Chapter 3 The third round of food relief is difficult to raise, knocking mountains and shaking tigers

When the group returned to the post house, the post office was already waiting at the door.Seeing them coming back, he hurriedly greeted them and said, "Master Belle, Yangzhou Liang Dao Kou has already arrived in Mingchen, and I'll see you at the flower hall!" The two entered the main hall one after the other, and just after the long attendants had prepared snacks and tea, they saw an official at the West Corner Gate, wearing a gown with eight pythons and five claws, a snow goose suit, and a blue nirvana glass top on his head. Zizi came in a flash, flicked his horseshoe sleeves in front of the steps, and reported loudly: "Jinshi has passed the rank, and I ordered Kou Ming, the official minister of Yangzhou Liangdao, to kowtow to Lord Baylor!" After saying that, he kowtowed.Yinzhen sipped his tea and replied, "Come in, you don't need to be formal." "Master Xie Belle!"

"Sit down, I'm sorry you haven't eaten yet, you can use this snack as you like." Yinzhen waved his hand and said to Dai Duo who was standing beside him, "You sit too——Kou Ming, can the food be delivered within three days?" Kou Ming just sat down, leaned forward and replied: "If you go back to the master, the career path is worrying about this matter! There is food, it is ready-made, and there is three dollars for a bucket of rice on the market, as much as you want. But the money in the customs road is over Don't come, this famine is not easy to fight. I beg the fourth master to urge the other side of the customs road to issue the silver sooner, that is to be sympathetic to the officials." Yinzhen casually picked up a piece of snack, but didn't eat it, and said after a long while: "The other side of the customs I urged it several times. They are under the control of Wei Dongting, the Governor of Customs. I sent a message to the Governor’s Yamen the day before yesterday, asking him to approve the money immediately. The money will come in the morning and evening—this is borrowing, and the Ministry of Households will pay the money in the end. Don't worry." Kou Ming smiled and said: "Master Shengming! But now that the silver hasn't come, I can't get together 100,000 shi rice at once. I can only ask the fourth master to transport Kudier away, about 50,000 shi. The remaining 50,000 shi I have to wait for the money. I have already ordered that all the large grain storehouses and rice stores should sell to the state treasury at the current price of rice, and they must not take the opportunity to raise money, hoard it for surprises, or transport it abroad without authorization. Once the silver arrives in mid-March, Zhi Dao will personally escort it to Tongcheng Imperial Envoy Xingyuan , I wonder if it will work?"

"You are still dedicated to doing things." Yinzhen glanced at Kou Ming, got up and took two steps, stood at the door and looked out of the courtyard through the curtain, and said for a long time: "There are also 20,000 hungry people in Yangzhou. I will go to the market today to see Looking at it, I feel very sad—this also needs to be donated. Originally, 50,000 shi is not enough, so wouldn’t it be more difficult to keep food? So I have to buy food!” “But it’s useless without silver…” Kou Ming murmured, “ It would be great if the Yangzhou government could provide some money."

Dai Duo laughed beside him and said, "That's right, ask Che Ming to get some!" Kou Ming smiled wryly and shook his head, and said, "It's just talking, Che Ming asked my yamen to borrow money the month before last! I said Yangzhou is a You are borrowing 7,000 silver from the treasury, and you still have the idea of ​​​​making food for me? He said it was to build a Confucian Temple. When I asked, it was not the case—he was giving it to San—"He Suddenly felt that it was too much, and pretended to eat tea to cover it up.But Yinzhen listened to every sentence in his heart, seeing Gao Fuer coming in with Tweety in a new outfit, he just nodded and smiled with a sideways face: "Are you asking Fourth Master to guess riddles after half of your speech?"

