Traveling through troubled times to escape famine and cultivate crops as a grain merchant

Someone came up quietly and said, "I heard that some people were let in a few days ago. It turned out that these people were refugees disguised as bandits. After entering, they robbed and killed many people. The government sent many people but failed to catch them. These people just disappeared from the city. They haven't been found yet. Now the city gate officials dare not let anyone in easily. But it is not impossible to get in. As long as you have enough silver, you can still get in."

"Even if they have enough money, are they still refugees? They are rich people moving!" Zhou Guo complained silently in his heart.

……

Walking back with Zhou Suli and Zhou Tao, she had only one thought: there seemed to be bandits nearby again!

Zhou Da Cang listened to her and smiled and comforted her: "Don't worry, you see, we don't have much food now. We are here and we don't lack water. We are refugees. Even if the bandits come down the mountain, can they rob us?"

After hearing this, Zhou Guo looked at the grain bags that were no longer conspicuous on the cart and felt that it made sense.

When the village head heard that the city would not let them in, he hurriedly selected people to discuss matters, "What should we do if Kuizhou does not let us in? We have to go through Kuizhou?"

"…How about we go talk to the city gate officer and tell him that we are just passing through and will not stay in the city, and ask them to be flexible?"

Everyone: "..."

"Come on, come on, say it again? Do you think officials are so easy to talk to? I'm afraid that as soon as you step forward, they will come at you with swords and guns. Don't you want to die?"

"What should we do? We can't fly over there."

Everyone looked sad.

Zhou Guo didn't understand why he was so worried. "If they don't give it to us, just let them go and find another way."

The village head said with a worried look on his face, "It's not that easy. Not to mention how far the detour is, we don't even know the way. If we get lost, where will we find the way? If we run into a wall and can't get out, all of us will be dead."

Everyone nodded, this made sense.

Zhou Guo said: "But the city won't let us in. Since no one can get in, there must be a detour. Let's just follow them. With so many people, we can flatten the mountain. Even if we encounter a wall of obstacles, it won't matter."

The old man nodded, "I think that's right. Even if he wanted to let us in, he probably wouldn't dare to do so."

Everyone looked over and saw that the old man was the one who had brought in people from the neighboring county. He said his surname was Zhao and people called him Old Man Zhao.

There was no other way. If they didn't let him pass, he would have to let him go. The path was difficult to walk on, so the village head decided to walk during the day and rest at night.

The city is about fifty miles away from here. Zhou Dacang and others originally wanted to go up and take a look, but they thought the journey was too far and it would waste a lot of time going back and forth, so they simply decided not to go.

After the team had walked forward for about ten miles, they came to two forks in the road, one to the north and one to the east. Both roads were quite large.

Needless to say, the road to the north must go to Kuicheng, and the one to the east...

There were quite a few people walking this way. Some of the refugees who had gone back from the front took this road. Zhou Guo squatted on the ground and looked carefully, and could still see the tire tracks.

It seems this is it.

In order to be cautious, the village head went to ask a person who had just returned from the north. After hearing the affirmative answer, he happily led his people east.

At the beginning it was a wide road, but as time went by it became smaller, with potholes all over the road, and weeds as tall as a person everywhere, but they were all flattened by people.

The village head said cheerfully, "It is also good for us to walk behind. Look, this road has been paved by predecessors. We don't have to waste our energy. It's much cheaper."

No one answered him. Everyone was busy pushing the cart carrying things.

There is no problem for passers-by like this to walk, but the problem is that they are not empty-handed. They have carts, food, and children. The road is covered with thorns and weeds, so it is really difficult to push the cart.

If there is a hurdle that is difficult to pass, everyone has to help lift it together.

Zhou Guo showed her talent at this time. She could lift her own cart with a little effort by herself, and the cart was loaded with food.

But in order to prevent her from appearing so capable, the Li family and others asked everyone to lift it together so that it would not be conspicuous.

They had not walked ten miles when two roads appeared in front of them. Both roads showed signs of people walking on them. The crowd was in a dilemma and didn't know which road was the right one.

The village head who was leading the way took a look and felt that according to experience, they should take the bigger one. The road on the left was bigger than the road on the right, and he saw that there were more people walking there, so he led people to the left.

None of the people could read a single word and were extremely tired. They had no desire to talk at all. They just followed the headman wherever he led.

Zhou Guo was mixed in the crowd, pushing the cart with his head down. It was good to have wheel tracks. He could save a lot of effort by pushing the cart along the wheel tracks.

But why are there fewer and fewer tire tracks as we walk along?

It was completely gone at the end!

She then raised her head and looked ahead. She could not see the front because of the huge crowd. She looked around and saw mountains everywhere. There was no trace of anyone around!

The village head was sweating profusely and feeling very guilty. He looked around, not understanding how he and his group had ended up here. He was following the footprints on the road, so how come there was no way out?

Everyone slowly came back to their senses.

Looking at the desolate countryside around them, there was no one alive, not even a dead person, except for their group of people. They had no idea where they were.

"Hey, Li Zheng, where did you bring us to? This place feels so spooky to me."

"Yeah, how come there's no one in sight now? Maybe we've taken the wrong path. Let's turn around and go back."

"Yes, yes, let's go back."

So, the rear team became the front team, and the front team became the rear team, and they walked back the same way.

But after walking for a while, they returned to the original place.

Not giving up, everyone kept moving forward, only to end up back where they were.

After walking for several times, it was dark and the team returned to the starting point again and again.

This frightened everyone. The timid ones burst into tears on the spot. "It's over, it's over. We've hit a wall. We can't get out!"

Someone immediately kowtowed to the mountain, "Grandpa Mountain God, Grandpa Mountain God, please show your power. Considering that my ancestors for eight generations were all poor farmers, please show your power and let us out. I don't want to be trapped here and die."

Zhou Guo looked at the stars in the sky. Well, there were a lot of stars!

The North Star is also very bright!

The village head could only look for Zhou Dacang and said, "Sanlang, what do you think we should do? Do you have any way to leave here?"

Zhou Dacang looked at him helplessly and said, "Uncle Lizheng, I can't read a single word. You can at least recognize a few words. Why do you come to ask me?"