Chapter 2380

Why did Shandong fall into war again and again? Why was the Ming Dynasty, whose territory, population, and national power far surpassed its opponents, driven straight into the hinterland by the Qing army and unable to fight back? Sun Zhen actually never figured it out.

The reason for this can only be attributed simply to the incompetence of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course he also wanted to do something to change this situation, not for the Ming Dynasty, but for the hometown where he had lived for twenty years. He did not want to see everything here destroyed by barbarians from outside the customs through burning, killing and looting.

However, although the Haihan army was powerful in combat, it was always limited by its strength, combat methods, and the complex relationship between the two countries. Therefore, it was difficult for him to freely fight the Qing army in the Ming Dynasty as he hoped.

This time he received an order to be transferred to Shandong for garrison. Sun Zhen understood that the reason why his superiors chose him was that he was from Denglai. He was familiar with the environment in this area, which would help him carry out the task. However, the task he received was not to fight against the Qing army.

, but dealing with refugees, which somewhat disappointed Sun Zhen, who came with a strong fighting spirit.

But military orders are like mountains, and Sun Zhen naturally knows that not only cannot he disobey such orders, but he must also try his best to complete the mission objectives. When he went to see Chen Yixin before departure, he heard a sentence that he believed deeply: "If you want to save Shandong, you must

Save the refugees first.”

If the situation is allowed to worsen, even if the Qing troops evacuate and return to the outside world, tens of thousands of refugees who have left their homes and fled will continue to cause trouble in a wider area, causing trouble for areas like Fushan County that have not been directly affected by the war.

The region has also fallen into chaos. This war is more serious than the Denglai Rebellion that Sun Zhen experienced personally, and the area affected is larger. He does not believe that the Shandong government has the ability to resettle such a large group of refugees.

After leaving Fushan County to the west, there is a large hilly area. There is no so-called official road here. The troops led by Sun Zhen can only slow down their marching speed and try to find a smooth route to advance. Fortunately, they have some information before setting off.

In preparation, Chen Yixin asked the Ma family to find someone who was familiar with the environment here as a guide, which also saved the troops the trouble of exploring the route on their own.

But even though there were no official channels here, they still encountered more and more refugees from other places along the way. However, when these refugees saw the Haihan Army with all its cavalry, most of them avoided it early, for fear of causing trouble.

Sun Zhen also understands the cautious behavior of refugees. He had the same mentality when he fled from his hometown. When he saw an army appearing nearby, he would stay away. In times of war and chaos, the things that are most unbelievable to the people are

It is the army that controls the force. They will steal the few money and food from the people at any time, and even chop off the heads of innocent people to ask for credit from the court in the name of annihilating the bandits and bandits. Sun Zhen specially reminded him before setting off.

The men and horses under his command are not allowed to plunder property or kill good people for credit, because they don’t want those evil deeds to happen in the Haihan army.

Of course, at the same time, Sun Zhen's troops also have to be wary of these unidentified refugees. In troubled times, there will always be rogues who take advantage of the troubled waters. Although not many people dare to attack the army, they brought a large amount of supplies and

Food as a guarantee is something that people are envious of in Shandong at the moment. It is hard to say whether someone will be bold enough to be interested in the dozens of trucks of supplies accompanying them.

Considering that this unit may need to be active outside for a period of time, and the food and grass needed during this period may be difficult to raise outside or transport from Fushan County, he must first ensure his own consumption needs, so Sun Zhen did not intend to use these precious materials

It was used to provide relief to the refugees encountered on the way, and an order was issued to strictly prohibit the distribution of supplies to the people. Although this approach was somewhat cruel, the situation forced it to be implemented.

Due to the slow marching speed, the troops led by Sun Zhen arrived in Zhaoyuan a full day later than expected. The local situation in Zhaoyuan was more severe than Sun Zhen expected.

On the way, he learned that groups of refugees had gathered in Zhaoyuan. When he arrived, he saw that there were at least a thousand refugees outside the county. These people had no place to live, so they set up various simple tents and shacks on the spot.

In order to prevent a large number of refugees from flooding into the city, several city gates in the county have been closed. It is said that they are only opened at noon every day, and the government transports pots of gruel to help the refugees.

The food that a small county like Zhaoyuan can provide is naturally difficult to cope with the increasing number of refugees. In the current season, whether it is fishing in the river, hunting birds in the mountains, or digging for wild vegetables and fruits, it is extremely difficult to operate.

