After traveling through time, I led the whole village to become rich!

It was still early, so everyone went back home. Some went back to sleep, while others started packing up, preparing to leave at daybreak.

As soon as the sky began to lighten, Zhao Guoliang took Zhang Hujun and his men up the mountain.

Zhang Hulan also followed and called Zhang Xiaojun along.

At the entrance of the village, they met villagers who were leaving the village with their families, and Zhao Heigou's family was among the crowd.

Zhao Guoliang urged again, "Are you really going to flee the famine? Traveling is a life-threatening journey. Aren't you worried about dying along the way? There's not even anyone to collect bodies in the wilderness. Just wait and see. Maybe you can find water today."

One villager replied, "Going out to escape the famine means a chance of death, but staying in the village means a 100% chance of survival. We must go out and fight for our chance of survival."

Zhao Heigou continued, "So what if we find some water? We have nothing to eat at home, and we can't just drink water every day.

If you want to stay and eat grass roots and tree bark, then you can stay. We are leaving.

There are so many rich people in the big city, and even if they give us some leftover food, we can still eat better than we normally would."

Seeing that these people were determined to leave, Zhao Guoliang stopped trying to stop them and let them go.

Zhao Guoliang shook his head and sighed, feeling very heavy.

Without paying any more attention to those who left the village, they came to the foot of the mountain and walked up along the ditch.

It took about half an hour to reach the cave, which is the source of the ditch.

The area around the cave entrance is full of big trees, which makes it very cool and shady. The soil nearby is also quite moist.

This cave is a gap between two large rocks. It is wider at the bottom and very narrow at the top.

Liu Yongquan said, "Village head, the entrance to this cave is so small, we can't get in?"

Zhao Guoliang walked to the entrance of the cave to check. There was still some water seeping out, indicating that there was water inside the cave.

Zhang Hulan also took a closer look and said, "Uncle Lizheng, if the adults can't go in, can you let Xiaojun go in and take a look?"

Zhao Guoliang looked at Zhang Hulan, smiled and nodded, "No wonder you called Xiaojun along, you must have thought of this a long time ago."

Zhang Hulan smiled and said, "It's definitely easier to enter the cave the smaller the person, so let's have Xiaojun try first to see if he can get in. If he can, that would be great. We'll know what's going on inside and then we can make plans."

Zhao Guoliang nodded, indicating his agreement with Zhang Hulan.

Zhang Hulan pulled Zhang Xiaojun over and said, "Xiaojun, we'll tie a rope around your feet later. If you can't get in, don't force it. Just kick hard or shout loudly, and we'll pull you out."

In the cave, with the head facing inward, the sound probably couldn't be heard, so Zhang Hulan asked Zhang Xiaojun to kick his legs hard.

Zhang Xiaojun nodded, "Okay, aunt."

Zhang Hujun handed a tinderbox and a hatchet to Zhang Xiaojun in case there was anything in the cave.

Zhang Xiaojun crawled his upper body into the cave entrance, and the people outside tied a rope to his legs, and then he crawled in.

There were many small stones in the cave, which hurt Zhang Xiaojun's stomach.

After climbing a short distance, it became pitch black inside and he couldn't see anything, so Zhang Xiaojun lit a tinder and continued to climb inside.

The further you crawl in, the cooler it gets. If you don't move, you'll even feel a little cold.

After climbing about five or six feet, the room suddenly became wider and Zhang Xiaojun could even stand up with his waist bent.

He untied the rope on his feet and walked forward in the dim light of the tinder.

The further he walked, the larger the cave became. He could hear the sound of running water. The cave was very empty and the ground was slippery, so he didn't dare to go too far.

As long as he knew there was water in the cave, he turned around and walked back.

The people outside the cave were getting anxious at this moment. The rope was tied to Zhang Xiaojun's feet, and the rope would move when he climbed in.

