As dawn broke and people could see their surroundings clearly, Xue Laohu took Han Zhaoxiong out to scout out the situation.
He didn't bring Xue Bao and Han Mingjiang with him, but had them observe the surrounding situation. As soon as they discovered that soldiers were coming, they were to immediately lead the people of Hanjiacun back into the stone forest.
Li Lanzhen got up early in the morning, but she couldn't sleep well. In the first half of the night, the stone under her was burning hot, and she tossed and turned on it like she was being baked. In the second half of the night, the stone was ice cold, and she felt cold all over.
After getting up early, she strolled around the area and climbed a hill that was more than ten meters high.
Looking around, this area is all like this: smooth stones, some of which have been weathered by wind and rain, forming craggy shapes.
Strangely enough, this area is completely barren.
Li Lanzhen frowned, wondering what to do. If they kept going in, there would be no water, no grass, no wild vegetables, and the water they brought from the mountains wouldn't last for many days. Plus, there were only twenty or thirty people in Zhoujia Village who had nothing left.
It's a bit of a headache. The fact that King Jin's troops are specifically targeting and intercepting the people from Hanjiacun means they are already prepared.
She dared not urge the people of Hanjiacun to go out and fight the soldiers.
They didn't have many firecrackers left, and the soldiers had seen them before, so they should be on guard.
After much deliberation, the best course of action was to escape this place as soon as possible and avoid being captured by the government troops.
Breakfast consisted of dry food and cold boiled water.
Everyone found tall rocks to escape the scorching sun.
Dog Egg, Han Yinan, Da Niu, Er Niu and a few other children were running around in the stone forest when they suddenly discovered a low tunnel made of piled-up rocks.
It was like a cave, only very low. Even Han Yinan had to crouch down to squeeze in. Li Lanzhen went to take a look after she found out.
She discovered that the ground in this area was soft soil, not hard rocks.
She was a little puzzled, but didn't delve into it. She called over the eldest brother, the second brother, and Li Xishui to bring hoes and shovels and dig the ground down a bit, deep enough for an adult to crawl in half-crouched.
After seeing this, other families in the village also started looking for similar places.
They actually found them, but they were all much smaller than Li Lanzhen's place.
The spot that Han Yinan and his group found, the men dug down more than half a meter. The soil wasn't exactly soft, but it wasn't so hard that they couldn't dig it out either.
With a little effort, they could still dig down. Fortunately, Li Lanzhen had them pile up the excavated soil along one side of the mountain and tamp it down with stones, forming a large communal sleeping area.
Besides Li Lanzhen, her own family, and her two in-laws, Gou Dan and his grandson also lived here, making Gou Dan very happy and he kept grinning.
Tiger Xue hadn't returned by breakfast time.
Xue Bao and his guards kept patrolling the area.
Han Shunde found the old village of Zhoujiacun.
Tell him that each family must send one male member to join the guard team.
Village Chief Zhou said with difficulty, "Can we wait a couple of days? I'm really exhausted right now and probably don't have the energy to participate in the guard team's activities."
Seeing that the village chief of Zhoujia Village was weak and looked much older, Han Shunde nodded in agreement and said that it would begin in two days.
It wasn't until noon, when the sun was blazing, that Xue Laohu and Han Zhaoxiong returned.
They hurriedly swallowed a pancake in a few bites, then grabbed another pancake and went to discuss matters with the old village chief and Han Shunde.
When Xue Laohu left, he called out to Li Lanzhen.
They went together and found the old village chief.
Han Zhaoxiong then summoned the village chiefs of Dongjiazhuang and Zhoujiacun.
Once everyone had arrived, the old village chief said to Xue Laohu, "Hunter Xue, please tell us what happened."
Xue Laohu nodded and said, "The current situation is too unfavorable for us. Zhao Xiong and I first walked around this stone forest, and then climbed up a relatively high stone mountain. Only then did we see that the edge of this stone forest is connected to the big mountain, and there are trees on those mountains."
However, if we march at a rapid pace, it would take us about five days to get out of this stone forest.
Xue Laohu wiped the sweat from his brow and continued.
"Then, we returned to the main road and walked through the woods below the pipeline until we reached the place where we had encountered before, where the ground was covered with the bodies of disaster victims."
Xue Laohu's eyes were filled with anger, fury, and pity.
“There, there are no living people left. They were either killed or captured. Many people are gone, and many are lying on the ground.”
Han Zhaoxiong continued, “We didn’t encounter any soldiers on the official road, but just as we were about to turn into this mountain forest, we heard the clatter of horses’ hooves. Uncle Xue and I quickly hid. A little while later, we saw more than a dozen soldiers on horseback galloping along the road.”
Xue Laohu frowned and said, "They're probably still looking for us."
The old village chief said, "It seems we still can't go out, we can't go on the official road!"
Looking at Li Lanzhen, he said gently, "Lanzhen, take out the map and let's see how far we are from Youzhou."
We dare not go the wrong way; not only would we be wasting our time, but more importantly, we wouldn't have enough food and water!
Li Lanzhen took out a map from her bosom and spread it out on the stone.
The village chief of Zhoujia Village was furious.
He grinned and said, "Old village chief, you even got a map! No wonder you didn't get lost and ran so fast."
The old village chief snorted coldly and didn't reply.
After carefully examining the map, Han Shunde and Xue Laohu smiled with relief. Han Shunde said, "Luckily, we didn't go in the wrong direction."
Xue Laohu glanced at the map, looked up and said, "We are about 30 kilometers away from Youzhou."
If we take the official road, it should take less than three days to get there.
However, we cannot take the official road; for now, we can only pass through the stone forest. There, we can see dense mountains covered in trees. Beyond those mountains lies Youzhou City.
Han Shunde also said, "Indeed, this is the fastest and safest way, but if you walk in the mountains, it would probably take five or six days to get out."
If we eat our food sparingly, it will just be enough to last until we leave the Stone Forest.
With that thought, everyone felt relieved.
However, Li Lianzhen's words made everyone's hearts jump into their throats again.
"The food supply can last until then, but the water supply won't last that long."
There isn't even a blade of grass in this stone forest, let alone water.
Everyone thought about it and agreed. The weather was already hot, with the sun blazing overhead and the stones underfoot absorbing the sun's heat. Walking on those scorching stones was like being roasted from both sides.
This means the body needs about 50% more water than usual.
The old village chief sighed deeply, "Let's keep going. A living person can't be brought to death by holding in their pee."
"Everyone, hurry up and eat something. Once it's past noon and the sun is at its strongest, we'll start walking. As long as it's not pitch black, we'll keep walking. We can rest more during the hottest part of the day to cool off."
The old village chief said to Han Shunde, "Shunde, gather everyone together and tell them how serious the situation is. Tell them to conserve their food and water. Without water, people will die."
Han Shunde nodded, and everyone dispersed. As Li Lanzhen walked towards her cave, she wondered what she would do if there really was no water.
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