Traveling through ancient times, storing supplies and not fleeing famine

As time goes by, the drought has reached a white-hot stage.

As the drought continued, the fields had already cracked and the rivers had dried up into sand.

The wells in many villages have long been out of water, so they rely on the rivers outside, without the one or two water sources in the nearby mountains to sustain their lives.

Unexpectedly, the final source of water for their lives also abandoned them.

The vitality of the village gradually disappeared.

The people were filled with despair.

Food reserves were quickly depleted, and hunger and thirst began to wreak havoc on everyone.

Many people have had to take extreme measures to survive.

Unlike in the beginning, the villagers just complained and prayed in private.

Hopefully it will rain soon.

But as time went on, their patience and faith wore thin.

I am even more disheartened by the inaction of the imperial court.

In this disaster year, the imperial court not only did not provide relief, but also repeatedly increased taxes, conscripted soldiers, and collected grain.

But what's the point of recruiting more soldiers? They were still defeated by General Yuwen in the northwest.

At this time, not only the imperial court could not take care of the common people, but even the local officials would not be so dedicated and conscientious.

Magistrate Guo of Ping'an County could originally do some practical work, but ever since he made a contribution in winter, for some reason he no longer thought about promotion. Instead, he submitted his resignation to the court and left Ping'an County.

Now everything in Ping'an County is managed by the former county magistrate.

However, this county magistrate is not a capable person.

Those wealthy merchants refused to supply food for the porridge, and the porridge stalls outside the county town had to stop operating.

The city was in even greater chaos.

More and more people are choosing to steal because food prices are too high.

Many people have already started robbing openly.

The officers and soldiers of the county government gradually became lax because they had no one to lead them.

Do you also take care of the thefts and robberies in the county?

Families with a little more money wanted to leave Ping'an County with their belongings.

In such a tense atmosphere, a small spark is enough to trigger a large-scale riot.

One day, a wealthy businessman was preparing to leave this place with his family and all his wealth.

But as soon as they walked out of the city gate, they were surrounded by most of the victims.

The victims first looked at the wealthy businessman's convoy with eager eyes.

In order to escort their master away as quickly as possible, the rich businessman's guards whipped the surrounding victims with whips and pulled out knives to intimidate everyone.

But when they drew their knives, a large number of victims rushed up to them as if they were risking their lives.

Some people robbed money, some people robbed food.

No matter how many guards the rich businessman had, they were no match for the hundreds of disaster victims.

Things have been snatched away bit by bit.

Some, when there was nothing left to rob, set their sights on the women in the carriages.

In the end, the wealthy businessman and his family guards died tragically at the gate of Ping'an County.

And his family has long disappeared.

There was no one to stop the riot. When it finally ended, all that was left on the road were dismantled carriages and corpses scattered on the ground.

This is just a small episode.

Perhaps the victims tasted success and people from other areas followed suit.

They robbed and killed at will, and some even ignored the officers and soldiers!

The imperial court attempted to quell the unrest by sending troops into the affected areas.

But those troops were all fighting with General Yuwen in the northwest, and they had no manpower to spare.

Even if some troops were transferred from the nearest state capital, they would not be able to suppress such a large-scale riot.

The riots lasted for months, plunging the country into chaos.

Both the city and the villages suffered severe damage.

Countless people have been displaced and are living in extreme hardship.

Many disaster victims not only rebelled against the government, but also burned, killed and looted the surrounding villagers like the bandits of the past.

The longer the time went on, the more bloodthirsty the look in their eyes became.

Kaoshan Village was besieged several times in succession, but under the leadership of Xia Shengsheng, the entire Kaoshan Village was like a solid wall of steel, even more difficult to attack than the city.

These disaster victims saw that they could not get any benefits, and they felt that no matter how well a village was protected, how much food could it have?

If you have the energy, you might as well rob more people in the town and county!

So after several sieges, Kaoshan Village suddenly quieted down.

But other villages are not as lucky as Kaoshan Village.

Although many villages followed the example of Kaoshan Village and organized a lot of people to resist foreign enemies.

But firstly, their city walls were not that strong, and secondly, there was no one who knew about the war to help command, and because they were outnumbered, most of the villages were robbed.

Moreover, many villagers were brutally killed by the victims when they tried to stop them.

This is even more serious than the bandits who robbed the village in the past.

After experiencing blow after blow, no one sees any hope of survival anymore.

Many people also joined the ranks of disaster victims because they had no food or water.

Follow along and rob others.

There were also some people who did not want to be part of this mob, so they took their families and began to flee the famine.

Many of the villagers in Kaoshan Village have relatives from the surrounding areas.

Because such a big change happened around them, some people had no choice but to break the rules and bring their relatives over.

No one can stop this.

After all, who doesn’t have relatives?

Even Village Chief Ma, his two daughters-in-law's parents' homes are not far away. After this blow, both families were hit hard.

The people in the family were either dead or injured, and could no longer withstand any more torture.

The two daughters could not bear to watch their family members die in front of them, so they could only beg Village Chief Ma to bring the remaining relatives to Kaoshan Village.

Village Chief Ma had no choice, it was impossible for him to be so cruel.

Both daughters-in-law have been married to their family for more than ten years. Do they have to watch their relatives die outside the Kaoshan Village?

So the villagers gathered together to discuss it, and after everyone agreed.

Each household brought all the relatives who could be brought to Kaoshan Village.

But the water level in the well has dropped rapidly due to the drought.

The amount of water allocated to each household now is not enough even for cooking.

So it was agreed in advance that no matter how many people came in, the water from the wells in the village and contributed by Xia Shengsheng's family would only be supplied to the people in the village for drinking.

According to the previous shares, how much should be distributed every day?

If the adopted relatives need water, the family has to give their own water to them and cannot rely on the village well for more water.

The most important thing is that anyone who comes to stay in Kaoshan Village temporarily must patrol with the villagers as long as their health allows and they are old enough.

If there is another attack on the village, no one can be a coward.

If any family or household becomes a coward and does not join the villagers in the struggle, they will have to leave the village.

Kaoshan Village does not allow people with different values ​​to stay.

The villagers all agreed to these requests.

The same goes for Xia Shengsheng!!