Ancient natural disasters: The whole family traveled through time and was almost wiped out

Chapter 164

"what--"

Jiang Xiaomi fell straight onto the kang.

She confirmed that cleaning is the most tiring exercise, no doubt about it, even more tiring than beating sandbags for three days.

"Don't lie down, girl."

Jiang Yipei patted her leg that was stretched out on the kang: "You have a place to sleep now, but my room is still empty! When it gets dark——"

Jiang Xiaomi turned over and said, "Turn on the light when it gets dark."

The lamp was lit, but was immediately blown out halfway by Old Master Jiang: "It can barely illuminate. Just use some light. Don't waste the lamp oil."

Jiang Xiaomi: “…”

If I had known I would not have been lazy and stolen that moment. It was pitch black. We were clearly in our own home, but we felt like thieves. The wind was howling and it was freezing cold. A group of people, with their necks hunched, hands in their pockets, looked shabby. Ah, no, we were going to steal a house in a grand manner. Ugh, we were going to move.

"It's all here, go down and move it."

Jiang Yipei asked someone to open an inconspicuous small cellar in the backyard.

In fact, there are many such cellars in Jiang’s house, mainly for storing things that are inconvenient to take away. The things of other people in Jiangjia Village are concentrated in one of the cellars.

——This is not a simple cellar. It is a cellar that will not get flooded. In order to make it waterproof, Jiang Yipei and Jiang Xiumian have put a lot of effort into it.

The entrance to the cellar was sealed tightly with stones, so no water could get in. Even if the things inside were not just put in, they were all dry.

The tables, chairs and benches that Jiang Xiaomi had just put in were not damp at all, so Jiang Yipei asked everyone to take them back to the guest house and decorate them.

Especially the bed.

Although every room in Lao Jiang's house has a kang, it is impossible to get all the villagers to sleep on it, with more than 600 people!

This means some people have to sleep on the kang and some have to sleep on the bed.

The beds in Lao Jiang's family are all made of good wood, each one is coated with tung oil, and can be disassembled into several parts for easy transportation.

"Slow down, slow down, slow down!!"

During the moving process, Jiang Lizheng did not feel cold. He stood at the entrance of the cellar like a groundhog, turning around with his crutch, constantly reminding the people who were moving things when to change positions.

This bed is expensive. If it gets bumped or scratched, it’s all money!

Old Master Jiang loves Jiang Yipei's family's money as much as he loves his own family's.

All the beds in Old Jiang's house have been moved, and with those for the servants, it's a large number, but there's not enough room to sleep!

The servants' kangs were all occupied.

In the master's yard, except for the rooms of Jiang Lizheng and his wife and the three brothers and their wives of the old Jiang family, all the rooms of others, even the kangs of Jiang Xiaomi, Jiang Xiumian, and Jiang Xiubin, were requisitioned and filled with children.

The weather is cold and I’m afraid the children can’t bear it. Besides, Jiang Xiaomi’s and their family’s kang is not suitable for anyone except children.

Jiang Xiaomi was fine, but Jiang Xiumian was about to collapse. These kids were so noisy. They even called him "uncle" and danced on him.

So Jiang Xiubai was pulled over again to take care of the child.

The leader of the children was taking care of the children, and Jiang Xiumian immediately regretted his decision. It was so noisy!

It's even noisier!

He huddled in the corner with the quilt covering his face, but after a while, he opened it again.

heat.

The kang was not damaged by the water and it was still as powerful as ever.

Coupled with the heated atmosphere, at this moment, Jiang Xiumian's desire to sleep with his parents reached its peak, even though he was already a grown man of almost fifty years old in his two lifetimes combined.

In other rooms, after "simple" eating the meal prepared by the fat chef, they simply washed themselves and changed their clothes in order not to dirty "the precious bed in the eyes of Old Master Jiang" before they lay down on the bed or kang one by one.

——If this were their own home, they might not have washed. Today, they are so tired physically and mentally that they don’t want to move.

The wooden bed is next to the kang. Taking advantage of the warmth, I put old bedding on it and covered it with a new quilt. It is warm and cozy, more comfortable than sleeping on the kang!

This time, the pregnant women were given preferential treatment and were assigned to a less crowded kang, which made Jiang the tailor's wife satisfied.

We were all people who had slept in a dormitory before, so it didn't take us long to adapt to such a group living environment. Besides, wasn't the big brick and tile house much better than that dank cave? !

"The big blue brick house is so nice. I...in the future...if...huhuhu——"

It was the first time I slept in such a nice room, and I fell asleep before I had time to express my feelings.

