Chapter 531: Grace also needs to talk about methods
Wang Silang is a hawker on Niuma Street in the east of Kaifeng Fucheng, Tokyo, which can be regarded as old Tokyo.
When the Tang Dynasty and its loyal minister Zhu Quanzhong destroyed Luoyang and moved the capital to Daliang, their family moved here from Luoyang.
Wang Silang is good at making sesame cakes and serving pork and badger meat. His family has been doing this for generations.
In the past, he sold sesame cakes in the morning and pork and badger meat in the afternoon. Although he was not considered rich, his family was still above the food and clothing line.
It’s just that the current situation has become more and more unstable in recent years. Wang Silang gradually went from being able to sell several furnaces of sesame cakes every day, to only selling one furnace, to only selling one furnace every few days, and now, he can no longer open the furnace.
Already.
The biggest reason is that Kaifeng Prefecture in Tokyo is facing an unprecedented food shortage.
Millet, broomcorn millet, black millet and other coarse grains are in short supply, not to mention polished rice and white flour.
Even though Wang Silang had magical cooking skills, he couldn't make sesame cakes out of thin air without white flour.
This winter is surprisingly cold, as if God from above does not want to give the poor a way to survive.
Wang Shilang was holding two small cat fish in his hands, and his lower body was almost soaked.
Before I even entered the door, I heard a few weak, kitten-like cries.
His wife sat on the earthen kang, squeezing her withered breasts with her hands. Muddy tears fell from her slightly swollen face, revealing deep self-blame in her haggardness.
On the earthen bed, two little babies, not much bigger than kittens, were crying silently. Even their cries seemed very weak due to extreme hunger.
At a time when adults are short of food, the most difficult thing is for babies from ordinary families.
Due to nutritional reasons, many mothers cannot produce milk at all. The only source of food for their babies is to boil corn continuously to produce a thin layer of rice oil.
However, corn is not cheap in today's Kaifeng Prefecture, Tokyo, and its nutrition is not comparable to breast milk. Therefore, these babies are the first to fall hungry in Tokyo.
Wang Silang looked at the child who almost lost his voice of hunger, and two lines of cold tears rolled out of his eyes in an instant.
He didn't even have time to take off his pants that were soaked by the river water, so he started to light a fire to stew the two kitten fish in his hands, hoping to produce some milk for his wife.
Xiaoshuting app
Although he knew in his heart that his twins would most likely not survive this winter.
But the instinct of being a parent drove Wang Silang to spend all his energy on this.
How can any father be willing to give up his child?
The fish soup was quickly cooked. The child who had fainted from crying (hungry) suddenly woke up when he smelled the fishy smell, and then started to cry with all his strength.
But this can't be given to them. The baby's stomach and intestines can't withstand the impact of the meat and fish, and they may have diarrhea. Moreover, this fish soup is still not as good as breast milk and makes them hungry.
Hunjia wolfed down the fish soup, while Wang Silang stared at Hunjia's chest in a daze. It would be great if there would be some milk in the evening, otherwise...
The sound of the courtyard door being pushed open squeaked, followed by the boss's voice like a broken gong. Wang Silang quickly opened the door to the inner room, wanting to greet him.
A slightly dazzling sunlight shone in. Wang Silang squinted his eyes. He used his right hand to cover the top of his eyebrows. He vaguely saw the short elder and a man wearing a white round-collared robe with lotus pattern.
Noble person.
"Silang, come here and see the noble man!" Seeing Wang Silang open the door, Mr. Fang quickly waved him over.
Wang Silang's heart was extremely heavy. He turned around and glanced at his wife who was extremely scared in the room. Then he did not dare to hesitate and could only drag his heavy legs and hurried over.
Generally, when a commoner is approached by a nobleman, there is a high probability that nothing good will happen.
"Are you Wang Silang? A certain family belongs to the Yongxun Palace. I heard that you had twins, and I came here to congratulate you on the order of the saint."
With that said, the white-robed man who claimed to be from Yongxun Palace placed a clay pot on the ground.
Wang Silang was still a little confused about the lake. He didn't know what the visitor meant, so a figure next to him jumped up, and then used his big palm-like hand to slap Wang Silang hard on the head.
The boss yelled at Wang Silang, "What are you doing standing still? Why don't you thank the saint for his kindness? Look at what's inside."
Wang Silang stupidly opened the lid, and a strong fragrance suddenly overflowed from it. As a cook, Wang Silang smelled it right away. This is goat's milk, and the clay pot is goat's milk!
