"Hmm... I never thought porridge tasted so good before. And this steamed bread is so damn delicious."
That night, the bandits, who had been out of food for two days and were starving, finally had a full meal. Each of them was given two steamed corn breads, a bunch of pickled wild vegetables, and porridge to drink to their heart's content. They ate until they were full and burped. They squeezed into a corner of the shack in the flood shelter and picked their teeth with satisfaction.
The torrential rain caused a flash flood that destroyed the mountain village. If the young master had not insisted on moving everyone from the mountain village to Xifengpo two days in advance, they would have been buried under the mountain flood. However, although they escaped the disaster thanks to the young master, the food stored in the mountain village was destroyed by the flash flood. They only managed to grab most of the food in time, and they only managed to save less than three days. To this day, they have been out of food for more than two days.
When the young master insisted on transferring the refugees, they were extremely reluctant. Now they think that the young master was wise. Otherwise, they would still be looking for wild vegetables and catching insects in the mountains, starving and choking, and how could they have the good life they have today.
"After having enough food and drink, I don't miss home. After the disaster, having a place like this that can shelter me from the wind and rain and provide me with food is like heaven."
Hu Laosan patted his belly, moved his buttocks on the straw mat, and found a comfortable position.
"This place is good, but it's too restrictive. You have to wash your hands before eating, take a shower before going to bed, and go to the designated toilet area. Even the clothes we wear when we come here have to be washed with hot water. They say it's disinfection. Don't you think it's ridiculous? If there's really poison, who would poison clothes?"
Zhang Laosan held a straw in his mouth, leaning against a pillar supporting the shack, and spoke with a smile on his face.
"They said that this was the rule set by the county magistrate. No wonder, these scholars are so picky. Even at this point, they are still too picky." Another bandit followed up.
Of course, they spoke in low voices to avoid being heard by the local disaster victims, who were extremely loyal to the county lord. If they heard them saying bad things about the county lord, they would definitely argue with them.
The young lady in the corner of the shack, who was dressed as a man, couldn't help but blush when she heard the bandits talking about taking a bath before going to bed. She lived in a shack with the others, guarded by a group of bandits, and had a relatively private space.
For her, taking a bath was a problem. She had to take a bath. The flood shelter was supervised and inspected by a special person. Because she was a woman dressed as a man, she took a bath with a group of gentlemen. Although her father and a group of bandits occupied a shower room and stood guard outside, she took a bath inside alone. But even so, when she thought of so many people outside, she couldn't help but curse the instigator.
In a blink of an eye, the night passed.
The next day, the sun rose from the east again. Looking at the rising sun shining with golden light, people were once again filled with hope.
The rain has stopped, the flood is slowly receding, and there is food and drink in the flood shelter. How can such days not be full of hope
Unlike everyone else, Zhu Ping'an was a little worried after getting up in the morning and taking a tour of the county town and the five major flood refuge areas.
What I worry about is food.
Zhu Ping'an walked around the county and the five major flood refuges, and listened to the reports from the officials in charge of each flood refuge. Currently, Jingnan is taking in more and more disaster victims. The largest of them, the Beijiao Flood Refuge, has already accommodated more than 20,000 disaster victims, including nearly 10,000 refugees from other places. Although the other four flood refuges are not as good as the Beijiao Flood Refuge, each of them also has more than 10,000 disaster victims, and foreign disaster victims account for almost half of them.
There are more than 60,000 victims in these five major flood refuge areas, and the number of victims fleeing from other places far exceeded expectations.
There’s more.
In addition to these five flood refuge areas, there are still about 20,000 people in Jingnan County.
In this flood, Jingnan County suffered much less damage than the villages below. When the flood was at its worst, the floodwaters that entered Jingnan County were limited, just at the level of waterlogging. More than 80% of the houses in the county were well preserved, and the collapsed and damaged ones were old houses that had been in disrepair for a long time. The people in the county only lost some of their property and food, and they suffered much less from the disaster.
In addition, before the flood, Zhu Ping'an ordered the repair of the drainage facilities in Jingnan County. These drainage facilities played a role. After the heavy rain stopped, it took only one day for the accumulated water in the county to be drained.
Desilting, removing mud... ... After another day, the Jingnan County was basically rebuilt and returned to normal.
The lives of people in the county have basically returned to normal, and they have suffered limited damage in this flood.
However, food is still in short supply.
The people in the county town basically do not farm. Unlike the people in the countryside, they do not store a year's worth of food. They basically do not store much food. They are similar to modern city dwellers and buy food as they eat.
Although their damage was limited, they were similar to the victims outside the city in terms of food and were equally short of food.
There are more than 60,000 disaster victims (growing every moment), more than 20,000 county residents, and more than 80,000 mouths hungry for food. They need about 50,000 kilograms of food every day, which is a very large number.
Moreover, according to the current situation, there are thousands of disaster victims fleeing to Jingnan from other places every day. According to the reports of the officials in charge of the flood shelters, the number of new arrivals each day is greater than the day before.
The daily demand for food would increase. The 20,000 dan of food stored in the county government warehouse was really insufficient.
In addition, the grain reserves in the grain shops in the county town are limited, and the grain price rises three times a day. Even so, the grain in the grain shops is not supplied freely, but is supplied in limited quantities every day.
In the past few days, Zhu Ping'an has written an official document to the provincial capital every day requesting the court for disaster relief and applying for food and fodder relief, without interruption.
However, just as Zhu Ping'an had predicted before, the imperial court seemed, probably, really unable to provide any rescue.
Zhu Ping'an's official documents requesting disaster relief from the court and requesting rescue food and fodder fell on deaf ears, with no response.
The grain reserves in the county government warehouse are stretched to the limit, the output of the county grain shop is even more limited, and the court's rescue is like a dream bubble... ... So when everyone is full of hope, Zhu Pingan can't help but worry about food.
Maybe this is what it means to worry about the world before you worry about yourself, and be happy about the world after you are happy about yourself.
"Report! A reply from the capital city!"
At this moment, the officers' shouts were heard outside.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Ping'an's face lit up with joy. He quickly stood up and shouted to the outside, "Send it in quickly."
After a burst of hurried footsteps, the officer handed Zhu Ping'an a document stamped with the seal of Taizhou Prefecture.
After Zhu Ping'an took it, he couldn't wait to open it.
"... ... all counties are actively saving themselves."
The last sentence after the official document was like a basin of cold water, extinguishing the rising fantasy of Zhu Ping'an.