Commander Zhang waved his hand to order his soldiers to hurry up and get to work, while explaining to Jiang Zhi: "It's easy to check the odd jobs in the medical shed now, but there are bandits hiding among the refugees. We need to wipe out the bandits."

These four are bandits; there are others among the refugees on the mountain whose backgrounds are unclear.

Don't worry, people have been sent up the mountain and will take good care of your family.

Suppressing bandits was not only their duty as guards, but also a reward for their merits.

Jiang Zhi suddenly realized that Zhang Juntou's claim of finding "Big Mouth" was just a minor matter; his real purpose was to "suppress the bandits."

Suppressing bandits is a military achievement, which is far more valuable than finding a few gossiping vagrants.

Stealing and robbing people on the way are not the same crime. Zhang Juntou deliberately "raised" bandits before taking action.

By "raising bandits," or rather, "indulging and encouraging" them, Zhang Juntou gave those refugees the opportunity to unleash the demons within them, as they were envious and jealous of his own food supply.

At this point, Jiang Zhi was speechless.

When she heard that bandits had come up the mountain, she couldn't stay still even though Zhang Juntou said he had sent people to take care of them, and she rushed home.

Bandits don't have any characters carved on their foreheads; whether someone is a bandit or not is determined by someone else's word if they cut it off.

With so many people and everything in such a chaotic state, Jiang Zhi was worried that Xu Errui might be accidentally hurt, especially with the two women, the child, and the elderly...

Jiang Zhi and Xiao Man ran away, leaving behind two baskets. The presence of "bandits" on the mountain was no longer important; their families were what mattered.

Zhang Juntou also acted quickly.

The bearded man and the disheveled man, along with Zheng Laogou who had stopped sneezing, were dragged into the nearby bushes with screams, and fell silent in the blink of an eye. Even the man who fell off the cliff did not escape being decapitated.

The four human heads were thrown into the lime powder carried by the sergeant, while the human bodies were left on the spot to be dealt with later.

Now let's talk about the mountain.

In the afternoon, Xu Errui prepared to go down the mountain to pick up people, but he saw Li Laoshi and others halfway down the mountain. He was also stopped by two "vagrants".

He didn't recognize the two men, but after observing them from outside the village for a long time, he could still remember the faces of some people.

These two are guards, not refugees.

Not daring to risk going down the mountain again, Xu Errui hurried back to discuss the matter with Chunfeng.

When Chunfeng saw him return, she was very surprised and hurriedly asked why he hadn't gone to pick him up.

Xu Errui hurriedly said, "Sister Chunfeng, I was stopped and brought back."

He then recounted what he had seen: refugees coming up the mountain and approaching this area, some of whom were disguised soldiers.

For a moment, neither of them had any clue what to do, but they knew they needed to tell the old man as soon as possible.

Upon hearing that Li Laoshi was leading a group of refugees and that the guards wanted Xu Errui to go home and be with his family, Xiaomanye's expression changed drastically: "You young people, leave now, hide! Take Dazhu with you this time too."

The soldier who suddenly appeared without any news felt uneasy. As people get older and experience more, they tend to overthink, especially the worst-case scenario.

Chunfeng almost burst into tears: "Master!"

Xu Dazhu also leaned forward and looked over: "Sir, if there is any danger, we'll go together."

Little Man roared furiously, his eyes blazing with rage: "Just leave when I tell you to, but don't take anything except Wu Hua."

Errui, your uncle begs you, I entrust Dazhu's family to you. No matter what you see or hear, you are not allowed to come back, do you understand?

The pork belly was too small; in the hands of the refugees, it would just be a lump of meat.

Seeing the old man's anger, Xu Errui had no choice but to let Qiaoyun take the child, Chunfeng carry Nini on her back, and he helped carry Xu Dazhu into the woods. Even the little wild boar followed along.

They had learned from experience that Xiaoman wouldn't say something like that without a reason.

The room was instantly empty except for the two elderly people. Grandma Xiaoman couldn't help but ask, "Old man, what could be the matter?"

Xiaoman murmured, “The refugees are coming, and there are soldiers too… I’m not afraid of anything, except for encountering people who kill innocent people and claim credit for their crimes!”

"It doesn't matter if they steal our things, as long as the children are gone, no one will care about our two old folks' white hair."

He experienced war and chaos when he was young, and there were rumors that a village was burned down and looted by refugees.

As a result, all the able-bodied men inside were beheaded by the soldiers as a reward, and the villagers who had been robbed were also mistakenly killed.

Although the villagers were eventually exonerated, they were left with orphans and widows to live a miserable life.

Not long after Xu Errui left the mountainside, the refugees who had been gathering firethorn berries began to slowly move up the mountain.

Li Laoshi hid behind a thicket of firethorn berries, looking around and muttering to himself, "I'm an honest man, I don't do dishonest things. If you get beaten up, don't blame me for snitching."

Not far from him, several refugees were picking fruit, but their eyes kept looking up.

It was getting late, and they should have gone down the mountain to go home, but they didn't move.

As Li Laoshi was picking the fruit, he slipped to the side, only to be blocked by a "vagrant" who whispered, "Take them uphill!"

Li Laoshi nodded, forcing a smile: "Sir, if anything happens to the people above, it has nothing to do with me!"

"You do your thing, Zhang Juntou and the others will be here soon, and they'll reward you."

Upon hearing about the reward, Li Laoshi's eyes lit up immediately: "Really? You can't lie to an honest man like me!"

The sergeant nodded: "I'm not lying to you!"

The refugees were not familiar with each other, and he covered his face and kept his distance. No one knew that there were soldiers among them; it was all thanks to Li Laoshi's influence.

Li Laoshi swallowed hard, composed himself, picked up his cloth bag, and mingled among the refugees.

I don't know what he said, but the refugees started moving. Their eyes were gleaming with greed as they climbed up in the direction they had chosen beforehand.

Some were timid and, knowing these people were about to commit a crime, would turn around and slip away down the mountain.

The people split into two groups, each going their own way.

Although Li Laoshi was also heading up the mountain, he ended up lagging behind, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Ahead, the fastest-running refugees had already spotted the sloping land.

The field was empty at this time, and the turned soil had been covered with manure, forming a thick layer of manure crust.

A few discarded sweet potato vines and a few small green scallions remained on the edge of the land.

But this land, reeking of excrement, attracted the attention of the displaced people like a fragrant meat pie.

"Damn it! Everyone's already spreading manure to prepare for planting wheat!" Sigh! If I hadn't fled the famine, I should be turning the soil and drying it by now.

"The hand that splashed the excrement was unsteady and uneven; instead of splashing it in a fan shape, it ended up looking like a dog urinating."

"Once this land is mine, I'll fertilize it even more thoroughly and plant peas. With fertile soil, we can enjoy tender pea shoots during the New Year!"

Some people were even commenting and planning their future farm work, their faces full of anticipation.

These refugees arranged other people's property in a simple and honest manner, without feeling that there was anything wrong with it.

Seventeen or eighteen people crossed the slope and headed straight for the path.

They had already heard the rooster crowing.

Oh dear! Chickens, sheep, pigs—they're all such fat meat!

Slurp... My mouth is watering!

Li Laoshi hunched his neck and craned his neck, looking at the woods he had passed through that night, his eyes full of anticipation.

He knew there was a trap inside, designed to ensnare people by hooking their thighs...

At that moment, someone ran over there to catch chickens.