Rise From the Humble

"Hiccup, I've never thought porridge tastes so delicious before, and this nest of steamed buns is so delicious."

That night, the bandits, who had been without food for two days and were hungry, finally had a full meal. Each person was given two nests, a ball of pickled wild vegetables, and porridge to drink. Everyone burped after eating until they were full, huddled in a corner of the shack in the flood shelter area, and picked their teeth with satisfaction.

Heavy rains caused flash floods and destroyed the cottage. If the Shaodong family had not forced everyone to move from the cottage to Xifeng Slope two days in advance, they would have been buried underground by the flash flood. However, although they escaped thanks to the young master's family, all the food stored in the village was destroyed by the flash flood. They only had time to grab more than half of the bags of food. After saving and saving, they could only last less than three days. . As of today, they have been without food for more than two days.

When the Shaodong family insisted on transferring refugees, they were still unhappy. Now that I think about it, the Shaodong family was still wise. Otherwise, they would still be looking for wild vegetables and catching insects in the mountains, with their chests pressed against their backs and sour water coming out of their mouths. How could they have such a good day today?

"I feel so full that I don't want to go home. After the disaster, having such a shelter from the wind and rain, and being able to take care of the food, is really like paradise."

Hu Laosan patted his belly, moved his buttocks on the straw bed, and found a comfortable position.

"It's good here, but the rules are too broad. You have to wash your hands before eating, take a shower before going to bed, and go to the designated toilet area when going to the toilet. Even the clothes we wore when we came here have to be washed with hot water. Talking about disinfection, do you think it’s ridiculous or not? If it’s really poisoning, who would put poison on clothes?”

Zhang Laosan held a piece of straw in his mouth, leaned on a pillar supporting the shack, and said with a corner of his mouth.

"They say this is a rule set by the county magistrate. Ha, no wonder, these scholars are so poor and fastidious. They have reached this point and they are still not fastidious enough." Another bandit followed.

Of course, they all spoke in suppressed voices to avoid being heard by the local victims. These people were extremely loyal and respectful to the county magistrate. If you hear them talking bad about the county magistrate, you will definitely tell them a lot of nonsense.

In the corner of the shack, the young boss, who was disguised as a man, heard a group of bandits talking about taking a bath before going to bed, and his pretty face, smeared with plant ash, couldn't help but blush. She lived in a shack with everyone, guarded by a group of bandits, and had a relatively private space.

For her, bathing is a problem. She can't do it without washing. The flood refuge area is supervised and inspected by a special person because he is a woman disguised as a man and takes a bath with a group of gentlemen. Although his father and a group of bandits occupied a rain shower room and guarded it outside, while she washed herself inside alone, she still couldn't help but curse when she thought of so many people outside. Someone who is the instigator.

In a blink of an eye, the night passed like this.

The next day, the sun rose again from the east. Looking at the rising sun's golden glow, people were once again full of hope.

The rain has stopped, the floods are slowly receding, and there is food and drink in the flood shelter area. How can such days not be full of hope?

Unlike everyone else, Zhu Ping'an was a little worried when he got up in the morning and came back from walking around the county and the five major flood avoidance areas.

What worries me is food.

Zhu Ping'an walked around the county seat and the five major flood avoidance areas and listened to the reports from the officials in charge of each flood avoidance area. Jingnan is currently housing more and more victims. Among them, the Beijiao Flood Refuge Area, the largest, has accommodated more than 20,000 disaster victims, including nearly 10,000 refugees fleeing from other places. Although the other four flood avoidance areas are not as good as the Beijiao Flood Refuge Area, each of them has There are more than 10,000 disaster victims in the district, and foreign victims account for almost half.

There are more than 60,000 victims in these five major flood refuge areas, and the number of victims fleeing from other places far exceeds expectations.

That's not all.

In addition to these five major flood avoidance areas, there are still 20,000 people in Jingnan County.

In this flood, Jingnan County suffered much less damage than the villages below. When the floods were at their worst, the amount of floodwater that poured into Jingnan County was limited, but it was almost at the level of waterlogging. More than 80% of the houses in the county were well preserved, and the collapsed and damaged ones were all old houses in disrepair. The people only lost part of their property and food, and they were much less affected by the disaster.

In addition, before the flood, Zhu Pingan ordered the repair of drainage facilities in Jingnan County. These drainage facilities worked. After the heavy rain stopped, it took only one day for the accumulated water in the county to be drained away.

After another day of dredging and mud removal, Jingnan County was basically rebuilt and returned to normal.

The lives of people in the county have basically returned to normal, and they suffered limited damage from the flood.

However, food is still in short supply.

The people in the county basically do not farm. They are not like the people in the countryside who store a year's worth of food. They basically don't save much food. They are similar to modern city people, who eat and buy now.

Although their damage was limited, in terms of food, they were similar to the victims outside the city and were just as short of food.

There are more than 60,000 disaster victims (the number is increasing every moment), more than 20,000 county residents, and more than 80,000 people crying for food. They need about 50,000 kilograms of food every day. This is a very large number.

Moreover, according to the current situation, thousands of victims come to Jingnan from other places every day. According to reports from the officials in charge of flood avoidance areas, the number of new people added every day is greater than the number of new people added the day before.

The food needed every day will be more and more. The 20,000 shi of grain stored in the county government warehouse were really stretched.

In addition, the grain stocks in the grain stores in the county are limited, and the price of grain has risen three times in one day. Even so, the grain in the grain stores is not open to supply, but is limited to a daily supply.

In the past few days, Zhu Ping'an would write an official document to the capital asking for disaster relief and food relief, without stopping for a day.

But just as Zhu Pingan predicted before, the court seems to be, probably, really unable to rescue him.

Zhu Ping'an requested the imperial court for disaster relief, and the official documents requesting relief for grain and grass fell into the sea, with no response.

The grain storage in the county government warehouse is stretched thin, the output of the county grain store is even more limited, and the imperial rescue is like a dream. When everyone is full of hope, Zhu Ping'an can't help but worry about food.

Maybe this means worrying about the world's worries first, and rejoicing after the world's happiness.

"Report! Reply from Fucheng!"

At this moment, the guards' shouts came from outside.

When Zhu Pingan heard this, he couldn't help but look happy. He quickly stood up and shouted outside, "Send the submission in quickly."

After a burst of hurried footsteps, the officer delivered an official document stamped with the seal of Taizhou Prefecture to Zhu Pingan.

After Zhu Pingan took it, he couldn't wait to open it.

".Let all counties actively help themselves."

The last sentence after the official document was like a basin of cold water, extinguishing Zhu Pingan's illusions.