Chapter 77: Isolation of the Village
Bamboo Village, a village in Changyi, got its name from the bamboo forest growing nearby.
This is just a very small village with a dozen households. However, because it is close to the bamboo forest, some bamboo woven items can be made and sold every year, so there is a lot of contact with the town. Sometimes small vendors will come to the village to collect goods. The whole village cannot be said to be rich, but life is still good compared with other villages.
However, starting from more than half a month ago, more and more people in the village started to suffer from coughing and illness. At first, it was not so bad. Although they coughed constantly, it did not affect the work at hand. Later, people were exhausted. Struggling to go around the fields and remove weeds every day exhausted all their energy, not to mention making bamboo baskets to supplement the family income.
"When will this day end?" Village Chief Saw sat listlessly on the doorstep, looking up at the sky feebly. "I hope it gets warmer soon. It would be nice if it gets warmer."
According to past experience, once the weather gets warmer, the cough will go away and the body will have more strength.
In fact, he already had a bad premonition in his heart. After all, who could cough so hard that the whole village could not get out of bed? But he could only think so, and only allow himself to think so, otherwise there would be no hope at all.
"Father! Father!" The strongest child in the family ran back to the village shouting. He was sent by the village chief to the city to get medicine.
His family was the only one in the village that had some spare money to buy medicine. Although they could only buy the cheapest herbs, it was still enviable.
The village chief, Saw, struggled to stand up by holding onto the door frame, his hands and feet trembling. "Son, have you bought the medicine? Quickly ask your second sister-in-law to make some, and we'll all have a bowl."
The youngest son was sweating profusely, still clutching the few large coins he had collected before leaving the house. He walked to the water tank, scooped up a bucket of water, drank it, and then gasped, "It's all gone. The city is full of sick people, and all the medicine has been snatched away. Now even the cheapest medicine is much more expensive. With this little money, we can't even afford a single prescription."
At this point, he cautiously approached his father, looked around, and when he saw that no one else was around, he whispered, "I heard from people in the city that this might be bad. Father, why don't we pack up and hide in the mountains for a few days?"
The village chief, Sawzi, raised his eyebrows, took off his straw sandals, and hit him in the face, cursing, "Go into the mountains! I told you to go into the mountains! Don't you see what time it is! Is it after the autumn harvest? Are you going to neglect the crops in the fields? How many people can your family feed for a year without paying? You can't even abandon your work in the fields? I think you deserve to be punished!"
The younger son raised his hands to protect his head. He didn't dare to fight back and could only barely dodge.
"Father! I'm telling the truth! Those people said something was going to happen. Even the people in the city didn't dare to confront them head-on, so how could we afford to offend them?"
The village chief let go, threw the straw sandals back to the ground, put them on with a tap, leaned against the door frame, and breathed heavily. This behavior once again made him realize that his physical strength was rapidly declining.
He took a deep breath, his gaze extending beyond the low fence of the yard to the fields outside the village. "Our fields are here, our roots are here, where can we go? By hiding, we've avoided the problem, but the land has become barren. There's no harvest this year, so what will we eat in the second half of the year and next? We'll just starve to death!"
Thinking of the land at home, the youngest son also fell silent. He squatted down and hugged his head, scratching his hair frantically with both hands, making his already messy hair look even more like a bird's nest.
"What should we do? What should we do?"
…
"Village Chief! Village Chief!"
Someone was shouting at the top of his lungs.
The village chief, who had been lying in his room after drinking a bowl of thin porridge, came out with the help of his youngest son. Seeing the newcomer, his face flushed with anxiety. He couldn't help but ask, "Erniu, what's going on? Are the wild boars from the mountains coming down to eat the crops again?!"
Erniu shook his head desperately, "No, no!" He was very anxious, but he couldn't organize his words because he was too anxious.
It was the village chief's youngest son who scooped a bucket of cold water from the jar and gave it to him to drink. It was only after being chilled by the cold that he recovered.
"Oh no! The officials are coming to arrest people!"
What? !
The village chief tapped his cane and said in a deep voice, "Erniu, you can't talk nonsense about this!"
"Our villages are close to each other, and we all know each other well. No one is a thief. If someone committed a crime, how could we not know about it when we are so close?"
This was to remind Erniu not to talk nonsense. The Qin law implemented a system of collective responsibility. If someone in the village committed a crime, the whole village would be held responsible.
Erniu certainly knew the rules, but this time it wasn't his fault. "Uncle, I saw the official heading towards that wooden bridge, so I took a shortcut back to report the news. Tell me, where else can we go from that wooden bridge besides our village?"
The village chief's face grew serious.
"Call everyone in the village here! I want to see who is bringing disaster to the entire village!"
