The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

Mrs. Liu the butcher threw a few wolf skins onto the handle of the cart to drain them and said, "Let's go!"

Zhang Ping'an nodded and led everyone back onto the official road. After walking more than a mile, he discussed with Grandpa Jinbao and Brother Liu, "This area is so dangerous. We can't continue to take the official road. It's too conspicuous. Let's try to take the smaller roads later!"

Grandpa Jinbao also felt that we had to take the small road and said, "Not only do we have to take the small road, we also have to arrange for people to go ahead and scout the way ahead."

Brother Liu also agreed, "Then let's take the small road!"

The first one to arrive was the family of Liu the Butcher. Without saying anything, Liu the Butcher said in a deep voice, "Okay, let's take the small road."

Zhang Ping'an gave each person a small packet of the medicine powder he brought, which could be used to repel snakes, insects, rats and ants. Then everyone took the small path behind him.

During the lunch break, Zhang said, "It's fine to arrange for people to explore the way, but don't go too far. We don't have any livestock to use. Just take turns to arrange for people to go an extra mile. If they go too far, it will be dangerous for the explorers."

"Grandma, don't worry, this is how I arranged it," Zhang Pingan nodded. At this moment, he really missed the world with mobile phones in his previous life, so he wouldn't be so troubled.

Today is the fifth day of our escape. Both adults and children have adapted to walking for long periods of time. The blisters on the children's feet were pricked with a needle and applied with powder at night, and they continued walking the next day. We had to take turns riding on the cart, and now the blisters on the soles of their feet have slowly turned into old scabs!

Everyone chose to walk on secluded roads. Although the speed was slower than before, it was much safer. By dusk, everyone had walked another thirty miles. Cousin Dazhu came back from exploring the road ahead and said that there was a small town ahead with people walking around.

Everyone was undecided as to whether they should go in or not.

Zhang Pingan said, "Then let's rest here for a while and send two people to explore the town ahead."

Zhang also thought it was okay and said calmly, "If someone moves around, we have to investigate first. We all need to be more vigilant. We can't afford to take any gamble!"

Zhang Ping'an checked the shift schedule and was about to ask Jin Bao's father and second brother-in-law to go together when he heard the sound of horse hooves coming from afar on the official road.

Everyone immediately stopped moving and looked at each other. Zhang Pingan looked around and saw that there were pine trees all around. There was a thick layer of brown pine needles on the ground. He was on the back of the official road and people on the road should not be able to see him. So he said, "Hurry up and lie down. Don't look up."

Everyone followed his instructions. Shen was afraid that others would see her, so she gathered a lot of pine needles to cover herself.

Maodan was young and very curious, so he also picked up a lot of pine needles to cover his head and face, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed, and then slowly moved forward, wanting to see who was riding the horse.

Daya pulled her son's clothes in annoyance, but didn't dare to hit him, for fear of scaring the child and making him make a sound.

The horses were moving very fast and soon passed the official road on the hillside where everyone was. The sound of horse hooves gradually faded away and headed towards the town. It sounded like there were quite a few people on the road.

Just as Maodaner was about to get up, Zhang Pingan shouted in a low voice: "Don't get up yet, in case there are more people falling behind you!"

Mao Dan'er quickly lay down again and whispered, "I know. My father told me that this is to prevent others from making a surprise attack, right?"

Zhang Pingan really wanted to sew the kid's mouth shut, and whispered in agreement, "Yes!"

Maodaner got the answer and stopped talking.

They lay there for nearly two quarters of an hour, and only stood up after they were sure that there was no sound of horse hooves either in front or behind.

After being freed, Maodaner immediately boasted: "Dad, uncle, I just saw what the man on horseback looked like."

"What does it look like?" Liu Sanlang asked cooperatively.

"They all wore turbans, green clothes, and round iron plates on their chests. There were more than two hundred of them, or maybe more than three hundred. They ran so fast that I couldn't count them," said Maodan, scratching his head with some confusion in his eyes. Could there be more than two hundred or three hundred?

Daya grabbed the child and slapped him twice on the buttocks, scolding him in a low voice, "I told you not to be disobedient!"

Maodaner felt wronged and touched his butt, "I was very obedient and didn't make any sound!"

"You still dare to be stubborn," Daya glared at him.

Maodaner was tactful enough not to talk back.

"There are troops heading to the town, and it's so late. They will most likely stay overnight in the town. We can't go there tonight. Safety comes first. Let's spend the night in the mountains," Zhang Ping'an said after thinking for a moment.

"Besides, there are so many pine needles here. If we spread them thickly, it won't be too cold at night. We can also harvest pine oil. I read in a book that if you cut a few triangular slits in the trunk of a pine tree, pine oil will slowly seep out. We don't have enough torches, so we can use oil paper to collect some for future use."

Zhang and Grandpa Jinbao agreed, and no one else had any objections. Now everyone felt that safety was the most important thing.

The pine forest is different from other hills. It has a strong pine scent that smells very soothing. The surrounding area is also dry, so everyone slept soundly that night.

At daybreak, everyone got up to have breakfast. Suddenly, a thick smoke drifted from the direction of the distant town, accompanied by flames, which was very eye-catching at dawn.

Everyone immediately packed up their things and were about to leave when they found a lot of people running towards them from the town, many of them without even their clothes on. There were only two or three decent hills around, and many of them were running towards Zhang Ping'an's hill.