My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

Chapter 127: The city gates were opened to welcome King Chuang, but King Chuang came and refused to pay taxes!

Then, Zhu Cilang said to the woman in front of him:
"Sister-in-law, there is a porridge stall prepared by the government not far ahead. You will have food when you get there."

"But your child can no longer walk, and you can't walk either. Why don't you give your child to me temporarily and I will take him there."

"And your husband, come with you."

When the woman heard this, she was instantly shocked.

At the same time, Zhang Dazhuang, who had been silent, finally spoke.

He waved his hands hurriedly and said:

"This young master has misunderstood. I am not his husband. All my family members died on the way."

"I just saw those people trying to steal her child, so I helped them."

When Zhu Cilang heard this, he looked at Zhang Dazhuang in surprise.

He didn't expect that there were still people who cared about justice at this time.

After laughing, Zhu Cilang then said:
"It's okay. Go tell everyone that there's a porridge stall set up by the government five miles ahead. As long as we get there, we'll have food."

When Zhang Dazhuang heard this, he didn't know whether what Zhu Cilang said was true or not, but because of the large number of people in front of him, he finally bit the bullet and shouted to the surroundings:

"Fellow villagers, this gentleman said there's a porridge stall set up by the government about five miles ahead. If we go a little further, everyone will have something to eat! Come on, everyone!"

At the same time, several Jinyiwei around Zhu Cilang also hurriedly ran around and spread these words to the ears of the nearby victims.

After hearing this, the victims instantly perked up and hurried towards the direction Zhu Cilang pointed.

Zhu Cilang noticed that there were many elderly people, women, and children in the group, and then he gave another order:
"Everyone should not ride horses. Let women, children and the elderly get on the horses and lead the horses away."

When everyone heard this, they hurriedly bowed in agreement, then helped some children, the elderly and women onto the horses, and then led the horses towards the capital.

Even Zhu Cilang's horse was given to the woman and child.

Although this would not be of much help to these people, it was the only thing he could do at the moment.

The victims were a little frightened at first, but when they saw that these people seemed to really want to help them, they immediately felt relieved and followed them.

About half an hour later, they finally arrived at a porridge stall.

Seeing the victims coming one after another, a clerk hurried out and shouted at all the victims:
"Those who want to drink porridge, please line up here first. No queue-jumping or noise allowed. Otherwise, forget about drinking porridge."

After hearing this, the victims had no choice but to line up obediently.

The first thing that appeared in front of them was a pot of hot water, which was used for them to wash their hands, and there was a bar of soap next to it.

Only after washing their hands can they proceed to the next process.

The next step is to receive a tag and a bowl. There is a number on the tag representing their identity.

Then they can come to the porridge stall responsible for distributing porridge.

There are three huge iron pots in the porridge stall, and thick white porridge is cooked in the pots. Salt and some vegetables are added to the porridge, which looks extremely delicious.

At the end were a few doctors, whose main responsibility was to wait for the victims to finish their meals, treat the injured, and ensure that they did not contract the plague.

These were all stipulated by Zhu Cilang in order to better manage the victims.

Considering that the child in her arms was about to starve to death, Zhu Cilang went directly to the porridge stall and said:

"Bring me a bowl of porridge."

The clerk in charge of distributing porridge was speechless for a moment when he saw this scene.

Because the young man in front of him was dressed so well, he didn't expect that such a person would come here to eat porridge.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to scold, Li Ruolian beside him suddenly stepped forward and took out a badge.

The three big words "Jinyiwei" instantly appeared in front of the clerk.

The clerk was instantly shocked and was so scared that he wanted to kneel down and kowtow.

But before he could kneel down, Zhu Cilang's voice rang out:
"No need to be so polite, just do your job."

The clerk nodded hurriedly and scooped a bowl of white porridge.

At this moment, Zhu Cilang seemed to have thought of something and continued:
"Two more bowls!"

The clerk didn't dare say anything more and poured two more bowls.

