After the soldiers conveyed Deng Bao's words, the refugees followed one after another.

When the sun was about to reach the top of the mountain in the west, Deng Bao looked back and saw ninety soldiers leading horses, mixed in with the refugees, following him along the winding dirt road. The procession was very slow.

It’s so long that you can’t see the end.

Deng Bao took a deep breath. When he turned around and looked forward, he saw trees growing on the hill in front of him. Under the hill, there was a river reflecting the sky. There were several earthen structures between the hills and the river.

The corner of the house was exposed. Deng Bao thought: "Let's stay here tonight."

When he came to the river, Deng Bao ordered his soldiers to go to the village to look for people and ask for directions. Several soldiers went there for a while and came back to report: "General, there is no one in the whole village."

Deng Bao said nothing, stood up again, led his horse and said, "Go to the village and stay."

There were dozens of collapsed mud houses in the village. Deng Bao came to the middle of the village and ordered the soldiers to collect firewood and barbecue horse meat. After dark, the whole village was lit up with fire, and Deng Bao ordered the soldiers to distribute the heated horse meat to the refugees.

Satisfy hunger.

That night, Deng Bao, the soldiers, and the refugees all slept in and outside the village.

It was an early spring day and it was extremely cold at night. From time to time, babies could be heard crying in the refugee team, and there were also faint sounds of women cursing reluctantly, as well as the sounds of men fighting. Deng Bao frowned and thought: "Let's go."

It’s up to you wherever you go! If you have a life, you must live, and if you don’t have a life, you have to follow your fate.”

After walking like this for about ten days, the refugee team arrived at the bank of the Yellow River.

It was the dry season of the Yellow River in spring. When Deng Bao saw the Yellow River and knew that he had left the war-torn land of Hebei, he became energetic. When he looked around, he saw a long stretch of the Yellow River's old path leading to the sky, a piece of light brown loess.

By this time, the horse meat had been eaten, and although many refugees had died, some more had followed along the way, so the number of people in the group was not only large, but also increased.

Deng Bao was a little disappointed - there were only nine Cao soldiers left with him and there was no food. How could he keep going?

However, I had to leave.

Deng Bao did not manage the refugee team along the way. He knew that there was no way to manage it. "It's good if you can keep walking. It's okay to survive as long as you can keep walking."

So, after crossing the Yellow River, Deng Bao encouraged the refugees to look for food everywhere: "Steal if you can, get what you can, and rob if you can! No matter what, as long as you can get food, I will escort you if you can survive."

Move forward.”

In this way, a few months later, this group of refugees arrived in Jingling County on the north bank of Xiangjiang River.

When this group of refugees arrived outside Jingling County, they split up and went into the city to beg for food.

Thousands of refugees came in and out of Jingling City, causing Jingling residents to panic.

The county government also had no idea for a while. There were so many refugees that they couldn't drive away or provoke.

Refugees beg for food, and when they don't have enough to eat, they start to rob, and merchants or soldiers come to beat them. These refugees never fight back or scold you.

It was not only the city of Jingling that was disturbed by these refugees, but there were also refugees walking around begging for help in the countryside.

The Yamen had no way to deal with it, so they sent the urgent document to the Xiangyang Governor's Yamen. The Governor's Yamen reported the situation to Liu Cong, and Liu Cong brought Liang Zhu'er and others over. He wanted to see with his own eyes what the refugees were like.

When Liu Cong arrived at the inn north of Xiangjiang River, it was already dark. He handed the horse to Liang Zhuer and was about to go to the refugee residence.

The station official dissuaded them and said, "My lord, what's the point of a group of beggars? It's better to go to bed early after dinner and have a rest, then go over and see them tomorrow."

Liu Cong felt really tired, so he went into the room and took a rest while drinking tea.

After dinner, Liu Cong still worried about these refugees, so he told Liang Zhuer: "Let's go out with me and have a look."

The inn official added: "They will come out to beg for food before dawn. Lord, there is no need to see them. They will come by themselves after dawn tomorrow. Our inn has to send out more than ten batches of beggars every day, which is really annoying."

Liu Cong didn't reply, just lowered his head and walked out.

Liang Zhu'er saw it and hurriedly signaled to Ma Gan'er, and the two of them followed out.

The inn official came out again and said, "Master, you don't need to go far, it's too dark. Walk half a mile south, and in the mulberry forest beside the Xiangjiang River, there are nests of beggars sleeping there. We will also listen to what they say.

I don’t understand, I don’t know which state or county these indestructible things came from.”

Liu Cong didn't say anything. He walked out of the gate and looked south. He saw piles of bonfires burning in the increasingly dark night along the north bank of the Xiangjiang River. It was impossible to tell whether they were stars in the sky or fires underground.

It seems like the Milky Way has fallen on the north bank of Xiangjiang River.

Liu Cong was a little surprised and muttered: "With so many refugees, there should be dozens or millions, right? What should we do?"

Liu Cong became anxious when he thought of this, so he turned back and entered the house without taking off his clothes. He lay on his back on the bed, looking at the roof of Hei Yueyue, thinking about how to deal with it.

He thought: "Right now, land reclamation in Jingzhou has just begun, but so many beggars have come. Farming is in need of manpower, which is said to be a good thing. However, these people have neither farm equipment nor cattle, so how can they be used to reclaim the land?

? Not to mention plowing oxen, we don’t even have a hoe or a shovel. What should we do?”

Liu Cong frowned and thought. After thinking for a long time, he couldn't think of a way to use them. "Let's just say that the Yamen paid for them to buy farm tools. But where did the Yamen get so much money at once?"

? Even if you have money to buy them farm tools, there is no food for them to eat. Even if you have food for them to eat, they have no place to live. Even if you have a place to live, it will give them free food and shelter for a year.

"

Liu Cong scratched his scalp. After scratching for a while, but still unable to do anything, he stood up and shouted to Liang Zhu'er: "Zhu'er, come here, I want to see these refugees."

Liang Zhuer hurriedly ordered: "You don't have to sleep, Fatty Lai. Hurry up and feed the horses. Hey, the second master doesn't seem to be sleeping tonight. He might have to rush back to Xiangyang overnight."

Liang Zhu'er came here with his orders, and came with Ma Gan'er. He walked in and asked, "What is the second master's order?"

"Come with me out to see the refugees. I want to see who they are."

“Second Master, it’s dark and the roads are slippery??????”

"Little Luosuo, let's go."

The three people just walked out of the door and walked to the bank of Xiangjiang River in the south.

Looking closer, when Liu Cong and the others stood on a high place and looked down, they saw that the bonfire was still burning, but it was no longer very strong. There were refugees sleeping next to the fire. Through the remaining light of the bonfire, we could see

When they came out, most of the refugees were covered with rags and ragged clothes, with dead grass and rotten leaves piled up in front of and behind them to protect themselves from the wind and cold.

It was an early spring night, and the cold was getting stronger and stronger. Liu Cong sighed: "Isn't it going to freeze to death this night?"
Chapter completed!