Chapter 120 Situation

In front of the shops in Fengting Town, there are many people waiting there every day to beg for food from customers. There are even more people in the small restaurants and taverns.

In front of Su Qing's shop, there are also many people every morning, noon and evening.

There were originally four vegetable shops in the town, but one was closed later. This time, the price of salt and grain fluctuated and another one was closed. Only Su Qing's and Su Ergu's shops are still open.

Su Qing's didn't know whether Su Ergu made money or not, but she had been trying to compete with Su Qing's, and it was estimated that she could hold on for a while.

There were usually no leftovers in Su Qing's shop, and she dealt with the ones that were not sold out that day. But since someone begged at the door, Su Qingliu, Grandma Zhou and others felt sorry for them and gave the leftovers to the beggars at the door every day.

But later, seeing more and more people coming, everyone gave up the idea.

The continuous influx of outsiders seriously affected the lives of the people in Fengting Town. The merchants could not drive away the beggars at their doorsteps, and they were not afraid of beating them. Many people felt pity for them and could not bring themselves to do anything, so they just let them squat at the doorstep.

But in this way, customers were afraid to come to the store to do business.

The merchants were miserable.

The salt shop was only open for half a day. Even so, there was still a long queue at the door of the salt shop. Even when it was closed, the queues did not disperse. There were people queuing before dawn.

The prices of various grains in the grain shop were also rising quietly, but not as horribly as the price of salt. Because most of the autumn grains of Fengting Town residents were in their hands, they did not have to queue up to buy grain.

When Xu Shaoyan came, Su Qing'an told him about the changes in Fengting Town these days, and she couldn't help sighing and confused.

Their town was not drought-free or flood-free. Except for the heavier taxes, both summer and autumn grains in the fields were considered to be a bumper harvest. The influx of many poor outsiders could only mean that there was a shortage of grain in other places.

Su Qing'an missed the era of information explosion. Not to mention the domestic situation, even the news from the other side of the earth spread everywhere once it happened. But here, the transportation is inconvenient and the news is blocked. She doesn't know the origin and can't make a judgment.

Xu Shaoyan rushed for many days and arrived at Fengting Town. He thought that Fengting Town was peaceful, but he didn't expect it to be not peaceful. His eyebrows were lightly gathered, and his beautiful fingers rubbed his eyebrows again and again, looking like a jade-like Qingjun.

Su Qing'an looked at him and chuckled: "I remember you have a wife and children, right?"

Xu Shaoyan turned his head to look at him, with his hand still supporting his forehead, and raised his eyebrows, looking puzzled.

"You are like this, outside, very confusing." Su Qing'an also raised his eyebrows at him. He also looked him up and down.

Xu Shaoyan looked at himself and was about to ask her, but he smiled when he realized it.

After taking a look at Su Qing'an, the person in front of him was completely different from when he first met her. She was beautiful and dignified, like an orchid in a valley. How could she still be the skinny, dark-skinned country girl when he first met her?

"I've been here all this time, and it's already a mess outside. I thought Fengting Town was a good place to be, but I didn't expect it to be so quiet."

"Is it a mess outside?"

Xu Shaoyan nodded: "Yes, it's very messy. Do you think there are many people at the doors of the shops in Fengting Town now? No. You'll know if you go outside. There are more people in places with temples."

"Ah, they all beg in the temple? That's right, rich families often give alms there, and they should be able to survive with the alms."

Xu Shaoyan didn't look at her and shook his head: "No. It's the farmers who put their sons who are not yet men into the temple. Every day they line up to ask the temple to take them in."

"Ah? Why? Put sons into the temple, not daughters? Don't want males either?"

Xu Shaoyan smiled: "Which temple do you think wants women?"

Oh, that's right. But isn't there a nunnery? Can you give up males?

"It's better to be alive than to die. The north is recruiting soldiers again. The various vassal states have responded. The land in the north has been barren and the water conservancy has been out of repair. Many places are deserted and covered with thorns. Taxes have been increased, and the people can't survive. They have no choice but to become monks..."

"Ah?"

"Now Buddhism is developing rapidly and a lot of land has been enclosed. I heard that there are now 50,000 or 60,000 monks and nuns..."

Su Qingmei's head was buzzing.

She remembered that there were several anti-Buddhist incidents in history. On the one hand, the population has dropped sharply due to years of war, and on the other hand, there are more and more Buddhist disciples who do not work in the fields, which seriously affects the state's fiscal revenue and corvée collection, and the contradiction between the state power and religious forces has intensified. In history, there are three famous events of the Three Wus and One Zong, which were initiated by emperors to destroy Buddhism. The blood flowed like a river, and the blood left in front of the Buddhist temple could not be washed away for half a month...

Xu Shaoyan saw that Su Qingmei didn't speak, turned his head to look at her, and saw that her hands were still trembling, and asked with concern: "What's wrong with you, are you feeling unwell?"

Su Qingmei came back to her senses, shook her head, and was still a little dazed.

Xu Shaoyan looked at her again, confirmed that she was fine, and comforted her: "Don't worry too much. Guangning Prefecture is still relatively peaceful now. Now many people are pouring in from the prefectures and counties, and there will always be some measures in the prefectures and counties. The number of people pouring in from Fengting Town is still controllable."

Su Qingmei nodded woodenly.

After a long while, he asked him, "Not only has the price of salt increased, but the price of grain has also increased. Is it because of the poor harvest in the north?"

Xu Shaoyan frowned again, "Well, there was a locust plague in Dingzhou, Weizhou, Cangzhou, Ezhou, and Yanzhou. When the locusts passed through the area, only one in ten survived. Now many northern victims have poured into each state and prefecture."

"Locust plague?" Su Qingmei turned her head to look at him in surprise.

"Yes."

Su Qingmei remembered that there was an era in history when locust plagues were prevalent. The Tang Dynasty lasted 289 years, and there were 42 years with locust plagues, an average of once every seven years. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, various disasters followed one after another, and the conflicts caused by various natural disasters also accelerated the demise of the Tang Dynasty.

When Su Qingmei first came, she thought she had traveled to the Tang Dynasty, but she was now in the Dashuo Dynasty. This dynasty, which had never appeared in history, confused her. She couldn't even pretend to be a god with her academic knowledge.

"Fortunately, except for the north, many places have good harvests, otherwise it would be more difficult. This time I came, I was going to collect some grain and transport it to the north. I am also going to transport the goods from your farm. Now that the price of grain and salt has risen, the price naturally cannot be calculated according to the previous price. I won't let you suffer a loss..."

Su Qingmei nodded. After so many cooperations, she also trusted him. She was even more grateful that he kept sending her news from the outside during this period. He didn't care too much about the price. She readily agreed to sell all the goods in the cellar on the farm.

She did not touch the grain.

The situation was not good now. Grain could save lives, so she did not want to touch it, and she had to find ways to collect more grain and store it.