Chapter 165 Jinjiang Exclusive

Inside the tent, besides Lu Xuan, there was also the village chief Li Tie who came in person, Mr. Zhang who came because of Huo Tiankuo's reputation, and Ge Yuan.

The village chief and Mr. Zhang stood up excitedly, "General Huo!"

Ge Yuan, who was usually calm and composed, was unusually excited and saluted Huo Tiankuo, "Hello, General!"

Huo Tiankuo was a little surprised to see Ge Yuan, "You are... Ge Yuan? Why are you here?"

Ge Yuan said: "We are from the same village."

Old Master Zhang looked at Ge Yuan in surprise, "You know General Huo? Did you serve in the Huo family army back then?"

Ge Yuan shook his head: "It's just that General Huo came to our rescue when our camp was attacked by the enemy."

He was almost killed by the enemy at that time. If Huo Tiankuo had not arrived in time to save him, he would not have just been left with a scar on his face.

He didn't expect that General Huo still remembered him, and his expression became even more emotional.

Huo Tiankuo said to Ge Yuan with relief: "It seems that you have a good life after retiring from the army, but I..."

Huo Tiankuo sighed and thanked Lu Xuan and Village Chief Li Tie earnestly. "Thank you all for your help. If it weren't for you, the wounded soldiers and seriously ill victims in our army would have died."

Li Tie hurriedly said, "General Huo, you're too kind. The general has been working to protect our people from foreign invasion and maintain peace on the border. He's only encountered a temporary difficulty now. We, the people under his protection, should do what we can while we're able."

Huo Tiankuo shook his head and said, "Nothing is as it should be. In today's world, life is not easy for everyone. You are able to provide so many precious medicines and supplies. I am deeply grateful for this."

During this journey, he saw many beasts who had lost their humanity in the troubled times, many poor people who gave up their dignity for a bite to eat, and local tyrants who relied on the large amount of supplies they had stockpiled to bully the people.

Yunlu Village is the only village where people of ordinary origin are willing to spend large sums of money on unrelated people.

Li Tiedao: "You are too polite. We--"

"Village chief, let General Huo sit down and talk." Lu Xuan interrupted them and reminded.

Li Tie suddenly realized: "Right, right, General Huo, let's sit down and talk slowly."

As he spoke, he specially took out the high-quality tea that he had prepared in advance and found in Yangshan County to entertain Huo Tiankuo.

Seeing that they even had precious commodities like tea, Huo Tiankuo was even more impressed by their wealth.

The village chief didn't continue the previous topic, but asked curiously: "Why is General Huo here? Shouldn't you be in the northwest?"

Could it be that he fled all the way from the northwest to escape famine?

Now that General Huo has left, what will become of the northwest border? Will the barbarians outside the border march straight in?

Huo Tiankuo looked a little hesitant.

Originally, he shouldn't tell ordinary people about military matters, but thinking about the current situation and the fact that the other party had just saved his people, he chose to confess after a little thought.

"A month before the earthquake, the Southwest General's old illness relapsed, and I was sent to the Southwest to take over his duties temporarily. I didn't expect that there would be another earthquake and natural disasters afterwards, and I never had the chance to return to the Northwest."

Huo Tiankuo said, "The barbarians outside the southwest pass all died in the earthquake, and the border towns were severely damaged. In order to find a way for the people in the border towns to survive, I took my personal soldiers and the surviving people all the way south, hoping to find a suitable place for the victims to settle down, and then find a way to return to the northwest."

Unfortunately, after nearly half a year of struggle, they still couldn’t find a place to settle down, and the team suffered heavy losses.

Ge Yuan couldn't help but ask, "General, have you been in touch with the higher-ups since the earthquake? Any news from the capital? Are there any disaster relief measures?"

When Li Tie and Mr. Zhang heard this question, they couldn't help but prick up their ears.

They not only want to know whether the court has taken any measures, but also want to know whether the court still exists.

Huo Tiankuo paused for a moment before sighing, "I did send a messenger eagle from the army to deliver a message, but I learned that... half of the capital collapsed in the earthquake, and the imperial palace was also damaged in many places. The emperor, unfortunately, passed away in the earthquake."

Li Tie and the other two were shocked and said in astonishment: "The emperor is gone!?"

