Natural disasters in books: I stockpiled goods to escape famine in ancient times

Song Shiwei visited several shops but didn't see any blankets or quilts made of animal fur. After asking around, he learned that few people were selling fur in the past year. Most people who went into the mountains went to hunt wild animals and collect herbs, or at least pick wild vegetables to eat.

It is understandable that natural disasters have had some impact on the North, especially the scorching hot weather. If their livelihoods are cut off, they can only find ways to be self-sufficient.

Song Shiwei would not be disappointed if he didn't buy it. There were still a lot of wolf skins in the space. He could ask someone to help make two fur quilts when the time comes.

Song Shiwei had no chance to experience the severe cold of winter in the north, but now that he has made sufficient preparations, he is looking forward to winter.

After renting the courtyard, Song Shiwei checked out of the inn and left a message for Zhang Wu. He then bought some household items on the street and waited in the courtyard in the afternoon for the major shops to deliver the items.

Originally, Song Shiwei was planning to stock up some more ice, but people in the north could not afford it. In addition, there was enough ice and snow in the north in winter, and the wealthy families had ice cellars at home. In winter, they would send slaves to drag the ice back home, but ordinary people simply could not afford it, so there was no shop selling ice in the city.

The bedding and pillows bought in the afternoon were delivered one after another. There were only two rooms in the courtyard, just enough for one person to have one room. The kitchen was on the right side of the courtyard. The houses here were so close together that it was difficult to cook food with strong odors. Song Shiwei bought some white flour and prepared for Zhang Wu to make some buns, steamed buns, dumplings and wontons. He put some more into the space for storage, as they would not go bad anyway.

I bought cooked food and pastries in the capital before, and I consumed one third of them on the way to the north, so there are still a lot left. These things are also sold in the provincial capital, but they don’t look that good, and the taste is not as delicate and delicious as those made in the capital.

At the end of the day, Zhang Wu found the courtyard and as soon as he saw Song Shiwei, he told her that someone had gone to the village.

Song Shiwei immediately thought of the young man when he heard this and waved his hand: "I should know who it is, don't worry."

With Song Shiwei's words, Zhang Wu felt a little relieved and told her about the progress of the village.

"Find more people and try to finish building the house as early as possible. I heard that the winter in the north is particularly cold. There have been natural disasters in various places in the past two years, and this year there has even been an extreme heat wave. I am worried that there will be an extreme cold weather in the future. I will offer them higher wages, as long as they can finish the house within half a month."

Zhang Wu nodded and said, "Master, rest assured. I have already talked to the village chief before I came back. With the strong laborers from the two villages working together, I think it will be completed in less than half a month. I have also added an extra firewood shed."

Gai Yin heard Wei Cai and others talking at lunch. They talked about how the north spent the winter in previous years. Every household would prepare enough firewood and food for the winter before winter came. The house layout that Song Shiwei had drawn before also prepared a firewood room, but Zhang Wu felt that it was still not enough, so he added another firewood room to prepare enough firewood.

"You can make the decisions on these small matters. I bought a lot of black charcoal and firewood in the city this morning. It's enough for us to use every day in winter. But when we move to the village, we still need to prepare a show. When you are free, I will make some more buns and steamed buns."

Zhang Wu agreed: "We have selected the people today, and the village will start building the house tomorrow morning. The village chief will also take care of the bricks, tiles and wood. I will have nothing to do after that. I just need to go back occasionally to check on you. If the master has anything to say, just let him know."

Since the money given was sufficient, food would naturally not be provided, so Zhang Wu did not need to worry about anything.

Song Shiwei asked Zhang Wu to rest at home and bought four buckets of water at noon, estimating that it would be delivered soon.

Many wells were dug in the city, but due to the hot weather, the wells were almost dry. The water used by the people in the city was transported from the mountains by people hired by the government. Two hundred coins for a bucket of water was not expensive, and ordinary people could buy a bucket of water every day if they gritted their teeth.

Those who really could not afford the money could follow the government into the mountains to carry water. However, for every bucket of water they carried home, they had to help the government carry two buckets back to the city. Every family with strong laborers would go up the mountain to carry water.

Song Shiwei had taken so many things from Cao Chong, and now the space was still piled with all kinds of gold, silver, jewelry, food, medicine and weapons. Naturally, he would not let Zhang Wu do hard labor. If he had that much time, he might as well cook more food at home so that he could take it out and eat it directly when he was inconvenient or wanted to be lazy in the future.

After just two cups of tea, the water delivery man arrived. Song Shiwei gave him ten cents and asked him to bring all the water into the kitchen. Two buckets of water were poured into a clean water tank, and the remaining two buckets were prepared for washing in the evening. By the way, the water consumption for tomorrow was also decided.

The person in charge of delivering water did not expect such an unexpected gain. He happily carried the water and after receiving the money, he repeatedly promised to deliver the water to Song Shiwei first tomorrow.

Zhang Wu couldn't sit still, so as soon as the water was delivered, he asked Song Shiwei to get out the flour, and he went to the kitchen alone to make buns and steamed buns.

Song Shiwei took 50 kilograms of flour, as well as a lot of pork and vegetables, and asked him to make some vegetable and meat patties.

Song Shiwei left the kitchen matters to Zhang Wu and went back into the house. After locking the door, he entered the space and counted the supplies in the static area.

The gold ingots had never been moved, with five thousand taels in one box, totaling one hundred and ten boxes; silver ingots, five thousand taels in one box, totaling forty boxes; thirty boxes of jewelry; more than forty luxurious ornaments; two hundred thousand taels of silver notes; and weapons including knives, swords, bows and crossbows, numbering tens of thousands.

The grain included 150,000 catties of rice and flour, 1,000 catties of medicinal materials, 10,000 catties of private salt, 5,000 catties of sugar, 10,000 catties of ice, 300 sets of winter and summer bedding, and 30 bolts of silk and satin.

All of the above were obtained from Cao Chong, and there were also many things purchased in the later period of Song Shiwei, and only one-tenth or one-twelfth of them have been consumed so far.

After the inventory, Song Shiwei felt that there was no need to buy anything else. What Ji Han needed were nothing more than charcoal, firewood and food, which he had in sufficient supply at the moment. Not to mention just himself and Zhang Wu, even if there were ten more of them, it would be enough.

As for the furniture and other things needed after the house is built, I had bought a lot of them in Beijing before. When the time comes, I will just take them out and let Zhang Wu find a car to transport them back to Damao Village.

After thinking through the follow-up arrangements, Song Shiwei smiled with relief and added fodder to the livestock before leaving the room.

At the hour of You, the aroma of pancakes wafted from the courtyard. When Song Shiwei entered the kitchen, Zhang Wu was standing in front of the stove, sweating profusely, making pancakes. There were several winnowing baskets next to him filled with baked meat and vegetable pancakes. After a while, the temperature was just right, so Song Shiwei put the pancakes in the winnowing baskets, then glanced at the flour on the table, thought for a while, and took out a dozen winnowing baskets.

"Master, the meat buns will be ready in a while. The steamed buns don't taste strong. I'm going to make the meat buns and meat patties first, and then the steamed buns," Zhang Wu said, pointing to the big iron pot on the other side.

There are two pots in the kitchen, one is making pancakes, and the other is steaming three baskets of meat buns, which are now steaming hot.

Estimating that the time was up, Zhang Wu hurriedly took down the steamer, revealing the meat buns with thin skin and rich fillings inside. A total of forty-five meat buns were steamed in three steamers. Song Shiwei took out a clean cloth bag from the space, put the hot buns in the space, and left the steamer for Zhang Wu to use to steam steamed buns later.