Chapter 178 Outside the Mountain
At night, the families discussed the issue and the answer was unanimous: "Grow it!"
Zhou Lizheng said: "We can't grow rice outside, so we can grow some soybeans and vegetables. As long as we can harvest them, we will make money. We don't have to worry about vegetable shortages in winter, and soybeans can also replace food."
No one knows when peace will return outside. At this time, saving food is saving lives.
The matter was agreed upon like this, and on the third day, everyone went out at dawn. They did not go hunting that day, but divided into two groups. Chen Lie and Chen Dashan each led a group. One group cut down trees to build the portals of the other two caves, built simple earthen stoves, and cooked two meals with firewood; the other group prepared the land and caught up with the farming season to plant autumn soybeans within a few days.
The fourth day was the day agreed with Shopkeeper Xu to go out of the mountains to transport grain. Of the six caves, three looked as if people were already living in them. When everyone left the village, they brought the padlocks of their homes with them. Once the door locks were put on, it looked like someone was living there, but the owner had gone out hunting and gathering.
The preliminary construction of the village outside the village has been completed. For the people in the valley, this place is a place where they can attack or defend.
When the situation is normal, the young and strong can develop in groups on the periphery. If the situation really reaches a point where they cannot cope with it at all, they can retreat back to the valley. At most, they can create the illusion that the master is out or the cave is empty.
As usual, Shi Da, Shi Er, Lu Er and Lu San were to stay behind to defend the inner part of the valley. A few sheep had collected some fodder these days, and later the Lu brothers and the Shi brothers would come out together to plant the soaked soybeans. Now that there were a few more "residents" around, they didn't have to worry about leaving any traces. They could just get some leaves and grass nearby. Chen Lie and Chen Dashan had nothing to worry about after being away for more than ten days.
Since it was to transport grain for the Xu family, the Xu family's manager Xu, Uncle Xu, Xu Wenqing, and Wei Qinghe, who were able to carry the grain, went out together.
It is conceivable that there are probably quite a few people in the mountains now. In order to avoid being hit, they did not bring any things such as shoulder poles or baskets. They planned to find a way out after leaving the mountains. They only brought weapons and some necessary things for a long journey.
Among these people, if Shopkeeper Xu was nervous, then Xu Wenqing was excited. He was only a 15-year-old boy, and although he took refuge in the mountains, he did not feel bitter. Instead, it was like a whole new world had opened up. He was especially excited to travel with Shen Lie and Chen Dashan, and he even borrowed the bow and arrow he had used for practice.
However, this excitement was extinguished when, early in the morning of the second day, he saw four skeletons that had been torn to pieces by the side of the mountain road at the edge of the forest.
It was a human skeleton, and even some torn pieces of clothing. Countless flies were buzzing around it, and it was emitting a strong stench.
Chen Lie didn't care about sympathy. He covered his mouth and nose and led a group of people to quickly bypass that area. He put his hand down after walking a long way and said, "Someone is going deeper, and he is obviously not strong enough."
This situation happened again after they had been walking for more than an hour, and everyone's heart sank. The mountains in this area were extremely deep and wide, and no one could tell how big they were. After several dynasties of war, the population of the Dagan Dynasty was not large, and there were only a few thousand people trapped in the county seat in the entire Qiyang County. They didn't know how many could escape, but even if everyone fled into the mountains, they should be scattered and not particularly dense. But in just a short time, they had already encountered the corpses of people killed by beasts twice.
This is totally wrong.
In the afternoon, they finally saw some living people. Chen Lie wanted to find out something about them, but when they saw them, especially the weapons in their hands, they all looked frightened and quickly ran away.
These were not the vagrants who killed and robbed people. Judging from their reactions, they looked more like local villagers. There was more than one group, and there were obviously more people than before. But when they saw the arrows on the knives in Chen Lie and the others' hands, they all turned pale and ran away quickly.
"Did something happen outside?" Chen Dashan looked at Chen Lie.
Chen Lie looked at the men who had disappeared into the forest in the blink of an eye and said, "Maybe. Be careful behind."
