Chapter 147

More than a dozen families died of the plague, but most of them died of high fever. The young people have stronger resistance. After paying close attention to hygiene, few people have fainted with fever.

For the dead, we are very sad, but the living still have to be strong to live.

The patriarch said, "the next big thing, let's talk about food. As we all know, because of the plague and mountain bandits, many people died in the village, and more than a dozen families even died. I sent people to transport all their food, bedding and other useful things, as well as the food we got when we killed the bandits, the silver and weapons we looted from the mountain bandits. Let me talk about how to distribute these things. "

After listening to this, everyone immediately perked up and stared at the patriarch.

"Food is divided according to the population of each family. Don't worry about the families of the dead. Now is the time for food shortage. I have to make sure that everyone will not be hungry in the following days, so even if some people feel unfair, food must be distributed in this way. However, of the 300 taels of silver seized from the mountain bandits, 100 taels are left for future reconstruction of the village, and 200 taels are left. The family members of the dead take a large share, and the rest is given to the men and women who beat the mountain bandits yesterday. Do you have any opinions? "

The crowd looked at the people next to them and then shook their heads. There was no problem.

Although I don't know when silver will be available, it's better to have one than none, and it's fair to divide the silver among those who have made efforts.

The patriarch nodded with satisfaction, and then said: "the rest of the bedding, pots and bowls, which need to see which family, but do not take advantage of their own enough not to take, left to those who need more, if you let me know who is greedy, I will let her / him look good!"

"And those knives, don't move. When the cave is dug out, I'll arrange a patrol team to take charge of everyone's safety. Of course, it's not free to work hard for everyone. Every family has to give some food to the patrol team. If someone plays tricks and wants someone to protect you, get out of here as soon as possible!"

In this way, all the men nodded their heads in agreement. Although others looked bitter, no one had any opinions.

After drinking water, the patriarch said, "the second big thing is to dig a cave. As you can see, the location of the cave is in the gully of the two mountains. There are forests on both sides. If you don't climb to the top of the mountain and look down, you will not find us. On weekdays, you should be quiet and low-key, and don't make too much noise. "

"First of all, we dig out the place where we live. We dig in from the cave. First, we dig out several tunnels, and then we dig out small caves on both sides of the tunnel. Although we used to say that each family had a small cave, for the sake of safety, it's better for two or three familiar families to live in one cave. This can save space and time, and we can take care of each other. ”

in order to prevent collapse, they also need to prepare a lot of wood to support the cave. The clan leader does not recommend cutting down trees nearby. After all, how can they hide after cutting down all the trees around them.

It's not just digging a few tunnels. All tunnels have to be connected to a tunnel to escape. In case of another attack by bandits and mountain bandits, everyone can evacuate, so as not to be caught in a jar.

Next, the patriarch began to arrange the division of labor.

"Changting, Li Jing, Gao Laoer and Li Zhuang have the best martial arts. You are responsible for patrolling and guarding the southeast, northwest and all around. You must have someone on guard. Otherwise, we don't know the danger."

"In addition, we have to leave two men to draw water, and the women who are not in good health and strong enough are responsible for washing and cooking for us. During the cave digging period, all of us eat together without paying food. We first eat the food we got from the bandits. After the cave is dug out, we divide the food and then make our own food."

Xu Qing was assigned to cook for everyone because of his good cooking skills. There were nine women who were responsible for cooking together. They were all recognized as good cooks, and Yu Xiaoqian was also among them.

Xu Qing probably won everyone's favor by making porridge the day before yesterday. In addition, she made cakes before, and the people under her management were very good. The most important thing was that Xu Qing loved to be clean. The women in charge of cooking decided to take her as the leader and listen to her arrangement.

Xu Qing took out the aprons prepared for the workers and gave them to the cooking women, so that everyone could see that they were responsible for cooking, and the dirty people had to avoid them, so as not to contaminate everyone's food.

Xu Qing takes nine women to the cave where the grain is put. She asks Yu Xiaoqian to record the total number first, and then how much grain she uses every day.

Two older men are in charge of guarding the grain. They will also keep a record of how much grain Xu Qing has taken, so that no one will know when someone takes the opportunity to steal the grain.

There are twenty bags of rice, five bags of corn cobs, some coarse cereals, salt and some seasoning in the cave.

The rice had to be hulled, and the corn cobs had to be ground into flour. Xu Qing could foresee that they would have to spend the rest of their time dealing with the food except cooking.

Gao's second daughter-in-law asked Xu Qing, "what should I do at noon? Is it porridge or rice? We don't have any food. How can we do that? "

Xu Qing said: "porridge and rice are cooked. Those who want porridge and those who want to eat are free to choose their own dishes. We can't help them if they don't have any. When the time comes, they can go back and mix their own pickles."Other women nodded, not because they don't want to give everyone good food, but because the conditions are limited, it's hard to cook without rice.

Xu Qing counted the grains and said, "these grains are not much. Let's grind them into flour and mix them with wheat flour and corn flour to make pancakes. It tastes good with porridge."

"Good." The women nodded.

In half a morning, the men built five earthen stoves. The five big pots were brought from the ancestral hall. The pots in other families were not as big as this.

Then put on two water tanks, two wooden tables and chopping boards, and you will live together.

When the man in charge of drawing water fills up the water tank, he asks Xu Qing to go to the mouth of the cave to say hello when they need water.

The next ten women were busy cooking porridge. The cooked porridge and rice were packed in clean wooden barrels with covers. For 160 people, they had to fill more than ten barrels.

At noon, everyone ate meagre porridge, and they all missed the days when there were vegetables and meat.

In the past, because of the plague, every household had killed almost all the livestock. Now there are only about twenty chickens and seven or eight cattle and sheep left.

When they came to the mountain, the chickens went to peck the insects on the ground. They were in good spirits.

Cattle and sheep also have dry straw to chew, so they can't get hungry for the time being, which makes people who want to make some money can't find an excuse.

After eating the porridge, the patriarch wiped his mouth and said, "kill the cow of the Li family."