Chapter 124: Everyone Disappeared
Seeing Yu Lizheng enter the Shen family, the villagers gathered around in groups of three or four.
Previously, the Bear Village was guarded by poisonous snakes, and outsiders could not enter easily.
Now, thanks to the opportunity provided by the Shen family, it is convenient to leave the village, but it is also easy for outsiders to come in.
Moreover, conscription and grain collection are two major matters.
The village was not populous to begin with, and no one was willing to go to war or pay taxes.
Chen Xinli actually didn't have much idea about the battlefield.
But she had studied history, and especially heard about the miserable plight of the Han people when ethnic minorities invaded China.
The battlefield is now very close to them. It would be even more terrifying if the people fled and became refugees.
When the rules lose their effectiveness, human nature cannot stand the test.
He glanced at the people gathered outside the courtyard, and then looked at Yu Lizheng. Even with his head hung down, he couldn't hide the melancholy on his face.
Chen Xinli walked to the door, opened it, looked at everyone and said, "Grandpas and grandmas, uncles and aunts, this is a big event in our village. Yu Lizheng just happened to come to my house. Everyone, please call the villagers who haven't come yet and come in to discuss it together."
Everyone looked at each other, and some children were called by their families to call people.
Wait until everyone arrives.
Yu Lizheng was being helped up by Chen Xinli.
The old man had no choice but to come forward and say: "Fellow villagers, I believe everyone knows the situation. If you have any ideas, please speak out."
At the moment, he originally wanted to ask the Shen family, but they did not respond. Instead, they gathered everyone together, so he could only ask everyone's thoughts.
The noisy voices of the crowd suddenly stopped, but no one spoke.
"We are all from the same village. Now is a matter of life and death. If you have any ideas, just tell us quickly, nephew of the Shen family, or you can start first." Yu Lizheng said anxiously when he saw that no one responded.
Shen Fugui wanted to go to the stone house, but their family had a special status, so hiding quietly was their own business. If they were found out by the government and accused of instigating villagers to desert, the whole family would probably be imprisoned.
Shen Fugui pursed his lips and stammered, "Our family is from outside, so let's listen to everyone's opinions first."
After a brief commotion in the crowd, no one took the initiative to express their ideas.
Seeing that no one dared to speak, Yu Lizheng said helplessly: "Everyone, please speak without worry. The county magistrate is already busy escaping. What is there for us ordinary people to be reluctant about?"
"What? The county magistrate has escaped?"
The noise of the crowd suddenly rose.
"Silence!" Yu Lizheng's crutch suddenly shook on the ground.
The crowd's voices quieted down.
Widow Zhou looked around and said tentatively, "Village head, why don't we go to the mountain?"
"The mountain is good. Let's hide there and wait until the war dies down, then we can come out!"
As soon as Widow Zhou made the proposal, someone immediately agreed.
But some people disagreed: "But we don't have enough food. What should we do? Are the snakes still there? It's winter now, and the big beasts in the mountains are also there. Can we survive from their mouths?"
"Or, let's flee eastward to the capital. The emperor is there, and there must be a large army guarding us. We might be safe then."
Li Daniu from the village head often went out of the village to sell goods and knew some common sense, so he made the suggestion.
"No, the King of Shu is recruiting soldiers to resist the Rong people. If we go to the capital, won't we be conscripted?" said Yang Youtian, who only had three acres of thin land in the middle of the village.
"Oh my God, is there no way for us to survive?"
Several women in the crowd slapped their thighs with their hands, cried and started to make a lot of noise.
Yu Lizheng already knew the virtues of the villagers.
He could only look at the Shen family helplessly.
Chen Xinli looked at everyone's reactions before nodding to Shen Fugui.
"Since the village head trusts me, let me tell you something," Shen Fugui said, looking at everyone. "Actually, when my son fell into the pit a few days ago, the Yu brothers discovered that there's actually a good hiding place in our Bear Village."
"Yes, yes!" Yu Deshui said in surprise.
“Yes, there is a mountain pit.”
The elderly woman Wang from the village asked anxiously, "Are you talking about the crack under the black rock?
Yu Deshui nodded immediately.
Unexpectedly, Mrs. Wang immediately said, "That place is ominous. From a distance, the two largest rocks look like a toad with its mouth open. Decades ago, the toad's mouth was still open, but somehow it closed later. We don't know what's inside. What if, if we go in and can't get out?"
"You mean the crack in the ground will close?" Chen Xinli was a little surprised.
"Of course." Mrs. Wang affirmed.
Everyone who had still held out hope suddenly didn't know what to do.
Yu Lizheng didn't want to discourage everyone's enthusiasm. He knew the crevice and it was not as scary as Wang Po said.
"Po Wang, stop scaring everyone.
I played nearby when I was a kid, and I remember the crack was indeed open for a while. Then there was a heavy rainstorm in the summer, which washed the soil from the mountain down, and the crack closed somehow.
We just don’t know what’s in that crack in the ground, so we have to go take a closer look. If it’s habitable, we’ll hide in it.”
Everyone became excited again when they heard this!
But Mrs. Wang waved her hand and said, "You go and live there, I won't go. If it collapses, we will all be buried alive."
The two argued for a long time, and the crowd was talking about it.
Finally, Yu Lizheng waved his hand and ignored Wang Po.
He tapped his cane to signal for silence and said, "Our mountain is endless. We're all hiding in the mountains because we're afraid of blind bears, big beasts, wild wolves, and poisonous snakes.
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