Zhu Cilang took one bowl and gave the remaining two bowls to Zhang Dazhuang and the woman.

Then he fed the child himself.

After a few mouthfuls of thick porridge, the child's breathing became much steadier, and he could even open his eyes.

Seeing himself in the arms of a stranger, the child was not afraid at all. He was just focused on swallowing the bowl of thick porridge that was handed to his mouth.

When Zhu Cilang saw this scene, he was laughing and suddenly felt tears welling up in his eyes.

All these people want is a bowl of porridge, why can't the Ming Dynasty give it to them?

The Little Ice Age and natural disasters were one reason, war was another, but ultimately, the main reason was land annexation.

But it doesn’t matter, give him a few more years and he will definitely change everything!

After feeding the child a large bowl of porridge, Zhu Cilang noticed that the woman had finished the porridge and was now standing beside him stiffly, as if wanting to take her child back.

Zhu Cilang smiled somewhat embarrassedly, then returned the child to the woman and pointed to the doctor next to him and said:
"Don't leave in a hurry. Let the doctor check if the child has any other illnesses. Don't worry, these are all free."

When the woman heard this, she knelt on the ground and kowtowed in gratitude, then walked over with the child in her arms.

At this moment, Zhang Dazhuang, who had just finished a large bowl of porridge, came over and said carefully:
"Sir, if everything is alright, I will leave first."

Zhu Cilang looked at Zhang Dazhuang and said admiringly:
"You have a kind heart. You don't forget to help others even at this time. You look strong and healthy. How about I find you a job?"

what?
When Zhang Dazhuang heard this, he was stunned. He came to the capital just to make a living, so why would someone want to find him a job?
Without waiting for him to speak, Zhu Cilang pointed at the disaster victims who were drinking porridge and said:
"After you finish your porridge, continue to lead these people towards the capital. Someone will pick you up there."

"From now on, these disaster victims will be in your care. If you do a good job, I can consider making you a minor official in the future."

When Zhang Dazhuang heard this, he didn't know whether to be surprised or frightened.

Because he had already seen that the young man in front of him was definitely not ordinary.

But then, he seemed to have thought of something and said with a bitter face:
"But sir, will the people over there recognize me?"

When Zhu Cilang heard this, he said directly to Zheng Chenggong next to him:

"Do you have a badge?"

Without saying a word, Zheng Chenggong took out a waist badge of the Eastern Palace from his bosom and handed it to Zhu Cilang.

Zhu Cilang held the badge and said:

"If you hold this thing, everyone will recognize you, and no one will dare to do anything to you."

"You can also tell them that this is what I meant!"

Zhang Dazhuang looked at the badge in his hand, his eyes suddenly filled with fear, and then he knelt down directly:

"I, a commoner, pay my respects to the Crown Prince."

Zhu Cilang was a little puzzled:
"You can actually read?"

Zhang Dazhuang said tremblingly:

"When I was young, I attended a private school for two years. Later, my family ran out of money, so I stopped studying. That's why I can recognize a few words."

Zhu Cilang smiled:

"Get up, take the token and do as I told you."

"When you're done, come to the East Palace to see me again in the future."

When Zhang Dazhuang heard this, his whole body trembled with excitement.

His entire family had died, and he came to the capital just to beg for food. Unexpectedly, he caught the prince's attention because of a righteous act.

This is simply a piece of cake falling from the sky!

Then he hurriedly took the token tremblingly.

Then, Zhu Cilang thought of something and pointed at the woman holding the child and said:
"Then the mother and child must be taken good care of."

Li Dazhuang quickly replied respectfully:
"The villain obeys your orders."

At this moment, because she was close to them, the woman naturally heard the conversation between Zhu Cilang and Zhang Dazhuang, and also heard Zhang Dazhuang calling Zhu Cilang "Prince"!
At this moment, she realized that it was the Crown Prince of Ming who had just saved her and her child's lives!

