Humane Yongchang

Chapter 87 Mid-July

Time flies to the middle of July.

Chen County's drought had reached a situation where it could not be concealed.

As early as the beginning of July, the grain market was completely out of grain.

Seeing that the momentum was not right, the poor families in Chen County went out of the city one by one with their families and their families. Taking advantage of the food in their hands and the strength of their legs, they went south in groups to go to southern Henan and Yangzhou. , run a way.

The rest of the people who didn't even have food to go out would stick a piece of grass in their heads and wandered in groups on the main roads of various cities and towns. Go up and strongly recommend yourself...don't need money, just stutter.

The people in Chen County are going out.

However, farmers from outside Chen County are heading to Chen County in groups.

The young crops in the fields had already been scorched by them before they were completely withered. In today's fields, even weeds are rare.

The wild beasts that were often seen on the outskirts of the mountain forests in the past have long since gone to the depths of the forests to survive because they could not bear the drought, but in the forests today, not even the chirping of insects can be heard.

They continue to stay in the village, there is really no way to survive... When most of the people have no way to survive, even if there are still a small number of rich peasants and squires who can barely survive, they can't continue to live in the village.

Because they not only had to resist the famine, but also their fellow villagers who were driven from man to beast by the famine.

They can only rush to Chen County, the county seat, and pray that the officials and gentlemen will give them a way to survive.

It's not that the county government of Chen County was completely inactive.

They have set up porridge sheds outside the four cities, and they will provide porridge for disaster relief every noon.

But just the bowls of rice soup that were so clear that they could show the shadows of people, it was not so much a disaster relief, but rather a faint hope to hang these victims, so that they could not sway their hearts.

According to Chen Hu telling Chen Sheng, the number of dead bodies removed from the twelve quarters of the four cities is increasing day by day.

The children of the merchant Chen family were not allowed to leave Changning Square for a long time.

Since the refugees entered the city, women and children have been missing in the city.

A few days ago, Bei Shiting also found a lot of human bones in Chang'an Square...

The situation of the merchant Chen's family is not bad for the time being.

There is no need to say more about the three hundred people in Changning Square.

Thanks to his early preparations, he hoarded 15 catties of grain, saved some food, and it would be no problem to last until next autumn.

It's all famine, so we can't still be full every meal, right?Except for the more than 150 uncles who had to guarantee their military strength, they had a catty of food every day, and the rest of them were all three or two a day.

Three taels of grain, it is definitely not enough to eat when you are full, but it will not cause you to suffer from hunger.

The Chen family farm.

His father led more than 50 uncles stationed there for a long time, protecting the farm day and night.

At the same time, increase manpower and material resources, carry out intensive cultivation of the 150 mu of land, and increase the output as much as possible.

And every five or six days he passed, under the protection of Chen Dao, he would go to Chenjiazhuang to pray for rain.

Over at Panlong Village.

The construction of the cottage is over halfway through, at least the main structures of all the buildings have been erected, and only some piecemeal finishing work is left.

The land reclamation work has also achieved initial results, and some of the fruits and vegetables that have been planted have already germinated... After the grain growing season, we can only focus on fruits and vegetables.

Coupled with the reproduction of the livestock that Yingbu grabbed at the beginning, the life in Panlong Village could still be sustained in a short time.

But only for a short time.

Chen Sheng has been trying to find a way to get more food from other channels, but the results are not very satisfactory.

He first made an appointment with Zhang Ji, the head of the Zhang family of grain merchants, and discussed with him that the Chen family of the merchants should come out, and their Zhang family of grain merchants would provide channels, and everyone would travel to Yangzhou to bring a batch of grain back.

As a famous grain merchant in Chen County, the Zhang family, a grain merchant, of course cannot rely on the output of these farms around Chen County to maintain their business. Like the merchant Chen family, they also have a fixed channel for grain trading.

And Yangzhou is rich in water resources, so the impact of the disaster should not be too big.

Zhang Ji was quite moved.

But after a detailed chat with him, Chen Sheng took the initiative to dismiss the idea.

To travel from Chen County to Yangzhou, you must pass through Qiao County, which is also within the scope of the drought. At present, Qiao County County has blocked all channels for grain outflow, and grain is allowed in and not allowed out.

Zhang Ji counted on the merchant Chen family to open up this channel, how could Chen Sheng be so stupid?

When it was impossible to buy grain, Chen Sheng thought of renting land again.

As long as you can buy a few more farms like Chenjiazhuang, copying Chenjiazhuang's operation method and grabbing a batch of grain during the autumn harvest this year, it will be able to last a while.

Zhang Ji also did not refuse his request, but the price was a bit high.

Chen Sheng was still a little moved at first.

But it didn't work out in the end.

Because he led Chen Dao and ran to the farms mentioned by Zhang Ji, only to find that the young crops in the fields had long been eaten by the tenants who saw the situation wrong.

Even the tenants in several farms have already run away, leaving only a group of old, weak, sick and disabled who cannot walk, staying in the farms to die.

Using the money from buying the land to rent some waste land is not worth it... Within five or six months, even if the land is given away for free, no one will necessarily want it!

Zhangjia, the most promising grain merchant, was in vain.

But Chen Sheng still reluctantly visited the salt merchant Liu's house and the oil merchant Tian's house.

The principals of the two families warmly received Chen Sheng.

But after some negotiation, it was ultimately unsuccessful.

The situation faced by the two companies is almost the same as that of the grain merchant Zhangjia.

The water in the Shahe River has been cut off, and there is no water transportation power. Liu's Yanyun boat is just a pile of rotten wood, and it can't go anywhere.

The Tian family is even worse. Everyone in the family is about to run out of food, and they are about to start eating oil cakes that can only be fed to animals in the past...

Run in and out every day.

All I saw were scrawny, scrawny, rambunctious homeless people wandering aimlessly in the streets like corpses.

And he himself couldn't even get a grain of food back...

Although it has long been known that once the famine broke out, the situation could be very bad.

But it was not until now that he was in the midst of famine, that Chen Sheng really tasted this sense of powerlessness that is called every day should not be, and the ground is not working!

This feeling.

It's like being in the midst of a galloping wave.

Obviously you are struggling with all your life, but you can't decide whether to go south or north, left or right!
And this is only mid-July.

Destroyed by the famine, it was only those poor families who were already struggling with food and clothing.

Wait until August, September, and even after winter.

The situation will get worse...

Even, completely collapsed!

(End of this chapter)