"Back to Lord Baylor!" Kou Ming suddenly blushed and became a little embarrassed, "Listen... I heard that it is a gift of ice to the Grand Scholar Kui Xu (the regular money given by foreign officials to the Beijing official Xia Tian is called 'ice tribute' ) - and, and - there is a man named Meng Guangzu, who lives in Sanbeile Mansion, and lives in Nanjing, and he wants to embellish it... Fourth Master... In fact, these things are just rumors, just rumors..." He I couldn't hold back my words, and I was so flustered that I didn't know what to do. Yinzhen couldn't help but gasp, he didn't expect that there was such a big background behind Che Ming.Kui Xu is the uncle of Yinti, the eldest son of the emperor who is known as the "big thousand years old", and that's all, and he is also the confidant of the eighth elder brother Yinti.The eighth elder brother Yinhu is known as the "Eight Sage King", and together with the ninth elder brother Yinhu and the tenth elder brother Yinyu, they are called the "Three Heroes". superior.Even the third elder brother Yinzhi, the master of Meng Guangzu, is far above him in the "holy family"... It is reasonable for this Kou Ming to be afraid of getting involved in the rivalry of his elder brothers.Yinzhen thought about it, and interrupted Kou Ming coldly: "You don't need to say anything, I already know your difficulties. Okay! There are only fifty or sixty million taels of silver in the treasury, and I copied it from Mingzhu's (Kui Xu's father) family. It’s Qizhao!—— Kui Xu is also a rich man, and he is so rich! He is really a city fox and a social mouse!——Tell you, he is an iron rooster, I have steel pliers, and plucking hair is the purpose of the fourth master. The silver must be taken by Yangzhou!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Kou Ming agreed repeatedly, wiping the sweat from his forehead, and praised in his heart: "No wonder people say that Fourth Master is the 'King of Cold Face with a Heart of Stone', and his name is well-deserved!" But he said: "Fourth Master Knowing the difficulties of the subordinates, the subordinates are endlessly grateful!" Yinzhen sneered and said, "Of course I won't make things difficult for you. You go to see Che Ming, and we won't mention anything we said. Just say that the fourth master asked him to donate 20,000 silver to honor the victims of the disaster - to give up food and serve porridge Listen carefully: rice should be eaten twice a day, chopsticks should not fall over, wrapped in towels should not seep, and cold rice balls should be eaten with your hands. No one is allowed to starve to death on the ground in Yangzhou Prefecture, and a few child traffickers must be slaughtered if caught. One——I still have three days in Yangzhou. If he can't handle it for me, I will ask the king to order the flag to cut him off before playing the court. Even if I go back to Tongcheng, I have to leave someone to watch him do this job, against me. He is still in danger of losing his fortune—don’t think about this elder brother and that elder brother, it’s no good to think wildly, the Shangfang sword in my hand is on his neck!”

Kou Ming had already sweated through his heavy clothes, stood up, Yinzhen said something, he agreed "yes", and said: "Fourth Master is a Bodhisattva with a heart, this is to fulfill the humble job, and it is also to protect Che!" "According to my original words, it's none of your business." Yinzhen said slowly, gently pulled Tweety over her hair, and stroked her hair, "Look at this child, such a little thing, mom and dad They all died in the flood... starved like this! The people are the foundation of the country, and the change of preventing the people is more important than Fangchuan! You are also a scholar, so you should understand this truth—go back and find a copy of "Liuhe East Collection" and read it "Sending Xue Cunyi Preface to Hedong River" - let's go!"

When Kou Mingnuo stepped back repeatedly, Yinzhen turned his face, sat on the chair, and asked Tweety gently: "Are you full? With this change of clothes, don't you look more decent?" Tweetie held her finger in her mouth Been listening obsessively.She is young, so she doesn't understand most of what adults say, but she understands everything Yinzhen said, "Don't put chopsticks in the rice" and "Don't starve to death".Intuitively, she felt that this majestic and stern "senior official" was a good person. Seeing Yinzhen treat her so tenderly, her eyes turned red, and she gradually became attached to her, so she said, "Master, I have never eaten such a good food." Gou'er Kaner was so overwhelmed that he was talking about going out to play!"

"Have they gone?" Yinzhen asked Gao Fuer. "These two boys are very wild, and I was afraid that they would not come back after going, so the slave didn't let them go." "Tell them to go." Dai Duo said with a smile, "They came here for Tweety, why don't they come back? I'm afraid that something will happen to them, just talk to someone else." Cui'er laughed when she heard it, and said: "This master is right. I'm here, they won't run away. We came out from the same place when we were young, and I fell into the hands of human traffickers. They didn't protect me. I was sold to Qin Huai. It’s too late—even if there’s an accident, Brother Gou is nicknamed ‘Stalking Ghost’, and Brother Kan is nicknamed ‘Ghost Difficult’, which one will suffer for them?”

