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

"Take the bags and weapons and see what's going on," Zhang said immediately.

As they were talking, two or three young men quickly ran to the top of the mountain. Seeing that there were other people on the mountain, they were obviously frightened again and asked in a trembling voice, "Who are you and what are you doing?"

Zhang Pingan put on a friendly expression and asked with concern, "Brother, what's wrong with you guys? Why is there a fire in the town?"

To be honest, Zhang Ping'an is handsome and gentle, with the temperament of a scholar. When he speaks in a pleasant manner, he is very deceptive and can make people feel at ease and not be on guard.

The young man opposite replied, "It was all done by those cavalrymen!"

As he spoke, he gritted his teeth. "They eat the military pay, but instead of going out to fight the enemy, they only know how to exploit us civilians and bully us in return. When they came to the town to rest last night, the town magistrate had already asked every household to chip in and treat them to the best wine and food. They ate and drank and then fell asleep. That would have been fine, but who knew they would wake up this morning and violently kick down doors, rummage through boxes and cabinets to search for valuables, and... even rape the women. They killed any men who offered the slightest resistance. They're worse than bandits!!"

Another person added, "People born in troubled times are worse than dogs!"

As he spoke, he began to sob. He knew that his parents and brothers at home were in great danger.

Everyone could only sigh upon hearing this!

Zhang Ping'an looked towards the town and saw no cavalry following him. He thought these people were probably killing people just for the sake of convenience. The most important thing was to rob them of their money and women, so he just sat there quietly without moving.

After more than a quarter of an hour, the shady hill where Zhang Pingan was located was almost full. A rough count showed that there were nearly a hundred people, most of them young men.

The fire slowly went out in the second half of the afternoon, and a strong smell of burning could be smelled in the air. Those who had escaped early in the morning began to tentatively walk back, and the timid ones even cried as they walked.

Those who were wearing thin clothes had already started sneezing, so Grandpa Jinbao asked everyone to wear the masks they had prepared, as it was better than nothing.

It was cloudy today since early morning, but it started to clear up gradually at 3 p.m., and a large patch of orange sunset glow appeared on the horizon, which was beautiful beyond words. Unfortunately, no one had the heart to appreciate this beautiful view, including Zhang Pingan.

"Grandma, we have been stuck here all day. It's getting late now and we can't leave. The people in the town have found out that we are spending the night here. Do we have to move to another place tonight?" Zhang Ping'an said.

Zhang thought for a moment and said, "There aren't any big hills nearby. Let's just go through the town and find a secluded place to spend the night."

"Okay, then let's go quickly. It's convenient to walk now with the sunset," Zhang Pingan nodded.

Everyone pushed the cart all the way to the town, and the closer they got to the town, the stronger the smell of paste became.

When we entered the town, we could only see devastation.

This town is actually not very big, with only one main street and houses connected together. Now it has basically been burned down, leaving only debris. If you look closely, you can see charred corpses wrapped in charcoal. There are also some on the road, which looks very miserable.

At this time, the hundreds of survivors were slowly gathering them up and stacking them together. The bluestone slabs on the street were covered with dried blood. Some people died with their eyes open and could not close them. The people carrying the bodies had to cover the eyes of the dead with rags as a psychological comfort.

The women in the family were so frightened that they screamed "Ah" and covered their eyes with their hands, not daring to look. Wu Ya and Liu Ya even began to wipe away their tears, lowering their heads and not daring to look at the tragic scene around them.

Daya asked Liu Sanlang to cover the children's eyes with his hands, but Donkey Egg slapped his father's hand away and said solemnly, "I'm not afraid. These bad guys deserve to die. When I grow up and am as tall as my father, I will kill them all."

"Yes, and me too. These people are so bad," Maodaner followed, clenching his fists.

Several children in Erya's family also followed suit.

Zhang praised him and said, "That's what boys should do. Don't be afraid!"

After a pause, he continued, "Actually, living people are scarier than dead people. Dead people can't move, and after seeing them a lot, they become just that. What's more, this happened in broad daylight. But living people are different!"

The children were extremely brave and picked up a few kitchen knives that had been deformed by the fire on the road. They were probably used by the townspeople for self-defense in the early morning.

Daya asked her to throw it away, thinking it was unlucky.

Donkey Egg refused: "Whoever finds it will own it. I want to use it for self-defense, and I can also help you kill bad guys later."

Daya was about to reach out to grab it, but Zhang Pingan persuaded her, "The blades are already burned, let them play with it, as long as they don't mind being tired."

Daya thought about it and decided to let the child do what he wanted!

The delighted children grinned and said, "Uncle is the best!"

As they strode forward, almost leaving the town, they unexpectedly ran into the young man they had just been chatting with. He slumped on the ground, staring blankly into the distance, muttering, "My parents are dead, my brother, sister-in-law, nephews, and nieces are all dead, and now I'm missing my wife too. God, why are you so cruel to me?"

When he saw Zhang Pingan and his group passing by, he seemed to recognize the person he had spoken to that morning and unconsciously looked up and asked, "Where are you going?"

When everyone saw this, they sighed, shook their heads and said nothing.

Maodaner said quickly, "We are going to Quzhou, and then to Lin'an. That's where the emperor is. My uncle said it's the safest place. There's no point complaining about God. If God were in charge, there wouldn't be so many poor people. We have to rely on our own efforts for everything!"

"Mao Dan'er!" Daya shouted, "Your lips are itching, aren't they?!"

Looking at the backs of the people walking away, the man murmured, "Go to Lin'an..."