It was already early March, and Jiangning Camp finally successfully completed the task of eliminating bandits.

The results of the battle were brilliant. The 50,000 bandits entered Shanxi no longer existed. There were more than 5,000 bandits eliminated by artillery and flintlock rifles. After the soldiers launched a charge, there were also thousands of bandits killed. The soldiers led by He Renlong took action without any mercy and killed many bandits.

This was a battle worthy of serious summary. The artillery and flintlock rifles completely destroyed the bandits' fighting spirit, made the bandits lose confidence in resistance, and reduced the losses of the Jiangning Camp to the lowest level. In nearly a month of war, there were less than 500 soldiers in Jiangning Camp. The bandit leader Zhang Xianzhong was captured alive, and the Jiangning Camp captured more than 20,000 prisoners.

There are still some escaped bandits, and Su Tiancheng will not pay attention to these people. These people are refugees, and they have to join the bandits. Even if they escape on foot and return to Shaanxi, they are full of fear. They may not continue to join the bandits and need to find a way to make a living.

The problem still exists. Some government officials in Shaanxi and Shanxi have a rough attitude towards the people. They do not care about the lives of the people and regard refugees as disasters. To a certain extent, they force refugees to join the bandits.

Su Tiancheng has no way to solve such a thing for the time being, and he does not have that much power.

Before we could think about how to deal with the issue of captives, new problems broke out.

In the seventh year of Chongzhen, most areas in Shanxi suffered drought. In the eighth year of Chongzhen, they suffered locust plague, and almost no harvest. This year, all the consequences came out.

The hungry people in some places have no food and can only eat the bark and grass leaves. By the end of February and early March, there were very few bark and grass leaves left. The hungry people were already on the verge of collapse.

The situation in Taiyuan Prefecture, Lu'an Prefecture, Liaozhou, Fenzhou and Qinzhou is particularly prominent.

Pingyang Prefecture is slightly better. Many people went to Henan Prefecture to participate in the project of dredging the Yellow River, earning money and being able to maintain a basic life.

The soldiers from Jiangning Camp began to evacuate from Qinzhou and were preparing to return to Henan Prefecture.

Along the way, Su Tiancheng saw a shocking scene.

Groups of hungry people walking on the official road, and people fell down at any time because they were exhausted. People could see corpses on the official road at any time, and no one paid attention to these corpses.

Su Tiancheng ordered the soldiers of Jiangning Camp to provide relief to the people along the way and collect the bodies.

This news spread rapidly.

The hungry people flocked to Jiangning camp made it difficult to move forward.

There were more and more hungry people following the team, and the food carried by Jiangning Camp could not be maintained at all.

Sun Chuanting, Bi Maokang, Xiong Zijian and others, when they saw this situation, they all made suggestions, meaning that Jiangning Camp has made its best efforts. So many places in Shanxi have encountered disasters, and with the strength of Jiangning Camp, they cannot be relieved. According to the current situation, if they delay it, the Jiangning Camp will also have a food crisis.

Their suggestions were that Jiangning Camp would go back to Henan Prefecture, and the hungry people here would be dealt with by the local government.

After Su Tiancheng calmly listened to the audience, he shook his head decisively.

"Everyone. We came to Shanxi to wipe out the bandits, in order to make the people live a peaceful life, and look at the situation in front of us. Do these people still have a way out? If the government can care about them, this will happen. We leave, no matter what the way out of these people are, they can only join the bandits, burn, kill, rob, and barely survive. Jiangning Camp must take care of such things."

Everyone looked at Su Tiancheng and stopped talking. Their intention was not to ignore it, but that Jiangning Camp could not control it.

"Xiong Zijian, you led a thousand soldiers to Taiyuan Prefecture City and found the King of Jin. This is my letter to King of Jin. Please set up a special relief place in the area of ​​Taiyuan Prefecture to help the hungry people overcome the famine."

"Liu Tiehan, you led 500 soldiers to quickly arrive at Pingyang Prefecture City. This is my letter to my father, asking him to set up a porridge shed to help the victims."

"Sun Yuankun, you bring gold and silver to the county town along the way and buy a lot of food. Any hungry people who follow Jiangning camp cannot starve to death. The war is over. All soldiers should try to save food and help more hungry people. Think carefully about these hungry people, if they were your parents, what would you think."

"Mr. Sun, this is my letter to the Governor of Shanxi. Please submit it directly to the Governor and ask him to open a warehouse to provide relief to the people. At this time, if the granary is still strictly guarded, the people will have no way to survive."

The method proposed by Su Tiancheng quickly spread, and the hungry people following Jiangning Camp quickly learned the news.

Such measures can stabilize the hearts of hungry people, but even bigger problems have also arisen. There are more and more hungry people behind Jiangning Camp. In just a few days, nearly 100,000 people have been around, most of them are the elderly, weak, women and children.

Wang Dazhi had already brought Su Tiancheng's handwritten letter to Luoyang quickly, planning to drop some of the food from Luoyang to help the hungry people here.

The hungry people followed, dragging the speed of the Jiangning Camp's march.

In desperation, Su Tiancheng could only ask Luo Chang to bring most of the soldiers back to Henan Prefecture, and he took thousands of soldiers to stay to take care of the many hungry people.

As for the 20,000 prisoners, most of them were strong young and strong, and they were taken back to Henan Prefecture. Only Henan Prefecture could find ways to digest and resettle these prisoners. If they were handed over to the government along the way, they would not know what the outcome would be.

Too many people are not a good idea.

Ten days later, Su Tiancheng and his party finally arrived in Yueyang.

The Jiangning Camp is located here.

The hungry people who followed along the way were still close to 100,000. These people have become a heavy burden for Jiangning Camp. The food purchased along the way can be maintained in front of them. There are too many people, and some food is not enough.

Sun Yuankun, Xiong Zijian, Liu Tiehan and others have already rushed back and are waiting in Yueyang Camp.

In the central army tent, Su Tiancheng frowned.

"The governor received the letter, but it was still difficult. Shanxi's important responsibility is to eliminate bandits. The food in the warehouse is military ration and dare not use it easily."

"The King of Jin has begun to set up a porridge shed to help the people. The situation around Taiyuan Prefecture is still good. This is the reply from the King of Jin to the Lord."

"Praise sheds have been set up around Pingyang Fucheng, and the hungry people have begun to be rescued..."

The thing that Su Tiancheng was most worried about was still happening. The attitude of the governor of Shanxi was the most critical. The government could not come forward to provide relief to the victims, which was impossible to last. He could submit a secret message to the emperor and beg the emperor to order the governments at all levels in Shanxi to open warehouses to help the victims. However, doing so would be equivalent to overstepping the affairs and offending officials at all levels in Shanxi.

Su Tiancheng finally told him what he had thought about for a long time.

"Everyone, many of the soldiers in Jiangning Camp are underage. I think we can find a suitable girl among these hungry people. If a soldier marrys a girl, he can save the family. By counting this way, the number of hungry people can be minimized. I have carefully observed these days that there are many girls among the hungry people."

After Su Tiancheng expressed this opinion, he found that everyone's expressions were very strange.

It took a long time before Sun Chuanting spoke.

"Sir, why did you think of such a solution? This is probably difficult to arrange for the matter when your parents ordered the matchmaker."

Su Tiancheng rolled his eyes. At this time, he was still shackled by these thoughts. Isn’t Liu Tiehan’s wife Zhao Xicui also rescued the Jiangning Camp when he wiped out the Later Jin soldiers in Baoding, northern Zhili. When the Jiangning Camp was in the south, it was difficult to find a wife, but when he came to the north, this situation would definitely change. The reputation of the Jiangning Camp has gradually gone out. Many gentry and wealthy families know that the Jiangning Camp soldiers are not military households, and their monthly salary is very high and the conditions are very good.

Besides, the soldiers in Jiangning Camp always have to get married, and some soldiers are no longer young.

Of course, it is impossible for such a large-scale marriage to be able to spend the rest of the moon. It can only be an officer to ask for the girl's opinions. If it can, it will be done.

"Mr. Sun, at an extraordinary moment, don't worry about these things. In my opinion, this matter has been settled. Xiong Zijian is responsible for handling it. We are all officers of Jiangning Camp. Seeing that so many brothers have not gotten married, they are unfilial and have no descendants. The future tasks of Jiangning Camp are still very difficult and are facing conquests at all times. If they go like this, I'm sorry for their parents."

Xiong Zijian opened his mouth and finally didn't say anything. Unexpectedly, this task fell on his head.

Not to mention, the idea that Su Tiancheng thought of really solved the big problem.

After many years of disasters, the girls from the farmers did not pay so much attention. When they learned that the soldiers who married Jiangning Camp could support the whole family and follow them to Henan Prefecture to farm, their parents hurriedly agreed.

However, there were some things that Su Tiancheng did not expect. After the decision he made was passed to the court, he was impeached. Many court officials who believed in Confucianism believed that this move was injustice. No matter what, Su Tiancheng was the second in the palace examination and should be clear about these etiquettes.

After learning about these impeachments, Su Tiancheng faced him with a smile and did not even submit a memorial to defend himself.

There is no need to justify this.

In late March, Su Tiancheng finally returned to Luoyang.

I just returned to the government office and the eunuchs in the palace were already waiting.

The imperial edict was very clear, requiring Su Tiancheng to escort Zhang Xianzhong to Beijing.
Chapter completed!