My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 367 The Benevolent Li Dalang

Wild Buffalo Mountain.

Along the long road, there were countless refugees.

These people, with their families in tow, struggled to walk along the road. The crowd was so large that it almost blocked the road. Some children were crying loudly, and some elderly people, after walking for a while, swayed and sat down to the side, having no more strength. They closed their eyes in despair and sat by the roadside, waiting for death to come.

There were very young children struggling to push a stroller, on which lay an unconscious elderly person, whose fate was unknown.

Almost all the suffering fell upon the people.

Heavy taxes, deadly corvée labor, then famine, and then war.

People are dying, and life is disappearing so quickly. Under one natural disaster and man-made calamity after another, people are falling in droves. In this chaotic world of the Sui and Tang transition, about 30 million people have perished.

The Yellow River basin, which was the center of the disaster, was deserted for thousands of miles. In Qingzhou and other places, which were famous for their fish and rice, people began to eat each other.

After hundreds of years of turmoil, a unified era was finally achieved, and everyone thought they could finally live a peaceful life. However, the sage only took eight years to ruin a brand-new dynasty that was in the midst of a prosperous period.

The old man sat by the roadside, watching the crowd scramble past him.

They all came to seek refuge in Qingzao Village.

Most of them came from very far away places, where there was no way to make a living in their hometowns and no food at home. They could only drift with the tide, eating whatever they could find, until they heard that Qingzao Village was recruiting refugees, even the elderly and children.

Large numbers of people began to flee towards the mountain stronghold.

I gritted my teeth and persevered all the way here, but I didn't have the strength to go any further.

The old man sat by the roadside, looked up, and the sun on the horizon seemed to have dimmed and lost its luster.

Ten years ago, he had a large family with many children and grandchildren. Although life wasn't great, he was able to eat his fill and happily watched his grandchildren grow up day by day.

How could the world change so rapidly?

Just as the old man was deep in thought, a commotion broke out on the road, and someone shouted. In the past, the old man would have been afraid and wanted to run away if he saw such a scene, but now he had no strength left and was not afraid of anything. He just hung his head and waited quietly.

After an unknown amount of time, the noise continued unabated, growing louder and louder.

The old man was huddled by the roadside when suddenly, the sunlight seemed to be blocked by something.

The old man opened his eyes and raised his head.

A young man was standing in front of him. The young man was very tall and handsome. If his grandson hadn't been forced to do corvée labor, he would probably be about the same age as him.

The old man looked at him quietly and said in a hoarse voice, "Your Majesty, I have little money on me."

The man bent down and placed something in the old man's hands.

The old man looked down and saw that it was a steamed bun, still warm.

The old man began to eat with trembling hands. He had not eaten for a long time, so he wolfed down his food. The young man then gave him a water bag, which the old man drank, and he finished the bread in his hand.

At this moment, the old man regained some strength. He struggled to get up and then kowtowed to the nobleman in front of him.

The young man grabbed his arm and helped him up.

Only then did the old man see what was happening around him.

Suddenly, a group of strangers appeared on the road. They were distributing food to the people along the way. Some warriors were maintaining order, some were helping the little children push their carts, and some were assisting the elderly.

The crying had stopped, and the group moved forward much faster.

The old man stared blankly at the scene.

Li Jiancheng asked gently, "Old man, where did you come from?"

"Your Majesty, we come from Shouzhang."

“Shouzhang? Dongping Commandery?” “Yes, yes, Dongping Commandery.”

"You've come this far!"

Li Jiancheng frowned. "How's the situation over there?"

The old man just shook his head. He had a lot to say, but after hesitating for a long time, he simply said softly, "There's no one left in the village."

Li Jiancheng fell silent.

During this time, Li Jiancheng has been traveling around to various places to comfort the refugees and provide relief to the people. The mountain strongholds he had prepared were completely unable to accommodate so many laborers, so Li Jiancheng had no choice but to occupy some villages along the mountain strongholds and settle the people there.

Because of the rebellion outside the city, many cities were closed and unable to manage the situation outside.

Li Jiancheng traveled to many places with little rest, spending most of his time on horseback. Fortunately, he had built enough mountain strongholds and stockpiled enough food. When shortages occurred, Li Jiancheng would send people from the strongholds to the city to ask for more. Most officials were willing to send these rebels away. There were only some local militia in the city, who were unable to fight.

It's not that there's no food in the world, it's just that the food isn't in the hands of the people.

Not to mention the large granaries under the jurisdiction of Henan Yin, the imperial court also has granaries in various counties for daily storage and distribution, and to balance grain prices. The imperial court is fully capable of providing relief for the floods and grain disasters that have occurred.

For example, Zhang Xutuo from Qi County.

There were many, many disaster victims in Qi County, which was also one of the places closest to the rebel army. Zhang Xutuo, who served as the county magistrate, could not bear to see so many people die, so he ordered the granaries to be opened to relieve the people under his jurisdiction. The officials were very afraid and felt that they should wait for the imperial court's order and should not do this on their own. However, Zhang Xutuo told them not to interfere.

He said to the crowd, “His Majesty is currently far away, and sending envoys will take at least a year. The people are in dire straits. If we wait for the report to be sent, the people will not survive. If I am punished for this, I will have no regrets even if I die.”

Thanks to his unauthorized opening of granaries to provide relief, the situation in Qi County was not as bad as in other places. The local soldiers and civilians were grateful to Zhang Xutuo and were willing to follow him to resist the rebellion.

However, although the world is vast, there are few like Zhang Xutuo. Only he is willing to risk his life to save the people, while the officials in other places would rather guard their granaries and watch the people outside starve to death in droves.

All of this filled Li Jiancheng with immense anger.

Li Jiancheng took a deep breath and pointed into the distance, "Old man, if you go a little further ahead, there will be a village. There will be people there who will meet you, give you food, and take you to a place to stay. I will send someone to take you there."

"No need, no need, I can walk by myself. I will never forget Your Majesty's kindness in this lifetime."

The old man wanted to kowtow again, but Li Jiancheng stopped him and then sent someone to escort them on their way.

At this point, Wei Zheng slowly stepped forward.

Li Jiancheng's face was filled with indescribable anger; his fists were clenched and his face was ashen.

"More and more people are fleeing, but the officials are unwilling to do anything."

Wei Zheng said helplessly, "They're already calculating by not sending anyone to hunt them down. In the eyes of these scoundrels, how could they possibly care about these common people? They'd rather these people leave their territory and cause trouble elsewhere, hoping they'd all die so they wouldn't bring the unrest into the city."

"At this rate, our food supplies won't last. It seems we need to prepare to send men to seize granaries in various places."

As Li Jiancheng spoke, he asked again, "Can we take over the granary in Xingyang?"

Wei Zheng shook his head slightly. "I'm afraid it will be difficult. The enemy's city is fortified, and the prefect is by no means an incompetent villain. During his time in Xingyang, he has won over and supported many people. If he defends the city to the death, we really won't be able to take it easily."

As the two were discussing, they saw a fast rider rushing towards them from a distance. The people quickly made way for him, and the rider rushed to Li Jiancheng's side, jumped off his horse, and hurriedly took out the letter.

"Young Master!! An urgent letter arrived from the north today!! It was delivered with the utmost speed!!"

Li Jiancheng dared not hesitate and quickly picked up the letter, looking down to read it.

"what???"

Li Jiancheng stared wide-eyed, blankly putting down the letter in his hand, and remained stunned for a long time.

Wei Zheng hurriedly asked, "Young master, what happened?"

(End of this chapter)