Chapter 22 A Dead End

Zhou Yunshu's words were like a fire, burning away the hope in everyone's hearts.

At this moment, Luzhou in their hearts has turned into a monster with a bloody mouth, which will chew them up and swallow them into its stomach if they are not careful.

Du Laosan thought about the villagers who were robbing people on the road this afternoon. Perhaps they could no longer be called villagers. Judging from their arrogant attitude before, they must have killed people.

"Dad, why don't we turn back home, we..."

"Shut up!" Du Lao Zhuang shouted harshly.

Since he brought people out, it is impossible for him to bring them back.

Du Youtian on the side also said: "Third brother, what good will it be if you go back now?"

"The land is too dry to grow crops. You're lucky to come back half alive from conscription. Not to mention there's a war going on in the northwest and north. If you have to serve in the military, how many lives will your family have left?"

Another person sighed, "Not only will we have to do corvée labor and military service, but our food will also be confiscated. We can't grow any food now, and if we give it away, what will our family eat?"

"Well, I'm going to die anyway. If I go south, I might have a chance of survival."

Mao Ziping, an old scholar and teacher in Dujia Village, continued, "The imperial court's massacre of the disaster victims in the northwest will undoubtedly arouse public outrage. Furthermore, the refugees from the northern border are heading south. Those people have come through difficult terrain. If they were to encounter them, I'm afraid they wouldn't have a good ending."

Du Laozhuang nodded, "So we can only continue to go south."

"Now the villagers still have some hope of fleeing to the south, but if they really turn back, that hope will be gone."

Not only will this anger dissipate, it may also be directly directed at him and his entire family.

If he came out without getting anything and then wasted manpower and resources on returning, he would not only lose the support of his current supporters, but would also be ridiculed by the people who stayed in Dujia Village. Therefore, he would never bring his family or even the team back.

Even if he dies, he wants to die outside!

"Then let's take another route?" Boss Du suggested.

Du Laoer said helplessly: "Brother, we are taking the shortest way out of Luzhou now. If you choose another way, it will waste a month or even more time. The food and water we have won't last that long."

"Yes, and you don't know if the other road will be dangerous," Wei Zhong continued. "If the other road is also dangerous, then we will lose both the lady and the troops."

After Wei Zhong finished speaking, he looked at Zhou Yunshu. Seeing that she had not spoken, he took the initiative to ask, "Mr. Zhou, do you have any ideas?"

Zhou Yunshu looked at the numbers she had scratched on the ground with a wooden stick and said, "My idea is to continue on our journey as planned, but..."

Zhou Yunshu looked up at the people whose gazes were drawn to her words, "We must always be prepared to fight to the bitter end."

Du Youtian frowned. Wouldn't a bloody battle mean casualties? Couldn't they escape from Luzhou safely?

Zhou Yunshu noticed Du Youtian's expression and continued, "The biggest problem with our team right now is that we're too soft-hearted."

Zhou Yunshu looked at Du Laozhuang, "What we are facing are not ordinary people in peaceful times, but a group of people who can't survive and even bandits who have become addicted to looting."

"When we encounter them, what we should do is not to reason with them, but to intimidate them and tell them that if they dare to attack us, we will definitely make them pay the price."

Zhou Yunshu's words, combined with what happened in the evening, made people silent and thoughtful.

"A kind person is easily bullied, and a kind horse is easily ridden." Zhou Yunshu looked at the people sitting together and said, "If you continue to try to solve the problem with food and water like you did this afternoon, you will only have two outcomes."

"First, Luzhou is so large, and there will be more and more looters along the way. You might run out of things to give and eat before you even leave Luzhou, and all that awaits you is death."

"Secondly, everyone wants to take a bite of a weakling. If they see you're so easygoing, they might not be able to get far before they're robbed and killed."

Du Laozhuang looked at Zhou Yunshu opposite him, clenching the pipe in her hand. He felt a little flustered because Zhou Yunshu had been talking about "you" from beginning to end.

In other words, if they really did this, Zhou Yunshu and her group would definitely part ways with them.

"Mr. Zhou is right." Wei Zhong was the first to support Zhou Yunshu's words amid the silence. "If your village is really so kind-hearted, we may not be able to travel together anymore."

Anyway, he just has to follow Zhou Yunshu.

Du Youtian, Mao Ziping and others panicked when they heard Wei Zhong's words. If this group of escorts left, wouldn't they be even weaker?

Du Laozhuang quickly made his attitude clear, "I was soft-hearted this afternoon."

Du Laozhuang has one advantage. Even though he is now in the decision-making position of the entire team, he can still listen to other people's suggestions. This is why Zhou Yunshu is willing to follow this team.

The vast majority of people in Dujia Village are kind and honest, otherwise Zhou Yunshu would not have chosen to follow them. But if they are just kind and honest, they will not be able to go far when fleeing famine.

"I'll pass on the message. Next time you encounter something like this, everyone must take up arms and defend themselves."

There are many young and strong people in their village, but there are also many elderly, weak, women and children.

Young and strong people cannot protect everyone in the team, so they must have the awareness of resistance.

After the discussion, Du Laozhuang, Du Youtian and Mao Ziping went to hold a collective meeting for the team.

In the past, all patrols and night watches were left to the young and strong people in the village, but from today on, the elderly, the weak, women and children will gradually have their own work to do.

For example, when it comes to night watch, women guard the first half of the night, and the elderly who sleep less guard the second half. This also allows the young and strong in the team to get more rest and maintain their energy during the day.

There are countless examples like this.

In general, after experiencing that robbery, everyone in the team instantly became alert and nervous. After all, no one knew how many people would point knives at them next time.

Zhou Yunshu is happy to see this change.

At the end of September, the temperature difference between day and night is large.

It is so cold in the morning and evening that you need to wear a padded jacket, and at night you need to cover yourself with a quilt to sleep peacefully, but the temperature at noon is so hot that it makes people feel uneasy.

When Zhou Yunshu heard frequent coughing and sneezing sounds in the team, she asked Li Jialan and Fang Huiwen to keep the child in the carriage.

Children's immunity is too weak and they can be infected easily, so they must be carefully looked after.

The masks that Zhou Yunshu had asked Li Jialan and Fang Huiwen to prepare were also put to use. At first, only Zhou Yunshu and her group used them; later, Wei Zhong and others also wore them; after Du Laozhuang knew the use of these masks, he also asked his family to make a lot of them.

The current conditions are too harsh. If they hadn't bought a lot of common medicinal herbs at Zhou Yunshu's reminder when they entered the city, the team might not even have any herbs to drink now.

But even after doing so much, some people in the team still died of illness, and more than one died.