Returning the bowl to the man, Gao Buyi asked: "Is this the standard in every household?"
"Yes, one or two meters and two taels of bran cake per person per time!"
"What is bran cake?" Gao Buyi guessed that it should be a cake made of bran.
Bran and wheat husks were used to feed pigs in rural areas in later generations. Unexpectedly, they are now eaten by humans.
"Do you still have the bran cakes? Can you bring them to me to take a look at?"
"The visitor from afar is hungry. Please wait a moment, and I'll get it right away."
The man walked into the thatched house where his family lived, and there was a whisper in the house. It took a long time for the man to come out with a piece of blackened pancake. The pancake was not big, like the kind of biscuit that can be eaten in one bite in later generations.
"Sorry, everyone, this is the only piece of cake. You can soak it in water and share it."
Gao Buyi took the bran cake tremblingly and took a bite without moving. In the end, he exerted too much force and his teeth became a little loose.
"Lang Jun——" Knowing that he couldn't persuade him, Shangguan Pei Hui could only call out worriedly, trying to get him to stop, but Gao Buyi stared back with a cold look.
Even though he tried very hard, he couldn't bite off any bit in the end. He only scraped off a little bit of residue with his teeth. It was so hard.
The man smiled and said: "Lang Jun, this is not how you eat bran cakes. One pound of it is not enough for one person. You have to soak it in well water to eat it."
At this time, Gao Buyi calmed down and handed the bran cake in his hand to the man holding a bowl of well water in front of him. The man put the cake into the bowl of well water with great care.
Then he smiled and said to Gao Buyi: "Guests from far away, wait a moment, you can eat it in a while."
At this time, Li Bai quietly came to Gao Buyi and said, "Mr. Lang, you can't eat this bran cake. I have a lot of dry food here. If you are hungry, just eat some."
Hearing this, Gao Buyi stared at Li Bai like a wolf, making him tremble: "Hui'er, take out all the dry food we carry with us and leave them with this family."
"No, no, no, how can this be done?" The man refused immediately.
Gao Buyi smiled and said: "We will arrive in Chang'an tomorrow. Carrying these dry food will be a burden. If you don't accept it, I won't dare to eat this bran cake."
The man was a little embarrassed, Gao Buyi smiled and said: "Don't worry, let's talk again, just treat it as a meeting gift from me to the child, we reciprocate as courtesy."
Seeing what Gao Buyi said, the man could only agree with a wry smile. He planned to hand over these things to the clan leader tomorrow. The people in the village were like a big family, and they relied on each other to survive.
After the bran cake was soaked, Gao Buyi picked it up and took a big sip. His throat cracked and the taste was hard to understand, but Gao Buyi frowned and finished the bowl.
"Master, why don't you see the officials here coming forward to distribute relief grains?"
"Yes, the official will distribute the goods in the county and town, and then ask the village chief to lead people to collect them at fixed points, and then the village chief will lead the people to distribute them to each village. You cannot wander between villages, otherwise you will not be registered on the list There was no relief food, and the people who starved to death in the past two days died of hunger because they were not on the list and did not receive food."
"I see."
"Thank you, Master. It's getting late. Let's rest."
"Okay, please!"
In the main room, Gao Buyi sat on the earthen kang, with only a hard mat made of straw under his buttocks and nothing else.
"Hui'er, you said that the people are so miserable, and I have failed as an emperor. I was always thinking about pleasure in those years, and now I feel chills down my back just thinking about it."
Shangguan Pei Hui had a different view than him: "Your Majesty, this is a rare good situation. In the event of a disaster, we don't have to flee, and the family will not starve to death. This was something I couldn't even imagine before."
After listening to Shangguan Pei Hui's words, Gao Buyi shook his head helplessly. He knew that Shangguan Pei Hui was not lying. There were not many historical records of the sufferings of the people, but the real scenes were vividly presented in the poet's writings. Du Fu's "Shi Hao Li" is a representative work. Although it was established during the An-Shi Rebellion, before the An-Shi Rebellion, due to Xuanzong's aggressive military campaign, the people's lives were not much better.
The next day, the host family called the clan leader early to see Gao Buyi and the others off: "I apologize for the poor hospitality. If you pass by here again in a good year, you must come to Zhuangzi to stay temporarily."
"Thank you, definitely! Definitely! Farewell!"
After leaving the small village, Gao Buyi went to a few more villages, which were roughly the same, and the food he received was basically the same. When he found the village chief, he received basically the same food.
"What kind of age is this? People are eating picnics to eat, and the cattle and horses are all skinny. I dare to say this is a prosperous age."
"Your Majesty, the so-called prosperous age is the prosperous age of Chang'an." Li Bai said.
"Well! Mr. Li's words are profound. Cui Yuan, have you ever seen such a scene?"
"It's embarrassing to say that although my family is of average status, I am considered rich compared to the common people."
"So, you can't study with the door closed all the time. You need to go out among the people more often. Only then will you know the key points of governance. And governing a city and governing a group of people, policies cannot be regarded as the same."
"Your Majesty's instruction, I have taken note of it."
Soon the group of people came to a nearby town, where there was a relief grain distribution point set up by the government. It was almost noon and the distribution point was empty. Gao Buyi and the others walked to a government servant who was taking a nap.
"Wake up! Wake up!"
"We've run out of food distribution today, come back tomorrow."
"What should I do if I haven't received the food yet?"
"Cold salad, you won't die from starvation."
"Why don't you go hungry?"
"Mom, are you looking for trouble? Brother, please come out and someone is causing trouble." The other party was impatient by Li Bai and immediately called for someone to prepare to teach this unreasonable guy a lesson.
Five or six fat and thin men with green and yellow complexions of different heights walked out of the thatched shed: "Boss Ren, who is causing trouble?"
"it's him--"
At this point, he couldn't go on, because Li Bai standing in front of him was already gray-haired and in his sixties, while Gao Buyi looked older. As for Shangguan Pei Hui and Cui Yuan, who were disguised as men, they were directly regarded as Growth follows.
"Boss, these are two old men, why don't you give them a piece of cake to send them away."
"Hey, Ma Wu, I don't see that you still have the heart of a Bodhisattva. That's fine. You don't have to ask anyone to pick up the relief food at your home tomorrow."
"No, Chief Ren, you guys really have no food today. You guys should get up early tomorrow. They're all gone! They're gone!" Ma Wu shouted at the people who came to watch the fun.
Judging from his clothing, Ma Wu must also be a civilian affected by the disaster, because the linen clothes on his body were washed white and had many patches.
Gao Buyi and the others didn't bother anymore. They just pulled Ma Wu farther away and asked, "This little brother, seeing that you are also from a poor family, are you really out of food?"
"I am also a commoner in the town, and I am familiar with the boss, so I and a group of neighbors got this good job to help. Although it is a help, it is already rare to have enough to eat in this disaster year, but there is really no food. Yes, we know how much grain is brought in every day. I see that you are not locals. If you want to eat, just be patient and go to the county town. There is a porridge shed there. Although you won’t be full, you can’t eat enough. It's better than starving to death, just stop there."
"Thank you, little brother! I see that many people in this town have not received food."
"They are foreigners just like you. You don't know that some scoundrels come to the hometown to look for oil after receiving food in their hometown. Who has enough food to give them these days?"
"Some of them don't look alike to me."
"Oh, old sir, please leave quickly. Some things are beyond your control. Let's leave quickly." After saying that, Ma Wu went to take a nap behind the shed again.
