Fan Hei looked at him with a cryless face, and knew that their pharmacy was not a big family, and it was normal to have no surplus food, he was actually more of a good heart, wanting to help him recover some losses, so that he didn't have any hope of buying more food from him. Hearing him say this, he sighed, lowered his voice and said: "If that's the case, I'm afraid you have to think of a way to buy some rice and noodles to prepare, this battle is only afraid that it won't be over in a month or two." ”

"yes, but where can I buy it?" Zuo Shaoyang smiled bitterly.

"Alas! It's easy to say anything else, that's it, I can't help you. Alas......"

Fan Hei shook his head and left, and Zuo Shaoyang sat on the side and pondered how to deal with it.

There is no need for Fan Heiyan to lie to himself to play, this news must be true, and it is completely reasonable. Once the army issued a grain requisition order and began to hand over grain, the family of three people could only keep three buckets, and the remaining almost two hundred buckets had to be handed over, which would be a loss of money, because at this time, if the surplus grain was handed over, a bucket of nearly 500 wen when it was bought, and a bucket of 200 wen when it was sold, then it would be a big loss. Of course, if you pay the food, you can save the life of the whole family.

It is not difficult to choose whether to save your life or your money, but if there is a situation where it is possible to make money and save your life at the same time, you must make a difficult choice whether to take this risk.

The grain requisition order is now just listening to Fan Heimian saying that it will be implemented soon, but before it is implemented, it is not illegal to have grain at home, so many large families in the city have stored grain, and they have not seen the army directly go in to grab grain, so before the army issues the grain requisition order, sell all the grain that can be exchanged for benefits or exchange it for corresponding benefits, and after reaping enough benefits, when the grain requisition order is issued, goodbye wind and rudder, even if the grain is sold to the army cheaply in the end, it will not be a loss.

Thinking of this, Zuo Shaoyang couldn't sit still, what to do with the grain?

Before this, it was necessary to keep enough rations, and the original plan was to add a total of ten people from my sister's family, and now there are six members of Miao Peilan's family, four members of Bai Zhihan's family, and Sang Xiaomei and Huang Qin, a total of twenty-two people. Because there are old and young, the average ration for four months is calculated according to the monthly ration of 20 catties, which is 1,760 catties. Each bucket is 11.8 catties, which is equivalent to about 149 buckets. This is the basic ration, which cannot be moved.

Let's not consider the limit of more than one bucket of rice per person, and first consider what to do with the rest of the food.

It must be sold, exchanged for money, and not all in your hands.

How to turn this grain into money safely requires the use of brains, and it must be done quickly, before the requisition order for officers and soldiers is issued. Because after the grain requisition order is issued, it is no longer possible to buy and sell grain privately. We have to get rid of the excess food before we do! According to what Fan Heimian just said, it was still possible to sell grain before that, but it was obvious that it could not be sold on a public list, otherwise it would immediately attract officers and soldiers to forcibly buy grain, just like the officers and soldiers forcibly requisitioned grain at a low price when they first entered the city. Therefore, they can only sell it privately from the officers and soldiers.

Sell to whom?

Zuo Shaoyang's first thought was Zhao Sanniang, his mother Liang had proposed to sell some grain to Zhao Sanniang, because her family had run out of food. At that time, I was worried about leaking the news, so I didn't sell it, and now, it is imminent, and I can't care about the leaked news.

Zuo Shaoyang immediately called his father Zuo Gui and mother Liang to the bedroom to discuss. Simply told the second elder that Fan Heimian said that the army would soon issue a grain requisition order.

When the two of them heard this, they were pale and speechless. Liang was even more trembling, thinking that so much food would be bought by the army at a low price, and now he was afraid that he would lose money to his grandmother's house, he was angry and anxious, but he didn't know what to do.

Zuo Shaoyang immediately said his idea of selling all the remaining grain before the army's grain requisition order was issued, and the two elders both nodded in agreement.

Liang said in a low voice: "Let's sell it to Zhao Sanniang first!" I'm afraid their family won't be able to open the pot. ”

Zuo Gui said: "Yes, yes, I'm afraid they don't have so much money." ”

"Sell as much as you want." The Liang family always felt indebted to Zhao Sanniang.

"Okay, you and Zhong'er, you two go and ask first."

Zuo Shaoyang shook his head and said: "Forget it, my mother still doesn't want to go, she is too soft-hearted, and she is afraid that she will not want the money she should ask." I'll go alone. ”

Liang smiled: "Don't ask for a high price, it's not easy for people." ”

"Okay, I'll just do it at the current market price."

"Huh? So high, huh? ”

Zuo Gui's eyes glared: "What do you know about a woman, at this price, many people are holding signs and holding cash on the street waiting to buy it, but no one sells it!" You're too high. Zhong'er didn't let you sell it, otherwise, I'm afraid that I won't get a penny back! Zhong'er, go quickly, your mother and I will take the grain out of the cellar. Since the grain requisition order restricts each person to only one bucket of grain, and their family is twenty people, let's prepare twenty buckets first and see how much she can buy. ”

Zuo Shaoyang agreed, and ran into the kitchen first, Liang had already prepared lunch, and the steamer was steaming hot buns. Zuo Shaoyang stretched out his hand and took three of them in his arms, Zhao Sanniang has two children, and the three of them can resist hunger first, which can also show the sincerity of selling grain.

