The end of natural disasters: the daily life of child brides in ancient times

Lu Qingqing was not as optimistic as they were. With so many plague patients on the road, Zhang Yangcheng probably wouldn't let them in.

If we just don't let them enter the city, it would be fine if they could take a detour, but I'm afraid they will block off this area.

When everyone saw the closed gate of Zhangyang City, they couldn't help feeling lost.

There were some refugees gathered under the city wall. They must have arrived not long ago.

These people were praying under the city wall, but the officers and soldiers on the wall were wearing scarves and staying away from them, not even approaching the wall.

Lu Qingqing saw that among the refugees under the city wall, one of them suddenly vomited on the person in front of him.

The surrounding refugees scattered instantly, staying away from the vomiting person.

The person who was vomited on was first angry, then terrified. He took off all his clothes and ran away.

Seeing this, Lu Tianming hurriedly led the team to a deserted place.

As soon as the team stopped, everyone gathered around.

Lu Tianming saw Master Yan and his group behind him, so he called them over and they discussed the next route.

Although Lu Tianming and County Magistrate Yao had a general idea of ​​the counties they would pass by later, they did not know any more details.

Fortunately, there was a man named Li Rui in Master Yan's team. He had walked through the area when he was escorting a caravan and had some knowledge of the area.

When the world was peaceful before, most people traveling through Zhangyang City passed through this road.

However, some medicinal material merchants would take a detour to Lai'an Town on the west side of Zhangyang City to collect some medicinal materials before leaving. Lai'an Town has a special location, located between two mountains.

After passing through Lai'an Town and walking a little further, you will be able to return to the official road, and merchants no longer need to go back to Zhangyang County.

The mountains on the east side of Zhangyang City are rugged and difficult to pass through.

Therefore, Li Rui proposed taking a detour through Lai'an Town on the west side of Zhangyang City.

After the decision was made, the team continued its journey.

This time, Li Rui drove the carriage in front and led the way.

We encountered many villages along the way. Most of the villages were empty, and only a few villages still had a few villagers.

When the people in the village saw such a large convoy passing by, they were so scared that they hid themselves.

In the evening, everyone arrived at Lai'an Town.

Unexpectedly, there were still people living in Lai'an Town.

The town was surrounded by a high brick wall, and the only remaining gate was closed.

Lu Tianming looked at the terrain here. If he had not been to Lai'an Town, he would have had to climb the mountain.

But the team was full of carts, and no one had repaired this mountain road. People could walk on it, but carts couldn't pass it.

Li Rui turned around and looked at Lu Tianming and said:

"When I walked here before, there was no wall or gate here."

Lu Tianming looked at the wall and said:

"I guess it was just built. I've come this far, so I have to give it a try!"

As he spoke, Lu Tianming stepped forward, knocked on the door, and shouted:

"Is anyone there? We want to keep going. Can we borrow your way?"

After a while, a head popped out from the wall. It was a bearded man.

He looked at Lu Tianming and his group, who included both old people and children.

Then he glanced at their cart and saw that it was loaded with a lot of things, then he said:

"You know the plague is raging right now. If you pass through town, we're in danger. If you're thinking about it, you can give everyone, adults and children, 30 kilograms of food. Call me when you've made up your mind!"

After the man finished speaking, he climbed down the ladder.

When the people in the team heard that they needed 30 kilograms of food, they felt distressed.

There is no place to buy food now. Each person needs 30 kilograms, so a family of five has to pay 150 kilograms!

But if they don't go this way, the carts can't be used on the mountain roads, and if they abandon the carts, they won't be able to move so much food.

Many people in the team comforted themselves by saying that at least they had caught a lot of locusts at home, and that there was not much food left, so they would not starve to death by eating locusts.

Without much hesitation, the people from Lujia Village decided to pay grain to pass, and each family prepared the grain to be paid.

Before knocking on the door, Lu Tianming lowered his voice and warned everyone to keep their weapons at hand.

If anyone inside has bad intentions, don't be polite.

Lu Tianming walked forward and knocked on the door. The bearded man climbed up the wall again, looked at the food bags beside everyone, and nodded with satisfaction.

He said to Lu Tianming:

"Brother, have everyone move all the food to the door so we can count it. After you move the food, step back three hundred meters. Once we've checked everything is ok, we'll open the door and let you through."

Upon hearing this, Lu Tianming waved his hand and asked everyone to retreat.

The people from Lujia Village watched helplessly as the man led everyone to move the food in, and waited for a long time before the gate opened.

When everyone saw the door open, they felt a little relieved.

After the bearded man opened the door and came out, a group of men with weapons followed him out.

The bearded man looked at Lu Tianming and his group and said:

"Brother, you have enough food, you can go in. But before you go in, let me make it clear in advance that there are definitely many more people inside than you. So, don't do anything that will cause us to misunderstand. If you can get through smoothly, everyone will be fine, don't you agree?"

Lu Tianming nodded, "Of course!"

The bearded man made way for Lu Tianming, who led the carriage in front and walked towards the gate leading to An Town.

The others followed one by one, and many people in the team swallowed nervously.

After Lu Qingqing went in and saw the situation inside, she became even more nervous.

There were men and women holding weapons on both sides of the road, and both sides were very nervous.

Lu Tianming and his group arrived at the exit of the town smoothly. Someone was already waiting there. When he saw them coming, he took out the key and opened the gate.

Lu Tianming breathed a sigh of relief only after his group left.

As soon as the last person left, the door behind him slammed shut, followed by the sound of the door being locked.

The people in Lai'an Town breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the gate was locked successfully.

They threw down their weapons, took off their scarves and said:

"I'm so scared! Did you see those people driving the car behind us? They don't look like ordinary people!"

Once the topic was brought up, people around started talking too.

"Yes, I saw the knife in their car. That knife was much sharper than ours. Luckily they didn't do anything."

"Manager Zhao only let them in because he saw there were elderly people and children in the group. If they were all strong men, we wouldn't dare let them in!"

"Yes, it's really not easy for us to earn food!"

"..."

Seeing that it was getting late, the bearded shopkeeper Zhao interrupted the conversation and said:

"It's getting late today. These grains will be distributed to everyone tomorrow. Except for those on night duty, the rest of you should go back and rest!"

Outside the town, Lu Tianming looked at the sky which was about to get dark and called on everyone to hurry up.

Although they made it through the town without incident, it would have been best not to spend the night nearby.