Chapter 262 We are almost home
The return journey was already halfway through and everyone was eager to go home. Except for going to the toilet and having lunch, the rest of the time was spent on the journey.
The closer to Kaiyang County, the greater the number of refugees.
Among these refugees, two or three out of ten were local residents of the county, who were unable to collect grain during the spring harvest.
Today, the price of grain in Kaiyang County has reached an astonishing level, with coarse grains costing 50 wen per catty, medium grains costing 150 wen, and fine grains costing 300 wen.
Money shops and pawn shops were opened directly outside the city where refugees gathered. People who wanted to borrow money to buy food lined up from morning to night. Business was so prosperous that the shopkeepers who were in charge of the payments could never take off their smiles.
A large number of refugees from other places have gathered in Kaiyang County, but the government has not issued any documents to resolve the problem. Now the situation in Kaiyang County can only be described as chaotic.
Along the way, Qin Yao and her family encountered countless people selling their children, and there were even young men and women who tied themselves together and sold themselves as slaves.
The business of buying young men is so good that you can buy a young and strong man for five taels of silver.
Children were not worth much, and only those with distinctive looks could be brought into the city.
When Qin Yao and his party arrived at Kaiyang County, the county gate had been closed for three days.
Citizens in the city were allowed to leave but not enter, unless they had official entry and exit documents.
If you want to go into the city to buy food, you must have a pass and pay the entrance fee to enter the city.
Back then, the county magistrate assured the people that the granary had enough food, but he did not expect so many refugees to come from the neighboring city.
For a while, it was still unclear whether the granary would be opened or not.
The people of this county both hated and were helpless against those outsiders. If there had been no outside refugees, they would have already been eating relief food from the government.
But it is not a good thing to continue like this. The autumn harvest is just around the corner. If too many people die now, it will not look good on the government's performance.
Therefore, amid the curses of the victims in the county, the government finally opened the granary.
Every morning and evening, all citizens with registered residence in Kaiyang County can come to collect disaster relief grain with their household registration books.
As soon as this order was issued, the business of human trafficking outside the city became even more prosperous. There were people who came to take their adoptive fathers or mothers, and who voluntarily married into the family or became daughters-in-law. Just by walking around the city gate, you could see dozens of such cases.
The refugees from outside denounced the Kaiyang County magistrate for only caring about the people of the county and not caring about their lives, and public resentment arose.
When Qin Yao and his companions arrived at Jinshi Town, the government grain cart was about to be robbed.
Zhou Zheng, the nephew of the village chief, was in charge of escorting the grain cart. Seeing that the grain cart was about to be snatched away by a group of outsiders who had been planning for a long time, he was anxious and angry. When he didn't know what to do, he suddenly saw a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye.
Immediately, his eyes lit up and he shouted loudly: "Madam Qin! Help, Madam Qin!"
During the few short days on the return journey, in order to deal with the refugees, Da Zhuang and the two guards of the Ding family had already reached a tacit understanding with Qin Yao. When they saw Qin Yao drawing her sword, they immediately picked up the weapons at hand and followed.
Qin Yao cleared the way and fell down with a sweep of the blade. Ordinary people would have no chance to fight back if they met her.
The two guards of the Ding family and Da Zhuang took the opportunity to sneak in front of the grain cart and called Zhou Zheng and other officials to push the grain cart and follow behind them.
As soon as Qin Yao cleared the obstacles and made a path, he immediately rushed out to protect the grain cart.
Because the other side were all civilians and did not dare to kill anyone, once they saw the target break out of the encirclement, they knew they had failed and their momentum naturally weakened.
As usual, Zhou Zheng would have grabbed the chains and put the ringleaders in jail, but now all he met were civilians, so he could only sigh in hatred, and after commanding his companions to take back all the grain carts, he raised his sticks to threaten and drive them away.
In the end, it was Qin Yao who drew her knife and cut the leader's arm, drawing blood. Only then did these refugees retreat unwillingly.
Before running away, he turned back and spat.
Zhou Zheng had a bad temper and immediately swung out an iron chain as if to catch them, and the group of people ran away in a hurry.
