In the early summer of the second year of Ming Dao in the Song Dynasty, a severe drought and locust plague occurred in the Jianghuai River. Renzong followed Fan Zhongyan's advice and allocated 2 million yuan of silver for disaster relief. He appointed Fan Zhongyan as a special envoy for disaster relief and supervised all officials along the way. Fan Zhongyan was worried about state affairs and set off early in advance.

In the summer of the same year, floods occurred in Luzhou Prefecture, Jiangnan Road, Zhili, and heavy rain continued, causing floods in many places throughout Luzhou.

In a large mansion in Changyuan County, a young man was sitting on a small stool in front of the door in a official robe, staring at the pouring rain outside in a daze.

"Brother Bao, are you still going to the yamen today?"

"It's raining so heavily, why are you going to do it? There's no sedan chair!"

Bao Qing was a little irritable at this time, perhaps related to the heavy rain outside.

"Big Niu, the weather turns slightly, you go to Xiaohe Village and bring your parents up. Our money is enough for everyone to live. I just miss the noodles you cooked by your mother."

"Okay, Brother Bao! Look at the rain outside, why don't we go to the yamen? You haven't been there for almost seven or eight days, I'm afraid the county magistrate will blame you."

Bao Qing had to stand up when he heard this. The habit of staying in his previous life has not changed yet, so he is really afraid of going to work.

"Brother Bao, I rented a sedan chair for you, why don't you leave now?"

"Did you rent it long ago? Why didn't you say it just now?"

"It's better to rent it early, but people say that they have to wait until the rain is lighter before they come. It's not just smaller, so they're here."

Bao Qing smiled casually. The two sedan chairmen had already arrived at the back door of the central hall. Da Niu held a oil paper umbrella for Bao Qing.

Bao Qing's sedan chair is small enough that he can't even move it away even when he sits inside. He thought to himself, this big cow is afraid that he feels sorry for the money, so why don't he rent a big sedan chair?

Bao Qing's sedan chair suddenly stopped, and only the big bull was heard outside shouting: "Give it aside! You dare to stop the sedan chair of the county magistrate."

"Master, please enjoy your stutter!"

"Master, okay! Give me some food!"

After hearing this in the sedan chair, Bao Qing felt something was wrong. Where did so many beggars come from in this county? So he opened the curtain of the sedan chair and stretched out his head to see it. He was stunned by the scene in front of him.

The street leading to the yamen in Changyuan County is crowded with people. To be precise, it is the victims. His faces are sallow and bony these days, and he looks like he has been hungry for several days. What Bao Qing couldn't stand the most is that many of the victims were holding children, and the children seemed so hungry that they couldn't even make a sound of crying.

Bao Qing thought to himself, after only a few days of heavy rain, why did the people leave their hometowns and run to the county town? Is there no surplus of food at home?

The victims on the street shouted when they saw the master in the sedan chair stretching out their heads. At this time, the skinny girl, holding a little girl of seven or eight years old, broke through the crowd and knelt in front of Bao Qing's sedan chair.

"Master, please save my sister! I don't want to eat, just give her some food. She is almost out of the way." The girl didn't know where she got the strength, so she held the sedan chair with one hand and refused to let the sedan chair leave.

Bao Qing had never seen such a situation. Seeing this, Zhu Daniu went over and pulled the girl's hand away, shouting to the crowd: "Get out of the way!"

Bao Qing looked at the crowd outside bitterly and returned to the sedan chair. After just a few steps, Bao Qing said to the big cow outside the sedan chair: "In a while, take the girl and her sister to the yamen to get some food."

Bao Qing came to the county government office and happened to see the county magistrate Bao sitting in the middle hall drinking tea calmly.

"Hey, Bao County Magistrate, why are you free today? Oh, the rain is getting smaller. By the way, Xiaowen comes to ask if you are here every day." Bao Hong saw Bao Qing's face was gloomy and didn't speak, so he asked, "The rain is really heavy, so I didn't let Xiaowen go out to find you!"

Bao Qing was furious when he heard this and said, "You care about your daughter, but have you ever gone out to see it? Many people's daughters outside are almost starving to death!"

"You talk about the victims? Do you think I don't care? I've already reported to the court immediately, but I have to wait for the court's disaster relief money and food to come down. I can't help either." Bao Hong sighed and said.

"What? Then you, a dignified county magistrate, sit in the yamen to drink tea? No matter how life or death the people in your jurisdiction are? What is the congestion outside, have you never seen it?"

