The group quickly gathered their belongings and continued on their way.
The simple wooden sled was no longer usable, so Uncle Zhao rode the village chief's donkey, while the other two old men rode together on a large blue mule.
Perhaps the old men were used to it and knew that refusing was useless.
This time they sat comfortably on the mules and donkeys, but their hands were busy, looking like they were carving little things for the children.
The group walked another ten miles in one go, and only set up camp again as the sun was setting…
And so, the group traveled by day and rested by night, seizing every opportunity to dig for wild vegetables and hunt along the roadside whenever they stopped, barely managing to supplement their food rations.
In three days, they traveled more than a hundred miles.
This time, they arrived at a prefecture city, Lingquan Prefecture.
From a distance, the prefectural city looks much more impressive than the county town.
But just as many carriages were blocking the entrance...
Everyone glanced at it and their hearts sank to the bottom.
Because there were tall wooden fences erected in front of the city gates, guarded by more soldiers.
The village chief, unwilling to believe it but clinging to a last glimmer of hope, personally went with Li Laosi and others to inquire.
The worst has happened!
The toll of five taels per person was not waived just because the prefectural city was larger than the county town.
All crows are black, and tolls are still a shortcut to wealth that everyone wants to take.
After asking several times to make sure they hadn't misheard, they walked back dejectedly.
Li Laosi gripped his wood-chopping knife, his teeth grinding together in hatred.
If it weren't for the family he had to take care of, he would have rushed over and hacked these bastards to death with a flurry of blows!
Just then, he suddenly heard someone shout, "Qiusheng, Jiayi!"
He turned his head to look, but before he could see clearly, Jiayi had already rushed out like a little tiger.
"Master, it's my master!"
Liu, the head镖师 (bodyguard), was waving at them from a car parked by the roadside, and Li Laosi was overjoyed.
In his haste to escape that day, he sent the message to Chief Escort Liu, but he never saw him again and couldn't help but worry about him.
I never expected to run into him here.
The Liu family of three drove the carriage and soon followed the others back to the camp.
The villagers were furious when they heard that they still had to pay a toll to get to the city gate.
Some people cursed loudly, some cried bitterly, and for a moment the atmosphere in the camp was so heavy that the little children dared not utter a sound.
Madam Liu was so thin she was almost unrecognizable; it turned out that both Chief Escort Liu and Liu Yang were injured.
She had to catch the train and take care of the two of them, and she was really struggling to keep up.
Upon seeing the Li family, she felt as if she were seeing her own relatives. She didn't say more than a few words before falling asleep in a slumped position.
Tao Hongying, Li Laotai, and others felt sorry for her, so they covered her with clothes and quickly cooked porridge for the family to eat.
Seeing that Liu Biaotou's arm was injured and Liu Yang's back was also bleeding, Li Laosi guessed that the family had encountered some trouble.
But he didn't ask any more questions, only asking Doctor Zhang for help with the treatment.
Dr. Zhang was naturally not troubled by such a simple external injury and treated it in no time.
Seeing that his wife and children were settled, Chief Escort Liu perked up and began to speak.
"Qiusheng, we can't go any further. Every city has set up roadblocks. The world is in chaos. If we want to survive, we have no choice but to take a gamble."
Li Laosi nodded, and also sighed.
"Brother Liu, do you have any good ideas?"
Liu, the镖头 (bodyguard), raised his chin and pointed to the rolling mountains and forests ahead.
"We have no choice but to cross the mountains. I once traveled through this area when I was young, being chased by an enemy. If you go into the mountains from here and head south, you have to cross more than forty mountains, but once you get out, the Jinsha River is right below. It saves us four hundred li compared to taking the official road, and it bypasses all the cities. However, it will definitely be very dangerous."
Before Li Laosi could speak, the village chief and others listening nearby gasped in shock.
There are more than forty mountains; even if you climb one a day, it would still take more than forty days.
Moreover, such deep mountains and forests are too dangerous, with wild animals and venomous snakes everywhere.
Once you're inside, getting out is definitely not that simple.
However, if one does not cross the mountains but takes the official road, there are at least five or six county towns and three prefectural cities.
