However, there were also some refugees with greed in their eyes, staring straight at the livestock and the piled supplies in Sujia Village. Their gazes were like hungry wolves seeing fat prey and they couldn't take their eyes off.
Their thoughts seemed to be written on their faces, as if they were calculating how to gain some benefits from this team.
The strong men who were responsible for guarding the periphery of the Sujia Village team noticed these malicious gazes at a glance.
They immediately became alert, gripped the hatchets tightly, and swung them violently. The shiny hatchets flashed coldly in the sunlight, as if silently warning those who had bad intentions.
At this moment, the refugees who originally had evil intentions were like being poured with a bucket of cold water. They woke up and realized that this team was not to be trifled with. So they gradually retreated, and their greedy eyes slowly subsided. They dared not act recklessly anymore.
The team from Sujia Village continued to move forward cautiously but firmly among the fleeing crowd.
Everyone hurried along the way, braving the scorching sun and enduring fatigue, and finally arrived at Huainan Prefecture smoothly as the sky gradually darkened.
Looking up, you can see the tall city wall standing majestically in front of you, majestic and imposing, like an indestructible natural barrier, guarding the city steadily, giving people a sense of majesty and solemnity.
However, when their eyes moved to the bottom of the city wall, the scene before them made everyone frown.
There were a lot of people gathered there. They all had pale and bloodless faces, and their clothes were tattered. Some of them sat casually on the ground, with empty and dull eyes; some stood there stupidly, their bodies shaking slightly, as if a gust of wind could blow them down.
Their eyes clearly revealed endless fatigue and deep confusion, as if they had lost their way in this long escape, and had lost hope in life and the goals they were striving for.
Everyone in Sujia Village felt a little strange when they saw this scene, and couldn't help but wonder: Doesn't this Huainan Prefecture allow people to enter?
Why are there so many people gathered at the city gate?
Everyone looked at each other with confusion in their eyes, and their pace slowed down involuntarily, not knowing what to do next.
Everyone in Sujia Village was afraid that the situation might change, so they did not dare to delay for a moment and quickly found a place far away from the city gate to rest.
After a brief thought, the village chief took the strong and powerful Da Hu and walked straight towards the city gate, ready to find out the situation.
When we arrived at the gate of Huainan Prefecture, we saw several soldiers guarding the gate with serious expressions, their eyes scanning the surroundings vigilantly.
From time to time, they would shout and drive away the refugees who wanted to force their way into the city, and the scene seemed a bit chaotic.
Seeing this, the village chief bravely stepped forward, smiling and asking in a gentle tone, "Sir, hello. We are from out of town and have been fleeing all the way here. We are really short of supplies, so we wanted to go into the city to buy some necessities. Could you please let us in?"
The gatekeeper listened to the village chief's words and just glanced at them lazily with a nonchalant look on his face. He said slowly, "If you want to enter the city, it's not impossible. However, each person needs to pay a five-liang entrance fee!"
"What? Five taels of silver per person?" The village chief was shocked when he heard this and his eyes widened.
He secretly calculated in his mind that five taels of silver was not a small amount of money. For people like them who were fleeing, it was an astronomical figure.
No wonder there are so many people gathered at the city gate. With an entrance fee of five taels of silver per person, how many people can get in?
The village chief's face turned very ugly in an instant. He stood there, at a loss for what to do.
When Da Hu heard this, his eyes widened and his face was full of disbelief.
His hot temper suddenly flared up, his face turned red, and his body trembled slightly with excitement.
He rushed forward in a flash, reaching out his hand to pull the gatekeeper away, shouting angrily, "What? A fee to enter the city? You're going too far! How can this be justified? This is clearly bullying!"
The soldier guarding the gate was already arrogant, and after hearing what Da Hu did, he immediately became furious.
He glared at Da Hu fiercely, pushed Da Hu away with all his strength, and cursed, "If you don't have money, get out of here! Don't block the road here! I've seen a lot of poor people like you. Humph, don't you see where this is? Do you think you can act so wildly?"
As he spoke, his hand was already on the hilt of the big knife hanging at his waist, as if he was about to pull it out to scare Da Hu.
The village chief was terrified. He knew very well how powerful these gatekeepers were. If he really angered them, he would be in big trouble.
So he quickly took a big step forward, grabbed Da Hu, and while signaling Da Hu to shut up, he bowed his head and said to the gatekeeper with a smile: "Excuse me, sir, please forgive me. We will leave now. It's all because of this boy's ignorance. Please don't argue with him."
After saying that, the village chief dragged Da Hu away from the city gate.
Although Da Hu was still full of dissatisfaction, he knew that he could no longer be willful at this moment, so he could only follow the village chief back angrily.
"Village chief, how can we afford the five taels of silver entrance fee?" Da Hu sat down on the ground, scratching his messy hair with both hands. He looked at the village chief with a sad face, his eyes full of helplessness and resentment. "This official just doesn't treat us as human beings! We work so hard on the farm, but we can't save much money all year round. And now they want five taels of silver all at once. This is blatant robbery!"
The village chief sighed helplessly, patted him on the shoulder, and said soothingly, "Da Hu, don't be impulsive. It's useless to just get angry here. Let's go back to the village and discuss it with everyone. Maybe with more people and more ideas, we can come up with a solution."
The village chief brought Da Hu back to the gathering place of Sujia Village. At this time, many villagers were sitting together weaving straw sandals and chatting about family matters.
The village chief cleared his throat, raised his voice, and told everyone that they needed to pay an entrance fee to enter the city.
When the villagers heard this, they all looked shocked and sad. They put down their work and gathered around to talk about it.
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