In this secluded place in the mountains, the people of Sujia Village sat together, the atmosphere was depressing and dull.
The village chief stood in the middle of the crowd, his dark circles under his eyes were particularly noticeable, and his whole body exuded an unconcealable fatigue.
He raised his head slightly, his eyes sweeping across everyone's faces, and then said in a slightly hoarse voice, "Everyone, tell me, what should we do?"
The tone was full of helplessness and anxiety. After all, the fate of the entire village depended on this critical decision.
When everyone heard the village chief's words, they were stunned at first, then they looked at each other, their eyes full of confusion and worry, and they were silent for a moment.
The official road is the only way for everyone to go south, but now it has become full of dangers and is no longer safe.
The scene that just happened on the official road, where those people were riding tall horses and holding portraits to interrogate refugees, was like a haze that enveloped everyone's hearts and filled everyone with fear of the official road.
But if they don’t take the official road, how can they go to the south?
Su Ermao frowned, his eyes fixed on the forest where they were at the moment, his gaze scanning back and forth between the dense woods and the rolling hills.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up, as if he had come up with a brilliant idea. His face instantly blossomed with excitement, and he couldn't wait to shout loudly: "Hey! Folks, since the official road is not safe now, let's take the mountain road!"
As he spoke, he pointed in the direction of the depths of the forest, his expression becoming more and more excited.
"It's not like we haven't walked mountain roads before. Although this road is a bit difficult to walk on, it's much better than waiting nervously on the official road to be caught!"
Su Ermao became more and more excited as he spoke, his eyes full of confidence in his idea, as if he had already seen everyone moving forward smoothly along the mountain road and escaping the pursuit.
After hearing what Su Ermao said, Su Wencheng, who was standing by, lowered his head slightly and fell into deep thought.
He frowned and kept thinking about the feasibility of taking the mountain road.
After a while, he slowly raised his head, a gleam of light flashed in his eyes, and he nodded slightly, feeling that this method was indeed feasible.
"Well, not bad!" Su Wencheng said calmly. Although his voice was not loud, it revealed a convincing power.
"We can take the mountain road along the official road. Just like Ermao said, although the mountain road is rugged and difficult to walk on, as long as we are careful, it is not impossible to walk on it.
And as long as we can get out of Ping'an County, those people won't be able to arrest us openly. This way, everyone's safety will be greatly improved."
As Su Wencheng spoke, he looked around at the villagers.
The village chief stood in the crowd, squinting his eyes slightly, listening carefully to Su Ermao and Su Wencheng's analysis. The expression on his face gradually changed from solemn to relaxed as the conversation progressed.
After the two finished speaking, the village chief nodded gently, his eyes slowly sweeping across everyone's faces, and said in a steady tone: "Okay, then we'll take the mountain road. Everyone, tell me, do you have any other opinions?"
Hearing the village chief's words, everyone was stunned at first, and then a look of reluctance appeared on their faces.
You know, walking on a mountain road is not an easy thing. The rugged road, the thorns and stones everywhere, and the steep slopes and cliffs that may appear at any time are all frightening.
What's more, everyone had been fleeing all the way here and was already exhausted physically and mentally. They really didn't want to go through the hardships of walking on the mountain road again.
However, when they thought of the scene that had just happened on the official road, they couldn't help but turn pale and feel scared.
If you continue to take the official road, you will undoubtedly walk into a trap, and then no one will be able to help you.
After weighing the two options, although he was extremely reluctant, in order to escape the pursuers and save his own life and that of his family, he had to grit his teeth and agree to the plan of taking the mountain road.
So everyone took action and began to pack up their few luggage and belongings.
After everything was packed up, everyone continued along the mountain road next to the official road under the leadership of the village chief.
Fortunately, although the mountain looks rolling, it is not particularly steep.
At the front of the team, several young and strong men volunteered to be the pioneers.
With tools in hand, they carefully cleared the thorns on the road and moved away the stones blocking the way, creating a barely passable path for the team behind.
The horse-drawn and ox-drawn carts behind also slowly followed forward as everyone pushed and pulled them together.
Although the speed of travel is much slower than on the official road, it is safe at least.
Seeing that the horse-drawn and ox-drawn carts were able to pass smoothly, everyone felt a little relieved.
After a long day of traveling, the sky gradually darkened, and when night came, the dark night slowly enveloped the entire earth.
The people of Sujia Village dragged their exhausted bodies and found a relatively flat place to rest.
Everyone felt relieved and gathered towards that place, sitting or lying down. For a moment, the area was filled with people's tired sighs and low conversations.
The village chief had no time to rest. He knew very well that the gold, food and other supplies brought out from the villa were related to everyone's survival in the future, so he had to be careful about it.
So the village chief hurriedly called together several reliable and meticulous people in the village to prepare a detailed statistics of these supplies.
They first gathered together the heavy gold they had brought out from the villa.
In the dim moonlight, the pile of gold emitted a faint glow, looking particularly tempting.
The village chief and several others carefully counted the gold one by one, and finally concluded that there were about 1,000 taels of gold.
Several people were very surprised. 1,000 taels of gold was equivalent to two taels of silver. Oh my God, their Sujia Village actually had so much money now!
After calming down, everyone continued to count the amount of food.
After some trouble, they finally counted more than 2,000 kilograms of grain.
In addition to gold and food, there are also some other miscellaneous items, such as vegetables collected from the villa kitchen. Although the quantity is small, it can add some flavor to the food in the short term.
Then there are the cooking utensils. There are pots, pans, and bowls, but some are a bit worn out and in disarray.
After all the supplies were counted, the village chief and those few people straightened up, wiped the sweat from their foreheads, and showed a look of relief and solemnity on their faces.
The village chief knew that the current situation was not optimistic and that he had to plan carefully for the days ahead, so he quickly summoned all the heads of households to prepare for a meeting.
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