Chapter 244: Year-old hunger, people cannibalize each other! (First update)
There is no cockcrow for a hundred miles, and there is no human being for a thousand miles.
The tragedy that I had only heard about became a reality, and the shock was incomparable.
The grain transport teams coming from all directions were shocked as they walked in the empty and desolate wilderness. No matter what they were originally, they all seemed to have been drained of their energy and became taciturn.
A rabbit dies and a fox grieves when something harms its own species, and so do humans.
No one can see the tragic situation of their compatriots and remain indifferent, especially the civilian laborers, government servants, and soldiers who transport food. Seeing this tragic scene, they all think of themselves.
In the face of natural and man-made disasters, they were just lucky not to have been born in Deyang Mansion, but it would not be any different if such a disaster happened to them.
Powerless, frustrated, sad, sad, scared...
The overwhelming negative emotions swept down, making Li Chuang almost unable to breathe.
Li Chuang is like this, and so are others.
The entire Deyang Mansion seemed to have turned into a silent purgatory.
Disaster relief has become especially difficult.
On the desolate and ruined land, no one knows where the hungry people are, let alone whether anyone is still alive.
Groups of grain transport teams came from Delin Prefecture, Shunde Prefecture, Mulin Prefecture and other places, like lone wild geese scattering in all directions, looking for hungry people and human settlements.
It is also summarizing the disaster situation and casualties in Deyang Mansion.
Any intelligence can only be gathered based on talents. Under such an environment, even the elite warriors of the six sects, including the Jinyi Guards, feel that there is nothing they can do.
In the past, when they needed information, they only needed to find strongholds stationed in various places to get what they wanted. At worst, they could also collect it from other people.
However, in such an almost uninhabited and desolate land, the methods of the past are of no use, and we can only collect them with the most primitive means.
Search and visit inch by inch.
A huge porridge shed was erected in the shade at the foot of a mountain. The smoke from the kitchen spread along with the aroma of porridge and rice. Farther away, a large number of civilians, government officials, and soldiers were building temporary residences.
Xu Wenji walked numbly in the desolation, looking outside the porridge shed at the dark, almost inhumane hungry people. The corners of his eyes were sore, but he could no longer shed tears.
"I remember that thirty-seven years ago, when I was ordered to enter Beijing, I passed by Deyang Mansion. At that time, Deyang Mansion was filled with thousands of rivers and vast hectares of fertile land. Although there were still people who did not have enough to eat or wear warm clothes, it was considered a rare place in Qingzhou.
Such a good place..."
Xu Wenji murmured to himself, as if he was talking to Yu Qiu Zhanyu, or to the Gongun princes who were thousands of miles away and living in the temple.
"Back then, Deyang Prefecture was ranked among the top three prefectures in Qingzhou. It had thousands of hectares of fertile land, a population of tens of millions, and plenty of money and food..."
Looking at the old man who was getting older and more hunched beside him, Qiu Zhanyu's voice was a little hoarse, and his heart felt sour and uncomfortable.
Even though they had seen many harsh Jin Yiwei, many people couldn't stand it after entering Deyang Mansion and roared as if they were crazy.
Surrounded by water, nurtured by thousands of rivers, and inhabited by tens of millions of people, the Pearl of Qingzhou has now become like this. Who can remain indifferent?
Perhaps many years from now, everything that happens at this moment will only be the cold six words: "There is great hunger, people eat each other." But at this moment, it is still the lament of tens of millions of people.
Looking at the victims outside the porridge shed, who seemed to be numerous but were far fewer than expected, the two of them were speechless for a moment.
Especially Qiu Zhanyu, until he came to Deyang Mansion, he still didn't believe that the disaster in Deyang Mansion would cause tens of millions of people to flee.
"This is a natural disaster and a man-made disaster."
Qiu Zhanyu's face was ashen and he almost wanted to kill someone:
"Is it the Liansheng Cult again?!"
The disaster in Deyang Mansion did not happen overnight, but lasted for more than two years.
But for such a long time, no matter whether it was the officials of the Deyang Mansion, the policemen of the Six Gates, or the secret agents of the Jin Yiwei, not a single word was heard.
Apart from the Lianshengjiao, there is absolutely no other family in Qingzhou that can have such means.
Xu Wenji didn't say anything, and walked a few steps quickly until he reached a fast horse that had just arrived. The knight on the horse reined in his horse and got off, holding a thin blind boy in his arms.
This is the first child he has seen since entering Deyang Mansion.
"Sir, this child was found in a cave not far away..."
What else did the knight want to say? Xu Wenji leaned down, handed the cake in his arms to the child, stroked his skinny body, and asked:
"Why are you in the cave?"
"...My dad, my dad took me there. He, he said there were many bad people outside, so he took my mother and I to hide in the cave..."
The thin blind boy chewed the pancake and spoke inarticulately.
"Where are your parents?"
"I don't know... then I couldn't see anymore. My father said that my mother had gone somewhere else. Later, my father also left and left me some meat and fishy water..."
The blind boy said.
"grown ups."
The knight couldn't bear it, so he stepped forward and lowered his voice:
"In the cave, there are indeed two corpses of a man and a woman, as well as some traces of smoke. It should be the child's father, who poked his eyes out, and then..."
"say no more!"
