Several years have passed, and now the people in the mountains are either bandits or savages, and there are also many who hold both positions.

For Lin Hai, being a barbarian or a bandit in those years didn't matter; after all, being able to survive was a skill. However, what one had been before the war was important. Generally speaking, even when fleeing disaster in the mountains, large families or clans had more room to survive, and Lin Hai didn't dare accept such people.

Before setting off, Wang Liang once asked Lin Hai, "What if we find another large family of several hundred people? What will we do with the clan members?"

Lin Hai reassured Wang Liang, "Those who come down the mountain must be small families that can't make ends meet. The clan won't want to leave the mountain."

"Is life so good up in the mountains? Why don't you want to come down?"

Lin Hai smiled and shook his head: "Don't worry, big brother." Then he carried the ring-handled sword and set off.

At the foot of Jianshan Camp, Lin Hai ordered the troops to set up camp.

Not long after, in the simple camp, a large pot of white rice was lifted onto the steamer, and on the campfire next to it was roasting a big cat that had tried to attack them when they had just set up camp.

Well, my sworn brothers called it a big cat, since many people from the north didn't recognize this feline. However, Lin Hai carefully preserved its tan fur, which was covered with large patches of dark, cloud-like markings. As he hung the fur on bamboo poles to dry, Lin Hai thought, "Luckily, this is another world. Otherwise, with just this skin, I wouldn't have to worry about where to eat for the rest of my life."

Of course, the most attractive thing in the camp was the bacon stir-fried with green peppers, which filled half a pot. Seventh Brother Jia Da was stirring vigorously in the large iron pot with a digging shovel. I hope he really washed the shovel.

Stir-frying half a strip of bacon with half a pot of green peppers might be inedible, but the pungent aroma of the peppers will drift into the forest halfway up the mountain on the mountain breeze. Lin Hai knew that his team had most likely been targeted the moment they entered the mountain, and the enemy hadn't appeared yet because they were afraid of these ten heavily armed men.

If a person is extremely hungry, not to mention a fully armed man, even a fully armed star destroyer would probably be able to take a bite. Therefore, there is another crucial reason why Lin Hai's camp was not overwhelmed by the refugees who were several times larger than his own: a flag with the two big words "Qinghe" and eight small words "Ordered to gather refugees to cultivate land" was placed next to the wok.

Whether the people on the mountain believed the words on the flag was one thing, but this flag represented the government. Lin Hai knew that they feared the government and cursed it the most on a daily basis. However, if the government actually appeared, they would not completely avoid it, but would just watch from afar.

Half a day passed. Seeing that the government officials did not enter the forest to search the mountain, nor did they set fire or smoke to force people out of the forest, Lin Hai discovered that the number of people around the forest was gradually increasing.

Under the gazes of all the people in the woods, Lin Hai put down his knife and slowly walked to the stream closer to the woods. There was obviously movement in the woods, and he could feel someone running away, but Lin Hai didn't care.

It's normal to be a little timid.

When the Chen Dynasty just started recruiting soldiers in the southwest, the people in the southwest were enthusiastic.

But when troops left the mountains and never returned, recruiting soldiers again became extremely difficult. The front lines were pressing hard, and the local Chen officials in the southwest were under tremendous pressure from the central government. At this time, the superiority of the system of appointing officials from other places came into play. To complete the task, local Chen officials in the southwest began to raid homes and arrest people without restraint.

At first, they captured all the beggars and refugees.

Then they arrested the self-employed farmers who had little property and could not afford the exemption money.

Later, he took a knife and kindly invited the legitimate sons of the aristocratic families to join the army. In the end, the aristocratic families, who were deeply grateful to the country and willing to sell their families to help the country, contributed a large amount of exemption money and sent their tenants to the military camp.

In the end, they also sent the three squads of county yamen runners who were responsible for arresting people to the military camp, and sent them to Jiangnan with the countless wealth they had accumulated over the years of being honest officials, until the Khmers came, the Xia people came, and the Liang people also came.

When the four countries declared a ceasefire, the prosperous southwest was filled with bandits, robbers and endless refugees.

It is perfectly reasonable for anyone who was a self-employed farmer with a house and land a few years ago, and then was abused by the government, clans, bandits and robbers in turn or at the same time for a few years, to be a little timid.

So Lin Hai stopped after crossing the stream, turned his back to the woods, opened a bundle, which contained the dirty clothes he had taken off in the past few days. Lin Hai squatted by the stream and began to wash the clothes seriously.

Just a piece of clothing and a pair of pants, and they were washed quickly.

Hearing that there was still no movement behind him, Lin Hai felt a little embarrassed, but fortunately, his back was facing the woods and no one could see his expression, so he openly picked up the clothes that had been washed once and put them in the stream to wash again.

Well, as long as the other person doesn’t say it out loud, I won’t feel embarrassed.

Finally, hearing the sound of someone approaching, Lin Hai didn't care about being abrupt and started talking to himself loudly.

"What a lousy place! They even ask us to come and cultivate the land. There's not even a single flat piece of land here. There's no food to grow there."

"We're trying to recruit refugees. We've been walking for a whole day and night, and haven't seen a soul. I'd say everyone here is extinct. They're talking about tax exemptions, but even humans don't give tax exemptions to ghosts. I'd just go back this afternoon and tell the higher-ups that there's no one in the mountains, and we should just emigrate from other places."

Just as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of grass being trampled behind him. Lin Hai pretended to be frightened and turned around and shouted, "Who is it? Do you know what kind of crime it is to attack an official?"

People always have a human appearance. If a person lives like a ghost, it is hard to say that he is no longer a human being.

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