Didn't it mean that the soldiers surrounded all the refugees? Why did a large number of refugees suddenly appear in front of his village?
Qiao Lan had a headache, so she asked people to go out and inquire about the origins of these refugees, and then she learned about the latest trends outside.
"...I heard that many ministers in the court had quarreled with His Majesty! They even scolded Your Majesty directly, and were immediately deprived of their official positions by His Majesty, and some even hit the pillars..." Duan Mingjing whispered what he had learned about
Qiao Lan listened.
After all, it was a matter related to the court. As a scholar, he did not dare to discuss it loudly.
"The eviction order was issued by His Majesty at night. Many adults did not know about it. They only found out about the news outside the city the next day. They all petitioned Your Majesty to take back the order, saying that it would be fine if the refugees were allowed to leave the capital in such cold weather.
It will directly kill them."
"I just argued like this all day and night, and then I came up with this idea..."
"Let those refugees find a way to survive by themselves. If they can leave, they can leave. Those who cannot leave can only work as slaves and make a living. In short, they cannot stay outside the capital."
A lowly slave is a type of official slave. He does not work as a slave in the palace. As the name suggests, he does the lowest work.
To do the hardest physical work, there is no time to rest all year round. This is also the case in the twelfth lunar month of winter. If you don't have your own private property, you will not rest until you die.
Therefore, the majority of refugees could not enter the city, so they had to go to Zhuangzi, a large village outside the city, to sell themselves as slaves in order to find a way out.
There are wealthy people who are willing to work as slaves for them, which is much better than being a lowly slave. A lowly slave has a mark on his face and cannot redeem himself for life, and his children have the same fate as them.
This ordinary slave still has a monthly salary. If he saves enough money, he can redeem himself and settle down alone outside.
Qiao Lan and the men of the Duan family, who were sitting in the house, listened with frowns on their faces.
After Duan Mingjing finished speaking, he glanced at Qiao Lan and asked: "Mom, the people in this village said that there are hundreds of people at the gate of our village. These people are all from slaves. Do we want to buy some of them?"
After Duan Mingjing said this, the two men in the room looked at Qiao Lan, waiting for her opinion.
At this time, slaves were cheap and could be bought without spending much money. They were here to survive, not to make money.
Many people will pick a few that they like and keep them in the village.
Qiao Lan was silent for a moment and made a difficult decision in her heart.
"I won't accept them anymore, I can't accept them anymore! If I accept them, there won't be any room for them..."
There are no intact eggs under the overturned nest. In this turbulent world, she has no ability to protect the whole family, let alone the people outside.
The refugee Qiao Lan who gathered in front of Zhuangzi did not intend to accept it. This was a decision made by Qiao Lan after careful consideration.
First, there are enough people in Zhuangzi, and second, there is not enough food.
Qiao Lan's village has gained a lot of people in the past few years. During the busy farming season, you can ask the surrounding farmers to help you by paying some grain and copper coins instead of a year's wages.
Besides, there is a certain amount of food in one’s own farm.
The farmers on Qiaolan Village do not eat the food grown in the village, but buy it from outside.
Because the varieties grown in our farm are the varieties cultivated by Qiao Lan, the quality will be much better. Selling them as improved varieties will have a greater effect, allowing farmers outside to increase production.
The Duan family gathered some food and clothing before winter, and donated several thousand kilograms. Later, when the court asked for donations, the Duan family donated some more. In addition, the Duan family took care of the surrounding villages, so these supplies were reduced a lot.
There were not dozens of people surrounding his village, but hundreds of people, and the food was simply not enough.
There were originally only a few hundred refugees outside the capital. After more than a month of extremely cold weather, the number increased by tens of thousands.
This has mostly to do with the lazy administration of the court.
Many people froze to death directly, and those who survived took off the clothes of the dead before they had a chance to survive outside the city.
Survival has always been an extremely cruel thing.
Humans are social animals!
A single individual cannot survive a long period of time alone and continue civilization and life to the present.
When thinking about problems, rationality is important, but so is emotion.
Reason told Qiao Lan that the supplies in her hand were not enough for these people to survive until next spring.
But her senses tell her that they are all human beings, living beings. If there is not enough food, they can be squeezed together, even if they are hungry, this group of people can survive until spring.
When spring comes, there will be hope.
The original meaning of civilization is development, and there is no development without life.
The first thing to make a strong country is to strengthen its people. Without the people, how can there be a country?
This is only the beginning of the Little Ice Age, and it will only be more difficult in the future.
"Those people can't buy them into Zhuangzi, but they can be allowed to work in exchange for some clothes and food." Qiao Lan continued.
"Go to the village next to Zhuangzi and ask if anyone is willing to move an empty house and yard out. Let's give some money and rent it to those people, and let them work to pay off the debt. We are short of charcoal fire in the kiln
If you can burn it, just give them some, it will only help next spring..." Qiao Lan thought.
"Mom, let's go and arrange it now!" Duan Mingjing said and immediately stood up from the stool, taking the lead and planning to rush up to the village.
After hearing this, Qiao Lan hurriedly shouted: "Don't be impatient! I haven't finished speaking yet. You can go back to work after I finish speaking."
"We cannot rely on our family to do this. We need help from other families in the capital. I will write a few letters and you will deliver them to those mansions in person." Qiao Lan thought.
Qiao Lan has no connection with the big families and aristocratic families in the capital!
But after accepting many students last year, there were more letters and gifts exchanged.
If these powerful people work together, what problem can't be solved?
To put it bluntly, it is arrogance! In their eyes, ordinary people are like ants on the roadside.
The high-ranking dignitaries will not care about the lives of ants, and may even feel that ants gather at the city gate, ruining their mood when entering and leaving the city gate.
The little emperor's ability to sit firmly on the throne was indispensable without the support of powerful ministers and aristocratic families.
They might be involved in the purpose of driving away the refugees, so the little emperor had to issue the decree overnight and hide himself behind the scenes without taking any blame.
Qiao Lan felt that she was just a housewife. Even if she had a second-grade title hanging on her head, it was still empty. She was not too proud to let those people help the people.
We can only give them a taste of the sweetness and make them feel that doing this is profitable, so that they can be willing to help these people.
Qiao Lan returned to the study room and spent half a day writing eleven letters and sending them to the parents of the students.
At the beginning of the letter, Qiao Lan directly told them what benefits she could give them, and also talked about her own methods of helping the refugees.
Instead of taking them directly into the village, they were allowed to live in the homes of nearby farmers, where they could get some clothes and food in exchange for their work.
As for the conditions that Qiao Lan can offer, one is the prescription of Yin Shuang Tan in her hand, and the other is the rye on Zhuangzi. By the way, she added that if the rye is properly maintained, it can produce more than five thousand kilograms.
After sending the letter, Qiao Lan dug out a wooden sign from the depths of the box.
This was given to her by Yu Zhao.
She had saved Yu Zhao's life. Since the Yu family was the richest man in Beijing, they could naturally contribute a lot in this matter.
Qiao Lan does not expect the Yu family to help her, but if the Yu family is willing to help, she will also give some corresponding gifts.
Qiao Lan didn't want to talk about these things openly and let outsiders know what she had done.
Before there is sufficient self-protection ability, all the things people desire can bring disaster.