After a long silence, she asked in a trembling voice, "Really?"
"It's true, I asked those who fled from the north, and they'll be here soon."
After a long silence, the village chief asked hopefully, "Can't we stay? At worst, we can go up the mountain to hide. We can always get through this."
Song Ning said seriously, "Village chief, we can't grow any crops in our fields now. If we really go up the mountain, what will we eat? There's nothing left to dig up on the mountain."
Even if we manage to escape this time, the war won't end so quickly. Regardless of whether these rebels win or lose, not to mention the need to conscript soldiers, we'll have to provide the food to support them.
Of those men who were conscripted, nine out of ten never returned. That's still considered good; we're under the jurisdiction of the imperial court. If the rebels come, they might burn, kill, loot, and even massacre the entire city. Where will we hide then?
The village chief had initially held onto a sliver of hope, but after hearing Song Ning's analysis, he was terrified. If things continued like this, there was no way out. He had to run, he absolutely had to run.
"Er Ya, then tell me, which way should we go?"
"We can't go north, that's where the rebels came from. We don't know what's going on in the west either. Let's go east. I heard that the east is the territory of a general of the imperial court, and the rebels don't dare to go there."
Actually, Song Ning wasn't sure either. The village was isolated and people didn't know what major events were happening outside. She had only heard about it from people when she went to the county town.
The village chief's eyes reddened as he began to reminisce about how long Nanshan Village had existed and how many generations had lived there.
"The houses in the village were all built by everyone's own hands. Our ancestors' graves are still here. When we're gone, they'll be left all alone here. This is our root... Our irrigation ditch has just been dug..."
As he spoke, the village chief almost cried.
Song Ning was almost in tears. What time is it? Let's focus on keeping people alive first.
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