On the rugged mountain road, Xiao Chen and his two men led thirty or forty men towards Chengnan Town, which was twenty miles away.
The villagers burst into tears of gratitude for the two men's actions.
In a state of having nothing, the problem of food was solved, and everything became hopeful again.
This is a favor from the imperial court, and it is also a sign that the two young men at the front of the team care about the people.
Taizhou Prefecture seems to be unaware of the burning, killing and looting by Japanese pirates, and no one has come down to check it out until now.
Except for the guards soldiers who walked around the village in a formal manner, the government seemed to have completely forgotten Nanping Village.
But in front of them, these two officials from the capital actually wanted to take everyone to the town to buy pots and rice. In their hearts, everyone was full of gratitude to the court and the emperor.
Zhang Erwa excitedly walked at the front to lead the way.
He held a sickle in his dark hand and chopped off the thorns that were too long on both sides of the mountain road as he walked, for fear of accidentally stabbing the two officials behind him.
Everyone had smiles on their faces, but Xiao Chen and Duan Tianming couldn't stop laughing.
These are the common people of the imperial court.
The defense was incompetent and they were invaded by Japanese pirates.
The government was indifferent and turned a blind eye to them from beginning to end.
Shouldn't the rule of the imperial court be so scattered far away from the capital?
The mountain road of more than 20 miles is very difficult to walk.
In addition to the large number of ordinary people, after two hours, everyone arrived at Chengnan Town, which had hundreds of households and looked a bit prosperous.
It is different from other towns in the interior.
Chengnan Town actually built a city wall.
"A town actually needs to be surrounded by a city wall?" Duan Tianming stopped and put his right hand on his forehead and looked at the city wall in the distance.
"Could it be that the Japanese pirates appeared and it was built in recent years?" Xiao Chen also guessed.
Zhang Erwa, who was walking at the front, heard what the two said, stopped, grinned, showing her white teeth: "In this town in the south of the city, there is a hundred-household residence, where officers and soldiers are stationed."
"So that's it." Xiao Chen said, "With hundreds of households guarding it, Japanese pirates shouldn't come here easily. It can be considered a pure land."
Outside the city wall, there are paddy fields.
The crops in the field are growing well. In the clear water two to three inches deep, there are a large number of half-foot-long fish, vying to snatch a field snail.
Dozens of figures wearing huge hats stood in the field, holding handfuls of weeds in their hands, searching for another weed.
Inside the city gate hole, which is more than one foot high, two soldiers held red-tasseled guns in their arms and looked at the people working in the paddy fields in the distance, as if they were admiring a beautiful landscape painting, quietly lost in thought.
It wasn't until everyone approached the city gate that they finally calmed down.
Glancing at Xiao Chen and Duan Tianming, and then at the "huge" group of civilians behind him, the soldier opened his mouth and asked, "Who are you?"
"Master." Zhang Erwa came up with a smile and nodded, "We are villagers in Nanping Village. The Japanese pirates robbed our village a few days ago, smashed the pots, robbed the grain, and burned down the houses. We
Come to the town to buy pot and rice."
"From Nanping Village?" The soldier looked at everyone warily and focused on Xiao Chen and Duan Tianming.
"These two people don't look alike."
"These two are from Beijing..." Before Zhang Erwa could finish her words, Xiao Chen hurriedly walked up to pick up the conversation.
"Our relatives are in Nanping Village. I heard that they were hit by a disaster, so we came over to help repair their house." Xiao Chen nodded and bowed to the other party, trying his best to look like an ordinary citizen.
"Are they really your relatives in Nanping Village?" The soldier was doubtful of Xiao Chen's words and turned to look at Zhang Erwa.
"Yes, they are relatives of my family." Zhang Erwa nodded hurriedly.
"Go in." The soldier took a step back and moved out of the way of the city gate.
After walking about three or four feet away, Zhang Erwan looked at Xiao Chen with an embarrassed look on his face and said, "I am so happy that I forgot the officer's instructions for a moment. Please don't take offense."
"It's okay, it's okay. Let's go buy pot." Xiao Chen waved his hand and said with a smile.
Inside the city gate cave, looking at the crowd of civilians in the distance, two soldiers gathered together.
They whispered something to each other and left in a hurry.
The streets in the town are quite spacious.
The sun was shining brightly, but there were few pedestrians.
Many shops facing the street are also closed.
