Xie Shufang was angry, and so were all the subordinates of Prince Qi's palace.
He is just a teaching assistant, and he is not even a senior official at the gate of Prince Qi's palace, but he dares to speak nonsense in front of Prince Qi.
"Bold maniac, how dare you act so presumptuously?!"
Xie Shufang shouted angrily and immediately ordered the arrest.
All the subordinates in Prince Qi's Mansion were eager to give it a try.
Yin Qiao's comrades are also eager to try it.
Li Ji raised his hand and stopped Xie Shufang's move to take someone away. He stared at Ma Zhou with a half-smile, "Don't move yet. I want to hear how I saved people and harmed them at the same time."
When Xie Shufang and others heard this, they could only grit their teeth and stare at Ma Zhou.
Ma Zhou saluted Li Ji and said sternly: "His Highness sent people to take away a group of people, and ransacked the houses and taverns behind them. The food they took out was given to the refugees. It was indeed saving people.
But His Highness mobilized a large number of troops to force the local government offices to resettle the refugees, which is obviously harming people.
The Yamen, which is under the care of His Highness's troops, will naturally follow His Highness's instructions.
But without His Highness's troops and horses to look after the Yamen, in order to avoid being pressured by His Highness, they would drive the refugees into the mountains and forests or imprison them when His Highness passed through their territory.
What's worse, they will drive the refugees back north of the river.
Your Highness thinks that if the refugees are imprisoned in the mountains and forests, or driven back to the north of the river, what chance of survival will they have?"
The poisonous insects and ferocious beasts, bandits and bandits in the mountains and forests, coupled with the cold weather, will definitely make the lives of the refugees worse than death.
Refugees imprisoned by local government offices will also live a life worse than death.
Driving refugees back to Hebei Road is no different than letting them die.
The local government is tormenting the refugees like this, and the refugees have little chance of survival.
Li Ji knew the secrets here, but he could only deal with these things after he settled down.
You can't just leave the army halfway to deal with this kind of thing, right?
The military situation is urgent, so it is natural to take care of the military situation first.
Li Ji pretended not to know: "Is this happening?"
Ma Zhou nodded seriously.
Li Ji narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "I didn't expect that my temporary kindness not only failed to save many people, but actually harmed them."
Having said this, Li Ji looked at Ma Zhou and said, "Since you can see the problems clearly, you must have ways to solve them."
Ma Zhou was stunned.
Li Ji ordered without hesitation, "Then I will recruit you as a subordinate officer of the rear army commander-in-chief to deal with this matter."
Ma Zhou was a little confused.
I just can't stand your reckless behavior and harming the people, so I just came out to correct you. I didn't expect to become an official under your command.
As for your bad reputation, even if you do a hundred good deeds, let alone one good deed, it will be difficult to reverse it.
"Xie Shufang, send a team of soldiers and horses to accompany this assistant to deal with the affairs of refugees from various places. Then send people to pass orders to various places. I have recruited this person to be an official of the General Administration of the Rear Army to supervise the people's situation here. Officials from all places must cooperate. , otherwise he will be punished according to the crime."
Li Ji didn't care about Ma Zhou's thoughts at all and gave Xie Shufang decisive orders.
Xie Shufang was also a little confused.
Li Ji actually recruited this madman to serve in the General Administration of the Rear Army and gave him such great power.
Seeing that Xie Shufang was unmoved, Li Ji glared at Xie Shufang and said, "Can't you hear me clearly?"
"No...no."
Xie Shufang quickly bowed and said, "I obey."
Ma Zhou also came to his senses at this moment, and hurriedly bowed and said: "I am a humble minister, and I am afraid that I will not be able to take on such a big responsibility."
Li Ji stared at Ma Zhou and said politely: "Since you discovered the problem, you have to solve it. If you can't solve the problem, then the soldiers from the school who accompany you to deal with refugee issues in various places will send you on your way.
people."
Ma Zhou was dumbfounded and froze on the spot.
Li Ji did not say much to Ma Zhou, but ordered Xie Shufang to leave his troops behind and continue on his way with the army.
Li Ji is interested in recruiting Ma Zhou, but there is no need to be too eager.
Ma Zhou is now just a ninth-grade sesame official, and no one can compete with him.
As long as Ma Zhou enters the palace of the General Manager of the Hou Army, he is his man.
He recruited Ma Zhou to solve the problems of refugees in various places, and threatened to send Ma Zhou on his way if Ma Zhou could not solve the problem.
If word got out, others would just think that he was blocked by Ma Zhou and felt unhappy, so they wanted to find an excuse to kill Ma Zhou.
No one thinks much of anything else.
Qu Tutong felt that Li Ji's move was a bit hasty. He thought that Li Ji was back to his old ways, so he couldn't help but gallop forward to admonish him, "Your Highness, is your decision a bit hasty? Although Ma Zhou is a little arrogant, it is rare."
Your Highness should let this upright person live."
Qu Tutong didn't care about Ma Zhou's life or death. He simply didn't want Li Ji, who had become good, to return to his cruel and unkind self.
Li Ji looked at Qu Tutong and sighed: "I also know that my decision was a bit hasty, and I never thought about taking his life. But what is the situation of the refugees around Luoyang, you and I can see clearly along the way.
Clearly.
I don't have anyone available to solve this problem at the moment.
Since Ma Zhou could see some problems, he must have thought about how to solve them.