The elder on the side, his voice became even louder, "You two boys must be lucky. The saint heard that your wife's family couldn't produce milk, and the child was crying because of hunger, so he deliberately saved his own breakfast and sent this goat's milk to save your son.
life!"
The lady in white robe also nodded to Wang Silang, "From now on, I will wait outside Daning Palace every two days, state my name, and I will give you goat milk or human milk."
It was like a thunder struck Wang Silang's heart from the sky. He had never thought before that the person who could save his child's life, who would save his own food to help the people, was actually the saint in the deep palace.
When he heard about the goat's milk, Wang Silang's wife, who was eager to save her son, had already ran out with her two children in her arms. He didn't care what happened, as long as the goat's milk could save her children's lives.
In the freezing cold wind, the kitten-sized baby stopped crying and drank the goat's milk with a flushed face. His greedy appearance made people unable to help but burst into tears.
Wang Silang let out a cry of gratitude that he tried to suppress in his heart. He knelt down in the direction of Daning Palace and kowtowed sincerely and crazily.
"Caomin Wang Silang! Kowtow to the saint!"
At this moment, the cry of the donkey on Wednesday next door was also heard. There was also a baby in his house that was waiting to be fed.
.
.
However, for Zhang Zhao, the goat milk was sent out, but it was far from enough, because the ewes that were still producing milk in the winter were inherently unnatural.
Because although the lactation period of sheep is always rotating, in theory they can produce milk all year round, most habits still allow ewes to become pregnant in winter.
There is no milk during pregnancy. If you want milk, you can only let the ewes raise their babies in winter, so there will not be too much.
"There are approximately 2,300 babies in Tokyo, 1,800 of them lack milk, and more than 300 of the most serious ones are already struggling on the verge of death. Our goat milk can feed up to 40 babies."
As the secret service established by Zhang Zhao, the Jinyi Envoy also became a collector of civilian situations at this time, and the one who was reporting to Zhang Zhao was Zhang Liecheng.
Zhang Zhao nodded, he had already prepared, "Inform Cao Wantong of the Hexi Chamber of Commerce and your father-in-law Kang Jinshan and ask them to transport one thousand kilograms of our sugar reserves to Tokyo.
Then ask Cao Yuanzhong, who is left behind in Chang'an, to send more soybeans and less corn, and prepare to grind soybean milk!"
If there is not enough goat milk, then use soy milk with added sugar instead, and the leftover bean dregs from grinding the soy milk can be given to pregnant women. As long as they are fed, many people should still be able to breastfeed.
"Here! Let's do it now, kid!" Zhang Liecheng answered with his hands crossed. Just as he was about to leave, Zhang Zhao stopped him again.
"I heard that Er Niang has given you another daughter? Send her to the palace sometime so that I can see this little granddaughter."
Zhang Liecheng had a look of joy on his face. He, the orphan picked up by Zhang Zhao from the Krakumzi Desert, truly regarded Zhang Zhao as his father from the day he followed Zhang Zhao.
And since he didn't enjoy much warmth from his father when he was young, he especially cherished Zhang Zhao's intimacy with him.
"When the mother arrives in Tokyo, the child will ask the second mother to take the children to the palace to pay homage."
As he said this, Zhang Liecheng felt a little disappointed, "It's a pity that the second mother and the third child were all daughters, so she couldn't give her father a grandson."
Zhang Zhao smiled faintly. He knew that Zhang Liecheng had always wanted a son, but strangely enough, he married one wife and two concubines and gave birth to five daughters, but he couldn't give birth to a son. This has almost become Zhang Liecheng's heartache.
.
Zhang Zhao touched his chin and thought for a moment, then said to Zhang Liecheng.
"It can't be that you and the Hexi girl can't have a son. In this case, Nanping King Gao Congjie has offended me recently. I heard that the daughter of the Gao family is gentle and virtuous, so I asked Gao Congjie to send a niece to you as a concubine. It's impossible to say that we have changed sides.
With water and soil, a son can be born.”
Zhang Liecheng couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard that Zhang Zhao cared so much about him and got a daughter from the Gao family.
This is what he is like, because he comes from a low background, so he pays special attention to family status.
The Gao family of Nanping is the head of a country. Even if she is a niece, she can be said to be a noble daughter, which is exactly what Zhang Liecheng likes.
