When Pang Gang received the report and found traces of the Qing army, he pondered for a moment and ordered the troops to speed up their march and immediately advance towards Tianjin.
Da Zhuang on the side couldn't help but wonder when he saw this: "Sir, the Tatars have captured Tianjin. Although there is no heavy guard at the moment, there must be many scattered Qing troops around. If we pass through Tianjin and go to the capital, we will definitely be delayed by them.
With the speed of the march, it might be detrimental to you if Governor Lu blames us, so we might as well bypass Tianjin and not get entangled with the Tatars."
Pang Gang glanced at this loyal but honest general, and sighed softly: "Dazhuang, Tianjin was robbed, hundreds of thousands of people were kidnapped, but there are still more than 100,000 people living in all directions.
, these people are all my subjects of the Ming Dynasty. If we ignore them, they will most likely either starve to death or be killed by the Tatars. If we bypass Tianjin now, where will we leave those people?"
Da Zhuang was stunned for a moment, then bowed and said: "My lord, you are so heart-warming as a Bodhisattva, and you will eventually feel ashamed of yourself."
In fact, Pang Gang had other thoughts. At this moment, half of the territory in Shandong was under Pang Gang's direct control, and the remaining half was also under the control of his father-in-law Wei Tongnian, at least in name. And if Pang Gang wanted to do so in the future,
With Shandong as his home base and base, he must develop Shandong into a place where he can live and work in peace and contentment. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the population on his own territory. With a sufficient population, Pang Gang can recruit soldiers or develop agricultural talents.
Better going.
With a large enough population base to support him, Pang Gang's next reforms that affect the landlord class can proceed smoothly, and the Naxi refugees living in various places are Pang Gang's best potential supporters.
On the fifth day of April in the tenth year of Chongzhen, Pang Gang came to the outside of Tianjin City, which had been turned into ruins. What greeted the army was a scene like the end of the world, with burned-out houses and undisposed corpses everywhere.
Pang Gang rode on his horse and looked around blankly. On the endless flat and dry yellow land, there were few trees. After the people and horses passed by, the sky was filled with dust. Although the land was vast, there were no people along the way. Pang Gang saw many small villages.
was abandoned.
At this moment, due to natural disasters in Tianjin and the invasion of Qing troops, areas around Tianjin were looted. There were withered vegetation everywhere inside and outside Tianjin. Even the trees in the mountains were white.
The wild vegetables and grass have long been eaten up by the refugees, the bark of the trees has been ripped off, and even the roots of the grass have been dug up.
There are corpses of hungry refugees everywhere, and you can even see people scraping human flesh on the roadside like pigs and dogs. There are refugees everywhere, and thieves everywhere. Except for some large villages and forts, it is difficult to see small inhabited villages when walking in the wild.
"In troubled times, human life is not as good as that of a dog!" Seeing such a desolate scene, Pang Gang couldn't help but shook his head and sighed.
Such a tragic scene even made the soldiers following Pang Gang sigh. Many of them were refugees before joining the army. They had seen such a scene many times. Seeing such a scene again now, it reminded them again.
The unbearable memories in their hearts, compared with their current life of having enough food and clothing, only strengthened their determination to follow the giant man.
After entering Tianjin City, under the ruins and on both sides of the streets, there were ragged refugees everywhere. They were lying on the streets dying one by one. Countless girls who were lucky enough not to be captured by the Qing soldiers knelt on the streets and had their heads stabbed.
Wearing a wreath of withered grass, it signifies that you are willing to be a slave of another family, just asking for a good meal.
Pang Gang couldn't stand it any longer. He sighed and said to Da Zhuang in a low voice: "Hurry up and call the battalion officer from the transport camp, and quickly open a porridge shop on the street. Remember that the porridge should not be too thick, otherwise these refugees will
My stomach won’t be able to bear it.”
"I will obey the general's orders!" Da Zhuang immediately clasped his fists and left.
The Qingzhou Army under Pang Gang was already familiar with opening a porridge shop. Soon, hundreds of large pots were set up in a row on the streets of Tianjin City. Under the pots were burning firewood.
Cooking thinner millet porridge, it looks golden yellow, and the fragrance of millet porridge floats around, attracting countless refugees around. Looking at the rice porridge in the pot, their eyes are like hungry wolves.
of green light.
However, beside each iron pot, there were dozens of soldiers standing eagerly, and no one dared to mess around under their threat and protection.
The burly Da Zhuang stood next to a large pot with a waist knife and shouted loudly: "Dear fellow villagers, my lord is Tongzhi, the right governor of Nanjing, General Dingguo, and Commander Pang Gang of Qingzhou, Pang Pang.
You benevolent people will open a porridge shop here today. If you drink this porridge, don’t forget the kindness of my family!"
At this time, after word of mouth among the refugees, the refugees in the city came in large numbers, and hundreds of refugees were surrounding each big pot.
