Qing'an County, having just survived a year plagued by calamities, saw no dawn of hope in the new year.
Though the bandit horde had been driven away, not a single drop of rain had fallen all winter.
After spring began, the Clear Water River completely dried up, its riverbed strewn with fish dried hard beneath the blazing sun.
Before long, all those dried fish were picked up by people to stave off hunger.
With the irrigation water cut off, spring plowing could no longer proceed, and panic spread everywhere.
This left County Magistrate Ye Xiangming utterly frazzled. On one hand, he organized large numbers of people to dig wells for water; on the other, he guided farmers to plant drought-resistant crops such as sweet potatoes.
Though sweet potatoes tasted terrible and had to be processed before they could be eaten, they were still better than planting rice and wheat only to harvest nothing.
Even so, by early summer, disaster victims began appearing in large numbers throughout Qing'an County.
"Master, Madam, please, have mercy and give us something to eat!"
The streets and alleys of the county seat suddenly filled with refugees fleeing famine, entire families in tow. Their clothes were tattered, their faces sallow and emaciated; one bundle and a few broken bowls were all their worldly possessions. Sitting on the ground, they begged passing pedestrians for alms.
But they could scarcely beg for anything to eat—grain was now exceedingly precious, and having even one meal a day was considered quite good.
Because too many disaster victims had poured into the city, seriously affecting public order, the yamen dispatched constables, who joined the Garrison Army in driving these people outside the city to be settled and relieved.
For a time, cries and pleas rang out without end, even carrying into