For a moment, she didn't know whether she was moved or frightened, she knelt down holding the child and shouted:

"I thank His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for saving my life!"

Her shout was much louder than Zhang Dazhuang's, and instantly attracted everyone's attention.

Everyone was stunned. Even the disaster victims who were scrambling for porridge were stunned.

Immediately afterwards, the clerks in charge of distributing porridge were the first to react and knelt on the ground in panic.

"I pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. May His Royal Highness live a thousand years and a thousand thousand years!"

Immediately afterwards, the doctor also reacted and quickly knelt on the ground.

"I pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. May His Royal Highness live a thousand years and a thousand thousand years!"

Soon, all the disaster victims around reacted and no longer cared about drinking porridge. They all knelt down in a black mass.

"I pay my respects to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. May His Royal Highness live a thousand years, a thousand thousand years, and a thousand thousand years!"

Zhu Cilang was a little amused when he saw this scene, but he still helped the woman in front of him up, and then shouted to everyone:
"Everyone, please stand up! I'm going incognito this time, so there's no need to be so polite!"

Immediately afterwards, the guards and Jinyiwei around Zhu Cilang also hurriedly helped the people around them up.

When these people stood up again, many of them had tears in their eyes and their hearts were filled with endless gratitude.

Because they knew that they finally had a way to survive!
At this moment, Zhu Cilang's gaze fell again on the victims who wanted to eat people, and his eyes instantly turned cold.

"Capture them for me and send them directly to the mines for hard labor. Don't stop for a moment."

Upon hearing this, Li Ruolian immediately waved his hand and the Jinyiwei around him rushed forward and tied up those people in an instant.

Those people were afraid now and started shouting:
"Your Highness, please spare me! Please spare me! I have no choice but to eat people!"

"If we don't eat people, we'll starve to death. We ordinary people don't want to die!"

"Besides, we common people have never eaten living people, we only eat dead people!"

When Zhu Cilang heard these words, he felt cold all over. Then, he said in a cold tone:
"Don't worry, I won't kill you. I'll just punish you with hard labor. Once you've completed ten years, I'll let you go."

"You won't go hungry. You'll have food to eat every day when you get there."

After hearing this, they didn't know what to say for a moment.

After all, in this era, having food to eat is enough.

Then, Zhu Cilang waved his hand and the Jinyiwei dragged several people away.

After doing all this and comforting the victims, Zhu Cilang returned to the palace.

After returning, he again ordered to expand the scope of rescue by another ten miles to ensure that more victims could be rescued.

At the same time, he also made new regulations:

If they encountered disaster victims who tried to eat people, they would be tied up and sent to hard labor without asking for permission, and then released after ten years.

Zhu Cilang was finally soft-hearted!

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, two days have passed.

At this moment, the number of disaster victims who arrived in the capital has reached about 50,000.

According to Zhu Cilang's instructions, the Ministry of Works selected a group of men from here to mine limestone and then continue to produce cement in large quantities.

At the same time, another group of men began to build more houses in accordance with the instructions of the Ministry of Works to welcome the continued arrival of disaster victims.

Of course, those who were selected to work had three meals a day, with vegetables and meat.

In addition, everyone can get twenty cents a day.

It's just that these people can't enter the city, so money is useless to them.

If you carry it with you, it might be stolen.

To this end, the Ministry of Industry also has its own plan.

They first registered these people, and the wages that needed to be paid were temporarily recorded in the Ministry of Works' account, and then distributed to them when they returned home after the disaster.

The disaster victims didn’t believe it at first, but now the court is saying something nice. What if the court doesn’t admit it later?
They can't just sue the court directly, right?

It was not until the Minister of Works personally came forward to guarantee it that they believed it.

In addition, the Guanning Iron Cavalry also selected some people who were good at raising horses and cattle to be responsible for raising horses.

There is no way. The Guanning Iron Cavalry currently has 30,000 war horses, and someone needs to take care of them every day.

