Everyone quickly packed their things and continued on their way.
The simple wooden sledge was no longer useful, so Uncle Zhao rode the village chief's donkey, and the other two old men rode big green mules together.
Maybe the old men are used to it and know that refusing is useless.
This time they sat very comfortably on the backs of mules and donkeys, but their hands were busy, looking like they were carving small things for children.
They walked another ten miles in one breath, and then set up camp again when they saw the sun setting...
In this way, everyone stayed overnight. Whenever they stopped, they took all the time to dig wild vegetables on the roadside, hunt, and barely supplemented some food rations.
In three days, we traveled more than a hundred miles.
This time, we arrived at a prefectural city, Lingquan Prefecture.
Looking from a distance, Fucheng is much more impressive than the county town.
But also, there were more carriages blocked in front of the door...
Everyone just glanced at it, and their hearts skipped a beat and sank to the bottom.
Because there was a high wooden fence in front of the city gate, guarding more soldiers.
The village chief didn't want to believe it, so he gave his last hope and went to inquire with Li Laosi and others in person.
The worst happened!
The five taels per person to buy the road was not waived just because the prefectural city was larger than the county town.
The world is as dark as crows, and buying money is still a shortcut to wealth that everyone wants to achieve.
After everyone asked several times and made sure they heard correctly, they walked back with their heads hanging down.
Li Laosi held the hatchet and gritted his teeth with hatred.
If it weren't for the fact that he had to take care of the old and young at home, he would have wanted to rush over with a knife and chop these bastards to death!
At this moment, he suddenly heard someone shouting, "Qiu Sheng, Jia Yi!"
He turned around and looked, but before he could see clearly, Jia Yi had already rushed out like a little tiger.
"Master, it's my master!"
Liu Biaotou was lying on a car on the side of the road waving to them, and Li Laosi was also crazy with joy.
He was anxious to escape that day. Although he sent the news to Liu Biaotou, he never saw him again and couldn't help but miss him.
Unexpectedly, I met him here.
The three members of the Liu family drove the carriage and quickly followed everyone back to the camp.
When the villagers heard that they still had to pay for the entrance to the city gate, they were all furious.
Some people yelled, some cried bitterly, and the little baby didn't dare to say a word as the atmosphere in the camp was heavy.
Mrs. Liu was so thinner than before that she almost lost her appearance. It turned out that both escort chief Liu and Liu Yang were injured.
She had to drive the car and take care of the two of them, and it was really hard for her to hold on.
Meeting the Li family now felt like meeting a relative. She fell asleep without saying a few words.
Tao Hongying, Mrs. Li and others looked at her pitifully and covered her with clothes, and then cooked porridge to fill the belly of the family.
Li Laosi saw that Liu Biao's head and arm were injured and Liu Yang's back was bleeding, so he guessed that their family was in trouble.
But he didn't ask any more questions and only asked Divine Doctor Zhang to help with treatment.
Naturally, Doctor Zhang was not embarrassed by such a simple trauma, and he took care of it in a short time.
When Captain Liu saw his wife and children settled down, he became energetic and spoke.
"Qiu Sheng, we can't go forward. Roadblocks have been set up in every city. It's chaos. We have to fight to survive."
Li Laosi nodded and sighed.
"Brother Liu, do you have any good ideas?"
Liu Biao raised his chin and pointed to the rolling mountains and forests in front of him.
"The only way to get over the mountain is over the mountain. I was chased by an enemy in this area once when I was young. Entering the mountain here and walking south, you have to climb more than 40 mountains, but as long as you go out, Down the mountain is the Jinsha River. It saves 400 miles compared to taking the official road, and can bypass all the cities. However, it will definitely be very difficult and dangerous."
Before Li Laosi could speak, the village chief and others who were listening next to him had already gasped. A breath of air conditioning.
There are more than 40 mountains. It would take more than 40 days to climb one mountain in one day.
Moreover, such deep mountains and old forests are too dangerous, with wild beasts and venomous snakes everywhere.
Once you get in and figure it out, it's definitely not that simple.
But if we don't go over the mountains and take the official road, there are at least five or six county towns and three prefectural towns.
One person needs at least 50 taels to pay for travel, and the whole village only needs 5,000 taels. It is simply a fantasy...
"Brother Liu, please rest first and let's discuss it."
Li Laosi left escort Liu behind and gathered with the village chief. Everyone in the village.
This is a matter of life and death, and everyone has the right to participate in the decision.
After all, there is no choice at this time.
To stay is to join the refugees behind and wait to die together, or make trouble together and fight with the soldiers.
Or simply wait until the imperial commander from Kyoto arrives and follow him through the chaos.
But even if you catch the opportunity once, will you be able to catch up every time when you pass by Bajiu City on your way south?
Moreover, when there are too many people, robbery, theft, child abduction, and other unimaginable evils are all possible.
Because they were prepared early, set out early, and had all the food and supplies compared to others, they must be the primary target of everyone's envy.
Maybe being in the crowd is not as safe as being in the mountains and forests, facing wild beasts and poisonous snakes...
Everyone discussed from afternoon to dusk, and finally made a plan to cross the mountains and reach the Jinsha River.
Perhaps the previous two mountains were not difficult and dangerous. Although the climb was tiring, there was no danger.
This gave the villagers a lot of confidence, and now that they had made a decision, everyone looked more relaxed.
Boil water to cook, pack things, and prepare as much as possible.
For a time, the small camp was very busy.
Mrs. Liu had a good sleep, drank porridge, and gained strength. She hurriedly packed the carriage and packed everything she needed.
Li Laosan made a sledge and tied things to it, so Liu Biaotou could drag it up the mountain.
Tao Hongying and Zhao Yuru were flustered and wanted to pack their luggage again, but they were stopped by Mrs. Li.
Others don't know, but she knows better.
There are many things, such as most of the food, that have been collected by my granddaughter.
The journey was hectic, and there were many people in the family. Everyone felt that their burden was light, and they thought that the heavy things were all in the hands of others, and no one cared about them carefully.
In fact, what they carried with great effort was not much.
Looking at my granddaughter, she is being played with by Uncle Zhao. She is holding a wooden pony in her hand and smiling with her little white teeth exposed.
The same goes for Jiaxi and Jiaan. Each of them got a big slingshot and surrounded the two old men, smiling happily.
The future is uncertain, but for the sake of the children, we will fight no matter what.
This is also the voice of all villagers.
If it were up to them, that would be fine if they died, but not the children.
They still have to grow up, get married, and have so many good days...
This night, everyone had such determination and slept extremely soundly.
When I got up early, I still made fire to cook, fed the mules and donkeys, fetched and stored water, and pasted cakes to make dry food.
The three members of the Liu family wanted to travel together, so they also took food, but it was japonica rice.
Tao Hongying took the initiative and left the japonica rice for the children to eat. Each family pooled together sorghum noodles and brought out a dozen pancakes for them.
It's pretty much busy, just have a meal and you're ready to go.
At this time, Jia An Jiaxi was running around and shouting.
"Where have Grandpa Zhao and the others gone? Why haven't they been seen?"
Everyone was surprised and looked at each other to find that they were not around.
The village chief asked, "Is it convenient to go nearby?"
Li Laosi immediately called two villagers to look for someone in the nearby woods.
As a result, as soon as they entered the forest, the villagers suddenly screamed in fear.
"Uncle Zhao!"
The morning bird spread its wings in surprise and quickly rushed into the sky.
The leaves in late autumn fell down one by one, hovering stubbornly...