Old man Xu is very courageous, and he can make up his mind immediately when he says he wants to escape from famine.
But others in the Xu family are unable to do so.
The first one is Mrs. Xu.
"Old man, do we really want to flee? Maybe the situation is not as bad as we think? What if the court immediately gives us food, or if it knows about the misery we have here, it will not collect taxes from us this year, and will not levy taxes on us again.
Got some food?”
Old Man Xu looked at her and said, "Then why are you scolding the court first? Do you think this is possible?"
It was impossible. Mrs. Xu opened her mouth, but she didn't know what to say. She just said worriedly: "But when we are running away from famine, when can we come back again? My mother's family is still here."
Mrs. Ma and Mrs. Zhou also nodded secretly. They were also worried about this. If they left, wouldn't it be possible that they would never see their parents' family again in this life?
It’s not easy to go out these days, and the road is far away. Who would be willing to leave their hometown if there was no other way?
Old man Xu could only break it into pieces and then explain it to everyone, "The current situation here is that there is no food and no water. We can't even dig wild vegetables to satisfy our hunger. Only bark is left. Once everyone digs
Tree bark, how long can you eat it? And you can eat tree bark if you have nothing to eat, but can a person go several days without touching a drop of water?
Our family had a relatively easy life during the Taiping years. We are in this situation now, let alone other families who are poorer than our family. That’s why Landlord Wang said that villagers from several towns next door have gathered to grab big houses in the town. These people
Being beaten so hard, how easy is it to snatch food from big households? So it won’t be long before we have no choice but to flee the famine.
Let's leave first. After we leave Yunzhou, we can be the first to grab water and wild vegetables. We will have enough food and drink for us to get to your sister-in-law. If we wait until everyone else starts to flee, we can escape together, and we won't be able to say anything.
If you can't grab it, you may be robbed or beaten by others!
This is all trivial. Once tens of millions of people in Yunzhou flee from famine together, it will not be unusual for people to die of hunger and cannibalism along the way!"
No one has a deeper understanding of what Old Man Xu has experienced than him. At that time, when he was still young, he was almost caught, cooked and eaten!
Now that he thinks about it, he still gets chills all over.
There were nearly twenty members of their family, and in the end, only him, his father, and his brother-in-law were left alive.
His grandparents, his mother, his uncles, aunts, sisters and brothers are all gone. How tragic!
Today, decades later, he is about to flee from famine again. Now he is already half-broken into the loess. Along the way, he is not afraid of death, but he must protect him just like his grandfather and father protected him in the past.
Let his children and grandchildren escape alive to a place where they can live!
And this time, if they leave early and don't pile up with the refugees, they might all be able to survive.
Old Man Xu's eyes were red, but he was extremely determined.
Seeing that determination, Xu Yinyin couldn't help but feel shocked in her heart. She didn't know what her grandfather was thinking at this moment, but she felt deeply shocked.
She didn't know what to say, and there was no role for her to speak here. She could just run away. Indeed, it would be hard to stay if she didn't run away.
If it's too late, there will be more people fleeing, and the road will be unsafe.
Old Man Xu's eyes were firm and his tone was firm, "So we have to escape now!"
"Now, everyone listens to my arrangements!"
"Boss, take your second son and go out right away. Go to your father-in-law's family, your uncle's family, and your little sister's family. Tell them about our family's escape. Tell them that if they also
If we plan to go together, we’ll meet outside Dama Town before dawn two days later.”
Xu Chunhe and Xu Chunlin immediately agreed.
Old man Xu then looked at Xu Chunshan. His father-in-law's house was not in the same direction as the other three families and was also the closest. "Third brother, you should also go to your uncle's house and say something."
Although the third daughter-in-law is slanderous and lazy, her two brothers are both good.
When Xu Chunshan listened to Old Man Xu's instructions to Xu Chunhe, he secretly thought that it was not good and did not want to repay the truth. It would be his turn next.
Mom, he doesn’t know where his uncle’s house is!
Hurry up and take a look at your son.
Xu Dajun received the distress signal and hurriedly said: "Sir, it's better for me to go! You also know that my father and my uncle and uncle were about to quarrel before they even exchanged a word with each other. Let him go, maybe it's okay.
It’s clear!”
Only then did Old Man Xu remember this. The third brother was always scolded by his two uncles, including the third daughter-in-law, because she was so lazy and lazy.
I never thought of giving him a beating for being honest.
Thinking that it was not far away, he nodded and said: "Okay, then ask your third brother to go with you!"
The four of them went out immediately.
Old man Xu then arranged for the remaining people, "Old woman, you and the others will grind out the remaining rice and fry it, and then combine the elm bark peeled off in the past few days with the chaff and grass clippings to make it.
Wowotou.
In addition, I will dismantle the cheesecloth at home, sew a dozen cloth bags with cotton cloth, and make a pair of cotton shoes for each person, with a thicker base."
There is a lot of walking to do when escaping from famine, and if your shoes are not comfortable, you will start to get blisters after walking for a long time.
Although it is necessary to lather when wearing it comfortably, at least it can be lathered later.
As for himself, he wanted to go to Landlord Wang's house.
At this time, Landlord Wang was the only one in the village who could afford to buy his land.
The landlord Wang has plenty of land and food, and is not afraid of imperial conquest. Even if he is forced to flee in the end, he will definitely come back. The landowner's most precious thing is the land, and he will definitely buy it.
As expected, Old Man Xu met Landlord Wang, and as soon as he revealed his intention, Landlord Wang agreed without saying a word. Not only did he agree to buy all the Xu family's land, he was also willing to buy his family's house.
On the contrary, he expressed his admiration for Old Man Xu's courage as he was about to flee.
I didn't forget to tell him that I had to leave now, but it was best to go as quickly and quietly as possible.
Otherwise, if Li Jia knows that someone is trying to escape, he will definitely bring people to stop him.
Everyone has fled. When the time comes to collect grain taxes, Lijia will have to bear the burden of sending people, unless Lijia also escapes.
Old Man Xu naturally knew this, so he didn't tell the families close to him in the village, and only informed the parents-in-law and daughter's families of his three sons.
Even if these four families didn't escape with them, they wouldn't tell the truth. If they escaped together, they wouldn't tell the truth.
He thanked Landlord Wang for the reminder, and finally asked him to keep the matter of their escape secret a secret. Then he took the money from the land and house sale and hurried back home.
The family was very busy, and Dalang Erlang was responsible for grinding rice. When the villagers asked them how they were going to grind the rice again, they just said that there was no food for the family, so they grinded it all out while there was no one here.
The villagers also heard what happened in their house yesterday. They knew that the unattractive Xu Laosan and his wife, together with the vicious Xu Siya, cooked and ate all the food left in the house while the family was away yesterday.
.
If it hadn't been for helping Landlord Wang and getting twenty kilograms of grain last night, their family would have had to eat only tree bark from now on.
It was funny to the Xu family, but as soon as he laughed, he couldn't laugh anymore when he remembered his own situation. He shook his head and continued to go out to look for elm bark that could be peeled off.
If we don't look for more, there will be nothing left on the mountain in a few days.