The closer we get to Yixiang, the more disaster victims we encounter on the road.
Although the people of Liujin Village used to live in the mountains, they relied on the mountains to eat, and they could also fish in the water. Their ancestors were hardworking and simple, so their lives were actually pretty good.
Therefore, they are not as thin and shabby as the victims who came from other places.
However, for the sake of safety, Qiao Huaping tightened the defense of the entire village. During the break, everyone gathered in one place, and asked the villagers to reduce fire as much as possible and eat dry food as much as possible.
Fortunately, everyone usually cooks more to prepare for emergencies. It can be managed without firing for a few days.
Even for little ones like Bai Feiye who need to eat complementary food, it’s a bit difficult without rice porridge. Fortunately, Qiao Huaping bought a goat to supplement Bai Feiye’s nutrition, and now he’s milking the goat for Bai Feiye.
.
Although the little guy was obviously not used to it, he had always been a very good baby to take care of. After being sluggish for a while, he energetically accepted the day without rice porridge and only goat milk.
The villagers in Liujin Village are very orderly.
In the past two days, many refugees had conflicts over food. But in a village like Liujin Village, which seemed to have little food and was not easy to mess with, few refugees came to provoke Liujin Village.
Later, Qiao Huaping listened to the chatter of the refugees passing by and said that a group of people had provoked the bandits two days ago and were robbed by the bandits. There were many casualties and the remaining people fled quickly.
.
Qiao Huaping's heart moved slightly. Listening to this description, he seemed a bit like the group in Bishui Village.
But after hearing it for a while, she got over it and didn't take it to heart.
Those people in Bishui Village, including the Qiao family, were already gone and were not worth her extra effort.
Because of Qiao Huaping's caution, the people of Liujin Village had a safe journey - but as they got closer to Yixiang, the situation became more and more tense.
Some conflicts began to occur along the way. Although the scale was not large, it was not a good sign.
This shows that most refugees are on the verge of collapse of order.
For them, the long journey to get here has exhausted most of their strength. They have endured the hard work and fatigue for so long, and they are almost like a fragile spring that has been pressed to the extreme and cannot easily rebound.
——And soon, the string broke.
There was a passing carriage, probably seeing how pitiful the victims were begging for mercy outside, and threw a small piece of silver out of it.
When Qiao Huaping saw it, his heart skipped a beat - it was broken.
Sure enough, when the victims who had been homeless for many days saw the silver, they were like wolves that had been hungry for many days and suddenly saw meat. Many of them pounced on it with gleaming eyes, and started fighting over the small piece of silver!
However, more people flocked to the carriage and begged the people in the carriage like crazy: "Noble, noble——"
The carriage came with two guards, but it was not enough.
The two guards were trampled to the ground by the flood of victims. The victims overturned the carriage and pulled out the two trembling little girls inside who looked like masters and servants. You held one hand and I held the other.
The two little girls screamed desperately, almost instantly, they were about to be drowned by the victims——
And right now!
A male and female voice came from an unknown direction. The voice was not loud, but it seemed to have passed through the noise and fell into people's ears: "——What? The officers and soldiers are here?!"
Another unarguable voice replied: "It's true, the officers and soldiers are here! The officers and soldiers are coming with knives to kill!"
The word "officers and soldiers" is like a basin of cold water poured on the heads of the refugees who lost their minds when they saw the money, allowing them to briefly regain their consciousness!
They looked at each other and dispersed in a crowd!
Only the master and servant were left holding each other and shivering - all the jewelry on their heads and hands had been removed, and the clothes made of luxurious materials outside had become tattered and could barely cover their bodies.
The master and servant did not dare to cry.
Qiao Huaping walked out of the darkness, took two of his shabby clothes and put them on the two of them.
Just now she blended into the crowd and deliberately shouted "The officers and soldiers are coming", just like in her era, it was the same as shouting "The police are coming" during street melees.
Seeing Qiao Huaping's kindness, the master and servant finally burst into tears.
They wrapped themselves tightly in Qiao Huaping's old clothes and cried until they were out of breath.
"After learning this lesson, be more careful in the future." Qiao Huaping warned in a low voice.
The two nodded with tears in their eyes.
Fortunately, the scattered coachman and guards quickly found them and picked up the master and servant.
Before leaving, the girl who looked like a daughter of a wealthy family, wrapped in Qiao Huaping's old clothes, solemnly said to Qiao Huaping: "I will repay you."
Qiao Huaping didn't take it to heart.
She saved the girl casually, not out of bad intentions, but as long as she could do her best and without harming her own interests, she saved someone's life.
She never thought about asking the girl to repay this.
Qiao Huaping waved his hand.
The girl didn't dare to say anything. She jumped into the carriage wrapped in Qiao Huaping's old clothes. The carriage took the girl and left quickly and low-key.
Qiao Huaping put the matter behind her.
For her, it was just two old clothes.
However, Qiao Huaping did not expect that she and the girl would meet again soon——
As more and more refugees went to Yixiang, Yixiang also suffered a lot of blows. In order to maintain order and stability, the officers and soldiers of Yixiang guarded the main roads and conducted checks at all levels.
Many refugees had no choice. They did not dare to attack the officers and soldiers with real swords, so they could only hang around and think of other ways.
Qiao Huaping and his party were naturally subject to interrogation by the town authorities.
Qiao Huaping first took out the road guide, and then took out the letter they had asked the county magistrate to write when they destroyed the cottage.
Very polite and courteous.
When the leading officers and soldiers saw that this group of people were different from the refugees they had encountered before.
Looking at the contents of the letter again, a look of emotion appeared on his face. This group of mountain people had even suppressed bandits?!
However, this is not over yet. There is inevitably some hesitation on the faces of the officers and soldiers: "...there are too many refugees causing trouble at the moment. For the sake of the stability of the people in our town, we must be cautious about this matter."
Qiao Huaping frowned slightly and was about to say something when a carriage passed by. The person in the carriage opened a crack in the curtain, took a look outside, and suddenly shouted stop.
When the officers and soldiers saw the style of the carriage, they were very respectful.