As the days passed and the time entered June, the melee in the Central Plains seemed to have subsided.
Immediately afterwards, another piece of news came that made Xu Yue's family tremble when they heard it.
The great plague in Qingzhou left many dead and wounded, and in the place where the plague was most severe, not a single one of the 6,000 households in the county survived.
A large number of refugees evacuated from Qingzhou and fled everywhere.
In the past few days, Xu Yue went to her aunt's house to borrow books from her cousins, and saw the housekeeper Rong Bo instructing the servants to prepare food, carriages and horses, and prepare to collect some refugees from outside the county town.
Concerned about the second wife, my aunt and her family did not dare to make it public and did this quietly.
It can be seen that there are many powerful people behind the scenes who are doing the same thing, but outsiders don't know it.
Perhaps because Xu Yue was a child and the adults thought she didn't understand, Gongsun An personally brought back a cart of slaves from the county town and discussed with his parents in the hall how to resell the slaves and earn the difference.
My uncle, Gongsun Yu, has some connections, so he could just find a wealthy family to digest such a slave.
Aunt Xu suggested that her son bring back more slaves so that he could use them at home.
Xu Yue just stood under the eaves of the hall, holding the newly borrowed book, and listened to their discussion on how to buy, how to make a move, and how to avoid the second room's eyes and ears.
A slave bought for a bushel of rice could be sold for a piece of Juan, which means that for less than 100 coins, he could get back 1,500 coins.
This is indeed very profitable.
If reason hadn't awakened her in time, Xu Yue would have almost been moved.
As for the car of slaves, Xu Yue saw it by the livestock shed in the backyard before going out. They were all sallow and thin, presumably because they were hungry, and they were munching on the water and brown rice cakes given out by the servants in the mansion.
Perhaps, as long as there are people who stutter, they no longer want to care about their future and freedom.
There is a heart-wrenching fact that even Xu Yue has to admit that being a slave in a wealthy family may be better than being a commoner outside without enough food and clothing, facing the threat of death at any time.
What makes people helpless is that Xu Yue still has to ride in Uncle Rong's car to collect slaves in the city, asking him to give her a ride.
The house is overrun with bean dregs, and the chickens and ducks raised by Wang Youliang alone cannot digest it all.
So Xu Yue planned to go to the city to pick a few pigs to raise. When they were raised, the family would not only have meat to eat, but also sell it for money, and there would be no need to throw away the mountains of bean dregs.
Early the next morning, before daybreak, Xu Yue and her brother Xu Dalang got on the bullock cart that their aunt's house was preparing to collect slaves.
The tenant farmers who had picked tofu and were going to take it to the county town for sale followed the ox cart at first, but after a while, they were far away from the ox cart.
Yuyang County has recently seen a large increase in the migrant population. Tofu is cheap, looks large, and can fill your stomach, so the tofu business is much better than before.
Many tenants went to Xu's house in the middle of the night to get tofu and walked quickly to the county seat, preparing to walk one more round trip and earn more money.
Steward Rong Bo looked at Xu Yue and Xu Dalang's empty hands, then looked at the tenants who were left far behind, and asked the brothers and sisters funnyly:
"You happen to have a car. Miss Yue'er, why don't you take some tofu and sell it in the county town?"
Xu Dalang was not accustomed to talking to outsiders, so Xu Yue had to explain: "Our family is engaged in production, so it is not good for us to compete with their sales counterparts, otherwise we will be in chaos."
"Production...sales?" Uncle Rong sighed curiously: "These two new words are interesting. Miss Yue'er is not very old, so she knows a lot."
Xu Yue just smiled and stopped talking.
She got up too early, and the ox cart was rocking as if she were sitting in a cradle. She felt sleepy and leaned on her brother's arms, not only to catch up on her sleep, but also to avoid Uncle Rong's curious questions.
As a child, it is good to know a little, but if you know too much, you are a monster.
Seeing this, Uncle Rong had no choice but to withdraw his curiosity about the Xu brothers and sisters and concentrate on driving the ox cart towards the county town.
Staggering, we arrived at the county seat. It was already broad daylight, probably around seven in the morning.
As soon as she arrived outside the county town, Xu Yue saw the same scene as when she was in Puyang County town that day.
Hundreds of refugees gathered under the city gate, mostly young people, and occasionally a few half-year-old children.
They all came from escaping from the sea. The epidemic in Qingzhou was so serious that even Jizhou did not dare to open the city to take in refugees. These refugees could only risk taking the sea route and go all the way north to Yuyang County.
I don’t know how many hardships I went through before I reached Yuyang County.
At this time, under the guidance of officers and soldiers, these hundreds of refugees were receiving free porridge in an orderly manner in front of the porridge shed set up by the ladies of the aristocratic families in the city to accumulate good fortune.
The number of people in this group was far smaller than the dense crowd outside Puyang County that day. Coupled with the good deeds of the ladies of the aristocratic family, the situation was many times better than in Puyang at that time.
Uncle Rong's purpose was to collect those refugees who voluntarily sold themselves into slavery, but today he saw that there were so few people left, and he was a little disappointed.
Xu Yue looked at this situation and was very panicked.
It may be due to her occupational disease. Thinking that these people came from Qingzhou, she was very afraid that they would carry the virus.
Although these people look fine now, as if they are not sick.
But she disagreed with Yuyang County's casual approach to the matter.
At least we need to isolate and observe for a period of time, right?
But the real problem is before us. If so many people are isolated, who will provide the needed food and manpower?
If the prefect doesn’t even pay this amount, who can afford it?
However, Xu Yue feels that everyone may not have this awareness.
But seeing Uncle Rong going over to collect the person without taking any precautions, Xu Yue couldn't help but hold him back.
"Miss Yue'er? Is there anything else?" Uncle Rong asked in confusion.
It was agreed before that they would just send the Xu Yue brothers and sisters to the city gate. He would wait for them at the city gate before returning and would not go into the city.
After all, you have to pay taxes when you go into the city, so it would be nice to save a little bit for the host family.
Xu Yue knew from Uncle Rong's expression that he had misunderstood, and reminded helplessly:
"Uncle Rong, please cover your mouth and nose with a veil. There are many people here. It would be bad if you accidentally get infected."
As he said this, he still felt uneasy, so he added again: "Before buying someone, it's best to check their teeth and eyes for any abnormalities. Don't approach anyone who is particularly depressed."
Listening to Xu Yue's words, Uncle Rong was surprised for a while, then nodded and said with a smile: "I understand, thank you Miss Yue'er for reminding me."
He listened to what Xu Yue said, and immediately ordered his servants to take out their handkerchiefs and cover their mouths and noses, and then walked towards the refugees who were selling grass to themselves.
Seeing this, Xu Yue's tense heart finally relaxed a little, and she and her brother paid the city entry fee and entered the city.
There seemed to be two worlds inside and outside the city. The refugees were blocked outside the city gate and were not allowed to enter the city, so the lives of the residents in the city were not affected at all.
