Chapter 254 Refugees

The construction of the city wall did not go very smoothly because, for some reason, it started raining just three or four days after the work started.

Fortunately, the rain was not too heavy.

Moreover, during the day, it often only rains for most of the day and then stops, leaving one or two sunny hours.

But it’s different at night. It rains every night.

Not long after the sun set, the sound of rain began to fall.

I got up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet, and the sound of the rain made it impossible for me to sleep.

It seems that every night is accompanied by the sound of rain.

However, County Magistrate Yang's persistence in building the city wall was quite unexpected.

Even though it rained every day, he still insisted on repairing the city wall. Not only that, he also added the project of digging a canal.

Even if the common people had complaints in their hearts, they dared not say a word.

County Magistrate Yang also suggested that they should be paid because of the bad weather.

The enthusiasm of the laborers was immediately stimulated.

Xia Daohua also set up her mung bean soup stall. Every day when the weather was hottest, if it didn't rain, she would set up the mung bean soup stall in front of the county government office.

Then the runners from the county government would bring the laborers and carry a few buckets to serve the mung bean soup.

Every time I cook summer rice, I boil two large pots of it and always keep mung beans and enough water in the pot. From the first time the water boils, I keep it boiling for half an hour and then remove it when the time is up.

After persisting in this way day after day, many officers were able to recognize summer rice flowers.

Many laborers also recognized the summer rice flowers.

Later, Xia Daohua found herself becoming more and more famous, so she handed over the business to Erlang and Sanlang, and appeared less frequently herself.

Times have changed, so we should adapt to the local customs.

When the construction of the city wall entered its final stage and the canal dredging and deep digging project entered its middle stage, refugees began to appear in Jixiang County one after another.

At the beginning, the number of refugees was small and they were all concentrated in the suburbs of the outer city.

Later, more refugees from the suburbs began to move into the outer city of Jixiang County.

Xia Daohua discovered that the beggar who was always basking in the sun across from her shop and not working properly was also starting to become alert.

As the number of refugees increased, the dental clinics in Jixiang County began to become overcrowded.

People who sold their children, and even their wives and mothers, appeared.

The broker Xia Daohua was familiar with also recommended a group of maids and servants to her, telling her to buy a few servants while the prices were low, and at the same time reminded her to stock up on rice and flour.

Only then did Xia Daohua discover that several grain shops on the market had begun hiding their grains and limiting the quantities sold each day.

Xia Daohua had no shortage of food, but she went to the grain store several times and bought some food from each store, including coarse grains, fine grains, beans, with shells, with skins, and ground food.

In fact, this was just to find an excuse to take the food out of the space for her.

Xia Daohua asked the shop assistants to find out some information. She also went to the chatterbox in Yang's Teahouse. Xia Dalang also sent her a message. Even the beggar opposite who was always basking in the sun gave Xia Daohua a reminder.

Most of these refugees came from Zhongzhou County on the Yellow River.

As soon as the rainy season arrived there, there was a flood.

Many villages were completely submerged by the overflowing river water. Not only the food crops, but even the houses and the people living there were all swept away.

Those who were able to escape the famine were basically people living in villages far away from the river and on high ground.

Speaking of Zhongzhou County, it suffers from disasters almost every year.

It’s just that sometimes there is drought, sometimes there is flood, and it has never been a relief.

But for some reason, the people of Zhongzhou County are still willing to live in Zhongzhou.

Moreover, when they fled away after being hit by a disaster, they seemed to have gained experience and even developed some fixed traditions of fleeing famine - for example, people from each village who fled away had to disperse and run in all directions instead of going to one place.

Thanks to their tradition.

Otherwise, if they all headed towards Ping'an County one village after another, even if the area of ​​Jixiang County was doubled, it would not be able to accommodate so many refugees!

As the number of refugees increased, Wang called on the wealthy families and merchants in the county to get together and urged everyone to set up porridge stalls.

After listening to this, Xia Daohua pondered for a long time and finally decided that there were some things that she still had to say.

Whether County Magistrate Yang and his wife Wang can do it is another matter.

I thought about it but didn't say it out loud, and I couldn't get over it in my heart.

However, before Xia Daohua could bring up her idea of ​​"work-for-relief", she heard Wang mention the experience of County Magistrate Yang:

"When our master was in Hongshi County, he also encountered a similar situation. The previous county magistrate handled the situation improperly, and as a result, the refugees caused trouble in the city, killed the county magistrate, and robbed several wealthy families in the city."

At this point, some of the women in the families moved uneasily, probably because they began to worry about their family's safety.

Wang smiled slightly, but her face showed some sadness:

"At that time, our master was given the task and it took him more than a month to quell the rebellion.

But at that time, 70% to 80% of the wealthy families in the county had been harmed by the refugees, and there were less than ten families who survived unscathed..."

Wang spent a cup of tea laying the groundwork, and seeing that everyone was a little tense, she finally revealed the main point of the plot:

"Our master is arranging work-for-relief, and I think we women in the harem can't just sit there and watch.

We have to do something, we can't let the men fight alone in the front!"

The female relatives nodded in agreement, saying that they would hit wherever Wang pointed without any objection.

Wang smiled and looked around at everyone present. When everyone was silent and their eyes were focused on her, she slowly said:

"I was thinking that we should build a few more soup kitchens.

The porridge cannot be too watery, or people will starve to death, and a good thing will turn into a bad thing; but it cannot be too thick, or people will be too full and idle, which will easily lead to trouble..."

Wang said a lot, and all the women in the family agreed to go back and open porridge stalls.

Everyone discussed and decided on a rough range, stipulating which porridge stall could be opened in which area.

This will avoid uneven distribution, with too many porridge stalls in one place and none in another.

After that, Wang proposed to buy some grain at a fair price, because opening the government warehouse to release grain required asking for permission from the superiors. Although the capital was not far away, the round trip would delay her for several days.

A few days was enough for many refugees to starve to death.

So Wang decided to ask County Magistrate Yang to send officials to the capital to ask for imperial decree, while she would buy some food from a few grain stores out of her own pocket to fill the gap.

Of course, the price cannot be too expensive.

The women from several grain shops didn't dare to say a word, and their faces suddenly became extremely bad.

Good night, sweet dreams, see you tomorrow. Love you, (づ￣ 3￣)づ

(End of this chapter)