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

Shen Xian said with a smile: "Since it's given to you, then accept it. I guess you thought that the wild boar was hunted by your elder brother and Xie An, and it's not good to eat it all by yourself."

Shen Qianxue nodded in agreement, and while no one was paying attention, she asked her eldest brother to shield her, and then took out three plates of braised meat and a jar of strong liquor from the space.

Xie Hong smiled so hard when he saw the wine that he immediately hugged her in his arms, as if he was afraid that someone would snatch it away. He kept praising her: "It's said that girls are thoughtful. Look at little Xue, how thoughtful she is. She knew that Uncle Xie was craving for wine, so she brought it to me."

Xie An looked helpless: "Father, mother told you to drink less. You still have hidden injuries. Drinking too much will harm your body."

Xie Hong waved his hand: "Go away, go away. I know what's going on. It just so happens that Xue girl is here. You guys can go and talk. I'll have a drink and chat with your uncle Shen."

The three of them were ruthlessly driven away by Xie Hong.

While they were talking, Huang Changyuan had already started boiling water, waiting for the wild boar meat to be put into the pot. Everyone was cleaning up and collecting firewood.

Huang Ping called Huang Hai and asked him to take his men to explore the nearby area while it was still daytime to see if they could find any water source.

The wild boar meat needs to be stewed for a longer time before it is tasty, so only one person is left to watch the fire while the others go about their own business. However, the children in the village still stay by the big pot, swallowing their saliva from time to time, which makes their parents at home feel both distressed and amused.

After the wild boar meat was stewed, Huang Changyuan called everyone over to share the meat. Song Shiwei and Zhang Wu also went, but the meat all went into Zhang Wu's stomach in the end. Song Shiwei really couldn't eat the tasteless wild boar meat.

After eating the wild boar meat, the remaining broth was shared among everyone.

After all, it is rare for ordinary people to have meat throughout the year, let alone the current situation.

After eating the meat, everyone was full of energy. Huang Changyuan knocked on the big pot and asked everyone to pack up and get ready to set off again, trying to reach the provincial capital before nightfall.

Everyone followed Huang Changyuan's arrangements and knew that he was doing it for everyone's good, so no one raised any objections. They quickly packed up their things and continued on their journey.

Normally, it would only take an hour to ride to the city on horseback, but now with families to drag, most people are walking, and it is such a hot summer day, so they can only hope to arrive before nightfall.

This time, Song Shiwei still did not enter the carriage, but drove the carriage outside with Zhang Wu.

Zhang Wu's forehead has been sweating since he started the journey. At this moment, he was persuading Song Shiwei to go into the car to cool off because it was too hot outside.

"Master, you'd better go in. The heat outside is so intense that it's almost burning you. It would be terrible if you get a heat stroke."

Song Shiwei waved his hand: "I see you are too hot, you can go in, I put ice inside, it will be cooler than outside, I can drive the car, you can go in."

He was clearly persuading his master to go to the carriage to cool off, but why did he want to go in himself? Zhang Wu looked helpless, but meeting Song Shiwei's firm gaze, he could only compromise, handed the whip to her, and got into the carriage himself.

"Drink something cold to cool down."

Zhang Wu took the sour plum soup handed to him by his master, drank it in one gulp, and felt refreshed from head to toe. After drinking a sip, he put the water bag on the ice to continue cooling it.

The two of them took turns going into the carriage to rest along the way, and they didn't feel that uncomfortable. However, it was hard for the others. In order to get to the provincial capital as soon as possible, they gritted their teeth and persevered along the way.

Fortunately, they finally arrived at Yingchang Prefecture before dark, and everyone was so excited that they burst into tears when they saw the city gate.

Huang Changyuan banged on the iron pot again, and raised his voice after everyone stopped talking: "It's getting late now, we can't go into the city. I see there are soldiers at the city gate. I'll ask someone to find out. We'll go into the city to buy food tomorrow morning."

Everyone agreed.

Normally the officials could escort the exiles into the city, but when they saw a large group of disaster victims outside the city and it was already late, they would have to resettle them, so after some discussion they decided to enter the city early the next morning.

Huang Ping called Liu Daming and walked towards the city gate with the silver collected from the village. He asked the soldiers guarding the gate and came back with a rather ugly look on his face.

Huang Changyuan's heart skipped a beat, but he still asked, "Did you find out? Can we enter the city?"

Huang Ping glanced at the crowd and nodded, "Yes, we can, but no more than ten people can enter the city at a time, and each person must pay 100 coins to enter the city, otherwise they will not be allowed in. I also asked the official, and he said that Yingchang Prefecture is also short of water now, and we can only buy it with silver. A bucket of water costs two taels of silver, and the grain is also twice as much as before."

The crowd was instantly in an uproar.

"What? Each person has to pay a hundred coins to enter the city? Wasn't it only two coins before?"

"Two taels of silver for a bucket of water? Who can afford this kind of water? This is costing us our lives."

“Food prices have also gone up!”

"This is not giving us a way out. We have finally come here. Who can come up with so much money? What should we do?"

Song Shiwei frowned as he listened to the news Huang Ping brought back. He turned around and saw the Shen family and the eldest branch of the Xie family talking about something together, but Song Shiwei didn't deliberately listen.

Huang Changyuan almost fell to the ground when he heard the sad news, but was quickly caught by Huang Hai. He looked instantly older and full of despair.

"This this……"

Huang Ping said gloomily, "The officials said that the current situation is not good, there is famine everywhere, and there is a lack of water and food everywhere. They are also afraid that if the disaster victims are allowed in, there will be riots and looting, so they set an entry fee. Dad, do you think we can go in tomorrow?"

Huang Changyuan's face was filled with despair. Facing the gazes of the crowd, he nodded heavily and said in a hoarse voice, "We have to go in. We are running out of food. If we don't buy some food, we will starve to death."

Then he turned to face the crowd and said, "Those who want to buy food, bring the money from your home. Tomorrow, we will arrange ten people to go to the city to buy food. We can't not buy water either, but we can buy less. We will send more people to find water sources on the way. I don't believe that God really wants us all to die."

Zhang Wu and Song Shiwei stepped out of the crowd and returned to the carriage. Zhang Wu jumped on his horse and got into the carriage. He took out the gold, silver and jewelry that he had searched from the bandits when he rescued the villagers. He looked at the things without saying a word.

Song Shiwei leaned against the carriage, watching Zhang Wu's actions and understood: "You want to take these things to the village chief."

"I... I just think that the officials in Yingchang Prefecture are too harsh, and it's not easy for those villagers either."

Song Shiwei sneered: "It's easy for anyone these days, Zhang Wu, being too kind is not a good thing. If you want to help others, you should also pay attention to the methods. Think about it carefully."

Zhang Wu held the things and thought for a long time. In the end, he did not give them away. However, he took out a few silver ingots from them and put them on his body, preparing to go into the city to buy some tomorrow.

The master was right. He really shouldn't just give the money away rashly. Maybe the other person would be grateful, but what about the future? Zhang Wu didn't want to have any chances. Even if that chance was just a chance, he didn't want to bring trouble to his master.