In a rural area in Kaifeng, Henan, Uncle Wang looked at the cracked fields and couldn't help but pray in his heart.

"Dragon Prince, it's raining a little at least. If it doesn't rain, there will be no grains in the ground."

Since the beginning of spring, Henan has not had a month next month for several consecutive months. It is sunny every day and the fields are cracked by the sun.

Looking at the wheat in his own field, Uncle Wang couldn't stand it anymore, so he brought the bucket and prepared to dive into the river to water it.

But when I came to the river, I realized that the rivers that used to have good water have now bottomed out and turned into small streams.

“Even there is no water in the river.”

Uncle Wang looked at the dry riverbed and then helped to carry his bucket to the village.

As soon as I walked to the entrance of the village, I saw many villagers sitting under the big trees at the entrance of the village to enjoy the cool air and chat.

"This year's severe drought is really rare. Even the water in the river is dry, and I'm still thinking about taking some water to irrigate the fields."

Uncle Wang came to the bottom of the tree and saw the villagers in the village sitting leisurely, and couldn't help but sigh.

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"I'm 60 years old and I've only seen two times. Last time, it was more than 40 years ago. At that time, I was only in my teens."

"That year, like now, there was no rain for several months. Even the river was dry and the crops in the fields died of drought."

"At that time, everyone was eating tree bark and Guanyin soil. After eating the bark, everyone started to escape from the famine. The road to escape from the famine was full of corpses, which was really terrible."

Uncle Wang recalled the scene at that time in his mind, and he had not even said some things. After all, there were children around him, so the matter of Yizi Yushi was absolutely not said, otherwise these children would definitely be frightened.

"That's right? At that time, after eating the bark, this man's belly was as big as ten months pregnant, and he couldn't even pull out his shit."

When the old man Li, who was also older next to him, he also said, "I remember that there were more than 200 households and thousands of people in our Wangjia Village at that time. As a result, after that drought, there were only less than 80 households left in our village, and everyone in each household starved to death."

"My eight brothers survived, and I and the fifth brother. We were both lucky. When we met a kind-hearted master, we would cook porridge for the victims. We had to eat that bowl of porridge and water, and then we survived."

"Now I am angry when I see these children wasting food. I wish I could beat them up and look at the food in this place. If there was a steamed bun like this, I wonder how many people could be saved."

"I have a real sister who was bought with three steamed buns at that time. I don't know how it's going."

When Old Man Li talked, he couldn't help but beat his great-grandson, but he couldn't bear to let him go. He was afraid that he would melt when he held it in his mouth, so he was reluctant to beat him, which was just a gesture.

"That's right? Back then, the food was so expensive, especially during this famine year, no one could exchange much food for a person."

"Not like now, even in this famine year, there is no need to worry about food and drink. Every household doesn't have hundreds of kilograms of grain, a cellar of sweet potatoes, and a beam of corn."

Uncle Wang also said.

"There are a lot fewer people in the village now, a lot of people."

"In the past, our village had a lot of people, and the land was just a little bit, and every household would fight to the point of the land. They would not be full until the end of the year and would not be warm in clothing."

"Now, the immigrants who are working in the city have only been left with us old men and old women and children in this village."

"The big village with thousands of people used to be, now there are not even one-tenth of people."

"Yes, yes, look at the fields in the distance. In the past, everyone was rushing to plant them, but now there is no one to plant them for free."

"In fact, it's almost the same as this severe drought or a severe drought. No one will grow it without drought. It's just that my family's fields are deserted and uncomfortable. That's what my ancestors finally passed down."

Uncle Wang also sighed.

The world has changed, it has changed too quickly.

The fields that everyone was scrambling to compete for in the past are now deserted and no one planted them.

In the past, when there were famines, the ground was full of hunger and fled everywhere.

Now it is a severe drought that happens once in a few decades, but everyone can sit leisurely under the tree and chat. The children hold corn cobs in their hands, eat half of them and vomit half of them, making the chickens following behind them cheaply.

"Food is distributed, food is distributed~"

At this moment, several four-wheeled carriages came to Wangjia Village with a full of food. Several officials came down from the four-wheeled carriage. Seeing the villagers, they started shouting with iron horns.

"Distribute food?"

When Uncle Wang, Uncle Li and others heard this, they gathered over and asked quickly, "What kind of food is distributed?"

"We have a severe drought in Henan, and the imperial court has allocated food."