The minimum toll for each person is fifty taels, so the total for the whole village would be five thousand taels—it's simply a fantasy…
"Brother Liu, you rest first, let's discuss this."
Li Laosi left Liu Biaotou behind, and then gathered everyone in the village with the village chief.
This is a matter of life and death, and everyone has the right to participate in the decision-making process.
Ultimately, there's not much of a choice at this point.
Those who stayed behind joined the other refugees, either waiting to die together or rebelling and fighting the soldiers.
Or you could simply wait for the imperial procession from Kyoto to arrive and then follow them through the chaos.
Even if you manage to catch the opportunity once, can you catch it every time you pass through eight or nine cities on your way south?
Moreover, with more people, there's bound to be robbery, theft, and child abduction; there are no evils they won't commit.
Because they prepared early and set off early, they had more food and supplies than others, making them the envy of everyone.
Perhaps being in a crowd is not as safe as being in the mountains and forests, where one might be safer from wild animals and venomous snakes...
The group discussed the matter from afternoon until dusk, and finally decided on a plan to cross the mountains and reach the Jinsha River.
Perhaps because the previous two mountains were not particularly treacherous, climbing them was tiring but not dangerous.
This gave the villagers a lot of confidence, and since the decision had already been made, everyone looked more relaxed.
Boil water, cook, tidy up, and prepare as much as possible.
The small camp was bustling with activity for a time.
After taking a nap and drinking some porridge, Madam Liu regained her strength and hurriedly tidied up the carriage, packing up everything she could need.
Li Laosan made an extra sled, tied the stuff to it, and Liu Biaotou could drag it up the mountain.
Tao Hongying and Zhao Yuru were flustered and wanted to pack their belongings in baskets again, but they were stopped by Old Lady Li.
Others may not know, but she knows some things.
Many things, such as most of the grain, were put away by the granddaughter.
The journey was chaotic, and with so many people in the family, everyone felt their burden was light, assuming that the heavy things were all with others, and no one paid close attention.
In reality, what they were carrying with great effort was not much at all.
Looking at his granddaughter, she was being held and played with by Uncle Zhao. She was holding a small wooden horse in her hand, and her little white teeth were showing as she smiled.
Jiaxi and Jia'an each received a large slingshot and stood around the two old men, beaming with joy.
The future is uncertain, but for the sake of the children, we will fight through any danger.
This is also the sentiment of all the villagers.
If it were them, it would be fine; even if they died, their lives would be worthless. But it's different for the children.
They still have a long way to go—to grow up, to get married, and so many more good days ahead…
That night, everyone slept soundly, filled with this resolve.
In the early morning, as usual, we would light a fire to cook, feed the mules and donkeys, fetch and store water, and make flatbreads as dry rations.
The Liu family of three wanted to travel together, and they also brought grain, which was japonica rice.
Tao Hongying decided to leave the rice for the children, and each family contributed sorghum flour to make them a dozen or so pancakes.
We're almost done with our work; we just need to eat before we can set off.
At this moment, Jia'an and Jiaxi ran around aimlessly, shouting.
"Where did Grandpa Zhao and the others go? We haven't seen them at all."
Everyone was surprised, looked at each other, and searched around to make sure they didn't see it.
The village chief then asked, "Did you go to relieve yourself nearby?"
Li Laosi immediately called two villagers to go to the nearby woods to look for the person.
As soon as they stepped into the woods, the villagers suddenly screamed in terror.
"Uncle Zhao!"
The birds that were just waking up were startled and spread their wings, quickly soaring into the sky.
The leaves of late autumn fell one by one, stubbornly swirling in the air...
*Sob* The book reviews still haven't reached 220, but I'm getting closer! Even though I haven't, I've decided to update five times to thank all the darlings who gave me five-star reviews! That'll count as an extra chapter for every 200 book reviews. From now on, for every 50 new book reviews, I'll give you an extra chapter! This is just a trial run, because I'm already updating one extra chapter every day, making it three chapters a day. I'm trying my best to update more, so I hope you darlings can give me more five-star reviews as encouragement!
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