One day in early August 1633, outside the city walls of Lin'an County, Hangzhou Prefecture, there was a lifeless and desolate scene everywhere. There were no cries of livestock and poultry, no people's laughter and joy. During the day, every village was lifeless and deserted. Occasionally, some old people could be seen. Both the children and the children are in good shape and listless. The men and women were exhausted after working hard all day under the scorching sun, so they had to carry vegetable baskets to pick wild vegetables and come back to satisfy their hunger. However, there are fewer and fewer wild vegetables, and they are almost all picked.
Summer grain is about to arrive, but every household's grain stocks have already been reduced. Grain prices are getting higher day by day. Farmers who were barely able to survive last year's drought are beginning to struggle for their livelihoods again.
The relief grain distributed by the government has been used up, and the price of raw silk cocoons in spring has plummeted, completely destroying the hope of some sericulture farmers to catch a breather. Seeing that Xia Liang has not yet appeared, people are starving to death. It doesn't matter if you have to endure the pain and sell your young crops, you still have to sell your land, your house, your children... A poor person has done everything he can to survive. Although the weather seems to be going well this year, the shadow of famine is getting heavier and heavier on their heads. In fact, many families had no food to eat, and the number of tenants fleeing the land and living in soup kitchens in the city began to increase again. There are more roads on the roadside.
Outside the county seat, in front of Midian in Dongguan Town, there were crowds of villagers wearing quail clothes. On the door frame of the rice shop, there is a water board hanging, which indicates that the price of rice and various grains has been changed many times. From the beginning of spring, the price per bucket of rice was three yuan, but then it fell back for a while. After entering the summer, the price has risen for more than ten days, and it is already three cents and eight cents.
In teahouses and wine shops. Still packed. The sudden rise in food prices was like a bolt from the blue to the common people in Shengdou, but it had no impact on the rich. Many of them benefited more or less from this catastrophe, and some used money lending. Get a land and a house. Some bought cheap slaves. The sounds of fist-fighting and obscene laughter spread from the shop windows to the street, mixing with the begging sounds of the hungry people outside and the cries of people sold into slavery who were separated from their flesh and blood.
The villagers gathered at the entrance of the rice store, each with a small pocket. After eating too many wild vegetables, his face was full of sorrow. The hoards filled with rice and grains were piled high, giving their stomachs, which had been empty for a long time, a stinging burning sensation.
Although I want to eat rice every day and night. But they had to exchange the last bit of brown rice they had at home for cereals.
"There is really no way to survive." One person hesitated for a long time and handed in a bag of rice. Everyone rolled their eyes impatiently. Said: "You old man, do you think our shop owner is a beggar? What do you want with this liter of rice?"
"Please do a good job!" The person who brought the rice in bowed and begged, and finally got the other person to take the rice in and bring out a bag of grains.
"This is too little in exchange..." someone was muttering.
"If it's too little, don't change it." The waiter stared with cow-like eyes. With a look of disdain, "Our shopkeeper is willing to exchange your rice because of his kindness. Whether you want to exchange it or not, don't block the door and hinder our business."
The people around outside murmured for a while. Although the exchange rate for grains in this store was a bit harsh, this was the only store nearby that was willing to exchange their liter and a half bucket of brown rice. If there was a nearby store, they would bring it. I really don’t even bother to look at this little rice.
In desperation, the visitors had no choice but to go to the rice shop one by one to receive the "gift". Received bags of cereals. I couldn't help but secretly curse the store owner's greed.
It was the last one's turn, but she was an old woman in ragged clothes. Then if you get close to her, you can see that she is not old, but her skin is gray and saggy due to long-term malnutrition and overexertion.
In her hand, she held a wooden stick like a beggar. Judging from the way she was panting after taking a few steps, she probably couldn't have walked here without relying on this wooden stick.
Because she had no strength, she was the last one to reach the counter. She tremblingly took out a small rag bag from her arms and handed it over.
This meter is only about half a meter. The waiter was unwilling to answer the question at all. He curled his lips and smiled at everyone: "Look, this little rice has not even been exchanged for grains. Although we do good deeds in the store, we can't do this. Sister-in-law ! It’s better to take this little rice back and feed it to**.”
"Please be kind to the shopkeeper -" the woman begged, saying that her land and house had just been taken away by her creditors, and her family was living in a ruined temple without even a pot to eat. The man in the family died again, leaving only the old man and the children. They were all hungry and could not afford to eat. Only this little rice could be exchanged for grains...
The guy just refused, and the woman cried and begged, and finally knelt down and begged. I saw more and more people watching. The waiter was so angry that he raised his hand and threw the bag of rice on the counter.
It was said to be a rice bag, but it was actually just a piece of rag wrapped with rice. When it fell to the ground, it fell apart immediately, and the white rice splashed all over the floor.
