Traveling through ancient times: daily life on the run

Chapter 156 Beggars Everywhere

After spending two days safely on the ship, the ship arrived safely at the Pingshan County wharf in the early morning of the third day.

The boatmen on the boat helped to move the carriage off the boat. Qin Bingrui jumped off the boat and took a deep breath of fresh air, the air of freedom.

Immediately, a group of dirty beggars aged between seven or eight and fifteen or sixteen surrounded him, and some of them had already started to grab Qin Bingrui's brocade robe.

"Hey, what are you doing? You're touching me!"

"Sir, please give us some food. We haven't eaten for several days."

"Hey, that's a good question. I haven't eaten for several days either."

Qin Bingrui kicked away the beggar in front of him. He looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old. He had hands and feet, but instead of doing some odd jobs to support himself, he actually wanted to take advantage of the situation and touch her purse.

Luo Yu was surprised. How could the development of cities of the same level be so different across the Wanjiang River? Both were county-level wharves, but why was the Pingshan County wharf so significantly inferior to the Lezhu County wharf across the river?

The docks in Pingshan County were completely packed with disaster victims, lying in all directions, men, women, young and old. There were very few boats docking, and when a large ship finally arrived, everyone who could move squeezed onto it.

After kicking one beggar away, the rest became even more restless. Qin Bingrui simply swung out his nine-section whip and smashed all the broken bowls in the hands of the little beggars into pieces.

She said fiercely, "If you provoke me again, I will immediately move your heads and bodies."

The little beggars were so frightened that they retreated one after another. Looking at the cross-shaped scars on the woman's face, they no longer dared to approach her.

There were also yamen runners guarding the dock. One of them saw that Qin Bingrui and his friends were quite impressive, so he immediately came forward and greeted them with a smile.

"May I ask if the three of you, when you went to Pingshan County, did you bring any news of the imperial court's disaster relief grain?"

"Ah, there is relief food? Are we saved?" An old lady who was lying sideways immediately straightened her upper body, thinking that she was saved, with light in her eyes.

Luo Yu took a look and saw that everyone was pale and thin, and their faces and hands were so dirty that they almost blended into the ground.

Seeing everyone getting ready to move, Qin Bingrui was afraid that making too much noise would make it harder to move, so he said coldly: "We are not masters, we are just passing merchants."

The young yamen runner was puzzled. "What are you doing here, merchants? A few months ago, there were floods, and the rice paddies were submerged, so no crops grew. Many houses along the river were also washed away. The price of grain in the county has skyrocketed, and no one can afford to eat. You won't make much money selling things here."

"Who said we were here to sell things?"

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Come and take a look to see if there are any items here that can be sold elsewhere."

Qin Bingrui said this casually, and the young yamen runner asked several other yamen runners to help disperse the refugees so that Qin Bingrui and his carriage could pass.

Young Master Murong stood beside Luo Yu to prevent the beggars from pulling at her skirt.

"Sister, get in the car. Let's go into the city first to see what's going on here."

Luo Yu responded and immediately got on the carriage.

The boat that brought them here did not stop for a moment, but set off immediately after raising the sails. If it were not for the generous amount given by Mr. Qin, they would never have come to Pingshan County.

Qin Bingrui drove the carriage to the county town, and the young yamen runner followed behind, as if he was rushing back to report.

Qin Bingrui patted the seat next to him and shouted, "Hey, young man, get in. I'll give you a ride."

"Ah, how can this be so embarrassing."

The young yamen runner was no more than seventeen or eighteen years old. When he grinned, his face was black and his teeth were white.

Murong was riding a big horse, holding a long sword, wearing a black brocade robe, with sharp eyes and a solemn face, looking quite intimidating.

Qin Bingrui stopped his horse, and the young yamen runner sat on it respectfully, speaking nice words all the way.

Definitely a clever guy.

Pingshan Wharf is ten miles away from the county town, which was not a long distance for the ancients. It would only take half an hour to jog.

I didn't see many people coming and going along the way. At most, I saw some ox carts pulling things into the city. I didn't see any disaster victims lying on the road, but there were quite a few beggars begging along the way, all of whom were walking from the other side of the city.

Luo Er opened the curtain and saw a boy of about ten holding the hand of a five-year-old girl walking in the opposite direction. Both were thin and pale, their clothes tattered, not a single piece of cloth covering their arms. As if noticing Luo Er looking at her, the girl raised her large, innocent eyes and grinned at her, revealing her white teeth. Her face was thin, leaving only a pair of large, round eyes, a sight that made one's heart ache.

"Stop, Bingrui."

"Hey, what's wrong? Sister Luo Yu."

Luo Yu took out a box of cakes from the prepared food, and then thought, the two children are so young, if he gave them food, not only would they not be able to keep the food, but they would also be bullied even more severely.

Any little sympathy you have now will only harm the two children.

Putting down the cake, she took out a white steamed bun, got off the car and asked the two little beggars: "Answer me a question, and I will give you a steamed bun."

The little boy's listless eyes suddenly lit up.

"go ahead."

"Okay, where are you from? Where are your parents? Did something happen at home?"

Murong and Qin Bingrui didn't show any expression, but the little yamen runner sounded a little strange. Aren't these three questions? Did she think the little beggar didn't know one, two, three?

The little boy stared at the white steamed bun in Luo Yu's hand, not caring whether she asked one question or two, three or four questions.

"We are from Meijia Village in Qingshan County, downstream from Pingshan County. This year's floods destroyed all our houses. My parents went to move all the food we had at home, and only my sister and I were safe because we were sent to the mountains."

"Oh, so your last name is Mei?"

"Sister, how do you know our last name is Mei? My brother's name is Mei Zhengyan, and mine is Mei Yaoer."

"Wow, you have really nice names. Here are the white steamed buns for you, but you have to eat them here before you can leave."

Mei Zhengyan took the steamed bun, broke it into two halves, and gave the larger half to his sister.

When Qin Bingrui saw this scene, he wiped away his tears and cried with sadness.

"Sister, they are so pitiful. They are so young and have no parents."

The young yamen runner sighed, his helplessness tinged with infinite sorrow. "There are quite a few like this. Before, there were at least five or six thousand disaster victims outside the county gate, and five or six hundred half-grown children like this."

Murong asked coldly, "Then your magistrate has not thought about helping these people who have been affected by the disaster?"

"There's nothing we can do. Pingshan County isn't wealthy, and we're struggling right now. You don't even know how poor our magistrate is right now. Besides, the people affected by the disaster at the dock are the people of Wangzhou Prefecture. Pingshan County belongs to Yanzhou, not Wangzhou, so we can't keep providing relief."

"Then why don't they go to Wangzhou Prefecture? What are they doing in Pingshan County?"

"Although Qingshan County was built along a tributary of the Wanjiang River, it has no waterways and suffers from floods every year. The situation is really not good. Wangzhou Prefecture is far away from Qingshan County, and the nearest county to Qingshan County is also our Pingshan County, so they all came here.

But I heard that the entire Wangzhou suffered heavy losses. Many cities were built along tributaries, and the tributaries are narrow, so major floods occur every few years.

But there wasn't one last year. Last year, there was a drought, and it was even worse. The tributaries were dry, and most of Wangzhou was affected. Don't you think this place is weird?"

Wangzhou, sounds familiar.

Luo Yu recalled carefully and realized that this was Concubine Ying's hometown!