SFS Chapter 2 Preparations before fleeing famine
Chapter 2 Preparations before fleeing famine
Yunjia Village is located in Jingzhou in the north, and is the fief of the second prince Xie Lan. Speaking of this, we have to talk about the general situation in the world. The current emperor Xie Feng is an inactive emperor who is greedy for pleasure and heavy taxes. This has led to the people's livelihood being in dire straits, and the lower-class people are living in dire straits. The second son of the emperor, the eldest prince Xie Jing, is wise and intelligent, and is deeply loved by the people.
His fiefdom was in Yunzhou, and under his rule, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. He trained a brave and combative Xie family army, and strictly disciplined the army, blocking the occasional invasions from the neighboring Tianlong Kingdom. The second prince, Xie Lan, was a dandy boy who knew everything about eating, drinking and having fun. His fiefdom was in Jingzhou, which was originally a rich place. However, due to the second prince's continuous increase in taxes, the people in the fiefdom suffered terribly.
The scholar's teacher suggested that everyone flee to Yunzhou where the eldest prince was. The eldest prince was kind and treated the people in his fiefdom very well, and the taxes were low. With the Xie family army, safety was also guaranteed.
The problem now is that starting from Yunjia Village, we need to pass through two states, a distance of more than 2,000 miles. If we walk 40 miles a day, it will take almost two months. It is already October, and it will take two months, which means we have to spend the winter on the road. Fortunately, the further south we go, the higher the temperature will be, but the road is also full of difficulties.
There was a risk of running out of food on the road, encountering bandits who would rob them, and being attacked by wild animals such as tigers in the mountains. The most frightening thing was encountering soldiers from the enemy country who would rob and kill them. Thinking of this, the whole village cried.
After the final discussion, the village chief decided to take everyone to Yunzhou to escape the famine and gave everyone two days to pack up and prepare supplies.
Every household in the village was busy preparing. Those with little food prepared to go to the town to buy expensive food. Those who really had no money went to the mountains to scrape tree bark, dig grass roots, and dig up all edible wild vegetables, then returned to dry them and mix them with rice to eat, which could also save some food.
Every household in the village has a hand-pushed cart, and because there are so many things to carry, they have to find a carpenter to order more. Fortunately, there is no shortage of trees in the mountains, and making a cart is not a very delicate job, so the carpenters are basically driven out.
Another important thing to prepare when fleeing famine is water. People can survive for a few days without food. Without water, people can die at any time. The water output of the village well is limited, so if you want to bring more water, you need to find a way yourself.
It was because the three brothers of the Yun family took Xiao Yiyi to the mountains to find water that Xiao Yiyi died of serious injuries, which led to her arrival. They have the same name and surname, so maybe there is a certain fate between them. She was an orphan before the end of the world, and she did not feel the love of her parents, her brother, or the warmth of her family. Here, she felt it all. She will definitely replace Xiao Yiyi, be filial to her parents, and take her parents and brother to escape the famine to Yunzhou.
Yun the butcher used to sell meat in the town, so he was more informed. As early as last year when there was no rain due to drought, he bought a lot of grain in small quantities and stored it. This year, the drought continued, and many wealthy families in the town moved away. Business was not good, so he closed the stall in the town.
Yun the butcher used to go to the town to sell meat every day. The year before last, his family bought a two-year-old donkey for transportation. Now when they go to escape famine, the donkey can pull a cart to carry food, quilts and other important items. In addition, two additional carts were ordered. The three brothers all inherited Yun the butcher's natural supernatural power.
Therefore, the second and third brothers of Yun were arranged to drive the carts in front of the team, and the eldest brother of Yun pushed a cart with some pots, pans, and other things in the back. They were not too heavy, so he could keep up with the team. Finally, Yun the butcher and Zhang also pushed a cart with their farm tools, hoes, machetes, plows and other iron products. The government restricted purchases and it was difficult to buy them. Once they settled down, they would all be needed.
Yun Yiyi followed Yun the Butcher and Zhang's cart. When she got tired, she could go to the donkey cart to rest. This was a formation that was arranged in advance, so that they could take care of each other and not get separated easily.
Then, Zhang began to prepare food for the journey. She added sesame seeds, peanuts, and a little salt to the flour at home and mixed them evenly. Then she put oil in the pot, put the mixed paste into the pot, and slowly baked it in a small pot until the paste turned slightly brown. Never use high heat, otherwise it will be inedible if it is fried over high heat.
This kind of fried flour can be eaten directly after being rinsed with boiling water. It is delicious, convenient, and filling. There are many people in the family, and they are strong and eat a lot. My mother fried 30 kilograms of flour, wrapped it in waterproof oilcloth, and put it on the donkey cart.
There was no way to grind the food at home on the way to escape the famine, so they simply ground it all and took it away. Zhang took two more bags of flour and made all of them into hard and thick pot cakes. Although they didn't look good, they still tasted delicious. All the food was grown by the farmers themselves, without chemical fertilizers or pesticides. It tasted very fragrant and was also environmentally friendly and healthy.
Unlike the end of the world, where all the food they ate was grown by people who had awakened their ability to grow crops, and the vegetables were not only large in size, but also tasted completely flavorless. But here, even stir-fried vegetables tasted sweet and delicious.
The family also had some pickled vegetables and kimchi, which were directly moved to the donkey cart with the jars and fixed, so that they could be taken out and eaten at any time after the expiration date. Even some wild vegetables that were dug up later, because there was enough food at home, were pickled into small pickles by Zhang, and they were delicious.
At this point, we have to mention the wisdom of the ancients. When there was a drought years ago, many people were hungry and started to go out to dig wild vegetables, tree bark, and grass roots. Zhang also asked the four children in the family to go out to dig. No matter how much they dug, no matter what wild vegetables and grass roots they dug, as long as they were edible, they would clean them up and pickle them. Although the family had enough food because Yun the butcher sold meat, but there were many people in the family and there were four children, so the food was consumed quickly.
On the one hand, it was to save food, and on the other hand, she was afraid that people from the village would come to borrow food. It is said that emergency relief is not poverty relief, and even if people from the village came to borrow, they could not afford it. Therefore, when everyone was hungry, Zhang only fed her family 7% full. In this way, the family looked no better than everyone else.
Because the village chief emphasized that everyone should prepare more waterproof tarpaulins, which can be used to cover food, quilts and other things that are afraid of getting wet when it rains or snows on the road. People can wear straw raincoats, but when sleeping, a layer of waterproof tarpaulin needs to be spread on the ground, otherwise, if you sleep in a humid place for a long time, everyone will get sick.
Therefore, Yun the butcher went to the town to buy some more oilcloth. This thing cannot be eaten or worn, and the price has not increased much compared to before the drought. Otherwise, it would be too difficult. Zhang also went to the town to buy the cheapest cloth to make clothes. There was no place to buy these on the way to escape the famine.
Finally, Zhang packed up all the vegetable seeds in the house and put them on the donkey cart. When they settled down in the future, they would be able to eat the vegetables they grew. The vegetable seeds of farmers are kept by themselves, and few people buy them. The housewives who manage the money in the farmers' families would like to spend every penny carefully. They are all experts in making a living.