Perhaps due to the war and the conscription, the people in the village no longer had the vitality they once had, and lived like walking corpses.

The purpose of living now is no longer to live a good life, but simply to survive and endure.

The continuous natural disasters and wars have long since numbed these people. The deaths or arrests of their family members have left them with no hope of survival and no yearning for the future.

Having endured numerous hardships, they have lost their initial kindness. Even if someone were to die in front of them, they would not be moved in the slightest, and might even try to hasten the death of that person.

Isn't death a kind of liberation? At least you won't have to suffer like this anymore...

Heavy taxes and oppression have made it extremely difficult for them to even fill their stomachs. They rely on wild vegetables and tree roots to stave off hunger every day. They want to resist, but they are powerless to fight back.

Living in this environment is suffocating; it's oppressive and makes it hard to breathe every day.

Faced with this situation, the Taoist priest and Lu Chuan could say nothing and could only remain silent.

It must be said that Lu Chuan and Xu Han's decision to hide in the mountains under these circumstances was a very wise one, and they lived a very comfortable life. At least they didn't have to pay taxes or be conscripted.

These two things alone could drive a wealthy family to ruin, while Lu Chuan and Xu Han's family living a self-sufficient life in the deep mountains is a kind of luck in itself.

Even without Xu Han's spatial cheat, this lifestyle alone would have been enough for the whole family to live comfortably deep in the mountains. At the very least, they would have been able to solve their food and clothing problems and wouldn't have gone hungry.

Didn't others think of hiding deep in the mountains? It's not that they hadn't thought of it, it's just that they didn't have the ability.

There are so many ferocious beasts in the deep mountains. For ordinary people, going into the deep mountains means becoming food for those beasts.

Moreover, for ordinary families, living deep in the mountains means being unregistered. After a disaster, everyone is thinking about making a good life in the future, so naturally they wouldn't have such thoughts.

Then war broke out. My family could endure being conscripted at first. But later, burdened by heavy taxes, they had nowhere left to run when they wanted to escape.

It's too late, far too late. The able-bodied men in the family are gone, and for the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled to venture into the deep mountains would undoubtedly lead to certain death.

In the end, all we can do is live like zombies, barely surviving, enduring the suffering. Now we just hope that our family can get through this, survive this chaotic world that devours people without spitting out the bones, this year of disaster.

However, the world is in chaos again. Not only are there wars and government taxes to weigh on people, but some people are also driven to desperation and even abandon their good deeds to become bandits, turning ordinary people into villains just to survive in this chaotic world.

The government must know about these bandits. According to Yunhua's letter, the government has sent troops to suppress them, but they are short-handed and most of their forces are fighting the enemy, so they can't spare any manpower for the bandits.

This has led to these bandits becoming increasingly rampant and their ranks growing larger. The imperial court is now paying more and more attention to this issue, but it is currently unable to attend to it all and can only wait until the external threats are resolved before it can focus on addressing the internal problems.

Of course, that's all in the future. Now, Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest have learned a little about the situation in the village and are planning to set off for the county town to take a look.

Fortunately, the government has now stopped conscripting men; otherwise, a strong and capable laborer like Lu Chuan would certainly not dare to walk openly on the street.

Unaware of the situation, the two cautiously entered the county town. Only when they saw other young men walking on the street did Lu Chuan dare to show himself.

The county town was also lifeless, lacking its former liveliness.

The two walked the streets asking for news, and later learned that the people here were not so lucky. The authorities had ordered that no one should flee the famine, and people in the city could not leave even if they wanted to.

However, some people who received advance notice fled before the government issued orders, which resulted in a significant decrease in the number of people in the county town.

Those who remained in the city were unable to leave and were therefore forced to stay.

However, some news still managed to get in. The people in the county had heard more or less about the enemy troops from the border infiltrating the county and committing massacres and looting.

Everyone was trying to stay home as much as possible, fearing that one day enemy spies might sneak into the city and they might accidentally become victims.

It has to be said that news spreads very quickly when you live in the county town, while the disadvantages of living deep in the mountains become particularly obvious.

If it weren't for Yunhua frequently sending messages home, Xu Han and Lu Chuan's family would probably have lost track of time.

Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest strolled around the city for an afternoon, and after having dinner in the evening, they found an inn to rest.

Upon entering the inn, it was immediately apparent that it was deserted and quiet, with the innkeeper dozing off at the counter.

These are unusual times; even the number of caravans coming and going has decreased significantly, and business at the inns is extremely poor.

After all, the county town was not far from the current border. Although the merchants wanted to make money, they dared not gamble with their lives and fortunes for a little money.

At times like these, life is more important than money. If you lose your life, you can't spend any amount of money!

Upon hearing the sound, the innkeeper immediately came to his senses and greeted them with a smile, "Would you two like to have a meal or stay at the inn?"

Lu Chuan said, "Shopkeeper, please open two ordinary rooms."

"Alright, sir, please follow me."

The two followed the innkeeper into the guest room, and Lu Chuan didn't forget to say, "Please bring some hot water, innkeeper."

"Alright, please wait a moment, sir, it will be delivered to you shortly."

After they sat down and drank some water, they began to chat about what they had seen and heard that day.

Lu Chuan spoke first, saying, "The county town seems calm on the surface, but who knows what undercurrents are brewing beneath the surface."

The Taoist priest took a sip of water and replied, "The battlefield is not far from here. Judging from the current situation, there is a very high possibility that they will reach us."

Lu Chuan thought for a moment and said, "Let's buy some things we need for the house tomorrow and go back. We won't go into the city before the New Year. We'll go into the city later when the situation is more stable."

The Taoist priest agreed with Lu Chuan's suggestion, saying that this method was the most suitable for everyone at present. With the world in chaos, it was best not to go out casually.

Besides, the place where they live is currently very safe, so there's absolutely no need to create trouble for themselves at this time.

Having lived in the mountains for so many years, what difference would it make if they stayed a few more years? It wouldn't have any impact on them at all.