After thinking about it, those who had been holding on to hope could no longer sit still. They packed up their things, took their families and followed their fellow villagers or relatives, pushing carts to leave the village.
Once they actually set out on the journey to escape the famine, the group of people who were originally still struggling with whether their decision was right or wrong soon began to be thankful for their decisive action.
Because, on their way to escape famine, they saw many gentry, wealthy businessmen and officials' families.
Although these people were surrounded by servants and guards who would not let ordinary people like them get close to them easily, the fact that they left their hometowns with their families was enough to make these ordinary people see some problems clearly.
Yu Zizhen had his leaders selected in advance remind these ordinary people who did not have much food on hand to start their extreme food-saving mode.
Except for the very young children, the very old people and the pregnant women in the family, 90% of the daily rations for everyone else were wild vegetables, grass roots, young leaves, etc. that were not particularly unpalatable and that they found on the roadside and in the woods.
Occasionally, when we come across rivers or lakes where we can fish, or when we are lucky enough to catch rabbits or pheasants in the wilderness, we are reluctant to fill our stomachs with the fish and meat.
They would boldly approach the servants who served the gentry, wealthy businessmen, and officials' families, and exchange fish and meat for salt, pickles, or coarse grains.
After about half a month of such arduous journey, some people in the team began to fall down due to fatigue, hunger, thirst and heat.
However, before they could panic, a mysterious team with carriages and supplies appeared on both sides of the official road they were traveling on. They sold food, water and other supplies to the refugees. They also brought doctors and medicinal materials with them, and were willing to provide medical treatment for a fee.
These teams all fly under the same flag, and almost everyone in the team is strong and powerful. Most importantly, they carry weapons with them openly. Once someone robs them, this group of people will beat them up or even kill them.
Acting so toughly and having the courage and ability to transport supplies under such circumstances, the victims almost immediately concluded that this group of people must have powerful backgrounds.
However, this group of people with strong backgrounds surprisingly did not charge exorbitant prices for the supplies they sold.
A bucket of clean water costs ten cents. The bucket is big and deep, and is filled with water. A family of ten can use it sparingly and use it for drinking and cooking for two days.
Although the price of food has risen, the increase was unexpectedly low.
There were no stones, sand, straw or old coarse grains mixed in, and there were no moldy or spoiled grains. Regardless of their types, the selling price was uniformly 50 wen per dou (about 14 jin), which was 3 to 5 wen cheaper than when they bought grain in the town or county before fleeing the famine, not to mention the current soaring grain prices.
The prices of medicinal materials, cloth, salt, sugar, wine, etc. are only 20% to 30% higher than before the drought.
Overall, the price increase can be said to be quite reasonable.
Of course, this is just what the lower-class people think.
Those wealthy families who bought fine foods such as glutinous rice, white flour, meat, vegetables, etc. from this caravan were all severely ripped off without exception.
This was not the most speechless thing. What made them speechless was that this caravan actually limited the sale of cheap water and coarse grains!
In addition to the guaranteed price of fifty cents per dou of old grain and ten cents per bucket of clean water for each household, if you want to buy more later, they will not ship it to you at this price.
For any amount exceeding the limit, this caravan will directly double the price without any hesitation.
This price is not a bad deal at the moment. After all, ever since the large-scale drought broke out, the prices in the towns and counties they passed through along the way have been rising rapidly.
Now if you go to any town or county along the way and ask, you will find that the prices are basically the same as those offered by this caravan.
But the problem was, they clearly sold the old grain cheaply to those peasants! Even if some peasants couldn't afford enough copper coins, they would still accept the other party's human barter.
How much are people worth these days? It's no exaggeration to say that if this strange caravan hadn't suddenly appeared and disrupted the market, the human traffickers who had caught wind of the situation and were now roaming among the disaster victims would have already traded half a bag of rice for a pretty girl or boy of the right age.
But what about now? Not only could they not make this lucrative business, but because their intention to buy people was exposed, they were often glared at by the caravan members with extremely unfriendly eyes.
Although the group of guys didn't threaten them directly, the human traffickers could hardly bear the terrifying and threatening looks in their eyes.
For the sake of their own lives, they had to temporarily put aside some of the bad thoughts in their minds.
And those poor people who were really at the end of their rope and had to sell their children to make a living for themselves and their children all received twenty taels of silver from the caravan.
Of course, those who can be exchanged for so much silver must be carefully selected by the caravan and they feel that they are indeed worth the price.
As for some people who refused to leave in front of their caravan, shouting "I have money" and insisting that they not buy the limited edition and eye-catching bags, the strong men in the caravan simply started to act like scoundrels.
"You have money? It's good to have money. With money you can buy more good things." As he spoke, he also brought a large bag of polished rice that was sold for one and a half taels of silver per dou and threw it in front of those who showed off their wealth. "Ten taels, a sincere discount."
Eye-catching people:......
Seeing they didn't react, the other party threw over a large wicker basket filled with bacon, "The best three-layer pork belly, pre-marinated with fine salt, cooked and dried. One basket only costs one hundred taels. How many baskets would you like, gentlemen?"
The corners of the mouths of those with eye bags twitched wildly: Sorry, they brought this upon themselves.
Similar scenes occurred from time to time on every escape route planned in advance by Yu Zizhen and his team. The people who really couldn't make ends meet felt a little confidence and hope because of the existence of this caravan.
Although many of them chose to sell their children along the way, at least they found a way to survive for themselves and their children through this means.
Being separated from one's family is certainly painful, but how can this pain be compared to watching your loved ones die one by one in front of your eyes?
Who would want to die when they can live?
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