At that moment, he bowed his head to the end and thanked loudly: "My dear, thank you father for this gift."
"Get up! Get up quickly!" Zhang Zhao pretended to be disgusted and pulled Zhang Liecheng up, and then Yun Danfeng asked lightly.
"I heard that Er Niang has a lot of milk this time? The baby can't eat it at all."
Zhang Liecheng was stunned for a second or two, and then he understood what Zhang Zhao meant.
"The child also thought it was a waste, and my mother-in-law, who had two servants at home, also had milk that the child could not finish. The child immediately went back and ordered people to collect it and distribute it to the children of the people in Tokyo."
Zhang Zhao nodded with satisfaction and patted Zhang Liecheng on the shoulder.
"Father won't say much to you. Your child has always been kind-hearted and understands it.
Let’s just look at it from a small perspective. People’s hearts are full of flesh. If we can save one in a calamity year, we will have one more loyal minister and righteous man in the future.”
Zhang Liecheng thought for a while, "In this case, there are hundreds of wealthy families in Tokyo, so why not let the children take the lead in writing a letter, and let each family share some milk and send it to the palace, and give it to those babies who are short of milk every day?
.”
Zhang Zhao looked at Zhang Liecheng with joy, "My son has good intentions, and in the future he will surely be like the King of Fenyang in the great dynasty, with seven sons and eight son-in-laws in his bed!"
Hearing these words, Zhang Liecheng became even more excited. Fenyang King Guo Ziyi had made great contributions to the country and had no doubts about his master. In the end, his descendants were full of people and they were all high-ranking officials in the court. It is not an exaggeration to say that this was the highest pursuit of a minister.
After just a few words, Zhang Liecheng felt as if he was stepping on cotton. He immediately went out to contact wealthy people in Tokyo and donated milk to the babies of common people in Tokyo.
Zhang Zhao also showed a few smiles on his face, and then he began to lie on the eucalyptus table and write a letter to Cao Jiuniang Yanxi.
In addition to babies who need relief, there are also a large number of women in Tokyo who need relief.
These women were basically captured when the Khitans entered the Central Plains. Some were from Kaifeng Prefecture in Tokyo, as well as from various prefectures and counties in Henan and Hebei.
Many of their family members have been murdered and have nowhere to go. Many of them have family members who are unable to return home.
Because all of the women who were snatched away had been raped, and many of them were pregnant.
Although chastity was not particularly strict at this time, it would be difficult for someone who had been raped by the Khitans and had a bad blood to be accepted by her family.
To say the least, their families can accept them and wrap themselves up in them, but it is difficult for them to accept the evil seed in their belly.
There was no abortion surgery at this time. In order to return to their families, these women, some of whom were three or four months pregnant, would take the risk of having an abortion by hitting their belly against the sharp angle of the stove or furniture. Many of them died immediately.
As for abandoned babies, there are even more cases where babies are strangled to death after birth, or women who have no way out are frozen to death or starve to death in various places.
The number of these women is conservatively estimated to be over five to six thousand. Zhang Zhao plans to set up a comfort bureau to take them in and help them through this difficult time.
If a child can return to his family and normal society after giving birth, the child will be raised by the Solace Bureau.
Those who cannot return to their families will do something in the Solace Bureau, and arrange marriages or appointments in the palace in the future.
But Zhang Zhao was so busy all day that he couldn't put too much energy into this place, so he could only hope that Cao Yanxi would come quickly. These things should have been done by the empress of the world.
After finishing writing the letter to Cao Yanxi, it was already midnight. Zhang Zhao walked outside the palace gate and looked at the dark Tokyo city outside.
He originally still had a lot of things to do, but Liu Zhiyuan was constantly growing in strength and was trying to seize Fulin and Fuzhou from him. Li Jing of the Southern Tang Dynasty was even more aggressive and arrogant.
His Great Zhou currently only occupies the Yellow River area from Guanzhong to Baimadu in Huazhou, but it seems to have become the first target to be attacked by all parties.
He originally wanted to cut through the mess quickly and defeat the enemy, but reality forced Zhang Zhao to take measures to calm the people.
Li Xiaojie dragged a robe and walked to Zhang Zhao. Zhang Zhao waved his hand and signaled no need.
"Our next move can begin."
Zhang Zhao's so-called second step plan is to give the baby mother milk after giving goat's milk, human milk and sugar soy milk, and then give the bean dregs and the viscera of pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks to the baby's mother.