The amount of relief food released by the official warehouse was getting less and less day by day, so some refugees decisively left Zhaoyuan and continued eastward. It was not necessarily because they knew that Fushan County had an agency specifically to take in refugees, but they made the decision with very simple ideas.

Judgment - Since the battlefield is in the west, the farther east you go, the safer it will be, the fewer the number of refugees will be, and the greater the chance of being rescued and finding a livelihood.

Such an idea is indeed effective in increasing the chances of survival in troubled times. When Sun Zhen fled from Denglai, he had the idea of ​​​​staying away from the war-torn areas and fled all the way south to Haizhou, hundreds of miles away, where he met local rescuers.

An immigrant trafficker of refugees, he was then sent to Penghu, where he joined the army and received military rations. If he had not fled at that time, he would have died in the war.

Zhaoyuan also has a lot of trade relations with Fushan. As long as you inquire a little, it is not difficult to know that Fushan County is the richest area in Denglai. This is a life-saving straw for the refugees who are in urgent need of survival. So in recent days, there have been many

The refugees left Zhaoyuan for Fushan County, hoping to receive real help there.

The sudden appearance of the Haihan army made the people outside the county feel nervous. In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, Chen Yixin, after roughly taking a look at the situation outside the county, ordered to station at a small river about two or three miles away from the county.

The appearance of the Haihan Army obviously attracted the attention of the officials in the city. Not long after they set up camp, the city sent a man who looked like a master to visit them and wanted to know their purpose of coming.

"I am Sun Zhen, the commander of the first battalion of the Haihan Army Special Forces Regiment. I wonder what your name is?" Out of caution, Sun Zhen personally approached the middle-aged scribe who claimed to represent the county government.

The scribe cupped his hands and said, "I am Lou Bin, the master of this county, and I hope that Mr. Sun will come without invitation."

Sun Zhen nodded and said: "Master Lou, you are too polite. You are my guest. I should be the one who comes uninvited."

Lou Bin laughed twice, knowing that the underlying meaning of his words had been heard by Sun Zhen. He stopped trying to hide it and asked: "I wonder what your army is doing in Zhaoyuan County? Is there anyone who needs help from this county?"

Where?"

Sun Zhen understood the worries behind the other party's question, and responded calmly: "To be honest, our army has no other purpose in coming to Zhaoyuan this time. It is just to rescue the increasing number of war refugees in the local area. The county government's

Don’t be too nervous, we don’t plan to enter the county seat.”

"Oh? Then I wonder how Mr. Sun plans to help the people?" When Lou Bin heard this answer, his expression became a little more relaxed.

Sun Zhendao: "Fushan County has raised a large amount of food and built temporary shelters for refugees to accommodate the large number of refugees who will flood into Dengzhou in the near future. I led the team to Zhaoyuan to prepare to guide the refugees here.

Go to Fushan County to escape the war. If the local government can come forward to assist, it should be more effective."

Zhaoyuan County is not too far away from Fushan County, so even if you have never been there, you will have heard about the situation in Fushan County. Lou Bin also generally knows that the Haihan people have a continuous need for population, such as this kind of rescue of refugees.

Of course, the measures are not just for doing good deeds. However, Zhaoyuan County has no better way to deal with the continuous influx of refugees. It is only a matter of time before the food in the official warehouse bottoms out. By then, the more refugees will gather in Zhaoyuan County

, the probability of a major chaos is high. If these refugees can choose to leave Zhaoyuan County voluntarily, it will save a heavy burden on the county government.

Lou Bin was naturally happy when he heard Sun Zhen's explanation, but he still tried to control his expression and said to Sun Zhen: "These refugees are all people of the Ming Dynasty, so how can we get your country to come forward to rescue them? Master Sun's move

Is there something wrong?"

Sun Zhenzhen said seductively: "Human life is at stake. If no one takes care of these refugees, many people may not survive the spring! Besides, if these refugees cause trouble here for survival, the adults in your county will bear the responsibility."

Will it have such consequences?"

Sun Zhen also knew a little bit about how worried local officials were about the refugee flow. The fact that several adults in the Fushan County government gave up their official titles and took their families to Zhifu Island to take refuge overnight was already very clear.

Problem. Zhaoyuan County is one of the main routes from the war-torn areas in the west to Fushan County. It will only welcome more refugees than Fushan County. As long as the local officials here are not stupid, they should be able to think of local

A situation in which social order has collapsed due to the inability to accommodate refugees.

