The end of the Ming Dynasty swept the world

Chapter 404
On May 5, Weixian County.

At this time, it has entered the boundary of Laizhou, and Changyi is along the official road. During the Dengzhou Rebellion, the rebels could only fight as far as Changyi, so after entering Weixian, the people here are still a bit popular.

At this time, at the junction of Weixian and Changyi official roads, a large number of victims were crowded.

Since last year, the Shaanxi refugee riots have spread to many places in Ming Dynasty. Henan, Shanxi, Anhui, Hubei, and Sichuan have been affected. The refugees passed by, and there was no grass. Many people were either coerced or fled in waves.

More than 1000 people on this official road all fled from Shanxi. He passed through Jinan, Qingzhou, and then entered Laizhou.

It’s just because when I was in Jinan, many refugees could not enter the city, and the local government didn’t care about it, but there were rumors inside and outside the city that in Denglai and Lai, some officials set up porridge relief to help the refugees and distribute the land.

At that time, many disaster victims did not believe it, but there were rumors that the chaos in Dengzhou caused thousands of miles of desolation, and now there are many unowned fertile fields in Dengzhou, waiting for the owner to claim them.

People in this era, as long as they have acres of land and a home, is their greatest wish in life. Many disaster victims spontaneously organized to go to Denglai, and some unbelievers continued to flee in Jinan and other places.

The victims traveled all the way from Jinan to Qingzhou, passing through each prefecture with no one to take care of them. Many victims even fell on the road forever because of hunger and fatigue.

But wherever I go, I always meet a group of people at a certain crossing, cook a few pots of porridge, and tell them that there may be hope for Denglai ahead, and there are more porridges.

It was this voice, and a little porridge, that guided the victims to Denglai step by step.

There are more than 1000 people in this wave of disasters. When they set off from Jinan, there were only more than 700 of them. They got separated and died on the way, but more and more people still traveled.

Because there are people coming to Denglai from all directions, everyone, like them, has received news from various prefectures in Shandong that Dengzhou has fields and food.

After entering Weixian County, Laizhou, Weixian County set up more than [-] large porridge pots at the gate of the city, cooking porridge day and night. After the victims ate warm porridge, many people were about to cry. It turned out that this was true. .

The person in charge of porridge told them to walk along the official road and continue to the next stop.

Last year, Ding Yi arranged to Denglai and even all the strongholds in Shandong to play a role. Ding Yi paid for it, and the local government contributed. Those who are too far away are the arrangers. In villages and small towns, porridge shops are set up every thirty miles or so, and money flows out every day.

The money for cooking porridge is still a trivial matter. In order to make the local government do its best, Ding Yi hired local officials and sergeants with silver to maintain order. The expenses include porridge and labor, plus his own people, it costs more than 1000 taels, nearly 2000 taels a year. There are more people outside of Denglai, and the expenses are also a lot. Fortunately, Du Ruhai has money in his hands. And there is no need for Lushun to post money to go in for the time being.

At this time, this wave of more than 1000 victims had just passed through Weixian County and arrived at the Changyi site.

There are still more than [-] big pots on the official road, cooking porridge, and the victims passing by can drink a big bowl each.

But unlike the villages we passed through before, there is a checkpoint in front of us, and everyone who passes by will be questioned.

"Do you have any specialties? Comparing handicrafts or something?"

A middle-aged man and a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl waited in line for a long time before it was their turn to drink porridge, but they were stopped and asked.

The middle-aged man was not tall, with an honest face. His clothes were torn and torn, and his face was pale. It looked like he had suffered a lot.

The young woman's hair is a bit messy, and her face is covered in black and gray. She probably wiped it off on purpose, for fear of being missed.

"I—does it count if I know how to make guns?" The man thought for a long time and asked cautiously.

"Do you know how to shoot a gun?" The man across from him looked up at him, and then asked, "What kind of gun do you know, where did you do it before?"

"Bird gun, I used to do it in Datong Town."

"There hasn't been a military disaster in Datong recently, why did you escape?" the man asked again.

"I can't live anymore. I have no fields, no rice, and no income from playing guns." The man said angrily.

He played guns for Datong Town, and the military didn't give him any money, only some rice, which was not enough for him to eat, let alone a daughter.

"What's her name, where does she live in Datong?" The other side asked again, "Who is she?"

"Wang Min, No. 9 Pi Lane, Datong Township."

"This is my daughter Wang Jier."

The person on the other side took something and wrote it down, and then stretched out his hand to say hello: "You two go to the back, wear gray clothes."

The two later found a man in gray clothes.

"What skill?" the gray-clothed man asked.

"Shooting a blunderbuss." Wang Min said honestly.

The man in gray clothes took out something and stuffed it in his hand.

He looked down and saw that it was a sign wrapped in iron sheet, with the character 'A' on it, and a trace of red on the back.

Then he gave him a cloth bag, which seemed to have something in it.

"You go along the official road to Laizhou. When you meet a porridge place on the road, you don't need to queue up. You hand over the sign first, and answer whatever you ask. Don't talk if you don't ask. Do you understand?"

"Understood." Wang Min nodded quickly.

"What did I say?" the other side asked again.

"Go to Laizhou along the official road—" Wang Min stammered as he thought.

The daughter Wang Ji'er next to her said in a crisp voice at this moment: "When you meet the porridge order, you don't need to queue up, just pass the sign first, and answer whatever you ask, and don't talk if you don't ask."

"Well, your daughter is very smart." The other side looked at Wang Jier.

Wang Jier lowered her head and smiled shyly, but her face was covered with black ash, so nothing could be seen.

When the two were drinking porridge, they opened the cloth bag and found three rice cakes inside, which made the father and daughter very excited.

The two hurried to a place where no one was around to eat, and ate the rice cakes and porridge in one go. The whole person was full and felt a lot of strength recovered.

Now the father and daughter felt more hopeful, and continued on their way.

They followed the large army, stopping and going. Fortunately, it was May and the temperature was not cold, so they could find a place to sleep at night.

It was not until May 5 that I arrived in Huang County.

At this time, it was not far from Dengzhou, and many victims were tired and hungry, but every time they passed the porridge market, they had cakes to eat, and their physical strength was relatively good.

This day, I went to the porridge market in Huangxian County. There were refugees from Pingdu, Laiyang and other places who came to Dengzhou. There were more than 3000 people at the scene, and people were everywhere, messy and dirty.

But here is close to Dengzhou, and Xu Fuzuo, the commander-in-chief of Denglai, specially sent two teams of soldiers to maintain order, and the victims did not dare to run around.

Wang Min saw how long the queue was for eating porridge, so he quickly took out the red iron plate carefully from his pocket.

He was about to move forward happily.

Suddenly, someone from behind suddenly appeared in front of him, slapped his hands, and reported the iron plate.

He froze for a moment.

I saw a skinny young man looking at him with a ferocious expression: "You dog, I've been watching you for a long time. I want this thing."

Ba, said he slapped Wang Min's face.

"Ah!" Wang Min screamed and rolled to the ground.

"Daddy" Wang Jier ran over crying from behind.

(End of this chapter)