Traveling through ancient times, storing supplies and not fleeing famine

This year was not peaceful. I thought the only difference from previous years was the lack of food and clothing, but I didn't expect such a big thing to happen.

But fortunately, at least everyone was safe, and County Magistrate Guo not only brought back the more than 100 bandits in the back mountain, but also led people to clear out many roving bandits.

Let everyone be quiet for a while.

However, even though the threat of bandits was gone, life was not easy for ordinary people.

Because the war situation at the front was intense, those who had been conscripted previously have not sent back any news since they went to the battlefield.

Everyone seemed to have sensed in their hearts that they were in great danger this time.

In addition, most places had no harvest this year, and the family's stored grain had all been requisitioned by the imperial court.

By the time I thought about buying some food, the price had already risen and the food I could buy was greatly discounted.

This has forced everyone to tighten their belts.

They just hope that next year will be a good year, otherwise they might eat all the seeds for next year.

It’s a pity that things did not go as we wished. A thin layer of snow fell in early winter, but it melted quickly and could not moisten the earth.

Later on, there really wasn't any snow. Now the New Year has passed, but the whole mountain is still bare, without even a snowflake to be seen.

After the Chinese New Year and the first month of the year, it will be March in the Gregorian calendar. If there is no rain or snow, it will be impossible to turn the soil even if you want to.

In addition, since it has not rained for a long time, the wells in many villages have dried up and are simply unable to sustain people's lives.

This has also led to many people leaving their hometowns, hoping to find a way out in other places.

But they forget the injustice of this world.

There was drought in the north, floods in the south, and the imperial court was at war with the northwest. Everywhere was suffering from unexpected disasters. How could people live a peaceful life?

As for those who did not leave their homes, some of them started selling their houses and land in order to have enough food and clothing, and used the money from the sales to exchange for food for their family!

What should those who have no property or land do?

These people begged everywhere. Some gathered in the county, and some gathered in the provincial capital. They all wanted to seek food from wealthy families so that they could survive this disaster year safely.

There weren't many wealthy families in Niutou Town, so there weren't a large number of disaster victims gathered there, so the town was relatively peaceful.

But it's different elsewhere.

The victims gathered in the county and the provincial capital were not only people from the surrounding areas, but also some from other towns.

Hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of people gathered in one place without water or food.

It's okay in the short term, but if it lasts for a long time, it may cause even bigger riots.

In order to avoid trouble, the officials refused to allow all the victims to enter the city.

Among them, County Magistrate Guo did something that ordinary people would not dare to do.

He gathered all the wealthy businessmen in the county together and asked them to contribute money and food. He then asked the officers and soldiers in the city to maintain order outside the county.

Several large pots were set up and porridge was distributed to the victims outside the city on a regular basis every day.

Although most of the time they could only get a half-full bowl of rice porridge, it was still much better than their life at home. At least they had a mouthful of porridge to sustain their lives.

This information was obtained by Ma Da and his friends when they went out to sell the jewelry they had seized from the bandits.

They inquired about prices in the county town and the provincial capital, and chose the store that offered the highest price to sell the jewelry.

The total amount of these items was 78 taels. This price was not really high, but in times of chaos, jewelry was the most useless, so being able to sell it for more than 70 taels was considered good.

The prices of grain in both the prefecture and the counties are extremely high.

The price of the cheapest black noodles has increased from three cents to 30 cents!

The same goes for other grains, which have increased by more than ten times.

Ma Da and his men did not dare to make a decision on their own, so they returned to the village with the 70 taels of silver and did not purchase any food.

Xia Shengsheng also stockpiled a lot of black flour and brown rice. His family has always eaten refined grains, even if they mixed some coarse grains, such as cornmeal and millet.

So black noodles and brown rice are of no great use to her.

Xia Shengsheng talked to Village Chief Ma about what would happen if the villagers did not have enough food.

You can buy black flour and brown rice from her at the price of ten cents per catty.

But she only has more than 1000 kilograms of each item, and can only sell this much to everyone.

Whether you want to buy it depends on your decision.

Village chief Ma was even happier about this news than when he knew that their village had made an unexpected fortune.

What does food look like now?

Xia Shengsheng could still sell grain to everyone at last year's price, which was a huge loss.

"Xiao Xia! You are really losing out. If you sell this grain outside, not to mention thirty coins, even if you sell it for twenty-six or twenty-seven coins, there will definitely be a lot of people buying it.

I only sold it to you at the price of ten cents. How much did you lose on these 2000 kilograms of grain?"

"It's okay, Village Chief. When I first stockpiled these grains, the prices were not that high, and I also stockpiled the most grains in the village.

Even if these more than 2000 kilograms of grain were sold to the villagers.

The remaining food should be enough for our family to eat for one or two years.

Now everyone does not have enough food. If you need it, you can come to me to buy it. But once the food is distributed, it will be gone. If you need more, I can't take it out.

After all, we have a big family to feed!"

After hearing what Xia Shengsheng said.

They quickly gathered all the gold and silver together, which totaled more than 160 taels.

Because the medicinal materials used for the injured people were all provided by Doctor Zhao and Xia Shengsheng, they did not need to spend any additional medical expenses.

So Village Chief Ma didn't give them any extra money?

Among them, Xia Shengsheng contributed the most.

Not only Xia Shengsheng himself was the main force, but even the Xia family guards and the Tao family guards were the ones who contributed the most.

So after discussing with everyone, Village Chief Ma gave half of the silver to Xia Shengsheng.

The rest were distributed among the people of the village.

Those who went up the mountain got more. In addition to the people from the Xia family, there were 12 other people who followed them up the mountain, and each of them got one or two taels of silver.

The remaining silver will be divided equally among all the people in the village and those who guard our patrols.

Some families had many people, and those who contributed more could get more than one or two taels of silver, while those with fewer people could also get a few hundred coins.

Xia Shengsheng took more than 80 taels himself.

So, three taels of silver were given to Xia Yi and others, as well as the Tao family guards, out of a total of 15 people.

Wang Si, who had no martial arts skills and did not go up the mountain, got one or two taels of silver.

Although the two little men in the family didn't help much, they at least protected the safety of other people in the family.

Each person also received one or two taels of silver as a reward.

The rest were given to Tao Siyuan, but Tao Siyuan didn't want them.

So, it was a good deal for Xia Shengsheng.