After finally seeing a grain store, Xiao Chen hurriedly walked in.
Entering the door, there are several large square wooden boxes on the ground, with several different kinds of rice in them.
Some are pure white in color, and some are slightly pale yellow.
There are round ones and elongated ones.
Inside the wooden box at the end were some broken rice dregs.
Inside the counter, a middle-aged man leaned on the back of his chair, snoring with his mouth half-opened, letting the saliva flow all over his chest.
"It's from the shopkeeper." Xiao Chen walked to the front of the counter, stretched out his hand and tapped lightly on the counter a few times.
"Well, well." The shopkeeper was suddenly awakened, his eyes were wide open, and he shook his head left and right a few times before he saw Xiao Chen in front of him.
He hurriedly raised his sleeves, wiped the hala that was still flowing around his mouth, stood up, and nodded to Xiao Chen: "What do you want? Are you buying rice or selling rice?"
"We want to buy some rice." Xiao Chen said.
"You have come to the right place to buy rice." When he heard that there was business, the shopkeeper's eyes flashed and he walked out of the counter.
I walked to those big wooden boxes, grabbed handfuls of rice, and slowly poured it out.
"The rice here is of high quality, and the price is unbeatable. Are you all from a seaside fishing village? We are all our own people, so I'll make it cheaper for you." The shopkeeper smiled and made the connection.
"I see there are several types of rice here. What are their prices?" Xiao Chen asked.
"The best one costs one liter per liter. The worst one costs ten liters per liter."
"The price gap is so big?" Duan Tianming beside him exclaimed.
"No." The shopkeeper squinted his eyes and chuckled, "Good rice is good rice, and it can only be achieved if it is matched by a good price. The rice dregs at the end cost ten liters for a penny. Although it is cheap, it can still fill the stomach.
My belly."
"Rice dregs, aren't they all used to feed chickens and dogs? You actually sell them here. Moreover, I see that there are a lot of sand in your rice dregs. They are not edible. No matter how cheap they are, what's the point?
Use it?" Duan Tianming said.
"Why are you talking?" After listening to Duan Tianming's words, the shopkeeper was obviously a little unhappy, and his voice was raised a lot, "This rice is produced in paddy fields. How can it be possible without sand?"
"It's normal to have grains of sand, but yours has a lot of sand, almost accounting for half of it. Although the price is cheap, if the sand grains are removed and only the rice dregs are counted, it is more expensive than other places."
In the capital, Duan Tianming is also someone who often goes to the market to purchase.
He still has a lot of common sense about buying and selling.
The shopkeeper's face suddenly darkened: "Am I the one who can decide how much sand there is? Can I still deliberately mix sand into the rice dregs without my conscience? Tell me, how much of this kind of rice dregs do you want?"
"
"There are too many grains of sand, we don't want it anymore." Xiao Chen shook his head.
"Don't want it? Don't want it? You and I have wasted so much time talking about it? Seeing as you are from Nanping Village, and I lowered the price so low after being robbed by Japanese pirates, you actually don't want it anymore? What a bunch of poor people. If you can't afford rice, why don't you give it up?"
You want to buy it, but you don’t mind that there are too many grains of sand. The rice on the side has less grains of sand, can you afford it?”
With that said, the shopkeeper waved his hand towards the door and asked everyone to go out.
Xiao Chen did not move, pointing to the best rice and looking at Duan Tianming: "What is the price of this kind of rice bought by the Thirteenth Army?"
"If it's not mixed with sand, it's two liters for a ounce of money."
Xiao Chen raised his head and looked at the shopkeeper: "Two liters for a sling, will you sell it?"
"Two liters? Why don't you go and grab it? Either the beach cannot be cultivated here, or the mountains don't even have a paddy field. You buy rice at the price of other places? Let's go, go hungry if you don't have money, don't look at it
That rice you can’t afford.”
The shopkeeper looked impatient and waved his hand again.
Xiao Chen stared at the shopkeeper with microscopic eyes: "It's two liters per ounce, you have to sell it now, or you have to sell it if you don't. It's promised that there will be no grains of sand in it. If there is, you won't even want a copper plate."
"
"Oh, you want to rob?" the shopkeeper snorted coldly, "Don't even look at where this place is. This is a town governed by hundreds of households in the south of the city. If you act wild here, I think your necks are a little itchy."
Just as he was talking, outside the store, a man from a hundred households and a dozen soldiers came towards the store.
