Immortals and Mortals

The drought began in Sanmen County east of North Pass. As early as last year, a brief famine had broken out here due to poor harvests. Fortunately, the authorities promptly released grain for disaster relief and weathered it. Then the winter wheat planted in the fields failed to sprout, triggering another wave of panic.

This famine left many commoners in Sanmen County and the surrounding counties unable to survive, driving them to take to the hills as bandits. Since the start of the year, the authorities had been occupied with suppressing the bandit scourge, gathering ten thousand prefectural soldiers in the process. No one knew how much of those ten thousand soldiers' provisions had been skimmed away at every level, but in the end, the burden once again fell upon the common people.

In such a vicious cycle, the bandits naturally became harder and harder to suppress. At the same time, the stored grain of several counties was drained completely dry. Then certain officials and nobles pulled strings behind the scenes, using this as an excuse to maneuver away more than half of Qingpu Road's official grain.

After autumn began, the officials of Sanmen County suddenly discovered that even the prefectural soldiers sent to suppress bandits could not fill their stomachs. They dispatched people to press for grain, only to return empty-handed. With no other choice, those below finally reported the disaster to the officials at the Prefectural Office.

A riot launched by the prefectural soldiers broke out first. But after causing an uproar for a while, the soldiers discovered that the officials had no grain either. So they looted the nearby county towns. They did seize some gold and silver, but not a scrap of food.

In the end, the starving soldiers became starving refugees as well. By the