Chapter five hundred and seventieth emergency assistance
Guo Song took out a command arrow and gave it to the captain of the army, "Go to Zhang Qiu'an quickly and send a thousand soldiers and two thousand donkeys to assist, and bring over three thousand rations for the army."
"Obey the order!" The personal soldier captain took the order arrow and hurried away.
At this time, Pan Liao also came with a group of officials. Pan Liao stepped forward to pay tribute to Guo Song.
Guo Song said to him: "These people came from Guanzhong and said they couldn't survive. It seems a bit contrary to the news I heard. I want to ask them what happened?"
"I humbly obey orders!"
Pan Liao went to work in a hurry. At this time, a thousand soldiers came over with two thousand donkeys, and also brought a large amount of dry food. This was the dry food brought by the soldiers when they went out for training, mainly flour cakes, and one serving had ten sheets of flour cakes.
Put it in a special dry food bag.
The soldiers distributed bread to the refugees, helped the elderly, women and children onto donkeys, and led them toward the old warehouse in the northeast.
The old warehouse covers an area of 100 acres and is currently empty. It has complete kitchens, toilets and other facilities and has not yet been demolished. It is suitable for housing these refugees. If tents are set up in the warehouse, it will basically be warmer.
........
Early the next morning, Guo Songxian arrived at the old warehouse. The old warehouse was full of refugees. Yu Xude was very capable. He considered that all the tents in the warehouse would definitely not be enough to accommodate, so he carried out classified resettlement. The elderly lived together, and women and children lived together.
At the same time, the conditions of these two types of people are better. Leather tents are set up in the warehouses and sheepskins are spread inside the tents, which makes them more comfortable.
The young and strong people lived in two large warehouses without setting up tents. Each person was given a piece of cloth armor worn by the army and a marching blanket. Since there were many people, they crowded together and slept in their clothes.
When Guo Song arrived, soldiers were distributing porridge and steamed buns to the refugees, and a dozen military doctors were diagnosing the pulses of sick people.
At this time, Pan Liao stepped forward and said to Guo Song: "Your Majesty, the situation seems to be a little bad."
"Why do you say that?" Guo Song asked with a frown.
"They are just the first batch. Not only them, there are many refugees behind."
Guo Song was surprised and asked quickly: "What kind of refugee? What is going on?"
Pan Liao said to Guo Song as he walked: "They are actually all refugees from the Central Plains. In the past few years of the Central Plains War, people from various states in the Central Plains have fled to Guanzhong and become refugees. For an official to be humble, he is one of these people."
The leader of the refugees knows the situation better..."
"Where are the people?"
Pan Liao suddenly waved to a middle-aged man, "County Magistrate Liu, please come here!"
The middle-aged man stepped forward and saluted, "Why is Pan Changshi looking for a humble position?"
Pan Liao introduced him: "This is our Hexi Jiedu envoy Guo Shijun. He wants to ask you about your situation!"
The middle-aged man hurriedly bowed and saluted, "Liu Ying, the magistrate of Yancheng County in Yuzhou, would you like to see Mr. Guo?"
Guo Song was a little curious. He was a county magistrate, but he also became a refugee?
"County Magistrate Liu, what's going on?"
"I would like to inform you, our elders all escaped from Yuzhou. At that time, Li Xilie's army was fighting with the imperial army. Li Xilie's army was very cruel. They burned, killed and raped everywhere. The people fled with their families. I took this group of people with me.
Fleeed to Guanzhong.
At first, the government provided relief to us, but more than a month ago, Zhu Si stopped providing relief to the refugees and wanted to drive us out of Guanzhong. War continued in the Central Plains and no one wanted to go back. Zhu Si sent someone to tell them that the Hexi government was
Farmers were recruited to farm, and each family was given three hectares of permanent land and tax exemption for life. Everyone was tempted and started to come to Hexi. We temporarily settled in Pizhou and were the first batch to leave. There were many refugees behind us, all heading to Hexi.
Come."
"Why did Zhu Si drive away the refugees?" Guo Song asked.
Liu Ying bowed and said: "I went to Chang'an specifically to inquire. I heard that there is not enough food in Guangtong warehouse."
Guo Song and Pan Liao looked at each other. They had known that this day would come. Zhu Si had raised an army of 300,000 people, divided the fields, exempted and exempted taxes, and his monthly food consumption was all supported by Guangtong warehouse.
No matter how much food there is in the warehouse, it cannot withstand such consumption. Now that food is in short supply, the first step is to drive away the refugees.
Zhu Si was cruel enough to let Hexi take the blame. Although Hexi and Anxi needed population, they wanted to increase it gradually. Now that they are here all at once, no one can bear it.
"How many refugees are there in Chang'an?" Guo Song asked again.
"At the most, there were more than 1.5 million refugees. During the Jingyuan Mutiny, some of them went home. This time the government said that at least one million refugees would be driven away. It is estimated that some of them will return to the Central Plains or Hedong, but there are still many who have to come.
