Chapter 153: Dreaming of the Hu Family Again

Yun Zhou sensed that something had changed. Bianzhou had been under attack by barbarians, and he had heard that the situation was very bad.

No matter how bad the situation is, it is the court's responsibility to worry about it. The world is only so big. He can hide away, but he can't take the people who produce for him with him. It's better to let nature take its course. Even if the barbarians break through the pass, he can get the news when the northern refugees have no way to escape, and then he can run away.

Yunzhou had always held this mindset, but the appearance of Su Zhenzhen and Hensheng forced him to make other plans.

On the other side, Su Zhenzhen displayed her exceptional driving skills, riding her horse for dozens of miles outside of Chuannan City before finally stopping.

"Whoa!" The horse stopped at the command, but the wheels rolled forward half a circle due to inertia.

Fortunately, Hensheng managed to regain his balance in time. General Huo, who was floating inside, had no support and was thrown out, his body passing through Su Zhenzhen before gathering in mid-air.

Without wasting any time, Su Zhenzhen asked directly, "What kind of person is Yun Zhou? Do you think there's any possibility of him being turned against you?"

Judging from what happened in Chuannan City, this person is much more pragmatic than Hu Wen. He doesn't covet what doesn't belong to him, but he holds on to what he already has more tightly than anyone else.

General Huo frowned and thought for a moment, then said something that was essentially meaningless: "Let's do our best."

This means he's not sure either.

Hensheng also climbed out of the carriage. "It would be best if Yunzhou could be used. Just look at how he was serving as the magistrate of Chuannan County. There is so much farmland in the city, the streets are clean and tidy, and the soldiers under his command all obey his orders. Chuannan is beginning to take the shape of a small country."

At this point, Hensheng paused for a moment, "If this person cannot be recruited, it will become a huge problem."

Su Zhenzhen shared the same view; otherwise, she wouldn't have asked General Huo so directly. It must be said that the people under General Huo are all of high quality.

General Huo looked troubled. "Twenty years ago, I could have guaranteed that I could persuade him to surrender. But twenty years have passed. People's hearts are fickle, and power breeds desire. Many things are uncertain now."

"Forget it, dealing with the locust plague is the most important thing right now. My plan is to head straight south without stopping, all the way to the southern border town. What do you think?"

Su Zhenzhen thought that since Yunzhou had sent people to teach the cities around Chuannan City how to control the locust plague, there was no need to go to great lengths. It would be best to go to the most severely affected areas first and solve the source of the locust plague to prevent it from laying eggs everywhere.

General Huo had no objection; he was good at leading troops in battle, but other matters should be left to the professionals.

Hensheng, however, had a different idea: "The southernmost city may not be the most severely affected by the locust plague. We can head south and decide whether to stop based on the local disaster situation."

Su Zhenzhen thought this was a good idea, and the two finalized their itinerary and began their journey towards Fufeng County.

This time, Hensheng drove the carriage while Su Zhenzhen rested inside. For some reason, ever since she started dreaming about things, her soul power was being consumed very quickly.

After letting General Huo out for just a short while, Su Zhenzhen felt exhausted, as if she had just finished exercising. She also wanted to see if she could continue the dream from last time.

The carriage swayed and rocked, and the people inside leaned against the corners to fall asleep, slowly drifting off to sleep amidst the bumps and jolts.

After capturing the Hu family, Xu Guanshan fled south, intending to do the opposite of what was expected.

Natural disasters struck the south, and the people fled north to beg for food. Although there were barbarians in the north, the imperial army was stationed in the border prefectures and Huzhou. Going north would not necessarily mean being killed by the barbarians, but staying in the south would certainly mean starvation.

Xu Guanshan's cleverness was soon shattered by reality.

Along the way, we didn't see much wild grass, or even much tree bark.

The soldiers following Xu Guanshan complained that they had originally thought they could make great achievements by following their boss, but now they couldn't even get enough to eat.

Xu Guanshan looked at his son's corpse on the horse. No matter how much he disliked this unfilial son, he was still his own flesh and blood. He originally wanted to find a propitious place to bury him.

But now...

"Soldiers, you have worked hard following me these past few days. I just found a dead pig on the road. Now I'll cook a meal, everyone have something good to eat."

"Wow! General Xu is mighty!" Hundreds of his personal guards cheered immediately.

The Hu family members, who were tied together, were puzzled by the cheers.

"Mother, where did Uncle find that dead pig? There's nothing on the road here."

The young woman immediately spat, "Don't call him uncle, he's a beast!"

Soon, the aroma of meat wafted over, and the youngest child couldn't help but swallow hard.

They were tied to the back of the horses, with ropes tied to their feet, so they couldn't move at all. When the horses ran, they were forced to drag on the ground like skewers of meat. After several days, they were starving.

The elderly woman closed her eyes; her weakness prevented her from even shedding tears.

"He's...eating Yu'er!"

The other four were shocked, all showing expressions of disbelief.

"Mother, are you saying... Xu Guanshan distributed my cousin's corpse to his subordinates as if it were meat? Wasn't he supposed to find an auspicious burial site for my cousin?"

The open land offered no shelter from the wind, which blew the old woman's hair across her forehead, making her look as if she had just crawled out of a pile of corpses, given her pale complexion.

Her voice was as hard as a knife, but unfortunately, the knife was too dull and couldn't pierce the enemy's heart.

"Xu Guanshan, that scoundrel, he once said he would be loyal to His Majesty for life. Now that His Majesty's body is barely cold, he wants to take advantage of the chaos to get a share of the spoils. Without integrity, one cannot stand. This kind of beast will be struck by lightning one day!"

“Why is Sister-in-law still so naive?” Xu Guanshan walked over with a bowl of meat. “If Heaven had eyes, how could His Majesty have been driven to death by these ungrateful commoners? It’s better to rely on yourself than on others. Relying on Heaven and Earth will only lead to your demise sooner or later.”

The older woman turned her head away, seemingly unwilling to say more to the petty person.

Xu Guanshan held the bowl to her lips. "Fame and reputation are meaningless. It's good enough to be alive in this chaotic world. Don't be stubborn, sister-in-law. For Ya Xian's sake, I won't take your lives."

The older woman stretched out her neck and knocked the bowl over with her head, causing the meat to fall to the ground and splash up a cloud of dust.

"Affection? What affection do you have with Ya Xian? Is it the affection for killing her own child? Or the affection for dismembering her son's body?"

Xu Guanshan's face showed a hint of anger. "Sister-in-law, don't be so ungrateful. Ya Xian and I are husband and wife. Once this chaotic world is over, she can have as many children as she wants. I, Xu Guanshan, am just on a different path from your Hu family. Why do you have to stand on your moral high ground and criticize me?"

The older woman sneered, "So you've always thought you didn't do anything wrong, huh? That's quite a rare quality."

Xu Guanshan could no longer bear the sarcasm and grabbed the older woman by the neck.

"Mother! Let go of my mother!"