Li Zhi, don't be a coward

Chapter 296 Survive, fight for life

The drought in Li Qinzai's impression is probably "shortage of water". The intuitive picture is the dry riverbed, the cracked land, and the people with sallow, emaciated and ragged clothes.

These impressions are of course correct, but the drought is not limited to these images.

When there is obviously grain growing on the land, but it is estimated that the grain output is pitifully small, and it is obvious that the whole family should leave the country, but they have to stay in their hometown and wait for this poor grain to mature...

This feeling of being immersed in despair all day, except for poor farmers, no one should have tasted it.

Li Qinzai walked slowly along the ridges of the fields. He carefully observed each mu of fields. He even tried to count the number of ears of wheat per mu and estimate the yield per mu for this year.

The more I count, the colder my heart becomes.

It is almost the end of summer now, and after the autumn harvest, this amount of food will definitely not be able to feed a family. At that time, there will be large-scale refugees fleeing their hometowns.

That would be a disaster, a disaster related to the life and death of the people, and a disaster for the Tang Dynasty and the government.

Squatting on the edge of the field, Li Qinzai suddenly said, "Ah Si."

"exist."

"Your family is also a farmer. Look at the field. How is the harvest this year?"

Liu Asi showed a look of misery, shook his head and sighed: "There is no hope, the harvest in the field is only about one-third or one-fourth of the previous year's, and the ears of wheat have not grown well at all, and many grains are empty shells. "

Li Qinzai said in a deep voice, "If the landlords are free of rent, the government is free of taxes, and every grain of grain in the field is given to the farmers, will they be able to survive this year?"

"No way, Wu Shaolang, this is not a matter of reducing rent and taxes at all. After the autumn harvest, there will be a big famine."

Li Qinzai fell silent, staring blankly at the lifeless land in front of him.

After a long time, Li Qinzai got up and said, "Let's go, let's go and have a look in the village."

Entering the village, Li Qinzai was stunned.

Originally, he thought that everyone in the village was sitting in a daze, looking like walking corpses, or that women and children were crying loudly, and men were beating the ground in frustration.

However, there are no such pictures in the village.

What he saw was the sky in full swing.

Women and children, big or small, strong or weak, all hurried in and out with their loads. Some lined up by the well to draw water, while others carried empty buckets to unknown distances.

The men were naked from the upper body, and five or six of them gathered in a pile, shouting chant, and drilling a hole in the ground with a sharp log to dig a well.

More people kept wielding hoes to dig ditches on the ridges. The ridges are long and far away. The huge project is desperate, but the men are still sweating tirelessly, like a group of stubborn fools who insist on digging a hole that reaches the sky. ditch.

Under the scorching sun, some people fainted from heatstroke from time to time. They were carried to the shade of a tree to fan them and apply their face. After waking up to catch their breath, they struggled to get up and continue working.

Li Qinzai was shocked by the scene in front of him. He did not expect that the farmers in ancient times would be so unwilling to admit defeat. Facing the inevitable result, they were like a lone horse rushing towards thousands of horses, and they still dared to fight against the sky.

The books in his previous life always talked about how hardworking and brave the working people were. Li Qinzai always thought that was just a modification. After all, he grew up in the city and had never seen it with his own eyes.

Today in this life, he finally saw it.

The picture is very shocking. Faced with the doomed result, even Li Qinzai, who lived two lifetimes, felt hopeless, but the farmers did not despair.

They are still gritting their teeth and fighting for their lives.

At this moment, Li Qinzai finally understood that it was not the so-called wisdom of the courtiers and ministers that created the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, but these unknown people at the bottom. They were the ones who really laid the foundation for the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.

Slowly approaching a well, Li Qinzai smiled and squatted beside an old man.

The old man is about 60 years old. In this era when the average life expectancy is not long, he is considered an old man in the village. Li Qinzai observed for a long time, and he can see that the old man's work is relatively leisurely. He is responsible for maintaining order at the well and assessing the strength of each person who draws water. , to determine how much water they carry at a time.

"Old man, are you busy? Hehe." Li Qinzai greeted with a smile.

Opening his cloudy eyes, the old man saw Li Qinzai and his party wearing short jackets and hunting clothes and leading a horse. He could tell at a glance that they were dignitaries in the city.

"Don't be polite, old man, you're spoiling this junior." Li Qinzai said hastily.

The old man hummed for a while, then said vaguely: "What advice does your lord have?"

"I don't dare to see the teaching, I just want to ask about the situation in the field this year, and I ask the old man to give me some advice."

The old man looked him up and down: "Is the nobleman an official in the city?"

Li Qinzai laughed: "There is no such young official as me. He is just an idle person with nothing to do."

The old man sighed and said, "I'm afraid we won't be able to survive this year, God doesn't want to give us a way out."

Li Qinzai said solemnly, "Is the drought serious?"

The old man pointed to the field in the distance, and said: "It's not serious, the nobleman has also seen it."

"If the landlord is free of rent and the government is free of taxes, can it survive?"

The old man shook his head: "The harvest in the field has been reduced by more than half. Even if the tax is exempted, every household can hardly survive. The grain laid down can last about two or three months. There will be a famine before the end of the year."

Li Qinzai pointed to the bustling farmers in the distance, and said, "What are they doing?"

"Do everything possible to get water, whether it's digging a well or digging a ditch, it's all for survival. If God doesn't give us a way to survive, we can't wait to die." The old man squinted his eyes, and the sadness and joy on his face were covered by the vicissitudes of life.
"I have lived for decades, and I have seen many disasters, big and small. Floods, droughts, locust plagues, snowstorms, and a full meal and a hungry meal. It is a great fortune to survive. At my age, I have lived enough , pity these dolls..."

In the distance, men and women were still working desperately. They picked up two buckets of water and poured them into the ground without even bubbling. big mouth.

Li Qinzai watched all this silently, and sighed: "Old man, the government will not sit idly by, and a government order for disaster relief will be issued soon."

The old man shook his head: "The government decree is a government decree. I heard that the grain in Bingzhou City has been sold at sky-high prices. Those who have money can't buy it. Those profiteers hoard the grain and don't sell it. They just wait for the grain to fail and make a fortune. Not necessarily manageable.”

The pupils in Li Qinzai's eyes shrank slightly, but his face was full of smiles: "The grain in Bingzhou City is sold at sky-high prices? Are many merchants hoarding grain?"

The old man hummed, and said: "The other day, the five elders in the village brought dozens of Wen. The family's savings for many years planned to go to the city to buy some grain to cope with the imminent famine. When I went to the city to inquire, a liter of rice sold for twenty Wen. , Heh, with all the money I have saved for a lifetime, I still can’t afford a liter of rice, how can I live?”

Li Qinzai asked curiously, "How much was a liter of rice before?"

"Before the price of food rose, a liter of rice was about four renminbi, and millet was even cheaper. Before the autumn harvest, the price had already doubled. I couldn't afford it."

Liu Asi and other trilogy behind him all showed angry faces when they heard the words.

However, Li Qinzai smiled calmly, and then said seriously: "Don't worry, the old man, the government will bring down the price of grain, and there will be relief in places where there is a catastrophe."

The old man stared at him with cloudy eyes, and said slowly: "Is the nobleman an official? An official in Bingzhou City?"

(End of this chapter)