"Haunting ghosts, haunting ghosts!" Yinzhen looked up to the sky and laughed loudly, "It's really a good name! - Gao Fuer, tell them to go out and play, don't cause trouble, and come back before dark!" Yinzhen's knocking on the mountain and shaking the tiger was very effective. Three days later, Kou Ming had 50,000 shi of brown rice ready.Due to the silting of the water transportation, all of them were equipped with blocking cars, which were divided into more than 400 vehicles, and were transported to the north by the dry road.Yinzhen was traveling in a mule cart, and because the weather was still cold in the north, according to Dai Duo's wishes, he had to wear a silk cloth cover over the car, which was warm and elegant, matching his elder brother's identity.Yinzhen didn't want to be eye-catching, so he just put on a cotton apron with elephant eyes (diagonal squares).Dai Duo and Gao Fu'er knew his nature, and it was useless to advise him, so he had no choice but to let it go.

After passing Baoying, the car enters the yellow flood zone.There seems to be no human habitation here, with endless beaches and swamps left after the flood.In February, the green grass has just sprouted, and the yellow sandy beach is full of withered thatch from last autumn, shivering and whispering in the shivering spring breeze.The horse stepped on the sand and sank, and it was very difficult to walk.Gao Fu'er and Dai Duo rode back and forth to take care of them, and the sergeants who guarded the grain also helped the carts turn the wheels that were stuck in the mud from time to time, and they couldn't walk more than 20 miles a day.The villages along the way are also deserted, and the middle-aged and young people have already gone far away, leaving only some old and weak women and children with hungry faces.Yinzhen was ordered to give relief on the spot, and he was even more busy all the way to distribute the food. When he entered Huai'an, there were about 2,000 stones of food distributed. "Finally, we're almost out of this dead beach!" In the evening of that day, the exhausted convoy stopped, and Gao Fuer dragged his heavy feet to Yinzhen's car and said, "Fourth Master, I'm afraid we still have to go back today." Sleep here for one night." Yinzhen held a copy of the "Diamond Sutra" in his hand, and was watching Tweety and Kaner untie the rope with great interest, and listening to Gao Fuer, he moved his stupefied body down and looked at it. Looking at the sun lazily setting on the beach, he asked, "Where did you go?" Before he could say anything, Kaner jumped out of the car, and Kaner smiled and said, "This used to be a ferry, but now it's silted up. " Tweety rushed to the car and said, "I used to beg here with my father, it's called Taohuadu!" "Peach Blossom Ferry!" Yinzhen's expression suddenly became a little excited, his eyes flashed, and his breathing was also a little short of breath. After a while, he calmed down and let out a long breath, "What a beautiful name!" Gao Fuer said with a smile: "It's Peach Blossom Ferry... ...The master of this place has been here..." He paused for a while and did not continue, but changed his words: "Go to the official road 30 miles further north, and the road will be easy." Said, Dai Duo also caught up, laughing Said: "It's also thanks to the fourth master who is very quiet. The thirteenth master is going to be replaced, and the yellow mud sandy beach in the past half month has already been boring!" Yinzhen didn't say a word, squatted down and scraped the river sand under his feet, half a foot down, there was dark ripe soil underneath, and he could tell at a glance that it used to be fertile land, so he couldn't help sighing, and said, "Mr. I don’t know the suffering in the world if I don’t come here—it’s a pity that this place..." Because they ordered everyone to have a picnic, they set up tents on the deserted beach for the night. The sun went down.In the vast and endless sky, layers of pink lotus petal-like sunset clouds are gradually dimming in the curling smoke. The bonfire licks the black and red flames. The dog snuggled into the dog's arms, sticking out its tongue and spitting Hada.Seeing the crowd of fire, Xu Zhen sat silently, knowing that it was because of his presence, but he refused to indulge Dai Duo and Gao Fu'er, and only said to the three children: "Why are you all sitting bored, do you have any songs?" ? Sing it!" With just one sentence, the children immediately became excited.The dog took out a flute from his bosom, licked his lips, and tried the sound for a while, and the deep and trembling sound of the flute burst out immediately.Kan'er laughed and said, "I'll come first!" Then he sang at the top of his voice: My sister is not far away on the other side, and my brother is not far away here.The two sides of the strait are relatively crowded, only Qinglongshui is separated! When Yinzhen heard him sing "Love Song" with incomplete tone, he couldn't help laughing, clapped his hands and cheered: "Okay! Who will come again!" Before Kan'er could speak, Tweety sang: I miss mother!How many waves is your mother in the yellow water?Bear the heart to let go and go to the sky, leave Jiaoer and go everywhere... I think about it day and night, and I wake up crying in my dream... Although the voice was immature, it was clear and bright, gushing out from the spring in her heart. Tweety was truly moved, with tears rolling in her eyes.The dog closed his eyes as he played the flute, as if he didn't think about anything.Kan'er lowered her head and said, "The dead are dead, and the living are still alive. You love to sing these songs, which makes people feel terrified." After finishing speaking, he put his hands on his knees and sang: God!I want to make friends with you!People say that you can bring good fortune and prosperity, but your mother starved to death in the wilderness, and the filial son can't help it!People say that you can bring disasters, but they saw that the old cow was struck by lightning, and when the tiger was struck by the thunder?Xishi married Wang Laoma, and a sixty-year-old man married a charming baby... Everyone is afraid of you and I am not afraid of you-you are so confused, why do you eat our incense? ... After singing, the sound of the flute stopped whimpering.For a long time, no one said anything, only the crackling of the firewood in the campfire, and the flames shone on the faces of everyone thinking. Yinzhen sat on the dragon beard straw mat, motionless like an iron statue, his head was lowered, people couldn't see his expression clearly.After a long time, Yinzhen Fang stretched out his voice, his voice was so high that it was a little hoarse: "You sang very well. When you return to Beijing, you can see Mr. Wu and ask him to polish it. The emperor and the officials of the Six Departments should listen to it!" After that, he thought for a while and said, "Do you want to hear a story?" "Okay!" The three children cheered happily, Kan'er said: "Talk about Sun Xingzhe learning from the scriptures!" But Gou'er said: "That's all obedient, what's the fun? It's better to talk about ghosts!" Cui'er covered her ears and said : "You are haunted ghosts, haunted ghosts, I'm afraid to listen, I don't want to listen to ghosts!" Yinzhen smiled lightly, and said, "Don't talk about ghosts and gods. I believe in Buddhism, and I don't have the courage to blaspheme the world. Let me tell the truth." He poked the fire with a stick to calm himself down, and began to say : "I can't remember which dynasty or generation, there was an emperor who gave birth to more than twenty sons—" "My mother!" Cui'er said, "So many brothers?" Kan'er hurriedly said: "Don't interrupt! I didn't hear Gu'er and said that Prince Wen has more than a hundred sons!" Yinzhen nodded: "There is a son inside He is the most timid and kind-hearted by nature. He is reluctant to trample the ants on the ground to death, and the crickets shrink back in fright, and he does not want to kill the mice he catches in the palace, for fear that the old mice will die and the little mice will not be able to live." Hearing what he said was funny, the children all grinned.Dai Duo and Gao Fu'er looked at each other without saying a word.Yinzhen said: "You know, since you are a descendant of a dragon and a phoenix, you have to do things for the emperor. In governing the world, the good people are rewarded, and the wicked are punished and killed. How can this kind of character be formed? Besides, these sons grew up in the palace. I have never seen the world, and I don't know how ordinary people live. The old emperor thought about it and asked his sons to go out on errands. This son was assigned to Huai'an to inspect the Yellow River and Huaihe River. "When the prince of the dynasty sits in Huai'an, the officials below will naturally come to worship him. From the Jiedu envoy to the prefectural and county officials, a large group of fawning people surround him all day long. The prince himself is also careful. As obedient and loyal as his own father, the prince felt that he was a lot more capable. He told the emperor that the officials here were all pillars of the court, and the emperor was naturally happy. "I don't think there was a flood in the Yellow River that year-do you know what is the sheep newspaper? There is a Qingtong Gorge in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. When Dayu controlled the floods, he erected an iron flagpole there, with a measure engraved on it. Qingtong Gorge's water rose an inch, and the downstream The water rose by one foot. In order to let the downstream know the water potential of Qingtong Gorge, it was inflated with sheepskin, and a brave man who was not afraid of death was tied to the upper part and floated down the river with a bamboo stick with writing