This guess came true after the second day. From the third day onwards, no one was seen. For three whole days, no living person was seen. Manager Xu began to feel uneasy.
There's obviously something wrong outside, so why are they still going out?
He hesitated a little, but then he said it.
Chen Lie looked at Chen Dashan and said, "We are already here. We can get out of the mountain in half a day. Why don't we avoid Sanli Village which faces the county town and take a detour?"
Chen Dashan also wanted to know what was going on outside. They couldn't be completely ignorant of the outside world in the mountains, so they nodded and the group slightly changed direction and headed towards Shili Village.
…
Shili Village had completely become a deserted village. When Chen Lie and his group sneaked into the village, they found that the weeds in many houses' yards were half a person tall, leaving no place to step.
None of the people who were trapped in the county town that day returned after the city was broken, but it is still unknown whether they did not dare to return or were unable to return.
Chen Dashan looked at Chen Lie: "What should we do now? Should we continue to explore in the direction of the county town?"
Shopkeeper Xu panicked first and said, "Why don't we just forget it? I always feel like this silence is not right."
Having come this far, Chen Lie was inclined to find out more clearly. Regardless of whether to take the food or not, he had to know what the situation was like outside.
He looked at Chen Dashan: "What do you mean?"
Both of them were often out and about, so they were not overwhelmed by this little noise. Chen Dashan and Shen Lie had the same idea: "Put Manager Xu and the others in Xiao Jin's shelter, and we'll go check it out?"
Coincidentally.
However, when they were halfway towards the mountain where they had set a trap for Shen Jin, Shen Lie suddenly stopped.
Shopkeeper Xu and his companions were a little puzzled, but Chen Dashan followed Chen Lie's gaze and after a few breaths, he suddenly realized, "Are these soybeans not pulled out?"
He remembered meeting Zhou Laizi and his son in Shili Village. He heard that all the crops in the area were destroyed the second day after the soldiers surrounded the village.
Chen Lie looked thoughtfully at the soybeans that were almost ripe. He went over to check and saw several very shallow footprints between the dry ridges.
"There was someone here just now."
He stood up and looked around, but found nothing. Just as he was wondering, he heard a very subtle rustling sound. The sound just sounded, and someone excitedly said, "Alie? Dashan?"
Chen Lie, Chen Dashan and the Xu family looked in the direction of the sound, and saw that under a tree in the distance, a piece of grass suddenly bulged up and became taller, and a person stood up.
What kind of grass is that? They are two living people covered in grass!
Chen Lie and Chen Dashan have already recognized that it is Zhou Laizi and his son.
"Uncle Zhou." The two men went to greet him. They had never expected to run into Zhou's father and son again in Shili Village. After seeing the desolation of Shili Village, it was undoubtedly a happy thing to see a fellow villager who was still alive and with whom they had some friendship.
Zhou Laizi and his son were happier than Chen Lie and Chen Dashan, as if they had been saved!
"It's great to see you guys. Why are you back in the village at this time?"
Chen Lie and Chen Dashan were more interested in the grass on the two men's bodies. Zhou Laizi and his son had already strode over, but the grass was still firmly draped over their bodies and had not fallen off.
He looked around Zhou Laizi and found that there was not only grass, but also dozens of fallen leaves hanging sparsely on it. When a person lay down, it was a piece of grass, which was very realistic. When he lifted it up for a closer look, he found that it was a dress made of grass. The inner layer was fixed with dense linen thread, and the fallen leaves were also sewn on the grass dress with fine linen thread.
Zhou Laizi saw the two people looking at the grass clothes on his body and smiled, "It's too dangerous to go out recently, so my wife came up with this idea and sewed two sets of clothes for us to wear when we go out. When we are not wearing them, sprinkle some water on them to keep them fresh. One set can last for a long time."
The eldest of the Zhou family also took off his clothes and handed them to Chen Lie and Chen Dashan to see. It was actually a cloak. When they found something wrong, they lay down on the ground, covered their heads, and found a place with gullies to hide so that the grass clothes would not show the outline of the human figure. Most of the time, they could hide themselves very well.
Chen Lie looked at it and praised: "Auntie, you are so clever."
