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

When everyone saw Qiuyan kneeling there, many people started talking about it.

Some lascivious men speculated that Qiuyan and the two men were forced to kneel there because they might have been discovered looking for wild men.

This speculation aroused heated discussion among the men nearby.

For a while, the crowd of men was filled with dirty jokes.

Among them, some of the younger women blushed and quietly moved away from that place.

After a while, an older, fierce woman couldn't stand it anymore and stopped the men who were making dirty jokes with a stern face.

The men calmed down a bit, but some of them were still whispering.

Among the women, there were also some who had dealt with Qiuyan before and thought she was straightforward and had a good impression of her.

At this moment, seeing her kneeling on the ground in such a cold weather, he felt a little sorry for her.

But Village Chief Yang and several clan elders sat there quietly, so it must be Qiu Yan who made the mistake.

Although no one knew what mistake she had made, no one dared to plead for her at this moment.

Soon, all the villagers came over.

Seeing that most of the people had arrived, Village Chief Yang cleared his throat and said:

"Everyone, be quiet! Be quiet!"

The people who were still talking in the crowd gradually quieted down after hearing the voice of Village Chief Yang.

Seeing this, Village Chief Yang pointed at the three people kneeling on the ground and said:

"I called everyone here today because I have something important to tell you. Please be prepared in advance.

Everyone should know the woman kneeling on the ground. She is the wife that Ma Zi married a while ago."

As he spoke, Village Chief Yang glanced at the dejected Ma Zi, and after a pause, he continued:

"The woman Ma Zi bought was sent by the bandits to gather information about us!

The two men over there are the bandits we caught last night trying to get information."

The villagers who heard the news were all shocked.

The bandits actually sent people to their village to gather information!

Their village has been targeted by bandits!

These days, ordinary farmers dare not resist, whether it is officials or bandits.

Of course, there was resistance.

A few years ago, there was a wealthy man named Chai in Chaijia Village, eight or nine miles away from here, who was targeted by bandits.

The bandits threatened to make him pay five hundred taels of silver, otherwise his family would not live in peace.

Naturally, Mr. Chai was unwilling to pay such a large amount of money.

He first asked someone to find connections and asked the government to intervene, thinking that everything would be foolproof.

As a result, a lot of money was spent, but the government only sent yamen runners to take a symbolic walk out of the city.

He came back without even seeing the shadow of a bandit.

But the bandits got the news and spread the word that they would raze Mr. Chai's house to the ground.

At that time, everyone in the Chai family was terrified, and many people wanted to hide in the city.

But it was rejected by the rich man Chai, because the Chai family's roots were in Chaijia Village.

If they were gone, the fields and ancestral homes passed down from their ancestors would be in trouble.

Without these, the Chai family would be defeated!

In desperation, Mr. Chai had to spend a lot of money to hire security guards from outside.

Unfortunately, there is a saying that a thief can steal for a thousand days, but you cannot guard against thieves for a thousand days.

Those bandits would go to Chaijia Village for a stroll every now and then.

But he didn't stay for long, just caused some trouble and then left.

The security guards can only protect the house at most, but they cannot take care of the fields and tenants outside.

After a long time, all the tenants left.

Looking at the empty fields, Mr. Chai was very worried.

In addition, bandits came to the village from time to time to smash, loot and rob. After a long period of fear and anger, Mr. Chai was frightened by the bandits and became ill.

He didn't last long and then passed away.

The remaining descendants of the Chai family don’t even have the courage of the rich man Chai.

In addition, with no income, he felt sorry for the money he spent on hiring security guards.

The next head of the family held a hasty funeral and moved his family to the city.

Unfortunately, the bearded men didn't let them go either.

They were ambushed on the way and dozens of members of the Chai family died on the road.

As for the family property, it was naturally all robbed, leaving him penniless.

From then on, a saying spread throughout the surrounding villages.

If you encounter bandits who come to steal your money, give it up if you want to save your life!

Although the bandits they encountered this time were not necessarily the kind of cruel and ruthless people who wanted only people and money.

But who can be sure!

Besides, it would be difficult to resolve the situation peacefully after being targeted by bandits.

A man in the crowd asked Village Chief Yang:

"Village chief, did these bandits say what they wanted?

If you need some food to survive, you can discuss it with them and see how much they want!"

Village Chief Yang looked at the man who asked the question, who was usually a timid man.

He knew what this person was thinking. He didn't want to take action and wanted to do something to settle the matter.

But he does not agree with this idea!

His ideas are the same as Lu Tianming and others.

At this time, we must never bow to the bandits.

If you don't dare to fight a war, you will give money to others and food to them.

That will only breed a group of greedy and strong bandits!

Although their village is considered to be relatively wealthy among the surrounding villages, most families still have to go hungry to survive until the spring.

If we keep giving out food, we won’t starve to death.

When the bandits came to rob again later, even if we wanted to keep our property, we would not have the strength to resist.

Thinking of this, Village Chief Yang thought for a moment before saying:

"The bandit leader secretly sent people to infiltrate our village and learned the total population and the number of able-bodied men in the village.

As well as the information on guard and patrol, the goal is not just the hundred kilograms of food or silver.

This group of bandits is now in Renjiahe, seven or eight miles away from the village.

Everyone should know Renjiahe. Now all the people in that village have been massacred!

The only survivors were young women who were used as entertainment by the bandits.

These bandits are not good people. They are targeting our entire village.

Nowadays, our Linshan Village is probably the richest village nearby, and they will not let our village go.

Even if we agree to give something this time, once we give it, there will be a second time.

How much can everyone give out? Continuously giving things away will only fatten up these greedy jackals! "

Listening to what Village Chief Yang said, Lu Qingqing was inexplicably reminded of the scene of the great powers encroaching on China in the late Qing Dynasty.

By repeatedly ceding territory and paying compensation, they gained temporary peace.

It turns out that this is not the right approach.

Moreover, the walls of their Linshan Village are now strong, and there are relatively strict guard and patrol teams.

It’s not that easy for those bandits to capture them!

The man who asked the question heard what Village Chief Yang said and realized that he was not going to compromise, and he became very worried.

This person is not an isolated case. Many people in the village are worried that they will anger the bandits and end up like Mr. Chai.

Someone asked:

"Village chief, how many bandits are there?

How do they compare to the refugees from Yinjia Village before?

Village Chief Yang thought for a moment and replied:

"According to the confessions of these three people, the entire bandit group consists of about 200 people, all of whom are refugees who have fled here.

They were slowly encroaching on the nearby villages, stealing their food to feed their own people.

As for the tools they had, they were similar to those of the refugees from Yinjia Village, mostly farm tools and the like.”

When the people below heard that there were about 200 bandits, many of them had already considered retreating.