A massive famine! The whole family travels through time together, and with their spatial abilities,

"Then I'll go and tell everyone to get ready immediately. We'll leave the city first thing tomorrow morning!"

“Alright, Father, I’ll go out of town to check on the situation in Qinhe. I won’t be back tonight; we’ll meet up outside the town.” Shen Shuli said.

Su Yunhai immediately understood his daughter's meaning and nodded in agreement, "Okay, go quickly! Be discreet and be very careful!"

"I understand, Dad. Tell Mom not to worry."

"it is good."

.

The Lin family hurried along the way.

They finally arrived outside Qinzhou City on the afternoon of the second day.

The number of refugees gathering outside Qinzhou City was twice that of the previous two days.

The Lin family's group of several hundred people couldn't even get to the front.

Lin Wanwan had another precognitive dream last night.

I dreamt that a 30,000-strong army of northern barbarians came from the direction of Qinzhou.

They slaughtered refugees along the way and were expected to reach Qinzhou in another day.

The brothers Lin Wufeng and Lin Wuchong were extremely anxious.

"Old Tao, send someone to check out the situation up ahead!" Lin Wufeng instructed the old steward.

"Yes, sir."

Butler Tao immediately sent his son to check ahead.

soon.

Tao Da, the son of Steward Tao, returned with news.

"Reporting to your master, the city gates will only open at 5 PM. People from outside Qinzhou who wish to enter the city need to pay an entry fee of ten taels of silver each."

"Furthermore, all citizens entering the city must hand over their goods to the government, which will purchase them with silver. Caravans do not need to pay an entry fee, but they must sell their goods to the government."

"However, the officers and soldiers said that there is no shortage of supplies in Qinzhou City, and they can be bought with silver."

Lin Wufeng and Lin Wuchong both looked very grim as they listened to Tao Da's report.

Both of them were in power, so how could they not know the intricacies of the Qinzhou prefect's schemes?

The two brothers exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with helplessness.

The northern barbarian army was in hot pursuit, and they had no choice at all.

We must get through Qinzhou quickly!

"Third brother, did you bring the Lin family's business documents?" Lin Wufeng asked.

Lin Wuchong nodded immediately upon hearing this, "I brought it with me, I'll go get it right away."

The Lin family has been merchants for generations, so business documents are indispensable.

"Let's see if we can cut in line so we can get into the city as soon as possible," Lin Wufeng gestured to the Tao family steward and his son to come up with a plan.

Soon, the Lin family used supplies and money to bribe the soldiers and successfully transferred to another household.

Enter the city the moment the city gates open.

More than a hundred elite soldiers escorted the Lin family's group to the county government office.

No one in the Lin family could have imagined that the government would only give them 1,000 taels of silver when they brought supplies worth at least 100,000 taels of silver!

The Qinzhou government office was heavily guarded.

Lin Wufeng could tell at a glance that the government and the military were cooperating.

The Lin family showed weakness, and even though they were tricked, they dared not retaliate secretly.

We can only suffer this in silence.

fortunately.

The Lin family's guards secretly robbed and murdered several wealthy households in Yingze County, stealing a considerable amount of silver.

The Lin family has not yet reached a dead end.

Lin Wufeng immediately arranged for his subordinates to purchase supplies in the city.

a whole night.

The Lin family spent over 200,000 taels of silver, but ultimately only bought a little over 3,000 catties of grain and some carts and horses.

The Lin family was so angry they almost vomited blood!

The cash on hand was almost completely depleted.

There wasn't enough money to stay in an inn in the city to accommodate the Lin family's several hundred people.

Everyone squeezed into a few quiet, unobtrusive streets designated by the government to spend the night.

The next morning.

The Lin family, who had barely rested, didn't dare to delay at all.

They immediately lined up with the newly purchased supplies to leave the city.

.

Outside Qinzhou City.

The 30,000-strong army of the Northern Barbarians marched directly into Yingze County.

Yingze Lake is renowned far and wide.

The Northern Barbarian army, which was plundering food and water, easily obtained the information.

The army fought its way towards Yingze Lake.

The refugees on the official road had no idea what was going on before they were killed by the barbarians.

Eighty percent of the people living in Yingze Lake have fled to Qinzhou City.

The county magistrate had abandoned the city and fled a few days ago, leaving behind local yamen runners who had also fled with their families.

When the Northern Barbarian army arrived, Yingze Lake had already become an empty city.

All that remained was a pool of spring water, more than ten meters deep from the ground.

The Northern Barbarian army was furious!

"Damn it! Where's the water?! Why is there only this little bit left?!"

Looking at the deep lake, Torre felt dizzy and quickly took a few steps back, punching the rock wall next to him.

"General, shall we go down to fetch water?" Xiongta asked.

There are walkways built by local people on the underground rock walls, which allow you to go down to the bottom.

However, groundwater has been continuously flowing out, and the water level has dropped significantly, leaving the boardwalk five meters above the water surface.

You can still get water.

Torre glanced at the tower and said, "Of course we'll fight! You take your men here to fetch water, and I'll go to the city to gather grass!"

"Yes, General!" Xiongta shrank back and quickly replied.

Torre led several thousand men in a thorough search of the city, determined not to miss a single household.

The wealthy families in the city had already fled, taking most of the food and other supplies with them, but they still left behind a considerable amount of supplies that they could not take with them.

The supplies that could be found openly were searched again and again by the residents who had not left the city and the refugees who had just arrived in Yingze County.

Even though Torre slaughtered the entire city, he gained almost nothing.

His eyes turned red with anger.

"General, we've made a discovery!" Another lieutenant rushed over to report.

"What is it? Speak quickly!" Torre urged, thinking his subordinates had discovered the grain.

"Reporting to the General! Your subordinate found a notice on the bulletin board containing an edict issued by the county magistrate!"

"It seems the magistrate knew we would attack all along, and he ordered all the people in the county to flee to Qinzhou Prefecture for refuge three days ago!"

Upon hearing this, Torre narrowed his eyes slightly.

Although news of their breach of Hanshan Pass could not be kept secret, their allies were doing their best to stop them.

The news shouldn't have spread so quickly!

Even the northern and Liang states, which are closest to Hanshan Pass, failed to receive the news in time.

How did Qingzhou and Qinzhou, which are further away, find out?

Torre had not forgotten that when their barbarian army arrived in Qingzhou, the city had long been a ghost town!

This was absolutely unexpected!

At the time, Tore and General Bogda didn't think much of it and, after a brief reorganization, immediately continued south.

But at this moment.

Torre couldn't help but wonder where the news had leaked out!

If the capital is prepared, then the battles to come will not be so easy!

"Send two teams of scouts to Yongzhou and Dingzhou to deliver the message and see if there are similar situations in those two cities!"

"If anything seems amiss, be sure to warn the General that it might be a trap!"

"Yes! General!"

Torre looked at the other lieutenant with a solemn expression and asked him a question.

"Uen, have you found out anything useful?"

"Reporting to the general, the people of this county have indeed seen a short, stout middle-aged man weighing about two hundred pounds come to this county."

"But the fat man only had a little girl with him, and no large army followed him. The people said that the fat man sold more than 200,000 shi of grain in this county town in exchange for jade."

"I'm not sure if this fat man is the same fat man we were asking about..."