Chapter 457: The new emperor is immoral, bringing disaster to the people
Time has unknowingly entered November.
The cold northwest wind blew from the snowfield in the north, making the busy Chongshan Town instantly idle.
The peak period of refugees pouring into Chongshan Town has passed. From the beginning of August to the end of October, more than 800,000 refugees poured into Chongshan Town in just three months.
800,000 refugees were settled in Beidi, which made the originally barren Beidi more populated.
However, compared with the vast Beidi, 800,000 people are far from filling the Beidi.
Liaodong is a vast land with sparse population, and Beidi is now also a vast land with sparse population.
800,000 people may sound like a lot, but distributed around two cities and three official roads, the population still seems very sparse.
Chongshan Pass to Heiyun City, Heiyun City to Fuzhou City, Fuzhou City to Songzhou City, these three official roads and the area enclosed by the former border of Chongshan Town are the most fertile land in the North.
Not only is the land fertile, but the water resources are also abundant, including Yinghe River, Songyuan River and more than a dozen other rivers.
Its area is much larger than Pingyuan Province.
Therefore, the 800,000 refugees who moved to the north can only develop a small part of the land in the north.
Even this most fertile land cannot be fully reclaimed, not to mention the endless grassland in the west of Heiyun Mountain.
As the weather gets colder, fewer and fewer refugees enter Chongshan Town.
The long queues on the official road leading to Chongshan Town disappeared, replaced by twos and threes of miserable refugees.
However, this does not mean that all the refugees in Liaodong have been resettled. In fact, most of the refugees went to Jizhou and Shanhe Province.
To this day, there are still more than 200,000 refugees gathered in Jizhou, and countless refugees died of freezing and starvation every day.
The whole Jizhou is like a hell, and the bodies of refugees can be seen everywhere.
However, the province that absorbs the most refugees is Shanhe Province, where more than two million refugees have settled.
It's not that the refugees don't want to continue migrating southward, but the court has set up checkpoints in the southern part of Shanhe Province to prevent the refugees from continuing to move southward.
After Shanhe Province is Shuntian Prefecture. If the refugees continue to move southward, they will gather outside the city of Kyoto.
The court naturally doesn't want to see this situation.
So the refugee tide can only be blocked within Shanhe Province.
The situation in Shanhe Province is not very good either. A large number of refugees either settle outside the city or in the wild. In the absence of food and clothing, they can only struggle to survive.
Fortunately, the winter in Shanhe Province is not as cold as Liaodong. If they can find a place to shelter from the wind and snow, they can barely hold on for a while.
The government's relief has never stopped. Whether it is Pingyuan or Shanhe Province, local governments have opened warehouses to release grain.
However, there must be great evil under great disasters. No matter where there is a shortage of corrupt officials and profiteers who make money from disasters.
Although the court has been cracking down on these corrupt officials and profiteers, it still cannot completely eliminate the existence of such things.
And I don't know when!
A saying spread in Shanhe Province.
The disaster was sent down from heaven as a warning. The new emperor is immoral and brings disaster to the people!
This sentence gave rise to a strong resentment in the hearts of the refugees who had already suffered.
Under deliberate guidance, they blamed the drought in Liaodong on Emperor Yanping.
Not only the refugees, but also the people who saw the suffering of the refugees believed that the natural disaster was caused by the immorality of Emperor Yanping.
For a time, various rumors spread among the market and the countryside. It was originally just a sentence, but it became a series of hilarious dramas.
Some people said that after Emperor Yanping ascended the throne, he built many magnificent palaces in the imperial city.
Some people said that Emperor Yanping was addicted to wine and sex, and decent people searched for beauties everywhere among the people.
Some people said that Emperor Yanping favored the enchantress, sang and danced every day, and ignored the government.
Others said that Emperor Yanping had a tyrannical personality, liked to kill people, and killed people every day!
The rumors became more and more outrageous, and in the end they were simply unbearable to watch. There were stories about eating human hearts, drinking human blood, and digging out hearts and livers.
In this feudal society where information spread extremely slowly, how could ordinary people know what the court was like and what the imperial city was like? They just followed what others said and believed everything they heard.
When these rumors reached Kyoto, the people of Kyoto were confused.
Is Emperor Yanping so evil?
It seems not?
They have lived a relatively stable life for more than a year since the new emperor ascended the throne. Except for the increase in grain prices, there is not much difference from before.
The people of Kyoto should be the people who know the court and the emperor best in the world. They are the ducks who know first when the spring river water warms.
Although many major events have happened in the court over the past year, they have not had much impact on the lives of ordinary people.