Qiu Zhanyu gave a low drink and supported Xu Wenji.
"Where is Nie Wendong?"
Xu Wenji pushed him away, expressionless.
"The terrain of Deyang Mansion is complicated. Master Nie left a porridge shed here to provide food relief, and then went south.
All the porridge shacks along the way were left by him. Calculating the time, he should have arrived near Deyang Fucheng. Deyang Fucheng was the most prosperous before. Even if there is a major disaster, he can survive..."
The knight bowed in response.
Qiu Zhanyu frowned deeply.
In order to cleanse the power of the four major families, he and Xu Wenji came a little later. It was not until the four major families were completely defeated that they brought people to Deyang Mansion.
Before this, the disaster relief was carried out by Nie Wendong who had destroyed Changliu Mountain. Many of the porridge shacks they saw along the way were left by him.
"Deyang Fucheng?"
Xu Wenji nodded, instructing his subordinates to take care of the porridge shed and refugees here, and headed towards Deyang Mansion together with Qiu Zhanyu.
Before getting on his horse, Xu Wenji looked back at the desolate land behind him, feeling unspeakably sad.
Whoosh!
Leaving the food behind, the group of people rode quickly. As they approached Deyang Mansion, the number of people gradually increased. When they saw the city of Deyang Mansion in the distance, Xu Wenji suddenly stopped.
Hu~
The others also stopped.
Xu Wenji got off his horse and walked to the nearest porridge shed. There were quite a few refugees gathered here, but they were much better than what he had seen when he came here, at least they were not completely naked.
However, there are still dishes.
One by one, Xu Wenji looked at the big pot of porridge and rice without saying a word. Qiu Zhanyu dropped his chopsticks. The porridge and rice in the pot were very thick, and the chopsticks stood upright.
"There seems to be nothing wrong with this rice porridge, right?"
Qiu Zhanyu's brows relaxed.
The chopsticks floated up and the heads fell to the ground. These porridges were cooked in compliance with the regulations and there was really nothing wrong with them.
"Let me ask you, who set up this porridge shed, and when was it set up? How many pots of porridge and rice are cooked every day, and how many victims can be helped?"
Xu Wenji looked at the man cooking porridge and asked in a deep voice.
"ah?"
When Su heard the question, the man trembled, a little flustered, and couldn't speak clearly:
"me……"
"Xilulu!"
Suddenly, the sound of a horse neighing was heard in the distance. When the man heard it, his whole body trembled. The nearby refugees were also frightened and knelt down one after another.
Even the one holding a bowl of porridge is no exception.
call!
A group of knights came in a hurry. When they saw Xu Wenji and his party from a distance, the middle-aged man in front of him tightened his expression. He immediately dismounted his horse and walked quickly. Before he could reach him, he knelt down:
"Student An Sizhi, meet Mr. Xu!"
"Master Deyang, An Sizhi."
Hearing this name, the faces of the people behind Xu Wenji turned cold. Even the usually steady Qiu Zhanyu almost wanted to draw a knife and hack him to death.
"Think about it, be careful about it, the name is excellent..."
Xu Wenji looked at him expressionlessly and asked the four questions he had asked the cook before.
"Well…"
An Sizhi's expression changed slightly, and he responded quickly:
"Outside the city, students have set up 320 porridge sheds, and each shed cooks 190 pots of porridge every day. In the past two years, a total of 280,000 victims have been helped!"
"More than two years, more than two years..."
Looking at the terrified refugees crawling outside the porridge shack, with faces as thin as skeletons, Xu Wenji let out a long sigh:
"What you did is very good!"
Zheng!
Before he could sigh, he suddenly stretched out his hand and pulled out the Yanling knife from Qiu Zhanyu's waist. With just one blow, he cut off the shocked An Si's head!
laugh!
Blood was sprinkled on the ground, and people inside and outside the porridge shed were shocked at first, and then fell silent.
Plop!
The corpse fell to the ground, splashing with ashes. The people who followed were all shocked when they saw this scene. They never expected that such a thing would happen.
Without waiting for their reaction, Xu Wenji had already sheathed his sword, his old face full of unconcealed anger and murder:
"Every official in Deyang Mansion will be arrested. If anyone resists, they will be killed on the spot!"
…
…
Whoosh!
In the hot and bleak autumn wind, the chariot pulled by the dragon horse was traveling through the wilderness. Yang Yu stood on the back of the dragon horse and looked around. Even with his state of mind, he couldn't help but feel chilly.
His five senses were extremely sharp, but at this time, even if he raised his five senses to the limit, he could not capture any sound except the sound of the wind.
Desolate and lonely, purgatory is everywhere you look.
"No wonder Sanxiaosan people can't bear it and take things so seriously..."
Yang Yu murmured, feeling a little twitching in his heart.
Having the painful experience of being a homeless beggar, he had always been deeply impressed by the famine, but only when he saw this scene before him did he realize what horror was.
The autumn wind blows not only weeds, but also bones.
Natural disaster?
Man-made disaster?
"this……"
The carriage stopped. Qin Si and Zhao Kun both got out of the carriage and looked around at the desolate world. For a moment, they didn't know what to say.
They have been to Deyang Mansion.
But just because I have been there, I feel even more chilling and terrifying.
"call!"
After a long time, Yang Prison withdrew his eyes and turned to Qin Si: