Volume 1 The Wind Rises Chapter 28: Arrogant and Domineering
South city of Kaifeng Prefecture.
With more than 60,000 disaster victims crowded together, dirt and mess were inevitable.
Although the court provided proper assistance and arranged food and accommodation, the victims had fled all the way here, some were sick and some were hungry. Especially now that winter had arrived, there were countless victims who had caught the cold, and the court did not have enough manpower to make all arrangements for them.
Song Qi squatted beside six stoves, waving a fan, and all six stoves were stewing medicinal soup.
Song Qi, whose courtesy name was Chubao, was a native of Youzhou. Because the Later Jin Dynasty ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, he became a Han Chinese under the rule of the Khitan Kingdom.
As the times progressed, the Khitans could no longer be described as barbarians. They also began to have their own ideas and culture. In the fourth year of Huihe, the Khitans imitated the Han system and opened tribute examinations in the Yanyun area to recruit talents.
Song Qi went to take the exam and passed it in one stroke. He first served as a tutor in the palace of Yelü Jing, the Prince of Shou'an, and was later recruited by Zhao Yanshou, the governor of Youzhou, to serve as a shogun. In Yanyun, he gained a great reputation and was called the second Song together with Song Xiong, his fellow countryman.
Then the Khitan army conquered Bianliang, destroyed the Later Jin Dynasty, and changed the name of the country to Liao. As Zhao Yanshou's staff, Song Qi also followed the army into the Central Plains.
However, due to the atrocities committed by the Liao Kingdom in the Central Plains, they were soon driven back to Yanyun.
Song Qi was unwilling to return north and live with the Khitan, so he stayed and, together with Zhao Zan, the governor of Hezhong, surrendered to the Northern Han, and then followed the general trend and joined the Great Zhou.
Zhao Zan was able to hold the post of Jiedushi because of his father, he himself had no ability at all. Song Qi did not want to be mediocre, so he bid farewell to Zhao Zan and came to Kaifeng to look for opportunities.
In Kaifeng, he met Kou Xiang, who shared the same ideals as him, as well as other scholars who were trying to survive in the cracks. They encouraged each other while looking for opportunities to become officials.
Luo Youdu's "Worry about the world before you worry about yourself, and be happy about the world after you are happy about yourself" gave Song Qi and Kou Xiang enough shock.
In this world, scholars are worthless.
It’s too difficult to be an official.
The two men were unwilling to serve as staff for those greedy warriors, so they were trapped in Kaifeng.
The two once doubted what was the point of studying.
It was not until he heard Luo Youdu's words that he suddenly became enlightened.
What is the purpose of studying for us? Isn't it to cultivate ourselves, govern the country and bring peace to the world?
Now that the disaster victims have gathered in Kaifeng, how can we, who have read the books of sages, remain silent and ask about it?
Song Qi and Kou Xiang called their relatives and friends and went to the south of Kaifeng to assist the court in taking care of the victims and do their best.
Song Qi had learned a lot and had some knowledge of medicine, so he was responsible for making cold-relieving soup for the victims.
Six stoves surrounded him, making him sweat in the winter, but no matter how hot the stoves were, they could not be as hot as the fire in his heart.
"Chubao!"
Kou Xiang strode over, holding a bowl of medicine in his hand, and approached with an anxious look on his face, saying, "Go and have a look, it seems someone over there is dying."
Kou Xiang was from Xiagui, Huazhou, and was also a top scholar, but he was the top scholar in the second year of Kaiyun in the Later Jin Dynasty, which made a sensation at the time. However, the top scholar of this era was not valuable, let alone the top scholar of the previous dynasty.
Song Qi's expression changed slightly. He called a friend and asked him to help watch the fire. Then he followed Kou Xiang to an abandoned house.
The house had been preliminarily cleaned up and there were seven . They lived in very simple conditions, just a wooden board with a mat on it to keep out the cold air from the ground.
This environment was already very good, at least there was a house to shelter from the wind and rain. Some victims, especially those who lived outside the city later, were in a worse situation.
Kou Xiang came to an old man. Next to the old man was a little girl with a tearful face. She was calling "Grandpa" and crying, which made people feel heartbroken.
Song Qi stepped forward to feel the old man's pulse. Feeling the faint pulse, his brows furrowed more and more.
Kou Xiang knew no medical knowledge and was rubbing his hands anxiously.
"That's not right!" Song Qi muttered strangely.
Kou Xiang hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?"
Song Qi said, "The old man's pulse doesn't seem to be that of an illness..." As he spoke, he discovered something and pulled the old man's lapel open to the left and right.
"hiss!"
Coincidentally, Song Qi and Kou Xiang both took a breath of cold air.
The old man's abdomen was covered with whip marks.
The whip wounds were streaks of blood, the stick wounds were purple-black bruises, and there were more than thirty of them on the abdomen alone.
"Who hit him? It was too harsh!"
Song Qi gnashed his teeth and said , "These whips and sticks avoid vital parts everywhere, just for torture and punishment!" He knew a little about medicine, so he naturally understood that these whip and stick injuries, even if they only hit vital parts, would be unbearable for the old man at his age. They beat him like this purely to make him want to live but not die.
When Kou Xiang and Song Qi were shaking with anger, a chaotic sound of cursing and wailing was heard outside.
"No……"
"not here……"
“Get lost…”
"Don't block the way..."
Kou Xiang and Song Qi both noticed that the little girl had stopped crying and looked horrified.
Kou Xiang and Song Qi looked at each other.
The two of them are in tune with each other.
Kou Xiang looked around for a place to hide the little girl.
Song Qi walked out of the house, intending to delay some time.
Song Qiren was standing outside the house.
A servant holding a stick appeared in front of Song Qi.
Song Qi wanted to ask.
The servant kicked him directly.
"Get out of the way! A good dog doesn't block the road!"
The kick was extremely fierce. Although Song Qi was a scholar, he was born in Youzhou and had the blood of Yan and Zhao in his body. He was tall and strong, and he would not be afraid of three or five robbers. But the servant's kick directly knocked him to the ground, his internal organs churned, and he choked on some of the porridge he drank in the morning, and he couldn't get up.
Kou Xiang had no time to hide the little girl.
The servant kicked Song Qi away and his eyes fell on the little girl. A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes and he shouted, "Found her. She's here."
All of a sudden, five people rushed into the room, all of them were servants wearing the same clothes.
Kou Xiang stood in front of the little girl and wanted to speak.
The servant slapped Kou Xiang in the face.
"Where did this stinky scholar come from!"
Kou Xiang didn't have the physique of Song Qi. He felt dizzy and passed out.
"Run, see where you can run to!"
The servant smiled grimly, grabbed the little girl and dragged her out.
The old man was on his deathbed, but at this moment he found strength from nowhere, hugged the servant's feet, and bit his thigh.
The servant felt the pain and kicked the old man to death on the spot.
The little girl who was struggling was stunned in an instant, her mouth wide open, not crying or moving, staring at her grandfather with lifeless eyes, allowing the servants to drag her like a dead dog.
More than a dozen servants gathered outside the house, talking about each other's contributions with a smile, and were extremely domineering.
Suddenly, a group of yamen runners blocked their way and surrounded them.
The laughter stopped, but there was no sign of fear.
The servant who kicked the old man to death shouted, "Right Guard General Wang Jixun is taking care of family affairs. You outsiders, please get out of the way."
