When I left the palace, I was in such a hurry that I didn't even notice anything along the way.
On the return journey, however, I was not so rushed.
Zhang Shihao finally got his first glimpse of the Late Han Dynasty and began to take in his surroundings.
However, after observing the scenery along the way,
Zhang Shihao's initial sense of novelty and excitement after transmigrating instantly diminished significantly.
It was currently the fourth year of Guanghe, which is 181 AD.
This was the end of summer and beginning of autumn.
Logically, this time of year was approaching harvest season.
The fields should have been a scene of abundant harvest:
Like endless wheat fields, spread out like a carpet of gold.
Or sorghum bending low with laughter.
Or tangerines, with their green leaves, hanging like small lanterns on the trees.
Such a scene should have been!
But, there was none.
There was nothing!
What there was, was widespread desolation!
A great drought had descended.
The scorching sun baked the earth, exuding rolling heatwaves.
Rivers had dried up, the earth was cracked, revealing shocking fissures, the leaves on the roadside trees were withered, and the crops in the fields were barren.
Dense swarms of locusts crawled over the crops, looking particularly eerie.
What shocked Zhang Shihao even more was that along the official road, there were emaciated, tattered, and stumbling refugees fleeing famine.
When they saw their convoy passing by, they immediately swarmed over.
However, the imperial guards, each holding weapons and looking fierce, kept them from approaching.
One by one, they stood by the roadside, holding out their broken bowls, looking at them with desperate eyes, and moaning weakly:
“Please, give us some food…”
“Give us some food, I’m willing to do anything, be a slave or a servant…”
“My child can’t hold on much longer, kind sirs, please take my child away…”
…
Weak moans and pleas came from the roadside, as people knelt directly.
However, the convoy continued forward.
Zhang Shihao clearly saw that some of the fleeing common people occasionally collapsed, never to rise again.
Their family members, lonely and helpless, fell to the ground beside them, but did not cry, as if they had long known their fated death.
Among the withered grass by the roadside, white bones lay exposed in the wilderness.
This was a year of great drought and rampant locusts!
A scene from his predecessor's memory overlapped with reality.
It no longer felt like a movie, but a real world, with living, breathing lives perishing before his eyes.
Zhang Shihao was completely shaken and stunned.
In the 21st century, a time of unprecedented material abundance, how could anyone starve to death?
But now,
Zhang Shihao, sitting on his horse, looked at the refugees by the roadside.
For a moment, he directly detached from the convoy.
Soon, Zhang Shihao's unusual behavior was noticed by General He Jin and Empress He Lian in the convoy.
The convoy stopped.
Seeing Zhang Shihao's appearance, General He Jin frowned, subconsciously wanting to reprimand him.
However, the words caught in his throat. Considering that Zhang Shihao had just saved Liu Bian and was also Empress He's person, He Jin couldn't help but look at Empress He.
Empress He Lian was also stunned by Zhang Shihao's dispirited look.
However, a moment later, a moving smile appeared on Empress He Lian's beautiful, delicate, and fair face:
“Give the order to distribute all remaining grain along the way, except for the rations needed by the convoy.”
Empress He's voice, like an oriole emerging from a valley, rang out.
He Jin was taken aback, looking at his sister in confusion, but still said:
“Alright, I’ll listen to Empress He.”
Then, He Jin looked at Zhang Shihao, who had recovered his senses, looked much better, and had a smile on his face, and said with a smile:
“Xiao Haozi, these refugees are blessed because of you, why don’t you thank Empress He.”
“Xiao Haozi thanks Empress He, it was Xiao Haozi being meddlesome and causing trouble for Empress He!”
Zhang Shihao quickly thanked Empress He, but with a rather embarrassed expression.
Indeed, if any other palace maid or Little Eunuch dared to act this way, they would likely face severe punishment, or even death. But Empress He not only didn't punish him, but even decided to distribute grain because of him, which made Zhang Shihao feel a bit embarrassed.
“This is no trouble at all. For me, it’s merely a simple gesture, a matter of a single word.”
“However, natural disasters are incessant year after year, and Powerful Families run rampant within the provinces. Even the Emperor is helpless. You, Xiao Haozi, can save dozens, even hundreds of people today, but can you save everyone?”
Facing Zhang Shihao’s thanks, Empress He Lian on the phoenix carriage smiled slightly, seemingly lecturing him with profound meaning.
He Jin, beside them, was somewhat shocked that his sister would speak of such things with a Little Eunuch.
At this moment, He Jin actually took a serious look at Zhang Shihao, smiled, and said:
“These refugees are endless. Even the Emperor cannot save them all. The Powerful Families could save them, but would they save these common people whom they view as lowly?”
As his words fell, He Jin did not linger, but went to instruct his subordinates to distribute the grain.
He had come to realize that his sister, the Empress, truly intended to fully nurture Zhang Shihao.
This made He Jin somewhat excited.
Although he didn't understand what the Empress saw in this Xiao Haozi,
However, He Jin trusted his sister's judgment; his becoming a General He Jin was inseparable from He Lian's help.
