Old Ma wasn't surprised to hear about the potential beast attack. "Are there many wild animals around here now?"
"There weren't any before, but now there are starting to increase, probably because of the water source issue," Si Cheng told them honestly. After all, there was no point in hiding it; everyone would find out eventually.
"Captain Ma, what should we do? How are we supposed to stay in the countryside? What if a pack of wolves or wild boars comes? Aren't we just going to our deaths?" The people in the crowd started to get agitated when they heard this.
“We don’t want to end up like those packs of wild dogs and wolves we encountered before. If we don’t have any weapons, we really won’t be able to fight back. Maybe we should go back to the city and live together. That would be safer.” Immediately afterward, some people started to back out. This sentiment quickly spread throughout the group, and everyone started discussing it at once, making the scene noisy.
Old Ma glanced at Si Cheng speechlessly; this really wasn't a good topic.
Si Cheng was also helpless. He only wanted to fulfill his duty to remind them, but he really didn't mean to ruin the other party's plan.
"Quiet! You haven't even finished speaking, why are you already making a scene? And do you think you're safe just because you're in the city? When there's no water or food, we'll all die anyway." Old Ma took a megaphone from the soldier next to him and shouted at the crowd.
"Don't believe everything you hear. If the locals can survive in this environment, they must have their own methods."
Seeing that the crowd had gradually quieted down, Old Ma turned to Si Cheng and the others, "How do you know there are more wild animals around here? Have there been any incidents of wild animals coming down from the mountain?"
“How can there not be wild animals if there are mountains? We’ve had wild boars and hunting dogs in our village before,” Wu Yong said, seeing the soldier’s doubts. He recounted all the encounters his village had had. “Oh, and we’ve even encountered wolves.”
Seeing that the people on the other side were about to get restless again, Si Cheng quickly continued, "However, we trapped the wild boars with trenches, and we also eliminated the others."
However, his words did not seem to reassure the other party; instead, they made them even more uneasy.
"Why don't we get together and start clearing out the land? That would be safer than being scattered like this."
"That's right, the military and the people are one family. When the time comes, we'll all find a bigger place to settle down together, so that we'll have better security."
“But as you’ve seen, we’ve searched so many places, where is there a place big enough to accommodate so many of us? If we don’t find a place to settle down soon, we might not die of thirst first, but of starvation.” Old Ma was also helpless. Although these people agreed to settle down in the countryside first, it was because their food supplies were almost exhausted. They were hoping that the wild vegetables and mushrooms in the countryside could supplement their diet. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been so eager to go to the countryside in the first batch.
Some of these people were initially causing trouble, saying that the army was being stingy with their food. Later, the commander had all the items the soldiers had brought laid out on the square for them to inspect. He even called over the original troops stationed nearby and told everyone that the reserves here had been concealed. This dispelled everyone's doubts, but a wave of panic followed immediately.
This also means that if people don't find a way out soon, they will really face famine.
Seeing that everyone had lowered their heads, Old Ma said nothing more, after all, life is hard for everyone.
Because of these little incidents, Lao Ma didn't want to ask any more questions, and he signaled the group to continue moving forward.
Si Cheng and the others didn't take it to heart, especially Wu Yong. As someone who had been through it all, he looked at these people who were repeating the same experiences as them. He believed that as long as they stayed here for a while, they would definitely find their own way to survive. Moreover, there were many mountains and rivers here, and as long as they worked hard, they would eventually make a living.
At that time, Lao Ma thought that the people opposite him were just some insignificant passersby, but he did not expect that they would have frequent interactions in the future.
"Brother, these people won't be assigned to our village again, will they?" Wu Yong asked with some concern.
"We'll see when the time comes. We should be able to get a share, more or less. I heard Uncle Zhixin say that so many people came this time, so we need to distribute the rest evenly around here." Si Cheng thought of what Yun Qi had said before, that a new base would be built here in the future, which might be related to these people.
Wu Yong silently considered the village's land and wasteland, and couldn't rule out this possibility. "I wonder if I'll still have a choice this time."
"Don't worry, Uncle Zhixin and the others will keep a close eye on things." With Yun Zhixin and the others handling things outside, Sicheng wasn't worried about this at all.
Old Ma was also chatting with a few of his close soldiers about their group.
"It seems that life in Pinghe Village is really good. Look at them, they all have rosy complexions and are full of energy. They don't seem to lack food or water."
Old Ma agreed, nodding. "Look at those horses, they're carrying heavy loads, and they're very tightly packed. I bet it's salt. The fact that they have extra salt to exchange for grain shows that their village is quite well-prepared."
"Should we go and ask if they can still accept people?" These soldiers had their own thoughts. If they could settle their families and relatives in a village like this, they would feel more at ease.
"The investigation results haven't been reported yet, which means these villages are still quite far away. Just wait and see. You can keep an eye on Pinghe Village when the time comes." Old Ma wasn't in a hurry at all. He was a bachelor all these years, and the government had raised him to adulthood. He was the type who only needed to feed himself and didn't have a family to worry about. He was confident that he could survive anywhere.
"Soon we'll arrive at the new village I mentioned earlier. For some unknown reason, the entire village disappeared, but some land remains. The villagers living there now were allocated by the city. The infrastructure isn't perfect yet, but the land is quite spacious." The soldier leading the team explained the situation to Lao Ma. If Si Cheng and his group were here, they would recognize this as the village where Wu Yong had just ordered thirty catties of salt in exchange for the land.
“If that’s the case, then it will be easier to integrate. After all, they are all outsiders. The worst are those large, family-run villages. If it’s that kind, it’s really hard to send people in. They’re too xenophobic.” Old Ma thought back to the north, where each village was based on a family’s power and each controlled its own water source. Those were the most difficult to deal with.
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