As soon as the chaotic noise arose at the foot of the mountain, Gao Shu made a gesture to silence everyone, and firmly protected Lin Rui behind him. He picked up a big knife with a dart head and placed it at his side.
"Help! You ungrateful beasts! Our young lady is trying to save you out of kindness..."
"What nonsense! With that whole cart of food, they only gave us two cakes, which is not enough to fill our stomachs!"
"Ah!" A scream was heard. The place at the foot of the mountain was already stained red with blood. Of the dozen guards brought by Miss Jiao, only six or seven were left, and they were still trying their best to resist.
The guards are not like servants. They have all learned martial arts and have a lot of strength. One person can take on ten of these refugees.
But when the number of these refugees increased rapidly, this group of refugees became a dark mass, and the number was definitely no less than 500 people.
Miss Jiao's guards numbered only twelve at most. Based on the ratio of one to ten, they could only deal with one or two hundred people at best. How could they compete with five hundred starving refugees who had their heads hanging on their belts?
It was the first time that Lin Rui saw an ancient fight. The guards were holding steel knives, and the refugees were holding wooden sticks that had been sharpened to an extremely sharp point.
The guards' broadswords, combined with their strength in wielding them, were enough to chop off the refugees' skinny limbs, and a sharp wooden stick could easily pierce through a guard's body.
The number of guards dwindled rapidly, and the body of the last dead was pierced by sticks like a hedgehog.
"Chase!"
The refugees, who should have been starving to death, suddenly had hope of survival, and ran towards the direction where the carriage left with eyes like hungry wolves.
Gao Shu looked at the violent group of refugees and said, "We...will leave later."
Everyone waited in silence for an hour before setting off and going down the mountain. The blood at the foot of the mountain soaked into the ground and turned into a bright red mass.
Various broken limbs and bodies were scattered on the ground, and the smell of blood was tangy.
Lin Rui had never seen such a tragic scene before. He immediately felt nauseous and lay on a rock, vomiting heart-wrenchingly.
Sanliang followed him worriedly with a water bag in his hand. When he finally straightened up, he quickly handed the water bag to him so that he could rinse his mouth.
"Young Master, are you okay?" San Liang asked worriedly as he looked at Lin Rui, who had vomited until his face turned pale. He was used to seeing such scenes since he was bought by a boy and followed to Linjing.
There were layers of people starving to death, and the crows on the old trees did not avoid people at all, standing on the corpses and feasting on them.
After Lin Rui finished vomiting, he felt better and waved his hand to indicate that he was fine.
"Let's go." Gao Shu said calmly, and took the lead in getting on his horse.
Sanliang helped Lin Rui, whose legs were still weak, onto the simple carriage, and the group set off again.
Towards evening, they came across an overturned carriage on the side of the road. The horses were gone, and there were large pools of blood on the outside of the carriage. The contents inside had been looted. A man in guard uniform had half of his body chopped off, exposing his internal organs. It looked like he had been killed by someone who had stolen his weapon.
Lin Rui was not unfamiliar with these guards. They were the ones protecting the willful young lady he met on the road before. Now that they all died so tragically, the young lady must be in a bad situation.
"Look, sir!" Sanliang widened his eyes and pointed ahead in horror.
He looked in the direction Sanliang pointed, and saw two pale female corpses. Their bodies were stiff and had not yet rotted. They must have been tortured before death, and their skin was covered with bruises of blue and purple.
Gao Shu's eyes were sharp, and he recognized the deceased's identity at a glance: "It's her!"
Lin Rui knew immediately that the two female corpses were the eldest lady and her servant. When he got closer, he found that they were naked and covered in filth from being violated. Their eyes were staring intently, and the nanny next to them had her neck slit, with blood staining their front.
"This group of thugs are habitual offenders!" Another escort leader pointed to a deep pit nearby, which was filled with scattered human bones and discarded luggage.
"How dare they do this in front of the Emperor!" One of the escort leaders, not sure if he was angry or scared, had a red face and an angry look.
"Why should we be afraid? When people are hungry, they can do anything. Peng Huai and Xu Rang, you two girls should be buried in peace."
The two men quickly dug a hole and buried the two girls in it, so as to prevent their naked bodies from being exposed in the wilderness.
"Young master, they are in the woods!" Sanliang suddenly pointed at a certain woods and shouted.
Lin Rui took a look and saw nothing, at most lush trees: "Three or two, are you sure?"
Sanliang nodded in panic: "Yes, sir, many of them are hiding there, let's go!"
Lin Rui looked over and still saw nothing but lush trees, but it was still unsafe to stay in this place, so he immediately asked Gao Shu to return and continue on his way.
Gao Shu took the order and escorted him back. He couldn't help but say thankfully, "Master Lin, it's a good thing you don't have any luggage, otherwise we would definitely be targeted as well."
Or maybe they have been targeted now, but they are outnumbered and don't seem to have anything they had before. In addition, all of them are escort leaders who are skilled in martial arts. They just fought a fierce battle with Miss Jiao's guards and suffered heavy losses, so they dare not attack again easily.
But if his group also had several carriages loaded with food and treasures like Miss Jiao, these desperate criminals would be determined to take a piece of meat from them even at the cost of their own lives.
Lin Rui was also extremely fortunate. He had originally planned to go to Longting County to make some purchases because he was considering that prices in Linjing were too high. Unexpectedly, he managed to avoid such a disaster by accident.
The next afternoon, Lin Rui finally arrived in Longting County. Although Longting County was not far from Linjing, the number of refugees decreased the further he got, and the few scattered refugees posed no threat. They were all ragged, skinny, and moved forward numbly and mechanically.
The county town is still as bustling as ever. As long as the war does not spread to their hometown, they will always deceive themselves into thinking that the world is peaceful.
After arriving in the county town, Lin Rui quickly started his crazy shopping mode.
The price of grain in the grain store has increased again. Fine flour is 500 wen per catty, and coarse grain is 300 wen per catty. The price has increased tenfold based on the original grain price. Despite this, it is still much cheaper than in Linjing.
He still had over 900 taels of silver in his hands, which he planned to exchange for supplies in the county town. In troubled times, gold and silver could maintain their value but could not fill the stomach. Sufficient food and medicinal materials were essential for survival during the famine.
Grain prices remain high, but the stock is limited. On the other hand, the owners of grain stores are also waiting and watching. If the signs are not right, they will close the store and retreat with the grain.
Lin Rui took Sanliang and Gao Shu and bought less than 500 kilograms from the beginning to the end of the street, including 100 kilograms of fine flour and refined rice, and the remaining 400 kilograms were coarse grains mixed with sorghum and beans.
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