on it. Dike, this year, the water in Qingtong Gorge has risen by three feet!" The dog was startled, and blinked his eyes and said: "God! Then we will rise by three feet, Huai'an City is going to overflow! I remember it once in the year!" "That's right!" Yinzhen murmured, "It rained downstream that year, and it has been cloudy for more than half a month. On this day, it rained very heavily, and it seemed like a tank was pouring down the river. I was afraid that the city would not be safe. The prince ordered the officials in the yamen to prepare the boat, and he only brought a long entourage to the west of the city to see if there was any hope of keeping the embankment. "The clouds in the sky are extremely thick. At noon, the sky is as black as the bottom of a pot, and there are dragon tails like ink threads hanging in the sky, swaying one after another, and flashing in the gaps in the clouds, some are purple, some are golden, and some are golden." It was like a fireball jumping up and down and exploded... The thunder was so intense that it shook the tower." Tweet shivered shivering all over, and said: "You still say that the prince is cowardly! The dragon is angry, why don't you run away?" "I also said that he is kind-hearted." Yinzhen's face was a little pale, "He murmured and prayed to God, please save this catastrophe. His long-term follower saw the Yellow River collapsed and swept the embankment, which was more than five feet high The tide was roaring, and the price of the sea was pouring in, screaming: "Master, go back to the Yamen and get on the boat!" Regardless of whether the prince agreed or not, he dragged the prince on his horse and ran away... just listening to the gongs all over the city. The sound: "The flood flooded the south gate, run!" Then there was a "boom" from the south, and the city wall collapsed. The flood flooded into the city, and people were crying and dogs were screaming everywhere. Houses collapsed and collapsed. The dust in the heavy rain filled the sky with a yellow mist. The water on the street was more than four feet deep in an instant, and even the horses could not run...Thunder, rain, river waves, and houses collapsed one after another. The sound was mixed together, the sky was as dark as night, the rain was blinding the eyes again, I couldn't see anything, I couldn't hear anything clearly, the world was in a mess! "Both master and servant abandoned their horses, wading through chest-high water and finally returned to the yamen. They both breathed a sigh of relief—as long as they got on the boat, they would not be afraid—who knew that both of them were stunned as soon as they entered the door, and they were tied to the door of the ceremony. The official ships on board have long since disappeared without a trace! These scholar-bureaucrats who are usually full of loyalty to the emperor and the people have already fled, even leaving their masters alone! "The water in the yard was rushing back and forth, and there was no one there. They grabbed a ladder floating on the water and wanted to go up to the roof. Suddenly, the servant remembered that there was a big fish tank with water lilies in front of the signing room, so he hurried to Get the tank out of the water, empty it, hold the prince and cry loudly, and say: "Master, you can only hold the room for a while, these unreasonable black-hearted thieves may not want to come to pick us up... Good master, you sit in it." , I hold the rim of the tank, let’s float along the water...God is watching, it depends on our fate...'" Hearing this, Dai Duo came to his senses in horror. He remembered what Gao Fuer said about the forty-three years of Kangxi and Yinzhen's narrow escape, but it was not as detailed as what Yinzhen said.Gao Fu'er's eyes were straightened, as if he had returned to the terrible life and death disaster back then. After a long time, he sighed: "Master, why are you talking about this story again? It's so creepy, don't tell the rest." Kan'er stared and said, "You're talking about the juncture, why don't you call it? I love to listen!" Gou'er also said: "Didn't Lord Yue escape his life by sitting in a water tank? If you survive a catastrophe, there will be future blessings." !" Cui'er seemed to be immersed in the story, and suddenly Lingling asked with twinkling eyes: "Master, did the crown prince escape?" "He's not the prince." Yinzhen smiled wryly, "If it were the prince, those bastard officials wouldn't dare to run for their lives... They floated in the water for two days and two nights. They weren't hungry. There were edible things floating in the river. At least, there are pumpkins, persimmons, eggplants and so on, and occasionally steamed buns and steamed buns. It’s just that the prince sits in the tank, so dizzy that he doesn’t know where to go, and throws up after eating. What about the servant? Exhausted, he let go of his hand after a few