Qing Yao

Chapter 308 The Lotus of Calamity Descends, the White Lotus Rebels

Under Zhu Gui's secret instructions, the Nian rebels in Bozhou and Mengcheng, along with a large number of disaster victims, were driven to Suzhou in the east, which greatly increased the pressure on Suzhou.

Zhao An, who was in charge of disaster relief in Suzhou, sent several letters to Zhu Gui, requesting that the Huainan troops that Zhu Gui had transferred be sent to Suzhou to "maintain order" and ensure that the city would not fall and the disaster victims would not rebel.

In this way, even if the disaster victims rebel, they can be suppressed immediately to prevent the situation from escalating.

Zhu Gui, however, cited the serious bandit problem in Bozhou as the reason for sending only 400 Green Standard Army soldiers from Chizhou to Suzhou, while the rest of the Huainan troops remained in Bozhou to "suppress the bandits".

Due to the large-scale deployment of Anhui Green Standard Army troops to Bozhou, the "public security" in Bozhou was unprecedentedly good. The eastward migration of a large number of disaster victims also greatly reduced the disaster relief pressure on Bozhou, making it the first region to restore good order after the disaster.

Prefect Dong Zhengrong was commended by the governor for this.

In addition to the local Green Standard Army soldiers, a contingent of elite troops was also stationed in Mengcheng. These troops were the Fu Biao elite soldiers directly under the command of the governor. They had come to Mengcheng from Bozhou a few days ago in pursuit of the Nian rebels. After arriving in Mengcheng, they originally intended to continue eastward in pursuit of the Nian rebels, but unexpectedly received a military order from the governor to stay in Mengcheng temporarily.

Within two days, the governor personally went to Mengcheng and held meetings for two or three days in a row.

Because Zhu Gui was reluctant to send troops to Suzhou, Zhao An twice bypassed Zhu Gui and directly issued orders to the Huainan Green Standard Army generals, ordering them to lead their troops to Suzhou, but these orders were ignored by the Huainan Green Standard Army.

It wasn't that these Huainan Green Standard Army generals didn't respect Zhao An, the acting military commissioner who was temporarily in charge of the province; rather, it was because Zhu Gui, in the name of the governor, forcibly ordered the Huainan Green Standard Army to be placed under the direct command of the governor's headquarters, with those who disobeyed to be punished according to military law.

The Green Standard Army could still distinguish between the power of a provincial governor and that of an acting provincial governor.

Currently, there are hundreds of thousands of disaster victims gathered in the Suzhou area, with hundreds of different groups of "Nianzi" (a type of religious organization). Although Suzhou has done its best to provide relief to the disaster victims under the personal supervision of Zhao An, and has also mobilized the gentry and wealthy households of Suzhou to participate in the relief efforts, the backward transportation means have prevented a large amount of grain from other places from being transported to Suzhou quickly, putting some relief camps at risk of running out of food.

If even a bowl of porridge to keep the disaster victims alive every day cannot be guaranteed, no matter how much Zhao An, this upright official, loves the people and is connected with them, the consequences are predictable.

When people are starving to death, who cares about the law or justice?

Suzhou has become like a giant cauldron on a raging fire.

No one knew when the dry firewood piled up at the bottom of the large pot would be lit.

On the one hand, Zhao An urged various localities to increase transportation capacity to send grain to Suzhou; on the other hand, he personally went to Sizhou to coordinate the grain transported to Anhui from Huai'an, Yangzhou, and Xuzhou.

There was no other way; Sizhou alone couldn't coordinate with these regions, and the grain transport task was undertaken by the various grain transport gangs that Ding Jiu had contacted. Therefore, the coordination task had to be handled personally by him, the acting provincial governor.

In addition to coordinating food supplies, Zhao An also "guided" the local authorities in Sizhou to organize disaster victims to "eat locusts." By frying and salting the locusts, the overwhelming swarms of locusts became a source of protein for the victims, preventing them from leaving barren lands and exacerbating the disaster.

To convince the disaster victims that the locusts were safe to eat after being deep-fried, Zhao An not only mobilized a large amount of rapeseed oil, but also led the people to participate in locust catching for two consecutive days, and even ate the deep-fried locusts in public.

At the same time, Zhao An demanded that all officials in Sizhou take the lead in eating locusts. Some officials refused to eat them or dared not eat them, so Zhao An directly took out the Ebilun knife and gave them a choice between two options.

Thanks to Zhao An's tireless efforts in promoting and implementing the measures, the locust plague in Sizhou was brought under control. Otherwise, if the locusts could not find food in Sizhou, they would have moved towards the surrounding areas of Fengyang and Chuzhou, which would have undoubtedly exacerbated the disaster in those areas.

Since Sizhou was the main gathering place for grain transport from various parts of Jiangbei, the disaster situation in Sizhou, which was also a severely affected area, was alleviated. Many disaster victims who received relief grain began to return to their hometowns under the organization of the government. The militia system, which had only existed in name, was also promoted by Zhao An in the form of relief grain.

Zhao An planned to return to Suzhou in three days, and he had to bring back no less than 100,000 shi of grain.

