She picked up the young prime minister while fleeing famine

After a peaceful day's journey, we found a place to rest in the evening.

The next day, when they set off again, Lian Chengmo led the villagers of Yaoli Village off the official road, deviating from the road to Qingyang County and taking a detour around the edge of Vietnam Prefecture, heading straight towards the barbarian territory.

They never expected that after walking for just over an hour, they would see another group of people fleeing the disaster ahead.

It was indeed a crowd, but they seemed to have endured some hardship, their expressions numb, walking forward like zombies.

As Lian Chengmo looked at these people, the conversation between the two men that night flashed through his mind. Considering the time, he roughly guessed what had happened.

As the distance between the two sides gradually closed, Banxia looked at the small groups of disaster victims being overtaken and was shocked to find that many of them were injured.

Besides, most of the disaster victims were empty-handed, as if they had been robbed, without even the most basic pots and pans they should have taken when fleeing.

What exactly is going on?

As the villagers of Yaoli Village passed by with large and small bags, the previously apathetic crowd seemed to gradually come alive, their eyes scanning the packages with greedy expressions.

Along the way, Yao Li Village hunted and dug for wild vegetables. They ate anything edible, even tree bark. They were rarely truly hungry.

After a few days of rest, the men were all strong and fierce, and the women were also full of energy, looking around warily.

Furthermore, at Yao Lizheng's command, the villagers walking around the group immediately drew their weapons.

This village looked intimidating, and most people's initial thoughts immediately vanished. Now that they had reached the mountains, as long as they were diligent and willing to work hard, they wouldn't starve.

There's no need to fight to the death over a stutter.

Of course, while some gave up, others refused to. A small group of people exchanged glances and tried to increase their speed to keep up with Yao Licun.

Yao Dahe, who was bringing up the rear, pursed his lips when he saw this scene. When he saw the refugees ahead, his father had told him to come to the back of the group and guard them.

These people were definitely up to no good; the road ahead is probably going to be difficult again.

Although Yao Dahe saw through the other party's thoughts, he was not too worried. They had encountered many similar situations along the way.

They'd deal with whatever came their way; he refused to believe that these skilled fighters couldn't defeat a motley crew of disaster victims.

And so, Yao Li Village was constantly being watched as they continued their journey. At noon, they only had a brief 15-minute rest before setting off again, leaving those following behind with no choice but to grit their teeth and keep going.

Meanwhile, Qingyang County welcomed a distinguished guest.

"Who did you say you encountered?" The sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy looked at the squad leader in front of him with surprise.

"He is a member of a collateral branch of your family, a young master named Lian Chengmo," the squad leader hurriedly explained.

"Lian Chengmo? Where is he?" The young man pursed his lips slightly, displeased.

Is it him? Wasn't he supposed to be dead?

"Young master said that his family was waiting outside the city, so he only bought some food in the city before leaving," the squad leader replied with his hands clasped and his head bowed, his eyes filled with complex emotions. He didn't dare to say that he was the one who escorted him out of the city.

"Which direction did he go?" the boy asked again.

"After leaving the city, they headed north, but they should be reuniting with their families," the squad leader hurriedly said.

After thinking for a while, he added another sentence.

"There has been a riot in Qingyang County. That young master should be taking a shortcut to Yunzhou."

"Take the back path?" the boy murmured to himself upon hearing this...

After a while, the squad leader came out of the county government office and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Luckily, he was interrupted before he could finish speaking.

Otherwise, this attempt to claim credit will fail and may even create enmity!

Unexpectedly, the young master and the eldest son of the direct lineage were at odds. No wonder he didn't take the official route back to Yunzhou.

Nowadays, who doesn't know that the head of the Liancheng family is a favorite of King Cheng?

Moreover, the Liancheng family's direct descendants now have connections throughout Qingyang and Vietnam.

The squad leader only lingered at the door for a moment before striding away. He had to go back and warn his foolish subordinate not to reveal that he had helped the young master.

Unbeknownst to the squad leader, the moment he left, the boy inside summoned the family's guards.

His handsome face was gloomy, as if he had encountered something unbearable.

"What are your orders, young master?"

"Find Lian Chengmo and kill him!"

"Yes, young master."

The guards retreated at the sound of their command, leaving the boy sitting there for a long time...

Meanwhile, Lian Chengmo, completely unaware of the situation, took over the reins of the ox and replaced Banxia as the driver of the oxcart.

Although driving an oxcart is not a particularly strenuous job, it can still be exhausting at the end of the day, as you have to keep track of the direction the ox is heading.

They also had to guard against the big yellow ox suddenly wandering off and trampling the surrounding villagers.

Because of the change of route to a smaller road, and the increasing number of disaster victims along the roadside, the villagers of Yaoli Village had to shrink their formation and walk close to the oxcart.

This made the journey even slower and the oxcart even more difficult to manage. After some deliberation, Lian Chengmo had already driven the oxcart to the front and was clearing the way with Yao Lizheng and the others.

If such a large ox were to go berserk and start running, it could make a fortune. When it walks in front, disaster victims will make way for it.

When evening came, Yao Lizheng raised his hand to signal everyone to stop and took the lead in occupying an open space by the roadside to set up camp.

Banxia then realized why there were suddenly so many disaster victims on this path.

The incident occurred when Yao Licun had just finished dinner and was preparing to rest when a robbery took place nearby.

The family that was robbed turned out to be people Banxia knew.

It was quite a coincidence that Banxia finished her meal and wanted to find a place to relieve herself when she happened to witness that family being robbed.

That family was none other than the village chief's family from Banxia's original village. They were actually related to Banxia's family, and according to seniority, Banxia had to call the village chief "Third Grandfather".

At that moment, the old man was holding onto a bunch of wild vegetables tightly and refused to let go. Although there were mountains all around, it was unknown whether there were wild animals on the mountains.

Most people would dig up edible wild vegetables and tree bark from the shallow woods along the roadside to fill their stomachs, and Banxia's third grandfather's family was no exception.

With so many disaster victims, there weren't enough wild vegetables to dig up. They finally managed to dig up a handful and were just about to cook them when someone came to snatch them away.

The old village chief pressed the pot containing the wild vegetables under his body and refused to let go, so he was forced to the ground and beaten.

"Stop fighting! Stop it, Dad! Give them the wild vegetables."

A young woman standing nearby was holding a three-year-old child in one arm and protecting a man lying on the ground with the other, shouting at the top of her lungs.

In front of her stood a boy of about eight or nine years old, holding a fire poker and glaring menacingly at the group of "bandits" who were stealing her things.

"Let go of my grandpa! Don't hit him!" The boy, barely a teenager, grabbed a stick and started hitting him wildly, shouting loudly.

In no time, three or five men snatched the fire poker from the boy, and one of them even grabbed the boy by the collar and slapped him twice.

"You brat, hand over your family's food honestly, or I'll send your whole family to meet the King of Hell," the man said viciously, his face contorted with malice.