Chapter 130 Hungry people
When Qin Lang came to the gate of Pingkang Fang, he found that there were a large number of people gathered here. Fang Zheng and Fang Ding were guarding the gate of the workshop, and these people were not allowed to come in and out. They could only gather in front of the gate.
The Marquis in the street shop at Fangmenkou glanced at them from time to time with wary and disgusted eyes.
As soon as Qin Lang appeared, the group of people immediately surrounded him.
"Ah Lang, it's not good to buy someone. Look at how young I am, and she looks good. You can buy it. It's cheap, only two buckets of millet."
"Buy mine. This is a boy with strength. If you buy it, you can work. You don't eat food for nothing."
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A group of people surrounded Qin Lang, chattering with each other, and they pushed some young boys and girls in front of him, as if he was a salesman of a department store.
There are many people behind, desperately squeezing in, just to sell the children around him in front of him. They are like squeezing the subway.
Qin Lang was startled.
He understood that these people were trying to sell him.
People are bought and sold like goods, and they are picked and picked like livestock. Although Qin Lang brought back many slaves when he came back from Youzhou last time, such as Turkic slaves, Xinluo slaves, Japanese slaves and even Kunlun slaves, those were all adult slaves. slaves, slaves of foreign races, they have long been slaves who have been resold many times.
But these people are different now, they are all just children, and Qin Lang can tell that these people around him are not slave traders. Judging from their appearance, they should also be good people in the Gyeonggi area under the foot of the emperor , but now he wants to sell his young children.
My heart was stabbed fiercely.
Qin Lang originally thought that he had been in this era for a long time, and he should have gradually adapted to the survival rules of this era, just like the last time he finally surrendered to Li Shimin and handed over the only three-year-old Julu King to Li Shimin.
But now, seeing so many parents want to sell their children, he is still stung.
The Marquis over there also saw Qin Lang, and immediately waved their iron ruler to drive away these untouchables.
"This is the honorable Lord Yi, how can you and other low-ranking people dare to surround him, get out of here!"
The iron ruler beat on those men and women mercilessly. They screamed in panic, and then lowered their heads and reached out to protect the children in their arms. Although they came here and wanted to sell them, when the iron ruler fell, they still thought of it immediately. Protect them with your body.
"Stop!"
Qin Lang stopped.
"Duke Yi!"
"Retire first." Qin Lang was very familiar with these Marquis, and knew that it was only their responsibility.
Qin Lang said to the people in front of the horse, "Don't surround yourself so closely, spread out, and if you have something to say, I will listen."
Li Cunxiao also stood in front of the horse and said loudly, "My adoptive father is Duke Yi of the imperial court, or the captain of the county horse, don't hug each other, come one by one."
These people are indeed some common people near Chang'an City.
Because of the large-scale invasion of the Turks, although there are only some ranger strikers, the entire Chang'an area has already been alarmed.
Under the strategic plan of the new emperor to lure the enemy deep into the city of Chang'an, wait for their food to be exhausted, encircle and gather together, the Turkic army was able to bypass one fortress after another and drive directly to Guanzhong.
The prefectures in Guanzhong and all the commanding military mansions have been ordered by the emperor to guard the city tightly and prohibit going to war.
In this way, Qinchuan, eight hundred miles away, became a place where Turkic cavalry were free to come and go. Countless rural villages were no longer safe to speak of. Where can accommodate so many people.
The most terrible thing is that this year there are floods, droughts and natural disasters, and many places in Guanzhong have poor harvests in summer. Because of the Turkic invasion, the imperial court has fully recruited Guanzhong government soldiers this year. The demand for food and grass is higher. The government has additionally collected food and grass. All the food was handed over.
Now that the Turkic people came, everyone left their hometowns with their families and rushed to the cities, but many cities were already overcrowded and food was in short supply, so some people rushed to the big cities and even Chang'an City, hoping to be able to Get some food relief.
But right now, war is the top priority, and food is tight for the army, or the courts, government offices, and noble officials in Chang'an City.
They managed to come to the outside of Chang'an City, but they couldn't even enter the gate of Chang'an City.
Some of those who came earlier also did not receive relief food. Fortunately, they came earlier and sneaked into Chang'an City, but they could only become refugees and beggars. But at this time, food is precious, and who has how much surplus food? Will give them alms.
In previous years, I could still go to the Buddhist temples and Taoist temples in Chang'an City to save some water and rice, but after the Supreme Emperor issued the edict before he abdicated earlier this year, only a few temples and temples remained in Chang'an City, and the rest have been banned. Many monks and Taoists were ordered to return to vulgarity.
In the end, these desperate people had no choice but to sell their sons and daughters.
Some people knew that there were brothels gathered in Pingkangfang, so they came here to sell their daughters.
