Seeing how hard her children were working, Mrs. Huang changed the family's meals from what they used to eat every day, which were tough sorghum noodles.

Every meal was changed to store-bought broken rice, and every meal was dry rice.

Cured pork, sausages, and eggs are available almost every day.

Although everyone only received a few pieces, it made everyone in the family extremely happy.

I feel so happy I could burst!

They trained even harder.

The people of Zhao Family Village persist in patrolling and training every day, daring not to slack off at all.

With daily energy expenditure and insufficient food replenishment, the men in the village were visibly losing their spirits.

Huang personally led the team up the mountain to hunt.

Due to the weather, there are basically no small animals left at the foot of the mountain.

As we ventured deeper into the mountains, we were lucky enough to encounter a family of wild boars.

Having more strength gave them an advantage; Huang and Zhao Minggeng each took one pig and wiped out the pig father and mother.

The remaining seven smaller piglets were divided among the men of the village.

That day, Zhao Family Village was like celebrating the New Year. The pig father weighed over 300 jin, the pig mother was about the same, and the remaining piglets all weighed over 100 jin.

Everyone who participated in going up the mountain received an extra two catties of meat; the rest of the meat was distributed according to the number of people in Zhao Family Village.

Since most of the Zhao family's children were not at home, the pork they received seemed like a lot.

With pork available, the whole village cooked meat to eat. The aroma wafted for miles around.

That's a bit of an exaggeration; actually, if you can smell it within a hundred meters, you're considered to have a good nose.

But Zhao Family Village was being targeted by others.

The last group of refugees who came held a grudge because they lost men and didn't get any advantage in Zhao Family Village.

They send people to keep an eye on them every day.

So, they discovered that Zhao Family Village had brought back so many wild boars at once—this was outrageous!

The refugees, who had been craving it for ages, were practically drooling as they kept watch outside.

Seeing smoke billowing from the chimneys of every household in Zhao Family Village, I felt as if they were eating my flesh.

So, they quickly reported it to the leader.

Hearing that there was meat, the leader didn't want to wait any longer, as the grain he had previously looted was already gone.

There's no time like the present, so we acted that very night.

Ever since the last time migrants took a roundabout route into Zhao Village, the villagers have been on high alert.

The two people responsible for keeping an eye on Zhao Family Village had actually been discovered long ago.

In order not to alert the enemy, and also to lure them out, Huang led the men up the mountain to hunt.

Of course, we went up the mountain secretly, but we made a big fuss about coming back.

As night fell, each family hid their elderly members, children, and women in the cellar.

Men with fighting ability sleep fully clothed, with a machete or stick at hand, which they consider to be the most lethal weapons.

This group of refugees was very patient, and they only began to move around at the end of Hai hour (9-11 PM).

This was a targeted robbery; the team split into two groups. One group attracted the patrol's attention at the village entrance while the other launched a full-scale attack.

The other team took a detour, with their first destination being Zhao Qingyan's house.

At the village entrance, the rain of arrows from the able-bodied men and women soldiers effectively blocked the refugees.

There were three or four hundred refugees at the village entrance, and more than half of them were quickly shot down.

Those who had the courage to continue became sieves, while those who lacked courage fled.

The other route, which follows the mountainside, has four or five hundred people.

They had just reached the flat road at the foot of the mountain when the person in front fell into a trap.

Those who tried to disperse after realizing the problem were quickly surrounded by a hail of arrows.

They cried out for their parents and begged for mercy.

No matter which direction the king runs, an arrow will always come flying at him.

Those who are quick can dodge, while those who are slow will only be riddled with holes.

That's not all; after the rain of arrows, came the army of dogs.

All the dogs in the village came out.

The frenzied biting and tearing occurred, and anyone who managed to escape the encirclement was immediately whipped by the Zhao family villagers surrounding them.

Those who try to run away without being whipped will be kicked or beaten by the people on the outside.

Soon, the group that had launched the sneak attack was terrified.

Finally, they all knelt down and begged for mercy.

Would begging for mercy work? The people of Zhao Family Village had all experienced famine and displacement.

They knew all too well what would happen on the road to escape famine and how evil human nature could become.

Most of these refugees had red eyes and were not as thin as other refugees; some could even be described as plump and strong.

It's clear what those who didn't lose weight on the journey of fleeing famine ate.

Huang was in front, and Zhao Minggeng was behind. Wherever they went, these refugees all lost a leg.

Those who tried to fight back or run away received an even harsher blow.

Finally, of the group of refugees who bypassed the back mountain, more than two hundred died and more than one hundred were injured. The rest all lost a leg.

It's not that the people of Zhao Family Village are ruthless, but rather that the evil in human nature knows no bounds. Showing mercy to the enemy is tantamount to putting your neck to their blade.

As dawn broke, the villagers of Zhao Village finally finished cleaning up the battlefield.

The dead refugees were thrown into pits dug on the spot, covered with oil, and quickly set ablaze, returning to dust.

Those who didn't die were forced into a large pit dug at the foot of the mountain; those with broken legs either crawled out or were kicked in directly.

The young guard carried a bow and arrow; anyone who dared to climb the web would be shot with an arrow.

The rest of the people went back to rest. At the end of the hour of Mao (5-7 AM), a small group of people from Zhao Family Village went to the county government to report to the authorities.

The wait was long, and by noon noon no one from the county government had come. The young men who went to report to the authorities also returned dejectedly.

"The county government office is in complete disarray, and there's a shortage of manpower. I heard that the county magistrate is injured and bedridden. Uncle Jinhua told us to act as we see fit."

When the village chief Zhao Jinfa heard this, he felt dizzy. What did "acting expediently" mean? Did they mean to kill all those refugees?

You can't see anything clearly at night, so killing someone is fine. When it's a life-or-death struggle, no amount of violence is too much.

But what's the situation now? It's broad daylight, and those refugees are all injured. How can we attack them? We can't bring ourselves to do it.

It was also convenient to observe people during the day. When they went to the edge of the pit, they dragged out those with normal eye color and took them outside the village to fend for themselves.

As for the abnormal eye color, it was obvious that they had eaten something they shouldn't have, so they were tied up and dragged into the mountains.

Whether they live or die depends on their fate.

After throwing the last refugee out of the village, they closed the village gate.

We must continue our duty and remain vigilant.

Although the fight against Zhao Family Village was a complete victory, no one was happy.

Anyone who witnesses such a horrific scene would be traumatized.

Fortunately, the finishing touches after daybreak were handled by the older men.

Even so, many of the young women and wives who participated in the battle in the middle of the night suffered from convulsions and fever.

This kept the village's barefoot doctor extremely busy.

Old Wang went from house to house taking pulses, prescribing medicine, and exclaiming that it would shorten his lifespan by ten years.