Finally it landed firmly on the other side of the creek.
Looking at Jiang Su who successfully jumped over, Qi Mei said: "Yeah, it's very simple, there's nothing to be afraid of."
"Let's go, let's go up." Although he jumped over, Jiang Su still felt a little frightened.
After Shan Qing and others stepped over, everyone headed towards the cave.
At this time, at the entrance of the cave, the villagers living in the cave had already discovered their group.
So when Tao Qiqi climbed up the hill to the entrance of the cave, the village chief Yao came over and asked: "Where are you going?"
Tao Qiqi raised her head, looked at Village Chief Yao and replied with a smile: "Hello, old man, we are a passing caravan. The road ahead is flooded. We originally wanted to go back to the nearest county town.
However, we saw someone in this cave just now, so we thought we could discuss it with you and stay overnight with you tonight."
Village Chief Yao nodded after hearing this: "I see, then you all can come up. The road ahead has been flooded for a long time. The heavy rain comes from time to time. I don't know when the water will recede."
As Tao Qiqi followed the village chief to the cave, she asked casually: "The local magistrate didn't come over to take a look. Can you think of a solution? We see that your village has also been flooded. It has been flooded for a long time, and the houses have been flooded."
They all have to be rebuilt.”
Speaking of this, Village Chief Yao sighed: "The county magistrate came over to take a look, but the water flow is really unstoppable, and it rains heavily from time to time, so the county magistrate is helpless.
Fortunately, when the water first started to rise, we realized something was wrong, so we quickly rushed all our belongings and livestock to the cave.
Now everyone is hiding in this cave. I just hope that the water level will not rise again, otherwise there will be no way to hide in this cave."
"Has such a big flood happened before?" Qi Mei asked.
"Although there have been huge floods in the past, the water level receded within a few days, and the village was not affected. Sometimes the water level in the village was not very good, and the village could not be flooded. This time is the most serious one," said the village chief's wife.
Pass a pot of hot tea to everyone.
"Thank you, Auntie." Fang Yu took the tea and poured a bowl for everyone one by one.
Tao Qiqi observed the cave while drinking hot tea.
The cave is very large, with poultry and livestock of each household on the left, and villagers from the village living on the right.
Everyone usually sleeps on the ground.
Fortunately, there is a thick layer of hay on the ground. Compared with being in this cave, which is warm in winter and cool in summer, everyone is not particularly sad this winter.
In addition, there were several fires burning in the cave, and Tao Qiqi felt very warm even while standing inside.
There isn't much of a problem with accommodation, but with food, I don't know how everyone is doing.
I came from the field just now. Although the villagers should have harvested their food, I don't know if it has been dried and stored.
Tao Qiqi is also grown in the ground. If the weather is bad when the grain is harvested, it will become moldy and sprout if it is piled for a long time. Once it sprouts, it cannot be eaten.
All these months of hard work have been in vain.
"Village Chief Yao, seeing that all the grain in the fields has been harvested, the villagers shouldn't have suffered any losses, right?" Qi Mei, who happened to be chatting with the village chief, asked this question.
Upon hearing Qi Mei's inquiry, the village chief's face became even more serious.
"Don't talk about it. Speaking of which, the folks have no place to cry. Originally, the grains had been harvested and had been exposed to the sun for just one day. I thought that after one more day of drying, they could be sealed up for the winter.
As a result, a heavy rain suddenly came down at noon the next day. The rice that the villagers had dried in the field was soaked by the rain before they had time to collect it. At first, they thought of waiting for the rain to pass before drying it again.
As a result, it rained for four or five days at a time. Even if it stopped raining in the middle, it didn't stop for long. It started raining again before the sun even peaked. Now most of the villagers' food has sprouted and gone moldy. This winter is still
I don’t know how to live.”
Speaking of the latter part, the corners of Village Chief Yao's eyes became wet.
Wiping his tears and looking at the fields outside the cave, Village Chief Yao looked sad.
Originally, winter wheat could be planted after the autumn harvest. But now, winter wheat will definitely not be planted.
Although the villagers later tried to salvage and dry the grain harvested in the autumn, the village was about to be submerged due to rising water in the river, and the villagers had to move out of the village quickly.
This delayed for a day, and in the end not much food was saved, and most of it was destroyed.
Now that the spring harvest has failed, the remaining grain is not even enough to pay the grain tax, and we don’t know whether we can survive until next summer’s harvest.
"What did the county magistrate say about this situation?" Jiang Su asked.
"Originally, we had to prepare to pay the grain tax after the autumn harvest, but due to heavy rain, the matter of paying the grain tax was temporarily delayed. Fortunately, the higher authorities later issued a document, and the grain tax this year can be exempted in the affected areas."
As soon as Village Chief Yao finished speaking, a villager came over and said with a sad face: "But because winter wheat cannot be planted and there is no harvest in the spring, the food in the hands of the villagers will have to wait until the summer harvest. I don't know if it will last."
Where is the past?"
After hearing this, Fang Yu comforted and said: "It's okay, the boat will go straight to the bridge. Since the above can exempt the folks from the food tax this year, it means that the above will definitely not sit idly by and do nothing. Give the above some time, and the above will definitely find a way to solve the problem for the people."
Difficult."
Village Chief Yao nodded in agreement: "Indeed, we are much happier than the people in the north. In recent years of famine in the north, the people above did not care about everyone's life and death, and even stole food from the people.
Now, the man above is the wise man who dealt with the refugees in the north. With him here, he will definitely not care about the life and death of our people. It is only a matter of time.
After all, the new emperor has just taken up that position, and he has a lot of things to deal with. We are suffering, and the fact that he can issue documents to exempt us from food tax as soon as possible is the best proof."
Seeing what the village chief said, the villagers who had just walked over thought that it was true. They were lucky, so they nodded and agreed with the village chief's statement, and also agreed with Fang Yu's suggestion. Wait and see, give the higher ups some time.
.
Jiang Su felt very proud after hearing what Village Chief Yao said.
Being able to hear people's recognition of their son live and in person makes a mother naturally happy and proud.
"Okay, it's getting late." Village Chief Yao said, looking at his wife and saying: "Old lady, plant some more rice tonight. Let these young masters and madams deal with us together."
Jiang Su originally wanted to refuse, but was stopped by Tao Qiqi. Then Tao Qiqi looked at Village Chief Yao and smiled and replied: "Thank you for your hard work, Village Chief Yao. We don't eat for free. We happened to pick it up by the river just now."
If you get two fish, add more fish soup. I'll get the fish."
After Tao Qiqi finished speaking, she walked towards the carriage on the roadside.