After a while, seeing the rice porridge floating in Da Guozhong like flowers, Da Zhuang nodded to the heavy soldiers who were making porridge next to him, indicating that he could start serving porridge.
The sturdy baggage soldier shouted at the top of his lungs: "We have started to serve porridge. Everyone is queuing up. The women and children are in the front, and the young men are in the back. Everyone has to queue up, otherwise they will be kicked out with big sticks."
After hearing the words of this heavy duty soldier, the young people among the surrounding refugees began to commotion. Apparently they couldn't understand why these officers and soldiers would take care of the incompetent old women and children first. Don't the officers and soldiers usually show favor to these young people first?
Did you add it?
In fact, giving priority to the elderly, weak, women and children is a rigid rule set by Pang Gang in Qingzhou. This rule has been deeply rooted in the hearts of later generations, and Pang Gang is no exception. Moreover, Pang Gang also believes that a nation can suffer hardships, but it cannot lose some traditions.
, especially when these traditions also involve basic human ethics and moral bottom lines.
Although some of Pang Gang's subordinates did not understand Pang Gang's rules at first, they got used to it over time. Under Pang Gang's influence, Qingzhou also slowly established a habit, that is, the big men must have
The responsibility of a great man is that even if he starves to death, he cannot do something that violates the bottom line of being a human being.
Those old, weak, women and children lined up tremblingly at the front of the team, looking around with a bit of horror. In their impression, they are often the first to be abandoned in troubled times. If they encounter hungry people
Young and strong, they are even in danger of being eaten. How can they have the right to give priority to making porridge like they do now?
A skinny young woman led a skinny little girl to receive the porridge. After that, she knelt down beside Da Zhuang who was standing next to the big iron pot with a "pop" sound. She choked and cried: "The little woman thanked the general.
You are so kind and kind, you saved the lives of the little woman and her family!"
Da Zhuang couldn't bear to help the woman, sighed and said: "Sister, it's not me who saves you, but my family. It's just that we and the army can't stay for a long time again. We have to rush to the capital tomorrow to see King Qin.
You can't stay here for a long time, you have to take care of yourself."
"What...what should I do?" the woman asked in panic, pulling on her thick sleeves. She was really fed up with the taste of hunger.
Seeing the opportunity coming, Da Zhuang said loudly: "We are the officers and soldiers from Qingzhou. We cannot stay here for a long time. Originally, it was the government's responsibility to rescue the victims and it has nothing to do with us. But my lords really can't bear to see you being tortured alive."
Starved to death, so I developed a kind heart. If you have no place to go, tomorrow we can send people to Qingzhou, Laizhou, Dengzhou and other places, either as military households or civilian households, and someone will be resettled by then.
Everyone, everyone can think about it for themselves, whether to stay where they are and wait to starve to death or to find a way to survive in Shandong!"
"Wow..." The surrounding refugees began to whisper. After all, they had lived here for half their lives, and suddenly they had to start their lives in another place again. No one had to think carefully about it.
After giving porridge, Pang Gang led his soldiers to patrol around the city. If he saw someone trying to rob or rape a woman, he was immediately dragged out by the soldiers around Pang Gang and hacked to death. Such torture only shocked him.
Lived those young men with evil intentions.
Seeing Pang Gang trying his best to protect the old, weak, sick and disabled, the refugees gradually calmed down. Pang Gang walked over to an old man and a little boy who were sitting on the roadside drinking porridge and sat down. He smiled.
He asked the old man: "Old man, are you willing to live in Qingzhou?"
The old man put down the porcelain bowl with a corner missing in his hand and sighed, "Hey, what can we do if we don't go through this situation now? The little old man is already sixty-four this year. It would be no loss even if he died.
, but I just can’t let go of this little grandson beside me. His parents were kidnapped by the Tatars. If this old man like me passes away and dies, he won’t be able to survive.”
Pang Gang asked again: "Old man, now that the Tatars have left, can you still continue farming here?"
"Farming?" the old man laughed miserably, "Even if we wait for the Tatars to retreat, can the land here still be cultivated? The government's exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes are overwhelming, and it will be difficult for us ordinary people! After we leave here, the fields at home will definitely be used by those powerful squires.
If you take it, once I leave, my retreat will be cut off."
Hearing this, Pang Gang let out a long sigh. The people of China are really in trouble. In the history of more than 5,000 years, only a few of them can live and work in peace and contentment. They are either suffering from war or being exploited by corrupt officials.
.But even so, the Chinese nation still survived this way, and there was no break in the middle, but it continued until later generations.
Pang Gang stopped thinking about it, and turned around and ordered the soldiers around him to quickly arrange manpower to transfer these people to the dock of Tianjin Wei, and use the large ships that were still docked to transfer these people away. Tianjin City survived
There are estimated to be 30,000 to 40,000 people there. After moving them to Shenmi Island or Dengzhou, Laizhou and other places, he will have another firm supporter.