But he untied the rope later, and there was no sound from the rope. No one inside could hear the people outside shouting. He pulled the rope and it was pulled out, which scared Zhang Hujun and Zhang Hulan.

If something happened to Zhang Xiaojun, Zhang Hulan wouldn't know how to explain it to Zhang Hujun and Old Man Zhang.

Zhao Guoliang took one end of the rope and looked at it and said, "Don't worry, Dajun. The rope wasn't bitten or cut by anything. Xiaojun must have untied it himself. Let's wait and see. If he doesn't come out in a while, we can dig a hole and look for him."

Zhang Xiaojun inside was also puzzled as to why the rope in the cave was gone. He wanted someone outside to pull him out, but in the end he had to climb out on his own.

Zhang Xiaojun panted as he climbed out. Zhang Hujun, who had been guarding the cave entrance, heard some movement inside and immediately called out, "Xiaojun..."

"Dad..." Zhang Xiaojun responded breathlessly.

Zhang Hujun and Zhang Hulan finally breathed a sigh of relief when they heard Zhang Xiaojun's voice.

As soon as Zhang Xiaojun's hands and head came out, Zhang Hujun pulled him out.

Zhao Guoliang immediately asked, "What's going on inside?"

Zhang Xiaojun replied, "I can't see inside, but I can hear the sound of water. The cave is quite wide inside, and it's only narrow about five or six feet in front."

The villagers excitedly asked, "Is there really water in there?"

"There really is water, flowing loudly. But I can't see anything inside. The light from the tinderbox is too dim, so I don't dare go too far in."

"Okay, okay, as long as there's water." Zhao Guoliang was also very excited. He immediately ordered, "Hurry up and dig the hole bigger. It's only a few feet away, so it shouldn't be difficult."

"Yongquan, go down the mountain right away and call some more people. Bring up a few small hoes. We won't be able to use big hoes in the cave. Also, get a few more torches. Also, if we don't go back at noon, ask them to bring us food."

Liu Yongquan went down the mountain immediately.

Several people on the mountain surrounded Zhang Xiaojun and asked him to describe in detail the situation inside the cave.

In less than an hour, Liu Yongquan brought his men up.

"Village head, the villagers said that only three buckets of water were drawn from the well this morning, and many villagers are out of water at home today."

"It's okay, as long as the hole is unblocked, no water for a day will not kill you."

"It's also thanks to Hu Lan that I came here to take a look, otherwise it would be troublesome."

A villager who came up from behind said, "Village head, a lot of people left the village this morning. Do you want someone to call them back?"

Zhao came over and said, "No need. We met some people this morning. It's useless to persuade them. If they want to leave, then let them go."

Without saying anything more, they began to take turns widening the cave entrance.

The soil at the bottom of the cave was relatively wet, so it was easy to dig. If I encountered any rocks, I would use a chisel to knock them off.

The hole doesn't need to be too big, as long as an adult can fit in it.

It’s just that the space is small and it’s not easy to exert force.

Several people took turns working on it. By noon when people came down the mountain to deliver lunch, the entrance to the cave had been dug more than ten feet deep.

At this rate, we won’t be able to dig it through today.

Zhao Guoliang asked the person who delivered the food to go down the mountain and tell the villagers not to worry, as there would definitely be water tomorrow.

People at the foot of the mountain heard that there was water on the mountain, and some more people came to help in the afternoon.

No matter how many people there are, one person digs the soil in front, and the people behind move the soil out of the hole.

Several people work together and take turns when they get tired.

There were enough people here, so they didn't let Zhang Hulan and Zhang Xiaojun work, but they were not idle either. They were responsible for holding torches.

They didn't stop digging at night and kept digging until midnight. Finally, the front entrance was dug through.

Just as Zhang Xiaojun said, it is very spacious inside and you can stand up and walk.

Everyone went into the cave, and indeed they could hear the sound of running water.

Zhang Xiaojun warned: "Everyone be careful, the ground is very slippery."