As for the taste being really bad, that was out of Zhang Zhao's consideration.
People in Tokyo don't even care. People are starving to death, so they don't care whether it tastes good or not.
Of course, by continuing to give things, in addition to fundamentally solving the problem of lactating women's lack of milk, they also want to make others feel unfair, thereby amplifying their gratitude.
People's hearts have always been concerned not with scarcity but with inequality. It is not uncommon for favors to be raised and enemies to be fought against to be earned.
There are many examples of giving favors without paying attention to methods and strategies, and in the end it backfires.
Sure enough, after Zhang Zhao gave milk and food to lactating women, strange noises among the people began.
Years of famine are not easy for any family. This family has no babies to feed, but there are many children of several years old. They eat more and put a heavier burden on the family.
Now there are babies but not children. Some people dare not say it loudly, but there are many complaints in private.
What kind of saint is partial and only cares about babies without caring about anything else? There must be treacherous ministers who deceive the saint, and so on.
Wang Silang was holding a bowl of milk, with tears in his eyes, watching his son swallowing it one bite at a time, and said to his wife with great gratitude.
"This is sent from Zhang's Mansion in the north of the city. This is food for the saint's granddaughter. Save it for us children in Guizhou."
His wife also nodded gratefully, "If they eat from the mouth of the saint's granddaughter, their lives will belong to the saint. When they grow up, they will not learn to make sesame cakes, but will practice spears and sticks to kill enemies for the saint."
Wang Shilang was about to nod his head in agreement when a strange and sinister voice came to mind through the narrow fence.
"Hmph! Your son still wets his pants. When he kills the enemy for the saint, the day lily will be cold. My tiger head is nine years old and he will be able to pick up a gun and a stick in a few years.
What a pity! The saint is partial and only cares for the younger ones without caring about the older ones. In my hometown, which ancestor would do this? They would definitely not want to see anyone die."
Wang Silang was at the moment when he was most grateful to Zhang Zhao, so he couldn't bear these words. Moreover, Zhao Jiulang next door said such sarcastic words not just a day or two.
In the past, the short Wang Silang would not have dared to conflict with Zhao Jiulang, but at this moment, Wang Silang would not allow anyone to slander the saint even a little bit.
With a roar, Wang Silang violently crossed the fence, rushed directly to Zhao Jiulang's home, and fought with him.
However, Zhao Jiulang was a helper in a butcher's shop. He usually had nothing to eat but pigs and sheep, so he was much stronger than Wang Silang.
Zhao Jiulang's family is about to run out of food, his child is a little older, he hasn't received any rewards, and he is feeling angry.
As soon as the two started fighting, although Wang Silang screamed and fought hard, he was quickly pushed to the ground and received several severe blows on his body.
"Zhao Jiulang, who is cheating on your mother, if you still dare to say something bad about a saint, I will beat you to death!"
At this time, there was a roar, and Wednesday Donkey, who also had a baby at home, ran over to help.
Although Donkey was quite thin on Wednesday, the situation was immediately reversed by two against one. Zhao Jiulang could only resist with exhaustion and received several blows.
When this man started fighting, naturally the woman wouldn't watch.
Wang Shilang's daughter-in-law also ran over while she was still breastfeeding, so while the three men were fighting, the three women also fought together.
It's just that the situation is different from that of men. Zhao Jiulang's wife is a well-known heavyweight.
This word "heavy" means "heavy" in a literal sense.
This woman was about the same size as Zhao Jiulang and was notoriously difficult to deal with. Both the Wang family and the Zhou family were beaten until they were howling like ghosts and wolves.
There was a fight here, which quickly alerted the surrounding neighbors. After hearing what happened, the crowd quickly split up and the noise became even louder.
At this moment, the boss of the shop, Ding Ding Dongdong, ran over. When he saw a fight starting here, he became very angry.
However, since the battle had already entered a fever pitch, the boss did not notify Wu Hou. With his old age, he really did not dare to rush up to break up the fight.
Moreover, the boss could clearly see that the mood of the surrounding neighbors was not quite right. He immediately knew what was going on. It was all caused by the reward, but now he had a big weapon.
The old man took out a piece of silk with all the words written on it. It was a bit difficult, but he read it in an unusually loud voice.
"...In the past ten years, Tokyo has been devastated and devastated, and people's livelihood has been very difficult. However, the whole world is not the land of the king. Scholars and common people are all my sons. Today, I will allocate thousands of stones of corn, melons and fruits, and give them new years."
