Traveling through ancient times, storing supplies and not fleeing famine

When everyone gathered under the big locust tree.

Looking at the two soldiers in the front, I felt a little nervous.

But because the two soldiers were present, the villagers were unexpectedly quiet and no one whispered to each other, for fear of angering the officials.

The village chief looked around and saw that everyone was present. He said respectfully to the two soldiers beside him:

"Two officers, all the villagers are here. If you have anything to say, please speak now!"

The two officers looked at each other, pushing each other, as if neither of them wanted to speak.

Finally, a bearded soldier stepped forward and spoke slowly.

"There is an order from above. The fighting is intense at the front and casualties are heavy. In order to protect our country, all males of appropriate age in every household must go to the battlefield.

And each family had to pay 20 taels of tax silver to support state affairs.

If you really can’t hand it over, you can, you can…”

It seems like he can't quite put it into words.

Finally, he sighed and continued.

"You can use the women and children in your family to pay off the debt!"

This news was like an atomic bomb, hitting the entire village directly, causing everyone in the village to explode.

"What? Are you kidding me? You can't hand over the men and the silver, but you want to take the women and children away?"

"What kind of court is this? Are they human traffickers? What are they going to do with the women and children? Are they going to sell our families?"

"Oh my God! What kind of dynasty do I live in? Life is already hard now. Not only does the imperial court not provide disaster relief, but it also keeps asking us for food and money! Now, not only does it want to recruit soldiers, but it also wants to sell the women and children in our family. I don't accept this. You might as well just kill us with a knife!"

"There are so many disaster victims who are rebelling against the government, and you don't care about them? You just want to use us to get away with your crimes. There are only three people in my family. Aren't you going to arrest all of us?"

"You are not human, get out of our village. We will not hand over any of you, whether it's people, silver, women or children!"

"Yes, get out of our village!"

"Get out of our village!"

The two officers and soldiers seemed to have offended everyone, and they were also troubled by the hundreds of aggressive people.

Village chief Ma didn't expect that the two men would go too far. When they first came to the village, the two men just said that they were following the orders of the court and that they needed to recruit soldiers because the war was urgent!

But I didn't expect that the more he talked, the more outrageous it became!

How can this be called the imperial court? Isn't this just the biggest human trafficking operation?

If I had known this would happen, I would not have let these two soldiers in.

The two officers and soldiers had no choice but to do so. They also felt that this was too much.

But they were following orders after all. The imperial court issued an order to recruit soldiers, and the number of people in a family who were to be recruited was determined based on the population.

If you don't want anyone in your family to serve in the army, you can indeed use money to buy a position.

However, if there is no one of the right age to be conscripted in the family, conscription will not be compulsory and no money needs to be paid.

What they said later was decided by the acting county magistrate of Ping'an County, the former county magistrate, Mr. Liu.

This regulation may be aimed solely at Kaoshan Village.

Many of the nearby villages are already empty, but in Kaoshan Village, almost all the registered villagers are still intact.

Old General Yuwen from the northwest fought all the way and felt like he was invincible.

These officials were the most perceptive, and they felt that the court was on its last legs.

When General Yuwen dethrones the current emperor, who knows how the court will change.

So Lord Liu wants to take advantage of this opportunity while he still has some power in his hands.

Get more oil and water.

But because the disaster was raging here, whether in the county or the town, those rich people had already run away and fled.

Some were killed by the rioting victims and their money was looted.

Since Lord Liu couldn't get any benefits, he set his sights on Kaoshan Village.

The county yamen runners were not the kind of people who would plead for the people.

But if they just ask for money and food, they might even help the evil.

After all, I'm working under Lord Liu now, so there's no way I can disobey his orders, right?

But Lord Liu not only wants money, he also wants women and children.

He was afraid that the people in the mountain village could not come up with so much money and he would not be able to make that much money.

So he wanted to take the women and children away, then find a way to sell them and pocket all the money.

When the dynasty changes, all the evil deeds he has done will be secretly erased. Anyway, people here are dying, and some women and children are sold, so the higher-ups won't be able to find out.

The county yamen runners all felt that Lord Liu lacked virtue.

No one is willing to come to Kaoshan Village to announce the news?

Finally, under pressure from Lord Liu, a group of people drew lots to decide who would go and make the announcement.

And just like that, two unlucky guys were born.

At this time, these two unlucky guys had been thrown out of the gate of Kaoshan Village by hundreds of villagers.

They are now completely out of their mind.

If they just wanted money and food, they would be fine as they still had a glimmer of hope in the imperial court.

But now, who can come up with 20 taels of silver at once?

I'm afraid that in Kaoshan Village, besides the Xia family, there are also the Tao family living in the Xia family and Doctor Zhao.

They all had to hand over their wives and children.

This is the biggest insult to them.

If a person cannot even protect his family, why would he care about the court?

After driving everyone out, everyone fell into melancholy again.

Village chief Ma felt the same way, as if he had aged ten years in an instant.

Leaning on a crutch, he wanted to walk towards Xia Shengsheng.

But I felt as if my legs weighed a thousand pounds and it was so difficult to walk.

In the end, it was Xia Shengsheng who took the initiative to come over.

"Village Chief, are you okay?"

Village Chief Ma opened and closed his mouth, but no sound came out.

The next second, the person fell backwards.

Fortunately, Xia Shengsheng was quick to help Village Chief Ma.

Ma Da and Ma Renli were beside Village Chief Ma again, and they quickly supported the man.

This prevented the person from falling directly to the ground.

"Doctor Zhao, can you please take a look at my father? What happened?"

"grandfather!"

"Grandpa Zhao, please show it to my grandpa!"

"village head?"

"Village Chief, what's wrong with you?"

A group of people gathered together, making it somewhat airtight.

Doctor Zhao almost couldn't squeeze in.

There was no other choice but to rely on his loud voice and shout from behind.

"Everyone get out of the way. They are surrounding us so tightly, are they trying to suffocate the village chief to death?

And if you don’t give me a way, how can I treat the patient? ? "

Everyone finally reacted and quickly made way for Doctor Zhao to pass!

The people surrounding Village Chief Ma also quickly dispersed to allow the air to circulate!