Originally, the Guanning Iron Cavalry had been taking care of it themselves, but now there happened to be so many idle people here, so it would save them some effort.

The Guanning Iron Cavalry alone took away more than 3,000 people at one time.

Of course, those who were taken away were young and middle-aged people, and most of the rest were the elderly, weak and sick.

Zhu Cilang had already made arrangements for these people.

Among them, women are responsible for washing clothes, cleaning the surrounding environment, and taking care of some elderly people and children with limited mobility.

Those who are a little older but cannot do heavy work are assigned to deal with the excrement of the victims every day.

These excrement cannot be discarded at will, but are sent to Chen Jinglun to be used as fertilizer in the sweet potato field, which is a two-pronged approach.

As for the disaster victims who arrived later, they were also distributed according to this rule.

When there are too many people to be arranged, we will gather more people to start building the Guanning Iron Cavalry’s barracks and other facilities.

In short, we must make the best use of resources, ensuring that disaster victims have food to eat, but also not letting them sit idle.

Under Zhu Cilang's careful arrangement, everything was proceeding in an orderly manner.

Time flies, and ten days pass in the blink of an eye.

The number of disaster victims arriving in the capital continued to rise, and now reached as many as 100,000.

According to the previous distribution ratio, these disaster victims have been properly resettled in various places.

At the same time, with the increase in staff, the cement production of the cement plant has also increased.

Zhu Cilang first organized manpower to build sufficient houses to accommodate the victims, and then gathered people to build an exclusive camp for the Guanning Iron Cavalry near the Beijing Camp.

At the same time, the construction of the Beijing Camp also broke ground.

After all, more disaster victims will flock to the capital in the future, and they will also participate in this project.

If the project progresses fast enough and there is enough time, Zhu Cilang also plans to build one or two more cities.

In this way, the army could be stationed there and the families of the Guanning Iron Cavalry could be moved to Beijing.

But of course, this is just a preliminary idea, and the specific implementation will depend on the actual number of disaster victims at that time.

Another thing worth being happy about is that in recent times, my father-in-law Zheng Zhilong has been writing to me more frequently.

It has changed from one letter every five days to one letter every three days, and the content is all about naval battles.

After careful analysis, Zhu Cilang roughly understood Zheng Zhilong's strategy against the Jiannu navy:

To put it simply, the Ming navy led by Huang Fei first took the initiative to attack the Jiannu navy, and then pretended to be defeated.

At that time, the Jiannu navy would surely pursue the victory, and when it left the port, Zheng Zhilong would lead his navy and the navy led by Huang Fei to encircle the Jiannu navy.

At that time, the Jiannu navy can be annihilated in one fell swoop.

Zhu Cilang thought about it and felt that there was nothing wrong with this plan in theory, but he was not sure whether it could be successfully implemented in practice.
But of course, this is not something he should worry about. He believes that with the strength of Huang Fei and Zheng Zhilong, they should be able to accomplish this task.

Overall, everything is moving in a good direction.

Let’s turn our attention to Shaanxi.

It has been more than a month since Sun Chuanting arrived in Shaanxi.

During this period, he easily recruited a large number of soldiers, and even now, there are still a steady stream of Qin people who want to join the army.

The reasons are actually two:
First of all, as long as you join the army, you will definitely have enough food to eat!

Secondly, as long as you serve in the army, you can get money!

You should know that Shaanxi has been suffering from drought for several consecutive years and most people are unable to get enough food. So as soon as the news of Sun Chuanting recruiting soldiers spread, many Qin people came to join him enthusiastically.

Initially, he only planned to recruit 50,000 soldiers, but the actual number of applicants far exceeded expectations.

Considering the large number of poor people who had no means of livelihood, if Sun Chuanting did not recruit them into the army, they might be forced to join the bandit camp to make a living.

By then, these people will become enemies of the Ming Dynasty.

In order to prevent such things from happening, Sun Chuanting decisively decided to expand the number of recruits and reported the matter to Zhu Cilang in a timely manner.

