462 Qi State's Landscape in Battle - Map Two

"I'll beat you to death! You stole my family's grain! You're trying to kill my whole family! I'll beat you to death!"

The man who had been chasing after him finally caught up, snatched his sack from behind, and kicked Yang Dadan hard.

Yang Dadan sat on the ground, panting heavily, his breath coming in gasps, his face pale, and sweat dripping from his forehead, wetting the ground.

His breathing was rapid, a mixture of exhaustion from running too fast, despair, emptiness, and confusion. He gripped his knees tightly, trying to stand up.

He roared at the crowd as if venting his anger, "I'm all alone. I want to live! I want to live! They...they all ran away. I want to leave too. I just want to escape for my life!"

The man who was about to teach Yang Dadan a lesson slowly stopped in his tracks, his eyes, though still filled with anger, gradually calmed down.

The village chief and others from Baiyang Village rushed over and shouted, "Calm down, calm down, everyone calm down. If you're leaving, leave quietly and don't ruin our past friendship."

If you want to leave, you'd better hurry, because the Red King's army might arrive today or tomorrow.

Everyone quickly calmed down. With the Red King's invasion imminent, everyone was filled with uncertainty.

Although Yang Dadan's actions did not succeed, a sense of distrust permeated the hearts of the people when faced with the issues of food and escape.

They rushed back to their homes to see if they still had any food. Without food, they wouldn't survive more than a few days. In the midst of the tense atmosphere of fleeing, whether they could fill their stomachs seemed less important.

Seeing that no one cared about him, Yang Dadan breathed a sigh of relief, lowered his head, and carefully put away the grain belonging to his family behind him.

Every year, 30% is handed over to the government, and what I have left are just grass seeds and miscellaneous foods; there's no real good grain in them. As long as one person is full, the whole family isn't hungry. Should I stay or leave?

The village chief looked at Yang Dadan with a pang of sympathy, but he was powerless to help. He was the village chief of Yangjia Village and also the clan leader here. The migration of Yangjia Village to the border area was out of necessity. Otherwise, everyone knew that the border between the two sides was more dangerous than other places.

Everyone says that the city of Qi is a great city with honest officials. Anyone who is not honest is arrested, and they really are arrested. But what does that have to do with us?

This place is managed like a shepherd on behalf of Heaven; how could anyone dare disobey? Of these people, who could enter the government? The best they could get into were martial arts schools. Although martial arts schools were prestigious for a while, people would die there too.

In Baiyang Village, there are more than a dozen people who have entered martial arts schools, and several of them have even brought their families to the city, which makes the other people very envious.

However, some of them hurriedly returned after only three to five years. It turned out that their sons had died in battle, and the expenses in the city were too high, so they had no choice but to return.

To this day, only one or two remain in the city. Although they keep in touch, their friendship has faded over time. Moreover, the village is poor and it is difficult for them to have much financial connection with martial artists.

The village chief, however, knew all too well that without these, the spirit of offering incense should not be misused unless absolutely necessary. And now, it was beyond the capabilities of the martial arts school staff to resolve.

Furthermore, uniting in rebellion was impossible; the announcement clearly stated that the Prince of Qi had died, the murderer was the Prince of Hong, and the new emperor's ascension to the throne was something they couldn't possibly know. All they knew was that their allegiance was uncertain.

The Xuanji Sect and the Supreme Palace govern separately in the east and west. Whether they belong to the east or the west is truly unknown.

All that is known is that the families who had previously migrated to the city sold off their property overnight and quickly left Yanshan County. Those who could leave started to leave, and those who had connections used them to their advantage, for fear of being killed by the Red King.

The local families also began to leave quickly after a day. Nobody knows what the county town is like now.

Village Chief Bai Yang sighed inwardly. Chaos was imminent. If they decided to stay tonight, they would form a patrol team tomorrow, not to deal with the Red Army, but to take advantage of the chaos.

In the Xuanji School, the main peak is majestic, with three tall peaks as the main feature and seven or eight shorter peaks as the rest. The central main peak is the tallest.

At the top of the main peak, the mansion with its tall, majestic, and imposing glazed tile roof is so magnificent that the glazed tiles on the top are pressed together like fish scales.

The courtyard is filled with hundreds of lush bamboo stalks, peonies and peonies with buds about to bloom, and a clean, glazed tile floor.

Above the main hall, the brackets are intertwined and the roof is covered with yellow tiles, resembling a golden palace. There are ten stone pillars side by side, each of which is carved with two giant dragons, one above and one below, coiling and rising, riding the clouds and mist.

At the highest point of the main hall, in the very center, there was no chair, only a round stone stool about ten feet square.

The stone pier is an imperial green, about three feet high. Upon closer inspection, it can be seen that it is carved from a single piece of imperial emerald. Its deep color, as dazzling as jade, is truly a priceless treasure.

On the smooth, flat stone pier, a layer of spirit stones was neatly arranged. The spirit stones were like bright pearls, arranged in an orderly manner according to some rule, as if they contained some kind of strange array, which looked like a spirit gathering array.

In the surrounding remote areas, there are also simpler, tall houses with blue tiles and bluestone walls, named after places like Tenglong Mansion or other mansions, extending outwards in an orderly fashion.

In the distance, there was another cluster of low thatched huts, arranged in neat rows, crowded together, with shared sleeping quarters and public toilets, simply marked with numbers from small to large.

Inside, there were a very small number of elderly servants, dressed in gray, who had lived there for many years and served the daily needs of this main peak.

If you look closely, the entire main peak is surrounded by a large array, making it difficult to enter. Moreover, in some areas, the seedlings of spiritual herbs that were originally growing well now seem to lack spiritual energy, with their leaves drooping, listless, and wilting.

Some seeds didn't even germinate, as if they were dead.

During this period, the servants of the Xuanji Sect were all very careful, afraid that their every move might displease someone.

Getting beaten up is the least of your worries. If you run into an inner sect member who's unhappy, one kick will cripple you even if you don't die.

A servant in gray, who looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old, cautiously looked around. Once no one was around, he quickly came out and swept up the fallen leaves.

Then she quickly hid back in the corner, where another child of about the same age was nervously watching. Seeing that no one was around, she whispered, "Brother Guo, they won't come out when it gets dark. Then we can clean up together, and we'll be done quickly."