In Heshan Township, Ningyang County, Shandong Province, dark clouds rolled in the sky. Tianlai Novel.|2 The people of Heshan Township looked at the dark clouds in the sky one by one, hoping that these dark clouds would bring some rain to Heshan Township.
It has not rained in Ningyang County for three months.
Without rain, the crops will not survive. Just carrying water from rivers and wells for irrigation will not save the crops. The rice in the fields has dried up due to lack of water. If it doesn’t rain within half a month, this year’s crops will be lost.
No harvest.
If there is no harvest, there will be no food next year, so we have to flee famine. In the 14th year of Chongzhen, there was a severe drought in Shandong. At that time, several counties in Shandong were so hungry that the population was greatly reduced, and some people even exchanged their children for cannibalism. I didn’t expect that it would be difficult to survive.
Just two years after that severe drought, Ningyang County is experiencing another severe drought.
This drought lasted for three months and lasted for three months. How many people will starve to death in Ningyang County this time?
Liu Jiangui, a farmer from Heshan Township, looked helplessly at the dark clouds in the sky and was so nervous that he could not speak.
Now Liu Jiangui is actually very tired. He worked all night carrying water to irrigate the fields last night, carrying water from the Dawen River to irrigate his own fields.
The Dawen River is also almost dry. There is only a little flowing water in the middle of the river bed, which looks like a small stream. It is not easy to climb from the river embankment to the bottom of the river bed to carry water. Liu Jiangui fell while walking yesterday.
When he fell down, he scraped against the ground and had a big cut on his arm.
However, even such hard work may only alleviate the gradual drying up of the rice. The Dawen River is three miles away from his field, and he can only carry two buckets of water at a time. After going back and forth twenty times, he barely managed to get more than ten acres of water.
The rice is poured with a shallow layer of water. If you want to obtain a subsistence harvest, this kind of irrigation is far from enough.
Liu Jiangui didn't dare to rest during the day. After sleeping for an hour, he got up again and prepared to fetch water.
Liu Jiangui's crops are relatively close to the Dawen River, and he can get water with a little more effort. What is the situation like for those fields far away from the river?
There were a few men in the village who liked to go to the town to listen to "Shandong Daily". Liu Jiangui heard from them that there was a severe drought in the whole of Shandong. The crops in many places had all withered. Not only was there a drought, there was also a locust plague in Qingzhou and Laizhou. Those locusts
It was overwhelming, even the dry crops were not spared.
Liu Jiangui looked helplessly at the dark clouds in the sky, secretly thinking that only a rain from heaven could save the people of Shandong.
Suddenly, the second son of the Huang family next door ran over and shouted at the door of Liu Jiangui's yard: "Liu Jiangui, go to the Dragon King Temple quickly. Master He has put out sacrifices to pray for rain!"
Master He asked for rain?
Liu Jiangui was overjoyed when he heard this. He dropped his pole and ran to the Dragon King Temple by the river. When he got there, Liu Jiangui saw that hundreds of people had gathered outside the Dragon King Temple. Ragged farmers were kneeling on the ground.
, all kowtow to the statue in the Dragon King Temple.
He Yuanwai, the largest landowner in Heshan Township, placed a pig's head, chicken and duck sacrifices on the sacred table of the Dragon King Temple, and was offering incense to the Dragon King.
Liu Jiangui also walked in and knelt behind the villagers.
He Yuanwai burned incense and shouted loudly: "Li Zhi caused trouble in Shandong and manipulated public opinion, angering God, and finally led to a severe drought. However, we and other people are all innocent people, and we are definitely not members of Li's bandits. Please also ask the Dragon King to show mercy to Heshan Township."
The people of Heshan Township showed their spiritual power and sent a rain to protect the people of Heshan Township from famine in the coming year."
Liu Jiangui was stunned when he heard He Yuanwai's words, and secretly wondered what the relationship between the severe drought and the Duke of Jin was? He Yuanwai hated Li's bone implant and forced the drought to be blamed on the Duke of Jin.
