Traveling through troubled times to escape famine and cultivate crops as a grain merchant

The crowd was immediately divided into two groups. There were originally 72 households in the team, 44 of which were going to the capital, and only 28 households were left to the north. Most of those who followed were from poor families, with few strong laborers and not much food. Some of them had even had everything robbed, not even a grain of food left.

Everyone thought, if they followed the headman, he couldn’t just watch them starve to death, right?

The head of the village was overwhelmed when he saw these people. How was he supposed to take them to the north?

There were not many able-bodied laborers, and they all followed him to the capital.

Zhou Guo saw this and couldn't help but sigh. Just like their family, there were all women, children and the elderly. It was a long journey north and they didn't know what hardships they would encounter on the way.

It only took the group half an hour to discuss and pack up their things.

After walking together for more than two hours, they came to a fork in the road and the team split into two, one heading east and the other heading north.

We have lived in the same village for so many years and have shared hardships together for so long, and now we suddenly have to separate. I am afraid we will never see each other again in this life. Everyone's eyes were red and they were choked with sobs.

"Hey, that's enough, let's go quickly. The people behind us might catch up with us at any time. I don't want to be robbed again." Zheng Xiucai urged impatiently. Those people were no different from bandits. They did all kinds of evil things, including robbing and killing people. If they robbed the child, they might even eat human flesh! !

As the two sides separated, the team heading north suddenly became much smaller, and the original team of over a thousand people was reduced to only about two hundred people.

After walking silently for more than an hour, everyone's pace became slower and slower. They had not rested the whole night and had encountered such a dangerous thing early in the morning. They were scared out of their wits. Now that they were away from people, fatigue surged up like a tide. They were tired and hungry.

Everyone in the Zhou family couldn't stand it anymore. Zhou Guo pushed the cart and walked slowly with heavy steps. Everything else was fine except the blisters on her feet, which were rubbing her feet so hard that it hurt excruciatingly.

As soon as the headman called for a break, she couldn't wait to sit down, took off her straw sandals and threw them aside, then lay back, crossed her legs, closed her eyes, and started snoring the next second.

Mrs. Li felt so distressed when she saw that she fell asleep in the blink of an eye. The child had been pushing the cart for the whole morning and had not eaten anything. She had not slept a wink since last night. She was probably exhausted. She was only eight years old, and it seemed that the burden of the whole family was about to fall on her shoulders.

Her eyes were reddened silently. She lifted up her daughter's feet and looked at them. She saw the blisters on her feet, some old and some new, some that had broken and formed again, grinding the flesh to pieces.

Tears suddenly flowed down. When this child was stupid, his feet were white and tender, without even a callus. I don’t know what a blessing it is that he has recovered from this illness.

She took out a needle and pricked the blood blisters. She looked around and found that there was not even a green leaf on the ground. She had no choice but to tear some cloth and wrap it up.

From beginning to end, Zhou Guo didn't even frown, which shows how tired he was.

Huang came over to take a look, touched her hair, sighed, and said softly to Li: "I used to hope for the child to get better every year. Now that he is really better, it seems that it would be better for him to be stupid and know nothing. It's not good to be too sensible. It's exhausting!"

Li wiped her tears and said with a smile, "Mom, don't worry, this child is very lucky."

"That's true. She is a blessed person. It's good to be blessed. She will have food to eat, clothes to wear, money to spend, and will not get sick in this life." Huang nodded. She said her granddaughter was blessed and would definitely be able to lead them to the north safely.

She didn't want to stay anywhere now, so she went to the north to see what kind of people there were. How could her family survive without water or food?

Two bags of food were taken away from the car, leaving only one bag of dried wild vegetables. One of the two buckets of water was taken away, leaving only half an empty bucket.

I still had fried noodles for lunch.

Li scooped out the fried noodles, looked at the remaining amount, and estimated that it would be enough for the family to eat for three or four days. After they were finished, they would only be able to eat wheat rice.

Because we didn’t eat breakfast, we increased the amount at noon so no one had more than half a bowl.

Everyone enjoyed the meal with gusto, along with the dried wild vegetables.

The families whose food was looted had even their baskets and shoulder poles taken away. They were left with nothing but to watch.

The neighbors gave some to us, and it was just enough to make ends meet.

Huang scooped a few bowls of fried noodles and took out a bag of dried wild vegetables. These would last for a while.

Mrs. Xu was a little unhappy. They were already struggling at home, how could they give food to others? But seeing that those people had no food left, she couldn't bear not to give them some. She could only turn around, turn her back to them, and pretend that she didn't see it.

Zhou Deli didn't say anything. Since they were going to the north together, they had to help each other. More people meant more courage. Otherwise, these people would starve to death or leave halfway. Without so many people, the team would lose its deterrent power.

When Zhou Guo woke up again, everyone was asleep except her brother Zhou Mai. When he saw her wake up, he pointed to the covered bowl beside him, indicating that it was the rice left for her. Then he fell down, closed his eyes and fell asleep. It seemed like he was just forcing himself.

Yes, the people who were previously assigned to be on duty have left, and they haven't been re-divided into teams yet, so everyone has to take care of their own things.

She ate while thinking, remembering that they had clearly sent people to guard the place before, but when people swarmed in, they were still caught off guard, several people were killed, and so many things were stolen.

If this happens again, will someone among them die or have their things stolen again?

The current team is different from the previous one. At that time, there were thousands of people, and a few ordinary victims did not dare to step forward. Now there are only so many people, and most of them are women, children, the elderly and the young. Only a few dozen strong men dare to step forward.

It seems that having people on duty is not enough. We also have to organize a team of young and strong people to protect women, children, the elderly, food and property in the innermost part, so as to minimize the losses.

I have to discuss this matter with my uncle, and let him find the head of the village to work out a set of rules.

Zhou Da Cang woke up bleary-eyed and was pulled aside by his niece. After listening to her mumbling, his sleepiness disappeared completely. "Is this feasible? It's so dangerous. You might even lose your life. Are these people willing to do this?"

Zhou Guo said, "You have to agree even if you don't want to. If this person doesn't come out, the whole family might lose their lives. The lesson we learned this morning is right in front of us. We can't let these people be unwilling."

Zhou Dacang was silent for a while, then nodded heavily, "Okay, I'll go find the head of the village, you wait for me."

Zhou Deli saw his youngest son leave in a hurry like a gust of wind, and then looked at his little granddaughter, who was sitting there motionless. The two of them whispered for a long time and no one knew what they discussed. It must not be something bad, so he closed his eyes again. He felt at ease even if he left now. He felt relieved to have two such people taking care of the family.