"Look? It's like this every year. In recent years, floods will occur in summer. What can I do? I have ordered the city gate to be closed. I guess there are still many victims outside. If you think there is a way, you can do it yourself. I will let the whole class of yamen runners listen to your order."

"Hmph, you are shirking responsibility. Can't you set up a porridge shed, or at least you can't let the victims starve to death!"

"Bao Qing, you are still young. I advise you not to wait for the disaster relief ministers from the court to come down. Most of the victims in the city are the victims of my long-term county. I have already sent people to distribute dry food every two days, and even if they starve to death, not many of them will starve to death. If you set up a porridge shed, the victims outside the city gate are all from other counties. I am afraid that they will all rush into the county town, and the situation will be out of control at that time."

"Stressive!"

"I'm teaching you. If it weren't for Xiaowen's sake, I wouldn't be lazy to tell you. Do you know why the victims outside the city came to my Changyuan County? Because they knew that only by entering my Changyuan County would he basically survive. If they stayed in other counties, they would probably starve to death. That's because I distributed dry food every two days. Think about it yourself!" Bao Hong turned around and left after saying that.

Bao Qing was so upset that Zhu Daniu brought the girl and her sister who were blocking the sedan chair on the road.

When the girl saw Bao Qing, she kowtowed: "Thank you, Master for your life!"

Bao Qing quickly helped the girl up and said, "What's your name? Where is your home?"

"Minister girl, Xiao Cui, sister Xiao Yun. We are from Wu County. I heard that those who escaped the disaster in previous years said that only when they arrived in Changyuan County could they have hope of survival, so they followed the people. We were lucky. As soon as we entered the city, the city gate was closed." Xiao Cui said.

The magistrate Bao really didn't lie. Could it be that other counties didn't provide disaster relief at all? Bao Qing couldn't help but frown and said, "Bao Niu, let's do this. There's just a shortage of tea and water at home, so let Xiao Cui and Xiaoyun stay in the mansion."

When Xiao Cui heard this, she was extremely surprised. She thought that she had a pale face and thin skin without any color, so she could not be a concubine in a wealthy family. She thought that she could find a job to call the girl so that she could not only save herself, but also have food to eat. But she was so lucky that before she could speak, the master asked for it himself. So she cried excitedly.

"Sir Bao! Where is Mr. Bao!" A constable rushed into the outside world. Bao Qing knew that he was the son of his subordinate, Captain Qian, and Qian Qiang.

"Which master Bao are you looking for?" Zhu Daniu was a little unhappy when he saw him losing his rashly!

"Ah? County Magistrate Bao, you are here too? It won't be better. Many victims starved to death at the city gate. Someone has already hit the city gate. If this continues, civil unrest will probably occur." Qian Qiang said.

"What? Many people died? Let's take me to see?" Bao Qing couldn't help but feel anxious. Such a big flood occurred in his previous life, and no one died. In the Song Dynasty, why did many people die after heavy rain in a few days?

Qian Qiang looked at Bao Qing in surprise and asked carefully: "Prince Bao, are you going to the city gate? This is not good!"

"Why?" Bao Qing was a little puzzled.

"Master, don't go. Those victims will be even more excited when they see the officials. Sometimes there are thieves in the mix, and they are afraid that there will be danger. When we came, we heard that a captain was beaten to death by the victims." Xiao Cui couldn't help but feel nervous when she saw Bao Qing going to the city gate. She didn't want to find a master and lost it so quickly.

"It's okay! Let's go and see!" Bao Qing was young and insisted on going because he had a treasure garment on his body. The key was that he wanted to know how many people died.

Bao Qing was about to hurry to the city gate. At this time, Bao Liuwen came. She took someone with a few sets of straw raincoats and said with a smile: "I just came from the city gate. I wanted to come back to find my father, but I heard from the yamen runners outside that Brother Bao is here. I said, Brother Bao will definitely not ignore it."

Bao Qing couldn't help but feel mixed feelings. He didn't expect the situation to be so bad. He lay at home and was sleeping in a daze. He thought that he was misunderstood by outsiders that County Magistrate Bao was afraid of taking responsibility, so he ignored the flood and hid.

Bao Qing didn't explain much, put on a straw raincoat and followed Qian Qiang and the others to the city gate.

When he arrived at the city gate, Bao Qing stood on the earthen city tower of Changyuan County. Looking around, he was completely shocked. There were about four or five thousand people crowded at the city gate, and many people were already hungry. This is what is called starvation everywhere? Bao Qing couldn't help but think.

Just as Bao Qing looked down, there were also people under the city wall staring at him with their eyes tightly.
Chapter completed!