At the beginning, the whole family fled from famine, and I used a milk bottle as a koi carp

Chapter 23 Crossing the River
  An Ningning went there, and Sanbao was also sitting on the ground. He must go. As a result, Old Man An and his two naughty children went there.

The security in Anqing City is still relatively strict. You need to pay a copper coin to enter the city. The pedestrians on the street are all walking in a hurry. It is estimated that the situation in the city is that if you can't go out, you will not go out. You may not know when the city will be broken.

There should be some water sources in the city, but it's not like Xiushan Village, where the whole village had to flee because they couldn't survive.

An Ningning looked at the shops on both sides. Although the doors were open, the business was not as good as expected. The ones that were a little crowded were places selling food or daily necessities. Old man An took seven or eight old men in the village and first found a Chinese medicine shop carrying the herbs collected by the whole village.

There are only a few people in the Chinese medicine shop, and the medicine boy is sitting listlessly behind the counter, taking a nap.

Sanbao knocked on the door and shouted: "Business is here, wake up!"

The medicine boy was awakened instantly and asked: "Ahem, gentlemen, what do you need?"

"Do you want to collect the herbs?" Old Man An asked as he put down the bag.

The medicine boy looked at so many people, each carrying a big bag, and felt that big business was coming, "Hold it, wait a moment, I'll call the shopkeeper."

When the shopkeeper came, he called the doctor who had just been treating patients in the back. He looked at the medicinal materials they had collected and said, "You have all prepared this, so it's not bad. But now you know that there are fewer doctors. We can't charge that much, but if you are willing to be cheaper, we will charge it all. There are not many Chinese medicine shops in the city, so you can also look elsewhere."

Boss An sighed, everyone, look at me and I look at you. It was so hard to pick it up, and it was all turned on its back, "Shopkeeper, just watch it and give it to me!"

In this current situation, if people can ask for it, it’s already pretty good.

If the drought continues, people in Anqing City will probably have to run away sooner or later.

The shopkeeper weighed each person one by one, then calculated the silver taels and paid the money. What was surprising was that each person had more than a dozen taels. Although the bag weighed dozens of kilograms, the price was considered to be free. Be content.

An Ningning shook Old Man An and pointed to the steamed bun shop. Old Man An went in and bought a dozen steamed buns.

Others were reluctant to buy some flour and earn it themselves, it was cheap. If everything in Anqing City is expensive, a bag of rice noodles that usually costs only 2 cents now costs 5 cents.

I am also following my granddaughter and grandson. I can’t bear it. It’s such a loss if I worry about the old man not being able to buy it.

A few people bought food and found a car to push out of the city. They didn't buy too much food, just enough to last for a few days. They had to cross the river later. What might happen after crossing the river?

When they were leaving the city, they were stopped and inspected by soldiers, but they were allowed to go after seeing that they were all stooped old men with gray hair and beards.

By the time everyone returned to the team, the village chief and the others had already found a fishing boat on the river. There was a lot less water on the river. They were willing to take them across the river, but they had to pay a fee of five copper coins per person. The three boats in the village took turns taking them.

In the evening, when there were few people, three hundred people from the village loaded up small fishing boats and crossed the river. The water level in the river has dropped a lot, and long bottoms are exposed on both sides. The villagers looked at it with emotion and wondered whether the situation south of the Yangtze River would be much better.

After crossing the river, we followed the fisherman's guidance and went to the nearest city to find out if we could take in these three hundred or so people. They all came out together, and they hope they can be together in the new place.

After crossing the river, the people in the village breathed a sigh of relief. Looking back, the hardships of the journey from Xiushan Village to Anqing City made me cry for three days and three nights. Fortunately, everyone in the village was there. It took a day to get to Chizhou, the nearest city. There were too many people in the village and they didn't dare to go into the city all at once. So I commissioned a few people to go in and see what was going on.

Chizhou is also in the scope of drought now, but it is not that serious. Just like Anqing City, although the water level is low, there is still water in the rivers and wells.

The village chief looked at the sky and felt that it had not rained for a long time, and there was no sign of rain yet. If they stayed in a big city like Chizhou, they would definitely not be able to survive without some money. Even household registration was still a big problem. Besides, you have to pay to eat and drink here.

The people in the village had a very simple idea. It was best to find a place with mountains, water, and farming. The whole village could settle down. They didn’t want to run away anymore. They were too tired. It took them two months to get here. , suffered a lot.

Chizhou is close to the residence of King Huainan. The two cities are opposite each other and are not far from the river. The security in Chizhou is also very tight, and refugees will not be taken in here.

The south side of the river and the north side of the river are two completely different places. Say hello to the officers and soldiers guarding the city. They just want to go to the city, not to stay in the city. Because there are too many people, it will cause unnecessary panic. The two guards The soldiers of the city led them across the city.

The village chief asked Soldier A: "Is there a place where we can sell mules, cattle and horses?"

Soldier A was very polite and brought them to the horse market here. Chizhou is considered a big success. The horse market here is very large, with horses, mules, donkeys and even occasionally cows.

Each family counted money. Many people had gotten money from bandits before, so they felt less distressed. They would definitely not be able to walk far with their legs.

There are also many members of the Liu clan who don't want to leave here, and the village chief doesn't force them. It all depends on the villagers themselves.

Mrs. An took out the money and bought a donkey for 18 taels, and then spent another taels on a carriage frame. They didn't care about other people, they must stay with their clan members. This group of people bought more than a dozen mules and donkeys, and all the frames were sold out.

The two soldiers took them to buy some more food. They had a car, so they bought more. The soldiers took them with them, and they quickly finished the shopping. They clapped their hands and were sent out of the city again by the two soldiers.

After passing Chizhou, the weather gets hotter as we go south. It's almost October. Logically speaking, the weather shouldn't be so hot at this time, but this year's weather is weirder than in previous years.

After passing through Chizhou, they took the main road and got on the donkey cart. They were going very fast, but they didn't expect that there were two fallen tree trunks in the middle of the road, so everyone had to stop and take a look.

When I got closer, I saw a lot of people standing behind the tree, holding big knives in their hands and saying the classic roadblock words, "I drove this mountain and planted this tree. If you want to cross here, leave money to buy the road."

The people in the village are speechless. This is an official road, and the people here are too tough. But this short circuit, with mountains on both sides, is very...
  This terrain can only be passed through the official road between the two mountains.

The village chief and the security team stood in front, "What do you want? There are only three hundred of us. Are you sure you want to embarrass us here?"

The man holding the knife hid behind the tree trunk and shouted: "We don't want much. Others pay ten cents a person, so you give us two cents." He looked at the people who were not easy to offend.

"It doesn't matter if you don't have a penny. There's no need to fight and kill. Being friendly makes you rich! We don't want more."

(End of this chapter)