian to study, practice martial arts, and prepare for the military examination.

In this era, this was a typical small landlord family.

However, when the Yellow River broke its banks, the surging waters directly swept away the Song family's land and houses, as well as their stored grain and savings.

In order to survive, Song Kangnian had no choice but to flee with his family.

Along the way, his parents starved to death, his eldest brother fell into the water and drowned, his second brother was beaten to death for trying to snatch a field mouse from someone, and his wife contracted the plague. In order not to implicate them, she committed suicide by hanging herself on a jujube tree by the roadside...

Until now, only Song Kangnian and his son and niece are left in the Song family.

In other words, Song Kangnian had trained himself well over the years in order to pass the military examination, which enabled him to protect his son and niece among the refugees. Otherwise, the two children would have been born into other people's wombs.

In these chaotic times, cannibalism is very common.

In fact, there were people who wanted to exchange their children with Song Kangnian for food.

In that person's opinion, it was normal for Song Kangnian to love his son, but wasn't there a money-losing person following him?
Girls are worthless these days!

Everyone comes here to eat, filling their stomachs is the most important thing!

But not only was this person rejected by Song Kangnian, he was also beaten up by him.

Song Kangnian's niece was the only child of his second brother, who was killed when he was hit on the head with a stick during a fight while trying to save him.

It had only been a short time since his second brother died. How could Song Kangnian use his second brother's only flesh and blood to eat his own son?

He would rather starve to death than to preserve this only bloodline for his second brother.

Song Kangnian and others followed the crowd and came to the outside of Qufu City.

They saw the city of Qufu in the distance.

There are also refugee camps outside Qufu City, where smoke from cooking fires rises continuously.

The aroma of rice in the air is getting stronger and stronger!
Soon, they arrived outside the refugee camp.

But he failed to get in and was blocked at the camp gate.

Several servants and guards dressed in white robes, melon-shaped hats and with sticks on their waists stood at the gate of the refugee camp, shouting arrogantly.

"Line up! Line up, damn!"

"A bunch of stinky outsiders came to my Qufu to beg for food, and they don't even know how to queue up?"

"Don't be chaotic, enter and exit in an orderly manner. If you offend the Holy Lord, can you afford the punishment?!"

"..."

As they were speaking, seeing that the victims would not obey orders, several servants came forward with sticks and started smashing them, causing the crowd to wail incessantly.

But it also stopped the chaos and the refugees were forced to start queuing.

Even Song Kangnian, who was queuing up obediently with his son and niece, was implicated and was hit with several sticks for no reason, causing him to grimace in pain.

But after all, they were under his roof and would have to go to the refugee camp to eat later, so Song Kangnian naturally did not dare to fight back.

After the crowd started to line up, several servants stopped and continued to guard the gate.

Song Kangnian, his son and niece lined up obediently.

Suddenly, a commotion broke out ahead.

"Why? Why can't you let my mother in?"

A young man supported his mother and yelled with a red face.

At the gate of the refugee camp, a middle-aged man dressed as a butler sitting behind a desk heard this but did not respond.

He just waved his hand nonchalantly, signaling the servant beside him to come forward and deal with it.

A servant came forward and hit the young man on the head with a stick. The young man subconsciously put up his hand to block.

The stick hit the arm, making a banging dream.

"Damn it, can you eat whatever you want from Grandpa Shenggong's house?"

"It's fine if you eat it yourself. After eating the food, you can also do something for Grandpa Shenggong's family. But this old coffin looks like he's about to die. What else is there for him to eat?"

"It would be a waste of food if we eat it. It would be better to save some food and use it as meat for Shenggong's dog..."

The servant became more and more excited as he spoke, and he kept swinging his stick and hitting the young man in front of him.

The dull sound of the stick hitting the flesh made the servant's face full of pleasure and enjoyment.

By the way, he also kicked the old woman next to the young man to the ground.

The feeling of beating them at will and controlling other people's life and death made him feel like he was the master himself.

It would have been fine for the young man to be beaten, but when he saw that the servant dared to attack his mother, he immediately exploded, blocked the swinging stick with his arm, and punched the servant in the face.

With a bang, the fist hit the face. The sound of the broken nose was very obvious, and two streams of blood spurted out from both nostrils.

(End of this chapter)