"Good morning, Fat Chef. What do you want to eat in the morning?" The next morning, everyone got up early. Although they didn't sleep long, they were full of energy because they slept well last night.

"White porridge, pickles, and black-faced steamed buns." The fat chef sounded listless, and his signature smile had disappeared.

tired.

They get up early, so he has to get up even earlier. Poor him, he still has to make breakfast. If there weren't a dozen equally miserable people helping him, he wouldn't want to do it. It's really too tiring, with more than 600 people!

He missed the days when all he had to do was serve the master and the old lady.

Back then he——

Forget it, let’s not talk about the past. He just knew that his belly had become smaller and he was not as plump as before.

The fat chef shed a handful of sad tears. Today's black-faced steamed buns seemed to have a hint of bitterness, but the people in Jiangjia Village did not notice it when they tasted it. They felt that it was their own bitterness.

After breakfast, Jiang Xiaomi and her family were left at home to look after the children. A group of little kids were calling each other brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, and great-uncle and great-aunt. The generations were so confusing that it was hard to cope with them.

To be honest, after being in ancient times for such a long time, Jiang Xiaomi still hasn't figured out the generational relationship network of Jiangjia Village. When she calls people, she calls them randomly. Today she calls him uncle, and tomorrow he calls him great-uncle. She just calls them casually.

Some people have to go to Yunling Mountain to transport the remaining supplies today, while the others, one by one, want to go back to their homes to check on them.

No matter what your home has become, you have to go back and take a look.

However, Lao Jiang’s house was built so well that large pieces of tiles had been blown off from several rooms. They simply couldn’t imagine what their own house would become, especially one that had already collapsed.

Jiang Quezi looked at his ruined home from afar and couldn't help crying again.

"Grandpa..." Jiang Changhe supported Jiang Quezi and tried hard to hold back his tears, but tears still flowed down.

No matter how dilapidated a house is, it is still a home!

"Uncle, don't worry, it can be rebuilt." Jiang Yipei comforted him, but this consolation seemed a little pale.

They stood at the doorstep, some crying, some sighing - Jiang Yipei was afraid of collapse, so he told them not to enter the house without permission.

Standing at the door crying, having a home but unable to go back, how pitiful and what a sin!

I don’t know if it was the original owner’s deep-rooted familism that was at work, but looking at the crying fellow villagers, he just wanted to wave his hand and say – build it, I’ll build it all for you!

In fact, building a house is really simple for Jiang Yipei, especially building a mud brick house, which requires no technical skills at all. However, it has collapsed already, so why build a mud brick house again?

Let’s discuss this later.

The most urgent task is to determine the extent of damage to the houses and which ones can be repaired and made habitable.

Although the Jiang family’s mansion is very nice, it is not their home. If possible, they still hope to live in their own home.

"Brother Pei, can you take a look at my house? Is it still habitable?"

Jiang Yipei was in charge of the Workers Department.

What is the Ministry of Industry? It is in charge of civil engineering, water conservancy engineering, and machinery manufacturing engineering - such as the manufacture of military weapons, munitions, and military equipment.

It is also responsible for the management of state-run industries such as mining, metallurgy, and textiles. In addition, it is also responsible for the construction of royal mausoleums, urban construction and maintenance, etc.

But the people in Jiangjia Village didn’t understand. However, they knew that what Jiang Yipei did was related to building houses. He knew about building houses, so it would be right to ask him.

"Don't worry, don't worry. Let's take a look first. Whether to repair or rebuild, we need a plan."

Dilapidated houses are dangerous. In order to ensure safety, besides Jiang Yipei, only two bricklayers in the village can enter the house to check.

At last count, five old houses had collapsed, and fifteen houses were half-collapsed. None of the thatch or tiles on the roof had been blown away.

In other words, all houses need to be repaired, it’s just a matter of major or minor repairs.

A hemp rope will break only at the thinnest part. The five collapsed houses belonged to five poor families in the village. They were poor and had never separated their family property. Now their only home has collapsed. Alas.

Most of the houses can be lived in after some repairs, but the fifteen that are about to collapse are relatively troublesome to repair. First, the roofs have to be removed because there are tiles on them, and it would be hard to bear to break them all. But you can't just climb onto the roofs of dilapidated houses, so you have to think of a way.

The two Jiang brothers, the bricklayers, first arranged for people to start making minor repairs on the house.

During the slack season in the village, some people would go out to work with the two brothers. They knew who was a novice and who was an experienced worker.

Compared with Jiangjia Village, the unfortunate Jiajia Village couldn't even cry. They followed County Magistrate Chen and went down the mountain ahead of Jiangjia Village. When they returned to the village, they saw that most of the houses in their village had collapsed. They cried so hard that they almost fainted.

