Traveling through ancient times to escape famine, the prince led me to rebel

At noon, the scorching sun hung high in the sky, with white clouds floating around it.

From time to time, there were breezes in the air, which evaporated the sweat and brought a rare bit of coolness.

Luo Xiaoran, dressed in men's clothes, sat in the carriage, driving the horse slowly and steadily.

She didn't slow down intentionally because she was exhausted, but because there were so many people around her that she couldn't go wild.

Early this morning, Luo Xiaoran and Qiu Niang shared a steamed bun, and drove the carriage back to the official road along yesterday's wheel tracks.

The official road was not wide and could only accommodate two medium-sized carriages running side by side. Now, many disaster victims had gathered on it.

Those who were better off drove horse-drawn carriages with their families, young and old, and followed by servants, often more than a dozen people in total.

Those who are not well off simply carry their bags and move forward relying solely on their heart and their legs.

There were also many people pushing a one-wheeled flatbed cart loaded with food and large and small items. Some people simply put their parents, children, etc. who could not walk on the flatbed cart.

People are chasing cars, cars are chasing people, and fatigue and uncertainty about the future are everywhere. If the car goes fast, it is easy to hit the person in front, but if people walk fast, it is difficult to catch up with the car in front.

Luo Xiaoran and Qiu Niang stayed in this stalemate and followed the crowd for the whole morning.

At this moment, most of the victims are still moving forward. They don’t eat lunch and just wait until dark to have dinner to fill their stomachs.

Only a few people who owned horse-drawn carriages parked their carriages on the side of the road and planned to have lunch.

After thinking it over again and again, Luo Xiaoran also parked the carriage on the side of the road.

Her body is still quite weak and she needs to replenish her energy in time to cope with emergencies.

"Qiu Niang, do you have a tinder or flint?"

Qiu Niang stuck her head out of the carriage, her fair face covered with a light layer of dust, and the same was true for Luo Xiaoran.

"Yes, I'll give it to you right away."

Luo Xiaoran used two large stones to prop up the pot to cook.

Firewood is dead wood and dry leaves picked up nearby.

The water was obtained from a river encountered this morning when we were rushing to the official road. Two water bags and a large pot with a lid were all filled.

Luo Xiaoran poured the excess water into uncovered bowls and pans, leaving only about three bowls of water in the pot. She put in a bowl of rice, which could produce about five taels of rice. She then added a little salt (which is essential for the human body).

Of course, Luo Xiaoran was not steaming rice, but making porridge. Wouldn’t it be a waste to steam away the water if she steamed rice?

Anyway, five taels of rice were actually put in there, and the law of conservation of mass applies. Two taels for Qiu Niang, and three taels for her should be enough. If it is not enough, she can still eat some bread.

In short, she had to eat enough in the early stage. If the food was snatched away later and she couldn't eat it, she would be at a great loss.

After the water boils, remove a few pieces of firewood and turn the fire to low. After a while, the rice will start to boil and be put into a bowl to dry.

While there is fire, pour the water in the water bag into the pot and boil it to avoid diarrhea from drinking raw water.

Qiu Niang drank the rice porridge in small sips, her posture was very gentle but her speed was not slow. Luo Xiaoran gave her another big pancake.

Luo Xiaoran held her bowl and ate with big mouthfuls while looking around.

The three carriages in front of them were very impressive.

The hosts were a pair of siblings, dressed in brightly coloured attire that looked very expensive.

The brother and sister each sat in a carriage, driven by their own personal servants and maids.

The third carriage was loaded with supplies, and the driver was probably the accompanying cook, with eight guards following behind him.

Just now, one of the guards killed a chicken and gave it to the chef to make chicken soup. The smell was so craving that the children on the next street (official road) cried and wanted to run straight to their place.

The parents of one of the children were not paying attention and the child ran to someone else's pot.

"Where did this beggar come from? Throw him out now!"

The young master of the host family spoke, and the guards immediately picked up the child like an eagle catching chickens and threw him to the child's parents who were running towards them.

