"Village chief, let's run! That wicked old woman Wu has brought the county yamen runners here to arrest all the men in the village and send them to Jinwang to serve as soldiers, and she also wants to arrest the girls and sell them to brothels."

Gou Dan ran up to the village chief, panting, and spoke quickly.

Ma Dazui asked anxiously, "Gou Dan, how did you know?"

It turned out that Gou Dan had once again crawled into the city through the dog hole in the city wall, hoping to beg for some pancakes to eat on his way out of the famine. His grandmother was old and injured. When he passed by a pancake stall, he had his back to the street and heard Wu Laotai talking loudly to someone.

"Today we must capture the men of Hanjia Village, drug them, and send them to King Jin to exchange for silver. Most importantly, we must capture all the girls and young wives in the village and sell them to brothels."

Her son, Wu Laosan, also said, "Mother, we also need to bring back all the grain carts in the village."

"Yes, yes, yes, I'm going to take everything from that scumbag Li Lanzhen's house. I'm going to take all three of Li Lanzhen's sons, as well as her brothers and nephews, and send them to the King of Jin to be human targets on the battlefield."

"Mother, let Han Yuemei be our son's wife. Send the rest to brothels to exchange for money. Miao Miao is pretty, so don't sell her to a brothel. Give her to a rich man's master. These rich people have special tastes."

Gou Dan followed behind them, walking slowly and listening, his hands clenched into fists.

He followed them all the way to the county government office. After watching them go in, Gou Dan turned around and ran away, crawling through a dog hole and running all the way back.

The people of Hanjiacun were furious when they heard Gou Dan's description.

Everyone was cursing Old Lady Wu and her son for being inhuman and not being people from Hanjiacun at all.

Suddenly, Li Lanzhen remembered what the guard had told her, and realized what he meant. She quickly said to the village chief, "Village chief, when we left the city, the guard quietly told me to hurry up and go deep into the mountains."

Hearing the commotion and Li Lanzhen's words, the village chief waved his hand and said, "Pack your things, let's go into the mountains."

Li Lanzhen climbed into the donkey cart given to her by the Zhou family and put everything inside into her spatial storage. Han Minghai then drove the cart, and his wife and two children sat inside.

Li Lanzhen also held several children around 3 years old in the village and made them sit down. Ignoring the villagers' grateful gazes, Li Lanzhen led Han Yuemei by the hand and followed the donkey cart up the mountain.

In Hanjiacun, every household quickly packed their belongings, took care of the children and the elderly, and prepared themselves before going to the village chief. They stood there waiting for the chief to speak before leaving.

The village chief looked at Xue Laohu and smiled, "We should learn from Brother Xue. Why don't you lead the way and take us into the mountains?"

Xue Laohu nodded, "Okay, village chief, our family will lead the way, and you can follow behind."

Because they had a car, Xue Laohu led everyone to choose to walk through the mountain valleys, heading deeper into the mountains from there.

The refugees nearby saw Hanjiacun leaving in a hurry and felt unsafe, so they packed their belongings and followed at a distance; some were from the same village.

Of course, there were also those who didn't believe it, and they just lay there, waiting for the Linshui County government to send them relief grain.

The group from Hanjiacun fled at breakneck speed, and by the time darkness fell, they had entered a valley nestled between three mountains.

Although they chose to walk through the valley, it was a place no one had ever been before, and there were no ready-made paths, so they were all exhausted.

Whether it was a donkey cart, an oxcart, or a handcart, they were all jolted so badly they were practically falling apart.

There were three pregnant women in the village. Zhang Yueniang was okay; she was on the bus whenever she could. But when she got here, she couldn't take it anymore and squatted on the ground, vomiting violently.

Li Lanzhen thought she should check the mall that night to see if there were any pregnancy-preserving medicines for the three pregnant women. In ancient times, pregnancy and childbirth were like dancing on swords, entirely dependent on fate.

