I am a pirate in Ming Dynasty

Yu Gui, the prefect of Huai'an Prefecture, soon received the memorial from Liu Zhenghe, the magistrate of Yancheng County, but there was little he could do about the plight he complained about, because it was a great famine sweeping the entire southern Zhili.

Until the beginning of May, the entire Southern Zhili was shrouded in a shadow. Countless refugees left their original habitats and gathered around major counties. All officials in Southern Zhili were in a state of distress.

Boss Liu led Qin Shang in a circle at the gate of the county town and then gave up the idea of ​​entering the city. At this time, even if he climbed over the wall and exchanged food with the Qin family, he would not be able to take the food away in front of so many refugees.

When Boss Liu led Qin Shang to reappear in the temporary camp, everyone's eyes showed disappointment.

"Brother, why did you bring him back again?" Ma Laosan's eyes were full of disappointment.

Boss Liu lowered his voice and said: "The outside world has gone crazy. This is not a place to stay for a long time. Let's pack up and leave."

"Are you leaving again?" Ma Laosan suddenly started wailing.

But there was no room for his objection, so everyone packed up and prepared to leave as usual.

"What should he do?" Xu Laosi looked at Qin Shang and said.

Boss Liu's eyes flashed and he said, "Take it with you!"

"You're crazy, brother, we don't have any food now, and there are old people and children, plus another burden..." Ma Laosan suddenly became excited.

"The third child," Boss Liu interrupted him immediately, "If it weren't for us, he might have returned to his parents. We wouldn't be able to survive, but we are human beings!"

Ma Laosan opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

The group of people quickly finished packing. In fact, there was nothing to pack. Several women supported the old man and took the children with them, and the men carried thick bags on their backs.

When we walked out of the forest, we saw that all the nearby trees were bare. The green that was just laid on the ground has entered winter and is a piece of yellow soil.

Qin Shang looked at all this with a feeling of disbelief. The scene of being kidnapped from here yesterday into the forest was right before his eyes. In just one night, the world has changed dramatically.

As if being swept over by locusts, almost everything that could be seen and eaten disappeared.

Smoke rose from the ground, and Qin Shang followed a group of strongmen walking past the refugees. The quiet space was filled with various sounds, including coughs, murmurs in sleep, children's cries, and adults' whispers.

The repressed emotions were accumulated in his heart. Qin Shang thought that the hungry people he saw were just half-clothed and sallow-looking. In fact, there were no professional disease prevention methods, and many old and weak people suffered from illnesses along the way.

As the weather gets warmer in summer, it is easy for various bacteria to breed without professional preventive measures. Plague usually breaks out under such circumstances.

Covering his mouth and nose, Qin Shang followed a group of people and left here. The originally green field scenery turned into a tragic black prairie fire.

As the sun gradually rises, the intensity of ultraviolet rays continues to grow, and the sun finally turns into fiery heat on people's bodies. Everyone's mouth was warped, and even those who could resist hunger could not bear the lack of water. Only when no one could be seen anymore did they really stop and rest.

It is close to a small village. Now there are no people around, so I stopped nearby to repair.

The women went to fetch water to boil, while the men looked in the stream to see if they could catch something to eat.

Qin Shang is not very important at this time, so naturally no one cares about him. Several children except him looked at him curiously at this time, perhaps because of their age.

Six children, three boys and three girls.

In this era where men are superior to women, the chance of seeing a female baby is really low. In some places, the old custom even involves killing female infants.

Qin Shang knew in his heart that even if he waded through the river with those few men, he would probably not be able to find anything to eat. So under the curious eyes of several children, I took off my shoes, rolled up my trousers, and slowly waded into the stream.

Between the villages with developed waterways, there are countless small streams. These streams are not fast and shallow, and you can see the bottom at a glance.

Qin Shang waded in with his short legs until his knees were submerged. Maybe it was because the weather was getting hotter, but the temperature of the stream was not low. The water washed over my legs and feet, which actually made me feel comfortable.

Qin Shang's target was not the small fish that occasionally passed through the water. He looked at the places along the bank and saw some flat holes in many places. Half of these small holes were submerged in the water, and some had doorways. There is still a little mud stuck in it.

Qin Shang was resistant to the matter of picking out crabs. After all, he had a deep memory of being caught between his fingers by crabs and lobsters when he was a child in his previous life.

But if you don’t pay, then you will continue to be hungry today.

On the top of the embankment, several children stared at Qin Shang with wide eyes and curiosity, not knowing what he was doing.

They didn't scream in surprise until Qin Shang took out a fat and big crab from the hole.

But Qin Shang didn't feel happy at all. His fingers were all red and painful. After shaking his hand, the crab gave up on the prey in his hand. There was a splash and the crab entered the water. Just as its small claws were about to move, a big hand grabbed its back before it could move.