After finally cleaning up the remaining parts of the house, they thought they could have a good sleep at night. However, in the middle of the night, they saw the roof collapse without any warning, killing two people. Village Chief Jia was so upset that he almost died with the roof.

When County Magistrate Chen returned to the county town and walked on the bustling streets, he could no longer hear the hawkers' cries. Wherever he passed, wherever he saw, he saw only white foreigners and crying sounds.

The residents of the county town returned to the city earlier than County Magistrate Chen and his men. It was obvious that all the families had escaped together, but some people would never come back.

As soon as he returned to the county government office, County Magistrate Chen cleaned up the study and began to work. He started to write the "Luoshui County Post-Disaster Reconstruction Plan", which he and Jiang Yipei had discussed on Yunling Mountain.

Speaking of Jiang Yipei, County Magistrate Chen recalled that before he went down the mountain that day, he repeatedly warned Jiang Yipei not to forget their agreement and to come to the county town to find him after he settled down. However, Jiang Yipei's attitude of just smiling and saying nothing made him feel melancholy.

If Jiang Yipei knew what County Magistrate Chen was thinking, he would be speechless. He was so sad. You big-headed ghost said that we would be honest with each other, but today you haven't even taken off your coat and haven't mentioned a word. I don't know whether County Magistrate Chen forgot or just didn't want to say it at all.

Even so, what kind of attitude do you still want to have?

Tsk, is this guy's intention to form an alliance not sincere?

The people of Jiangjia Village were sad about the collapsed houses, and County Magistrate Chen was worried about the post-disaster reconstruction. They both felt that what was happening to them was already a big deal.

However, other prefectures and counties have undergone earth-shaking changes. Not to mention those far away, just take Qingzhou County next door as an example. There are no houses and no food.

As soon as the flood receded, the hungry and emaciated Governor Wen and County Magistrate Ming could not wait to go down the mountain with their men. They had almost no luggage and were empty-handed.

However, when Governor Wen returned to the governor's office, which had been formerly majestic and solemn but was now in a mess, he immediately discovered obvious signs of disturbance.

In fact, not only the front hall of the government office was ransacked, but the entire governor's mansion was turned upside down. Even the account books that Governor Wen had hidden in the secret compartment and had no time to take away were turned out.

No one cared about such a useless thing and it was just thrown on the ground carelessly. No one knew who stepped on the cover, leaving a big footprint. The words on the cover were blurred by water and could not be seen clearly.

Even the government warehouse that had been locked tightly when people left had been violently pried open, and there were large signs of vandalism inside. It was obvious that the people who broke in did not find what they wanted, so they smashed things to vent their anger!

"Troublemakers! They are all troublemakers!"

Governor Wen rushed over and picked up the account book, shaking with anger. In all his years, he had never seen anyone dare to act so brazenly and recklessly in his territory.

He cursed and pointed at Magistrate Ming: "Go, go to the homes of these unruly people. They even dared to force their way into the governor's mansion. They are simply courting death!"

With just two sentences, the crime of trespassing into the government office was pinned on the heads of nearby residents. As for why they went into the residents' homes, it was naturally to search for food!

The governor also needs to eat!

Especially the governor who was barely surviving due to hunger and fullness.

County Magistrate Ming no longer wanted to recall how hard the days in the mountains were in the past few months. He only knew that the damn flood did a really good thing - dozens of bags of grain came rushing down from nowhere!

Dozens of bags of food!

At that time, the team sent out by Governor Wen to look for food had not had any harvest for five days, and Governor Wen had been out of food for two days. Just when he was so hungry that his eyes turned green and he wanted to eat someone, dozens of bags of food rushed in!

Who knows the gold content of these dozens of bags of grain?

It was like a life-saving talisman, saving Governor Wen and them as well.

But this food that has been soaked in water for who knows how long is really not a good thing. It is very moldy. Even if the chef handles it well, it still has a musty smell. Moreover, many people will have diarrhea after eating it.

However, one has to choose between starving to death and having bad food and diarrhea.

It is conceivable how furious Governor Wen must have been at this time.

But what he hated most was not these insignificant little people who could be crushed to death with just a flick of his finger. What he hated most was County Magistrate Chen, for not sending him any food yet.

It was all because of him that he was in such a mess during this period. It was a shame for his whole life.

He didn't know that County Magistrate Chen had deliberately not delivered the food. He was extremely angry at County Magistrate Chen's incompetence. After such a long time, he didn't even have the ability to deliver food. How could he be a county magistrate!