Lu Xuan, who was listening, and the audience in the live broadcast room thought at the same time that everyone is equal in the face of natural disasters, no matter whether you are an emperor or a beggar, those who deserve to die will not survive.

Li Tie stammered, "Then... has the new emperor ascended the throne?" The original emperor is gone, so there should be a new emperor to ascend the throne, right?

Huo Tiankuo frowned and said, "The emperor passed away too suddenly and did not leave any edict of succession. The princes are still young. The capital is in chaos after the earthquake. I am afraid it will take a while for the new emperor to be appointed."

In fact, he never received any reply after sending out the messenger eagle for the second time.

He speculated that it was likely that the supporters behind the princes in the palace were fighting for the throne.

As a general holding military power, he was inevitably feared by others. Before the situation stabilized, in order to prevent him from having any inappropriate thoughts, cutting off his communication channels with the capital was an foreseeable result.

Huo Tiankuo felt a little annoyed when he thought of those people who were only concerned with fighting for power and profit when the people were suffering.

However, out of consideration for the royal family's reputation, he didn't say these words to anyone. He only said, "Once the situation stabilizes, I will find a way to go to the capital to confirm the current situation."

He subconsciously reassured Li Tie, Old Man Zhang, and the others, "Chaos and natural disasters are only temporary. As long as we all unite and get through this difficult time, I believe everything will be fine soon."

Li Tie and the other two had complicated expressions.

It will indeed get better, but it won't be as soon as General Huo thought, but will take up to five years.

Lu Xuan, who had heard this silently, said bluntly: "It won't be healed in a short time."

Huo Tiankuo had never ignored Lu Xuan. When he heard him speak, his expression became serious, "What do you mean, Brother Lu?" What do you mean it won't get better in a short time?

Lu Xuan said, "This is a catastrophe affecting the entire world, and it will last for five years. This year is only the first year, and extreme weather conditions like this one will continue for at least the next two years. It will gradually ease in the fourth and fifth years."

"The high-ranking officials in the capital may have been too busy fighting for power to care about the lives of the people at first, but during the extremely hot and rainy seasons that followed, I'm afraid they might have a hard time surviving themselves, let alone caring about us."

Taking a step back, if there are people who really care about the people, just like the roads in Yangshan County that were cut off by the earthquake, they also have the will but not the ability.

"Because of the capital's geographical location, the frequency of earthquakes has been higher than in other places in the past three years. Unless you leave the capital immediately and seek refuge elsewhere after a major earthquake, it's unknown whether the capital will still exist by the time General Huo leaves."

To be precise, without suitable means of transportation, it would be impossible for Huo Tiankuo to cross the countless underground cracks and reach the capital.

Lu Xuan said calmly, "Whether it's us or General Huo's Huo Family Army, if we want to survive the disaster period safely, we can't rely on anyone else. We can only rely on ourselves."

Huo Tiankuo stood up suddenly, looked at Lu Xuan with sharp eyes, and said sternly, "Five years of disaster? How did you know this?"

He even knew that there would be an earthquake in the capital in the next few years? Could he be a prophet?

Lu Xuan said: "I naturally have my own information channels. General Huo can choose to believe it or not, as long as you think clearly about the cost of not believing it."

The worst that could happen is that he would die with more than 3,000 soldiers and civilians.

Huo Tiankuo was startled, wiped his face, took a deep breath, and said, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to question you, it's just..."

Such a future was too terrifying, and he didn't dare or want to believe it.

In just less than half a year, thousands of victims had been lost along with his personal soldiers, and now the remaining people in the team were not even half of the number when they left the southwest.

In order to feed these people, he and his personal soldiers even reluctantly slaughtered their war horses, which had accompanied them through life and death on the battlefield and were no different from their comrades.

If these natural disasters continue for several more years...

He really wasn't sure he could lead them to a way out.

Huo Tiankuo murmured, "Could it be that God really doesn't give these disaster victims any way to survive?"

Lu Xuan glanced at him and said nothing.

Old Master Zhang consoled him, "Don't worry, General. You and the Huo family army are so powerful. As long as you seize the opportunity, your life will not be much worse than ours."