If his sister could truly cultivate Zhang Shihao,
He, as General He Jin, already commanded great prestige outside the court, and with a Eunuch in the imperial palace echoing him,
This was what He Jin hoped to see.
He Jin went to distribute the grain, and soon imperial guards, carrying sacks full of grain, distributed ladle after ladle of grain to the refugees along the way.
Zhang Shihao watched this scene, and should have been happy, but his face showed no joy.
The words of the Empress and He Jin still echoed in his ears.
“These refugees are endless.”
“Even the Emperor cannot save them all. The Powerful Families could save them, but would they save these common people whom they view as lowly?”
“You, Xiao Haozi, can save dozens, even hundreds of people today, but can you save everyone?”
“Powerful Families!”
Zhang Shihao was not foolish; he quickly understood the meaning of Empress He and He Jin's words.
At this moment, Zhang Shihao, who came from later generations, finally had a sudden realization about the true reason the Han Dynasty entered an era of chaos.
The continuous natural and man-made disasters, the incompetent emperor, and his neglect of court affairs were undeniably necessary factors.
However, there was also a major culprit.
That was the Powerful Families!
Above, they dominated the court.
Below, they ran rampant in the provinces, commanderies, and villages.
They oppressed the common people and hoarded goods for speculation.
He even thought of the various warlords in the Late Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms Period, most of whom came from great Powerful Families, and these Powerful Families might not have refrained from fanning the flames.
However, the power of the Powerful Families was too great.
Even the entire operation of the Late Han Dynasty relied on the support of the Powerful Families.
He, Xiao Haozi, could save dozens, even hundreds of people today, but could he save everyone?
Zhang Shihao's mind couldn't help but recall his predecessor's memories.
In his memory, there was a village in Hongnong Commandery, which was his predecessor's hometown.
Within the village, countless common people starved to death due to lack of food in their homes.
Outside the village, there was no harvest, and countless refugees.
This was a vibrant world.
The imperial court was corrupt and tyrannical, imposing heavy taxes.
Powerful Families and powerful clans rose up, acting tyrannically.
The rulers became increasingly extravagant and corrupt.
Yet, natural and man-made disasters were incessant, with droughts, floods, locusts, earthquakes, and other natural calamities occurring year after year.
It truly pushed the common people to a desperate situation where they could not make a living.
No wonder Zhang Jiao raised his arm and followers flocked to him.
It wasn't that Zhang Jiao had so much charisma; it was that the common people truly couldn't survive anymore.
Since death was inevitable either way, why not fight for a chance!
“Phew~”
“I still need to carefully plan my future path. If I keep thinking about lying flat, wouldn't that be too useless, too much of a waste of my identity as a transmigator?”
“Not to mention saving the Han Dynasty, nor turning the tide, but at least, do some things within my power, at the very least, not be as ordinary and honest as in my previous life, only to be left with regrets in the end!”
Zhang Shihao suppressed the complex emotions in his heart, and his gaze gradually became firm.
At this moment, Zhang Shihao stepped out of his comfortable protective bubble.
When he first learned that he had transmigrated to the Late Han Dynasty, and also gained a system and the Empress's favor,
Undeniably, Zhang Shihao truly had no sense of panic or awareness of being a citizen of a chaotic era.
After all, Zhang Shihao possessed a system and the physical talent of Li Cunxiao. Even if this was a chaotic era, what of it?
In this chaotic world, Zhang Shihao would still live a comfortable and carefree life.
However, merely seeing the cruel tip of the iceberg of the Late Han Dynasty,
Zhang Shihao changed his laid-back mindset.
Others might not know what the Late Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms Period were like.
Coming from later generations, Zhang Shihao, who loved reading Three Kingdoms novels, how could he not understand the true cruelty of the Late Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms Period?
The chaotic era had only just begun.
Natural disasters, man-made calamities, wars…
Zhang Shihao clearly remembered a set of data.
Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out,
The population during the reign of Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty was still fifty to sixty million.
However, by the Three Kingdoms Period, the total national population was only a pitiful five to six million.
It had sharply decreased by forty to fifty million people!
The national strength was unprecedentedly weak.
What followed was an unprecedented dark age for the Han people in this territory, lasting five millennia.
The Central Plains sank!
The Han people were almost wiped out!
Currently, it was 181 AD, the fourth year of Guanghe.
The Yellow Turban Rebellion had not yet broken out; it was the beginning of everything.
Should he, Zhang Shihao, do something within his power for this Han Dynasty, while ensuring his own safety?
“System, how do you feel?”
Suddenly, Zhang Shihao slightly curved his lips, watching the imperial guards distribute grain to the refugees, who knelt before the phoenix carriage and repeatedly expressed their gratitude, while he asked the system in his mind.
The system did not answer immediately, seemingly silent for a moment, then the prompt sound rang out,
“Ding! Long-term quest triggered: Command 100,000 troops, with three top-tier fierce generals and one top-tier strategist under your command, and become a ruler of a region. Reward: 100 jin of Yuan Longping's hybrid rice seeds, yielding 1,000 jin per mu.”
Hearing that the system had actually issued a quest, Zhang Shihao was stunned, and the next moment, the smile on his face instantly deepened as he grinned and said:
“This… is really good!”