Chapter 52: Spring Return (Part 1)

"There is no need to panic when the food price is high. I will send my wife and children to the countryside first. On the one hand, I can avoid military disasters. On the other hand, I have a lot of food in the countryside. I can even handle the money from elm trees to fill my stomach."

"I really have no choice, so I hurried to run south. Ju Fuzi is the heart of a Bodhisattva. He saved the people of Yangzhou back then, and later rescued the victims of Suiyang and Xuzhou. As long as everyone reaches the Huai'an Army, he will not watch everyone starve to death."

After the beginning of spring, two rumors spread across the canal.

First, it is common sense for everyone. As long as it is not a natural disaster, it will be easier to find a bite of food in the countryside after spring than in the city. The baskets of wormwood, reed buds, shepherd's purse, and bamboo shoots are all good and fresh, and can be eaten half of the food. When you are anxious, elm seeds, bark, pine needles, and willow leaves can all be used to fill your stomach. Anyway, as long as the summer grains in the field are mature, you will have a chance to breathe and will not starve to death.

The second article is evidenced by the past facts. Although Zhu Tuhu’s reputation is not very good among scholars and scholars, he saved millions of people from Yangzhou and took in nearly two million victims of Sui Xu. It is obvious to all in the world that even if the Mongolian Yuan government and the scholars loyal to the Yuan Dynasty wanted to cover it up, they could not cover it up.

Therefore, after spring, a very strange scene appeared in some cities north of the Yellow River, near the canal. A large number of civilians, with their wives and children, secretly moved south along the river that had not yet been thawed. At first, there were still a few waves. At least, they were holding official documents or forged road guides to deal with the inspection of checkpoints along the way. In a blink of an eye, they completely lost control. Many bold guys, not only refused to use road guides or copper coins to handle official positions, but if they were not satisfied, they suddenly rushed to the gates and beat the officers and idle people who tried to split the flesh on the egret legs and bloodied.

"This, the price of grain has only risen, has it increased by more than twice?" Local officials who thought they could have had a full month of the year were furious and cursed the unruly scoundrels under their control. Except for last year, the price of grain did not double in spring. If the price of grain in spring is always the same as in autumn harvest, who will make money from those grain shop owners?

However, common sense is this common sense, and officials cannot explain it to the people under their rule. In the eyes of those "stubborn people", the reputation of the government in the Yuan Dynasty was against the credibility. If the government did not explain, they might restore stability by themselves after a while. When the government came forward to explain, they often became darker and darker. People who had no intention of fleeing would immediately roll up the bed and leave.

But let it go and continue to let the people under the rule escape south. It is definitely not a solution. Those cities near the Yellow River are easy to deal with. Anyway, the Huaian army is about to come. Local officials will surrender the treasury with a golden seal and a household registration booklet. The emperor in the capital will definitely not have the energy to investigate whether they were lazy at the last moment. Lingzhou, Nanpi, Cangzhou, and Qingzhou will not be able to make it. These places are closer to the capital than to the Yellow River. The imperial court's troops will definitely lead along the canal. If they arrive on the ground, they need to recruit people to serve on the spot. As a result, the commander who led the troops will see that the people in the city have fled. The first knife he used to shoot would probably be slashed on the head of the local officials.

"It would be great that the Huai'an army would come early. As soon as the Huai'an army arrived, no one could escape the big dogs who hoarded food and did not let everyone have enough food." Because they were reluctant to give up their family property, the people who were tied to the city by the government quickly found the culprit and complained quietly in private.

"Master Guan wanted to starve everyone to death in the city. Everyone was not as good as his wish. They first dug wild vegetables and ate bran to deal with it. When the Huai'an army arrived, everyone immediately found a way to offer the city." Some brave ones came up with the simplest solution. There was no food to eat during the war, so that the war would end early. As long as one party could win, no matter which party, everyone would naturally get rid of it.

When most people in a city cannot eat enough, the whole city becomes a volcano that may erupt at any time, no matter how many officers and soldiers are stationed in the local area, no matter how many bloody heads are hanging on the city wall.

"Open the door to welcome the King of Wu, and when the King of Wu comes, he will release food."

"The north wind is gone and the south wind is back. Seeing that the red is transformed into a green man is not in a mess, the five virtues are mutually reborn and restrained again."

"Fire produces earth, earth produces metal, the golden light dissipates and the fire returns again, and the coldness fades away and spring returns."

If the complaints of the people are only at the level of venting, they do not pose a practical threat to the local governments of the Yuan Dynasty, and the folk songs that were secretly spread began to be punished by the scholars and officials.

Although Zhu Chongjiu himself scoffed at the numerology of ghosts and gods, and although from the moment he was established, the Huaiyang General Administration openly denied the theory of the Five Virtues, the north of the Yellow River is not under his jurisdiction, and the vast majority of scholars north of the Yellow River still believe in the theory of the Five Virtues.

According to the official revision after Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty, the five virtues were born together, and Yu was born as the earth virtue, which gave birth to Jin Dexia, Jin Dexia, and Shui De Shang, and so on. After Fire De Song, it was naturally the earth virtue and Jin De Jin, and then it was the turn of Jin De's Dayuan.

However, the official government is official, but it has been circulated among the people that the five virtues will not only be mutually reborn, but also mutually restrained. Zhu Butcher used killing as his practice and killed ten thousand pigs before he reopened his spiritual intelligence. He then changed the gunpowder formula to create artillery and fire guns. Therefore, his country must be fire virtue. According to the judgment of the mutual restraint of the five elements, Jinde's Dayuan was destined to be melted by the Great Wu of Fire virtue, and the Mongolian cavalry that came with the cold air from the north were also destined to be defeated by the Huai'an army who returned with the warmth of spring in the south.

Unlike the complaints about the people, whether officials or local gentry, after listening to folk songs that came from unknown, they began to be in panic all day long.
Chapter completed!