Early the next morning, the sun shone brightly, and the fragrance of rice wafted from the hut.
Today we are leaving to escape famine. It is difficult to make a fire for cooking on the road, so we cook a large pot of dry rice early to ensure that the young people at home are full. The remaining rice is packed in jars to satisfy our hunger during the day.
After a full meal, people began to leave one after another. They carried backpacks and iron pots, the old and the young, and walked into the morning light with their families behind them.
Li Ping'an looked at the familiar figures in silence. When he saw the first ray of sunshine, he raised his head and took a deep breath.
I hope you are all safe and well, and so are we.
"Let's go too." Li Erlin's voice contained no emotion.
Fortunately, all the carts were pulled up the mountain, and they were not left at the foot of the mountain to be washed away by the water. Each family found their own carts and put their bedding, iron pots, etc. on the carts.
Including the Chen Song family, there are seven other families traveling with the Li family. There are twenty-one young men in total, and there are also eleven half-grown men like Li Ping'an and Zhang Xiaoshan. It looks like a lot, but there are still There is a group of old, young and weak women.
"Except for the man pulling the cart, the other men all held kitchen knives, axes, hoes or sharpened sticks, etc., and protected the cart and the old and young in the middle. The half-year-old children helped push the cart, and the women looked after the children. ." When we got down to the foot of the mountain, Li Erlin made arrangements loudly, "After half a day, the man pulling the cart and the man protecting the car will change. Remember not to hold on when you are tired, but be sure to cheer up."
People like them who dragged their belongings and family along with them would undoubtedly attract jealousy on their way to escape. Most people are scornful of others' kindness. Looking at them, old and young, all alive, and thinking about the ruin of their own family, it is inevitable that they will hold grudges in their hearts. No matter how bad it is, they have so many possessions, and in the eyes of others, they are hiding money and food, so it is very possible for them to have evil intentions.
Don't relax or exhaust your energy. Otherwise, if you encounter danger, you won't be able to resist, let alone resist, and you won't even have the strength to escape.
Zhang Yu said loudly with a straight face: "Everyone, I won't attack anyone unless they attack me. I hope you don't have mercy when it's time to attack. We seem to be a lot of people, but there are more refugees. We can only beat them to death." , in order to protect yourself and your family to the greatest extent."
Most of the young people have experienced troubled times, even the tail end of troubled times is also troubled times, and they have seen many dead people. Some of them even fought with thieves with real swords and guns in order to protect the village, even if they didn't have human lives on their hands. , also stained with blood.
They knew that Zhang Yu's words were reasonable and the seriousness of the matter, so they responded seriously.
Li Ping'an felt that this was a great blessing among misfortunes. It was only seventeen years since the founding of the country during the Great Ping Dynasty, and the young people in Xiaochen Village had grown up in troubled times and still had some blood. If peace lasts for a long time and people who have experienced troubled times grow old, how many of them who were born and raised in the peace era will have such spirit.
"Mom, where are we going?" Xiao Ruyi was held in Chen Dajuan's arms. She looked at the empty and flat place where the village used to be, and was slowly thrown behind them. She couldn't help but ask, " Aren’t we going home?”
"We won't come back here. Let's go to a new place and build a new house. That will be our new home." Chen Dajuan said, but she couldn't help but look back, but her steps never stopped, because behind her, There are people.
Her eyes were full of reluctance. She was born, grew up, got married, and gave birth to children in this village. The life she had worked hard for half a life to manage was now destroyed. The family house was gone, the fields were abandoned, and only the remaining Very few possessions.
The first day of escaping went smoothly. Although there were many refugees on the road, they were all focused on escaping for their own lives. There was no hostility or conflict between them.
When resting in the evening, there were several refugees nearby making fire to cook. Li Ping'an thought for a while, walked closer and asked from a distance: "Where are you planning to escape to?"
A man heard the sound and went away, glanced at Li Ping'an, and then at the crowd of people behind Li Ping'an, and said: "Go to the state capital. Our county magistrate has said that if the flood is severe, flee to the state capital." Your Excellency is a good official and will not ignore the people. Even if he cannot take in the refugees, he can still ask for a sip of rice soup."
This was the first time Li Pingan heard, "Where did you come from? We are from Qingfeng County. Our county magistrate only told us to run for our lives, but did not say where to run."
"Your official in Qingfeng is a bad man. He closed the city gates and refused to let the people in. He said that the granary was burned down and there was no food for porridge. I wonder how they could have so much fish and meat in the city." That man should be in Qingfeng County. After hitting the wall, he cursed a few words angrily, and then said with regret, "We are from Linhu County. Our Lord Zhang is a good official. It's a pity that good people don't live long. He led people to fill in the blockade." It was washed away by the flood during the breach.”
"What's the situation in Linhu?"
"It's so serious, the city walls have been washed away, and all the houses in the city have been washed away." Speaking of this, the man was still frightened, "If Mr. Zhang hadn't sent someone to notify the people in advance to go up the mountain, we don't know how many people would have died. That’s when he told us to flee to the state capital.”
Li Pingan then asked about the other four families of refugees. Except for one family who also fled from Linhu County and planned to flee to the state capital, the other three families were all from Qingfeng County. They heard that refugees from Linhu County said they were going to the state capital. Mansion, they went together.
After asking around clearly, Li Ping'an returned to Li Erlin and said, "Dad, should we take a detour? It seems that there are quite a few people going to the state capital."
The state capital is in the southwest of Qingfeng County. If they follow the official road, they will definitely pass by the state capital. There were too many of them, and they also had possessions, which were too conspicuous and easy for others to spy on.
Li Erlin and Chen Song discussed for a while and decided not to take a detour. Firstly, none of them have been to the state capital, and they are not familiar with the roads. If they take a detour rashly, they will easily get lost. Secondly, following a large group is risky, but it seems safe now. But if they take a detour and become alone, they will be lost. If you get targeted, big trouble will happen.
Li Ping'an thought so and said nothing more. And when we get to the state capital, we can get more information.
After eating, Zhang Yu started to arrange for people to keep watch at night. There were two shifts, with a few men and a few half-year-old children. One group kept watch for the first half of the night, and the other group kept watch for the second half of the night. When it was time to change shifts, they would wake people up to change shifts. Again, don’t overdraw your physical strength and energy.
Li Ping'an was still a little worried, so he asked Zhang Yu to take out the hunting rope, gather all the children under ten years old, and wrap the rope around their hands.
They are now on the roadside, using the ground as their bed and the sky as their quilt. It is not a bad thing if their things are stolen. If their children are stolen, who knows whether they will be stolen, sold or eaten.
The children also walked for a day. Except for babies who can't walk yet, even Ruyi is not always held in arms during the day. I was so sleepy that I didn't care why I tied them up, so I fell asleep.
Not long after, the adults also fell asleep, snoring everywhere.
Li Ping'an was one of the people who kept watch at midnight. Before his shift changed at midnight, he heard a commotion coming from the front.