The people of Kyoto naturally do not believe these absurd rumors, but they are half-believing and half-doubting about the first sentence, that is, "The new emperor has no virtue and will bring disaster to the people."
After all, the severe drought in Liaodong was a fact, and it was reasonable to blame it on the new emperor's misconduct.
Yes, it was reasonable.
God is watching what people do.
The emperor is the son of heaven, and when the son of heaven makes mistakes, heaven will send disasters to the world as a punishment.
Such a concept is deeply rooted in people's hearts.
Not to mention ordinary people, even scholars think so.
When these rumors reached the imperial city and the ears of Emperor Yanping, Emperor Yanping's face turned pale in an instant.
Emperor Yanping was also an ambitious man, and his ambition was to surpass Emperor Chengping and become a wise and virtuous ruler.
So after ascending the throne for more than a year, he had been trying his best to control the court, handle the government affairs according to his own ideas, and govern the country.
He did not repair temples, did not get close to women, did not indulge in his desires, worked hard and loved the people, and did not dare to slack off.
However, the result~~
The world actually slandered him like this.
For a moment, Emperor Yanping suddenly felt discouraged.
"Your Majesty!"
In the imperial study, Nan Sheng looked at Emperor Yanping with a pale face and could not help but whispered.
Emperor Yanping's eyes turned slightly and fell on Nan Sheng, and his voice was low and hoarse: "What else?"
At this time, he was like a volcano about to erupt. On the surface, he seemed calm, but in fact, he was surging with infinite anger in his heart.
After being discouraged, there was endless anger and hatred.
Hatred of rumors, hatred of those who spread rumors.
Nan Sheng was stared at like this, and couldn't help but swallow nervously, "Your Majesty, this matter must be someone secretly slandering Your Majesty. I ask Your Majesty to issue an order and order the Imperial Guard to thoroughly investigate this matter!"
"Thorough investigation!" Nan Sheng slowly closed his eyes.
Rumors are just rumors. Although they make people angry, they don't actually affect him much.
No matter how many rumors there are among the people, no matter how outrageous they are, the impact on the court is minimal.
The real trouble with this matter is the sentence "Heaven sends disasters as a warning, the new emperor has no virtue, and the disaster is for the people."
Because the civil and military officials will really believe this sentence.
Just like the memorial in front of him, many ministers have advised him to cultivate virtue and protect the people.
Advising him to cultivate virtue, isn't it saying that he has no virtue?
"Investigate! It must be investigated strictly. Anyone who dares to criticize the monarch is disrespectful!" Emperor Yanping said with gritted teeth.
"I obey the order!"
Nan Sheng knelt on the ground to receive the order, and a gleam of brilliance burst out in his eyes.
Emperor Yanping exhaled heavily, "Go out, all of you!"
"Yes!"
Nan Sheng obeyed the order, and the eunuchs serving in the room left the study one after another.
Soon, the study became quiet.
The quiet environment made Emperor Yanping calm down a lot, but the anger in his heart did not disappear, but it was not as agitated as before.
Nan Sheng was right, there must be someone behind this matter!
Otherwise, how could there be so many rumors among the people?
Who is secretly playing tricks?
Emperor Yanping leaned on the soft couch, closed his eyes slightly, and fell into deep thought.
There were thousands of thoughts in his mind, but he couldn't find any clues.
The civil and military officials in the court?
Impossible!
Or his brothers?
Impossible!
His brothers are now in the vassal state, and he has ascended the throne.
The battle for the throne between their brothers is over!
Who else could it be?
Emperor Yanping couldn't think of it!
But he became more and more dissatisfied with the Secret Guard.
Such a big thing, the Secret Guard didn't report it to him in advance!
"Come here!"
The eunuch outside the door walked into the study, "Your Majesty!"
"Decree! Wang Zhongzhi is not doing a good job, he will be stripped of his position and imprisoned, waiting for his fate!"
"Order the eunuch Ma Rong of the Silijian to be the governor of the Secret Guard!"
Emperor Yanping said in a deep voice.
He has not touched Wang Zhongzhi since he ascended the throne, not because he values Wang Zhongzhi, but because he does not have many useful people under his command.
He was only the Prince of Cheng before, with only more than ten eunuchs around him, and the only useful people were Nansheng and Wang An.
After becoming the crown prince, in order to prevent Emperor Chengping from being dissatisfied with him, he did not cultivate his confidants in the palace.
After ascending the throne, he began to select useful people in the imperial city.
