Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 46 Riot? False report.

The Shiliting Charity Home began to expand its scale.

The local hero Liu Xuande is doing good deeds here, recruiting refugees to work.

Next to the charitable institution, the military flag and ceremonial guard of the Protector of the Wuhuan were erected, and the Attendant Qian Zhao was filling vacancies and selecting heroes.

Where regular troops fill the gaps, there are naturally no disturbances. In addition, the Taiping Dao people 'voluntarily' help maintain order, so the area appears quite orderly.

In fact, Gongsun Zan is currently recruiting soldiers in Beixin City. Beixin City is adjacent to Zhongshan, and refugees coming from Zhongshan to Zhuojun will definitely pass through Gongsun Zan's place first.

However, in reality, the recruitment efforts in Beixincheng were far less effective than those in Shiliting.

Because these refugees were all fleeing people, not victims of natural disasters or war, they would take their last bit of food with them when they left their hometowns. When they first left Zhongshan and passed through Beixincheng, most of them had not yet reached the point of desperation.

But when they continued north for another two or three hundred miles and reached the vicinity of Zhuo County, they would truly be unable to withstand the onslaught.

In particular, Shiliting already had the Taiping Road charity shelter, so there were far more refugees here than in Beixincheng.

In fact, Gongsun Zan himself must have known about this situation, but he really couldn't recruit soldiers in Zhuo County because his reputation in the county was just too bad... The story of Magistrate Gongsun and the village girl was still circulating, and the wealthy families in Zhuo County ignored him.

At this time, several thousand people had already gathered at the Shiliting Charity House, and many more refugees had heard the news and were on their way.

Previously, in Zhongshan, one out of every ten households was conscripted for the war. Even if only half of them fled, there would still be several thousand households, the vast majority of whom fled to Zhuojun.

Liu Bei estimated that there would be 20,000 to 30,000 refugees entering Zhuojun, and most of them would come to Zhuoxian, because Zhuoxian was the most stable and prosperous.

"Brother Xuande, we only have this much food. How can we possibly settle tens of thousands of refugees?"

Seeing the growing crowd, Qian Zhao was visibly flustered and whispered to Liu Bei, "Didn't Prefect Liu say he would send five thousand bushels? That guy even embezzled this?"

"Didn't we fill several large rooms with grain? Isn't that enough?"

Zhang Fei was young and had little concept of logistics. He only knew that grain was being transported over and over again, filling several rooms.

"With so many people, if we distribute porridge, we'll consume over a hundred bushels a day."

Qian Zhao calculated the accounts with a worried expression: "We still need to reserve grain to feed the army..."

"Don't worry about feeding the soldiers. Go tell the cook to make as many dried chestnut cakes as he can... We won't be providing porridge."

Liu Bei was not worried at all, and even said he would give the refugees dry rations.

Qian Zhao was even more worried: "Brother, if we're given dry rations, they'll be gone in five or six days..."

"Yes, give each person five days' worth of dry rations, and keep about a hundred bushels, enough for our brothers to eat for a few days."

Liu Bei looked around and said in a low voice, "I was going to take them to Shanggu to build the border wall, and five days' journey should be enough."

"what?"

Qian Zhao, a man of principle, felt that Liu Bei's idea was dangerous: "Brother, are you really going to take them to Shanggu? They certainly won't be taken care of there. Spring planting is over now, and if they go to Shanggu, no one will care for them; they'll die..."

"Yes, Shanggu definitely won't settle them, so they'll just become refugees from Shanggu again..."

Liu Bei smiled and said, "If refugees come from both Zhongshan and Shanggu, chaos may break out at any time. If the grain that Prefect Liu collected is not transported over, then he has only himself to blame... We can also rightfully ask Prefect Liu for weapons and equipment."

"This... is very dangerous."

Qian Zhao was very worried: "Brother, aren't you afraid of offending Prefect Liu?" "I haven't offended him. I'm helping him. This is all his achievement... Zijing, these days, if you want to get things done, this is the only way."

Liu Bei sighed and shook his head: "Moreover, you need to arm an army to avenge your father, and I also need an army to protect my life. You should know that Gongsun Bogui will not tolerate me."

Qian Zhao sighed and nodded: "Be careful, elder brother."

The next day, Liu Bei, along with his executioners, personally distributed dry rations to the refugees.

Those who received the rations were organized by the executioner who distributed them, and a group of about a hundred people headed north.

The leader of the executioners was the seasoned veteran Duan Jiong.

Duan Jiming had seen plenty of refugees and bandits, and was very experienced in managing and disciplining them. He could lead soldiers without food, let alone civilians who had five days' worth of rations.

Two days later, most of the refugees around Shiliting had left. Liu Bei then found Prefect Liu Wei and asked him to send his personal attendant, a county official, to Shanggu Juyang to announce that "the people are helping to repair the border wall."

He then took Zhang Fei as his bodyguard and led the last group of refugees to Juyang with Liu Wei's entourage.

Qian Zhao stayed at Shiliting to continue recruiting soldiers. Refugees continued to arrive, but there were no large-scale gatherings, so it wasn't difficult to deal with them.

……

a few days later.

Prefect Liu Wei received a report from his personal attendant, a county official.

The attendant returned with a bruised and swollen face and a mournful expression: "My lord! As soon as Liu Xuande and I entered Shanggu, we saw the Shanggu County soldiers chasing and killing refugees! Not only did they drive back the people we sent there, but even more refugees from Shanggu have fled to our county!"

"what?!"

Liu Wei, having lost the few remaining hairs on his head, began frantically pulling at his head again: "Where is Liu Xuande? Where is he?"

"If it weren't for Liu Bei persuading the refugees not to cause trouble, I might not have made it back... Liu Bei is currently in the Juma River area south of Shanggu trying to stop a refugee uprising, but he's out of food and I'm afraid he can't persuade them..."

The attendant was clearly grateful to Liu Bei: "When I returned, Liu Xuande asked me to tell you that it would be best to quickly provide some weapons and equipment to Qian Zhao, the Protector of the Wuhuan. If a riot breaks out, Qian Zhao is nearby at Shili Pavilion, so he can easily suppress the rioters..."

Of course we should be grateful. There is indeed no governor or commander in Shanggu, and now even the military commander has disappeared. After the county officials take in the 'laborers', they naturally won't care about them.

After the executioners brought the refugees to the vicinity of Juyang, they all left the group and regrouped at night.

The executioners went back to their old ways, finding wealthy clients outside Juyang County and carrying out several heists...

The troops of Juyang County naturally had to send out troops to pursue them.

The executioners then returned to the ranks of the refugees. Upon seeing the large group of refugees, the county soldiers naturally assumed that the bandits came from among these refugees—which was indeed the case.

However, the number of refugees was too large, and the county soldiers dared not approach them, only driving them away from a distance.

The refugees thought the county soldiers were going to kill them, so they were all terrified and retreated back to Zhuojun in a chaotic manner.

Liu Wei's close followers witnessed the soldiers of Shanggu County 'chasing and killing' the refugees and naturally assumed that Shanggu was carrying out a massacre.

This attendant, who was accompanied by Liu Wei's county soldiers, was almost beaten to death by Duan Jiong and his executioners—or rather, almost beaten to death by the 'angry refugees'.

Fortunately, Liu Bei pleaded with the angry refugees, who spared the life of his follower out of respect for Liu Bei.

(End of this chapter)