As long as he can solve any one of the three problems he mentioned, he can save countless people's lives.
As long as it can save countless people's lives, so what if my decision is hasty?"
Qu Tutong looked at Li Ji in astonishment. He did not expect that Li Ji thought so.
Qu Tutong said with emotion: "I am being rude. Your Highness cares about the people. I am ashamed of myself."
Li Ji smiled sadly.
Do you care about the people?
It's a bit hard to talk about.
He is not that big-hearted yet, and he cannot do anything but die exhausted.
He just couldn't bear to see people selling people like animals, and he couldn't bear to see his own kind lying on the side of the road like nothing.
…
The twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month.
Light snow.
Li Ji and his party traveled for more than half a month and finally arrived in Luoyang.
The scale of Luoyang City is not inferior to that of Chang'an City at all, and it is even a bit grander than Chang'an City from a distance.
It just looks very dilapidated.
After experiencing a war involving hundreds of thousands of troops in the middle of the year, the walls of Luoyang City were full of holes and there were many traces of smoke and fire.
Although the gate tower on the top of the city has been repaired, it still looks dilapidated.
Only the brand-new general flag added some new ideas to Luoyang.
There are many pedestrians on the official road, and there are even more people on both sides of the official road.
People walking on the official road were soldiers and horses from all over the country who gathered in Luoyang, as well as civilians escorting grain and grass. On both sides of the official road were refugees fleeing from Hebei.
The number of refugees is so large that it makes people’s scalp numb.
When the team escorting grain and fodder passed through a place where refugees gathered, they had to deploy heavy troops to defend it.
Even so, when the team escorting grain and grass passed the refugees, the refugees would still keep moving forward.
When Li Ji led the team passing by, some people dragged their children to their knees and begged, while others strangled their children and cried loudly, in an attempt to arouse Li Ji's compassion.
Li Ji was riding a tall horse, with a clear cavalry behind him.
As long as the refugees are not stupid, they can see that Li Ji is a big shot.
As long as the big men show a little compassion, their children can survive.
Xie Shufang, subordinate to Prince Qi's Mansion, and Yin Qiao Tribe, guarded Li Ji like a copper and iron wall.
Li Ji closed his eyes and couldn't bear to see the miserable conditions of the refugees on both sides of the official road.
He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to bear it anymore and his sympathy would overflow.
While guarding him, Xie Shufang made a rough count of the refugees on both sides of the official road. The number was around one hundred thousand.
There are 100,000 refugees. As long as he dares to open an opening, he will be surrounded immediately.
"Go away! Go away!"
When the army quickly entered the gate of Luoyang, there was a slight commotion among the refugees.
Xie Shufang and others stared, drew their sabers, and drove away the refugees vigilantly.
A refugee suddenly shouted.
"Your Majesty, have you ever tasted it?"
Li Ji suddenly opened his eyes, looked intently, and saw a thin man with a yellow face, laughing, biting off a piece of meat from his arm, stuffing it into his son's mouth mixed with blood, and laughing wildly at him.
"grass!"
Li Ji glared and shouted angrily.
When the man saw Li Ji getting angry, he laughed louder and more arrogantly.
Seeing Li Ji's reaction, the others decided to follow suit.
"Xie Shufang, let me go to the city to mobilize troops! I will keep an eye on the others. If anyone dares to bite the flesh again, I will beat them to death!"
Li Ji was a little excited.
Xie Shufang looked at Li Ji in shock, as did everyone else.
Seeing that something was wrong with Li Ji, Qu Tutong immediately rushed to Li Ji and reminded loudly, "Your Highness, control your anger! Your Highness, control your anger!"
Li Ji's eyes were a little red, he glared at Qu Tutong and shouted angrily, "This is an order!"
Qu Tutong was stunned and did not dare to say another word.
Seeing that Xie Shufang was not moving, Li Ji gritted his teeth and asked Xie Shufang, "Are you going to disobey the military order?!"
Xie Shufang said anxiously: "Your Highness, you are the commander-in-chief of the rear army. The only troops and horses from Shaanxi Province that can be mobilized for this expedition are all here."
"Go to the city and mobilize the state troops and horses for me!"
Li Ji shouted loudly.
Xie Shufang hurriedly rode into Luoyang to dispatch the soldiers and horses of Bingzhou who had arrived in Luoyang.
If Li Ji dispatched troops and horses from other places, it would be a bit overstepping his authority, but if he dispatched troops and horses from Bingzhou, there would be no problem.
As soon as Xie Shufang left, Li Ji told Qu Tutong, "Send someone to find Luoyang Ling and come see me!"
"Here!"
Qu Tutong did not dare to hesitate, agreed and immediately sent someone to deliver the order.
When the refugees saw Li Ji, they felt compassion for him and gathered around him.
Although they were very frightened by the cavalry attack from Shaanzhou, Guozhou, and Prince Qi's palace, they hoped to find a way out of Li Ji's body.
Those who were biting the meat from their own bodies saw that Li Ji was moved with compassion and slapped their mouths without waiting for the soldiers to take action.
He slapped his teeth down and smiled while doing so.
Li Ji watched, trembling all over.
"Get them for me!"
The subordinates of Prince Qi gritted their teeth, rushed into the crowd, and captured those who slapped themselves in the mouth.
Xie Shufang soon led the Bingzhou soldiers and horses to appear outside the city, along with Li Sixing, Luo Shixin and his Jiangzhou soldiers and horses.