Chapter 13: Escape from the Troubled Times 11
Lu County.
It's a small border town, and it's estimated that the entire county has no more than a thousand households.
How can there be so much food to do charity? You should know that there were more than a thousand refugees gathered at this city gate alone.
Even if there really was food, the county magistrate would still be a good official serving the people.
Danlu County is located at the junction of three states.
If the news of opening warehouses to provide disaster relief gets out, it will attract refugees from the three states.
With so many refugees coming in continuously, can the dilapidated city walls of Lu County withstand the impact of the refugees?
"Everyone calm down first." Village Chief Wu calmed everyone down. "The city gate will be opened early tomorrow morning. Those of us who need to buy things should hurry into the city to get supplies. After we finish buying, we will leave."
"Village chief, aren't we waiting for the porridge to be distributed?" a villager asked doubtfully.
"Yes, village chief, let's have a bowl of porridge tomorrow before we leave."
"We'll see how the situation develops tomorrow." Village Chief Wu made the final decision, and the others gave up any thought of refuting when they saw the other party's irrefutable expression.
"Okay, that's it. Let's find a place to rest here. The elderly, children and women can sit in the middle, and the young and middle-aged can rest outside."
"Also, Geli, you should arrange ten people to guard the night in two shifts." Village Chief Wu turned and looked at Wu Geli.
"Okay, Dad."
Lin Xia felt that Village Chief Wu's decision was right. In fact, she wanted to leave the city and walk overnight, but the next section of the road was all plains and it was likely that there would be no water. She would go to the city tomorrow to buy a wheelbarrow, a bucket and water, as well as food.
Everyone else has a car, but I don’t, and I can’t carry much water. Now that I am a member of a team, my safety is guaranteed, and I also need to arrange a car.
The next day at noon,
The officers and soldiers opened the city gates and set up roadblocks, and the crowd rushed forward.
"No pushing!"
The officers and soldiers drew their swords and swung them, and the refugees in the front fell to the ground. Everyone came to their senses and hurriedly retreated.
"The porridge distribution will start in half an hour. Those who want to enter the city should hurry up. The entrance fee is 50 coins. There will be no identity check and the city gates will be closed on time at noon." The leading soldier said all in one breath. After saying this, he asked someone to guard the door while he sat aside and drank tea.
The people of Wujia Village had been waiting at the city gate for a long time. When they suddenly heard that the entrance fee was 50 coins, there was an uproar inside.
Life in the countryside is not easy, with all kinds of taxes weighing heavily on them, and this migration has already left them severely weakened. The little assets they have left have to be spent on weapons, so there is no money left to pay for the expensive city entrance fee.
Village Chief Wu called the heads of each household and said, "Each household should discuss who needs to go to the city to buy things. Gather here in a quarter of an hour. Xiaoli will take the lead then."
"This is the west gate. Those who are entering the city will go out from the south gate. The rest of you will follow me around the city and wait for them at the south gate."
"You only have an hour and a half. Don't stay inside. Come out if you haven't finished shopping. We won't wait for you after the time is up." Village Chief Wu said to everyone seriously.
"Okay, got it."
Lin Xia, Wu Geli and others lined up together to enter the city. The soldiers did not make things difficult for them. They gave them money, glanced at the backpacks casually and let them pass.
The entrance fee was still too expensive, and many families were reluctant to pay it. In the end, there were only 12 people including her, and Lin Xia was the only woman among them, so she seemed very out of place among them.
After entering the city, Lin Xia separated from the others and walked alone on the street, her eyes full of curiosity.
This was her first time actually entering an ancient city, and to be honest, it wasn't very nice.
The whole city was gray, and the only road looked good. It was paved with large bluestones and had special ruts on the road for vehicles to drive on.
The doors of shops on both sides of the road were closed, passers-by were in a hurry, and occasionally a soldier passed by.
That's not right!
In a small county town like this, there are no more than a hundred officers and soldiers, but she saw no less than two teams of soldiers, at least twenty or thirty people, in the ten minutes she walked.
Something is definitely happening in Lucheng!
Lin Xia had no intention of exploring the secret. Since he was allowed in the city and was not prohibited from leaving, it meant that the problem was not serious. If there was a problem, he could just run away. He was not a fool.
