Chapter 66
"But, isn't this your favorite handkerchief, Miss?" Xing'er was puzzled.
The girl wearing a veil suddenly looked at Xing'er coldly, Xing'er shivered and dared not ask any more questions.
A group of people walked straight to Pan's mansion.
Zhou Yi didn't take the scene just now to heart. After studying with Han Xiangru in the Han Mansion, he returned home before it was nearly dark.
When they got home, Zhou Laoer and Zhou Zhu had already returned from the workshop, the door was open, and the family was resting in the yard.
"I don't know what caused the weather. It's never been so hot at this time of year. It hasn't rained for more than a month. The crops in the field are going to dry up!" Zhou Er Er sighed, as a farmer , relying on the weather to eat, the most sensitive to the weather, but this sign is not good.
"His father, won't there be a severe drought?" Wang Yan asked with some fear. Guang'an County has experienced good weather and weather over the years, and there was only one drought when she was very young. She doesn't remember anything else, except that many people died of starvation in the village, and that her mother forced her and her elder brother to eat bark...
Zhou Laoer sighed: "If the weather continues like this, it will be bad!" "
Then What should I do?" Wang Yan clenched her hands tightly.
"Father, we still need to make plans early, stock up some food as soon as possible, and buy some medicinal materials for emergencies!" Zhou Yi said.
Zhou Laoer nodded: "Last year's grain was not sold, so it will be enough for our family to feed for two years, what are we just buying medicinal materials for?"
Zhou Yi frowned, "I'm worried that there will be another flood after the severe drought. It will be terrible if there is another plague!"
"Plague!" Wang Yan exclaimed, the plague is more terrible than the drought and flood, if there is a plague in any place, it will probably be empty, and the death is simply the king of Hades Die!
"Mother, that's what I said, it's just preparations in advance, it's not necessarily true, don't worry." Seeing that Wang Yan was frightened, Zhou Yi quickly comforted her.
"Brother, what is the plague?" Zhou Jiawo asked Zhou Yi, wrapping his arms around his neck.
Zhou Yi touched Zhou Jia's little head: "It's a very scary thing, so Jiajia should love to be clean, don't go to dirty places, and wash your hands from time to time, you know?" Zhou Jia nodded half-understanding
.
"I'll go and tell the village chief tomorrow and ask him to arrange for the villagers. They all have their wages in their hands. It's not a bad thing to buy some food and store it there." Zhou Er Er said worriedly.
In fact, there is no need for Zhou Laoer to say that no matter what the old farmers who depend on God for food, they will touch God's temper a little bit. The so-called food in hand, don't panic, someone in the village is already buying food. Some people even deliberately asked Zhou Laoer to pay a month's wages. Zhou Laoer thought this was really a big deal, so he simply distributed a month's wages to everyone in the workshop in advance, and asked them to buy some food as soon as possible . Due to the large number of people buying, the price of grain in Guang'an County has risen again and again. Some people are reluctant to take the money and take chances, thinking that buying grain now is not worth it, and it might rain tomorrow. The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and as time enters June, the whole land seems to be roasted on the stove, all the crops are lying on the ground, and some of them have even completely withered. People in the village continue to fetch water from the river for irrigation, but the water poured down seems to have entered a bottomless pit, and it will soon disappear without a trace after being baked by the sun. Gradually, the riverbed was exposed, and even the old well in the village produced very little water in a day, and now often the water produced in a day is not enough for half of the villagers. In order to fight for water, there were several fights in the village. An old man shouted in despair: "God won't let people live! Lord Yan is here to kill you..." Zhou Yi panicked when he heard that. Crops are the lifeblood of farmers. Knowing that they cannot be saved, the villagers continue to pour water into the fields for irrigation with a fluke mentality. Unfortunately, as soon as the water is poured down on the front feet, the water on the back feet disappears along the cracked ground Without a trace, a drop in the bucket. When all the crops in the area withered, some people in the village finally began to cry in despair.
Those who cried were those who were reluctant to buy food at the beginning, but now they want to buy it, but they can't.
"What can we do? Our family just points at the crops in the field. How can our family live now?" A woman sat on the field and slapped her thighs and howled loudly.
Someone pulled and persuaded: "It's all the same, let's find a way to get food now!"
The woman cried even louder: "Where can I get food, the county's food has been bought... "
Her aunt, why didn't you follow everyone to buy grain at the beginning!" Someone couldn't help but say.
"That... isn't that expensive!" the woman cried.
"Then who can you blame, Brother Tuesday specially paid us an extra month's wages, plus the previous one, if we buy food, we will have enough to eat until the beginning of next spring!" said the straightforward person.
The woman cried even louder when she heard this, and her man squatted aside and held his head and didn't speak.