The audience in the live broadcast room laughed: [It's not much different, it's just that I'm still worse than you guys. ]

[That's for sure. The people of Yunlu Village are enjoying a life that's top-notch in the entire plane. How could the Huo family army surpass them without the host's cheats?]

[Hasn't this already happened to the anchor? With a little help from the anchor, there's a way out.]

If the victims encountered today were ordinary disaster victims, the audience would inevitably have to debate the question of "whether to save them or not".

But soldiers who defend their country are always loved in any era, especially generals with a good reputation like Huo Tiankuo. Most people have a good impression of him and his team.

Lu Xuan was willing to spend so much money on medicine to save people because of Huo Tiankuo and the Huo family army.

After Mr. Zhang finished speaking, the village chief and Ge Yuan kept looking in his direction. Lu Xuan, understanding their meaning, spoke again: "There are a lot of prey on the hill ahead. When the soldiers of the Huo family army have eaten their fill and have strength, they can go there to hunt for food."

"Also, there's a nice hillside on the south side of the mountain. It's not particularly large, but if we squeeze in, it should be able to accommodate more than 3,000 people."

Huo Tiankuo said in surprise: "Didn't you say..." That is your territory?

Huo Tiankuo didn't have the idea that as ordinary people they shouldn't "occupy the mountain and become king". In the extremely cold winter, supplies were hard to come by. They had the strength, so it was understandable that they occupied the place where there was prey first.

Lu Xuan said: "That is just one of the hunting spots we have chosen. If we lose that place, we can find other places."

But it is not easy for Huo Tiankuo's team to find a more suitable place to stay.

"Those tents outside, as well as the ginger soup and bone soup, are gifts to the Huo family army. General, you can accept them without worry. As for the medicine for the injured and sick, you can return them slowly after the General County has guaranteed the basic survival of its people."

"Although the wounded have been stabilized for the time being, some of them are too deeply wounded to be moved. We can't guarantee there won't be more accidents in the next two days. We will stay for two more days and wait until we get you to the hillside before leaving."

Knowing that Huo Tiankuo had not seen the hillside in person and might not be sure whether it could be used as a new place to stay, Lu Xuan made an appointment with him to take him there tomorrow to confirm.

Huo Tiankuo saluted Lu Xuan solemnly and said, "Thank you, Brother Lu."

He could already tell from the reactions of the village chief and Ge Yuan that Lu Xuan's status in the village was extraordinary.

Although he didn't know the reason, it didn't stop him from being grateful for the other party's help.

…

After Huo Tiankuo left, the hunting team and female relatives such as Miao Jinfeng who had been helping in the wounded tent came back one after another to rest.

After working for a long time, everyone was hungry. They took out food from the space to fill their stomachs and talked about the Huo family army while eating.

"I remember that the Huo family soldiers were very brave and good at fighting. I just counted them and there are several hundred of them in the team. Logically speaking, with so many skilled soldiers, it shouldn't be difficult for them to support themselves, right? But I see that many of them are so thin that they are just bones. It's really unbearable to look at them."

"I found out about that."

Chen Rong took a big sip of the fish ball soup, wiped his mouth and said, "The Huo family army is indeed very capable. Whether it is the rainy season or the extremely cold season, they can always find a way to get a lot of food. But isn't that because they have more people in the team?"

“The prey I caught is definitely enough for me to eat, but it won’t be enough to share with more than 3,000 mouths.

Without enough to eat, the Huo family army's condition naturally deteriorated. The amount of food they could find became less and less, and they encountered several attacks from wild beasts, resulting in the loss of some men and the injury of others. This left even fewer men able to go out and look for food.

Vicious cycle.

Xiong Mao looked puzzled when he heard this.

"Once we find food, we must first ensure that the Huo family army is well fed. Otherwise, how will they get the energy to go hunting again?"

Even animals know that they must prioritize preserving their own manpower in order to preserve the largest possible population. Doesn't General Huo even understand such a basic principle?

Li Tie sighed and said, "I'm afraid General Huo has too heavy a sense of responsibility. He can't just feed his own soldiers while watching the victims go hungry." Or even starve to death.

[However, if there is not enough food, people will eventually starve to death. As the leader, isn't the most important thing to ensure that as many people as possible survive?]

[This decision wasn't very rational when I was starving. I wanted to take care of both ends, but in the end, I didn't take care of either end well.]

