I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 29: Small groups also have internal conflicts

On the rest of the journey, Wei Jia, who was traveling with Yuan Shu, couldn't help but ask.

"Mr. Yuan, is this enough? Some clothes and some food, are they really enough? This may not be enough for them to survive this harsh winter, right? Shouldn't we give them more?"

Wei Jia came from a poor family and had suffered from hunger when he was young. He survived by relying on the help of his neighbors.

When he was a little older, one of his elder brothers made military achievements and became an officer. His family's financial situation improved and they became small landlords.

Therefore, he had a better understanding of farming and the living conditions of farmers, had a deeper understanding and sympathy for these farmers, and was very worried that these half-naked farmers would still freeze to death or starve to death after they left.

Yuan Shu glanced at him and shook his head.

"Of course it's not enough. But even if we give them all our food and clothing, it can only help them temporarily, not forever. We need to find a solution from the root. First, investigate the specific situation, summarize it, and then make considerations. Remember, don't speak without field investigation."

Wei Jia was stunned for a moment, then nodded, said nothing more, and continued to follow Yuan Shu forward.

On the first day, they visited three villages. On the second day, they visited three villages. On the third day, they visited four villages.

On the fourth day, they returned to Maoling County and met with the other three investigation teams led by Lu Zhi and others. They gathered together and held a brief meeting.

"This is a serious situation."

Lu Zhi's face was grim, and he said loudly: "What we saw most along the way were not living people, but dead bodies frozen to death on the roadside. In the villages where self-cultivating farmers gathered, there were few houses that could keep out the cold. Most of them were mud houses and straw houses. It was difficult to keep out the cold, and the farmers were particularly short of clothes.

Some families can't even put together a complete set of clothes. I heard that only the labor force in the family will wear them when they go out to do errands. Everyone else huddles in the house and dares not go out. Compared with the severe cold, it seems that lack of food is not the most urgent issue. I am really worried that they will freeze to death before they eat up all the food.

As for the food situation, it is not good. The weather this year is not right, and the grain output is not high. There are many places where the output has decreased or even decreased. After farmers pay taxes and save crops, there is really not much food left to fill their stomachs. It is difficult to survive the winter. In many places, the bark and grass roots have been dug up before winter. "

Dou Yun, who led another investigation team, also told the truth about what he saw.

"Mr. Lu is right. I have seen many farmers shivering in the cold. Their houses are dilapidated and they lack clothes to keep warm. Even if they have some food left, they cannot survive the cold. This year, Guanzhong seems to be particularly cold, even worse than last year."

The same situation happened to Zhao Jun, the leader of the third investigation team.

"There are many people who died of freezing and starvation. It is really embarrassing to see. I can't believe this happened in Maoling. If it is so in Maoling, how much more so in other places in Guanzhong? No wonder we always hear that many people in Guanzhong are fleeing famine to Guandong in recent years. Now it seems that it is not a lie."

After saying this, Zhao Jun stomped his feet in great sorrow.

"How did the Han Dynasty become like this? Where are the government officials? The village elders are nowhere to be seen. Are these people just sitting there doing nothing? People are dying of hunger and cold, but they don't care?"

As one of the disciples, Zhao Jun came from a privileged and wealthy family and seemed to have never seen such a tragic situation since he was a child.

Wei Jia and others were of humble origins and were deeply touched by this matter. Seeing Zhao Jun's otherworldly appearance, they became furious.

So Wei Jia was so angry that he spoke in a low voice.

"They have always been like this, but you have never paid attention to the suffering of the common people. If the government was useful, where would the refugees come from? Where would the starving people come from?"

Zhao Jun looked at Wei Jia, stunned, and then opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but when the words came to his lips, he didn't know how to say it. He was angry, but didn't know how to vent.

He pursed his lips, looking unfriendly.

Yuan Shu saw all of this.

As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. This is very obvious even among the Thirteen Tigers.

The four disciples with better backgrounds often acted together, while the nine disciples with less favorable backgrounds huddled together. At the beginning, they formed two distinct small groups.

And there are also differences among small groups.

Among the four disciples, Zhao Jun and Deng Ying, who were both from Nanyang, had a better relationship with them, while Luo Yi from Jingzhou and Zhang Jie from Yizhou were relatively distant from them.

Among the nine disciples, Huang Zhi, Su Chu, Ma Ran, Dai Hua, Lian Da and Shao Yuan, whose families are wealthy but have no status, are closer and have more common topics.

Wei Jia, Dou Yun and Yu Chou, who came from even humbler families, often gathered together to chat.

This situation fully demonstrates the rather divided human sentiment within the Ma family before Yuan Shu appeared.

After Yuan Shu appeared, he used himself as glue to glue the divided groups together, and used the same doctrines and ideals to eliminate the barriers caused by different backgrounds.

