Chapter Fifty-One Child's Play
The bustling March passed away with the spring rain and the lives that disappeared on the western land. When Li Jinhua and his party entered the city of Qingyang for the first time, the scene in front of them made everyone take a breath. Except for the soldiers coming and going and the sound of orders being transmitted, the entire city of Qingyang was silent, as if it had become a dead city. The windows of the houses on both sides of the road creaked in the spring breeze, and behind them, pairs of eyes gleaming with hunger and fear shone like wolves eyeing their prey.
Zhao Shi gazed at all of this, and the words "war disaster" flashed through his mind. The impoverished and chaotic Middle East war zone, Vietnamese villages hidden in the deep mountains and forests, living like savages... Scene after scene seemed familiar yet strange, flashing continuously through his mind. Only he had never thought that such a scene would appear on Chinese soil during his lifetime.
As the team marched on, the conversation of a few people in front also reached his ears. Li Jinhua's voice was a little hoarse and trembling, "How long has this situation been going on?"
Then came Li Renquan's unique sharp voice, "It's been a long time, after the heavy snow, many people froze to death. Later when we entered the city, it was because the common people were looting grain. I heard that some common people escaped from the city when the snow melted."
When entering the city, many starving people were killed. This winter, more than a million citizens of Qingyang can be lucky to have half of them survive. You haven't seen the tragic events that happened this winter, which can make people have nightmares. Some civilians had no food and secretly ate human flesh. At first, I ordered the execution of several, but later I saw that the soldiers in the border town had already started doing so, how could we control it?
"Our army is also severely short of food, but everyone has managed to scrounge up some from those wealthy households with ill-gotten gains. We're barely scraping by, one day hungry and the next day full, occasionally making some thin porridge for the civilians. If not, this city would be empty except for soldiers, alas, it's a pitiful state..."
A sigh of despair echoed, leaving a lingering sense of desolation that weighed heavily on the heart. "Huh? What's a natural disaster and man-made calamity? This is it! Look at this place, one winter away from becoming a ghost town. And now, it's not much better. If grain and fodder don't arrive soon... Hmph, let's not mention these civilians, even we soldiers will starve to death here. Honestly, we've all been thinking of holding on for a few more days. If reinforcements don't arrive, we'll retreat with our troops to Pingliang. Hopefully, the main army won't disperse along the way... Such an extraordinary event, such a tragic affair, truly unprecedented in the history of our dynasty!"
At this time, Zhang De let out a sly laugh and chimed in, "Huh, you guys won't believe it, we confiscated almost 8,000 dan of grain from the Li family in Qingyang. What kind of hearts do these people have? Almost everyone in the city is starving, but they're sitting at home feeling safe and sound? Unfortunately, we didn't catch that bastard Li Jizong's deputy general, heard he fled with Li Jizong's wife and children the night before last. If you say Li Jizong wasn't colluding with Western Xia, why would he be so guilty? This guy is definitely up to no good, he deserves to die."
Zhao Shi smiled to himself upon hearing this, these generals have begun to frame people with false charges. These words were likely spoken for Li Jinhua's ears, who would be accused of crimes? The commander-in-chief of Qingyang and the prefect of Qingyang Prefecture would naturally be implicated, and it seemed that the transportation commissioner could not escape responsibility either. The guilt of these military personnel seemed secondary in comparison. As for Li Jizong, he was quite unfortunate, colluding with Western Xia, seemingly wanting to exterminate his own clan? However, there was no concrete evidence, and he had been chosen initially only because it was necessary to kill the strongest chicken to scare the monkeys, everything else being just an excuse. Ironically, Li Jizong himself had allowed others to take away his wife and children, falling into their trap, and it seemed that his own guesses were not entirely off the mark.
For more than half a month, everything was quiet. Grain and fodder were distributed, and people were sent to report quickly to the general's camp, discipline the troops, and rescue the civilians. Li Jinhua really treated Zhao Shi as his trusted aide, sending him out to handle all sorts of big and small matters. Apart from his military skills, Zhao Shi had never handled such trivial tasks before, so it was inevitable that he would be busy and flustered, stumbling over his words. However, he was calm and meticulous in his work, quick to learn new things, and despite his young age, he could hold his own on the scene. Moreover, there were several generals above him who spoke up, and none of the people below dared to deliberately deceive him.
