Traveling back to the Northern Song Dynasty: Picking up a princess as my wife

Less than twenty miles from Tangyin County, at the Mountain God Temple, countless refugees sat listlessly on the ground. Almost all of them were emaciated and pale, and in the sweltering heat, countless flies swarmed around them.

Some babies were so hungry they couldn't even cry out, and the women, in desperation, could only squeeze them with all their might, finally gritting their teeth and piercing their bodies with tree branches to stuff into the babies' mouths. Meanwhile, the men with vacant eyes were chewing on tree bark—a scene unimaginable to any modern person.

These people were mostly refugees fleeing famine for various reasons. Local governments, in order to maintain stability, did not provide them with any assistance, but instead sent troops to constantly drive them away. At this point, they were like stray dogs, utterly devoid of human dignity.

In fact, similar situations occurred almost throughout the north. Jin soldiers, Song soldiers, bandits, and government officials who were like mad dogs were all targets of their bullying. People died of disease and starvation almost every moment.

Just then, a refugee leaning on a cane ran over with a joyful expression: "Brother Dazhuang, I heard that there is grain in Lijiazhai, which is more than ten miles away from here, and that the chief of the village there is a very kind man who has taken in countless poor people."

Qian Dazhuang spat out the tree bark in his mouth: "What kind of bullshit philanthropist is he? All rich people are the same. But we can consider the grain from Li Family Village."

As he spoke, Qian Dazhuang stood up and shouted to the more than two hundred people around him, "Fellow villagers, Gouzi has found out that there is grain in Lijiazhai not far away. Let's go there."

The two hundred or so people, scattered about, stood up, leaning on their canes. It was thanks to Qian Dazhuang and his team that so many of them survived the journey.

They would be extremely grateful to wealthy families who were willing to give them food, but would raid the homes of the unreasonable and rude at night. This was the main reason why local governments drove them away; people driven to desperation by hunger could no longer be considered human, and they were truly capable of anything.

Fortunately, Qian Dazhuang was in charge of these people, which prevented the phenomenon of exchanging children for food from occurring. In other groups of refugees, the phenomenon of exchanging children for food or even directly attacking and killing passersby was commonplace.

At this time, the number of people gathered outside Lijiazhai had reached nearly three hundred. Most of them were temporarily living in tents and shacks. Li Zhen sent people to organize the able-bodied men in the village to cut down trees on the mountain to prepare various materials for building houses.

Li Zhen had plenty of cement bricks and other such materials in his space. In addition, he also took out a lot of hacksaws and axes to cut down trees, which greatly improved his work efficiency.

Widow Zhang led several other women from the mountain village, carrying freshly made steamed buns and a large pot of stew, to the makeshift camp. Just as everyone was about to line up for food, a group of ragged refugees rushed up from the foot of the mountain. They must have been drawn by the aroma; like hungry wolves, they immediately began scrambling for the steamed buns in the steamer.

The snow-white steamed buns were overturned on the ground during the scramble, rolling down the hillside. Some refugees, however, set their sights on the large pot of stew in the wooden buckets, grabbing it without caring whether it was hot or not, and putting it in their mouths.

This scene terrified everyone. A soldier from Lijiazhai, who was responsible for maintaining order, raised his weapon to try to stop them, but he didn't notice the commotion behind him and was hit on the head with a large wooden stick, leaving him bleeding profusely and lying on the ground, his life hanging in the balance.

Not far away, Wang Changdao, his hands trembling, put a stainless steel whistle to his lips and blew it.

This is a whistle that Li Zhen prepared to deal with emergencies; only junior leaders have it. Whenever the whistle blows, it definitely means an emergency has occurred.

By this time, countless civilians and refugees from the temporary camps had already started fighting. Since neither side had weapons, they mostly fought with sticks, so there were basically no casualties.

Less than ten minutes later, the soldiers from Lijiazhai, led by Li Zhen, arrived fully armed. Li Zhen was dumbfounded when he saw the refugees who had suddenly poured in.

After Li Zhen shouted a few times to no avail, he took out a firecracker from his spatial storage, lit it, and threw it into the chaotic crowd.

"Tong! Slap!"

The loud noise immediately stopped everyone in their tracks as they rushed to see what had happened.

At this moment, Li Zhen held up a megaphone and shouted, "Everyone, stop! I am the chieftain of Li Family Village, and all the people of Li Family Village, step back!"

Upon hearing Li Zhen's order, the newly joined civilians swarmed towards him, leaving only two hundred refugees at the temporary camp. Some refugees even took the opportunity to frantically stuff steamed buns and other food into their mouths, completely oblivious to the danger that was closing in on them.

Qian Dazhuang stepped forward and said to Li Zhen, "Chief Li, please forgive us. A few people were indeed very hungry and rushed in because they smelled the aroma of your food. I apologize on their behalf."

After speaking, he bowed to Li Zhen, but the dozens of refugees standing behind him were still staring at them menacingly.

Li Zhen, holding up a megaphone, said, "If you don't have grain or food, you can ask me for it, but you stole our grain without my permission and even killed my soldiers. How do you expect me to settle this score?"

After Yue Peng's inspection, it was found that the soldier who had been attacked by the refugees was dead, and his weapon had been stolen by someone.

Upon hearing this, Qian Dazhuang frowned. After some investigation, he learned that someone on their side had indeed made a move.

Qian Dazhuang forced himself to say, "Chief Li is kind-hearted. Didn't I just say that this is all a misunderstanding? Please don't take it to heart."

Li Zhen said with a sneer, "So this is your attitude. Yue Peng, get ready."

Qian Dazhuang saw thirty or forty soldiers from Lijiazhai raise their composite bows, their sharp arrows pointing at them. They had met their match.

He quickly led all the refugees to kneel down and shouted, "Chief Li, we were wrong. I will find the people who just attacked us. Please have mercy on these innocent old and weak people."

Then Qian Dazhuang led two men to drag the man who had just beaten him out. They saw that he was holding a steel pipe gun from Lijiazhai.

The man knew he was in for a bad time, so he kept pleading, "Boss Qian, please let me go. I was really starving just now, so I only hit him with a stick. Who would have thought he was so weak?"

The man was quickly brought over, bound hand and foot. Qian Dazhuang knelt down on one knee: "Chief Li, I have found the person who beat me. Please decide his fate."

Li Zhen glanced at Qian Dazhuang kneeling on the ground, then looked at the more than two hundred refugees behind him and said to Yue Peng, "Give him a knife."

"Clang!"

A sharp watermelon knife was left in front of Qian Dazhuang.

Li Zhen said coldly, "Kill him and you can stay, and I will guarantee your food supply."

Qian Dazhuang glanced at the watermelon knife in front of him, then looked back at the refugees. He knew that if he made a move today, his image in the eyes of these two hundred-plus refugees would be completely ruined.

After much deliberation, Qian Dazhuang picked up the watermelon knife from the ground, went behind the man who had attacked him, and slashed him hard across the neck. "In the early stages, we'll slowly develop using watermelon knives and steel pipes. Once Li Zhen has sufficient funds, he'll gradually upgrade the weapons and equipment of his soldiers. Shields are acceptable, and even machine guns and cannons are possible. In this world, with ample funds and extensive connections, I believe the Northern Song Dynasty will become even more chaotic."