"Everyone went back to get the ID card, and every household and every four people gave a bag of 50 kilograms of flour."

Zhang Ping smiled and said, "He is a soldier. After he retired, he worked as an official yamen runner in Kaifeng Prefecture. This time he should not send him to distribute food to everyone."

"Did four people get fifty kilograms of flour?"

When many villagers heard this, they immediately ran around and told each other excitedly. They hurried home to get their ID cards, and then came to the carriage excitedly to wait to get the flour.

Although there is enough food in the house, the free food from the imperial court will be useless if you don’t take it.

"It's better to be the current era!"

Soon, Uncle Wang carried a few bags of flour and put them under the tree, smiling all over, and couldn't stop smiling.

His family members are prosperous and received four bags of flour, which is 200 kilograms.

The young people in this family have gone to work in the city, and only the elderly and children are left. These 200 kilograms of flour are enough to eat until next year.

“Yes, yes~”

"It's better to have the world today. If I had this bag of flour at home, my brothers would have survived, and my sister wouldn't have been bought by a few steamed buns."

Uncle Li looked at the flour and nodded in sigh.

Only those who have experienced the Great Famine will truly understand the value of food.

At that time, human life was like grass, and you could buy a girl with just a few steamed buns, which was pretty good.

It was bought by wealthy families, and at least some food would not starve to death. More people were starved to death in the Great Famine, and corpses could be seen everywhere on the roads.

"Everyone is consuming food at home with peace of mind. If there is not enough, the court will still be given food."

"This time, the drought in Henan is very severe, and the emperor also exempts many taxes from Henan. This year, we will not have to pay grain for farming next year."

"In addition, I heard that the shops in Beijing and Tianjin are also doing disaster relief and fundraising. At that time, there are probably some things to be distributed, including cloth, tea, etc."

After Zhang Ping distributed food to the villagers, he also routinely promoted the disaster relief policies of the court.

What is most afraid of when a famine is that there is no food, but it is actually that it is afraid of chaos. As long as it is not messy, everything will be better. Natural disasters are not scary, but what is scary is natural disasters and man-made disasters.

"And there are cloths and tea leaves?"

When many villagers heard this, they were even more shocked.

This is when people sit at home, things fall from the sky.

Forget this food is distributed in large quantities, but I will also release the food and tea to everyone. Is this still a year of famine?

"There must be some, don't worry, everyone."

"Anyone knows the words, have you read the newspaper?"

"Didn't this Daming Daily publish the court's disaster relief policy?"

"This grain is a bag of fifty kilograms per person for four people, and it must be distributed to everyone in full. When everyone gets the grain, they will testify to us at that time, and the superiors will send people to check it."

"If there are people who deduct disaster relief food and supplies, we all have to lose our heads."

Zhang Ping said very seriously.

As soon as the disaster relief supplies were released, Daming Daily had already announced the methods and situation of disaster relief, and everyone in the world knew about it.

This is clearly written about how much food is sent to the disaster area, how many people are there, and how much people are sent to each person.

On the one hand, it is to make people in the disaster area feel at ease and don’t be afraid. There is some food for you to eat, which is enough for you to eat until next year. On the other hand, it is to prevent people from embezzling food and supplies for disaster relief.

In the past, due to poor information, even if the emperor had poured heavily, it might not have even a drop of rain when it came to the heads of ordinary people.

No matter how much money is transferred, even if the deductions are made, one or two taels of silver will not fall on the people. There is only food for disaster relief. These officials may also be able to sell them together with the unscrupulous merchants at a high price.

If you do not know the sky, you will publicly take out some of the food to cook porridge and provide disaster relief. That is a bit conscientious, and at least you can save some of the victims.

How could the common people know that the above people have already allocated enough money and food to provide relief to the disaster, and at least they were swallowed up by the officials in the middle.

It’s different now. With the Daming Daily, the court can discuss the methods and quantity of disaster relief, so that everyone in the world can know.

In addition, primary and middle schools are now vigorously popularizing, and it can be said that every household has someone to read, so we know the situation of disaster relief.

If the food and materials for disaster relief are insufficient in the hands of the people, the people will know and will naturally make trouble, once the superiors find out.

During this period, the corrupt officials would never escape their fate. The embezzlement of disaster relief funds was a serious crime in that dynasty. If someone found out, they would not be able to escape death, and even the three tribes would be exiled for thousands of miles.
Chapter completed!