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

Lu Tianming listened to Lu Qingqing's words and nodded.

"Daya is right. I'm worried that the water in the pond will be polluted. Without water, we'll be dead!"

As he spoke, Lu Tianming looked at the people in the team and continued:

"Those of you who went to fetch water just now will stay here to guard the cave. Except for those who are seriously injured, the rest of you should bring buckets. We need to fetch more water as soon as possible!"

"By the way, anyone going out to get water should bring a scarf, wrap it tightly!"

As he spoke, Lu Tianming stood up to get his scarf, put it on, and called Lu Shuhe to go get a bucket together.

There were many women in the water-fetching team this time. Since the wooden barrels were not enough for each family, they used clay pots and other containers to collect water.

In the crowd, Lu Laosan stood out with the water bag on his back.

Among the others, some who did not have many water-carrying tools saw Lu Laosan's gear and picked up a lot of water bags from the pile of confiscated water bags and carried them on their backs.

After the team arrived, they all headed out of the cave.

After this group of people came back, the people in the cave continued to fetch water.

As the process went on, the amount of water in the bathtubs and various containers in the cave increased.

But in the evening, when Lu Tianming and his party were on their way to fetch water, they saw a refugee who was vomiting and having diarrhea.

Judging from the symptoms, the man behaved just like someone infected with the plague outside.

Everyone held their scarves tightly and walked around the man as far away as possible.

This time, everyone witnessed it with their own eyes and confirmed that there was indeed a plague on the mountain!

The people who had originally planned to rest after fetching water quietly picked up their buckets and set off again. No one even complained of being tired.

Everyone knows that the outbreak of the plague means that the water source at the pond may be contaminated at any time.

When fetching water again, although everyone was very tired, they forced themselves to speed up their pace.

After dark, each family lights a torch and continues to fetch water.

Around the time of Xu (19-21 p.m.), everyone's containers were full and they stopped to rest.

At this time, all the water containers in each household were filled, and some families even filled their extra bowls with water.

Even the water bags and gourds that had been seized earlier were filled up during the last trip to fetch water.

At this moment in the cave, you can see many water containers every two steps.

But this water may not be enough. It is unknown when the flood at the foot of the mountain will recede, and the length of time they can stay on the mountain is uncertain.

Therefore, the more water you store, the better!

After dinner, Lu Tianming called everyone together to discuss how to store more water.

Everyone speaks out the solutions they can think of, and at this critical moment, everyone will work together.

Soon, after some discussion, everyone decided to dig a reservoir in the cave.

But digging this reservoir is not so easy. First, you have to choose a suitable location.

The question of where to choose the reservoir site was handed over to the old village chief who had previously guided everyone in digging the cave.

In addition to site selection, the other issue is how to prevent water leakage in the reservoir.

There had been reservoirs built in the village before, and they were all made of stone at that time.

But at this time they were in a hurry to store water, so naturally they had no time to go around the mountains looking for stones to build the bridge.

The fastest way now is to use oilcloth for waterproofing.

When everyone heard this, they all wanted to take out the oilcloth that Lu Tianming had given them, but were stopped by Lu Tianming.

"Shuhe, go get the roll of oilcloth from home."

As soon as Lu Tianming finished speaking, Lu Shuhe followed his father's instructions and went to the carriage to get the oilcloth.

County Magistrate Yao, Master Yan, and Lu Qingqing's families all had extra oilcloth, so they went into the carriage and took it out.

Now the problem of oilcloth is solved.

After everyone finished discussing, the old village chief held a torch and a shovel and began to look for a location.

Behind him followed several men holding shovels, ready to start digging at any time.

Everyone planned to build the reservoir overnight and continue to fetch water early tomorrow morning.

After the old village chief chose a location, the men started digging.

Lu Tianming arranged several people to chop wood. Since the reservoir was built in a cave, it must have a cover.

One is to prevent children from falling in, and the other is to prevent dirt from falling into the pool and polluting the water.

After Lu Tianming discussed the length of the reservoir to be dug with the old village chief, he arranged for the women to sew the oilcloth into appropriate sizes.

On this side, Cui led a group of women to start sewing oilcloth.

On the other side, the men were digging holes with the sound of ping-pong under the command of the old village chief.

Outside, there are people looking for wood to make lids.

I don't know how long they were busy, but when the reservoir was built, Lu Tianming poured some water into it to test it out. Seeing that there was no problem, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

No one even cared about being excited, and everyone dragged their tired bodies back to rest.

At dawn the next day, each family continued to fetch water according to the team they had formed yesterday.

Near noon, the group of people who went to fetch water came back with empty buckets.

Without waiting for anyone in the cave to ask, the village chief said dejectedly in the water-fetching team:

"The pond is polluted. When we went there, there were several corpses soaking in it. Now there's no one around the pond!"

Seeing that everyone was distraught, Lu Tianming comforted them:

"Okay, the water in the pool is almost empty, let's all go take a rest."

Lu Qingqing looked at the reservoir which was already more than half filled with water, and estimated that it would last for a few days.

Now that food and water are ready, all that remains is to protect these supplies!

However, after two days of high-intensity work, everyone was exhausted.

After lunch, everyone except those on duty lay down on mats to rest.

By the afternoon, everyone in the cave was thinking about making a barricade, just like the ones they had seen the soldiers use before.

After fixing the chevaux de frise and blocking the entrance of the cave, it can also prevent some people from getting too close.

They immediately went out to look for wood, and many women also planned to follow them to pick up more firewood.

In the evening, Lu Qingqing looked at the chevaux de frise that had been fixed at the entrance of the cave and thought that this thing was really good.

After it was installed, the refugees saw it and avoided it from a distance.

In the evening, Lu Tianming asked everyone to spread the oilcloth.

Most of the people's oilcloths were spread at the entrance of the cave, covering a large area on the ground.

With someone on night watch, there is no need to worry about the oilcloth being stolen.

The next morning, each family collected the dew on the oilcloth.

There wasn't much dew on each piece of oilcloth, but it accumulated over time, so no one was disgusted and everyone carefully collected it.

It happened to be Lu Qingqing and Qin Lang's turn to observe the flood that day. They left the cave after breakfast.

As soon as they got out of the cave, Lu Qingqing checked Qin Lang's scarf again. Seeing that both layers of scarves were worn tightly, she continued on her way.

They were heading towards the first mountain. Lu Qingqing originally thought that there were no more refugees on this mountain.

Unexpectedly, they met several refugees along the way.

These refugees all looked haggard, and some even seemed to be dazed when walking.

One of them had a bulging chest, as if he was hiding something.

Their eyes lit up when they saw Lu Qingqing and the other person, but when they saw the big knives at their waists, they timidly avoided them.

When he reached a high place, Qin Lang noticed with his sharp eyes that there was someone next to the flood at the foot of the mountain.

The man seemed to be fishing something out of the flood. When Lu Qingqing saw their actions, her expression changed drastically.

She seemed to know where the plague in the mountain came from!