Not to mention that they are still fleeing famine.

She mused for a while about the pregnant women, then stood up and looked around. There were mountains everywhere, but very little greenery, except at the mountaintops where the greenery was lush and verdant.

The brothers Han Minghai and Han Mingjiang, along with Li Guangyang, cleared out a large area and, using the trees, built a simple shed.

From the middle of the mountain down, the trees were bare, and the grass was dry; it crunched underfoot and broke into pieces.

Xue Laohu frowned as he watched the refugees who were coming up one after another and setting up camp not far behind them.

It seems the path into the mountains has already been cleared. If the county officials can't find the people of Hanjia Village, they will definitely catch up with them, as the traces of their entry into the mountains are too obvious.

Li Lanzhen also noticed this, frowning as she looked at the distant village where adults were shouting and children were making a fuss, their voices quite loud.

The environment is too noisy. As long as the soldiers go into the mountains, they will follow the clues to find this place, and capturing the people of Hanjiacun will be no problem.

Thinking of this, she strode up to the village chief, and Xue Laohu also came to see the village chief.

“Village chief, it’s not safe for us here. Look at all these people following us in. It’s no wonder the soldiers find us.” Li Lanzhen said, looking at the village chief, trying to make him understand her thoughts.

Xue Laohu nodded, "That's right, village chief. The path up the mountain has been cleared out. It's too obvious. The soldiers can find this place easily."

We need to figure out a solution soon. Either we continue deeper into the mountains, or we go up the eastern mountain, cross this one, then two more mountains, and then we can reach the official road leading to Youzhou.

Han Deshun and the others gathered around the village chief. They had all heard what Li Lanzhen and Xue Laohu were saying and were starting to worry. They watched to see what the village chief would say. If they were to leave, they would continue; if they weren't, they would find a way to resist the soldiers.

The village chief looked at the various vehicles and sighed, "We'll go up the mountain, cross this mountain to the east, and take the road down to the official road leading to Youzhou. But what about these vehicles? We definitely can't go up the mountain; we'll have to carry everything ourselves."

Looking at the mountain to the east, it is the shortest of these mountains, but it is indeed not easy for men, women, and children to carry their families up the mountain.

Compared to my own life, this doesn't seem like a big deal.

Finally, everyone agreed to go up the mountain and cross the mountain to the east.

As long as people are united, there is nothing to fear.

So the village chief said, "Have something to eat to fill your stomachs, and after a cup of tea, we'll go up the mountain."

At this moment, Xue Bao arrived, wiped the sweat from Xue Laohu's face, and said, "Dad, there's a path up the mountain, probably trodden out by hunters or herb gatherers. It's wide enough for a car to pass through. But in other places, the car might not be able to get through."

The village chief looked at Xue Laohu with satisfaction, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Your son is a good man. Let's go, let's go up the mountain, we'll go as far as the car can take us."

And so, the people of Hanjiacun started going up the mountain again. When the villagers from the surrounding villages saw them going up the mountain again, they looked up at the darkening sky, shook their heads in confusion, and continued to lie down and rest, deciding to go up the mountain the next morning.

The people of Hanjiacun are so resilient that they continue on their journey.

The child, still drowsy and unsteady, held tightly to the adult's hand and took his little steps forward.

The adults got off the bus, and the children were carried onto the bus to lie down. Some families left the large pieces of furniture they had been carrying on their shoulders down the mountain.

Following the village chief's advice to travel light, they found a good place, built a house, farmed, and bought furniture. However, they were captured by government soldiers, their family was scattered, and they lost everything.

Fortunately, the people of Hanjiacun listened to the advice and repacked their belongings, which indeed made them much faster.

They hadn't gone very high when they heard deafening shouts and flames erupting from the place where they had just been stationed.

Da Jiao secretly rejoiced that they had all gone up the mountain, but worried that they were not far from the bottom, so he quickened his pace.