Chapter 414: Walking on the road with skinny body, starving at the smoke from the kitchen

Yingtianfu, the usually prosperous and bustling ancient city of Jinling, has now been devastated by a sudden flood.

Everywhere in the streets and alleys there were the miserable scenes of displaced people and the sad cries of their children.

Accompanied by the dripping rain, it seemed like the wailing of this disaster-stricken land.

A large number of people were forced to flee their homes; their hurried footsteps and panicked expressions all told of the ruthlessness of this disaster.

This large-scale population displacement has directly led to the increasingly serious problem of food shortage.

It is like a thick haze, weighing heavily on everyone’s heart.

The granaries in the city, which were originally used to store food and sustain people’s livelihood, could not escape the ravages of the flood.

A considerable part of it has been ruthlessly submerged by the raging flood.

The grain that was originally full in the warehouse was soaked and became swollen and moldy.

The loss is so heavy that it is heartbreaking.

The old clerk who was in charge of guarding the granary watched helplessly as the grain was destroyed.

He could not help but collapse on the ground, tears streaming down his face, and he kept muttering, “What should I do? I’m starving to death!”

During the process of fleeing, the lives of the people were constantly threatened, so how could they have time to carry enough food?

Now they can only gather in relatively safe high ground or in places such as temples that have not been flooded to seek temporary shelter.

But each of the starving people was pale and skinny, with hungry stomachs, and their eyes were full of helplessness and despair.

In a shabby but still dry temple, the children were crying with hunger.

The crying sounded particularly miserable in this stormy environment.

It was like sharp needles piercing every adult’s heart.

The adults also had worried looks on their faces, looking at the children’s hungry stomachs.

Everyone felt like a huge rock was pressing down on their hearts. It was so uncomfortable.

An old man with a square face, the vicissitudes of life have carved deep wrinkles on his face.

At this time, he was holding his grandson who was crying from hunger, and said to Zhu Gang with a sad face: “Your Highness, look at how we are going to get by now!

What will we do with the food for two meals a day from now on?

The children are so hungry that they don’t even have the energy to cry. You have to save us, the common people.”

The square-faced old man’s voice was trembling and his eyes were full of anticipation.

The turbid eyes stared at Zhu Gang, as if he was the only ray of light in the darkness.

Zhu Gang was extremely anxious as he watched these tragic scenes.

He knew very well that if the food problem was not solved, the people would really have no way to survive.

Zhu Gang knew clearly that the most urgent task at the moment was to find out the situation of the remaining food in the city.

So he quickly summoned all his trusted men and ordered them solemnly, “All of you, go out and arrange more manpower.

Please make sure to give me a careful count of the remaining grain in each granary.

In addition, we will also find out the food that may be stored in those businesses that were not affected by the disaster and the wealthy households.

This matter concerns the life and death of thousands of people, so we cannot afford to be careless in the slightest!”

But at this time, due to the raging flood, many places in the city were flooded.

The road was severely flooded and was completely impassable.

Those statisticians who were sent out had to take a detour.

The road was so muddy that it was difficult to walk on. If you stepped on it, half of your foot would sink in. If you were not careful, you would fall and get covered in mud.

They trudged through the mud one by one, spending a lot of time and energy, but they could only grit their teeth and persevere.

When Zhu Gang led this group of exhausted statisticians, he finally found some wealthy families in Yingtian Prefecture.

He originally thought that these wealthy families had great wealth and might be able to provide some food to help the victims, but he never expected to encounter many excuses and rejections.

Take the rich man with abundant land for example. He wears gold and silver on a daily basis.

Although he was only wearing silk clothes, his every move revealed his wealth and nobility.

Although it was a little wet from the rain, the delicate embroidery on the clothes could still be seen.

He said reluctantly, “Your Highness Prince Jin, this food is the livelihood of my family!

In this disaster year, I don’t even know if I can survive it, so how can I have any extra food to share with others?

Look, my whole family needs to eat, drink, defecate and urinate every day!

If this food is distributed, we will starve.”

The rich man in gorgeous clothes was looking at his own granary with distress as he spoke, his eyes as if someone was trying to steal his treasure.

The rich man watched closely, fearing that Zhu Gang’s men would force their way in and take away the grain.

Zhu Gang was unhappy when he saw this, but he still tried to persuade them kindly: “As a wealthy family in Yingtian Prefecture, Yingtian Prefecture has suffered a great disaster and the people are suffering.

Look outside, the children are so hungry that they don’t even have the energy to cry, and the old people are dying of hunger.

If you can lend a helping hand and provide relief to the victims, it would be a meritorious deed of immeasurable magnitude!

Only when the people in this city are safe can you live a safe life in the future.

As the saying goes, when the nest is overturned, no egg can remain intact. You should all understand this principle, right?”

However, Zhu Gang’s earnest exhortation obviously had little effect in the end.

Those wealthy families either kept their heads down and kept silent, or continued to find various excuses to shirk their responsibilities and refused to hand over the grain.

Under such circumstances, Zhu Gang sighed helplessly and decided to use the grain reserves of the Ming Dynasty Money House.

However, the grain reserves of the Ming Dynasty Bank were also lost due to the flood, and there is not much left now.

Zhu Gang looked at the few grains of food, his brows tightly furrowed, his heart full of worry.

He knew very well that the food had to be used carefully to ensure that every bit of food was used for the victims who needed it most.

Zhu Gang then arranged for people to strictly control the distribution of grain, and repeatedly warned the officials in charge of distributing grain: “Listen carefully to me, there must not be any mistakes in the distribution of grain.

It must be distributed first to the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the starving people.

If I find out that you are corrupt and partial, don’t blame me for being rude!”

On the other side, Zhu Gang continued to find ways to raise more food.

The envoys who were sent out rode their horses at full speed, rushing to the surrounding towns in a hurry.

However, most of the surrounding towns have also been affected by disasters to varying degrees and are struggling to protect themselves, so the assistance they can provide is very limited.

Some towns replied that their own food was barely enough to survive and they could not provide any extra to help Yingtian Prefecture.

Some towns said that they were still busy with disaster relief and had no time to take care of the situation in Yingtian Prefecture.

For a time, problems such as deteriorating public security and food shortages were like a heavy net.

The Yingtian Prefecture was tightly enveloped, making it hard to breathe.

Moreover, these problems in turn seriously affected the restoration work of the city wall and the implementation of Zhu Gang’s subsequent plans.

(End of this chapter)