Without the refugees following them, the Xiao family traveled in peace along the way. Although their speed was slowed down by Xiao's father's back injury, this speed was just right, and the blisters on Jiang Sui and the others' feet were also relieved.
I applied the medicinal mud given by Xiao Hechuan last night, and the festering blisters were much better this morning.
There are not many refugees on the road ahead, but not few either. You can see some of them here and there. Many of them have run out of food and ammunition and have started begging along the way. The strong party has already started robbing the weak party.
Many refugees who had been robbed came to beg for food when they saw the Xiao family had so many things, but they were driven away by the Xiao brothers with hoes. They all pretended to look ferocious and people were afraid to approach them.
At times like this, if you show a little kindness, what awaits you is a large number of refugees rushing over and eating you up.
The dagger that Xiao Hechuan confiscated was quite sharp, just right for self-defense. If anyone dared to hurt his relatives, he wouldn't mind seeing some blood. He was not a good person anyway.
Even if he entered the government in order to support the country and benefit the people, the prerequisite was that he had to be in the lotus pond rather than in the swamp. Now it was not his turn to consider such things. Otherwise, what were the points of those people who received salaries in the court?
No matter what position he held or what he did, he only followed one principle:
Everything depends on human effort!
After walking for two days, although there were no signs of the earthquake wherever they went and the houses and towns gradually appeared in everyone's sight, the people here were still living in sorrow.
The famine also caused many people to pack up and leave their homes to seek refuge in Jeju.
They really couldn't get food to eat, and they couldn't wait to starve to death. Many people on the road had even eaten leaves and bark. Wherever there were people, there were fights. Among every hundred people, there were always a few with bad intentions. They provoked fights and disputes. In the face of disaster, the distortion of human nature can always be further magnified.
…
After walking for another two days, the weather was good and Father Xiao's back injury had healed a lot, but the traces of the brothers' fight were still obvious on their faces, so this journey was destined to be uneasy.
Look, it’s only been quiet for two days and someone is causing trouble again.
When passing by a village, the people in the village actually started to block the road and set up checkpoints. If the refugees wanted to pass through them, they had to leave some food or money for the journey.
This was the action of an entire village. There were so many of them that the refugees had no choice but to block the official road and not let them pass. If they couldn't provide food, they could only take a long detour.
This detour will inevitably delay us for another day or two. Once we get here, it will only take four or five days at most to walk to Jeju.
The Xiao family has so many things. If they want to pass through here, they will have to hand over a lot of food. But if they don’t hand over the food, conflicts will inevitably arise.
I just had a fight two days ago and haven’t recovered yet. If I fight again, I won’t be as lucky as last time. This time I have to face an entire village.
Xiao Hechuan was not expecting this to happen, because he left home late in his previous life and wasted a lot of time on the road, so he did not meet any people from the village who stopped him and asked for money or food.
All they knew was that they were originally walking on the official road, when suddenly a large group of people appeared at the intersection ahead, where they set up tables and tents. Several middle-aged men and a group of young men stopped there and asked passers-by for food.
"Those who have money will be given money, and those who don't have money will be given food. Five catties of food per person, no matter what it is, as long as it is edible. If there is no food, each person will have to pay one or two taels of silver to pass through here. Little kid, just give half of that."
The people who were stopped were a family of three, a couple with a child about ten years old. They had nothing on them except two bags. How could they hand over more than ten kilograms of food?
"We really have no money and no food. We haven't eaten for a few days. Please be kind and let us pass!"
The man in the family of three pleaded weakly.
"Hmph, no? If you don't have any, don't pass through here!" The leading villager spoke in a very unfriendly tone.
These people all had weapons in their hands, and the food they had demanded during this period had kept them all in high spirits.
Everyone else had a pale face, but they had rosy cheeks and some had plenty of energy to bully the weak.
As a last resort, the family of three had to turn back and take the long way.
The Xiao family just happened to appear in the sight of this group of people. They saw the three of them leaning against each other, wiping their tears as they walked back. Jiang Sui didn't understand why, so he took the initiative to ask:
"Excuse me, what happened up front?"
Because seeing such a large group of people guarding there, we have to figure out what the situation is before we can deal with it.
The woman was crying. Seeing the Xiao family, she looked back at the greedy villagers anxiously, gritted her teeth and prepared to tell them:
"There are roadblocks ahead. If you want to pass through them, you have to leave tolls and food. Five catties of food per person. If you don't have food, you have to pay silver. Each person has to pay one or two taels of silver, otherwise they won't let you pass. Many people have been driven back. We can't afford food, so we can only take a long detour. This detour may take us two more days of walking.
There are so many of you, I advise you to take the longer route, otherwise you will suffer a huge loss! ”
The Xiao family members frowned at the woman's words. This was obviously no different from robbery. It wasn't them who opened the road, yet they were so unreasonable.
But the group of villagers blocking the road seemed to have discovered Jiang Sui and the others. Seeing so many people and two ox carts, how could they miss this opportunity?
Fearing that they would run away, these people surrounded them with their weapons.
"What are you doing? Go away and mind your own business!"
It seemed that they knew that they were asking the family of three about the situation, so they came up and chased them away with a ferocious look.
The three members of the family were also frightened, and left quickly without even daring to look back, for fear of getting into trouble.
Seeing them surrounding them, the men of the Xiao family immediately stood in front of the women to protect them.
"I guess that family has already told you about our rules. I won't bother to tell you again. You can do whatever you want."
The leading villager said arrogantly that more than a dozen of them surrounded the Xiao family because their two ox carts were bulging with food and they concluded that they must have food.
However, they not only set their sights on their grain, but also their cattle.
"Hey, your two cows look good and strong. They should be relatively young, right?"
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