All Hail Cousin Brother

Song Mingzhao felt a little strange, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt that this situation was quite reasonable. The Liao Province in the north was close to the sea, the sea routes were very convenient, and Fujian's trade was also prosperous, so it made sense to go to Fujian for shopping.

The building boat sailed away from the pier.

Yu Youyao thought of the scene she saw on the dock just now, and asked, "How is the situation in Jin County?"

Yin San's expression was solemn: "The streets are full of refugees. When they see the old, weak, women and children, they rush over to grab them like crazy. I heard that many lives have been lost during this period, and the Yamen has no time to take care of itself."

Yu Youyao frowned.

Yin Sandao: "Some of them were in remote areas in the north. They were hit by drought and famine. Some were plundered by Japanese pirates and couldn't survive anymore, so they all flocked to Jingzhao. But Jingzhao closed the city gate and refused to allow refugees." After entering the city, the refugees had no choice but to flock to the towns around Jingzhao. By the time the nearby government offices reacted, a large number of refugees had already poured into the towns. Riots often occurred and the government was unable to suppress them."

No wonder some refugees were openly robbing people on the pier, and officers and soldiers were killing people with knives without scruples. The order in Jin County was on the verge of collapse.

Yu Youyao's expression was not good: "Isn't the imperial court providing disaster relief? Why are there so many refugees?"

Yin San shook his head: "The imperial court's disaster relief is also selective and targeted. Some areas with relatively prosperous agriculture and commerce are the first areas to receive relief. Most remote areas are basically just a formality and only distribute a small amount of money and food. Some simply leave them to their own devices.”

Yu Youyao's breath tightened: "Actually, most people have not received relief from the imperial court."

Yin San nodded: "The scope of the drought is still too large. Seven or eight states and provinces, including Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, all have varying degrees of disasters. Among them, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Hebei are the most serious. However, Shanxi and Shaanxi are Under the prince's rule, the situation is better due to the promotion of sweet potato planting, but the situation in other areas is very serious. I heard that so far, the number of people who have died due to famine has reached more than 400,000."

There were tens of millions of people waiting for food, and the treasury of the Great Zhou Dynasty was already empty. The past two years had not been good, and grain production had dropped sharply, and it could not feed so many people.

Yu Youyao knew that this was not the most difficult time.

After this winter, I don’t know how many people died due to hunger and cold.

By next spring, if the drought continues, famine will continue to spread, and the entire northern region will become a living hell.

Yu Youyao only found it ironic and ridiculous.

The emperor was busy indulging in alchemy, the courtiers were busy fighting for power, the vassals were busy plotting rebellion, and the aristocratic families were distracted by the illusion of prosperity and peace, and were busy living extravagantly.

Who would really care about the lives and lives of the people?

Song Mingzhao waited for a while, but before the passenger ship to Quanzhou arrived, he sent Kong Qing to inquire about the news.

Kong Qing only went for a moment and then came back: "It was the news from the prefecture government office in Quanzhou that a group of thieves were killing people and setting fires in Quanzhou. All docks near Quanzhou, big and small, were under martial law. Martial law inspections were started immediately. Official ships arriving in Quanzhou , it will be a little later, Master, just wait patiently."

Song Mingzhao felt a strong sense of violation in his heart: "Go and inquire again and ask what happened in Quanzhou? Especially about the Xie Mansion, there must be no details."

He felt it wasn't that simple.

He also thought of the recent happenings in Quanzhou, each of which was closely related to Yu Youyao and the Xie Mansion. A bad premonition was almost coming out.

The time spent waiting is extremely painful.

I don't know how long it took, but Kong Qing came back again: "Except for the bandits killing people and setting fires in Quanzhou City, I haven't heard any news about it, and there is no news about the Xie Mansion."

Things have changed in Quanzhou!

Song Mingzhao looked unhappy, so he asked Kong Qing to prepare pen and ink and write a letter to his family, asking the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion to pay close attention to the movements in Quanzhou.

After writing the letter, he carefully sealed it and handed it to an accompanying guard: "Hurry up and deliver it to the old lady."

After waiting until dark, Song Mingzhao finally boarded the official ship bound for Quanzhou.

That night, Song Mingzhao had a nightmare.

In the nightmare, he was sitting in a carriage, opened the carriage window, and looked at the market entrance not far away. Yu Youyao fell to the dirty ground, holding a bloody head and collapsed and howled.

While she was crying, she cursed loudly: "Song Mingzhao, you must die a good death..."

Song Mingzhao suddenly woke up from his dream, his heart seemed to be blocked, he coughed hard, and dark red blood spat out on the snow-white silk handkerchief.

He stared blankly at the shocking mass of blood, and his body gradually became cold.

Over the past few years, he had had many hazy dreams intermittently. At first, they were just blurry and fragmented fragments. Only the girl's crying and cursing sounds were clear.

Later, he was gradually able to see clearly the appearance of the girl in the fragmented dreams.

It's Yu Youyao.

It’s not Yu Youyao.

Yu Xiyao in the nightmare was as skinny as a stick, and it seemed that he was the cause.

Later, there were more and more dream fragments.

Song Mingzhao was very conscious, and the person in the dream was not him, but those nightmares were too real, as if everything had really happened, and it made him miserable every time.

how can that be possible?

Even if Yu Youyao did something sorry for him, at least he would let Yu Youyao go because he saved his life in Baoning Temple.

That's not him!

It can't be him!

…

The merchant ship left Jin County Pier, Yu Youyao's body became more energetic day by day, and everyone in the Xie Mansion finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Mrs. Xie said distressedly: "The next dock is Liancheng, Liao Province, entering the northern border. We will disembark and take the land route. Although the carriage is bumpier than the merchant ship, we can stop at any time on the road. It is more comfortable than floating on the ship. Look, you managed to put on some meat, and after all this hard work, you’ve lost weight again.”

Yu Youyao shook his head: "Liancheng is an area rich in supplies in the north. It is estimated that many refugees will flow in. The land route is more difficult to travel than the sea route."

Although the disaster situation in the north is slightly better, the physical resources in the north are not abundant, so no matter how good it is, it won't really be much better.

At most, there were no riots like other places.

Old lady Xie sighed softly: "Sooner or later, the world will be in chaos."

The merchant ship passed through many states and provinces along the way. When it arrived at the dock, it had to purchase supplies, apply for customs clearance documents, and find out a lot of information.

There was a drought in the north, and there were refugees everywhere. The richest area on the southeast coast was burned, killed, and plundered by Japanese pirates, and there were also many refugees.

When there were more refugees, riots broke out frequently in various places, but the government could barely suppress them.

However, if the government cannot resettle the refugees, the number of refugees will increase, and then it will be nothing more than the government forcing the people to rebel.