After Zhu Cilang learned about this, he agreed without hesitation for even a second.

In his opinion, in the current situation, the Ming Dynasty still has many tough battles to fight, so the more soldiers the better. Moreover, Sun Chuanting is good at training troops, and the soldiers he recruits must be elite soldiers and generals.

However, as the number of soldiers increased, the required food and military pay also increased. Therefore, during this period, Sun Chuanting began to devote himself to raising military pay and food.

Moreover, his method of raising military pay and food was quite direct, which was to investigate the land, focusing on those military farms that had been occupied by landlords and gentry.

Although he had discussed with Zhu Cilang about implementing the policy of equalizing land tax before he came, Sun Chuanting did not put it into action immediately because he knew that the most important thing at the moment was to train the troops.

So he simply made a detailed investigation into the status of the land owned by the landlords, and then did not force them to return the land, but simply asked them for money directly.

Just like now, he came to Baishui County, Shaanxi.

This county town may not seem prosperous, but that is only relative to ordinary people. The landlords and gentry here are actually very wealthy.

At this moment, the most luxurious restaurant in Baishui County was bustling with activity.

The restaurant was packed with guests, dozens of dancers were dancing gracefully, and the atmosphere was filled with singing and dancing.

Sitting at the main table was Sun Chuanting. Beside him sat several businessmen and landlords who were dressed in silk and satin and looked quite wealthy.

These people are all famous wealthy businessmen and landlords in Baishui County, and are also the ones invited to Sun Chuanting's banquet today.

After three rounds of wine and five dishes, Sun Chuanting slowly put down his wine glass, stood up, bowed to everyone and said:
"Everyone, we've already eaten and drunk our wine. If you have anything to say, I'll just speak my mind!"

"To be honest, the imperial court is facing a critical period of war and urgently needs military pay and supplies to support it."

"But the treasury is empty. Although the emperor gave me a lot of silver before I left, most of it has been spent recently. Therefore, the governor came here today to ask for a favor from you."

"This Governor sincerely hopes that you will be generous and help us. After all, you all know that if there are no soldiers available in Shaanxi, Li Zicheng will definitely attack Shaanxi again."

"When their army approaches, it will be difficult to protect your property and families."

When the wealthy businessmen and landlords present heard this, their faces instantly turned ugly.

They were not stupid people and naturally understood that if Li Zicheng attacked, death would be the only thing waiting for them.

After all, Li Zicheng was using the slogan "Open the city gates to welcome the King of Rebellion, and no taxes will be collected when the King of Rebellion comes." But if the people did not pay taxes, then the food would naturally have to be plundered from them.

Moreover, they had also heard of Li Zicheng's past deeds. Wherever he went, no one, whether they were wealthy businessmen, officials or princes, had any chance of survival.

It is said that Prince Fu was cruelly turned into "Fu Lu Shou" and distributed to the poor to fill their stomachs.

So in the eyes of these wealthy businessmen and landlords, Li Zicheng was a cruel and vicious devil.

And this Sun Chuanting in front of us is actually very similar to Li Zicheng
Because Sun Chuanting also wanted to extort money from them.

In their opinion, anyone who wants to ask for money from them is not a good person!
But these words must not be said, otherwise they will definitely die!

After a brief silence, a wealthy businessman with a round face hurriedly said:

"Lord Sun, you are too kind. The country is in deep trouble now, and it is our duty to serve it."

Then, he changed the subject.

"However, Lord Sun should also know that Shaanxi is a poor place. Although merchants like us may seem prosperous, we are actually very poor. We can only barely make a living on a daily basis."

"But since Lord Sun has spoken, I am willing to pay one thousand... no! Two thousand taels of silver."

When other wealthy businessmen and landlords heard this, they immediately understood his intention and echoed him:

"Sir, I am willing to pay three hundred taels."

"Sir, I am willing to pay seven hundred taels."

"Sir, I am willing to pay one thousand taels."

(End of this chapter)