Three days after Xiao Ai and Pei Yuan Shao left, she looked at a girl covered in dirt. Her mother had died not far away, purely from starvation.
There were many disaster victims nearby. It was said that three months ago, the river not far away burst. Although the flood had receded, there was no food.
The country where the breach occurred was not large, so the village in front of it did not have much impact.
However, there were many disaster victims in Luoyang.
She picked up the little girl and sighed.
"How much food do we have left?"
Pei Yuan Shao made a helpless expression,
Not much left. Except for the first day when you wasted a lot of food. You've been giving out food for the rest of the days. Miss, it's very dangerous for you to do this. We're armed now, and ordinary people don't dare to provoke us. But if you keep giving food to others, sooner or later, people will remember you.
Xiao Ai nodded.
"I know. I just don't see others suffer.
A modern person would naturally feel uncomfortable when he saw the disaster victims.
'Forget it…I'll adopt this little girl…I really have no choice but to adopt the others.''
She sighed. Then, she suddenly saw a few people from the Peace Road not far away giving out some biscuits.
However, there were not many cakes, and they were quickly snatched away.
For these disaster victims, this was just a drop in the bucket.
"No wonder the Road of Peace would respond to a single call during the rebellion." No matter what, it was better to eat a little before death.”
She thought in her heart, and then she saw something that made her feel even more unacceptable.
A few people were gathered together, using cauldrons to cook some dead bodies. The air emitted a faint meat fragrance.
Her stomach felt a little sour and she retched a few times.
'The imperial court didn't send disaster relief?"
She asked again.
Pei Yuan Shao smiled,
"Girl, you must be joking. Don't talk about disaster relief, you still have to pay a lot of taxes. Those people were high and mighty, so how many of them would truly understand the disaster?''
Xiao Ai nodded and said nothing more.
However, at this moment, a team suddenly ran over from not far away. This team was quite large, with more than ten horses and more than twenty servants.
In one of the large carriages was a boy about eight or nine years old.
He seemed to be a young master. In front of the young master was a very shrewd butler.
A man came to the front of a group of refugees and said to them,
"We accept underage boys and girls between the ages of 4 and 12. Five hundred for boys and three hundred for girls. Do you have anything for sale?
To tell the truth. Food was not cheap now, especially since these refugees had long run out of money.
The Yellow River burst once a year. For the nearby families, this was not news at all.
Therefore, these families directly came here to buy some people, servants, or servants.
The price was basically four or five hundred yuan. If it was used to buy food, it was enough to eat for a period of time.
hmm. The premise was that no one collected taxes and no other refugees snatched them away.
The tax rate in the Han Dynasty was not high, but local officials and squires still collected exorbitant taxes. If they couldn't pay, the land would naturally be annexed. Basically, the famous merchant families at the end of the Han Dynasty had a lot of people and land.
Let me give you the simplest example. When Liu Bei was being chased everywhere in the Three Kingdoms, Xiapi was broken through. At that time, Mi Zhu had casually invested in Liu Bei, giving him two troops.
Not only were there soldiers, but there were also horses…
Moreover, it was only a drop in the bucket for Mi Zhu's family.
A large family had given Liu Bei two troops.
There were many powerful families in the three kingdoms, and this kind of natural disaster was a good opportunity for them to annex the population.
sure. Only a few small aristocratic families could buy people here. The big aristocratic families all used official methods and would not personally come to buy slaves.
But at least…It could allow some people to live, right?
Immediately, a group of people sold their children. After all, they might starve to death if they followed him. If they were bought by a rich family, they might still have a chance to live.
She also couldn't care about this kind of thing for no reason. She planned to continue to Luoyang with Pei Yuan Shao.
Danger always approached inadvertently. Just as the two of them were about to leave, they suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves not far away.
Xiao Ai's expression changed and she immediately said to Pei Yuan Shao,
"Hurry up. Let's go to that house over there.''
After saying that, she ignored Pei Yuan Shao's objection and grabbed his hand and ran towards an abandoned house not far away.
He held the girl in front of him with one hand and pulled Pei Yuan Shao with the other.
'What's wrong?
Pei Yuan Shao's face was slightly red, clearly somewhat unnatural.
After the two of them entered the house, she closed the door and peeked out of the window.
The girl was placed in a corner and told to keep quiet.
There were only some rags left on the window, which basically did not have any shielding effect.
Therefore, she was very careful. She took down the two swords on her waist and prepared for battle.
Although Pei Yuan Shao didn't know what had happened, he saw Xiao Ai's actions and drew his sword to prepare.
After all, Xiao Ai was much more capable than him. Even if he couldn't find anything, it didn't mean that she couldn't.
After about half a minute, Pei Yuan Shao heard the sound of horses galloping in the distance.
At this time, he realized that the gap between the two of them was too big.
As for the refugees, they were numb to the people riding horses.
Because even if they were robbers, they didn't have any money on them.
However, some people were afraid that it wasn't. For example, the rich family who bought some slaves in front of them. After all, this group of riders seemed to be coming for them.
Because the young boy couldn't run fast in the carriage and most of his followers were buying slaves, he didn't notice the enemy at all.
By the time they reacted, they were already surrounded.
The child had been scared out of his wits, but the butler was still calm.
He cupped his hands at the people surrounding them.
I wonder what advice you have for the Zheng family of Xingyang?''
The leader pursed his lips.
"A wealthy family. good. We're looking for people from your rich families. We are a pair not far from here. The people of Peak Mountain didn't have enough food. Since you are from a rich family, please lend us some food.
When the butler heard this, he heaved a sigh of relief.
He nodded at the bandits.
this. Food is not a problem. I'll give you five hundred stones. How about it?''
This group of bandits was obviously happy. These rich families had food.
Of course, they were also afraid that these people would write empty promises, so they said to the butler,
Then it's settled. Let this kid come to our place as a guest in the next few days.''
When the food arrives…we'll let them go.“
With that, the man waved his hand, and the group of people swarmed forward.
After all, only by controlling these local tycoons could they get food.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]