Chapter 28 Refugees

Yuexi Village was unfortunate. The weather was bad. Even though the terrain was high, most of the houses were flooded. The wooden furniture was rotten. The brick and tile houses were okay, but the mud houses and thatched houses could not withstand it.

But Yuexi Village was lucky. The flood came particularly late this year, the autumn harvest had already passed, and the water level was not high. Except for a few impoverished households, most families' food was preserved, and the losses were not too great.

After returning from the cave, the people of Yuexi Village quickly began to clean up. Because the water level receded so quickly, the vegetables still planted in the fields were still edible, with only a small part of them rotten.

The people's ability to recover was amazing. In less than half a month, Yuexi Village became well organized.

In fact, the villages near Hushan County were not seriously affected by the disaster. The worst hit was a village in a low-lying area. I heard that many houses collapsed, two people were crushed to death, and some food was also destroyed.

Compared with Hushan County, Wei County, located downstream of Qingzhou, is much more miserable. It was here that the first dam burst occurred.

The Qingzhou dike burst three times, and the entire downstream area of ​​Qingzhou near the river was the most severely damaged.

Many farmlands and houses were washed away by the floods. In this situation, even if the crops had been harvested and stored, it was useless. It was a blessing to be able to survive.

Jiangnan is originally a humid place. After the heavy rain, it became even more damp and cold, and the temperature dropped sharply. The people had nothing to eat and nothing to wear. Overnight, there were starving people everywhere, and some people even froze to death.

If the weather hadn't turned cold, a plague would probably have broken out by now.

Even if the imperial court urgently dispatched silver for disaster relief, communication was inconvenient in ancient times, and it usually took many days to go back and forth, not to mention that it would be extorted layer by layer.

What's more, this time it was not just Qingzhou that was affected. Linzhou and other places near Qingzhou were also affected, and the imperial court was also in a state of panic.

Su Fengzhang went to Hushan County again and learned that Hushan County was also affected by the disaster. However, just as they predicted, the disaster here was not serious. Only the houses were flooded, and the people were more frightened than the actual losses.

Mr. Wen was happy to see that he was fine, but he was frowning all the time, obviously he also knew about the dike breach downstream.

As he was seeing him off, Wenzhu whispered, "I heard Qingzhou and Linzhou are in chaos. If the court can't properly resettle the victims, I'm afraid there will be more chaos. Our Hushan County is not far from Wei County, and we might be affected."

After hesitating for a moment, Wen Zhu suggested, "Xiao Feng'er, why don't you take your family and move to the city first? Although Hushan County is small, it has the government office there, so it's at least safer than outside the city."

Su Fengzhang quickly refused: "The Su family is in Yuexi Village, and all the clansmen are there. Besides, my mother won't agree."

Even if you want to move, it's difficult to rent a house in Hushan County now because it's in such a mess.

Wen Zhu even suggested, "If anything happens, you can take them into the city immediately and let them stay at my house temporarily."

Not only Wen Zhu made this suggestion, Su Fengzhang also received a letter from Gu Beichen, and he mentioned the situation in Wei County again in his mind. The imperial court was not good at disaster relief, and the porridge distributed was like clear water. The situation there was not good.

Su Fengzhang couldn't help but worry, but for a moment he was at a loss as to what to do.

Even in modern times, humans still cannot escape the power of nature, let alone in ancient times.

As December approached, the weather became colder. I don’t know what happened this year, but it snowed early in Yuexi Village. The weather was so cold that no one wanted to go out.

The Su family’s classes had to be suspended as they couldn’t hold outdoor classes in such cold weather.

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Yuexi Village, which had been quiet for a long time, became a little more festive.

Laba Festival is actually a festival more in the north. Like in Yuexi Village, in previous years, people would just cook a pot of Laba porridge during Laba Festival, and they didn't take other things very seriously. Instead, they would celebrate the Winter Solstice Festival with great fanfare.

But the atmosphere in the village had been tense this year, but it became lively on this day. The villagers were happy to give the children two candies and let them go out to play. Listening to the children's laughter, it seemed that even the worries disappeared.

The Su family also started cooking Laba porridge early. They not only added common ingredients such as rice, millet, yellow rice, mung beans, and red beans, but also added dates, almonds, and peanuts. Su Zhao even found a small bag of raisins, added brown sugar, and cooked a pot. The taste was very sweet.

After cooking, Su Lanzhang was asked to run around and deliver a bowl to each of the close relatives.

It is quite heartwarming for the family to sit down and drink hot porridge.

Su Lanzhang took a bite and couldn't help but exclaimed, "It smells so good! Grandma Wei's cooking skills are getting better and better."

Madam Wei was delighted to hear this and said with a smile, "As long as Third Young Master likes it, eat more. There's more in the pot."

At this moment, there was a knock on the door. Su Lanzhang stood up and shouted, "I'll go open it."

