Armed with a machete and a gun, armed with a system, they fled the famine.

"Stop! Who is it?"

The man in the lead gripped his machete tightly, staring warily at Zhao Yan and the others.

Zhao Yan and Yang Sanlang, along with Yuan Gang, quickly and discreetly shielded Yuan Yutang, Tian Xiu'e, and the others behind them.

Zhao Yunchen, though small, was strong and also moved forward, holding a shovel in his hand.

Yuan Yutang stuffed Chen Qingjiao, Zhao Yunjie, and several other children into the carriage, while Tian Xiu'e and her husband stood guard on both sides of the carriage.

Yang Sanlang reached out and pulled Zhao Yan to his side. When the woman looked over, he quickly gave her a reassuring look.

Then she took a step forward and raised her hands in a fist salute to the man opposite her.

"Brother, we are just passing through. It's getting late, and we'd like to ask if we could rest here for the night. Would you be so kind as to do us that?"

Without a second thought, the man opposite him loudly refused, "It's inconvenient. Please leave immediately."

The other four men echoed, "That's right, outsiders aren't allowed in our village. You'd better leave now, or don't blame us for being impolite!"

Yang Sanlang felt a lump in his throat, and the smile on his lips instantly froze.

He didn't understand. They were only asking for lodging for one night. Were they afraid that the other party wouldn't pay for the lodging?

He quickly added, "Don't worry, we won't stay for free; we'll pay for your lodging."

But the other party didn't care about money or valuables and just kept telling them to leave.

"We said no, and that means no! Get out of here now, or we'll really get rough."

One of the young men, who looked rather immature, said impatiently, "Brother, why are we wasting our breath talking to them? Let's just fight them. I don't believe they can beat us."

Across from them were the elderly, the young, and two women who were completely helpless.

Looking at them again, he saw they were all strong laborers, and he didn't take them seriously at all.

If they keep arguing, he'll just slash them with his sword; he's not afraid of scaring them away.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yan and the others all turned cold and solemn, gripping their weapons tightly.

Upon seeing this, the man in the lead across from them quickly shouted at the people behind him, "Ah Hai, shut up!"

The young man named Ahai was stunned for a moment, then glared angrily at the person opposite him and turned his head to the side.

Really!

My older brother is always like this, not manly at all!

The man in the lead turned to look at Yang Sanlang and the others, and said the same thing again: "I'm sorry, but you really can't enter the village. Please leave quickly."

Zhao Yan recalled a possibility and asked before Yang Sanlang could speak, "Is it because the village experienced a famine of migrants stealing grain?"

If that's the reason, she can understand the man's actions.

The man in the lead raised an eyebrow in surprise and looked at Zhao Yan. When he saw her beautiful features, a look of amazement flashed in his eyes.

This woman is so beautiful.

Yang Sanlang looked at him with displeasure and quietly stepped in front of Zhao Yan.

She wanted to gouge out the man's eyes.

The leading man sensed a chilling murderous aura and quickly looked away from the woman. He then said, "Yes, a few days ago, a group of refugees from the south passed through this area. The villagers took pity on them and agreed to take them in for the night."

"Who would have thought that the group of refugees would rob all the remaining grain from the villagers' homes while everyone was asleep in the dead of night. Two families heard the noise and came out, but were killed by the refugees with a single blow while fighting over the grain."

After such an incident, as the village head of Peach Blossom Village, he immediately realized the seriousness of the matter and organized able-bodied men to patrol and guard the village in shifts overnight.

In the past few days, they have encountered several groups of refugees, some of whom turned around and left without saying a word when they saw that the refugees were tough.

Some tried to storm the village because they had more people, but they were all driven away by the combined efforts of the villagers.

Zhao Yan and her group were the fifth group of people to come and ask for lodging.

Judging from their attire, although they did not appear as destitute as the previous refugees, the villagers were frightened by what they had experienced and no longer allowed any outsiders to enter the village.

Therefore, they had to leave.

No wonder they were so tough on the issue.

Yang Sanlang understood immediately and exchanged a glance with Zhao Yan.

Zhao Yan shook her head slightly at him, sighing inwardly: It seems they will have to continue camping in the wild tonight.

However, before leaving, she asked the man opposite her, "Could you tell us where this is? Also, what's the name of the nearest county? Which direction should we go?"

They walked through the mountains and forests for two months, completely unfamiliar with the geography of the area.

If only we had a map, even a rough one would be great.

Zhao Yan secretly thought to herself that once she got to the county town, she would definitely go to the bookstore and ask around.

If you don't have a map, buying a few travelogues about various parts of the Great Qing Kingdom will suffice.

The man in the lead scrutinized Zhao Wei and the others, scanning them up and down twice.

"Where are you all headed? This is Peach Blossom Village, located in Wei County, which is under the jurisdiction of Wei County, Yizhou."

Yizhou?

Unbeknownst to them, they had passed through Qingzhou and entered the territory of Yizhou.

Zhao Yan and the others were in turmoil, their expressions slightly agitated.

Great.

After purchasing the supplies, we will continue north. Once we pass through Yizhou, the next stop will be Daizhou, and the capital city is located northeast of Daizhou.

There is no famine in Yizhou, so perhaps they can avoid going into the mountains and take the official road directly.

Taking the official road would be much faster; it would take less than a month to reach Daizhou.

Zhao Yan relaxed slightly and replied softly to the man, "We're heading to the capital, but we're running low on rations. We'd like to resupply in the nearest county town. Do you know how to get there?"

It turns out that going to the capital is not an easy task.

The man in the lead suddenly relaxed and pointed due north.

“If you keep walking along this road, it will take about an hour to reach Weixian County. However…”

Seeing that he hesitated, Zhao Yan quickly asked, "But what?"

"However, there are many refugees from the north of Qingzhou outside the county town. They say that a terrible earthquake occurred in Fan County, north of Qingzhou, some time ago. I wonder if this is also the reason why you all came north?"

It turns out the epicenter of the last earthquake was in Fan County, north of Qingzhou.

Zhao Yan felt a wave of fear wash over her.

Fortunately, Yong'an County is two or three hundred miles away from Fan County, otherwise the consequences would have been dire for them!

She nodded perfunctorily, her expression indifferent, clearly not wanting to continue the topic.

The man in the lead paused for a moment, then didn't press the matter further.

Yang Sanlang, with a straight face, clasped his hands in thanks to the man, "Thank you."

The last rays of sunlight on the horizon slowly faded, and the sky fell into darkness.

Yang Sanlang lit two torches in advance, and he and Yuan Gang walked one after the other beside the carriage.

The group continued north along the dirt road for about half an hour before finding a flat grove of trees on the left side of the road.

"Will you stay here tonight?"

Yang Sanlang turned to look at Zhao Yan, his dark, handsome eyes filled with tenderness.

"Ah."

Zhao Yan couldn't stand his attitude, so she gave a cold reply and turned to help Tian Xiu'e prepare dinner.