Quick travel: the life of smuggling is so exciting

Lu County.

It's a small border town, and the entire county is estimated to have no more than a thousand households.

How could there be so much food for charity? You should know that there were more than a thousand refugees gathered at this city gate alone.

Even if there really was grain, the county magistrate would still be a good official serving the people.

Danlu County is located at the junction of three states.

If the news of opening the warehouses to provide disaster relief gets out, it will attract refugees from three states.

With so many refugees coming in continuously, can the dilapidated city walls of Lu County withstand the impact of the refugees?

"Everyone calm down," Village Chief Wu reassured them. "The city gates will open early tomorrow morning. Those of us who need to buy things should hurry into the city to stock up. After we've finished shopping, we'll leave."

"Village chief, aren't we waiting for the porridge?" a villager asked in confusion.

"Yes, village chief, let's have a bowl of porridge tomorrow before we leave."

"We'll see how the situation develops tomorrow." Village Chief Wu made the final decision. Seeing the other party's irrefutable expression, the others all gave up their thoughts of refuting.

"Okay, that's it. Let's find a place to rest here. The elderly, children, and women can sit in the middle, and the young and middle-aged can rest outside."

"Also, Geli, you arrange ten people to guard the night in two shifts." Village Chief Wu turned and looked at Wu Geli.

"Okay, Dad."

Lin Xia felt that Village Chief Wu's decision was right. In fact, she wanted to leave the city and walk overnight, but the next section of the road was all plains and it was likely that there would be no water. She would go to the city tomorrow to buy a wheelbarrow, a bucket, water, and some food.

Everyone else has a car, but I don’t, and I can’t carry much water. Now that I am a member of a team, my safety is guaranteed, so I have to arrange a car.

The next day at noon,

The officers and soldiers opened the city gates and set up roadblocks, and the crowd rushed forward.

“No pushing!”

The officers and soldiers drew their swords and swung them, and the refugees in the front fell to the ground. Everyone came to their senses and hurriedly retreated.

"The porridge distribution will begin in half an hour. Those who wish to enter the city should hurry. The entrance fee is 50 wen. No identity checks will be conducted. The city gates will close promptly at noon," the leading soldier said in one breath. He then had someone guard the gate while he sat down to the side and drank tea.

The people of Wujia Village had been waiting at the city gate for a long time. When they suddenly heard that the entrance fee was 50 coins, there was an uproar inside.

Life in the countryside was not easy, with all kinds of taxes weighing heavily on them, and this migration had already severely damaged their vitality. The remaining meager assets had to be spent on weapons, so how could they have the money to pay the expensive city entrance fee?

Village Chief Wu called out to the heads of each household: "Everyone, please discuss who needs to go into the city to buy things. Meet here in a quarter of an hour. Xiaoli will take the lead then."

"This is the west gate. Those entering the city later will exit through the south gate. The rest of you will follow me around the city and wait for them at the south gate."

"You only have an hour and a half. Don't stay inside. Come out if you haven't finished shopping. We won't wait for you after the time limit." Village Chief Wu said to everyone seriously.

"Okay, got it."

Lin Xia, Wu Geli and others lined up together to enter the city. The soldiers did not make things difficult for them. They gave them money, glanced at the backpacks casually and let them pass.

The entrance fee was still too expensive, and many families were reluctant to pay. In the end, there were only 12 people including her, and Lin Xia was the only woman among them, so she seemed very out of place among them.

After entering the city, Lin Xia separated from the others and walked alone on the street, her eyes full of curiosity.

This was her first time actually entering an ancient city, and to be honest, it wasn't very pretty.

The whole city was gray, and the only road looked good. The ground was paved with large bluestones, and there were special ruts on the road for vehicles to drive on.

The doors of shops on both sides of the road were closed, passers-by were in a hurry, and occasionally a soldier passed by.

its not right!

In a small county town like this, there are no more than a hundred officers and soldiers, but she saw no less than two teams of soldiers, at least twenty or thirty people, in the ten minutes she walked.

Something must be happening in Lucheng!

Lin Xia had no intention of exploring the secret. Since the city allowed him to enter and did not say that he could not leave, it meant that the problem was not serious. If there was a problem, he could just slip away. He was not a fool.

