Near the base of the wall, some soldiers, horses and hands were building shacks along the city wall. The soldiers seemed to ignore the common people who were exposed to the cold wind in the snow. They moved slowly and seemed not to be in a hurry at all. Zhang Yanling stood there.
After looking at the incense stick for a while, the soldiers of the Fifth and Sixth People did not even erect a pillar.
"Master, please do me a favor, can you give me something to stutter? We were hit by a disaster in the middle of the night, and we have been standing on the street without eating a bite of hot food. The adults can just pay it back, but the child can't bear it. Look at my fourth son, he is all
I’m almost freezing to death. Even if I have a mouthful of hot water to drink, it’s okay.”
A man wearing a thin shirt saw Zhang Yanling standing beside him for a long time, and boldly stepped forward to beg.
Zhang Yanling lowered his head and looked down. In the snow next to him, a woman was holding a trembling child in her arms. Next to her stood three and a half-year-old children in thin clothes. One of them was barefoot.
"Is there anything to eat? Give him some." Zhang Yanling said hurriedly.
Zhao Yuancheng shook his head, took out some money from his pocket, handed it to the man and said, "Go buy some food for the children."
The man said with a sad face: "Where can I buy it? The shops are closed. No one is willing to sell it. They say the capital is going to run out of food."
Zhang Yanling said: "Don't talk nonsense or create panic."
As he spoke, Zhang Yanling reached out and groped in the leather bag next to the saddle. Zhang Yanling had told his family to always keep dry food and water beside the saddle in case of emergency. He remembered this, stretched out his hand and groped for a while, and sure enough he found something.
The bag of dried meat came and he hurriedly handed it to the children on the snow.
Several children were like hungry wolves, and soon the bag of dried meat was eaten clean. Zhang Yanling took off his cloak and handed it to the man and said: "Find a sheltered place to stay, the imperial court will provide relief."
The man thanked him repeatedly, but said: "I don't know when the imperial court will provide relief. With so many victims, how long will it take to build a shed? How many people can live in it tonight? I'm afraid they will freeze to death tonight."
There are fewer people. I don’t know if our family will be alive tomorrow. Hey, at least they will give us something to eat and give us a place to stay. Driving us all here without giving us food or shelter is not what we want.
Die?"
Zhang Yanling frowned, and led Zhao Yuancheng through the bustling victims to the place where the sheds were built under the city wall, and asked an official standing aside to supervise: "Why not set up a rice and porridge relief?"
The official turned his head and glanced at Zhang Yanling. He originally wanted to reprimand him angrily, but seeing that Zhang Yanling was dressed luxuriously and did not look like an ordinary person, he asked, "Who are you?"
Zhang Yanling said: "Don't care who I am, I ask you, are you ordered to provide relief to the victims? You work slowly and don't set up a porridge shed to give out porridge and rice. What kind of relief is this? I didn't see that the people were...
Hungry and cold. It will kill you. It’s such a cold day.”
Seeing that Zhang Yanling refused to give her name, the official thought that Zhang Yanling was a nosy person. However, because Zhang Yanling's clothes and tone did not sound like ordinary people, he did not scold him and only responded in a bad tone.
"Why do you want to ask me about this? We are only responsible for building the shed. Are we slow? You don't even look at how many materials were sent. It's just wood and mats. What's the use of our quick hands and feet? You are a person
You have a good tone. If you have the ability, go and talk to Mr. Si from the Ministry of Revenue? Ask him to allocate more materials and manpower to us. The porridge shed is also the business of other people in the Ministry of Revenue and has nothing to do with me. The Ministry of Revenue does not
When people bring food, what kind of charity do they get?"
Zhang Yanling knew who the Master He was talking about. He was the current Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, Mr. Zhong. The relief matter was handled by the head of the Ministry of Husbandry. It must be that Mr. Zhong had not arranged this matter. But with his own identity, he naturally could not go to the Ministry of Husbandry.
Pointing fingers.
"What are you pretending to be? If you have the ability, go and help yourself. There are five people and six people." The soldiers and officials on the side muttered.
"What are you talking about? The person in front of you is the Marquis of Jianchang of the Ming Dynasty, and you are talking to the Marquis like this?" Zhao Yuancheng shouted angrily.
"Ah? Marquis of Jianchang?"
"The queen's brother, the demon king of the Zhang family?"
Everyone around was stunned. The official was also in a daze, suddenly woke up, smiled apologetically, stepped forward and cupped his hands and said: "Oh, I don't know Taishan, I don't know it is the Marquis. I'm rude, I'm rude."
