PFC Chapter 1200: The Last Four Cities
Chapter 1200: The Last Four Cities
Cheng Feng patted Cheng Youning's small back and said, "Bringing shame to Daddy is secondary, just don't bring shame to your little grandfather."
Speaking of Wan Lianxing, Cheng Youning began to sob softly again.
Cheng Feng asked in confusion: "Why are you crying again?"
Cheng Youning said: "If my grandfather knew that I was slandering him, would he beat me up thirty times? I'm afraid the child's butt will not be well taken care of!"
Cheng Feng thought, how can your capricious little grandfather be easy to deal with! However, he had to comfort Cheng Youning: "Daddy can't say for sure, but Daddy has already punished you, and your little grandfather will be lenient even if he punishes you again."
Cheng Youning said stubbornly: "What if Grandfather punishes me severely?"
"Then I'll take half of the beating for you, okay?" Cheng Feng thought, after all, he is his father, who made him have such a son, he can't just watch his son get beaten to a cripple. At this time, Cheng Feng was worried about his own buttocks getting beaten!
However, Cheng Feng's comfort did work on Cheng Youning. He felt much more at ease and stopped crying.
On the second day, the sun was high in the sky, casting thousands of rays of light, illuminating the earth. Shang Xi and his team's huge convoy, like a long dragon, slowly entered the city. After a night of long journey, the convoy seemed a little tired, but it still maintained an orderly march.
Before daybreak, Cheng Feng had sent a man to wait at the city gate. Along the way, he led the convoy through the desolate streets and alleys, and finally arrived at the charity site.
Because this team of carriages and horses was too eye-catching, it attracted everyone's attention and people began to whisper to each other.
"Look, where does this caravan come from? They actually bring so many goods into our Eleven Cities!" someone asked curiously.
"It looks like they are heading north. But there is a war going on in the north. It would be difficult for such a large caravan to pass through smoothly." said another person.
At this time, a guard beside Cheng Feng heard the discussion of the crowd, and he shouted loudly: "Don't worry! This is not a caravan, this is our young mistress coming with food. With this food, it is enough for you to have the first harvest of your crops!"
Hearing this, the originally worried crowd cheered and jumped for joy, their faces filled with joy and gratitude. Because this meant that at least for the next two months, they no longer had to worry about food and drink. However, the difficulties they faced were far from being easily solved by giving alms for two months. At this time, a commoner walked out of the crowd, and he said with a sad face: "Oh, my lords, you don't know! We have been plundered clean, and we don't even have the capital to farm! Now, all the fields in our family are abandoned, and there is no seeds to plant!"
Cheng Feng had been staring at the convoy slowly approaching them. After hearing this, he immediately turned his gaze to the man who was speaking and asked with concern, "Do you mean that your fields are now barren?"
"That's right, Master Cheng!" The commoner nodded heavily and continued to complain, "If every household still had seedlings in their fields, even if we had to eat weeds at home for two months, we could grit our teeth and persevere to get through this difficult time. But the reality is that all our fields are in vain, and there is really no hope. We have no choice but to abandon our own fields and houses and live on the streets begging for a living..."
This caught Cheng Feng off guard. He said in surprise, "Why would you abandon your land and house? Even if the first season's crops were not planted in time this year, you still have tea trees! As far as I know, there are tea merchants and tea farmers everywhere in Chaizhou, and every household grows tea trees. Tea trees are treasures. Every spring, we can pick the best first tea leaves; in autumn, there is a big harvest. Moreover, each tea tree can be picked up to five to seven times each time, which is a considerable income! Even if you exchange tea for food, you will never worry about food and clothing."
Hearing this, the other party hurriedly explained: "Mr. Cheng, you don't know that the situation you are talking about only exists in the first seven cities."
"The first seven cities?"
"Yes, our Chaizhou was indeed a major tea-producing county in Dalang in the past, but not every piece of land can grow tea. You are talking about the first seven cities. In the past, we had a total of eleven cities in Chaizhou, arranged from north to south and from east to west. The first seven cities are called the first seven cities, and the last eight to eleven cities are called the last four cities. We are one of the last four cities. The first seven cities, both in terms of climate and soil, can grow excellent tea trees. Our last four cities do not have such unique conditions. The tea we grow here is very bland. No matter how much you drink, it doesn't taste very good. The soil here is very similar to Fengying, but it is much better than Fengying. So we can only grow food here, but unfortunately we have no silver or seeds, so the fields can only be left in ruins."
"So that's how it is. I thought Chaizhou was full of tea trees."
The crowd shook their heads silently, and the man who had just spoken continued, "If we had tea trees at home, we would eat grass at home and not come out."
The situation here is far from as optimistic as Cheng Feng thought, but he alone does not support everyone begging. "Begging for a long time is not a solution. In your eleven cities, farmers have abandoned their fields, merchants have abandoned their businesses, and there is nothing else on the streets except you refugees who come to the city to beg. Shops are closed, and small vendors have disappeared from the market. In the long run, you refugees will have nowhere to beg in the city. Returning to the countryside is the long-term solution."
One of the common people said, "We want to go home too. Who wants to live on the streets? In fact, we couldn't get food a few days ago. Every household in the city closed their doors and we couldn't get a bowl of porridge. If it weren't for Master Cheng giving us rice porridge, we would have starved to death slowly."
Cheng Feng comforted everyone and said, "The lives of the people in this city are not much better than yours. I have observed these two days that the people in the city are also lining up here to get porridge. I guess they have run out of money. There may be some people who have some money, but they just experienced a war here, so they dare not come out and have to hide in their houses with the doors closed. But don't give up, everything will get better little by little."