Borrow the day to change the day

Zhong Jinwei didn't know what had happened to the big traitor's family, otherwise he would have laughed and drank to celebrate, wishing all the traitors in the world were like Fan Da's traitor, let's see how many people are willing to be traitors again.

After resting for one night, he led the army to escort the leader of the peasant army, and headed for Yulin Town with military pay and merchants.

The leaders of the Peasant Army were simply tied up and thrown on a few carts because they didn't have so many prison carts, so they didn't have to walk.Zhong Jinwei solved a big trouble of Daming, and he was very happy.This God is really eye-opening, let me bring a strong white army to run into the deserted peasant army who fled, and prepare to flee to Shanxi, which will bring more benefits than the 500 million in later generations.

He walked for a while, thinking about the peasant army, and suddenly had the idea of ​​interviewing the leaders of the peasant army, so he ran to the front of the team.

Although the leaders of the peasant army were not gagged, none of them spoke.No one can blame anyone for what happened yesterday, but they can only lament their bad luck.

If they hadn't been captured, then those leaders who surrendered to the Ming army, as long as they didn't meet that Hong Shaved their heads, even Governor Yang would be fine, and they would basically have a way out. There is a precedent for this.

But now they were defeated and captured. In this case, they would definitely end up dead.It's just that I don't know how to die, where to die, these trivial details.

Knowing that you are going to die, no one will be in a good mood.

Just when they were depressed, they all turned their heads subconsciously when they heard the sound of horseshoes coming from behind.

Seeing that Marquis Zhongxing led his group of guards towards them, he still had a smile on his face, which made them very dazzling, so they all turned their heads and stopped looking at that face.

Sure enough, the sound of horseshoes turned into a steady "de" when they reached them, and then came a greeting of "morning".

The leaders of the Peasant Army looked at each other, a little speechless in their hearts. Is this for irony?None of them turned their heads to him.Zhong Jinwei made it boring, but he thought about it, if he was one of them, he probably wouldn't bother.

So, he was quiet for a while before he said: "I said, why do you choose the road of rebellion? If there is nothing to eat in the fields, go to the mountains to find food. If there is nothing to eat in the mountains, go to the river to find food. There is nothing to eat here. Just go to another place to find food. If the government doesn’t provide disaster relief, go to the next place, and you can always find food. If it doesn’t work, you can do some business like Shanxi merchants and earn some money for food. No matter what, it’s better than rebellion , do you know that you have harmed other people by running around all the way?"

Zhao Sheng, the lamplighter, was not stunned when he heard this, and said with a sneer: "The wine and meat of the Zhumen stinks, and the road is frozen to death. You dog official, don't you know the suffering of the people, and you don't have back pain when you stand and talk!"

Gu Baichuan listened beside Zhong Jinwei, and scolded: "Don't be rude."

When Zhong Jinwei heard this line of Tang poems that Diandengzi said, he remembered that when he was a child, he read it in textbooks, and he felt resentment towards those high-ranking officials, but now he didn't expect it to be used on him.

He was not annoyed, and continued to ask: "I know that the drought in Shaanxi is severe, but I haven't seen it with my own eyes, so I really don't know. How about you tell me?"

As a result, not only the lamplighter looked at Zhong Jinwei, but many people turned their heads to look at him.From Zhong Jinwei's tone, they couldn't feel the condescending feeling of those officials who met them before and treated them like nothing.

Dian Dengzi looked at Zhong Jinwei's sincere face, felt his sincerity, and had a little liking for him, and said: "The hometown of criminals has almost no rain in the past few years, the grass and trees are scorched, and the fields have no harvest. I always hope Borrowing some money and food from rich people to tide over the famine. But who would have expected that the sky has no eyes, and there has been no rain. Your official said that you will go up the mountain and down the river to get food, do you think we are stupid?"

When Zhong Jinwei watched this man speak, his expression was heavy, and he obviously recalled the unbearable things at the beginning.

He didn't care about the sarcasm in Dian Dengzi's words, and asked kindly, "How?"