Usually in areas where there is an influx of refugees, if adequate living conditions are not provided, a small group of refugees will soon turn into a mob, robbing food to meet their survival needs. When these mobs find that the government cannot stop their atrocities, they

They will quickly escalate into rogue bandits, growing in strength in a snowballing manner, and may even organize to attack counties to obtain more resources and wealth. Many of the peasant armies that have been wreaking havoc in the Central Plains for many years are from people who have lost their livelihoods after natural disasters.

.

In a small place like Zhaoyuan County, the defense force of the county seat is very limited, and there is no way to deal with thousands of mobs. And once a peasant army organization similar to that of Zhongyuan appears in Zhaoyuan, the local officials here will have to face

The consequences for you are not just as simple as not being able to keep your hat.

Lou Bin looked troubled and lowered his voice and said: "Master Sun, you don't know. The Dengzhou Prefecture has long issued an official document, instructing counties to try their best to resettle refugees on the spot, and not to allow refugees to go to Fushan County in large numbers."

Sun Zhen was naturally very unhappy when he heard this. This was almost consistent with what Chen Yixin expected. Dengzhou Prefecture, which had always been uneasy with Haihan, really did not want Haihan to profit from this mess, even if it knew the risk of a large number of refugees gathering.

, and are still trying to prevent refugees from entering areas controlled by Haihan.

However, since Mr. Lou said it openly, Sun Zhen thinks this means that Zhaoyuan County does not want to take the blame for this matter. After all, this place is still a hundred miles away from Dengzhou City. If there is really chaos, it will be in Zhaoyuan.

Chaos first, Master Lou's master probably won't be willing to bear such consequences.

Sun Zhen thought for a while before responding: "If Gu Magistrate feels inconvenienced, he doesn't have to come forward and just pretends not to know about the matter. Other matters will be left to our army. If I don't enter the city, you won't leave the city.

, we didn’t have any negotiation, we just did our own thing.”

Under the current situation, this may be the most beneficial approach for the local government. As long as they stand aside and let the Haihan Army lead away the refugees who enter the county, there are so many refugees. No matter where they go, the county government can't stop them.

It can be tolerated. Besides, although Dengzhou Prefecture issued an order to stop the refugees, it did not say that it would stop the Haihan Army. Zhaoyuan County has no fighting troops. What can be used to drive away the Haihan Army in the county? As long as

If the county government wants to shirk responsibility, it can easily find many reasons.

Lou Bin figured out the cause and effect in a very short period of time. He believed that the method proposed by Sun Zhen was indeed relatively feasible. As long as the refugees did not cause trouble and the Haihan army did not attack the city, everything else would be fine.

Discuss. But he can't make the final decision. He has to go back to the city to explain the situation and let the magistrate make his decision.

Lou Bin said goodbye and left, and Sun Zhen took the time to issue several orders. First, he asked the propaganda officer to immediately carry out guidance and propaganda to the refugees outside the county to let the refugees know that they still had the best option of going to Fushan County;

Several large signboards were erected along the official road outside the county seat, with a rough map of the route to Fushan County drawn on them, in order to deal with the large number of refugees that would flood into Zhaoyuan County in the future; third, several cavalry squads were dispatched to step up the attack on the surrounding areas of Zhaoyuan County.

Investigate, familiarize yourself with the local environment, and also see if you can spend money to purchase food and other supplies in the nearby area to extend the time for the troops to be active outside.

When Lou Bin returned to the city, he told the news he had found out about the Haihan Army. Without any hesitation, Guzhi County immediately agreed to the plan proposed by Sun Zhen. At the same time, he also instructed Lou Bin to start from the next day.

, when going out of town to give porridge, you should also mention the arrangements for going to Fushan County to the refugees.

"Sir, if the Dengzhou government finds out about this, will there be any trouble?" Lou Bin was still a little worried about his boss's decision.

County Magistrate Gu said impatiently: "Dengzhou Prefecture is in charge of heaven and earth, but it has nothing to do with the Haihan people. If anyone pursues the case afterwards, just assume that it was caused by the Haihan people's persecution. If you want to settle accounts, go to Fushan County to find Haihan people."

The Han people count!”

Lou Binxin knew that the county magistrate was so stubborn. If he had known it, he would have agreed directly to Officer Haihan earlier and saved himself the trouble of running around to spread the word.
Chapter completed!