However, the people were eager to pray for rain at this time and respected He Yuanwai who paid for rain. No one came out to refute He Yuanwai. He Yuanwai chanted for a while in front of the sacred table, knelt down and kowtowed, and inserted three sticks of incense in the incense burner.
inside.
As soon as He Yuanwai put on the incense, there was a roar of thunder outside the temple.
Is it thundering? Is it going to rain?
The people in the temple became excited and looked at He Yuanwai in front of the divine case. He Yuanwai was clever and knelt in front of the divine case and shouted loudly: "The Dragon King has a spirit! If the Dragon King hates Thief Li, he can bring disaster to him.
Tianjin. We, the people of Shandong, are by no means members of the Li bandits. I hope that the Dragon King will send down the rain to save our people."
After He Yuanwai said this, he kept kowtowing to the Dragon King statue. The people kneeling inside and outside the Dragon King Temple also followed He Yuanwai and kowtowed vigorously to the statue.
As if he was very disappointed with He Yuanwai's words, the rolling thunder suddenly stopped.
No matter how devoutly everyone knelt, the thunder never sounded again. Liu Jiangui looked up at the sky, only to see that the dark clouds were getting lighter and lighter, and gradually split. A beam of desperate sunlight pierced the scattered dark clouds, and fell
On to the dry land.
Liu Jiangui was greatly frustrated and fell to the ground helplessly.
There is no harvest this year and we will starve to death next year.
"Shandong Daily" said that there is also a severe drought in Henan this year, and the harvest in southern Zhili is not good. Even if you go out to escape famine, you will probably die in a narrow escape, or you will die in a foreign country.
That beam of sunshine broke the illusions of many people. The people looked at the sky in despair, and they were speechless. After a while, some people hugged each other and started crying.
Liu Jiangui sighed and was about to get up when he suddenly saw a panicked young man running from a distance.
"It's not good! The Dawen River has stopped flowing! The Dawen River has dried up!"
It's over.
Liu Jiangui felt as if someone had punched him in the chest, and he could not react for a long time. He only felt that it was difficult to breathe, and suddenly his vision went black and he fainted.
####
"There was a severe drought in Shandong in March, and the bare land was thousands of miles away. All the people's crops have dried up, and next year's rations may have been wiped out. The locusts covered the sky in Qingzhou, Dengzhou and Laizhou, leaving no grass behind..."
In the morning court at Huangji Palace, Emperor Zhu Youjian looked at the civil servant who reported the situation and sighed.
Shaanxi and Henan just suffered from drought last year, and Shandong suffered from drought and locust plague this year. The Ming Dynasty endured until the 16th year of Chongzhen and became more and more difficult. Although the famines in various places were largely caused by the neglect of water conservancy facilities, these two
The famine of 2016 was so intensive that Zhu Youjian felt a little out of breath.
After a severe drought in Shaanxi last year, famine has spread all over the country this year. Although the rich families have stored up grain, they are unwilling to use it for disaster relief. The common people have no food and starve to death in the fields. Li Zicheng seized this opportunity to cause trouble in Shaanxi and led the hungry people to attack the county and open the granary. Several
Eight county towns have been captured in the past month.
The situation in Henan is not peaceful either. Henan also suffered from drought last year and is facing food shortages this year. Bandits such as Luo Rucai, Gezuo Fourth Battalion and Li Dingguo also looted in Henan. Last month, Zhu Youjian sent Cao Bianjiao and Wang Pu south to suppress the bandits.
, but the bandits ran away when they saw the officers and soldiers coming. Cao Bianjiao and Wang Pu, with more than 30,000 soldiers and horses, could not suppress the entire Henan.
If chaos breaks out again in Shandong, how many people will starve to death. How many thieves will take advantage of the situation and conquer many states and counties?
