The whole family travels through the book, the plot is broken but the characters are not

Han Dahe, whose arm had healed, went to the gate of Rong County with Han Qingyun, Lu Fugui and Dalin.

Before they reached the city gate, they were stunned by the scene before them.

The gate of Rong County was closed, and hundreds of people were gathered outside the gate. Some people were even kneeling outside the gate, begging the soldiers guarding the city to open the gate.

The crying of children in the crowd seemed even more piercing in the hot noon.

Han Qingyun asked several people, and found out that among these people, there were not only refugees who had escaped from Wuping County, but also people from Rong County.

The locals were just out on business, and when they came back the city gates were closed. No matter how much they begged, the gates would not be opened.

Han Qingyun cursed angrily, "Ridiculous!"

The four of them squeezed through the crowd and came to the city gate. Through the crack in the door, they saw soldiers guarding the gate inside.

Dalin asked the soldiers inside the gate, "Brothers, when will our city gate be opened?"

"The magistrate has ordered that the city gates be temporarily closed and entry and exit are prohibited."

"Did the magistrate say when the gate will be open? You see there are quite a few people from the county town outside the gate. We have to let them go home, right?"

"The magistrate has ordered that the city gates be temporarily closed and entry and exit are prohibited."

"Brother, please do me a favor. We'll go into the city to buy some things and come out soon. When we come out, there will definitely be a generous reward."

As Dalin spoke, he took out a ten-liang silver note and stuffed it through the crack in the door.

The banknote was taken away, and Dalin was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard another voice from inside: "The county magistrate has ordered that the city gates be temporarily closed. No one is allowed to enter or leave."

Dalin cursed in his heart, "Damn it!", and then asked, "How about this, can you guys please help find someone to buy some things for us? Don't worry, we'll pay double."

This time, no one spoke from inside the city gate. Dalin waited for a long time, but still no one spoke. Dalin tentatively asked, "Brother, are you still there?"

"You don't have to pay for things, can I still help you pay for them?"

Dalin looked at Lu Fugui, who nodded. Dalin then took out a fifty-liang silver note and handed it over.

"Brother, we need five hundred kilograms of fodder for the livestock and fifty packets of summer-heat medicine. Once the supplies arrive, our master will give us a generous reward."

The person inside took the banknote and said, "Not enough!"

"not enough?"

These things would not be more than 20 taels at most, and the four people outside the door knew that the other party was asking for an exorbitant price.

But they really needed these things now, so they could only patiently continue to ask: "How much do you need?"

"One hundred taels."

Lu Fugui was so angry that his teeth were itching. He had been to Rong County before and knew the prices very well. One hundred taels was just robbery.

Han Qingyun stopped Dalin's hand from taking out money and shook his head.

At this time, a man who looked like a businessman came up.

"It's useless. They just take the money but don't do anything."

Han Dahe asked angrily, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Sixty taels! He only saved three and a half taels of silver in a year.

Sixty taels of silver, that's such a bargain for that bastard inside the city gate. He even felt sorry for Lu Fugui.

The merchant sneered, "If you don't get fooled, how do you know what I say is true? I was fooled once too. I spent two hundred taels and never even found out when the city gate would open."

Two hundred taels? Han Dahe felt that there was something wrong with his ears. He spent two hundred taels to ask a question, but he still didn't get the answer. What a fool.

Han Qingyun cupped his hands and asked, "Is this big brother from Rong County?"

"Yes, I went to Feng County on some business half a month ago. But when I came back, I was locked out. The city gate has been closed for three days, and I don't know when it will open."

"Three days? That's too long, and supplying the city will be a problem."

"I don't know. That corrupt official Chen Yong has a bunch of lackeys. They'll naturally find a way to deal with it. It's nothing more than competing with the people for food."

When Han Dahe heard him scolding the magistrate, he pointed at the city gate to indicate that someone was listening.

The businessman didn't care.

"Who cares? I'm leaving now. I'll come back when that bastard official steps down. If I wait here, I'll either die of heat or thirst."