The Xu family members nearby also came over to watch.
Zhou Laizi sighed: "I was forced to come up with this idea. Haven't you noticed that there are not many people in the mountains?"
This really touched everyone's attention. Chen Lie asked, "What's going on? We are also wondering, we have been walking in the mountains for more than three days and haven't seen anyone. Are those bandits in the county still here?"
Zhou's father and son both had worried expressions on their faces. Zhou Laizi said, "Yes, they are conscripting people. After the bandits attacked the county town, they established themselves as a king and appointed many officials. They announced it by beating gongs in the mountains. I hid in the dark and heard it. I didn't remember what they called the king."
Chen Dashan asked, "What about the people in the county? Did anyone escape when the city was captured?"
Zhou Laizi shook his head: "Yes, but very few. There were people going into the mountains on the first day, but there was no movement afterwards. They should still be trapped in the city, but the bandits often come out. Small groups of people go to the mountains to recruit soldiers. When they fail to recruit soldiers, they capture people, both men and women. There are also refugees. Many refugees from the north were recruited into the county by them and formed a group. Some time ago, a large group of people went to attack the surrounding counties and brought back a lot of food. It seems that they have occupied another county. Now, there are bandits going into the mountains every few days. No one dares to stay in the outer mountains."
He wanted to say something here, but hesitated and couldn't open his mouth.
Chen Lie looked at the soybeans and asked, "Are you staying here for these soybeans?"
Zhou Laizi nodded quickly, "Yes, we didn't have much food. At that time, all the food in the village was pulled out and destroyed. We hid not too far away, and you saw it when you came back... You know, we farmers don't want to destroy the crops like that. In addition, we were short of food, so after the soldiers left, we picked two remote plots of land and picked some soybeans that were not severely damaged and planted them back. Some did not survive, but some did. The last time we met you, we didn't just come into the village to look for things, we also came to water these soybeans."
He was speechless when he got to this point. The eldest son of the Zhou family looked at his father and felt anxious, but no matter how anxious he was, when the words came to his lips, he found that he couldn't speak.
They came here to harvest beans today, and after harvesting them they were preparing to escape into the mountains.
It is obvious that they cannot deal with the wild beasts in the deep mountains. Not to mention the lack of safety on the road, no one knows what will happen in the future. However, compared with the wild beasts in the mountains and the bandits outside the mountains who have now become kings, the Zhou family is more afraid of these bandits in disguise outside the mountains.
They, father and son, had seen with their own eyes how the bandits treated the people they caught. If the men obeyed, they were taken back; if they didn't, they were killed; and as for the women... they couldn't even ask for death.
The eldest son of the Zhou family began to tremble when he thought about what would happen if his mother and sister were discovered by those people.
He wanted to ask Chen Lie to take their family with him, but when the families fled, Chen Lie only instructed his father to run to the mountains and did not take them with him. This was actually the answer.
Who would dare to bring people without rations?
Even if they can have some soybeans now.
The eldest brother of the Zhou family knew it all in his heart, but he knew even more clearly that if they ran into Chen Lie and Chen Dashan when they came out of the mountains, this might be the last chance that their whole family could seize.
He mustered up the courage to ask, "Alie, why are you out here?"
Chen Lie looked at him and said, "I want to go to the mountains near the county town. Do you know what the situation is there now?"
Before the eldest of the Zhou family could say anything, Zhou Laizi's expression had changed. He said anxiously, "We can't go there. Bandits are everywhere there. We don't even dare to approach the mountains more than ten miles inward from Sanli Village. If we are caught, we won't be able to escape."
When Shopkeeper Xu heard that the situation was so serious, he immediately said, "Chen Lie, we won't take the grain. Grain is not as important as people. We will follow you and Dashan to find food in the mountains."
Moreover, even if they cannot get the batch outside the county town, their family's stored grain will be enough to support them for two and a half years if the families in the valley only eat half full, and then follow Chen Lie to find food outside. It will take time for them to learn hunting, and they will probably focus on gathering in the beginning. They won't be able to eat much, but they won't be too hungry.