It's just that time is short and some things are difficult to change. However, this situation is also something that Yuan Shu pays great attention to. He cannot ignore this internal division. He must do something to turn this division into disagreement, and then guide the disagreement into the right track to form healthy competition.

He did not want to follow the old path of Yuan Shao, whose officials and generals formed cliques, his sons fought against each other, and they even ignored the overall situation for their own interests. In the end, he was not defeated by Cao Cao, but by internal chaos.

It's ridiculous.

Therefore, some things must be prepared at the starting point to prevent the divisive trend from becoming more fierce as the power expands in the future.

Responsibility for good was a measure he took to bridge this internal division. The source of the method came from Mr. Wang Yangming, and Yuan Shu used it to bridge the differences.

Now that this contradiction had emerged in the open, Yuan Shu, who was watching, spoke up at the right time.

"At this moment, what we should do most is not to condemn each other based on our origins. One cannot choose one's origins, but one can choose the path one takes in the future. Even if one has made mistakes in the past, it does not prevent us from being fellow travelers and friends of conscience.

It is absolutely unacceptable to blame and accuse each other for things that are beyond our own choice. We should not blame and oppose each other because of past experiences, which would lead to the loss of the possibility of unity. This is not the way to blame others for their kindness. Mr. Wei, I think you should apologize to Mr. Zhao."

In this group, Yuan Shu's popularity is absolute, and his every word and action is the focus of everyone's attention and learning. But once Yuan Shu opens his mouth, the situation becomes completely different.

After listening to what Yuan Shu said, Wei Jia thought about it, looked ashamed, nodded, and apologized to Zhao Jun.

"Mr. Zhao, I was wrong. I didn't consider these things. It's my fault. Please forgive me."

Zhao Jun looked at Yuan Shu, then at Wei Jia, sighed, and waved his hand.

"I know that I was born into a privileged family, and have lived a life of luxury since childhood. I have never known the sufferings of the world. Now I have just seen the world and gained more experience. What Mr. Yuan said is really reasonable. What you learn from books is always shallow. You must practice it yourself. If you don't have conscience in your heart, it's as if you don't have it."

The two of them obviously had no intention of blaming each other, and everyone lowered their heads to reflect on themselves.

After a moment of silence, Yuan Shu spoke again.

"Conscience is in our hearts. If we do not act according to our conscience, we have no conscience. If we act according to our conscience, even if it is just a little bit, we will take a big step towards the path of saints. Now, all of you who are moving forward with me have taken a step further on the path of saints."

After hearing this, everyone became excited, their depressed mood was swept away, and they regained their fighting spirit.

Yuan Shu was indeed a master of oratory. He stirred up everyone's depressed mood with just one sentence, which made Lu Zhi's eyes sparkle.

Just a few simple words dispelled the sharp contradictions and depressed mood.

It also reignited everyone's fighting spirit.

Yuan Shu's language skills are really strong.

The more Lu Zhi observed, the more he admired Yuan Shu's artistic ability in language.

He wanted to learn this ability, but he was very depressed to find that he always didn't know what to say in what situation. Although he could think of it afterwards, it was not as good as responding to the situation on the spot.

In the end, he had to admit that some abilities are innate and cannot be compensated for later. In the field of language arts, he would never be able to catch up with Yuan Shu in his lifetime.

After everyone cheered up, they told each other all the situations they had learned. Yuan Shu then personally drew a simple map of the Maoling area, marking the places everyone had visited and also marking the local living conditions.

Afterwards, Yuan Shu decided to split his troops into two groups.

The first group was led by Lu Zhi, who collected what food and clothing everyone could, especially clothes, and sent them to those villages on a per capita basis, handing them over to them so that they could survive this bitter winter and prevent more farmers from freezing to death.

The second route, led by Yuan Shu, continued to explore the surrounding areas to learn more about the living conditions of self-cultivating farmers in a wider range and expand the level of detail of the "Agricultural Assistance Map".

The information collected in the past three days is not enough to judge the living conditions of the self-cultivating farmers in the entire Maoling area. He still needs more data samples to make a comprehensive judgment.

At present, he did not think that the living conditions of the self-cultivating farmers in the entire Maoling area were so miserable. If they were all like this, they would have rebelled long ago.

So from mid-December of the eighth year of Yan Xi to the beginning of the first month of the ninth year of Yan Xi, for almost twenty days, Lu Zhi and Yuan Shu acted separately. On the one hand, they provided certain support to the self-cultivating villages in difficult circumstances, and on the other hand, they also gained a more detailed understanding of the living conditions of the self-cultivating farmers in the Maoling area.

At the beginning, support for the village mainly came from donations from Ma's disciples.

Some scholars from relatively wealthy families generously donated clothes, food or money to the agricultural assistance action group led by Yuan Shu for various reasons.

Yuan Shu also set an example by using his own savings to buy a lot of food and clothing, which he put in the warehouse of the agricultural assistance group. He even went to Ma Rong to ask for money.

(End of this chapter)