She went shopping first.

Many shops are closed, but shops selling basic supplies are still open.

Lin Xia first bought a second-hand unicycle. She almost flipped it over when she first started using it, and it took her a while of practice before she was able to use it successfully.

It has to be said that owning a car is easy. Except for the fact that it can't run fast, it can carry a lot and saves energy. Lin Xia finally unloaded the burden on his shoulders and successfully became a car owner.

Lin Xia happily shopped in the city.

There are no sanitary napkins, so buy some white cotton cloth; there is no place to rest at night, so bring some oilcloth; there is no place to store the poison powder, so bring some oil paper and porcelain bottles; there is also needlework and shoes...

There is no container for water. Buckets are no longer needed. There are more convenient wine barrels. They are like bamboo tubes with only one hole on top. You can plug it with a wooden stopper to prevent it from leaking. You can also spend an extra hundred coins to have the store fill it with water.

Lin Xia went to buy salt, oil, and grain, but the grain was limited. Each person could only buy one dou of rice or wheat, but could buy three dou of beans. A dou of brown rice usually cost only 60 wen, but now it was 220 wen, a three-fold or four-fold increase in price.

In times of natural disasters and chaos, the people have a very hard life.

Lin Xia bought a dou of brown rice and five liters of beans. It wasn't that she didn't want to buy more, but it was just too much to carry and would make people jealous. A dou weighed about 10 jin (approximately 500 grams), and a dou and five liters was 15 jin (approximately 500 grams). If she saved, she could eat it for a month.

Lin Xia also went to the blacksmith shop to buy a big knife.

"No! What about the longwood warehouse?"

"No, there are no weapons. Even if there were, you are not allowed to buy them!" said the blacksmith impatiently.

"Then what do you have here?" Lin Xia asked again in a good-tempered manner.

"Yes, there are still some farm tools and kitchen utensils. Once they are sold, they will be gone."

Lin Xia was surprised: "Uncle, why do you have so few things here?"

"none of your business."

Sometimes I really want to hit someone.

When Lin Xia walked out of the blacksmith shop, he found a small hoe about 30 cm long for digging herbs and a small iron pot with two handles and a diameter of 25 cm in his car.

In addition, Lin Xia also went to the pharmacy to buy a few packets of medicine for treating cold and heat, as well as sulfur, insect repellent powder, and a penny of mint.

It's so expensive! A packet of cold medicine costs half an ounce of silver, and the heatstroke medicine is even more expensive. I can only buy some mint to make do.

After buying everything, Lin Xia still had twelve taels of silver left. This trip cost an ordinary person three or four years' income. The prices were extremely exaggerated. No wonder other shops were closed and no one went to buy non-essential items.

Lin Xia had just finished shopping and the time had not yet come. She wanted to continue checking for omissions, but suddenly she noticed that the patrolling soldiers in the city had become serious.

Lin Xia knew something was wrong and hurried to the south gate. Fortunately, the city gate was open.

Lin Xia happened to meet Wu Geli and his group. Looking at the only cart they were pushing, which was full of bags of things, she really wanted to pretend not to see them. But it was too late. Wu Geli was warmly inviting Lin Xia to join them.

Will they really not be robbed if they leave the city like this?

Wu Geli told her so with his actions.

will not!

This young man was quite reliable. He asked everyone to gather around him, and took out sickles, kitchen knives, and a machete from under the cart to intimidate the refugees.

The refugees still valued their lives when they had food to eat, and stood in the queue for porridge and watched them go away.

"Hey, where are the people in our village? There are so many people, but they are gone. I didn't see them getting porridge." Villager A was puzzled.

"What nonsense are you talking about! It must not have arrived yet." Wu Geli slapped the other person.

"The two city gates are so close, we should have arrived in an hour and a half. Nothing will happen, right?" Villager B also said worriedly.

Wu Geli was also a little worried, but he remained calm and said, "Let's get away from the crowd first and wait over there." He pointed to a small woods not far away.

Before everyone could pass, a familiar figure came running over. It was Wu Geli's younger brother Wu Chenggong.