One hundred and sixty-eighth section rice disturbance
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 villages could be seen.
The old people and children were all looking good but listless. The men and women worked hard all day under the scorching sun and were exhausted. They had to carry vegetable baskets to pick wild vegetables when they came back to satisfy their hunger. However, there were fewer and fewer wild vegetables and they were almost all picked.
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Summer grain is about to arrive, but the grain stocks of each household 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 eaten up, and the price of raw silk cocoons in the spring has plummeted, which has completely destroyed the hope of some sericulture farmers. Seeing that the summer grain has not yet come on the market, people are starving to death. Selling the young crops does not count.
They had to sell their land, houses, children, and daughters... A poor man did everything he could to survive. Although the weather seemed to be going well this year, the shadow of famine was 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 were more roads on the roadside.
Outside the county town, in front of the rice store in Dongguan Town, there were crowds of villagers in quail clothes. On the door frame of the rice store, there was a water board hanging on it, which marked the price of rice and various grains that had been changed many times.
.In the beginning of spring, the price of a bushel of rice was three cents, and then it fell back for a while. After entering summer, it rose for more than ten days in a row, and it was already three cents and eight cents.
Teahouses and wine shops are still full of people. The sharp rise in food prices is like a bolt from the blue for the common people, but it has no impact on the rich - many of them have benefited more or less from this catastrophe.
, some people used money lending to obtain fields and houses. Some bought cheap slaves. The sound of shouting, punching, and obscene laughter spread from the shop window to the street, together with the begging sounds of the hungry people outside, and the sound of selling oneself.
The cries of slaves being separated from their flesh and blood were mixed together.
The villagers gathered at the entrance of the rice store, each with a small bag. Their gray and gray faces were full of sorrow after eating too many wild vegetables. The hoards filled with rice and other grains were piled high.
, giving them a stinging burning sensation in their long-empty stomachs.
Although they wanted to eat rice day and night, they had to exchange the last bit of brown rice they had at home for miscellaneous grains.
"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 and said, "You old guy, do you think our shop owner is a beggar? I want you.
What do you do 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 in exchange.
"This is too little in exchange..." someone was muttering.
"Don't exchange it if it's too little." The waiter stared with cow-like eyes with a look of disdain, "Our shopkeeper is only willing to exchange your rice because of his charity. If you want to exchange it, don't block the door and hinder our business."
The people 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 store one by one to accept the "gift". They accepted bags of grains. They couldn't help but secretly curse the greed of the store owner.
It was the last one's turn, but she was a half-old woman in ragged clothes. When you get closer to her, you can see that she is not old, but her skin is gray and saggy due to long-term malnutrition and overwork.
In her hand, she held a wooden stick like a beggar. Judging from the way she panted 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 little bit of rice was only about half a pound. The waiter was not willing to take it at all. He curled his lips and smiled at everyone: "Look, this little bit of rice is not even worth a pound and is being exchanged for cereals. Although we do it in the store,
You can’t do good deeds like this. Sister-in-law! You’d better take this little rice back and feed it to me.”
"Please be kind to the shopkeeper -" the woman begged, saying that her land and house had just been taken away by the creditor, and the whole family was living in a ruined temple without even a pot. The man in the family died again,
Only the elderly and children are too hungry to eat, so they can only exchange this little rice for grains...
The waiter just refused, and the woman cried and begged, and finally knelt down and begged. Seeing that more and more people were watching, the waiter got angry and threw the bag of rice on the counter as soon as he raised his hand.
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 very small in the first place, and it splashed everywhere when she fell. The woman was seen throwing the rice particles away while crying.
Her arms were stuffed with tears and dust mixed together, like a crazy woman. Everyone on the side couldn't bear to look at her.
"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 boy scolded with his eyes widened.
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 waiters in the shop are all used to being arrogant. He looked up and glared, who was watching the excitement?
I didn't dare to talk any 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. Anyway, it won't be in vain -"
The boss, who had been picking his teeth with a sneer, probably thought that there was too much noise at the entrance of his store 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. Jinshen, whom he could not afford to offend, even if the county sent people to come, the squad leader would still be polite when talking to him, let alone dare to scold him in front of him.
"Who are you? Come out and show me!" the shopkeeper yelled.
The crowd retreated, but a man stood up. He was about 27 or 28 years old, tall, with pale skin, a stooped figure, and bowed legs - like a man sitting in front of a silk machine.
Silk weaver. He looks plain. His face is calm and he looks 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 the plates".
The mark left by the time. He said he was a clerk, but in fact he was shopkeeper Liu's thug.
He looked at the opponent up and down, as if sizing up his opponent's weight. Without saying anything, he punched Hao Yuan in the chest. The opponent 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, a blast of a high-altitude artillery gun suddenly sounded.
There was an explosion. A strange atmosphere suddenly surrounded the scene. 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 short time, 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, and even a bastard selling rice wants us to go."
I'm dead! I don't want to see my family starving to death, so everyone should 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 were all people living in the lower classes, and the disaster years made their already difficult life worse. They could only rely on Little by little, I sold everything I had to make a living, and now I'm at the point where I can't even plead hard for any so-called grace.
Now suddenly someone 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 roared crazily as if they were possessed by a demon. (To be continued, please search Piao Tian Literature, The novel is better and updated faster!