…
When the minor officials of Changyi County led their men to Zhu Village, they found that these people had gathered themselves.
Hey, this saves them a lot of effort.
The clerk held up the household registration list and counted the heads. When he found that everyone was present, he waved his hand and said, "Take everyone away!"
"You guys, go search the village. Don't leave anyone behind. Even newborns must be taken away!"
"Sir, we in Zhu Village are all good citizens! None of us has done anything wrong, sir!"
"Sir, my wife just gave birth yesterday. Please, don't drag my wife and child out here! I'm strong enough to do the work of two people. Please, let them go!"
The village chief came forward on crutches, secretly handed over all the cash in his family, and asked to test the waters: "Sir, the crops in this field haven't grown yet. Isn't it a bit early for this year's corvée labor?"
"What are you trying to do by getting so close?"
The clerk pushed him out, weighed the several large coins in his hand, frowned, and made a soft "tsk" sound before putting them away. The irritated expression on his face barely subsided. "It's not forced labor, it's a good thing. You're really lucky. Otherwise, there would be no such good thing."
After he said that, he slid his hand down and touched the belt. He felt relieved when he felt the round thing inside.
"Sir, we found four adults and two children." The tall and strong men came over, grabbing the collars of several people. There was some restlessness in the crowd, and several people looked at the people who had just been caught with concern.
The clerk waved his hand and gestured for them to be taken away together.
The man loosened his collar, pushed the man into the crowd, pulled out a half-broken blade, and roared fiercely, "Behave yourself and follow me!"
Under the threat of force, all the villagers, young and old, supported each other as they walked out, not even daring to raise any question.
They walked from dawn to dusk before arriving at a village with high walls.
The village chief was frightened by this scene. Could it be that they were sold to bandits?
…
At the entrance of the village, a man in a plain white robe tied up his sleeves with plain cloth and filled out a form with a pen. There was a long line in front of him.
"Which village are you from? How many people are there? How many men and women?"
After recording, he took the bamboo slips from the bamboo basket nearby, wrote a few numbers on them and handed them over.
"Bring him in, Isolation Room Three. Next!"
…
The village chief, supported by his youngest son, craned his neck to see the clerk walk to the village gate. A moment later, he returned with a piece of bamboo slips. His face was expressionless as he said, "Follow me. Once you're inside, don't look around. Follow me closely. If you get lost or die, I'll just drag you out and feed you to the wolves!"
The villagers agreed meekly and did not dare to say anything.
When walking through the village gate, the village chief found someone writing at the door, and couldn't help but turn his head to take a sneak peek. The movement was so small that he couldn't even see what the other person looked like. He only remembered a plain linen robe and the "mountain" shaped green grass on the corner of the robe.
After entering the stronghold, the beatings and abuse they had expected did not occur. Instead, they were taken to a large house, and the clerk left after saying, "Wait here."
Although they were afraid of the petty official, he was the one who collected grain taxes and levied labor service every year, so they could be considered familiar with him. Now that he was gone, the villagers were so frightened by the unfamiliar environment that they dared not even move.
After an unknown amount of time, several men and women in plain white robes walked in.
"Where is the village chief?"
The village chief hobbled forward with a cane, "I am the chief of Takemura."
The woman among them held up a bamboo slip and confirmed with him: "Bamboo Village, there are 53 men and 46 women. Is the number wrong?"
The village chief didn't know what they were up to, but he didn't dare lie. He quickly shook his head and said, "You're wrong, you're wrong. There are only about twenty women."
The woman holding the bamboo slips glanced at him. "The entire village, including newborn babies, has 53 males and 46 females. Is that correct?"
The village chief was puzzled: "A little girl who hasn't grown up yet also counts?"
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The white-robed woman in the lead took a deep breath and confirmed with him one last time: "As long as they can still breathe, they will be counted. Men are fifty-three, and women are forty-six. Is this the number?"
The village chief nodded this time and said, "A baby girl was born yesterday, and she's still alive. We need another one."
The woman in the plain robe nodded, picked up the brush and drew another line on the bamboo slip, then clapped her hands and said loudly, "Woman, follow me!"
The man who had been standing quietly by the side also stepped forward: "Men, follow me!"
Before leaving, the woman in plain robes whispered to the person beside her, "There's a newborn baby. Take the mother and daughter to the special ward."
The group tremblingly split into two groups and moved forward cautiously.
The woman in plain clothes led the women of the village to a large house where someone was already waiting. When they saw them coming, they gave them a small piece of pig pancreas and a set of linen clothes.
"Everyone, wash your hair. Catch all the fleas and lice and crush them. If you can't wash them clean, just shave your head! After washing, put on new clothes. Take out your dirty clothes and throw them in the big basket at my feet."
"Remember, no unclean people are allowed here!"
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