Please quickly invite Mr. Marquis to sit in that shed, there will be hot tea and charcoal fire there."
Zhang Yanling frowned and said: "No need, I'm not cold. What hot tea and hot water can I drink? My lord, please get some hot water for these common people who can't stand the cold. Set up a shelter from the wind as soon as possible and clear out the cold water."
It is only proper to have a piece of dry ground for the people to settle down. Otherwise, I don’t know how many people will die overnight. Do you think the death of people has nothing to do with you? The death of people is a big deal. Don’t say you are too big.
The minister didn't tell me, these are all things you officials in the Ministry of Revenue have taken the initiative to do. If someone dies, none of you can escape."
"Yes, yes, yes, just follow the order of the Marquis. We will try our best to boil hot water and clean up shelters for the people to stay. But, Marquis, you said that the people have nothing to eat and they will freeze to death just to drink water. Relief
The food hasn't arrived yet, the yamen is in chaos, and no one is taking care of things. If someone is killed, we won't be able to do anything about it." The official said with a sad face.
Zhang Yanling said solemnly: "Do your best and do not violate your conscience. Someone will do the rest."
"Okay, okay, I will obey your orders," the official said hurriedly.
Zhang Yanling nodded, turned around, and frowned as he looked at the miserable disaster-stricken people everywhere.
"Get on the horse and go back home." Zhang Yanling got on the horse, shook the reins and drove away.
The officials and soldiers who were relieving the disaster breathed a sigh of relief. Someone said: "Mr. Li, you are an official of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Although he is a marquis, he has no power to assign us what to do, right? Look at his virtue, come over and give us instructions.
, why don’t you go home and relax, we’re going to be as cold as dogs here. Let’s blame us.”
The official waved his hand and said: "What nonsense are you talking about? This Marquis of Jianchang cannot be messed with. He is famous for being domineering in the capital. Even the bachelors in the cabinet can't do anything to him, so I, a small boss, am going against him? Are you crazy?"
You all should stop dawdling. What he said is reasonable. Use some hands to boil hot water to warm the people. Don’t really freeze people to death. We’ll all have to take the blame later. These bastards above didn’t waste any time.
People come to help, what a bunch of assholes."
…
Zhang Yanling and Zhao Yuancheng hurried back to the mansion. When they arrived at the door of the mansion, Zhang Yanling got off his horse and shouted after entering the door: "Where is Huang Si? Where is Huang Si?"
Huang Si was drinking tea and talking to the accountant in the accounting room. When he heard the noise, he ran out. Seeing Zhang Yanling walking quickly, he also shouted: "Oh, Mr. Hou, you are back. I have something important to report."
.”
Zhang Yanling waved her hand and said: "Let's not talk about your important matters for now. How much food do we still have in the warehouse outside?"
Huang Si was surprised and said: "There are still fifteen thousand stones left, why? Lord Marquis, you already know?"
Zhang Yanling frowned and said, "What do you know? What are you talking about?"
Huang Si widened his eyes and said: "Master Hou, do you still need to keep this matter a secret? We all know it. The price of food in the city has soared, heavy snow has blocked waterways and land routes, and the roads for transporting food have been blocked. The price of rice and noodles in the capital has skyrocketed.
.Early this morning, people went crazy to grab rice, and the grain and rice stores in the capital collectively raised their prices. One stone of grain used to cost 600 to 800 yuan, but now it has gone through the roof. Hahaha, we have made a fortune.
Fortunately, the rent we collected before was only sold for 8,000 dan. Mr. Hou was still smart. At that time, he said that the price of grain was low during the autumn harvest, so he would sell it in the spring when the harvest was slow. One dan can be worth dozens of yuan. I didn’t expect that this would be possible.
It’s really rich. Our fifteen thousand shi of food is worth a lot of money now.”
Zhang Yanling said in surprise: "Wait, is this what you are talking about?"
Huang Sidao: "Yes, otherwise what could it be? Also, these two consecutive heavy snowfalls have not only suffered for the people in the capital, but also all the people in the capital. Miyun, Huairou, Tongzhou, and the surrounding state capitals are all in bad condition. Soon there will be
A large number of fleeing people are coming to the capital. We must make preparations in advance. As soon as those hungry ghosts enter the city, the city will be in chaos. We must ask Mrs. Xiuer and the others to go out and buy vegetables, meat and other supplies. I told the nursing staff
Okay, from now on, keep your spirits up and look after your home and home. Fight out hungry ghosts when they come near."