Chapter 64: ask

 Chapter 64 Inquiry

 The fog was thick, and men and boys from several families were caught in the flood of victims and ran towards the city gate.

Everyone is in a hurry and runs very fast. Being one step behind is equivalent to being one position behind. There are so many victims, who knows if there will be food and clothing to receive when it is their turn?

Seeing that the victims were all running towards the city gate, Qin Sanlang said to several adults: "I run fast, so I'll run to the city gate first to take a position."

Luo Wu said to Gu Jinan, "Let's go too."

They have known Sanlang Qin for a long time, and they do everything together. Mr. Qin is also happy to see this. Erlang is too cold and unsociable, so he can only rely on Sanlang to build a good relationship with the boys from several families.

Qin Sanlang nodded: "Let's go."

 The three of them ran towards the city gate like a gust of wind.

The four of them, Gu Dexing, Gu Qingtian, Gu Qingliang, and Tian Erqiang, did not run away. They were frightened by many things on the way to escape. They stayed with their parents most of the time and were unwilling to act alone.

"Be careful, be patient when things happen, and don't conflict with other victims!" Gu Dashan shouted worriedly behind them. Before he finished speaking, the three of them disappeared.

Luo's father said: "It's all for nothing. Your brother An is fine. Although my brat doesn't talk much, he has a hot temper. If someone is looking for trouble, he will not be able to help it."

Mr. Qin said: "Sanlang is here, you don't have to worry."

 Sanlang's skills are better than Erlang's. If something happens, it's very easy to protect Luo's father and Gu Jin'an.

Gu Dashan knew what Qin Sanlang was capable of, so he felt relieved. He and Luo's father supported the third grandfather, and several adults sped up and ran towards the city gate.

After running for half an hour, I arrived at the city gate of He'an Mansion.

At this time, the city gate was already full of victims. The city gate was surrounded by three layers inside and three layers outside. There was a lot of noise in the ears.

There was a government official holding a gong. After banging the gong five times, he shouted at the top of his lungs: "No crowding, line up, and receive food and clothing based on your household registration! Anyone who dares not to line up, or who dares to cause trouble, will be shot!"

 After speaking, he struck the gong five more times and repeated what he just said.

But the victims were already red-eyed from hunger and could not listen to his words at all. They just crowded towards the city gate, hoping to get food as quickly as possible.

 Fortunately, the government had already sent a large number of guards to patrol the city gate. As soon as they saw the crowding and pushing, the flag leader immediately led his soldiers to drag the victims out of the team and beat them.

 After beating about a hundred victims, the order at the city gate finally improved a lot.

There were ten teams queuing up at the gate of the city. Qin Sanlang and the others were in the middle of the sixth team. When he saw Third Grandpa and the others coming, Gu Jinan immediately said: "You guys line up first, I'll bring Third Grandpa and the others over."

Gu Jinan was smart and did not call out to Third Grandpa and the others, but quietly brought them to their place in line. If the patrolling guards saw him, they would drag several adults out and beat him.

After Gu Jinan brought several adults here, he said to the victims who were queuing up: "Uncles, these are the adults from our family. We were lining up for the adults earlier."

When they first came to line up, they told the victims in front and behind them about this. Although the victims were dissatisfied that the adults they brought were too many, they did not complain. Anyway, like Gu Jinan and the others, they also represented the village and lined up in advance. , when people from their village come, they will also squeeze in, and everyone will not lose.

Several families were in line, but the line moved very slowly, only moving a few steps in a quarter of an hour. They came early in the morning, and it was not until late afternoon that it was their turn to receive supplies. At the front of the team, there were two tables. In front of one table stood two government officials who were responsible for distributing supplies to the victims. The government officials had knives hanging on their waists to prevent the victims from grabbing things.

 Two clerks holding pens sat at a table.

The scribe glanced at Gu Dashan at the front and said, "Take out the household registration. Those who don't have household registration can leave now."

 Gu Dashan hurriedly took out the household registration from his inner pocket, opened the household registration paper, and carefully spread it on the table in front of the clerk.

The clerk glanced at the household registration and frowned: "Your household registration is not quite right. Why is there only one piece of paper and no thick leather seal? Did you steal it from someone on the way?" The last sentence was already in tone. Something bad.

Gu Dashan was flustered by the question, but he remembered what Gu Jinli said to him last night, and quickly calmed down, smiling and said: "Sir, my mother died long ago, my father married his step-in-law, and the household registration papers of the two houses are separate. . On the way to escape from famine, my stepmother wanted to sell my wife and children. The village decided with the Qi Ju people and divided our house among our families and gave us the household registration paper for our house, so the household registration only had one piece of paper and no thick leather seal. son."

With that said, he took out the divorce documents and the posts given by Qi Juren, and put them on the table one by one for the scribe to read.

He then pointed to several families behind him and said, "Sir, these are the villagers of our Gujia Village. They can testify for the younger family."

　Grandpa San, Father Luo, Uncle Tian, ​​and Gu Damu all spoke for Gu Dashan.

Gu Dafu also said: "Sir, my father is the head of Gujia Village. Our family can testify to Dashan that his family's household registration paper is genuine and not stolen."

After reading the household registration paper, the divorce document, and the post from Qi Mansion, the scribe had stopped thinking about finding trouble and asking for money. The Qi Mansion's post was printed with the official seal. This shows that the family met a nobleman on the way to escape from famine, and it was not easy to plunder his family's money.

The clerk handed the household registration paper to the colleague next to him: "Write it according to the household registration."

Then he asked Gu Dashan: "Are you willing to go to Jiangnan? Jiangnan is a good place. There is no shortage of food. It is better than He'an Prefecture. If you are willing to go, you can sign up and pay a deposit of ten taels of silver first. We will arrange it when the time comes. The boat will send you all there together."

Gu Dashan was a little confused and asked: "Sir, didn't you say you can't continue going south?"

The scribe said: "The victims of the disaster are not allowed to go south privately, but we are sent there by the government. This is okay. It is allowed by the adults."

The adults above had strong opinions on the resettlement of these victims, so they wanted to take the opportunity to send some victims to the south of the Yangtze River. This would not only reduce the pressure on the Jianghuai government, but also take the opportunity to make some money.

Hearing this, Gu Jinan asked the scribe with a smile: "Sir, how much more silver do I need to pay after boarding the ship? If the money paid is not much, we can go back and discuss it with my family."

Seeing that they wanted to go to Jiangnan, the scribe continued: "First pay a deposit of ten taels of silver. After boarding the boat, each person will be given another two taels of silver according to their head."

First pay a deposit of ten taels of silver, and then give each person two taels of silver. This is a lot of money, and their family cannot afford it.

Gu Dashan turned back to look at Third Grandpa and the others, and when he saw them shaking their heads, he said to the scribe: "Sir, we have been escaping from the famine until now, and we have no money left, so we will not go south."

 (End of this chapter)