Children from one year old to ten years old..."
The old man stammered after reading it, and the surrounding neighbors, including the six people who were fighting, were stunned.
At this time, Wednesday Donkey was pulling Zhao Jiulang's hair, Wang Silang was holding Zhao Jiulang's thigh to gnaw on it, and Zhao Jiulang's fist had already hit Wang Silang's face.
Suddenly, Zhao Jiulang pushed away the two people beside him, his red and swollen face burst into joy. He looked at the elder and asked in surprise.
"You haven't forgotten me. Can my tiger head be fed by everyone?"
In fact, the food of Zhao Jiulang's family can barely support them, but they are barely eating and can only eat half full.
What he cares about most is that his son has not benefited from the gift given by the emperor.
Mr. Fang puffed out white air from his nose. He pointed to one of the paragraphs and showed it to him, regardless of whether Zhao Jiulang knew the words or not.
"You are a fool, look at this place, do you know what it means that all the people, the common people, are my sons? That means that the saint is the father of all of us, and the father will not favor one over the other."
Zhao Jiulang was originally illiterate, but he seemed to understand. A look full of joy appeared on his round face again.
As fast as lightning, he reached out and grabbed his son's tiger head, and ran towards Daning Palace as fast as he could.
The tiger's head had just knocked over the eldest son of Wednesday's donkey, and he was still panting. He was immediately held by his father, and he disappeared from the eyes of the neighbors like a kite.
Thousands of stones of corn may sound like a lot, but after one minute, it definitely isn't much.
If Wang Silang hadn't been there before, Zhao Jiulang wouldn't have cared much about the stimulation from Donkey's house on Wednesday.
But this time, he was as happy as if Zhang Zhao had simply given his family a thousand stones of corn.
The babies received the meals given by the emperor, and children under ten years old also received them. The impetuous people in Tokyo calmed down immediately.
But everyone is looking forward to it, looking forward to the saint in Daning Palace. They feel that something good will definitely happen.
Sure enough, on the third day, a huge piece of news spread throughout Tokyo.
The emperor mobilized 150,000 shi of military rations and allowed the people of Tokyo to buy military rations at the price of the grain in the good year before last to tide them over. If the merchants were willing to sell, the emperor would subsidize the price difference from his own pocket.
You must know that the price of food at this time is almost five times different from that in a good year. If you can buy food at the price in a good year, it will undoubtedly greatly enhance the ability of ordinary people to cope with disaster years.
As soon as this order came out, the city of Tokyo burst into joy, and everyone praised the saint's benevolence.
More words came out, saying that the sage had said that not a single Tokyo citizen would be allowed to starve to death.
Things have come to this point, but Zhang Zhao is not even in the mood to breathe a sigh of relief. All this will depend on changes in the next few days, because he actually does not have 150,000 shi of extra military rations available.
Even if he had it, he wouldn't dare to use it arbitrarily. If the army was in chaos, it would be really doomed.
It's just that he doesn't have 150,000 shi of food, but others do.
That is a large rural family that occupies more than 60% of the land in Kaifeng Prefecture in Tokyo from the entire Henan area, and is still building forts and training rural soldiers to protect themselves.
Although these two years have been years of disaster, there is a proverb in the countryside that says that after three years of drought, you will have enough to eat.
This does not mean that the crops will still grow well after three years of severe drought, but that after three years of severe drought, almost all the people will die, and the remaining people will have enough to eat.
This is the situation now. Three years after natural disasters and man-made disasters, almost all those who could die in the countryside have died.
The people who survived and were able to enter Wubao could still squeeze out some food, but they did not dare to transport it out.
This is another important reason why Zhang Zhao did not dare to open military food relief in Tokyo.
If you open military rations and the price of food goes down, food from the surrounding countryside will not enter Tokyo. Unless you can continue to support it with military rations, otherwise, food prices will inevitably increase in a retaliatory manner.
Zhang Zhao's current edict is, firstly, to show that he has a lot of grain, and secondly, it is a disguised recognition of the current price of grain, so that the people can buy it at a fair price and the government will subsidize it.
In the past, there must have been people who didn't believe it, but after two calls to implement benevolent policies, the reputation has been somewhat established, and food from the countryside may dare to enter cities such as Tokyo.
However, Zhang Zhao still felt that it was not safe, so the last resort, returning the people's gold and silver jewelry, would be put on the agenda immediately.