Zhu Gui was unaware that Zhao An was not in Suzhou but had gone to Sizhou to organize and coordinate relief grain from other places, and he still deliberately lured the White Lotus Sect to coerce disaster victims to gather in Suzhou.

Zhu Gui may not have truly intended to use the White Lotus Sect to eliminate Zhao An, but as long as the fire in Suzhou could be started, it would indirectly achieve his goal.

After all, in the eyes of the imperial court, it didn't matter how many disaster victims lived or died; what mattered was that the local areas did not descend into chaos.

If the region falls into chaos, Zhao An, as the head of the local officials, will be held responsible.

However, just as Suzhou was about to be set ablaze, Zhu Gui became the "Zhu Gui" of Zhu Ming's return, with accusations pointing directly at him as the mastermind behind the White Lotus Rebellion, even accusing him of inciting the White Lotus to rebel. This made Zhu Gui feel quite wronged, not knowing who was spreading rumors about him, and he was even more unwilling to resign.

Feeling depressed, he said to his advisor Wang Zhaoxing, "The idea that Zhu Gui is Zhu Gui is obviously far-fetched. If I were to resign now, wouldn't that be exactly what they want?"

"Master Dong, the misinterpretation of Zhu Ming's return as Zhu Gui, thus subtly matching Master Dong's name, is something that the White Lotus Sect could never have come up with."

Wang Zhaoxing had only followed Zhu Gui for a little over two years, but he greatly admired Zhu Gui as his master and knew that his master would never collude with the White Lotus Sect.

There's no other reason than that Zhu Gui is already a governor; what benefit would he gain from colluding with the White Lotus Sect?
Zhu Gui had obviously thought of this as well. If he really was some big shot in the White Lotus Sect, the White Lotus Sect would never publicize it, because that would expose his identity as "Zhu Gui" and make it easy to guess who was framing him.

They were simply people who were dissatisfied with Zhu Gui.

Within Anhui province, who was dissatisfied with Zhu Gui?

The answer is obvious.

Who else could it be but Zhao Youlu, the one who harvested the ginseng himself!

"The prince asked Dongweng to resign to the court in order to protect Dongweng, as the dynasty is most averse to written words."

Wang Zhaoxing stopped there.

Zhu Gui frowned slightly. What he was worried about was this text. The literary inquisition during the Qianlong reign lasted for decades. Which literary inquisition was not far-fetched and maliciously misinterpreted?

The current emperor is old and the court is controlled by Heshen. Heshen's faction wishes he, Zhu Gui, would die in Anhui. If he insists on not resigning, it is hard to say whether Heshen's faction will use the words "Zhu Gui" to launch a literary inquisition against him.

"If I were to resign now, I might find myself accused of colluding with the White Lotus Sect."

Zhu Gui's dilemma lay here: as the saying goes, once someone leaves, the tea grows cold; if he were to truly leave Anhui, then the affairs of Anhui would be beyond his control.

If someone were to gather a bunch of incriminating evidence and produce a plethora of witnesses and testimonies to prove that he is indeed "Zhu Gui," then he would be utterly unable to defend himself. Wang Zhaoxing asked softly, "What does the Master intend to do?"

Zhu Gui paced a few steps and said in a deep voice, "The only solution now is to start with the White Lotus Sect."

Wang Zhaoxing stepped closer: "What does the Master mean?"

"They say I'm colluding with the White Lotus Sect, then I'll let the court know that I, Zhu Gui, have absolutely no connection with the White Lotus Sect; on the contrary, we are irreconcilable enemies, sworn to die together!"

Having made up his mind, Zhu Gui instructed Wang Zhaoxing, "Issue my order to have all Green Standard Army units advance to suppress the White Lotus Rebellion bandits. I will use the heads of these bandits to prove my innocence."

Wang Zhaoxing agreed wholeheartedly, but raised a question: "Sir, the White Lotus followers are all hiding among the disaster victims, making them difficult to identify. If we force the Green Camp to suppress them, we may inevitably kill innocent people."

Zhu Gui remained silent for a moment, then said calmly, "Starving refugees are easily led astray. As the saying goes, 'Severe measures are needed to govern chaotic times.' Right now, we can only prioritize the overall situation."

Wang Zhaoxing was shocked. Was this a ploy by the Green Camp to kill innocent people and claim credit for their crimes?
His conscience troubled him, and he was about to speak to persuade him when he saw the master shake his head at him: "The White Lotus Sect loves to coerce ignorant refugees. Once those ignorant refugees are bewitched by the cult, they lose their minds. I, the master, used ruthless methods but had the heart of a bodhisattva, and ended up saving the law-abiding people."

At this point, a glint of light flashed in Zhu Gui's eyes. "Furthermore, spread the word that there is so much grain in Suzhou that it can last until next year. It is only because corrupt officials are unwilling to release the grain for their own benefit that the disaster victims have no food to eat."

"This"

Wang Zhaoxing was stunned, looking at his master in disbelief, only to be met with the master's incredibly calm gaze.

Suzhou.

