So, the three families gathered together and sat in front of the shack, looking eagerly at Mrs. Wang.
Wang pondered for a moment, then raised her head and said firmly: "Let's go, no one is left here, there is a place for others!"
Xu Da glanced at the smug scribes under the city gate, and thought of the ugly faces of these people who had broken their promises, gone back on their word, and acted repeatedly in the past two days, and nodded in agreement.
Wang Dayou firmly followed Brother Xu, without consulting the Tong family, and directly decided to go wherever the Xu family went.
Wang Dahai was a little hesitant, but his flat wallet did not allow him to hesitate. He did not have enough money to take his son into the city with him, so he had no choice but to go with everyone.
Wang picked up two taros and handed them to Wang Dayou. Wang Dayou said, "Then it's decided. There should be many farms around here. It's better to buy food with money than to be exploited here."
The two of them still didn't understand what the word "exploitation" meant, but they also knew that if they continued to be robbed by these officers and soldiers so obediently, their lives would not get better even if they entered the city.
The two of them ate the taro in silence, once again expressing their gratitude to the Xu family for their benevolence and righteousness. If it had not been for the Xu family's taro along the way, they would have starved to death.
Xu Da pulled the taro by the fire and saw that the gang of thugs who were searching for refugees had started a new round of searching. His eyes flashed, and he was planning on it.
"I'll go and say a few words to them. Madam, please give me another taro." Xu Da extended his hand to Wang, his dark face full of calculations.
Wang glanced at him speechlessly, "Don't do this to me." She handed him a taro.
"No, no, no." Xu Da took the taro and walked away confidently.
Mrs. Wang saw with her own eyes that the group of people turned pale in fright at Xu Da's proactive approach. She couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth, ready to watch the show.
Not knowing what Xu Da said, the two taros gathered the group of people around them and "conspired loudly" to encourage these people to leave together.
While more than a dozen people were muttering, a group of people in civilian clothes came out of the city. Xu Da was startled, thinking that the officials were coming to arrest him, a traitor who "confused the public with his evil words."
As a result, the group of people left the city straight away and did not know where they went.
But soon, a group of bandits-like people were seen rushing over from the other side of the river with knives, and they killed them in front of the officers and soldiers.
When Xu Da saw it, his intuition was not good, so he hurriedly returned to his team, took the children and ran out of the city, without even having time to clean up the shack.
Even a fool can see this clearly going in and out.
Where are these bandits? It's just the officers and soldiers directing and acting on their own!
Human nature is so ugly that even the refugees who have struggled to escape are not spared!
Xu Yue's family ran very fast and hid on the edge of a field on the other side of the river. They watched with their own eyes as these officers and soldiers disguised as bandits pulled the refugees' clothes, touched them from inside to outside, and then left after getting money.
If nothing is found, white knives go in and red knives come out!
In this way, I am afraid that it will not only increase the fiscal revenue of the treasury, but also solve the problem of refugee accumulation.
Moreover, it was rogue bandits who took the blame, and there was not a trace of stain on the officers and soldiers.
Good strategy!
How ironic!
The family of five was dumbfounded and hugged each other, unable to regain their senses for a long time.
As the sun set, the bandits withdrew into the mountains and returned with their loads.
Under the city gate, corpses and scattered clothes and shoes were everywhere.
The officers and soldiers came out slowly at this time, and the scribe sang mournfully:
"I told you to enter the city earlier but you didn't. Now it's better. You've given the bandits an advantage in vain!"
After saying that, he ordered some people to move the corpse to the mass grave, then turned around and left.
The sky darkened, and countless people burst into tears.
People who had been hiding early came out one after another, carefully looking for the things they had left behind.
Xu Da met those gangsters again, but he didn't expect that they were still alive.
Facing each other, the gangsters who had been hesitant before could not wait to agree to Xu Da's previous idea and were ready to go together.
Xu Da gave them a few more words, and then the group began to move among the refugees.
At this time, they only thought that their team was about to welcome a capable leader, but little did they know that in Xu Da's heart, they were all cannon fodder.
But the sad thing is that the bedding in the shack is gone, the remaining taro is gone, and the backpack and the deer skin water bag inside have disappeared without a trace!
Xu Da was desperate, Wang was very sad, and the three Xu Yue brothers looked at each other and almost cried.
It’s too difficult, it’s really too difficult!
...
The next day there was just a glimmer of light in the sky, and Xu Yue's family was preparing to run away, followed by hundreds of people. It was her father who used two taros as cannon fodder to increase the success rate of his family's escape.
I thought that with so many people leaving together, these unscrupulous officials were just tired of refugees like them and would not do anything else.
Unexpectedly, the officers and soldiers had already noticed them. As soon as the group left, the officers and soldiers immediately chased them.
The sound of the horses' hoofs "boom, boom, boom" made everyone's hearts tremble. They were walking leisurely, but now they put all their energy into feeding and ran wildly.
Xu Da led hundreds of people to run forward, and dozens of officers and soldiers chased after him on horseback. As the distance between the two sides narrowed, a group of people suddenly rushed down from the hillside in front, blocking Xu Da's path.
It was the group of "bandits" lurking in the mountains yesterday!
When the leader saw Xu Da, he laughed ferociously, raised his gleaming white knife and struck him on the head.
Seeing this action, Xu Yue, who was carried on her brother's back and followed closely by her father, gasped in shock and secretly thought it was over.
But at this moment, everyone's eyes suddenly darkened.
The leader raised his sword and was stunned. He looked up into the sky and saw a black spot appearing in the middle of the sun. It grew wider and wider, swallowing up the entire sun. The world in front of him was completely plunged into darkness.
It's a total solar eclipse, Xu Yuexin said.
But in the eyes of the ancients, a solar eclipse was an unlucky sign, heralding the coming disaster and a warning that God would punish the world!
The knife in the officer's hand clattered down, and the unknown mysterious power made them feel instinctive fear.
Everyone knelt down in fear, trembling all over and turning pale. They threw themselves on the ground and begged God for forgiveness.
When Xu Yue's family came to their senses, they were the only ones standing around, and the people around them were kneeling on the ground.
The family of five looked at each other and said, "If you don't run away now, why don't you wait!"
When everyone was obedient, a family of five ducked past the crowd and fled quickly.
"Dad!" The Wang family's aunt noticed the movement of Xu Yue's family and anxiously tugged on the corner of Wang Dayou's clothes.
The child was still young and didn't quite understand what fear was. She only knew that these officers and soldiers kneeling on the ground were more terrifying than the punishment from heaven.
So when her parents were shivering and completely unable to think due to fear, she immediately discovered the unusual movements of Xu Yue's family.
Wang Dayou was pulled by his daughter and regained consciousness for a moment. He looked up and saw that the five members of the Xu family had slipped away far away!
Wang Dayou grabbed his wife and chose between heavenly punishment and death, and he made a decision quickly.
The couple took the child and moved sideways on their trembling calves.
When passing by Wang Dahai and his son, Wang Dayou pulled him hard, but I don't know if the father and son were frightened by the punishment from heaven. They were frightened like caged birds by his touch and trembled even more.
Wang Dayi gritted his teeth and ignored him, and hurriedly led his wife and children to chase in the direction of the Xu family...
