Although Zhou Yangong was an imperial envoy, he did not prepare any ceremonial guards because of his busy schedule. A hundred extraordinary and powerful soldiers riding tall horses surrounded Zhou Yangong, which looked majestic. One hundred people, especially one hundred
The cavalry actually looked like a torrent.
The soil turned up by the horse's hooves stayed in mid-air for a short time, completing what may have been destined to be only one flight. Although there was plenty of sunshine in the midwinter afternoon, it could not stop the cold north wind, especially when galloping on a horse.
The wind on my face hurts like a knife.
The scenery along the way was not only depressing but also depressing. The snow on the road began to melt, making the road muddy and difficult to navigate. The soil stirred up by the horses' hooves flew up high. On the shady side of the hillside where the sun could not shine, there was even snow that could not be melted.
Showing a listless light yellow color.
Occasionally, there is an old tree that has lost all its leaves on the roadside. Its grotesque appearance is more like a monster with teeth and claws. I drove more than sixty miles from north to south, but I didn't meet anyone halfway. Duke Zhou Yan
It is conceivable that there are now groups of beggars, including old people, women, and toddlers, who may be hiding in some sheltered place and snuggling together to keep warm.
There have been severe droughts in the Northern Han Dynasty in recent years, and the crops in the fields have failed to harvest. Before Emperor Xiao ascended the throne, the old emperor Liu Ye once thought of exempting the people from taxes for one year, but the pressure from Daliao was so tight that this kind act was nothing more.
After turning around in the old emperor's mind, he miscarried.
If you don’t have anything to eat, where will the money come from to pay taxes? It stands to reason that the taxes set by the court are not particularly high. In normal years, after excluding taxes, the average farmer will still have a slight surplus. But this is just an ideal.
Regarding the changes, the tax amount set by the imperial court has at least tripled at the local level. Even in a good harvest year, the people may not have enough to eat every day, let alone in a disaster year like this.
The desolate land covered in silver looks quite magnificent. During the prosperous Tang Dynasty, many literati began to write like springs. Zhou Yangong was also a man full of knowledge, but at this time, he only felt desolate and confused.
Where can I get any interest in reciting poems and writing poems?
He could even imagine the layer of withered seedlings covered by the white snow, as well as the deep crack-like ravines on the land. Fortunately, God was not blind after all. After the heavy snow melted, at least he could
It will alleviate the disaster, but that will only happen after the spring of next year. Now the people are short of food and clothing, and there is no telling how many people will die from the cold and hunger.
When he thought of thousands of disaster victim cats looking up at the sky in dilapidated houses, huddled together like hibernating snakes to save energy, Zhou Yangong's heart was burning with anxiety. He couldn't wait for the day to come.
You can travel to all counties to open warehouses and distribute grain.
Even two meals of hot porridge a day is a great happiness for those victims who can no longer muster the energy to beg. What's more, in such a disaster year, the Northern Han Dynasty is so big, and disasters are happening all over the country, so it is still difficult to beg for food.
Where can we go? If we go north or west, we can only become slaves of the Khitans or Dangxiang people, and die faster and more cowardly. Go south to Dazhou? Unless we can survive and be guarded by 60,000 Fuyuan troops.
The border fortress.
Besides, the officials in Dazhou will not allow the victims of the Northern Han Dynasty to enter. If tens of thousands of victims flood into Dazhou, it will have a fatal impact on the locals there. Not to mention that the two countries are now Even the allies will not just watch tens of thousands of disaster victims attack their own people.
In such a calamity year, it is no longer possible to rely on one or two honest officials to save the people from disaster. If the court does not open warehouses to distribute grain, I am afraid that in less than a month, not even one-third of the millions of people in the entire northern Han Dynasty and the south will be saved. There is nothing left. Without the people, a country is no longer a country.
When we were in Fengning County, the county magistrate Shen Fuwei had secretly opened the granary despite the crime of being beheaded. Tens of thousands of grains of grain that had been saved in the county granary for the purpose of preparing for the annual tribute of Liao Dynasty and army supplies were pulled out. Porridge shacks were set up at the four gates of the county to provide porridge to local and passing victims every day. When Zhou Yangong and Pei Hao got together in Fengning County, the first thing the county magistrate Shen Fuwei did was to pick the porridge himself. He took off his official robe and asked his servants to tie him up and bring him to the front of two important officials in the capital.
What surprised Shen Fuwei was that instead of punishing him, the two officials from the capital untied him with their own hands and said some words of comfort. Especially the official named Zhou, who was actually promoted on the spot. He killed him and upgraded his rank by two levels to the sixth rank. Shen Fuwei was just the magistrate of a small county, an official position below the seventh rank.
Although the official titles in the Northern Han Dynasty were chaotic, they generally continued from the Tang Dynasty. The official position of county magistrate is basically divided into three levels. The magistrate of Jingxian County is the fifth rank, and the magistrate of Jixian County is the sixth rank. In relatively large counties, the county magistrate is from the sixth rank. In the middle county, the county magistrate is from the seventh rank. But like Fengning County, which is controlled by Shen Fuwei, is just a small county with a radius of less than 40 miles, the county magistrate is from the seventh rank.
