King Yao was so angry that he smashed the cup and said, "That's unreasonable! I opened a warehouse to store grain, and I also helped the refugees, and this is how they repay me? Where is Bai Tan? Call Bai Tan into the palace!"
He even wanted to send all the food in the military warehouse to Tianshui City. It was a guaranteed food supply for the soldiers and should never be touched lightly.
King Yao also issued an order to open disaster relief sheds in the south and west of Tianshui City to provide porridge and grain to the refugees who could not afford to eat. No matter how thin the porridge is, providing food at this juncture is digging money from the national treasury to subsidize the civilians.
Subsidize the refugees!
But these refugees are ungrateful and spoil the food!
The monarch was furious, and Yaoting immediately took action with the efficiency developed in the Tianshui eastward expansion project. Baitan quickly dispatched city patrols and part of the imperial army to suppress it in person!
That night, a thousand patrols and officers rushed into Beicheng District, conducting a sweeping search to arrest and bring to justice the lurking and wandering refugees one by one.
Another two thousand officers and soldiers broke into the squatting houses where the uprising was taking place and arrested everyone they saw.
They held swords and chains in their hands. If the opponent did not kneel on the ground immediately, they would be beaten on the head and face, regardless of gender, age or child.
Suddenly, the house was in chaos, with beatings and screams loud and clear.
Normally, the refugees might have swallowed their anger. After all, everyone in Tianshui City, from the officials to the common people, never regarded them as human beings; but not tonight. Tonight, they all knew that as long as they were caught in jail, they and their families would die.
One piece!
Those who were strong were fighting back, while those who were timid rushed to other houses to seek refuge.
However, Bai Tan had deployed his control in advance, and those who jumped out could not get far and were all captured in one fell swoop.
The turmoil was suppressed before dawn, and officials arrested hundreds of people.
The house was in ruins inside and outside, and dripping with blood.
The smell of blood wafted far away, and the surrounding residents covered their noses and stayed indoors.
The officials rushed to bring fresh and exciting criminal interrogations. The refugees who participated in the riots said that they had no food to eat and were very hungry, so they came up with the idea of robbing wealthy households. How much food surplus can ordinary civilians in Tianshui City have at home? Robbing them is like
Squeezing oil from the cracks in the rocks was laborious and useless. At this time, the two refugee leaders told them that if they wanted to rob, they had to rob the rich businessmen. It would not be a loss if they robbed the nobles. There were a lot of rice, flour and gold and silver in these places.
You will definitely be full!
This group of refugees was so hungry that they only had half their lives left. When they heard the truth, why would they hesitate? They picked up sticks, branches, stones, even pitchforks from the stables, and shovels from the latrines, and followed the leader to charge.
Bai Tan's response to this operation was timely, the violence was quickly controlled, and the suppression was effective, which won the praise of King Yao.
In fact, there are refugees causing trouble in Tianshui City every few years. In the past five years, they have been dealt with in a frank manner, which is very effective.
King Yao was quite assured of his skills.
The only fly in the ointment is that the two refugee leaders who organized the riot died in the chaos. Whether they stole the hearts of others or were inspired by others, no answer can be found now.
Before Tianshui City had time to relax, and even before Bai Tan left the palace, a new round of riots started again!
Riots can bloom everywhere if there are only one or two.
With this perspective, other refugees can see that they can really grab food and fill their bellies, as long as they stick together.
Although he will be hunted by the authorities afterwards, but——
Starving to death immediately, rather than dying after eating a few full meals, the refugees still prefer the latter option.
Besides, aren’t there many refugees who have successfully escaped with food? There are rumors everywhere that someone robbed and ate them, and they were not only full, but also carrying a lot of gold, silver and jewelry!
Look at the official porridge provided in the disaster relief shed. It is as thin as water, with just two grains of porridge floating on the top. No matter how much you drink, you can only fill yourself up.
The refugees realized:
If you don't steal or rob, you'll probably starve to death in the end; if you steal his mother and eat his mother, you'll at least get enough to eat, and maybe you can escape.
The more people participating in the riot, the smaller the chance of being caught. How can you be so unlucky, right?
In just three days, seventeen refugee riots broke out in Tianshui City!
A large number of civilians were harmed. After all, the refugees at this time were already red-eyed and would rob anyone they didn't like. Ask them why they robbed? Nonsense, those who didn't rob would starve to death!
You know, there are hundreds of thousands of refugees in Tianshui City!
Is it okay for this group to become restless?
The whole Tianshui City was in turmoil, and the officials spent more effort and more money to strengthen the protection of the residence. Once the formation was opened, the refugees could not rush in, and they had to turn to look for trouble in the shops and ordinary residents.
In sharp contrast to the "high enthusiasm" of the refugees, the patrols and officials are becoming less and less proactive, and sometimes they are too lazy to take action when they receive news of refugee riots.
On the one hand, it is because riots are too frequent. The ones in the east have not yet been dealt with, and there are a lot more popping up in the west and south. What should we do if there are more than a dozen cases per capita?
On the other hand, patrol guards and officers also have limited food rations.
They move more and consume more, and they get hungry too quickly. The boss never thought of giving them extra meals.
In the end, they were too lazy to move. When the commander urged them, they took a few steps and it seemed interesting.
Just earn these three melons and two dates, two bowls of rice a day, who will risk your life for you?
He Lingchuan lived on the outskirts of the city, still some distance away from the center of Tianshui City, and Yongquan Villa unexpectedly encountered four or five more invasions.
At this time, Zhao Song and nearly a thousand palace guards came into use again.
Yongquan Villa is too big, and now Yang Shan has a serious shortage of manpower. If more than a hundred refugees climb over the wall and come in to steal, He Lingchuan will have no choice but to turn a blind eye. After all, the formation cannot be turned on all the time, otherwise the loss will be greater than the theft.
All big.
However, Zhao Song and other palace guards were here to guard the house, and Xiaoxiao was all driven away.
This protective force is much greater than that of ordinary wealthy families.
With the lesson learned from the owner of the red cottage, Zhao Song was also very diligent, proactively arranging manpower, adjusting the rotation of sentries, and beating all the refugees who sneaked in half to death before throwing them out.
He contacted his colleagues in the palace and heard that King Yao had ordered that the palace should also cut down on food and clothing to set an example, so the food inside the palace had also begun to be rationed at regular intervals. The five big and three thick palace guards were only provided with two steamed buns for each meal.
Three side dishes, and meat can only be eaten once a day——
The little meat slices were hiding in the pickles and playing hide and seek with you. It took a lot of effort to dig them out, but only then did you know that the chef's knife skills were very good, and each slice was no thicker than paper.
As for wine... Nowadays, wine has become the hard currency in the palace. If you want to do anything, just bring a bottle of wine with you and it will be done!
In comparison, Yongquan Villa is like a paradise. The more than a thousand guards have enough rice, noodles, vegetables and meat to eat. Every day, the Villa will take some fruits from the cellar and give them to everyone. The frozen grapes and frozen persimmons that have been preserved in autumn are very sweet.
Very good.
Oh yes, there is also wine! There is a wine cellar in the villa.