The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 157 Refugees
Yue Wenxuan escorted Ji Menghan and the others all the way to the outskirts of Jiaoshui County. They didn't leave until they could see the city wall. He then left and headed west to continue his work as a beggar in the Jin-occupied territory. Su Qi'er didn't mind having his head shaved anyway. Even if the Jin people caught him and forced him to have his hair shaved, he wouldn't hesitate. He could just pull his messy hair upwards to reveal his already bald forehead.

Ji Menghan, Zhang Yuanwai, and a large group of farmers who met up on the road, carrying their elderly and children, walked to the foot of Jiaoshui County.

They were still a little panicked and worried whether this place could accept them.

When two armies are fighting, cities near the front line are often reluctant to accept refugees because it is easy for enemy spies to infiltrate the refugees.

Ji Menghan himself didn't dare to pat his chest and guarantee that there were no spies in his team.

What if among those peasants who joined the army along the way there were Han spies who had surrendered to the Jin? Who could say for sure?
They walked to the city gate nervously...

Before he could say anything, he saw the guard at the city gate waving his hand, and then the capstan on the top of the city wall turned, and the gate slowly opened.

Ji Menghan was shocked: "Oh, just let us in directly?"

The gatekeeper shouted, "What are you doing? Come in."

Ji Menghan cleared his throat and said, "Master, why don't you check and ask us if we are spies?"

The gatekeeper laughed, "What's the point of finding out? If they were truly spies, wouldn't it be easy for them to produce a land deed? Jin officials will forge them. On the other hand, genuine refugees are likely to be unable to produce any proof of identity and be stuck outside, unable to enter."

Ji Menghan thought about it carefully and realized that this was indeed the case.

Ordinary civilians might have lost any identification documents when fleeing, but spies were different. They were completely prepared, lacking nothing. With most of Shandong in the hands of the Jin thieves and officials at all levels surrendering en masse, spies needed a complete set of identification documents. Nothing too simple, guaranteed to be legitimate and issued by the "Song Dynasty government," with no flaws to be found.

The gatekeeper said, "The Master said that if any spies dare to come, just come. He is watching from above."

Ji Menghan: “???”

Can't understand!
He didn't dare ask any more questions since he didn't understand. He led the scholars into the city, then immediately produced a jade pendant and handed it to the city guard. "General, I'd like to inquire about something. A few days ago, did a group of people from Changyi who looked like wealthy gentry arrive? The leader's surname was Ji."

The little fat man also popped his head out: "There's also a fat country gentleman named Li."

The city guard happily collected the jade pendant and pointed to the side. "Go this way. You won't be far away when you see a camp. That's the 'Immigrant Camp' designated by the True Lord himself. It's specifically responsible for receiving people from Changyi County. The person you're looking for should be there."

In fact, it should be called "refugee camp", but Yue Wenxuan used "relocation" because he thought the word "difficult" sounded bad.

Ji Menghan and his group were overjoyed and hurried towards that place.

The city guard chuckled: "Even if he didn't give me anything, I would have told him. He even gave me a piece of jade. I made a fortune."

The soldiers guarding the city nearby all laughed: "Anyone who sees it gets a share."

This was a team of two, as close as a family. The soldier guarding the city said with a smile, "I'll save it. We can sell the jade later and split the money."

Yue Wenxuan, watching this from outside the sandbox, couldn't help but shake his head, thinking: Bribery in the military needs to be cracked down on in the future, otherwise it's easy to expose corruption. Today, this squad of city guards simply collected a "passenger fee," which wasn't a big deal; we could just ignore them. But if we don't establish a system to prevent this, the fees they collect will continue to increase, and it might eventually turn from "passenger fees" into "life-saving money."

Ji Menghan and his group followed the instructions of the city guards and walked a short distance before they saw a huge camp in front of them.

The camp took up an entire city block!
This block was originally empty...

Last year, when the Jin bandits arrived, Jiaoshui County suffered heavy casualties. Several blocks were emptied of their bodies, leaving two blocks in the county town like a ghost town, filled with empty, dilapidated wooden houses. At night, when the cold wind blew through, the window frames hummed, a terrifying sight. But these past few days, all those empty houses have been put to good use. Tents have been set up in the open spaces between the blocks, and soup kitchens have been set up at the street corners.

Ji Menghan and his group were already tired and hungry. When they arrived at the soup kitchen, the farmers in the team cheered, took out broken bowls from their packages, and rushed towards the soup kitchen.

But scholars cannot do such things. After reading the books of sages and wearing long gowns, they are particularly concerned about their reputation.

When it comes to face, I would rather die than surrender; I can give up all the money and power.

The scholars' stomachs were clearly rumbling, but after taking one look at the soup kitchen, they resolutely refused to go near it.

Just as I was struggling with this, I saw a shop on the roadside open its door. People on the street rushed over and said, "The grain shop is open, go buy some rice."

Ji Menghan asked curiously, "Does the grain store here still have grain for sale? How much grain will be needed for so many refugees? Can the grain merchants in Jiaoshui County handle it?"

The little fat man also whispered: "It's really strange."

Entering the grain shop would not hurt their reputation, so the scholars hurried over to the grain shop.

However, they saw rebel soldiers guarding the door of the grain shop in distinctive armor. It was obvious that this was a "government-run" grain shop. The person sitting in the grain shop supervising the sale of grain was actually the chief clerk of Jiaoshui County, who was wearing an official uniform. This uniform was very intimidating to the common people, so that people who came to buy grain lined up obediently, and no one dared to cut in line or make trouble.

Ji Menghan was shocked: "Zhubu, such a high-ranking official, personally came to supervise the sale of grain?"

The little fat man lowered his voice and said, "Brother Ji, have you forgotten? The Song army in Jiaoshui City is actually a bandit army..."

Ji Menghan suddenly realized and whispered, "The chief clerk has been squeezed out by the enemy army and can only do some odd jobs."

In fact, the chief clerk was not excluded by the rebels, but he excluded himself.

The county yamen became Gong Erniang's temporary headquarters. As a legitimate official of the Song Dynasty, the chief clerk didn't want to get too close to a group of thieves, nor did he want to get too close to "a prince who was tantamount to rebellion," fearing that the court would punish him later. So he simply excluded himself from the yamen and spent his days wandering around the city, looking for something to do to maintain his official reputation.

"Supervising the sale of grain" is something that is very helpful to the official's reputation, so he came here.

Ji Menghan and his group were considering whether to buy some food and borrow a pot to cook, when they suddenly heard a woman's voice: "Young Master, Young Master."

Ji Menghan turned her head and saw that it was her mother's maid.

Ji Menghan was overjoyed. She had finally found her family.

The other scholars were also happy, as their families must have run away with the Ji family.

Sure enough, the Ji family's maid was followed by the fat boy's maid, as well as servants from various scholars' homes. They all came to buy rice. Everyone hurriedly bought the rice as quickly as possible, and then followed the servants' instructions, wandering around in the "immigration camp" and came to a dilapidated house.

All the parents are here and are having a meeting.

The scholars were overjoyed and rushed forward with a flurry of "Dad, Mom, Big Brother" and other nonsense, omitting 100 million words...

(End of this chapter)