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

The Fucheng River eventually broke its banks. Even though Zhou Huai had people cut down large numbers of trees to reinforce the riverbank, it was useless. After months of continuous heavy rain, the river water would have risen and spread even if it had not broken its banks.

Fortunately, Shen Qianxue informed the news in advance, and all the people in the city had been evacuated to the surrounding villages. Fortunately, there were no casualties in Zhending Prefecture when the flood hit, but other places in the Dali Dynasty were miserable, and many people were ruthlessly washed away by the flood in their sleep.

The flood was like the gaping mouth of a ferocious beast, determined to devour everything in its path.

The rumbling sound made people feel nervous. Zhang Wu tossed and turned all night and didn't sleep well. Huang Ying, who was sleeping next to him, was also worried. Noticing that the person next to her was not asleep either, she simply turned over and faced him.

"Can't sleep?"

The oriole's voice was gentle, like a spring breeze that blew away the gloom in Zhang Wu's heart.

"Well, you can't sleep either?"

Huang Ying stood up slightly and rested her head on Zhang Wu's chest: "I get a little scared when I think about the flood. Fortunately, Shi Wei said that there will be no flood here."

Zhang Wu gently patted her back and said, "Master said the flood will not come, so it will definitely not come. I am just worried about Brother Dahai and the others. They have been out buying food for so long and have not come back. I don't know how they are doing. I heard from the village chief two days ago that many families in the village who have no food have gone to the mountains to dig tree bark and find wild vegetables to eat."

"When we were fleeing famine, we also ate tree bark. In this year, we are lucky to find food. Although we have food, it was given by Shi Wei. To put it bluntly, we are all supported by Shi Wei now. Don't even think about giving food to others."

Zhang Wu was originally in a heavy mood, but now he didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "I'm not a kind person. Besides, if I really send food to others, the master will directly kick me out. Fortunately, I followed the master in the first place, otherwise I wouldn't have the good life now."

This is true. If Song Shiwei had not accepted Zhang Wu, Zhang Wu might still be in the capital. Not to mention the natural disasters he experienced later, even the fireball explosion in the capital would have been a question whether he could survive safely.

Zhang Wu was extremely glad to follow Song Shiwei.

The two of them talked in low voices, and the night passed quietly.

The moon sets and the stars fade, and the sky is slightly bright.

Feng Ru got up at the early morning and prepared breakfast for the three of them. On other days, Zhang Wu and Huang Ying would have gotten up by now, but Feng Ru had prepared breakfast before the two of them came out, so he trotted to their door and knocked gently.

"Ruer, let's get up."

Feng Ru responded softly, then went back to the kitchen to bring the food to the table.

Not long after the three of them sat down at the table, Song Shiwei also stood up and came in. Ignoring the surprised looks of the three people, he sat down calmly next to the little girl.

"Sister Song, why did you get up so early today?" Feng Ru asked while scooping rice for Song Shiwei.

"I went to bed early last night." After taking a mouthful of hot porridge, Song Shiwei looked at Zhang Wu and said, "Take Huang Ying back to Xiahuang Village later and tell the Huang family about the flood."

"Okay, I'll go after breakfast."

"By the way, find a chance to tell Doctor Xu about the flood."

Although Zhang Wu was confused, he didn't ask any more questions and just nodded in agreement.

After breakfast, Zhang Wu drove out with Huang Ying. Song Shiwei gave him two bags of snacks to take to Yue's house, and then returned to the room.

Feng Ru practiced calligraphy in the main room for a while. When he stopped to rest, he lit a pot of firewood while no one was in the room, and the mist brought into the room by the rain evaporated and dissipated.

Zhang Wu told Huang Changyuan about the flood. Fortunately, the Huang family had enough food and with so many people in the family, they were not afraid of anyone slandering and stealing the food. The two brothers Huang Hai and Huang Ping followed the villagers into the mountains to dig wild vegetables in the past two days, so no one guessed that the Huang family still had so much food.

After leaving Huang's house, Zhang Wu drove to Xu Shihe's house and told him about the Fucheng River bursting its dike.

As expected, Xu Shihe's face instantly turned ugly when he heard about the flood. Xu Jingren next to him also thought about the plague and his expression also looked unhappy.

Zhang Wu also learned about the plague from the two of them. He suddenly remembered that Song Shiwei seemed to have mentioned it before, and his eyes were filled with worry.

"Fortunately, we collected a lot of herbs before, and the village often sent them to us. We still have a lot of herbs here. The difficulty is that the plague is difficult to treat. Now it is like this, and we can't gather people together. If the plague really breaks out, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to stay out of it."

Zhang Wu thought of something after hearing this, and after a moment's hesitation, he asked, "Doctor Xu, is it possible to prescribe some herbs to prevent the plague? I was thinking that since the plague is inevitable, can we prescribe some medicine to drink before the plague occurs?"

Xu Jingren's eyes lit up: "Master, I think what he said makes sense. We can prepare the medicine in advance for everyone to drink. When the plague occurs, at least it will be safer than others."

"You can't think of it, so I can't think of it. Throughout history, there is no prescription to prevent the plague. I have been practicing medicine for many years and have only treated patients with the plague. How can there be a prescription to prevent the plague in advance? Sigh."

The light in Xu Jingren's eyes dimmed instantly.

Zhang Wu also left with disappointment.

After returning home, Zhang Wu told Song Shiwei what he had said to Xu Shihe, and finally added: "Doctor Xu plans to try to develop a prescription before the plague breaks out."

"Doctor Xu is a highly skilled doctor. As long as he has this idea, there is a high chance of success. Don't go out during this period. Ru'er, sew some masks at home in the next few days. Wear them if you have to go out. It can also play a preventive role."

Feng Ru nodded repeatedly, rubbing his hands together, ready to get to work.

Huang Ying felt uneasy, so she sewed a mask with Feng Ru. Then she asked Song Shiwei about the style of the mask. She had an idea in mind and quickly sewed one.

Not only a face mask, Huang Ying also sewed a mask according to Song Shiwei's method, which serves as double protection.

With things to do, he had no time to think about random things. The atmosphere in the main room was no longer heavy, except for Zhang Wu who was still worried.

Song Shiwei saw it, shook his head and ignored him.

Zhou Huai placed people around the Fucheng River. As soon as the Fucheng River broke its banks, Zhou Huai received the news and sat in the study for a long time holding the letter.

This day has finally come.

Other noble families also received news of floods hitting the city one after another, and they were all filled with fear.

The news of the flood spread to all the surrounding villages within a day. The people who had moved out of the city had previously blamed their superiors for forcing them to live in the countryside, where they had to squeeze in so tightly that they could barely turn around. But now that they learned about the flood, they were only grateful to the Zhending prefect and others.

"Sir, Miss Qianxue and Young Master Shen Yan are here and are waiting for you in the front hall," Li An came in from outside.

Zhou Huai stood up and handed the letter to Zhang Wu: "Have someone deliver it to the military camp as fast as possible."

"Yes."