After daybreak, Li Lanzhen saw Xue Bao organizing the guards.
This time, three men from Zhoujia Village were added to the guard team, bringing the total number of guards to 20. They work in shifts and are all armed with broadswords and clubs.
Han Shunde did not give the people of Zhoujia Village broadswords, but only gave the three of them big-headed clubs.
Li Lanzhen strongly agreed with Han Shunde's caution and prudence, as she felt that the people of Zhoujia Village, as a whole, were dishonest.
A little while later, she saw Han Shunde calling out to Han Yinan and the other children.
Gou Dan, Han Yinan, Su Chen, Da Niu and Er Niu have all passed by.
Li Lanzhen followed and stood at a distance, where she saw a dozen or so children from Dongjiazhuang Village in Hanjia Village surrounding Han Shunde.
After listening for a while, she understood that Han Shunde wanted to organize these teenagers as well, and she strongly agreed with Han Shunde's approach.
Unsurprisingly, Han Yinan and Gou Dan became the team leaders.
Li Lanzhen thought that these children should have weapons. They couldn't be given broadswords, and big sticks were too long and big for the children to swing.
Suddenly, she remembered the merchant in her space who always gave her work clothes. He had once given her a box of spearheads with red tassels. She glanced at them; they were covered in rust, but the red tassels on the pendants were quite beautiful, a vibrant red. Since they weren't of any use at the time, she simply put them away and didn't pay them any more attention.
Now you can take it out and use it. But how to take it out is another matter.
Neither Xue Laohu nor Han Mingjiang were there. Thinking about it, he turned around and went back to find Han Minghai.
Back at his own thatched hut, he saw Han Minghai and said, "Eldest brother, come here. Do you remember that the young master Jin Fulai once gave me some iron spikes? Take them out and take a look. Put wooden handles on the children so they can protect themselves from bad guys."
Han Minghai stared wide-eyed at Li Lanzhen; he had never seen these things in the car before.
Li Lanzhen glanced at him and yelled, "What are you standing there for? Come here right now!"
Han Minghai chuckled and followed Li Lanzhen into the shed. He saw a basket at her feet containing red-tasseled spears, but Li Lanzhen couldn't let them know the name.
He said, "Look, these are the things. I think if you put a handle on them, you can use them as a gun."
Unexpectedly, Miaomiao rushed over, grabbed one and said, "Grandma, the red cherries on this are so pretty, I want one too."
Li Lanzhen readily agreed, "Okay. One for each of our children, and the rest can be given to your brother and the others."
Han Yisong and Han Yibai immediately ran over and hugged Li Lancheng's legs, "Grandma, Grandma, we want some too."
Li Lanzhen smiled and squatted down, hugging both of them. "Yes, yes. We have them both."
Han Yisong held it in his hand and gestured wildly.
He shouted loudly, "Grandma, this should be called a red-tasseled spear. With a handle attached, it looks like a long spear. My uncle has one. He doesn't have a red tassel, but he attached a long handle. When he goes into the mountains to hunt rabbits, it looks like this, ho ho ho ha!"
Han Yisong's gestures made everyone burst into laughter.
Xue Nizi picked him up, kissed him, and said, "You little rascal, it's no wonder your uncle taught you kung fu all day; you've learned quite well."
San Niu also ran over with his short legs and stood beside Li Lanzhen, looking at her expectantly. She chuckled and patted his head, saying, "You have one too."
He then gave one to each of the children in the family, regardless of whether they were boys or girls.
“Eldest son, take this to the village chief and have him find someone to install the red-tasseled spear. This is called the Red-Tasseled Spear. My grandson is so clever; he gave this spear such a nice name.”
Upon hearing Li Lanzhen's praise, Han Yisong puffed out his chest, proudly raising his chin as he looked at everyone.
His adorable appearance drew another round of laughter from everyone.
Li Erhan and Li Xishui hurriedly went to find suitable wooden sticks to make the shafts for the children's red-tasseled spears.
In less than half an hour, Han Yinan and his children's team were armed, and Su Chen even gave their team a nice name, "Red Tassel Spear Squad".
Han Shunde then summoned Xue Bao and asked him to teach Han Yinan and the other children a few self-defense moves.
Xue Bao gathered the children together, and with a few laughs, taught them a few moves, how to defend themselves, how to run away when they couldn't win, and how to gang up on one person in groups of three or five...
After listening for a while, Li Lanzhen felt that Xue Bao was indeed quite skilled.
Han Yuemei, holding Miaomiao and Linglong's hands, watched from the side, while the girls below gestured enviously.