"What's going on?" Qin Yao came to Zhou Zheng and others with a knife and asked about the situation.
I wanted to grab a handful of weeds from the roadside to wipe the blood off the knife, but I didn't grab any weeds, but I did feel a handful of dry dust.
She almost forgot that, except for the crops that were still growing in the fields, everything that could be eaten by the roadside had already been picked up.
The refugees from outside also knew that crops were the lifeblood of farmers. If they disturbed the crops in the fields, the people of Kaiyang County would definitely fight them to the death.
When doing things, one should leave a way out for fear of backlash if one does things to the extreme, and that is why the crops are left in the fields.
Qin Yao couldn't get the grass, so she could only grab a handful of dirt, sweep the blade with it, and handed it to Liu Ji in the car, motioning him to put it away first.
Zhou Zheng sighed, "These refugees from outside the county don't have local household registration, so they can't get our relief grain. They are so desperate that they are not afraid of death and come to steal the government grain."
Qin Yao asked in confusion: "Didn't the county magistrate ask for disaster relief grain from above? How will the court accommodate these refugees?"
Zhou Zheng was just a small yamen runner and didn't know much, but he had heard that the county magistrate had already reported the disaster to his higher authorities.
"The county magistrate has reported the situation, but these refugees are not from here. The prefect has to report it to the court and get the court's order before he dares to move the granary. Even if it is an expedited 800-mile journey, it will take ten days or half a month."
Therefore, in the absence of clear orders from the imperial court, it would be good enough if the county magistrate could take care of the disaster victims in the county.
Moreover, things are not that simple. The gambling house and the pawnshop are in cahoots with each other, and there are other forces involved. They had previously hoarded a large amount of low-priced grain and are now selling it at sky-high prices. If the disaster is lifted so quickly, how can they make a profit?
Zhou Zheng didn't want to say these words directly, but Qin Yao figured them out after a moment's thought, and frowned slightly.
A strong dragon cannot defeat a local snake. It seems that these chaotic days will continue for some time.
Zhou Zheng still had a mission to complete, so after he got out of trouble, he thanked his master and said goodbye.
Watching the officials pushing the grain cart away, Ding Shi looked at Zhuangzi worriedly, "I wonder what's going on at home?"
Qin Yao remembered that Ding Xiang was a little girl living alone in the mansion, so she asked him to go back quickly.
Ding Shi clasped his fists and left, rushing home.
Qin Yao saw that there were not many refugees staying outside Jinshi Town, and there were many members of the Ding clan, so Ding Xiang should be fine.
Liu Ji had no time to care about the young lady of a wealthy family. He was only worried about the 10,000 kilograms of wheat in his own granary. Without Qin Yao's urging, he drove faster and rushed to Liujia Village.
Passing through Xiahe Village, the main road leading to Xiahe Village is lined with stone and wooden fences, and villagers are patrolling the entrances and exits.
When they saw Qin Yao, Liu Li and their group, they were surprised, and then someone familiar greeted them.
Liu Ji agreed and asked about the situation in Liujia Village.
The villagers of Xiahe Village smiled and said, "There is nothing wrong with your village. People in the valley can't even find it. If they want to come, they have to pass through Xiahe Village first."
He also said, "I just saw Carpenter Liu and your eldest brother coming to pick up the wood from the caravan yesterday. I heard that your village is going to build a large workshop specializing in making wooden boxes. My brother also applied for the job, but unfortunately there were too many people and he was not selected."
The nearby villages all knew that Qin Yao was the head of Liu Laosan's family, and they smiled at Qin Yao in a flattering way, "Madam Qin, can we go too next time they recruit people?"
Qin Yao nodded: "Of course, I'll tell you next time I recruit workers. It's getting late, so we're going home first!"
"Hey, hey, go slowly." The villagers of Xiahe Village waved their hands.
Qin Yao and Liu Ji both breathed a sigh of relief when they learned that there were no refugees coming to the village.
Liu Ji shouted "Gee!" When Lao Huang saw the familiar scenery, he knew he was almost home, so he spread his hooves and ran happily towards home.
(End of this chapter)
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