He walked out quickly and walked towards Zhao Sanniang's house. He'd been there before, knew the way, and wasn't far from their pharmacy.

Along the way, he saw the homeless and fleeing victims huddled in the corners of the roadside walls, in sunny and leeward corners. Some were lying on the ground, already dying. These victims wanted to go into the city to escape the military disaster, but they did not realize that what awaited them was a boundless famine.

There were also some well-dressed people, but their eyes were blank and they looked like people from the city, sitting cross-legged on the side of the road, with a piece of paper in front of them, on which were written notices such as "Buying grain at a high price, fifteen times per bucket." Look at the pedestrians walking by with longing eyes.

There was already a shortage of food in the city of Hezhou, and the price of food kept rising, and the channel to the outside world was strangled by the rebels. We can only rely on the surplus grain in the city, and the grain and grass of the tens of thousands of officers and soldiers stationed in the city have all been burned to the core, and the per capita possession has been virtually reduced by half, and most of the grain stored in the granaries of the yamen has been burned, and many large granaries and houses in the city have been burned down, so there is an unprecedented shortage of grain in the city.

These refugees who fled to the city could still buy food or ask for food to eat when the officers and soldiers had not yet entered the city on the first day, and when the whole city was robbed of all the food, most of it was requisitioned by the officials and soldiers, and tens of thousands of officers and soldiers drove into the city, all the restaurants, restaurants, and roadside stalls in the city were closed and disappeared almost overnight. You can't buy food even if you have money. And it's hard to get anything for food. Tens of thousands of refugees had nothing to eat, and they fled the city and were driven back by the rebels' bows and arrows. These refugees became the first martyrs of the famine.

Under normal circumstances, when a person is completely starved without water or food, Chengren generally dies in seven to ten days, and the strong labor force will survive for a shorter time because it requires more energy and has a fast metabolism, while the newborn will die even shorter, at least two or three days and more than a week. The metabolism of the elderly is slow, and the hunger tolerance is stronger, which is longer than this period. However, in the case of no food but water to drink, the time will be longer than this. And occasionally there is a little grain or wild vegetables to satisfy the hunger, and the time will be longer.

However, if it is a severe cold situation, this time will be greatly shortened, because when people are hungry, their ability to resist severe cold will be greatly reduced, and normal people can survive the cold, which is fatal to people who are severely hungry, especially the old and weak.

These days in Hezhou are snowy and rainy, and it is very cold, so every day there are refugees sleeping on the streets who die of hunger and cold, and this number is increasing day by day.

Six or seven days have passed since the officers and soldiers entered the city, and the limit of time for people to endure hunger is approaching. The number of people dying of starvation has risen dramatically. Every day, Yamen Minzhuang used board trucks to pull the victims who had frozen to death and starved to death outside the city and threw them in mass graves. It was a cold day, and many people died, and these people were also very hungry, and they really didn't want to spend this effort digging pits and burying people.

Zuo Shaoyang looked at the victims on the side of the road with pity, and his helpless eyes waiting for death made his heart palpitate.

At that moment, a little boy grabbed him by the hem of his shirt and looked up at him.

The child was four or five years old at most, with thin limbs, but a round belly, a ragged kudzu shirt, trousers reaching only the knees, and bare feet covered with chilblains, many of which had suppurated.

Zuo Shaoyang thought it was just a child who wanted food, but he didn't expect the child to look up at him and say a word, which made his heart twitch, and the child said, "Uncle, do you want my mother?" Just one bun! ”

Zuo Shaoyang's body trembled, thinking that he had heard it wrong, so he lowered his head and asked, "What did you say?" ”

The child spoke again, then turned and pointed to an alley behind him. In the corner of a room a dozen paces away, a thin young woman squatted, looking at him with a pair of blank eyes.

The child pulled him to the alley, Zuo Shaoyang wondered if he had heard it wrong, in fact, the young woman was just sick, the child recognized himself as Lang Zhong, told himself to save his mother, and followed the child into the alley.

In this alley, too, there were a few refugees, old and young, with a broken porcelain bowl in front of them, all looking at him with godless eyes. They seem to have known that begging won't get anything, and that it's better to lie down and save some effort.

Zuo Shaoyang was pulled in front of the woman by the child.

The woman, who was in her thirties, with her hair a little disheveled and visibly puffy, and the skin on her face was white and shiny, stood up with difficulty, beckoned to Zuo Shaoyang blankly, and turned to the bottom of a staircase in the corner of the room, where some straw was laid and a tattered straw mat was spread on it. Another straw mat leans against the edge of the stairs.

The woman took the straw mat and erected it to enclose the open space under the stairs, looked at him, and unleashed her garment, revealing a pair of low, shriveled houses, drooping like two empty sacks of rice.

(To be continued)