The woman let out a hoarse scream and stumbled over to pick up the rice. However, the rice was originally very small, and it splashed everywhere when she fell. I saw the woman crying while stuffing rice grains into her arms, her tears mixed with dust, like a crazy woman. Everyone on the side couldn't bear to look at it.
"This is too bullying..."
Someone finally couldn't stand it anymore and muttered.
"Bullying people? Who can tell? If you have the guts to stand up, don't stay behind and be a turtle!" The guy yelled with wide eyes.
The owner of this rice shop is a tyrant in the town - except for him, no one in the town dares to open a rice shop. The clerks in the store are all spoiled people. When he raised his eyes and glared at him, no one watching the excitement dared to say anything more.
An old man came out to smooth things over: "Shopkeeper Liu, please show mercy and for the sake of her orphaned and widowed mother, give her some grain in exchange. It won't be in vain anyway-"
The boss, who had been picking his teeth with a sneer, probably felt that the noise at the entrance of his store was too loud and was unsightly, so he got up impatiently and took out a few pieces of bran cake from under the counter and threw them out.
"Cran cake..." A voice of dissatisfaction rang out from the crowd.
"What's wrong with the bran cake?" The shopkeeper's eyes widened, "I guess you are all rich and powerful. You eat and drink rice and flour every day, but you look down on this bran cake?"
The woman quickly picked up the bran cakes one by one and stuffed them into the basket.
The shopkeeper smiled and said: "Look at it - you dislike the bran cakes, but others don't, so you seem to be suing. If it hadn't been for the folks in the village, I would have kept these pieces of bran cakes to feed the pigs. "
"You're a liar from a fellow countryman!" A deep voice rang out from the crowd, "You're just a bastard who eats people without spitting out their bones!"
The shopkeeper's whole body trembled, and his mouth opened in surprise. Over the years, he has been domineering in the town, monopolizing the rice shop business, lending usury, bullying men and women, and doing all kinds of bad things. No one has ever dared to say a word. . People in the county, except for Mr. Jin Shen, whom he could not afford to offend, even the county police officers and squad leaders were polite when talking to him, let alone those who dared to scold him in front of him.
"What the hell are you? Come out and show me!" the shopkeeper yelled.
The crowd retreated, but someone stood up. He is about 27 or 28 years old, tall, with pale skin, a bit stooped, and bowed legs - like a silk weaver sitting in front of a silk machine. Average looking. His face was calm and he looked very stable.
"Who are you? How dare you be so arrogant to Mr. Liu!" The guys in the shop also reacted from their surprise and shouted.
"Hao Yuan." The visitor spoke very calmly, without any intention of provoking a scene.
A waiter suddenly jumped out from behind the counter. On his face, which was full of flesh, there was a deep scar from the right corner of his forehead to his left cheek. This was where he followed Shopkeeper Liu to "set up plates". The marks left by time. He is said to be a buddy, but he is actually shopkeeper Liu's thug.
He looked at the opponent up and down, as if assessing his opponent's weight. Without saying anything, he punched Hao Yuan in the chest. He immediately fell ten steps away and fell onto the table of the tea shop opposite.
The guys in the rice shop immediately burst into laughter: "Well done! Let him see how much he weighs!"
The waiter clasped his hands triumphantly and stood leisurely in the shop, with a smile on his twisted face, admiring the effect of his punch.
At this moment, Hao Yuan was shaking on the ground and struggling. His face was scratched by the fragments of the tea set, and a trace of blood flowed out. The people around him suddenly became quiet. In the silence, there was a sudden burst of a high-altitude cannon. A strange atmosphere suddenly surrounded the scene, and many people had the same feeling - this matter is not over.
The footsteps on the street were rushing one after another, and it seemed that many people were rushing here. In a moment, the entrance of the rice store was already surrounded by water.
Hao Yuanyi turned around and stepped onto the bench in front of the tea shop. He faced the people gathered below and shouted loudly: "Everyone has seen it - we poor people have no way to survive. Even a bastard selling rice wants us to go." Dead! I don’t want to see my family starve to death, everyone follow me!” He waved his arms:
"If you don't want to die, grab the rice!"
Hao Yuan's shouts were like thunderbolts falling from the clear sky, waking up those people who were in a state of ignorance! They are all common people living in the lower class. The disaster years have made their already difficult life even worse. They can only make a living by selling everything they have little by little. Now they are reduced to begging for something so-called. The grace cannot reach the point.
Now someone suddenly woke them up: Since you can't ask for it on your knees, then use your fists to grab it!
Several people who looked like mechanics shouted together:
The crowd suddenly became commotion: "If you don't want to die, grab the rice!" One sentence turned into ten sentences, and ten sentences turned into a hundred sentences, and everyone started yelling crazily as if they were possessed by a demon. To be continued. .
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