Except for those who were reluctant to buy food at the beginning, Xiawan Village was not in despair, just like what the person said before, because they had worked in the workshop for half a year, and every household had saved some money , Coupled with Zhou Er's reminder, most people still bought all the food ruthlessly.
Although the second half of the year was sad, it would not starve to death.
But other villages are different.
The crying was so loud that everyone was enveloped in despair. The crops died and there was no autumn harvest, which meant that there would be no food for the second half of the year.
And those tenants are even worse, the landlord doesn't care if you haven't received the food, he will come to collect the rent when the time comes.
This simply does not give people a way out.
On the way Zhou Yi went to the academy, he saw the crying people along the road, and his heart was heavy. When he arrived at the Han Mansion, he sighed deeply: "Teacher, it's so hard to be a commoner in this world!" "Xing, the common people are miserable!
" , perish, and the people suffer," Han Xiangru naturally couldn't understand the meaning in Zhou Yi's words, and said solemnly.
During the conversation, Zhou Yi realized that Guang'an County was not the only one affected by the disaster, Liangyuan Province and Tangyin Province were hit by a once-in-a-century drought.
The two provinces of Liangyuan and Tangyin were the famous lands of fish and rice in the Dai Viet Dynasty. It can be said that almost a quarter of the grain of the Dai Viet Dynasty was supplied by these two provinces. Now, as the granaries of the Dai Viet Dynasty, they were hit by a disaster, which affected not only these The two provinces, but the entire Da Viet Dynasty will be involved.
While talking, the servant reported that Pan Sixie had come.
After Pan Sixie came in, he sighed for a while, this old man may have retired, but the thought of loyalty and patriotism has been deeply rooted in his bones, even if he didn't get the salary from the court, he still has the heart of the prime minister!
"The leak in the house happens to rain all night, and the treasury is empty enough to run horses. In the past, when disasters occurred, food was lost from the righteous warehouses in Liangyuan and Tangyin, but now it is precisely these two provinces that are suffering from severe drought. Next year, whether it is ordinary people I'm afraid life will be difficult for the emperor!" Pan Sixie sighed. He didn't mention those court officials and wealthy families because Pan Sixie knew that no matter what disaster happened, even if the emperor's hair turned gray in a hurry, these people would not be affected. But then he laughed at himself again: "But I'm afraid I'm overthinking it, the emperor won't care about it, he's still in the harem!" I have a general understanding of the current situation of the court and the court. Hearing what Pan Sixie said, Zhou Yi felt that the Great Yue Dynasty was like a pill. The granary of the Great Yue Dynasty was almost gone, so how could he still have fun in the harem? Could it be that he is rushing to become the king of subjugation? The lack of food does not cause a single sequelae. First of all, the price of food will definitely rise a lot. If there are unscrupulous merchants hoarding food, the people will not be able to buy food, which will definitely lead to riots. It will also soar, and it is destined to starve to death by then. The drought in Liangyuan and Tangyin provinces really touched the foundation of the Dai Viet dynasty. Zhou Yi did not believe that the current emperor would be so stupid and have such a big heart, and he would still be living in the harem at this time!
Han Xiangru thought the same as Zhou Yi, he snorted coldly: "Wait, even for the seat under the buttocks, the emperor will do something!" "Hey, you should be careful when you speak,
if someone overhears you , I'm afraid your old life will be lost." Pan Sixie often worried about Han Xiangru's mouth.
Han Xiangru snorted, "I didn't say it in front of outsiders." He resigned at the beginning because he didn't care about the current emperor's behavior, so he naturally had a very bad impression of the emperor.
Zhou Yi laughed secretly when he heard this, the old man often said that he was open-mouthed, compared with himself, what he said was nothing!
The atmosphere in Guang'an County is becoming more and more tense, and people often take to the streets to make trouble. For Zhou Yi's safety, Han Xiangru deliberately exempted him from the course during this period.
"Teacher, you'd better live in my house. I'm really worried about you being here alone!" People will be extremely hungry by then, and these big households may be the first places where the victims of the disaster will hit.
Han Xiangru waved his hand, "I have such a high courtyard wall here, and there are servants in the mansion. What are you afraid of? But you, living in the village, have no city gates. If disaster victims from other places come, there is no place to stop them." Why don't you go back and discuss with your parents that your whole family will live in my house?"
Zhou Yi nodded: "I'll go back and ask my parents."
Finally, the family discussed it and decided to live in the county town. The time workshop also stopped working, and there were disaster victims everywhere on the road, and no one dared to come to buy goods.
To the county seat, but not to the Han Mansion, they have a shop of their own, and they can live in a crowded place. If there are too many victims, the village is wide on all sides, and anyone can come, but the county seat will close the gate. , at least those victims will not be able to enter.