Li Po lay quietly in the grass, spying on the scene not far away.
This is a valley, and the piles of bonfires in the valley emit warm light, and also send the fragrance of food far away.
Li Po was extremely sure that he had arrived at the edge of the mountain forest, not far from the world outside the mountain.
Since his encounter with the Turks, Li Po has never had a bite of hot food or a mouthful of hot water.
The weather in the mountains and forests is getting colder day by day, and the sky is gradually becoming denser with clouds. A heavy snowfall is about to fall, forcing Li Po to speed up his pace out of the mountains and forests.
The direction is easy to choose. To the west, it is likely to reach the coast of the Yellow River. To the east, it is the northern frontier of the Sui Dynasty, Mayi or the two counties of Yanmen.
Li Po chose to go east because the distance was likely to be closer.
Now, everything in the valley indicates that he may be able to get out of this mountain and forest soon.
Because the people who lit bonfires in the valley were more neatly dressed, it was obvious that they had just entered the mountain not long ago.
There are many of them, and life in the mountains and forests has not left many traces on them.
Of course, there is no doubt that these are also a group of refugees.
They were no different from the refugees who entered the mountains. From the faint voices, Li Po soon understood that they were also avoiding heavy labor and had to choose to hide in the mountains.
Li Po silently learned their accents and prepared to leave the mountains and forests.
Originally, he planned to blend in and inquire about the situation outside in detail. These refugees were not considered very dangerous because they had not entered the mountains for a short time and still had moral and ethical constraints.
But soon, he gave up this idea.
Under the flickering firelight, the oppressive atmosphere made Li Po keenly aware of the smell of danger.
There are dozens of people, probably from the same place, but no matter what they wear, how they behave, or even what they eat, they are divided into two large groups.
Some people were in the middle, the bonfire was bigger, it seemed like there were slaves running around, their dinner was more elaborate, and there was even the smell of wine.
Some people outside were wearing rags and rags, silently munching on dry food. The cries of women and children, accompanied by the rude beatings and scoldings of men, could not be heard.
Just a stone's throw away, it's like two worlds.
This extreme unfairness is the source of danger.
A few northern men gathered not far from Li Po, muttering around a bonfire from time to time. Occasionally they would turn their heads and look at the people not far away, their eyes shining with envy and hatred.
Li Po believed that it wouldn't take long, maybe at the next moment, he would witness a riot.
This is not uncommon among refugees.
There are also differences between rich and poor, as well as beauty and ugliness among the refugees, and many tragedies have been staged as a result.
Li Po didn't know the general trend of the world, and he had no intention of investigating the root cause of the people fleeing into the mountains. He simply deduced the process from the results.
Speaking of which, he has not been in the mountains for a long time, but meeting so many refugees in the mountains and forests can only mean that the powerful Sui Dynasty in the words of the three veteran soldiers is already in a state of turmoil.
These refugees may eventually become bandits who gather in the mountains and forests, so the world outside the mountains is not beautiful either.
However, like any bystander, he witnessed all this with cold eyes, without the intention or ability to change anything.
Late at night, Li Po huddled up in a ball, fighting against the cold in the mountains.
He plans to stay here for a few days. He needs a guide. In the next time, he will carefully select a lucky person among these refugees...
His eyes did not stay on the poor people on the periphery, but on the group of people in the middle.
Because their lives seem to be richer, and their knowledge will definitely be much broader.
He needs to know whether the household registration checks outside are strict, whether he will be caught acting as a peasant as soon as he goes out, whether it is really impossible to survive in the chaos outside, where people live together, etc.
wait.
However, it's obvious that some people can't wait any longer.
Li Po suddenly woke up. There were still embers from the bonfire in the valley, and someone was already making noise.
The men not far from him were all shouting something wildly.
It can be heard from the voices that they all have a fire hidden in their hearts, just waiting to be vented and burn others or themselves to ashes.
Li Po reluctantly stood up and moved his hands and feet slowly, thinking about whether he should leave this messy place.
As he expected, in a difficult environment, people do not think of working together to overcome difficulties, but first compete for as many resources as possible.
This is the human heart, the more people there are, the more it is.
But what he didn't expect was that leaders would soon emerge from these refugees who were about to riot.
A big man opened his front, revealing his strong chest, and shouted loudly. There were people around him who responded from time to time, and he soon gained the support of most people.
Reckless heroes are born in response to the times, and they are like this in troubled times, so there is no need to elaborate.
Li Po didn't know if the same drama was playing out in other places in the mountains, but what he saw before him was the entire process of the birth of a bandit group, which was a peasant uprising in the usual sense.
It doesn't take long for this process to move to the next stage.
The killings came as expected, and the victims of the riot were another group of people.
The shouts of killing completely plunged this quiet canyon into chaos. Women and children cried helplessly to avoid it. Adult men picked up everything they could and started fighting.
Li Po soon smelled the strong smell of blood.
He watched all of this motionlessly. Someone ran past him and no longer noticed him lying in the grass.
The riot came to an end at dawn, and there was no doubt that the side with more numbers won.
In this way, it's time for them to enjoy the spoils of war.
This was also the root of Li Po's disgust with the so-called peasant uprising in the following years.
A group of twisted people, with twisted expressions, doing twisted things.
Before, they carried out a killing in order to survive or because of the injustice they suffered. In Li Po's view, this was understandable.
But everything they did after that had nothing to do with any of this.
They became greedy and violent. Because they had a temporary leader, they were relatively restrained, but... items like distributing property and women were indispensable.
They squander everything wantonly and irrationally, regardless of the fact that winter is coming and they need more manpower and material resources to ensure their survival.
When the conspicuously strong man grabbed the two crying women and beat them and scolded them into the woods, his helpers were also satisfied and about to enjoy the spoils of war.
Li Po frowned in disgust and left quietly.
** Robbery, a group of crazy beasts, maybe they will finally calm down, but Li Po has no interest in wasting time here anymore.
He chose to continue traveling in the southeast direction, but soon he discovered that there was an extra tail coming out behind him.