From the seventh rank to the sixth rank, if we calculate it according to the official level in the Tang Dynasty, it is not two levels. According to the county level classification in the Tang Dynasty, a county magistrate like Shen Fuwei is just a minor official below the seventh rank. .There are still six levels in between from the sixth level. However, after the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains was divided into more than a dozen small countries. The territories of each country were not large, so there was no need to refine the official levels in such a detailed way.
For a small country like the Northern Han Dynasty, there are only about 60 counties in the country, so there is no need to divide the official ranks so strictly. Besides, the Northern Han Dynasty has more than one general, which is just a joke in other countries. That's all. You must know that since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, except for Taizong Li Shimin himself, who was a first-class Tiance general, no one has reached this high position.
The second-grade hussar general is already at the pinnacle of his military career.
Shen Fuwei opened an official position privately, and not only was he not punished, but he was promoted, which made him a little confused. When Zhou Yangong read out the imperial edict in front of him, he suddenly realized it. After being moved, Shen Fuwei faced The man in the direction of Taiyuan Mansion solemnly performed the 390-kowtow ceremony with a solemn look on his face.
After bidding farewell to Shen Fuwei, Zhou Yangong went south first. Pei Hao, who was a little frightened, waited in Fengning County for two days until the soldiers sent by Chen Yuanshan, the commander of the Gyeonggi Camp, arrived. Zhou Yangong left Fengning County. All the way to the southeast of Ning County, more than 70 miles away, is a county slightly larger than Fengning County, called Ping'an County.
Ju Chen Fuwei introduced that the magistrate of Ping'an County is called Su Hui, and he is from the Su family, a large family in Taiyuan. Although Shen Fuwei did not show any disrespect to Su Hui in his words, his expression and From his tone, Zhou Yangong had already vaguely guessed that this Su Hui was not a good person.
Although he didn't know why Emperor Xiao didn't let him return to Taiyuan Mansion to resume his duties, but instead gave him the title of governor of six states to help the victims. But since he has been placed in high regard by His Majesty the Emperor, he has the responsibility to complete this job well. Pei Hao also brought him a letter written by the loyal king Liu Ling. The letter did not mention why Emperor Xiao would arrange such a position for him. He just told Zhou Yangong to go ahead and do it. With the support of the emperor and loyal king, as long as he If you are doing good things that benefit the country and the people, you don't have to worry about anything.
With Emperor Xiao and Liu Ling standing behind him, Zhou Yangong really couldn't think of any reason for him to shirk the blame. What's more, his ambition was to be an upright official who did great things for the country and benefited the people. With such an opportunity, he I can realize my wish.
After running for more than seventy miles all the way from Fengning County, even the cavalry in the Gyeonggi camp were quite tired, not to mention that Zhou Yangong was a scholar, but he just held on without saying a word.
Seeing that Ping'an County was already in sight, Zhou Yangong secretly breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, his buttocks were so painful that he almost lost consciousness while running all the way. The inner sides of his thighs had been worn and split, exposing the red flesh. It sticks to the clothes and burns.
There is a big difference between the saddles installed on horses in the army and the saddles installed on horses in wealthy families. The former are narrow and thick-hard, mainly to reduce the burden on the horses. The latter are wide and comfortable, even if a lady sits like this You can walk several miles on the saddle without feeling too strenuous.
When he was still a mile or two away, Zhou Yangong saw a dark group of people gathering outside the north gate of Ping'an County. When he got closer, he confirmed that the people blocking the city gate were no less than two thousand victims of the disaster, all of whom were dressed in shabby clothes. The rotten people gathered together were lifeless, more like a group of walking zombies.
The victims who blocked the city gate shouted something loudly, as if they were asking the officers and soldiers guarding the city why they did not open the city gate. The victims who gathered in front of the city gate heard the sound of horse hooves behind them, turned around and saw a group of mighty cavalry and immediately gave way. A passage emerged. In the hearts of these people, there was a natural fear of officials and soldiers, especially when they saw hundreds of tall horses running towards them like the wind. Everyone was afraid that they would be caught if they were too slow to dodge. Those tall horses were trampled to a pulp.
In this era, human life is as cheap as grass. It is nothing at all for a soldier to trample an ordinary man to death with his horse.
Before Zhou Yangong and others arrived outside the city gate, they suddenly heard a bang on the city wall, and then many soldiers from the garrison appeared on the wall and started shooting arrows at the crowd without saying a word.
Immediately, dozens of people were knocked down by arrows, and the people gathered at the city gate immediately panicked. They were like a group of yellow sheep that saw a hungry wolf, and started running around without distinguishing between east, west, north and south. Duke Yan of Zhou The cavalry team was rushed by the mob, and they were like a boat drifting in the turbulent waves of the river.
While Zhou Yangong asked his soldiers to appease the people, he shouted to the defenders on the city wall: "Stop! I am Zhou Yangong, the imperial envoy from Taiyuan. I have been ordered to inspect the six states. Open the city gate quickly!"
A man dressed as a county magistrate popped up from the battlements of the city wall, looked at it, and then sneered: "If someone like you were an imperial envoy, I would be a loyal prince. A group of soldiers and gangsters who came from nowhere dare to speak so shamelessly. Don't blame me if you get closer."
I ordered the arrows to be released!" (To be continued)