She went shopping first.
Many shops are closed, but shops selling basic supplies are still open.
Lin Xia first bought a second-hand unicycle. She almost flipped it over when she first started using it, and it took her a while of practice before she was able to use it successfully.
It has to be said that owning a car is easy. Although it cannot run fast, it can carry a lot and saves effort. Lin Xia finally unloaded the burden on her shoulders and successfully became a car owner.
Lin Xia happily shopped in the city.
There are no sanitary napkins, white cotton cloth, buy some; there is no place to rest at night, oilcloth, take some; there is no place to put the poison powder, oil paper, porcelain bottle, take some; needle and thread, shoes...
There is no container to hold water. Buckets are no longer needed. There are more convenient wine barrels. They are like bamboo tubes, with only one hole on top. You can plug it with a wooden stopper to prevent water from leaking. You can also spend an extra hundred coins to have the store fill it with water.
Lin Xia went to buy salt, oil and grain, but the purchase of grain was limited. Each person could only buy one dou of rice or wheat, but could buy three dou of beans. A dou of brown rice usually costs only 60 wen, but now it costs 220 wen, which is basically a three or four times increase in price.
In times of natural disasters and chaos, people live a very hard life.
Lin Xia bought a bucket of brown rice and 5 liters of beans. It's not that I don't want to buy more, but I really can't carry too much and people will be jealous. One dou is about 10 jin, and one dou and five liters is 15 jin. If you save it, it can last for a month.
Lin Xia also went to the blacksmith shop to buy a big knife.
"No! What about the long wooden warehouse?"
"No, there are no weapons. Even if there were, you are not allowed to buy them!" said the blacksmith impatiently.
"Then what do you have here?" Lin Xia asked again good-temperedly.
"Yes, there are still some farm tools and kitchen utensils. They will be gone after they are sold."
Lin Xia was surprised: "Uncle, why do you have so few things here?"
"It's none of your business."
Sometimes I really want to hit someone.
When Lin Xia walked out of the blacksmith shop, there was a small hoe about 30 cm long for digging herbs and a small iron pot with two handles with a diameter of 25 cm in his car.
In addition, Lin Xia also went to the pharmacy and bought several packets of medicine for treating wind-cold and wind-heat, as well as sulfur, anthelmintic powder, and a pennyroyd of mint.
It’s so expensive! A packet of cold medicine costs half a tael of silver, and the price for preventing heatstroke is even more exaggerated. I can only buy some mint to make do.
After buying everything, Lin Xia still had twelve taels of silver left. This trip cost an ordinary person three or four years' income. The prices were so outrageous that it was no wonder that all other shops were closed and no one went to buy anything other than daily necessities.
Lin Xia had just finished shopping and the time had not yet come. She wanted to continue checking for omissions, but suddenly she noticed that the patrolling soldiers in the city had become serious.
Lin Xia knew something was wrong and hurried to the South Gate. Fortunately, the city gate was open.
Lin Xia happened to meet Wu Geli and his group. Looking at the only cart they were pushing which was filled with bags of things, she really wanted to pretend she didn't see them. But it was too late. Wu Geli was warmly inviting Lin Xia to join them.
Will they really not be robbed if they leave the city like this?
Wu Geli told her so with his actions.
Won't!
This young man was quite reliable. He asked everyone to gather around him and took out sickles, kitchen knives and a machete from under the cart to intimidate the refugees.
The refugees were still very careful about their lives even when they had food to eat, and they stood in the line to get porridge and watched them go away.
"Hey, where are the people in our village? There are so many people, but they are gone. I didn't see them getting porridge." Villager A was puzzled.
"What nonsense are you talking about! It should not have arrived yet." Wu Geli slapped the other person.
"The two city gates are so close, we should have arrived in an hour and a half. Nothing will happen, right?" Villager B also said worriedly.
Wu Geli was also a little worried, but he remained calm and said, "Let's get away from the crowd first and wait over there." He pointed to a small woods not far away.
Before everyone could pass, a familiar figure came running over. It was Wu Geli's younger brother Wu Chenggong.
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