The result of this vicious cycle is that the number of people dying of starvation continues to increase, and the number of people becomes smaller and smaller, until finally either enough food is found to feed everyone, or even the soldiers starve to death, and the situation ends once and for all.

[It's better to be ruthless from the beginning. Even if some people do starve to death at first, more people will definitely survive in the end.]

[It's easy to say, but who should be starved to death first? Who deserves to be starved to death? If it were an enemy, it would be fine, but these are the people General Huo has always protected. How could he possibly destroy their livelihood?]

If he could really do something like this, he wouldn't be the kind of general who is loved by the people and gets spontaneous donations from the villagers.

Li Tie thought of the supplies provided by the villagers when they came, and turned to look at Lu Xuan.

"Didn't you give the food donated by the village to General Huo? I saw that after unloading the patients from the carts, there was almost nothing left."

"If we hadn't donated some food, they might not have been able to survive for a few days before running out of food."

Lu Xuan said, "Don't worry. Didn't we agree to go to the mountains tomorrow? We can take some soldiers with us and let them go hunting. We can hold out for a few more days. As for the future... let's see what happens first."

Everyone was puzzled. What was going on?

·

The next day, the snow started falling again, but it wasn't heavy for the time being.

With the excellent thermal insulation of tents and charcoal basins, the disaster victims who had been worried about not being able to get up every day since the extreme cold season finally slept soundly for the first time.

Before daybreak, the hunting team from Wucheng arrived with some young women.

The young women took over from the aunts who were busy yesterday and made ginger soup and bone soup again. The victims came out of their tents following the smell, and when they saw that they had soup to drink today, they rarely smiled.

Huo Tiankuo originally wanted to leave his portion for the others, but Miao Jinfeng, who was stuffing him with soup, said, "How come there are ten pots of soup and only one bowl is missing for you, General? Only when you are full can you lead others to live a better life, right?"

Huo Tiankuo thought what he said made sense, so he drank the soup in one gulp.

While the Huo family army was filling their stomachs, Lu Xuan privately talked to Su Ying.

As soon as Su Ying left, Xiong Mao couldn't help but come over and ask, "What did you say to my wife? Are you attracted to my wife?"

Lu Xuan glanced at him with an expression that said, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

Xiong Mao actually knew that it was unlikely.

Since there is nothing personal to discuss, then let’s talk about serious matters?

He thought of his wife's special ability, and his heart moved. He looked at the group of disaster victims queuing for soup.

Is there something wrong with these people? That's impossible.

Without waiting for Xiong Mao to figure it out, Lu Xuan asked someone to notify General Huo to prepare to set off.

When they came yesterday, except for the Huo family army who were walking in front, the other victims did not notice the sled they were driving.

Today, I finally saw it clearly and discovered that the carriages were all made of glass. The shape was also different from the carriages they had in mind, but it looked very expensive.

There are limited seats on the sled, and except for the driver, the rear compartment is reserved for the Huo family army.

Lu Xuan also put away his snowmobile and replaced it with a snowmobile with a carriage.

Huo Tiankuo was sitting in his car, and there were three other personal soldiers in the car.

Including the other five vehicles, there were a total of 15 personal soldiers going with them.

Huo Tiankuo was still a little uncomfortable sitting on the soft seat. He fastened his seat belt following Lu Xuan's instructions. Before he could ask anything, he saw Lu Xuan making a gesture to the others to start.

The six drivers put on their helmets and started the sleds at the same time. The six sleds sped out in front of everyone's astonished gaze.

Victims: “!!!”

The victims were so shocked that they almost dropped their broth. They asked in disbelief, "How did those carts move without horses?"

“And it’s so fast!”

“The car is almost out of sight.”

"Where on earth did these people come from that they own such a strange car?"

The ordinary victims were talking loudly, and a few of them were looking at the sled car with only a few black spots left. They glanced at the villagers of Yunlu Village who were accustomed to this, with strange lights flashing in their eyes.

Su Ying, who had been paying attention to the behavior of the victims, noticed something unusual about them, curled her lips, adjusted her dress which showed off her figure, and walked towards the young victim who was looking around at her blushingly with a smile, and began to talk to her in a soft voice.