In Hexi, the most conservative figure is more than 400,000."
"Four hundred thousand people?" Guo Song's expression became serious.
"This is still the lowest number of people. It is more likely that five to six million people will come."
Guo Song immediately said to Pan Liao: "Immediately summon the officials of the fifth rank and above in Xingtai to gather in the meeting hall, and then invite Mr. Yan Ge to come, and magistrate Liu to introduce the situation."
...........
Dozens of officials were sitting in the meeting hall, each with a heavy look on their face, and a few officials showed fear in their eyes. How could they accept at least 400,000 refugees?
This is, Guo Song said slowly: "Convening everyone to discuss is not to discuss whether we can do it, but how should we do it?"
"But... Your Majesty, there are 400,000 refugees!" Yu Xude couldn't help but said.
Guo Song waved his hand, indicating that he didn't need to worry, and said with a smile: "I think everyone should be grateful. This is such a huge fortune. We in Hexi can't let it go. There are also tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land in Longyou and Hehuang Valley.
With such a large population, we have problems with the supply of soldiers, lack of miners, shortage of all kinds of labor, and the revival of Beiting and Anxi. These all require a large number of people. Everyone, this is an opportunity and wealth, not a burden!"
After these words, everyone quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Thinking about the problem from another angle can indeed make people feel a little more relaxed.
Guo Song added: "Of course, it will definitely be a bit harder in the early stage, but we can't be like Zhu Si and ignore whether the people live or die. We must do our best to help when it's time to help."
"Well said!"
Yan Zhenqing said with admiration on his face: "This is the king who cares about the world. It is your luck to follow Guo Shijun. If I were twenty years younger, I would definitely charge forward."
"Mr. Yan is experienced, can you tell me your suggestions for rescue?" Guo Songxiao asked.
"Well...Okay! I'll just talk about it briefly."
Yan Zhenqing slowly said to everyone: "Actually, what I am most worried about is that during the long journey, a large number of people will die on the way. The weather is cold, there is no food, and there is no rescue. Hexi is thousands of miles away. That kind of despair will make many old and weak people and
Women and children cannot hold on, so the top priority is to provide relief in advance. We cannot wait for them to come to Hexi. We must set up relief points and even large camps along the way to survive the cold winter first and then come to Hexi after spring."
Guo Song also didn't want refugees to come to Zhangye. It was too dangerous. He nodded and said: "My idea is exactly the same as Yan Gong's. We should first set up a camp on the east bank of the Yellow River. Many people can't stand walking through the frozen Yellow River.
I asked these people, 10% of them died on the way, and more than half of them died after crossing the Yellow River. Or you can set up a large camp on the west bank of the Yellow River, but you must use sleds to transport the old, weak, women and children across the Yellow River. Everyone
Any comments?"
"Excuse me, envoy, where should we set up our camp across the river?" Cao Wannian asked.
Guo Song thought for a while and said: "If you come from Jingyuan Road, you must go to Huixian County to cross the Yellow River. If you come from Fengxiang, you must go to Jincheng to cross the Yellow River. I suggest setting up camps on both sides and mobilizing 20,000 people.
The army transports supplies, mainly tents and food. Jincheng County has food and supplies, and Hui County is the focus. I believe that most of the refugees also come from Hui County. I am fully responsible for this matter. Everyone, please take action!"
Guo Song issued an emergency rescue order, and Hexi's military and political forces mobilized. Ten thousand camels, thousands of carts, hundreds of sleds and tens of thousands of mules and donkeys were dispatched, loaded with tents, medicinal materials, supplies and food.
Rushing towards Huizhou, Guo Song led thousands of cavalry and two horses to set off first.
He ordered Cao Wannian and Liang Wu to lead five thousand soldiers to Jincheng County, Lanzhou. Cao Wannian was responsible for the resettlement of the people in Jincheng County.
Guo Song went to Huixian in person, and his war horses galloped forward. Three days later, three thousand cavalry led by Guo Song arrived at Huixian. They had encountered many refugees one after another along the way. Guo Song ordered the Liangzhou government to resettle them.
Huixian County is governed by Huizhou Prefecture. Huizhou originally belonged to Longyou Jiedu Prefecture. It is located in the northernmost part of Longyou Jiedu Prefecture and borders Lingzhou. It has a vast area and sparsely populated area. After the Hexi Army defeated Tubo, Huizhou and Lanzhou were included together.
Hexi Jiedufu.
There are only two county towns in Huizhou, Hui County and Wulan County, with a small population. However, Hui County is a very important crossing of the Yellow River. Basically, the caravans coming through the Jingyuan Road cross the Yellow River through Hui County.
When Guo Song arrived in Huixian, he found that there was a huge crowd on the other side of the Yellow River. At least tens of thousands of refugees had gathered. There were many refugees gathered not only on the other side of the Yellow River, but also in the county town of Huixian.
The county, which was originally small, is under unprecedented pressure.