Su Zhaoshi also laughed and said, "I guess someone sent Laba porridge here."

Who knew that when he opened the door, there were two people standing outside, one big and one small, wearing tattered clothes and holding a broken bowl in their hands. They shouted, "Master, please be kind and give me something to eat."

"Second brother!" Su Lanzhang shouted subconsciously.

Su Fengzhang came over and took a look. The child had dry and yellow hair and was so thin that he looked like a ghost. He looked about six or seven years old. He was dirty and stood timidly at the door, calling out to the master, "Please be kind."

A man in his early forties stood behind him, one hand on the child, seemingly unable to stand steadily, his face untidy and beard unkempt. "Please, give us something to eat."

"Second brother..." Su Lanzhang pulled at the corner of Su Fengzhang's clothes, obviously feeling sympathy.

"Wait a moment." Su Fengzhang closed the door, walked into the kitchen and brought out a bowl of porridge. This bowl of porridge was sent from next door. It was not as rich as what they cooked today, with only a little mung beans added.

"Here." Su Fengzhang handed it to the two men. The standing man took a big sip and passed it to the child when he had almost finished it. The child drank it quickly and licked the bottom of the bowl clean.

Su Fengzhang stood at the door until they were far away, then he pushed Su Lanzhang in and shouted, "Mom, don't open the door for anyone, I'm going to my uncle's house."

Su Zhao's face changed, and she was at a loss: "What's going on?"

Aunt Bai took her son aside and asked him carefully, but she didn't feel anything was wrong. Aren't they just two ordinary beggars?

Su Fengzhang hurried to the village chief's house and shouted as soon as he entered the door: "Uncle, I'm afraid things are not going well."

They were also drinking porridge, and when they heard this, they quickly put down their bowls. "What happened?"

"Were there two beggars begging at the door just now?"

"Yes, they looked pitiful. My mother even gave them a bowl of porridge."

Su Fengzhang told his son what had just happened. His son chuckled, "They're just two beggars. What's so strange about that? There are always a few beggars coming here all year round."

"Let Erlang finish what he is saying." The village chief glared at his son.

Su Fengzhang explained, "It's not surprising to see many beggars at the end of the year, but these two are different. The younger one is skinny from starvation, while the older one is strong and healthy. Although they look miserable, they don't look starving if you look closely."

"If they were ordinary beggars, or even refugees, they would usually focus on feeding their children. There wouldn't be such a huge difference. There must be something strange going on."

The village chief realized something and his face became tense: "Erlang, is that what you mean?"

"I'm afraid those who came are not refugees, but bandits." Su Fengzhang said.

"What? How is this possible?" The village chief shouldn't be surprised. The dynasty has severe punishments for bandits, and the public security in Qingzhou has always been very good. They haven't seen bandits for many years.

His eldest son even said, "Erlang, are you thinking too much?"

Su Fengzhang continued his analysis: "If you were a beggar, you should knock on every door when you enter the village and take as much as you can."

"If they were ordinary refugees, there wouldn't be just two of them. They would have brought their families with them, a group of people coming here to beg."

"But these two are different. When I asked on the way here, I found out they only went to four or five households in the village, all of them wealthy families. They looked inside while begging, probably to find out about their financial situation and to determine the population."

"After visiting these families, they simply left the village without caring about other families."

"If I'm not mistaken, these two are probably spies of the bandits, and the child was probably kidnapped as bait. There are probably no women or elderly people among them, otherwise they wouldn't have sent men."

If there are elderly people and women, it is better to let them beg. Ordinary people will not be wary of the elderly, the weak, women and children.

That was exactly why Su Fengzhang felt even more nervous. "A gang of vagrants, without a single old man or woman in sight, could only possibly be that this gang is ruthless and will either kill or throw away anyone who is a burden."

The village chief's face had completely darkened. His fingers trembled slightly as he recalled the two men's behavior. "Yes, that man just now kept looking into the house. The way he held the child didn't look like a real father. The child was very afraid of him."

"So those bandits dare to kill people. What should we do?" The village chief's wife was terrified.

"I'm afraid they will take action when it gets dark." Su Fengzhang speculated.

"Ming Zhang, go call the heads of each family, we need to discuss a countermeasure." The village chief shouted immediately.

"I'll go now." Su Mingzhang ran out quickly, feeling very scared.

Soon everyone arrived. They had probably heard the news, and their faces were filled with panic. Some even shouted, "Village chief, let's run away, into the caves. They won't be able to find us if they're not from here."

The village chief shook his head and said, "If they were bandits, they would definitely be watching us right now. There are over a hundred people in our village, and if we all went up the mountain, it would make such a big noise. They are not blind, how could they not see it?"

"What should we do? Are we all going to die?"

"Could it be that we are mistaken and they are just two ordinary beggars?"

"Even if they are bandits, they are not just after money. Can't we just give them some food?"