naps, but the prince pulled him back with his hand. "Two days later, the vat floated to the shore. When the two came up, they chanted a Buddha, and suddenly the world was spinning, and they both fainted on the beach. "When I woke up again, it was already dark. The prince opened his eyes and saw a broken table in front of the bed, with an oil lamp flickering on it. An old man sat on a stool and smoked, and there was a seventeen or eighteen-year-old The girl was holding a bowl of ginger soup and stared blankly at herself. The prince moved his lips, and just about to say something, the girl shouted in surprise: "Father! He's awake..." Then a servant came in, Kneeling down with a plop, he just kowtowed: "Thank you, old man, for saving us! I will definitely repay your kindness... Our Lord——" He glanced at the prince, but did not dare to reveal their true identities. The prince sat up and said, "I My name is Wang Sunlong, please tell me your name? You are so kind, God will bless you!' "'What kind of "noble surname" are we? Our surname is Hei, and our family origin is Lehu." The old man wrinkled his face and said with a sigh, "The ancestors committed sins and redeemed their children and grandchildren, and the virtues they accumulated were for themselves—the one who saved you was my second daughter, Xiaofu, I went to borrow rice and haven’t come back yet. This is my eldest daughter, Xiaolu..." After saying that, she sighed again and got up without a word. Xiaolu hurriedly brought the cornbread and said, "There is water all around, and there is no salt or vegetables. You may not be able to borrow the rice, so let’s just eat it—it’s the same for Dad, he saved a life and won the construction of a seven-level pagoda, so he was so scared!” Although it is not stunning, but it is sweet and pretty, and it is refreshing to speak, so I can't help asking: "What is there to be afraid of?" "Xiao Lu brought a bowl of wild vegetable soup, and greeted the prince and his master and servants to eat, and said: 'I'll tell you the truth, our ancestors changed their surnames to Hei and became untouchables in the past Ming Yongle Lord Jing Nan's bad things, the court has a decree, From generation to generation, they are only allowed to sing in the clan, as drummers, actors, paper-making people and horses, as elegiac singers, matchmakers, stable women...helping people with weddings and funerals...it has been more than three hundred years. During these three hundred years, one generation In one generation, there were ninety-four chaste women, and two strong daughters—one died in Heilongjiang after taking a lawsuit for her father, and the other died of a man who didn't get through the family. Hearing about this incident, I checked the genealogy again, and said that it is rare for such a lowly nationality, and those who have not sold their bodies are still married women! It is a pity that there are not enough one hundred, and if the number is full, he will play in the book and get rid of the family for the whole family. There were a lot of them. In short, the clan has set the rules of death: there are less than a hundred women who are virtuous, and someone is going to have an accident here..." She suddenly blushed, and spat: "What are you talking about?" Prince He smiled and said, "You said it yourself!" After hearing this, Xiao Lu took a steamed bun and went out of the room. "At that moment, she came in again, but she was carrying a scoop of rice and a piece of salt the size of an egg. She ground it on the chopping board without saying a word, pinched a little and put it in the prince's bowl, put the rice on the stove, and looked at it timidly. The prince took one look, broke off half of the cornbread, squatted under the stove and ate firewood to cook the pot. The prince smiled and said: "Why don't you like it? Don't be upset, it's mine." She didn't answer, just looked at it suspiciously. The prince glanced at him, suddenly smiled, and lowered his head to burn firewood. The prince was wondering, and another Xiaolu came in from outside the door, holding a clean radish in his hand, cutting it neatly, and said with a smile: "You are lucky! I'll look at it." I can’t borrow rice—you don’t know my sister, I can’t speak, and I’m very popular!’” Only then did everyone realize that the person who came in was not alone, Kan'er smiled and said, "Ha! These are a pair of twin sisters!" Dai Duo had never seen Yinzhen have the interest to say so many words to his servants, and these words spread Telling the other elder brothers to know is not beneficial at all, because seeing that the meat is cooked, he fished it out with chopsticks, cut a piece and gave it to Yinzhen, when he was about to change the topic, Kan'er gnawed on the meat drippingly, and tore it up again. He fed Lu Lu, squinted his eyes and said with a smile: "Fourth Master, you don't need to talk about it, I already know it!"