Qin Shang had trouble carrying it with his hands. It seemed he couldn't hold it.

After looking at the few little guys on the shore, he stepped on the shore and said to an older man: "Come on, hold on to the back!"

Qin Shang also gestured. Perhaps because of the playful nature of children, the child caught the crab imitating the example.

With his hands free, he went down to the creek again and started searching again.

In fact, the ancients also ate crabs. Generally speaking, there are two extremes in eating crabs. One is eaten by rich people, and the other is eaten by poor people with no clothes on. But to eat crabs, the poor must know how to eat.

Some cave entrances in the stream have been touched, and they have obviously been searched and explored. However, there is not much meat in these caves, which cannot fill their stomachs. Under the influence of famine in previous years, many people have left their original places and went to Go to a large county to wait for relief from the imperial court.

This also left a lot of room for Qin Shang to operate. After working for a long time, he caught a dozen crabs, one out of almost every three holes, which was a pretty good chance. But in the last hole, I caught a crab nest and caught three crabs.

Thirteen crabs, a very good result.

Six children, one of whom grabbed two in his hand, looked very excited.

Qin Shang couldn't help but curl his lips. What's so exciting about crabs? Catching lobsters is the most fun.

The camp was desolate. Everything in the field had been eaten away, not even a mouse, let alone a hare or a pheasant.

"Dad, dad!"

Just when everyone was in a low mood, cheerful shouts attracted their attention.

"Crab?" Ma Laosan was immediately discouraged. There was no meat at all on this thing. If you eat it, it means you haven't eaten it.

"Where did you catch them?" Boss Liu was obviously more happy.

The child in front pointed to the back and said: "Qin Shang caught it, there is it in the river."

Qin Shang? Upon hearing this unfamiliar name, several adults were obviously startled, and then they understood.

Qin Shang, who was walking at the end, came over slowly without saying a word. He put down the only crab in his hand and searched for a long time among a lot of pots and pans before he found a clay pot.

When the women saw the crabs, a little blood appeared on their sallow faces.

I took the crab from the child's hand, washed it and threw it into the hot water pot.

This way of eating made Qin Shang's eyes bulge, and he quickly stopped him: "No, it's not cooked like this!"

The milky and milky sound immediately made people's ears tremble, it was so cute. The women looked at Qin Shang, obviously unresponsive.

Qin Shang gestured: "Steaming, steaming is the most suitable!"

The older woman laughed and said, "This young man from a rich family can also cook!"

But then they steamed the crabs, and Qin Shang picked up the clay pot and walked towards the river.

It was impossible for Mr. Liu to just watch a child looking for food here. He said directly to the others: "Let's go to a farther place to see if there are any crabs. This is not enough to eat!"

Although Ma Laosan looked down on crabs, he still had to think about his stomach, so they left together.

Liu Tiezhu, the eldest boy among the six children, immediately said to the other children: "Let's go, let's follow Qin Shang to find some food."

They more or less ran out with something that looked like a container.

Qin Shang felt quite tired carrying the clay pot. He was out of breath after walking a little while, and the children behind him followed him, making a lot of noise.

The identities of a group of kids are quickly revealed.

There are three boys, the eldest is named Liu Tiezhu, the one who is a bit dull after him is named Ma Dawei, and the remaining little one is named Xu Qingfeng.

There are three girls, one is Liu Tiezhu’s younger sister Liu Qiushui, well, the older brother picked them up.

The remaining two girls are twins, both children of Wang Laoer's family. I heard that their mother is gone, and Wang Laoer still spent money to get names in order to make up for the two children.

Wang Xinyu and Wang Xinhan, these are the names of the two little girls.

The three girls are all four or five years old. They are all malnourished and have withered and yellow hair. They look like girls with yellow hair.

"Qin Shang, what are we going to do?" Seven-year-old Liu Tiezhu clearly regarded himself as his eldest brother.

Qin Shang walked to the edge of the stream carrying the pottery pot, casually pinched out a snail and said, "Pick up the snails!"

"Okay, everyone, help me pick up the snails!" Although Liu Tiezhu didn't know why Qin Shang was picking up such inedible things, he still gave the order.

"Brother Liu, I don't want to pick it up. This mother said I can't eat it!" Ma Dawei shook his head and said.

"It's edible!" Qin Shang corrected.

These ancient turtles thought they couldn't eat it because they didn't know how to eat it. In later generations, a plate of fried snails with some chili sauce would be a godsend.

Liu Tiezhu slapped Liu Dawei on the head: "Qin Shang said that if you can eat it, you can eat it. How can there be so much nonsense? If you don't catch it, you won't eat it."

"Oh," Ma Dawei could only go to the river and touch the dark thing.

Although Qin Shang complained about the ancients, this snail is really big, pollution-free and no one eats it. When he thinks of the taste after being fried, his tongue suddenly becomes wet.