Fortunately, the child’s father was fast on his feet. If he was a step slower, he would have been unable to catch his child.

The child's father wanted to step forward to ask for an explanation, but the guard drew out the big knife hanging from his waist and shot the cold light straight at the child's father. It was the child's mother who arrived shortly afterwards who persuaded him to go back.

Luo Xiaoran watched the family of three return to the team on the official road. The child's grandparents came over, and there were also some women and young people surrounding them.

It seems that those people know each other, and it is very likely that several farmers went north together to escape the famine.

Qiu Niang also witnessed everything that happened just now, and whispered to Luo Xiaoran: "That young master is too overbearing. The child just came over, and he let his men hurt people."

Luo Xiaoran drank the last mouthful of porridge to make sure that not a single grain of rice had escaped.

"The strong prey on the weak. Today, he has sufficient food and money, and guards by his side. He has the capital to be arrogant. Besides..."

Luo Xiaoran paused, "Besides, the people still have some food now, so they won't have any other thoughts. Once the food in the people's hands is gone, that's when people will be really scared."

Qiu Niang nodded obediently, but the pancake in her hand was broken.

The young master and the young lady drank chicken soup for three days in a row and didn't feel sick of it, Luo Xiaoran thought angrily while eating a pancake.

I had almost used up all the water this morning, and only half a water bag was left, so I couldn't cook rice.

At noon, she and Qiu Niang divided the remaining three steamed buns and a large pancake, set up a pot, boiled oil, and fried all the rice that could be fried to use as dry food, leaving only some rapeseed oil just in case.

The victims who were walking mechanically on the official road were moving even slower.

Qiu Niang and her husband drove for two days, and Luo Xiaoran and Qiu Niang drove for three days, a total of five days.

Most people on the official road walked here on foot. They walked slowly and took more time. Therefore, they set out earlier than Qiu Niang and her husband and may have walked for more than ten days or half a month.

The victims may have been cut off from water and food!

Luo Xiaoran was secretly alert.

Not to mention others, she herself was miserable because she had no water to drink. There were too few containers that could hold water. If she couldn't find a water source before tonight, she would have to consider whether to kill a horse and drink its blood.

In the evening, Luo Xiaoran and his group came to an abandoned post station. Fortunately, there was a well inside the station that had not yet dried up. The victims rushed to fetch water, and the scene was in chaos.

With her agility, Luo Xiaoran successfully filled the water bag and the pots, pans, and bowls with water.

Someone outside the post station had already started a fire to cook, so Luo Xiaoran also started one.

After a while of busy work, I boiled some water, and Qiu Niang and I drank it to our heart's content. We were full with the water, but we still had to eat dinner, otherwise we might be hungry at night.

Suddenly, a loud noise came from the post station. Luo Xiaoran told Qiu Niang to continue cooking porridge, and she sneaked in to check the situation.

It turned out that the "Flower-Low" brother and sister had also arrived at the post station. With the help of their guards carrying swords, they successfully intimidated everyone and cut in line to get water.

It would have been fine if they had let other victims get the life-saving water after they had fetched it, but that young lady insisted on taking a bath.

When the water was cold, he had to fetch more water and heat it up to mix it in. When the water was hot, he still had to fetch cold water to mix it in. He even forced his guards to guard the well and not let anyone approach, saying that he would wait until he finished taking a bath before letting the beggars fetch water.

This sentence was like a drop of water exploding in a frying pan, instantly igniting the anger of everyone present.

The men were all extremely angry:

Their wives, children, parents haven't had water for a long time and are waiting for this water to save their lives. But in the eyes of this rich girl, their lives are not as important as her own bath.

Human life is so poor and insignificant that it is like an ant in the eyes of those in power. Where is justice?

The men threw the buckets in their hands at the guards with knives and at the arrogant young masters and young ladies!

They flocked to the well, to their chariots, and even rode on them, snatching away all the jewels on their heads and ears.