Especially in the city of Qingyang, many people died that winter. When early spring arrived and the weather warmed up, Zhao Shi proposed to several generals that the corpses of the deceased be collected from various parts of the city due to the ease of outbreak of epidemic diseases. Those with relatives were allowed to take the bodies to the mountains for burial, while those without were gathered together and cremated outside the city. The military camps also strengthened their management, and soldiers were dispatched in groups of three to five to patrol the city, punishing some soldiers who had caused trouble outside. Gradually, order was restored in the city.
Several generals saw him doing things neatly, thinking thoroughly, and intentionally buying well from Li Jinhua. As a result, the task of arranging these soldiers was thrown to the Hu Nong Army, and this small team suddenly became the uncrowned king in Qingyang City.
Everything was complicated, and after more than half a month, Zhao Shi was also exhausted. Especially when it came to distributing rations, several generals were deep in thought, writing self-defense letters, and the task of distributing rations naturally fell on his head. These soldiers had been hungry for a winter, and their eyes turned green when they saw food, as if they wanted to move all the grain to their own camp. These people were hot-tempered, and at the slightest disagreement, they would start a big fight. The most headache-inducing incident was when hundreds of people started fighting in the ration distribution area, with soldiers and horses from various armies, and the crowd was growing larger by the minute. Zhao Shi was furious and ordered the soldiers guarding the grain to take out long wooden clubs. After a round of clubbing, dozens of people were knocked down, and the crowd was finally dispersed. In the end, on the drill ground in front of Qingyang City Hall, dozens of people who had not escaped in time were lined up, and the sound of slapping echoed as they cried out for their fathers and mothers. Although the scene was pitiful, the effect was good, and afterwards, those who came to receive rations became much more disciplined.
It was a big deal for more than half a month, but the people from Yanbian Town came to pass on the message that the Western Xia army had retreated and returned, and the border was calm. This made several generals breathe a sigh of relief, which also affected their own major events. If they lost Yan'an because of the Qingyang chaos, none of them would end well.
But so many days have passed, and the reinforcements are still nowhere to be seen. According to their estimates, even if the reinforcements were crawling over, they should have arrived by now. These people, after experiencing the Qingyang incident, seem to have become like startled birds, with their hearts lifted again. In a few days, five waves of messengers were sent out, waiting for several generals whose fate was uncertain, and it was heart-wrenching.
On the twentieth day, General's camp finally received news that left them stunned: the main army had not even left Pingliang City. On the third day after the messenger from Qingyang arrived at the camp, all the reinforcement troops returned to their garrison one after another. This farce made them hardly believe their ears, and no matter how they listened, it sounded like a joke.
The messenger from the Xingying camp was also unclear, and when asked by the crowd, he hurriedly brought out the Crown Prince, saying that the Crown Prince had already left Pingliang and was rushing over day and night. If there's anything, just ask the Crown Prince, which made these people look at each other in dismay. What's the point of hurrying to send grain and grass if the Crown Prince is coming? Is he here to deal with them? The three generals turned pale and were frightened out of their wits.
In the end, Li Renquan privately gave many benefits to the messenger. The eunuch from the Crown Prince's mansion, who had no hair on his mouth, whispered a few words and said that General Zha was arrested by the Emperor for offending public opinion in Pingliang. He was replaced before he even took office, and the new general had not yet arrived when the messenger from Qingyang arrived, saying that everything was fine in Qingyang. The messenger from Yanbian Town also arrived in Pingliang at the same time, and the Western Xia army withdrew. What's the point of sending reinforcements to Pingliang now? Are you worried that there isn't enough food stored in Qingyang?
Several generals finally put down their worries and began to prepare for the arrival of the prince's ceremony, which was another busy scene. By the time the prince arrived in Qingyang, who had been idle in Pingliang for a month, it was already mid-April in the 27th year of Zhengde.
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