After becoming a top-notch peasant woman, she continues to be a top-notch

Qiao Chao took people to see if these people really had wives and daughters. Zhen Yue was still a little worried, "If something is wrong, run away. You can ride the horse over."

Qiao Chao: "Well, you guys go back first. Don't worry." Before leaving, Qiao Chao handed the roasted food to Zhen Yue for her to eat.

Qiao Chao quickly led his men away with those people. Zhen Yue asked the rest of the people to pack up their things quickly, "Take the children back first, I'll wait here."

Ah Chu: "Mom, I want to be with you. Dad asked me to protect you."

Zhen Yue: "Your father asked you to protect everyone, why do I need your protection?" Achu was still a child when she killed people.

"Dad said that, but his real intention was to let me protect you." Achu doesn't understand his father yet, his mother is the most important.

In the end, Qiao San took Qiao Dashan and the others back first, as well as Qian Manzhu and the children. The remaining Zhen Yue, Achu, Qiao Er and a few servants stayed behind.

Zhen Yue sat on a rock and ate the freshly grilled vegetables. There was also a pheasant and a few fish nearby, but she didn't take them all away.

Achu was watching the roast chicken on the side, while the others were staring at the direction where Qiao had just left, waiting for someone to come back.

Qiao Chao followed the group of people. He rode on a horse while the others walked. Qiao Chao had a bow and arrow in his hand. They met a wild rabbit running towards them. Qiao Chao drew his bow and shot an arrow, and the rabbit fell to the ground.

Jian Shi hurried to pick it up. The refugees over there were frightened by Qiao Chao's great archery skills and did not dare to run away.

We walked through the jungle and soon saw a cave not far away. There was someone at the entrance of the cave doing something unknown!

"Dad! You're back!" Suddenly a little child ran over and ran towards a man among the refugees.

Qiao Chao saw that the people had relaxed their vigilance, and then they followed them to look into the cave, and there were indeed many women and children.

Those people were also very alert when they saw them, and the men quickly comforted them.

Qiao Chao looked at the women, children and the elderly. It was obvious that they had fled together. The fact that they brought their families with them showed that they had good intentions.

Qiao Chao and Jian Shi stood aside, but still warned them, "You can live here as you wish. There is food in the mountains, but you must not touch the food in the fields below the mountain. It is also best not to disturb the villagers. We don't welcome outsiders here."

"Okay, okay, we will definitely not disturb you. We will go somewhere else later."

Qiao Chao glanced at them for a few seconds, then left with his men.

After Qiao Chao left, the rest of the people asked them about Qiao Chao. "They are people from the foot of the mountain. They should be a wealthy family. They should be afraid that we are bandits or something like that."

There are servants, horses, and weapons, and it is obvious that they are a wealthy family.

In fact, they originally wanted to be bandits, but when they thought of the momentum of those people just now, they immediately gave up the idea. They felt that they might be shot to death before they even took a step.

Zhen Yue waited for a long time and finally heard the sound of horse hooves. It should be Qiao Chao and the others returning. Sure enough, after a while, there was a vibration in the bushes and Qiao Chao came out, followed by the others.

Zhen Yue stood up, holding a chicken drumstick in her hand. She took a bite and asked, "How is it? Not a bandit, right?"

Qiao Chao shook his head. "Not yet. When I went there, I did see their families, including women, children, and the elderly."

Zhen Yue handed over the chicken leg, Qiao Chao lowered his head and took a bite, "I have already warned them not to steal things from our fields at the foot of the mountain, and it is best not to enter the village. Let's go back first."

"Okay, let's go back first."

Ah Chu was eating chicken wings and said, "Our good outing is gone just like that."

Qiao Chao: "Maybe there will be another chance to come out in the future."

Zhen Yue: "There are refugees running here. I feel like things are not peaceful outside."

Not only is it not peaceful, but in a few days, because of the war on the front line, they will still need to provide food. Every household will need to give food to the government, saying that the imperial court is borrowing food from everyone.

Zhen Yue: "This is borrowing but no return, right?"

Qiao Chao: "First ask each household how much it wants."

On the surface it was borrowing grain, but in fact it was collecting taxes, which caused even more complaints.

The Qiao family had to produce ten shi of grain because they were a wealthy family. A small family would have to produce at least two shi. So more than an acre of land's grain was gone.

Zhen Yue was very unhappy because of these ten shi of grain. She was extremely unhappy. Ten shi of grain, which was the grain produced from about five acres of land, was gone in vain.

Zhen Yue was unhappy, Qiao Chao was unhappy, Achu was unhappy, and then the whole family was even more unhappy.

Seeing that Zhen Yue only ate half a bowl of rice, Qiao Chao was afraid that she would be hungry in the middle of the night, so he reminded Madam Jian to keep the steamed buns warm in the pot.

On the bed in the room, Qiao Chao hugged Zhen Yue and said, "Don't be unhappy. I will bring Qiao Er and the servants to buy more food tomorrow."

Zhen Yue frowned, "This is not a matter of buying food, they are robbing!" Those soldiers brought many people to borrow food. Some people did not want to borrow, and were dragged aside and beaten by the soldiers.

In the end, not only were people injured, but food was also gone.

Zhen Yue sat up and slapped the bed, "Isn't the second prince in charge now? He is worse than his father! If I had an army of 100,000, I would kill him and take the throne myself."

Qiao Chao: ...

He was shocked, but he didn't think there was anything wrong with what his Ah Yue said.

"But we don't have an army of 100,000."

Zhen Yue lay back down, "Forget it, let's go to sleep."

Qiao Chao held the man in his arms again and said, "I will go buy food tomorrow."

"Ah."

The next day, Qiao Chao went to the town to buy food first. He bought two large carts and stored them away. It cost him a lot of money. But he was happy to see Zhen Yue's complexion improve.

A few days later, news came from the north that the second prince had been defeated in a battle, and the palace had been occupied by the eldest prince. The second prince then led his defeated troops south and is currently hiding in Jizhou Prefecture.

Just a few days later, the Jizhou Prefecture was breached, and the second prince continued to flee with the remnants of his troops. When they fled to a place, they began to capture able-bodied men as soldiers.

Qiao Er: "Brother, you won't arrest us all if you come here, right?"

Qiao Dashan: "Let them catch me when the time comes. I won't live long at my age."

Qiao Chao: "... Dad, if they want to arrest people, they will definitely arrest all the able-bodied men."

Qiao Dashan: "Then, what should we do? What about Ah Chu? Ah Chu won't be arrested, right?"

Mrs. Qiao Chen immediately hugged Ah Chu and said, "When the time comes, just say that my eldest grandson is only ten years old. That way, nothing should happen."

Ah Chu: "... Grandma, I'm almost as tall as my dad, can those people be trusted?"

Qiao Chao: "Don't worry, the Second Prince's troops shouldn't be so weak that they can be defeated so quickly."

It is true that the defeat did not reach them so quickly, but two months later, soldiers in the county had already started to conscript men... The whole street was in chaos.