Faced with the severe drought, farmers tried every possible method, but still couldn't save this season's crops. The better-off ones managed to harvest a few bushels of grain, while the crops in the fields without irrigation simply withered and died.
Many families ran out of food in March and April, when food was scarce, and were barely surviving on wild vegetables, hoping to make a living from the summer harvest. Who could have predicted that this year's crops would fail completely?
However, the taxes and grain that should have been paid were not reduced at all.
For the sake of their own political achievements, the county officials not only failed to report the disaster, but also went against their conscience and sent people to the countryside every day to urge the delivery of grain. If the grain was not delivered, the men in the family would be imprisoned until the taxes were paid.
For a time, it was common for families in villages to sell their daughters; some even shamelessly begged relatives for money; and some families with no other way to survive gradually fled the famine with their entire families...
The people were suffering terribly, and every day, one human tragedy after another unfolded, whether it was to pay taxes or to find a way to survive.
*
Lin Momo and Shi Guang never returned to Linjia Village, and the Lin family never visited either. Presumably, they had enough food and were still managing to get by.
After the summer harvest, Cai Dalang indeed came to the town again.
Caijia Village is nestled against the mountains and backed by water. Cai Dalang's family irrigated their crops twice. Although the harvest was reduced due to drought, they still managed to harvest about 50-60% of the grain they would have had in previous years, and even had a slight surplus after paying taxes.
We can still make ends meet by going up the mountain to pick some wild vegetables and catch some wild animals.
Lin Daya's baby is seven months old and will be born in another two or three months. Nowadays, it is customary not to give birth in someone else's home.
Therefore, the Cai family was also eager to bring their eldest daughter-in-law back.
This time, Lin Daya was determined to go back, unwilling to cause any more trouble for her sister and brother-in-law.
At present, there is a natural disaster, refugees are everywhere, and chaos is rampant.
Lin Momo was worried about her older sister traveling a long distance with her big belly, so she and Shiguang drove a mule cart to take Lin Daya and her husband back to their husband's home. In addition to the clothes, shoes and socks that the two sisters had made for the child, they also packed a lot of nourishing food for the mother and child to take with them, such as brown sugar, red dates, walnuts, milk powder, dried fruit, and dried meat.
Upon arriving at the Cai family home, Old Man Cai spoke a few kind words to Lin Momo and Shi Guang about Lin Daya's near miscarriage last time, and promised that such a thing would not happen again.
It's unrealistic to expect an elderly person to apologize to a younger person.
Given that the Cai family head's attitude was passable, Lin Momo decided not to bring up the past, since her eldest sister still needed to live in the Xu family.
That's all she can do to help; Sister Lin will have to fend for herself from now on.
After leaving, Lin Momo and Shiguang went straight back to the small valley.
The summer grain harvest has been completed, but the valley is not short of water. After irrigating the land once, they can plant another autumn grain crop.
Along the way into the mountains, one could see groups of emaciated, ragged people searching for water and anything edible—tree bark, grass roots, wild fruits...
At this time, most of the fruits in the mountains are still green and unripe, and because of the severe drought, there are not many fruits growing, and some have already been eaten by insects and birds.
This year, the various fruits in the mountains may not even ripen before being picked to satisfy hunger.
The areas visited by disaster victims were almost like a locust plague.
Anything that wouldn't kill them would be scooped into their bamboo baskets or stuffed directly into their mouths, chewed, and swallowed. Lin Momo felt quite heartbroken watching this.
Lin Momo and Shi Guang took a detour to check on the crops they had planted. Some had been eaten, or the soil had been dug up, revealing the fruit underneath. It was unclear whether they had been dug up by someone or dug up by wild boars hunting for food.
However, if those people go further into the mountains, they will eventually encounter it. It's just a matter of whether they will dare to eat this unfamiliar fruit.
Lin Momo felt that she might hesitate at first, but if she was starving, she wouldn't care about such things.
*
The severe drought lasted until autumn. Although there were two rain showers in between, the rainfall was too light to alleviate the drought.
With the summer harvest failing and the rivers and wells nearly dried up, even drinking water became a problem. After autumn, a long and cold winter was approaching, and the people's suffering seemed endless.
As a result, even more people fled the famine, and some villages were so devastated that nine out of ten houses were empty.
Those who were unwilling to leave their homes would take their families or go into the mountains in groups with other villagers.
There lies a huge mountain, teeming with life and thriving with plants and animals. It's that time of year again for gathering mountain produce, the most exciting time for the local people.
This year, the mountains are also experiencing drought, but in the eyes of the people, they can always find some wild fruits and mountain products to fill their stomachs. Since the water in the river all flows from the mountains, they must be able to find a water source deep in the mountains.
......
Time flies, and two years have passed in the blink of an eye.
Over the past two years, we have been hit by drought, locust plagues, and snowstorms. The weather has been unpredictable, with various natural disasters striking one after another, causing widespread suffering and countless deaths.
Lin Momo and Shi Guang lived a secluded life in the deep mountains, only occasionally returning to town to check on the situation outside.
Currently, the escalating natural disasters are accelerating the demise of this corrupt regime.
It is said that small groups of peasant uprisings began to appear in various places last year, and this year they have grown into large groups and caused civil unrest.
The imperial court's inaction in the face of natural disasters, coupled with the local government's exorbitant taxes and levies, led to widespread anger among the people who could no longer survive. They rose up in rebellion, joining the rebel army, either breaking into the homes of rural landlords to borrow grain or attacking nearby cities and robbing wealthy households.
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