Ma Rong was originally Chen Zhongshu's man. After Chen Zhongshu went to guard the imperial mausoleum, Ma Rong had always been the eunuch of the Silijian.
Since Wang Zhongzhi cannot be used, let's change someone to take charge of the Secret Guard.
…
Two hundred miles north of Chongshan Pass.
Yang Zhengshan braved the wind and snow and came to a village.
It snowed in Chongshan Town, and a moderate snowfall was falling.
This snowfall will completely end the impact of the Liaodong drought on Chongshan Town, but unfortunately it did not snow in Liaodong, and Liaodong is still in drought.
Surrounded by a group of close followers, Yang Zhengshan walked into the village.
The soldiers and villagers in the village had already discovered their group. A leading soldier stepped forward and asked cautiously: "I, Xiong Hu, greet you, sirs. May I ask who you are?"
Xiong Hu could see the extraordinaryness of this group of people, but he could not determine their identities.
Yang Zhengshan looked Xiong Hu up and down and smiled slightly: "Xiong Hu, haha, a good name, and a good figure!"
Xiong Hu, as his name suggests, is tall and strong, with thick arms and a round waist, and is a head taller than Yang Zhengshan.
You should know that Yang Zhengshan is more than 1.8 meters tall, while Xiong Hu is estimated to be more than 2 meters tall.
"I am Yang Zhengshan!"
This time Yang Zhengshan came to inspect, he did not inform anyone, only brought his personal followers.
The purpose!
Of course he wanted to see the real situation of the refugees.
When you are in a high position, there will always be some situations where you are not clear-headed and not clear-headed. The reports of the people below are bound to be adulterated, or they report good news but not bad news, so Yang Zhengshan came to see it for himself today.
"Yang Zhengshan!" Xiong Hu looked confused, but he soon reacted.
"I greet you, Lord!"
He bowed hurriedly.
Yang Zhengshan wanted to reach out and pat his shoulder, but he gave up the idea immediately.
Xiong Hu was too tall, and it looked a bit funny for him to pat someone's shoulder.
"Forget it, let's go in and take a look!"
Yang Zhengshan, wearing a fur coat, walked past Xiong Hu and walked directly into the village.
Xiong Hu hesitated for a moment and hurriedly followed behind.
"When were the villagers here resettled?" Yang Zhengshan asked while looking at the layout of the village.
"To answer the Marquis, they came here a month ago!" Xiong Hu was a little nervous and stuttered.
"A month ago!"
Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly.
This time, Chongshan Town resettled refugees in the order of north first and south later.
That is to say, the refugees who were resettled first were all in the northern area, and the ones who were resettled later were getting closer and closer to Chongshan Pass and Songzhou City.
The refugees here came late and had almost no time to prepare for the cold winter.
So the buildings in the village were very simple, with only adobe houses and no courtyard walls.
"How many people are there in the village?" Yang Zhengshan continued to ask.
"There are 48 households and 386 people in the village, 148 adults and 76 children~~" Xiong Hu was a little incoherent.
Yang Zhengshan's reputation in Chongshan Town is naturally needless to say, and Xiong Hu is just a soldier. Although he is tall and strong, he has not even got a small flag.
This is not because someone suppresses him, but because he is only 18 years old this year.
He is young and has just joined the army not long ago. This time he is in charge of this village, which can be regarded as his superiors' reuse of him.
Yang Zhengshan looked at a nearby house. The wooden door of the house opened a crack, and someone was secretly watching him behind the door.
"It's very cold, let them go back, you come with me to this house to take a look!"
Yang Zhengshan looked at the soldiers who were shivering in the back and said.
It was freezing cold, and it was really cold to stay outside.
And the soldiers' clothes were not very thick, and the effect of keeping out the cold was not very good.
As for his close followers, there was nothing to worry about.
Not only were they wrapped up like dumplings, but the key point was that they had high cultivation and were relatively resistant to cold.
"Ah, yes!" Xiong Hu responded in astonishment, then ran over and said a few words to his brothers, and then the soldiers left.
However, these soldiers did not go back to rest, but left the village.
These naturally could not be hidden from Yang Zhengshan, but Yang Zhengshan did not care.
Those soldiers must have gone to find their superiors.
Yang Zhengshan came in person, as long as Xiong Hu had a little bit of brains, he would know to send someone to call his superiors.
Yang Zhengshan ignored those soldiers, but walked towards the nearby house on his own.
As he approached, there was a commotion behind the door, and then the wooden door opened, revealing two figures, one big and one small.
The big one should be in his early thirties, a somewhat thin man.
The small one was in his teens, with a sallow complexion and some malnutrition.
