Tomb raiding: Intercepting Yin Xinyue and building a family of immortals

Su Chen took the silver dollar, looked at the bewildered clansmen in the ancestral hall, and said in a firm voice, "Dear uncles and elders!"

"The most important thing right now is to buy grain!"

"I need two uncles and three brothers and sisters to come with me to the city to buy grain!"

Upon hearing Su Chen's words, the crowd stirred.

A moment later, two middle-aged men of the Ren generation stepped forward.

"Xiao Chen, we'll go with you."

"Fourth Uncle, Sixth Uncle, thank you for your help."

The locust plague is not completely over yet, and the starving refugees outside the city are capable of anything.

Su Chen called these people along to avoid any unexpected incidents.

The young people in the clan looked at each other, too embarrassed to step forward.

Seeing this, Su Chen directly selected three people: two men and one woman.

The purpose of bringing these young people together is, on the one hand, to cultivate their ability to stand on their own.

On the other hand, it was to cultivate his own confidants.

Su Chen knew that within his family, he only held the title of a scholar and did not actually have any real authority.

Once this difficult period is over, there will inevitably be people who oppose him becoming the clan leader.

Therefore, we must seize this opportunity to win over our trusted confidants, employ both kindness and force, and firmly control the family.

Only in this way can we leverage external tools to grow bigger and stronger, and achieve glory!

Sujia Village is about seven or eight miles away from Changsha City. As the group walked along the official road, they could see barren fields overgrown with weeds everywhere.

There are too many disaster victims, and the government can no longer manage them all.

We also encountered two groups of disaster victims on the road, their eyes gleaming with greed as they stared at the group.

However, the disaster victims were still wary of the large number of Su Chen's group and did not make a move.

The journey was smooth and unimpeded, and we arrived in Changsha City.

Su Chen did not rush to buy grain, but instead led the group to the blacksmith shop.

Seeing this, Fourth Uncle Su Renzhao looked suspicious and couldn't help but ask, "Xiao Chen, didn't you say you were going to buy grain?"

Not only Su Renzhao, but the others also looked at Su Chen with puzzled expressions.

Three silver dollars was the last bit of money the clan had left.

The old clan chief originally intended to use it to buy seeds, but the fields could be left fallow, but people's stomachs couldn't wait.

That's why they took out this money to buy food for Su Chen.

Su Chen shook his head and asked in return, "Fourth Uncle, what is the price of grain in Changsha City now?"

Upon hearing this, Su Renzhao fell silent.

Amidst the locust plague, wealthy grain merchants in the city seized the opportunity to hoard goods and speculate on prices.

The price of grain, which was originally ten coins per pound, has now risen to fifty coins, a fivefold increase.

What's even more ridiculous is that this was the result of repeated orders and prohibitions from the government.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be surprising if grain prices increased tenfold or twentyfold.

One silver dollar could be exchanged for one thousand coins. In other words, the three silver dollars in Su Chen's hand were only enough to buy sixty catties of rice.

Sixty catties of rice, enough for thirty people.

Even with the most frugal measures, it definitely won't last more than five days.

Su Chen took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "Fourth Uncle, there's a saying: 'If my neighbor hoards grain, I hoard guns; my neighbor is my granary!' Rather than waiting to be killed, let's take a gamble!"

Upon hearing this, Su Renzhao and his sixth uncle, Su Renxiu, both widened their eyes.

Su Renzhao exclaimed instinctively, "You're going to rob the grain store?"

The remaining three juniors were so frightened that their faces turned pale.

Su Renzhao realized what was happening and hurriedly looked around. Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he grabbed Su Chen and earnestly advised, "Xiao Chen, our Su family would never dare to do such a thing. Stealing grain is absolutely unacceptable; it would lead the family down a path of no return!"

Su Chen curled his lips, thinking to himself, "You're starving to death, why do you care about dying?"

Of course, his purpose was not to seize the grain, but simply to give his people some advance psychological preparation.

Thinking of this, Su Chen said, "Fourth Uncle, I was just saying. Anyway, three silver dollars can't buy much grain. We might as well buy a couple of bows and arrows and a sword and spear, and go into the mountains to hunt some mountain goods."

Seeing that Su Renzhao and Su Renxiu were still hesitating, Su Chen pressed on, saying, "Besides, you saw the eyes of those disaster victims on the road. There are hundreds of them. If we don't have any weapons and just bring a few bags of rice, we'll probably be robbed."

It would be good if they were all snatched up; they might even end up being turned into pies.

In history books, the most common description of famine is, "During a great famine, people ate each other!"

These six short words conceal countless bloody tragedies.

Su Renzhao pondered for a moment and finally nodded.

"Buying a bow and arrow would be good; your sixth uncle and I know how to use them. If we can catch some prey, it will at least help us for a while."

Seeing that Su Renzhao agreed, Su Chen decisively walked into the blacksmith shop.

In the end, he spent two silver dollars to buy a goose-feather knife, a bow, and a few arrows.

It wasn't that he didn't want to buy more, but bows and arrows were extremely expensive, and it usually took a long time to make a single bow.

The bow and arrow that Su Chen bought was an old bow that had been restored.

If we were to replace it with a new, powerful bow, it would cost at least six silver dollars.

As for muskets, those were even more expensive.

A Type 38 rifle costs thirty silver dollars.

A Mauser pistol, fifty dollars apiece.

A Maxim heavy machine gun costs three hundred silver dollars.

Even field artillery, as long as you can afford it, major trading companies will sell it to you!

However, the price is sky-high, costing 30,000 silver dollars per door.

Of course, Su Chen could only dream about these amazing things.

I completed the beginner's mission and got two hundred silver dollars, enough to buy two muskets.

But for now, let's solve the most important problem first!

Of the group, Su Renxiu was the best archer, so Su Chen handed over the old bow to him.

The other goose-feather saber was given to Su Renzhao.

Despite it being an old bow, Sixth Uncle Su Renxiu still cherished it dearly.

"Hehe, Xiao Chen, don't let your sixth uncle's usual unreliability fool you. Back in his youth, he was a renowned hunter in the surrounding area."

"Oh?"

Su Chen's eyes lit up, and he thought to himself that if he got muskets in the future, he could arrange for his sixth uncle to be a musket captain.

The group used the remaining money to buy twenty catties of rice, which they carried out of the city in a small cloth bag.

as predicted!

As soon as Su Chen and his group left the city, the disaster victims at the foot of the city wall gathered around them.

The eyes of these disaster victims were green and greedy, like those of hungry wolves, fixed on the cloth bag on Su Chen's back.

Inside that small cloth bag lay the hopes of the entire clan.

The three younger members of the Su family stood behind their fourth and sixth uncles, their faces filled with fear, almost crying.

"Brother Chen..." Among the three, the girl Su Ling'er tugged at Su Chen's sleeve and asked in a tearful voice, "What should we do?"

Su Chen was also experiencing this scene for the first time, but compared to Su Xiaoling and the other two, he at least had more experience from the future.

As the animal documentary says, exposing your back to the enemy is the most foolish thing to do when facing wild beasts, especially when there is a significant disparity in strength!

The correct approach is to bluff and make the wild animal think you are very scary!

Su Chen shook his head slightly, took off the cloth bag from his back and handed it to Su Ling'er for safekeeping, and comforted her, "Don't be afraid, the three of you protect the grain."

The disaster victims were in an uproar when they saw the cloth bags filled with rice!

A few individuals even got within fifteen paces of the group.

Seeing this, Su Chen gritted his teeth and became fierce!

He stood directly in front, raised his goose-feather saber, and roared, "Who dares to come closer?! I'll cut down any one of them who comes!"