next day
The three brothers of the Shen family returned from the county town after gathering information.
The village chief rang the gong to gather everyone at the village entrance and began to announce the news.
It turned out that when the three brothers of the Shen family sent the bandits to the county government office, they found that the people in the county government office had begun to pack up their things, so they found a constable and gave him money to inquire about the news. According to the constable, the water sources in several nearby cities were gradually drying up, and a large number of victims were pouring in from outside the city. The county magistrate wrote a letter to the prefect, and the prefect wrote back saying that there was a severe drought throughout the country, and the court was afraid that they could not take care of our remote place, and everyone had gone to seek a way to survive.
When everyone heard this, they all looked terrified and kept chattering among themselves.
"What should we do? They were all fine a few days ago, why did they suddenly start fleeing?"
"Yes, I saw food prices go up a few days ago. I thought it was normal. After all, food prices always go up during disasters in the past."
"Now the court doesn't care anymore, where can we escape?"
"Be quiet!" the village chief shouted!
After a silence that lasted for a full cup of tea, the village chief spoke again: "Let's go south. The Huai River is just to the south. The whole country is suffering from a severe drought right now. If the Huai River dries up, then the other rivers will also be dry."
"But we are located in the northwest, and the Huai River is about 3,000 kilometers away from us, right?" The speaker was Shen Kui, who had been working as a bodyguard a few years ago. After getting married, he didn't want to be separated from his wife, so he stayed in the village to farm.
Shen Kui lives up to his name, he is about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, tall and strong, about 1.9 meters tall, with a body full of tendons that looks like he has great explosive power.
Shen Yanqing looked at Shen Kui and said, "Brother Da Kui, there's a severe drought across the country right now. We don't know how long it will last. There's a water shortage everywhere. Other rivers might dry up soon too. It's better to go to the largest river so we don't go the wrong way."
"Okay, then let's go to Huaijiang. There are a lot of mountains and forests along the way. Yan Qing, you and your father have been hunting for many years and are more experienced. You and your father will lead us through the mountains and forests." After saying that, the village chief looked at Shen Kui again.
"Da Kui, you've been escorting convoys for years and are familiar with the routes. I'd like to trouble you to lead the way."
Shen Yanqing and Shen Kui responded in unison.
"Now everyone hurry back and pack your things. We'll meet at the village entrance tomorrow morning!"
Everyone dispersed.
*
Qi Yanxuan and his companions of three returned home and started packing. He didn't have much to pack, after all, his things were all in the space. He symbolically filled the bag with some things. No one had seen it anyway, so it was convenient to cover it up.
Shen Yanqing and his father were busy packing up and tying all the things they could carry to the cart. They probably wouldn't come back after this trip, after all, it was more than 3,000 miles away.
The next morning
Families appeared at the village entrance one after another, some carrying packages, some pushing carts, some driving ox carts...
There was a long line of about three hundred people.
Shen Kui was pulling a cart in the front. On his left was his father Shen Dafu, carrying a package on his back, and on his right was his wife and five-year-old son.
The village chief stood at the front of the team and called out, "Is everyone here?"
After confirming that everyone was present, they headed towards the county town.
***
Qixian County seat.
Everyone stood in the county town, and all they saw was a mess. The people in the city had left yesterday, and there were only groups of ragged victims on the streets.
The victims searched house to house for things that the owners could not take away, and occasionally they found some clothes, quilts, pickles...
Those who are luckier can find some food in the homes of wealthy people or in the kitchens of restaurants, but not much.
The crowd passed through the county town and came to the outside of the city. On the left side of the city was a group of refugees wearing tattered clothes. They should have come from other places. Because of the long journey and lack of water, the color of their clothes could not be seen. On the right was a caravan and a team of wealthy families. On both sides of the team were guards with knives. Behind the team of wealthy families were maids, old women and servants. Behind the caravan were groups of people who should be from other villages. It was roughly estimated that there were at least a thousand people.
The people from Kaoshan Village followed closely behind and began their long journey...
After walking for about two hours, we saw a forest in front of us. All the leaves in the forest had been plucked out, and the bare ground looked a bit weird.
"We've been walking for so long, let's go to the woods ahead to rest for a while and eat something before we continue." The village chief said to the crowd in front.
In the woods, everyone gathered together, looking at the sea of heads.
"Come, eat quickly." Shen Yanshan took out a piece of bread from his bag and shared it with Qi Yanxuan and Shen Yanqing.
Qi Yanxuan looked around while eating a biscuit. Most people were eating dry food, and only the burly guards of the caravan were eating dried meat. The others were chewing biscuits and looking at them eagerly. They wanted to take the food out of the space, but it was impossible because it was too conspicuous.
Seeing Qi Yanxuan looking over there, Shen Yanqing thought he wanted to eat dried meat, and awkwardly comforted him: "I'll buy some dried meat when we get to the next city."
Qi Yanxuan didn't react for a moment and just said "hmm" casually.
*
After one stick of incense, everyone started their journey.
After passing through the forest, there was a boundless plain in front of them. The yellow sand was dry and there was no trace of green. Under the scorching sun, everyone continued to move forward.
Along the way, the sighs of the elderly and the crying of children were heard everywhere.
It is June now and the weather is still quite hot. In addition, we don’t know where to get water, so everyone is saving water and only dares to drink small sips when thirsty.
After walking for an afternoon, it was getting dark and everyone rested on the spot.
The villagers of Kaoshan Village gathered together to discuss who would be on guard at night. They were tired after a day's work, but there was nothing they could do. They were surrounded by people from various teams, and no one knew if there were any bad intentions.
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