Immediately afterwards, Han Shunde gathered everyone together and gave each household a warning.
"As you can see, there are many people here, and it's quite chaotic. We don't know who is a good person, who is a human trafficker, or who is a robber. So everyone should take good care of their own family members, keep an eye on their wives and daughters, and especially their children."
While everyone was still caught up in the lively atmosphere of Xue Bao teaching the children, they immediately became alert upon hearing Han Shunde's serious words.
Han Shunde continued, “We left our hometown and traveled through mountains and rivers without abandoning an elderly person or losing a child. We are about to reach Youzhou, and we cannot lose our parents and children here.”
After looking around, he reminded everyone, "Everyone, go home and discuss it. Tomorrow, who in your family will go out to find food and firewood, and who will stay home to look after the children? Tell the children that they are not allowed to leave Hanjiacun, and those who go out must go in groups of six or seven, not one or two people, especially the women."
Han Shunde's words made everyone nervous, and they all went home and started making arrangements.
There's plenty of thatch on the mountainside, so everyone's thinking of cutting more thatch to bring back for firewood, or to weave more straw mats. Maybe they'll have a good chance to exchange it for a couple of copper coins or some grain.
After settling the villagers in, Han Shunde, along with the old village chief and the two village chiefs from Dongjiazhuang and Zhoujiacun, slowly walked toward the group of refugees who were more than 200 miles away.
After they arrived, they saw that these people were discussing something. One of the older men saw them coming and asked, "Is there something you need?"
The old village chief cupped his hands and said, "Brother, I'd like to ask, are you also going to Youzhou? Why are you at the foot of this mountain? Why don't you cross the mountain to get to Youzhou?"
The old man sighed, “Youzhou is impassable. I just came from Youzhou three days ago, crossed this mountain, and arrived here.”
Seeing their worried expressions, Han Shunde's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly asked, "Has something happened in Youzhou City?"
A man next to him said, "After crossing this mountain, from the middle of the mountain all the way to the gate of Youzhou City, there are dark masses of people fleeing the disaster."
"Everyone has heard that the Prince Rong of Youzhou is kind and benevolent, which is why he came here. They thought that once they arrived in Youzhou and registered at the government office, they could be assigned to a village to settle down, so they all flocked in this direction."
“But Youzhou has already taken in several thousand people, and there is really no place to settle the refugees. So the city gates are closed, but porridge will be distributed every three days. Yesterday we just ate porridge in Youzhou and crossed the mountain. We’re staying here. Tomorrow before dawn, you will also cross the mountain with us.”
Han Shunde thought to himself that this mountain was not short, and even if he went over the mountain to have a bowl of porridge and then went back over the mountain, it wouldn't last more than two days.
The old man saw through Han Shunde's thoughts and explained, "The porridge distribution will give everyone a bowl of clear porridge and a vegetable pancake. No matter the size, as long as you line up where you are, you can get it."
Han Shunde suddenly realized that this was why everyone was gathered here and didn't disperse, and why they were in such good spirits.
The old village chief then asked the old man, "Brother, what are your plans? Are you just going to wait here for the porridge distribution every three days?"
The old man sighed deeply, his eyes gazing helplessly into the distance. “What else can we do? We can’t go back to our hometown. Our village has more than 30 households, nearly 300 people. We’ve been hiding from pursuers, being injured by bandits, suffering from floods, starving to death, and dying from drought and disease. Now, only these people are left.”
The old village chief glanced at the group of about 100 people, young and old, and felt a pang of sadness. He waved his hand, "Brother, we've disturbed you. We're leaving."
Han Shunde supported the old village chief's arm, feeling his father's back bend again.
At noon, no household had started cooking. One reason was that Han Shunde had instructed everyone to be cautious, and another was that there was indeed no water left to drink.
Although Li Lanzhen's family had no shortage of water, everyone was cautious. Adults and children would secretly eat a vegetable pancake in the thatched shed.
On this sweltering day, after eating a few vegetable pancakes and drinking some water, Li Lanzhen felt like taking a nap.
Then they heard a loud wailing coming from afar.
Xue Bao immediately blew his whistle, and then Gou Dan and Han Yinan also blew their whistles.
Immediately, the men of the guard team and the children of the Red Cherry Spear Squad stood in neat rows around Han Family Village.
By the time Li Lanzhen came out, the two teams had completely surrounded Hanjiacun.
She admired Xue Bao's good training, and then she saw more than 30 people, dressed in tattered clothes, looking pale and thin, walking towards them.
And the person leading them was actually from the Zhou family.
My darlings, here's a golden peanut for you all. Good luck!
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