There is still some harvest in the valley, and now soybeans and vegetables are also being planted outside the valley. If they are not robbed or stolen, they can serve as supplements.
As for what will happen two and a half years later, who knows? They can't take risks now just for the possibility of starving two and a half years later. It's not just their own family members who are taking risks, but also Chen Lie and Chen Dashan.
They were just helping out and didn't even want the 30% of food he had promised.
If they all died here, what would happen to their families? If Chen Lie and Chen Dashan died here, what would happen to the fifty-three people in the entire valley?
When Manager Xu thought of this, he refused to take any more grain. "Let's go back to the mountains. Let's go back now."
Even Xu Wenqing and Wei Qinghe said, "Let's go back first. Come back and see it when we have a chance. If it's safe, we can take it. If it doesn't work, forget it."
As for whether it will get damp if placed in a hole in the ground, there is nothing that can be done about it.
Only then did Zhou Laizi and his son realize that they had come out to get food, and they felt upset.
Food.
Those who have no food know best how precious this thing is.
But he still advised: "You really can't go there. They have recruited a lot of refugees and are training soldiers outside the county gate every day."
Chen Lie also knew how much food the Xu family had in stock, and he would not risk himself for something he was not sure of. He nodded when he heard this: "Okay, let's hunt and gather more in the future. We'll talk about this food when there's a chance."
As soon as he finished speaking, the eldest of the Zhou family panicked. He couldn't say what he wanted to say before, but now he blurted out, "Alie, if you want to leave, can you take us with you? It's too dangerous outside. Bandits hang around in the mountains from time to time. We are hiding in the mountains now. We only seal the cave at midnight and dare to light a fire to cook some beans. My family members don't even dare to leave the cave. We harvested beans today and were originally planning to escape. But if we are alone, we may not be able to deal with wild beasts. Can you give us a ride?"
Zhou Laizi also looked at Chen Lie and Chen Dashan pleadingly, and said, "Yes, A Lie, Dashan, can you give us a ride? We don't have to stay with you, just take us into the mountains, away from here, and we can find a cave to stay by ourselves."
Zhou Laizi doesn’t dare to think about how he will survive after settling down.
If this happened in the past, Chen Lie would really hesitate. He would definitely take him for a while, but he couldn't say where he would take him. However, they had just made arrangements for the village outside the village before they left, and the neighbors in the same village were of good character. In such a world, they would not just watch him die without helping.
He exchanged glances with Chen Dashan, and seeing that he had no objection, he nodded and said, "I can take you for a while and help you find a place to settle down, but there are too many people, Dashan and I can't guarantee your safety on the road, and there are many wild animals in the deep mountains, so you have to think carefully."
Zhou Laizi and his son were overjoyed. Zhou Laizi was so excited to see a way out when he was in a desperate situation that his eyes were wet. He said quickly, "It would be great if you can take us for a while. No one can guarantee our safety in the deep mountains. It would be even worse if we go by ourselves. We all know that we can't stay outside. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to say this."
Those on the periphery are just animals. They are dirtier and more brutal than animals. If we fall into their hands, it would be better for us to be bitten to death by wild beasts.
Seeing that they were prepared, Chen Dashan said, "Okay, then everyone help us collect these soybeans quickly. We will leave soon."
The two plots of land together cover less than one acre, so naturally the stalks will not be harvested together with the bean pods, and only the bean pods will be picked off.
Eight people worked quickly and finished the job in a short while. They collected three bags of soybeans, including the pods and beans. After drying them, there would probably be only a little more than one bag of soybeans.
For this bag of soybeans, the father and son took countless risks. If the bandits had patrolled the surrounding villages more carefully and went to the remote mountains, they would have seen that the unattended soybeans were still alive and well, and they could have caught the father and son by just waiting.
Just for this little bit of food. If you don't rely on this little bit of food to survive, why would you do this?
The Xu family members also felt emotional when they saw this. In comparison, because they had made preparations early, their situation was much better, and they were not so worried about not getting the batch of grain outside the county town.
Chen Lie and Chen Dashan didn't say anything. They let Zhou's father and son lead the way, and the group of eight people headed towards the cave where the Zhou family was hiding.
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