Despite Zhao An's repeated requests to Prefect Li Wen not to close the city gates before going to Sizhou to coordinate grain supplies, even if he had to close one gate, he insisted that one gate be left open so that the disaster victims could see the government's relief efforts and that the government would not abandon the victims' positive attitude.

However, after Zhao An left, facing the continuous influx of disaster victims into Suzhou, Prefect Li Wen still ordered the city gates to be closed, and only some grain was hung down from the city walls to the disaster relief camp outside the city each day.

At first, they could barely supply food, but after a few days, less than half of the food was hung down from the city walls, which was not enough to guarantee that each disaster victim outside the city would have a bowl of porridge every day.

The newly arrived refugees, having no food, had no choice but to cry out in despair outside the city walls.

The Green Standard Army soldiers guarding the city had no choice but to inform the prefect Li Wen of the situation. The reply they received was that no one was allowed to enter the city and that no more food would be provided to the disaster victims outside the city from that day forward.

Tongzhi Cui Xiu felt that this approach was wrong. After all, Lord Zhao had repeatedly instructed that the disaster victims should not be abandoned before he left. Moreover, Lord Zhao had gone to Sizhou for grain, and as long as they held out for a few more days, grain would be delivered to Suzhou. There was no need to treat the disaster victims this way.

Seeing that Cui Tongzhi was dissatisfied with his decision, Li Wen slowly raised his head and looked at him in a deep voice, saying, "How could I not know the situation of the disaster victims? But where in the city is there any surplus grain? Lord Zhao said he was going to Sizhou to transport grain, but Sizhou was also severely affected by the disaster. Can you say that Lord Zhao can definitely transport the grain? What if Lord Zhao can't transport the grain, and the grain in the city is gone again?"

"This"

Cui Xiu was also at a loss.

Seeing this, Li Wen shook his head and said, "There are too many disaster victims. If we soften our hearts and let them into the city, and Lord Zhao can't bring in enough grain, they will either starve to death or we will be killed by them. Besides, do you know that there might be White Lotus spies among these disaster victims who might sneak into the city to cooperate with us? It's not that I'm heartless, but I really have no choice but to do this!"

"Your humble servant."

Cui Xiu remained silent for a moment, realizing that what the prefect said was true. Regardless of whether Lord Zhao could transport the grain, their primary responsibility was to protect Suzhou. If Suzhou was doomed, everything would be doomed for them.

Unable to get up, he walked outside.

After watching Cui Xiu's figure disappear, Li Wen suddenly let out a long sigh, his face showing an indescribable sense of vicissitude.

The refugees outside the city were mostly people with their elderly and children, many of them from the same village or clan. They had traveled all the way from Bozhou to Suzhou, only because they had heard that there was a righteous official in Suzhou and that there was an endless supply of food. However, when they arrived, they found that there was no food for them at all, and the city gates were not even opened for them.

As for that upright and just official, he was nowhere to be found.

Some people privately said that there was food in the city, but the corrupt officials in the city were hoarding the food and refusing to give it to them. The rumor did not initially gain traction because the disaster victims who had gathered outside the city earlier all said that Zhao Qingtian was a good official and that the government had been working hard to provide relief to them.

But as time went by, Zhao Qingtian "vanished" from the face of the earth, and the city gates of Suzhou were tightly closed, which led to the rampant spread of rumors. Those disaster victims who spoke well of Zhao Qingtian and the government gradually disappeared, and the White Lotus sect members who had disappeared among the disaster victims a while ago reappeared.

"Sir, please have mercy and let us in. We are disaster victims, and we really have nowhere to go."

"If they don't let us into the city, none of us will survive."

"..."

The people knelt down, tears streaming down their faces, their knees as thin as sticks, filling the city below. Their cries and pleas were heart-wrenching.

Many of the Green Standard Army soldiers on the city gate turned their faces away. They were also raised by parents and knew how pitiful the disaster victims were, but military orders were absolute and they really had no choice.

Moreover, any rational person understands the fact that they cannot save the disaster victims.

A dozen miles away, by a dried-up stream, under an old tree that was about to wither because its bark had been stripped off, a young man who was starving and waiting to die lay motionless.

Perhaps it was the young man's fate to survive, for a rat appeared out of nowhere and boldly scurried up to him. Upon seeing it, the young man's eyes lit up with a green light, and with a burst of strength, he grabbed the rat and stuffed it into his mouth without a second thought.

As he clenched his teeth, rat blood splattered all over his mouth, but the young man didn't care at all. He just chewed the piece of rat meat he had just bitten off.

The mouse in his hand was being squeezed tightly, struggling in pain but unable to break free.

After eating the rat meat, the young man felt a sense of relief throughout his body, and his stomach felt very comfortable. He leaned against the old tree that was about to wither and gasped for breath.

He didn't know how long he rested before he felt his energy gradually returning. He lowered his head and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. As he propped himself up and tried to continue his journey to Suzhou City, he suddenly saw countless figures appear on the distant horizon, and heard thunderous roars in his ears: "The Lotus of Calamity has descended, the Great Ming is restored; attack Suzhou City, Maitreya will protect peace and feast on white flour!"

(End of this chapter)