The lamplighter saw the good temper of Lord Hou, and he felt more favorable in his heart, so he continued to narrate: "The criminals first ate the grass in the mountains, and the grains were like chaff, and the taste was bitter and astringent. After the villagers ate it, they could only fill their stomachs and survive, all of them were sallow, thin, and weak. Later, this kind of grass was eaten up, so they had no choice but to peel off the bark and eat."

Speaking of this, Diandengzi suddenly laughed at himself, and asked Zhong Jinwei, "Do you know that the bark of that tree has the best taste?"

Before Zhong Jinwei could answer, he lit the lamp and said again: "You don't know, you officials will never know. Let me tell you, elm bark has the best taste, and eating it mixed with bark of other trees can also make us Don't die, spend time with God, and look forward to the rain to alleviate the disaster."

When Dian Dengzi said this, he was completely immersed in his memories, and he claimed to have changed from a criminal to the most accustomed me.

What you read in the book is never as good as hearing it from someone. Zhong Jinwei put away the smile on his face, and seeing the sad expression of this person, he suddenly felt a little apologetic for his thoughts of blaming them just now.

"God is not open to see the suffering of us grassroots people. The bark has been eaten up and the disaster has not been relieved. The government and the rich people can't go hungry, but they don't care about us. The cowardly obedient people are the hope in your mouth Such people would go to dig the green leaf stones on the mountain to eat. This kind of green leaf stones have a fishy and greasy taste, and they will be full after eating a little, which can stave off hunger. But if they eat them for a few days, they will bloat and fall to death. "

When Dian Dengzi said this, two lines of tears flowed from the corners of his eyes. Obviously, some relatives died like this.

He looked at Zhong Jinwei, and suddenly raised his voice and asked: "Master Guan, may I ask, if it were you, would you rather just starve to death like this or gather together to snatch food?"

Zhong Jinwei was speechless, if it was as this person said, how would he choose?Zhong Jinwei knew that he would definitely not want to starve to death.

"You said we rebelled, that's not true! We are actually just here for a bite to eat. Even if we were killed because of this, we are at least a hungry ghost!"

At this point, Dian Dengzi turned his head to his companions, glanced around, and said loudly, "Are we rebelling? We just don't want to be starved to death!"

The leader of the peasant army couldn't help but nodded when he heard it clearly.

A loud voice resounded among them: "I used to trade horses for a living, and I traveled to many places. I saw things that you, an official, would never see in your life!"

Zhong Jinwei followed the sound to look over, recognized Gao Yingxiang, and asked, "What did you see?"

Now that Gao Yingxiang has opened his mouth, of course he will not hold back. He recalled and said: "In the west of Ansai City, there is a place called Yicheng, where one or two babies are abandoned every day, because the family can't support them, and I can't bear to see them in person. I only did this when I saw that they were starving to death. Some of those babies could not speak yet, they could only cry; The next morning, the babies were all dead. But new babies were thrown in here, and the human tragedy was repeated day after day."

When Gao Yingxiang said this, he glanced at Zhong Jinwei, then at the guards around Zhong Jinwei, and continued: "This is not the worst."

There was a young son in Gu Baichuan's family, who was shocked by what he heard, and couldn't help asking: "How do you say it?"

"The disaster is getting worse and worse. Later, if there are young men or people who go out of the city alone, they will never be found again. My cavalry once saw people outside the city using human bones as firewood and cooking human flesh to satisfy their hunger. That's how I knew." Those who disappeared out of the city ended up like this. And those who eat people, after a few days, their faces will be red and swollen, and they will die from heat. The final result is that there are dead bodies everywhere outside the city, and the stench is suffocating. People in the city had to go outside the city to dig pits to bury the remains. Each pit could hold hundreds of people. By the time I left that place, there were more than three pits full. I don't know how many there are."

Gao Yingxiang stopped after talking so much in one breath. At this time, no one around the prison car made a sound, only the sound of horseshoes.

After a while, Zhong Jinwei asked with a heavy heart: "Then the government doesn't care, at least find a way to save the common people?"

As soon as Zhong Jinwei finished speaking, the leaders of the Peasant Army burst into laughter, some laughing until tears came out, as if they had heard a big joke.

This time, no one reprimanded them, just watched them vent their emotions quietly.

"I'll tell you how the official does it!" This time it was Wang Jiayin who spoke.