Chapter 691: Calamities of Heaven and Man

ng."The lion immediately said."Alright! One more helper means more strength. I'll have Earl take you to the bow, and you keep watch there with your people.""No problem! Philip, I hope you can provide...Sow! Just sow those three mu of medium-sized plots. Leave the newly opened land fallow for now and save some wheat seeds.

After thinking for a moment, Song Dachuan said.

"Alright, we'll plant three mu. We can manage that."

Hui Niang is a standard woman who puts her husband first. Whatever Song Dachuan says goes.

Liàn yī this time also helped, she didn't let Sòng Dàchuān cut down the immature winter wheat, but dug a firebreak and directly burned all the empty straw with fire. The burnt grass and wood ash just right can be used as fertilizer for the soil, and it can also burn to death part of the insect eggs in the soil. Although it can't kill them all, it's better to have less.

After that, Song Dachuan began to till the land. Lian'er was still taking care of Tiger cub and cooking for the couple. She also took care of the vegetable patch in the backyard. When spring came, they could plant vegetables. Before the drought arrived, they would be able to harvest a wave of greens.

Now Huzi walks very steadily and speaks more clearly. Perhaps because of the nourishment of spiritual energy, he has also grown taller. Now, he looks almost no different from a four-year-old child. Moreover, Huzi is very smart; he learns anything Lianyi teaches him quickly.

The ripples start with the Three Character Classic, the best-selling enlightenment book. She specially went to town and spent silver to buy a copy, which is now well-preserved at home.

At first, when Song Dachuan asked her about it, Lian Yi simply said that she had learned it at the Dong family. She was going to be a maidservant for the dowry, so she had to learn how to read and write, otherwise she wouldn't be able to help organize Second Miss Dong's study room.

“I learned some things from Miss Dong Er in my daily life. Later, when I was determined to be a maidservant accompanying her marriage, there was a special female teacher who instructed me specifically. The purpose was nothing more than to let me help the young master win over his heart. It's just that in the end, it was I who benefited. They couldn't take back what I learned in my mind, so I might as well teach my younger brother.”

Ripple explained with a smile.

"That's tough."

Song Dachuan felt indebted to his daughter again.

“There’s nothing difficult about this, I’ve learned things too. Right now our family circumstances are limited, so I’ll teach Huzi what I know. When our family situation improves and Huzi is a bit older, I’ll send him to school. Huzi is smart, he’ll definitely become famous after his studies.”

There are already plans for ripples to impact the tiger cub.

"Sister, I will definitely study hard."

Huzǐ's eyes gleamed as he assured,

"Well, when Tiger becomes a top scholar, I'll also bask in his reflected glory."

Liàn Yī smiled wryly.

After the villagers finished spring planting, they prayed to the heavens for rain every day. However, after a spring rain, no more rain fell. In order to make the seeds germinate, the villagers could only draw water to irrigate the fields.

Song Dachuan's family also joined the ranks of watering, but this time the main force was replaced by Lianyi and Song Dachuan. Huiniang stayed at home to take care of Tiger, while taking care of the family vegetable garden and chickens and ducks.

When ripples occur while drawing water, some water enters the space. Little by little, it accumulates enough for use. She also pays attention to the water tank at home, and the water level has never gone down.

Everyone in the village was drawing water to irrigate their fields. The water level in the river dropped drastically. In the end, it was the village head who stepped up, lined up, and ensured that each household had at least three mu of land watered thoroughly. The rest depended on the water level in the river.

Fortunately, Song Dachuan had foresight and gave up the two mu of wasteland, planting three mu of medium-quality farmland instead. Under the condition that the land was thoroughly watered, the wheat in the field barely took root, sprouted, and grew. Just when the farmers breathed a sigh of relief, on the day of Lixia (summer solstice), locusts swarmed and attacked all the croplands south of Liangzhou Prefecture. This became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

All the townships under Yongfeng County suffered from a pest infestation. The county magistrate was so distressed that he pulled out his beautiful mustache and had to write an urgent dispatch overnight, which was then sent to Kyoto over 800 miles. After that, there was the task of comforting the affected people, every detail requiring his personal attention.

Without an imperial decree to open the granaries, even the county magistrate could not do so privately. However, the people had realized the severity of the situation and began to hoard food. Many grain stores in the county were forced to close their doors, and some merchants who wanted to make a fortune from national disaster temporarily closed their shops, waiting for the price of grain to rise further before selling again. They would also limit daily sales and raise prices gradually.

These are all the rumors that Song Dachuan and the Zhang family's four brothers heard in Wangshan Town. Although their family had some stored grain, they would also go to town with the villagers to grab some food. Everyone was scrambling for food, and if you were lying at home, people would definitely suspect something was wrong with you.

The Zhang family is now very grateful they listened to Hui Niang's advice and bought some grain in advance. At least when they bought it, although the grain price had gone up by one or two coins, it was still within a normal range, and they could afford it.

Now food prices have risen to an unbelievable level. One or two taels of silver can't even buy fifty kilograms of grain, and that's still coarse grain.

"Our family is doing alright, we haven't reached the point of desperation yet, but the entire prefecture is suffering from the disaster. We don't know how long our current supplies will last."

Old Zhang also had a worried expression on his face. They were in the village that was hit by the disaster, they couldn't just sit idly by and wait for help.

If they were just one village, they could have at least borrowed from relatives and friends, even if it meant losing face. But now everyone has been affected by the disaster and is in the same situation, no one can help anyone else.

"Grandpa, let's prepare to flee!"

When everyone was silent, ripples spoke directly.

Hearing Ripple's words, Song Dachuan and all the Zhang family members turned their attention to Ripple. Even Old Man Zhang frowned, clearly disapproving of Ripple's suggestion.

"Ripple girl, do you know what fleeing means"

"I know, but we have to survive first. Are we going to just die waiting for a grain of food to grow on this barren land"

Ripples said in disapproval.

The county magistrate would not stand idly by while the people starved to death.

Song Dachuan said in a feeble voice.

"Father, if the County Magistrate really had a way to solve this, our food wouldn't be increasing in price every day, from three or five coins to who knows how much. Besides, those big grain merchants have their hands full of grain, and they won't buy any until people are starving."

The ripples shattered Song Dachuan's fantasy.

But where to flee to

This is what Lao Zhang asked. After all, she has lived in Zhangjia Village her whole life, and the furthest she's ever been is once to the county town. She hasn't been anywhere further than that. Leaving here makes her feel very lost.

"Flee to a place where there is no war, for that is where life can be found."

The ripples spoke directly.

This is a big deal, we need to discuss it properly.

Although Old Zhang disapproved, he also knew the saying "people have to move for a better life." So he wanted to hear Ripples' opinion, after all, she was the one who brought it up.

"Grandfather, there are many people now who share your thoughts. They believe they can wait for relief from the government. However, once their stored grain is depleted and the government fails to act, a large number of refugee groups will inevitably appear. If we set off then, we will have no advantage at all."

The closest place to our Liangzhou is Huizhou. They are much smaller than our Liangzhou territory and simply can't accommodate so many refugees. Conflict was bound to happen.else once she was healed.On the other side, when the Law Enforcement Hall of the Five Aggregates School received the message from Qi Xiu, they took it very seriously. Elder Xiao led a team to personal...