After walking for two days, disaster victims began to appear on the road from time to time.
Some go alone, some go as a whole village, and some go together as a group in twos and threes.
However, there were not many people there, even if they were walking around the whole village, the village with the largest number of people they encountered only had about two hundred people.
It can be seen from the victims that the overall conditions in the south are better than those in the north. Qi Kangan remembered that most of the refugees they met on the road when they fled were skinny and pitiful, and these in front of him,
Except for the fact that his clothes were so shabby that you could tell he was fleeing a disaster, and his complexion looked tired, at least he wasn't skinny and skinny, and he even had almost all his belongings.
There are horse-drawn carriages, ox-carts, mule-carts, and the like for people who only carry backpacks. The backpacks look quite big.
The reason is easy to imagine. There was food on the mountain and there were no pursuers behind them, forcing them to run almost without stopping.
Maybe it's because they haven't reached a desperate situation yet, and the people are naturally afraid of the officers and soldiers. When the refugees see the food transport team, they have already avoided it. Even the prison team, they just point and point.
, no one dares to come close.
This made everyone feel at ease, at least it was not as scary as they imagined.
The further you go, the more refugees appear, and these refugees...
Two days later, not far away from the large team, there were almost as many disaster victims following behind.
Zhou Gui looked back with a dark face from time to time: "What are you doing?"
If you weren't escaping from disaster, why did you all follow them back?
Fang Qi also frowned solemnly: "Who would be willing to leave their hometown to see the court's disaster relief food team? If you follow us, you can receive the disaster relief food and return home."
I hope so.
Zheng Haoran also nodded: "That's right. Normally, the victims from the south can't get here. Each state and government can accommodate some of the victims to some extent. The court has also stipulated that in disaster years, state governments must do their best to accommodate the victims within their capabilities.
, the imperial court has been providing disaster relief in the past, and many victims should have returned to their hometowns after receiving relief food.
This time we can see the victims when we get here. It is precisely because the previous two disaster relief grains had accidents, so it is no surprise that they turned around after seeing the disaster relief grains."
Several people here were talking, and a scout from the front quickly ran to Qi Kangan and the others.
"General, thirty miles ahead is Guanfengkou. I have carefully inspected the vicinity of Guanfengkou, and there is nothing unusual."
"There is indeed a small cottage on the south side of the mountain, but it has been abandoned for a long time. There is nothing left in the cottage and there is thick dust everywhere."
Qi Kang'an nodded, and the scout turned his horse's head and left quickly.
Only then did Prince Li speak out: "According to what the scouts reported, there should be no danger at Guan Fengkou."
Qi Kangan was silent before replying: "You still have to be careful."
Prince Li also agrees with this. They must be careful not only at Guanfengkou, but also everywhere along the way.
Unexpectedly, their worries were all for nothing. The road ahead went surprisingly smoothly. They crossed Guanfengkou without any obstacles and crossed the Yanhe River smoothly.
Everyone felt like they were in a trance when they stood at this end of the river and looked across.
——Just, came here so easily?
There are no pursuers or interceptors, and there are no water ghosts under the water. Why does it feel so incredible?
No matter how incredible it is, we still have to move forward.
The subsequent journey was also unprecedentedly smooth. The food transport team traveled seven days later in the evening and arrived at the first disaster relief point of their trip - Bacheng.
Bacheng did not open its city gates like the towns they passed before to welcome them into the city in advance. Instead, the city gates were tightly closed. There was a wooden pier with thorns pointing upwards more than ten meters away from the city gate.
.
On the far city wall, a soldier held up a wooden loudspeaker and shouted in this direction: "Is this the Disaster Relief Food Envoy?"
After receiving Qi Kang'an's order, Qi Kang'an's soldiers beat their hands into the shape of a trumpet and shouted back: "It's our disaster relief envoy, open the city gate quickly."
"It can't be opened. There is an epidemic in the city. There is a group of infected people outside the south city gate. The county magistrate specially ordered me to wait there for the disaster relief envoy. I told the disaster relief envoy not to enter the city."
Qi Kang'an whispered a few words into the ear of the soldier. After hearing this, the soldier continued to yell: "Where is your county magistrate? Let him come out and answer."
"The county magistrate is stationed at the South City Gate and cannot leave."
Prince Li leaned close to Qi Bao'er and whispered softly: "Is something wrong with the county magistrate?"
Qi Bao'er gave him a look of affirmation, and also turned slightly to him and said in a low tone:
"The county magistrate of Bacheng has also contracted the epidemic, and now the master is in charge of the city.
Nearly 50,000 affected people are blocked outside the South City Gate. Although Bacheng is still providing disaster relief, porridge is given to them every day, and doctors treat them every day.
It's just that the granary in Bacheng has been empty for a long time. The food for the porridge now is shamelessly borrowed by the county magistrate from the wealthy businessmen in the city, and there are not many medicinal materials left.
There is also a Qianjin Medical Clinic in the city that is making money from the national crisis. The owner of the Qianjin Medical Clinic is the Wang family, the richest man in Bacheng. After they learned that an epidemic had appeared in the south, the medical clinic was closed to them. After the closure of Bacheng, the Qianjin Medical Clinic was closed.
The hospital reopened, but the price of medicines was ten times what it was before. Now County Magistrate Yue owed Qianjin Medical Center more than 26,000 taels of silver.
Even so, they couldn't hold on much longer. The porridge was getting thinner and thinner, and the soup could hardly be boiled anymore. Magistrate Yue was afraid that the infected people outside the south city gate would riot, so he sat on the city wall to guard it. He was already sitting there.
Six days.”
Prince Li and Fang Qi who heard it together said: "..."
All fell silent.
Several people stood outside the city gate for a long time. No matter how the soldiers shouted, the same sentence was written on the city wall: 'There is an epidemic in the city, no entry is allowed.'
In the end, everyone put away their speakers and hid, saying "I don't want to listen" and "I don't want to listen".
Qi Kang'an came over and said, "Bao, haven't you already made an agreement with the county magistrate of Bacheng?"
After listening to what Qi Baoer just said, Prince Li was able to answer on his behalf: "Magistrate Yue of Bacheng County is a good official who serves the people and the country. There is already an epidemic in Bacheng. He is afraid that if we go in
It’s all stained too.”
Qi Kang'an turned to look at the carriages with imperial doctors sitting behind him, and several black lines slid down his forehead, "He, I wonder if we have an imperial doctor here?"
Prince Li: "...I guess, maybe, maybe I really don't know."
It’s not that Magistrate Yue didn’t know, it’s that he knew but couldn’t tell.
On the night when Qi Baoer made his confession on the wall of Bacheng City, Magistrate Yue had actually contracted the epidemic. He himself knew to some extent that there was something wrong with his body, but he did not suspect that it was the epidemic.
So after learning that Qi Bao'er had appeared on the city wall, he hurried over to get the news from the soldiers. He was planning to rush back and tell his colleagues in the government office the news.
However, it was so unlucky that the Taoist fell down halfway and had no time to say anything.
What's more, a riot broke out in one of the towns under Bacheng, and the city defenders were temporarily transferred overnight.