After cursing a few times, he looked relieved again.

"Luckily my wife and kids are out of town, so I don't have to deal with this bullshit. A bunch of bastards who aren't even worthy of carrying my shoes actually extorted two hundred taels from me. Humph!"

After the merchant said this, he swung his sleeves, cursed, got into a carriage and left.

After the businessman left, Han Qingyun and others waited for a while.

I only heard the people inside the door laughing and saying that they would go to the restaurant for a drink after handing over their shift.

Dalin kicked the city gate a few times in anger, but this only resulted in even louder laughter from inside the gate.

The few of them had no choice but to go back.

When the villagers saw them coming back with an empty mule cart, they knew they hadn't gone in again.

Han Dahe said indignantly that they were cheated out of sixty taels by the soldiers guarding the city gate, and some were cheated out of two hundred taels, which made the villagers so angry that they started cursing.

Han Qingshan was feeding water to the big yellow cattle. Seeing the big yellow cattle looked listless, he felt very distressed.

This big yellow cow has been in the Han family for almost twenty years, and he has been the one taking care of it all the time. He has a deep affection for this big yellow cow.

The oxen had to pull all their belongings along the way, and they had to endure a lot of hardship...

Han Dongchen has been able to walk a few steps in the past two days, but he can't walk too much. Doctor Liu said that he will be able to recover in ten days at most.

Looking at his father's sad expression, he could only advise: "Dad, don't be sad. Dahuang is already an old cow. Even if he doesn't carry heavy loads all day like he does now, he won't live for many years."

Han Qingshan knew that Han Dongchen was right, but he was still very sad.

Over the past twenty years, Dahuang has done so much work for them. In the past half month, he has been traveling non-stop every day, eating little and working so hard that even a strong ox could not keep going for long.

There are several families in the village like Han Qingshan's.

Cows are precious and villagers have to save money for several years to buy a cow.

Except during the busy farming season, when the cows are working harder, they are reluctant to let them get so tired at other times.

But now, not only do their cows have to pull a full cart of goods under the scorching sun, they also cannot eat enough, and sometimes they don’t even have enough water to drink.

Looking at the grass roots that had been eaten clean by the roadside, a man pounded the ground a few times.

"The grass along the road has been eaten up by the animals running ahead of us. All the city gates along the way are closed. Sooner or later, our animals will starve to death. I spent all our family savings to buy this cow..."

When he started crying, several other families started crying too. Han Hongzhi's head was throbbing from crying.

"Cry, all you do is cry. You grown men, but you're such a loser! We still have our hands even though we lost the ox. How can a grown man like you not be able to push the cart?"

"No, Village Chief. I just feel bad. This cow cost fourteen taels, and my family has saved up money for several years."

"Yes, I spent fifteen taels."

"My family spent ten and a half taels on it. It was still a calf when I bought it. I take better care of it than I do my son."

……

Han Hongzhi felt his head hurt even more as he listened to this and that.

He felt very distressed when he looked at his cow which had been in low spirits for a long time.

This cow was bought together with the cow from Han Qingshan's family.

At that time, Han Hongyuan chose the best and most expensive cow. However, he picked and compared it here and there, and finally spent 15 taels, and even pestered the seller to give him a pile of fodder.

Han Hongzhi still remembers that when he was leading the cow home, his two sons circled the cow many times, yelling that they should feed the cow.

Even after his family got a mule, this cow was still the most precious livestock in the family.

This cow is very old, and last year he considered buying another one.

But the family had no space to raise another animal, so they had to sell the old cow or send it to the government-run slaughterhouse. Since it was so old, the price it would fetch wouldn't be as high as the price it would fetch at the slaughterhouse. It was said that the rich loved to eat beef.

But he couldn't bear to do so. He felt very sad when he thought that the old cow that had been with his family for almost twenty years was going to be eaten. So until this year, he didn't add any new cows.

But now this cow must die.

Han Hongzhi patted his cow's neck, wiped away his tears with his sleeve, and shouted at the top of his voice: "Let's go, kill the cow tonight!"