Datang: Get Xiang Yu's divine power at the beginning

Chapter 373 Suffering in the World

As he spoke, the two old men wiped away their tears, and it was obvious that they were very sad.

Li Chengdao sighed, it seems that they are also poor people.

Old people lose their children, and there is no one to provide for them.

Thinking of this, Li Chengdao suddenly came up with a somewhat unrealistic idea.

I don't know if insurance can work in Datang?
If the imperial court can sell some insurance to the people, such as accident insurance, medical insurance, pension insurance, etc., it can also give the people a guarantee.

However, Li Chengdao is just thinking about it now. According to the current situation, it is still impossible to realize this.

First of all, the treasury is not very abundant.

It still needs to develop vigorously to enrich the national treasury. Those aristocratic families are good targets, and killing one can eat half full.

Knowing that the offspring is a sad matter for the two old people, Li Chengdao didn't mention it anymore.

Next, I'd like to ask something serious, and don't forget the real purpose of this visit.

"Old man, now that the drought is breaking out, has the government distributed food for you?"

Although it seems that the government is doing nothing, Li Chengdao still has to ask and listen to the voices of the people.

The two old men shook their heads when they heard Li Chengdao's words.

"No, we haven't heard anything from the government since the drought."

When Li Chengdao and Li Shimin heard this, their expressions turned cold.

It was not what they expected.

The local government here is basically controlled by aristocratic families, and now that a disaster has happened, they have not done anything!

One or two of them are fat and oily, but they are unwilling to give a little to the people. Instead, they ask the court for disaster relief supplies, and they don't want Bilian.

These aristocratic families are so abominable. Since they have monopolized official positions, they should govern them well, but they do nothing and take their money. In this way, how can the Tang Dynasty be strong?

Although Li Chengdao and others were angry at this moment, they were trying their best to restrain themselves. After all, they could not let the two old people realize their true identity.

Otherwise, they are afraid that they will not dare to eat the food they give them.

"Old man, how long has it been since it rained here?"

Li Chengdao asked again.

The old man thought for a while and replied.

"The last time I fell into the water was about a month ago. We've only had one rain in the past few months, and it didn't last more than half an hour, and the ground wasn't even wet!"

Li Chengdao nodded after hearing this, and fell into deep thought.

If there is no food, you can solve it yourself, just find a way to get food.

But what can I do about the problem of lack of water and no rain?It's impossible to artificially rain, right?
Or transfer water from other places?
The affected area is quite close to the Yellow River. Even if there is a severe drought, the Yellow River will not stop flowing, right?
If water from the Yellow River can be diverted, the water source problem should be temporarily overcome.

But what a huge project is needed to divert the water source of the Yellow River!

But now that there is an excavator, it may be possible to realize it. Besides, there is a Weishan Lake nearby, which is run through by the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. There should also be a source of water there.

According to the current situation, excavators can be used to dig an emergency canal in various places with water sources, at least to ensure that the people have drinking water that guarantees survival.

Then he obtained disaster relief food and money from the noble families and provided relief to the victims.

As for the refugees who were already in exile, the imperial court had to find a way to resettle them. Li Chengdao thought of a good place to go, so that the relief from work could also reduce the pressure on the imperial court.

Li Chengdao thought, after this disaster is over, we must implement drought and flood prevention fortifications throughout the country, and prevent them in advance, so that even if disasters happen again in the future, they will not be in such a hurry as they are now.

Afterwards, Li Chengdao left some dry food and water for the two old people, and then led Li Shimin and others to continue towards the hardest-hit area.

The two old men watched their leaving backs, and then looked at the dry food and water on the table, and they couldn't help crying.

"Good man, this is a good man!"

"It would be great if that young master is an official, he will definitely help us tide over the difficulties!"

……

The more he walked in, the more Li Chengdao could feel the severity of the drought. It was so dry that even the grass withered. How could the crops survive?
And they also found that even on the withered grass, there were traces of being gnawed by some kind of insect, which must be locusts.

But now there is not a single locust here. It seems that after they saw that there was nothing to eat here, they moved their positions and continued their raids in other places.

This is the terrible thing about locusts. After eating all the plants in the disaster area, they continued to move towards other places that were not affected by the disaster. Moreover, they reproduced so fast that they might spread to the entire Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, Li Chengdao did not take the small-scale locust plague lightly, and was determined to manage the locust plague and drought together.

Li Chengdao and the others headed north along the road, seeing desolate scenery along the way, and there were groups of refugees who could not survive because of the disaster in their hometown, so they left their homes and became refugees.

These refugee courts must be properly settled, otherwise it may cause rebellion, or more serious consequences.

Li Chengdao and others traveled very quickly, and they were about to arrive at Qiao County, which was also a big city.

Li Chengdao saw a lot of rivers along the way, these are basically the tributaries of the Yellow River, and there are many small rivers in the Henan Road itself. It stands to reason that even if the precipitation decreases, there should be no shortage of water.

But the small rivers we see now have basically dried up, which shows that the drought is really serious!
At this time, a commoner passed in front of them carrying a hoe, and Li Chengdao stopped him.

This is a young man.

"Brother, the drought is so severe now that all crops cannot survive."

"But I see you are carrying a hoe, brother, don't you want to hoe the ground?"

Hearing Li Chengdao's words, the man responded with a wry smile.

"If only I had some ground to hoe, then at least I won't starve to death!"

"But look at the current situation, where is there any food left? I'm going to dig some glutinous rice soil and go back to fill the stomachs of the whole family!"

Eating dirt again?

Hearing the man's words, everyone's faces were a little ugly.

Wei Zheng picked up Li Chengdao's previous words and said to the man.

"Eating too much of this glutinous rice soil will kill you!"

Hearing this, the man smiled wryly and said.

"Why don't we know this, but it's better to die than starve to death!"

Hearing this, everyone's faces were full of regret, especially Li Shimin and the others. They waited for Li Chengdao to come out this time, and only then did they truly see the sufferings of the world.

Once a natural disaster broke out, the people had nothing to eat and started eating dirt. This was something they had never imagined before. This time they came out and learned a lot.

At this time, Li Chengdao raised his head towards the man, motioning to bring him some food.

Li Shimin and the others did not hesitate, and gave them half of the remaining food and water.

The man was taken aback when he saw these things.

(End of this chapter)