Selling children and daughters in disaster years seems to have become a common behavior. For those desperate people, selling those young children gave them a way to survive and helped their families at the same time.
If you don’t sell your sons and daughters, everyone will starve to death in the end.
Even the worst situation is that even children who are starved to death are often not wasted, and will be used by hungry parents to exchange children for food.
Qin Lang saw a woman with disheveled and knotted hair, shiny black clothes, and a sour smell all over her body. Her complexion was sallow and disheveled. She held a baby girl in her arms, with pigtails and lips Her skin was peeling and her face was pale, but her eyes were dark and energetic, and those eyes were moving around with fear and anxiety, but her hands were firmly grasping the skirt of her mother's clothes, for fear of leaving.
For her, this city is too strange.
The tall city gates and square walls, where the gorgeously dressed nobles of Chang'an, are too unfamiliar and disturbing to her.
Looking at these children, Li Cunxiao seemed to see himself in the past, but his mother died of illness early, and he had lived a more pitiful and helpless life than them for several years. At least they still have their mother's arms to rely on.
"Grandfather, why don't you buy them, they are so pitiful."
Li Cunxiao knows that my grandfather is rich, Aye is the Duke of the state, he is a relative of the third rank, the land alone has 20,000 mu of land, and there are many manors, etc. Yesterday, my grandfather went to the Taiji Palace to play mahjong with the Supreme Emperor, and won a hundred in one day and one night. Big horseshoe gold, that is exactly 1,600 taels of gold.
And today, Grandpa also added a hundred households to Shifeng Shiyi, and received another three thousand bolts of silk as a reward.
Looking at these poor women and men, looking at those poor and helpless children like lambs, Qin Lang felt heartbroken. I was lucky, I transmigrated to Qin Qiong's son, who was in a high position, and he was a master, but these people were as humble as grass.
He glanced over and roughly estimated that there are about 300 refugees here.
There are hundreds of children alone.
Fang was leaning in front of Qin Lang, and went forward to salute.
"Is there no yamen to help these victims? No place to put food and porridge?"
Fang is just a middle-aged man. The original Fangzheng was exiled when Qin Lang made a big fuss in the Green Snake Hall last time. Now this one takes over later. It can be regarded as someone on Qin Lang's line.
"Third Lord doesn't know that Chang'an City is quite chaotic now, because the old and new dynasties are changing, so the Yongzhou Mansion has already issued a strict order to prohibit refugees from entering the city, so as to prevent Turkic spies from mixing in and taking the opportunity to cause chaos. It is also to prevent chaos in Beijing."
"Then leave the victims alone?"
"It's not that I don't care about it, it's just that I can't manage it for a while. Starting today, the nine gates of Chang'an will be closed. Today, the Yongzhou government has started to set up porridge stations at the nine gates outside the city, and allowed the refugees to build shacks ten miles away from Chang'an city for a while. live."
Most of these refugees come in with their doors closed. Of course, it is okay for these people to go out, but they know that it will not be good if they go out.
Sell one or two children for a few buckets of rice, and then go to get some porridge to drink, so that it is possible to survive this catastrophe.
"If the third master feels sorry for them, why don't you just buy these children? It's cheap and cost-effective to buy at this time. It's a good deed to save their lives."
According to the words of this old king, in times of calamity, big households would buy people. At this time, it is cheaper to buy people, and you can get a good reputation. After all, most of the big families are landlords. Landlords need labor, and families also need servants.
In normal times, if you want to buy someone, it’s not only expensive, but it’s also hard to get a chance. The court grants the land evenly, and ordinary people can live on. It’s only in times of disaster that some people will sell themselves as slaves or It's a prostitute.
"Er Dou Su will be replaced by another child, and he will be able to do things after two years of raising him. It's not a loss." Lao Wang said.
At this time, a man with a dirty face said, "I have no children, and I am willing to sell my wife for half a stone."
A young man was probably very hungry, and he said weakly, "I sold myself, just give my grandpa and grandma a stone of a millet."
Old Wang said, "For such a young man, in a normal year, one would get at least 20,000 in the cattle and horse market, but now 2,000 is enough. It's a bargain."
Qin Lang felt very uncomfortable when he heard this. He knew that there must be many nobles and powerful gentry who did this, and it would be like this for thousands of years.
But he couldn't bear to let himself take advantage of this opportunity.
A young man was forced to this point, to sell himself into slavery, just to give his family a stone of grain to live. A young woman, for the sake of Er Dou millet, is about to sell her child who was pregnant in October, fed day and night, changed diapers, excreted and **** until she was several years old...
"Old Wang, you open the door of the workshop. I will take these people to my house to take them in temporarily and give them a meal."
"Take it in?" Pharaoh was stunned, didn't he buy it?
(end of this chapter)