Chapter 46: bypass
Chapter 46 Detour
In the middle of the night last night, two brothers, Gu Damu and Gu Dalin, were keeping vigil. After the third grandfather got up, he asked Uncle Tian to call their brothers back and said to them: "We don't know what the situation is in Yongtai Mansion today. If you want to go on your way, you have to go to bed first." , just in case you have to rush, be alert."
Brothers Gu Damu and Gu Dalin responded and took a bamboo tube of water handed over by Gu Qingtian. The two brothers took a sip each, and after moistening their throats, they walked into the cave and lay down on the haystack at his house, preparing to sleep.
After a while, Third Grandpa’s voice came from the entrance of the cave, asking them: “Have you seen Grandpa Qin? It’s already dawn, why haven’t the three of them come up yet?”
When Gu Jinli heard this, he felt a little worried, fearing that the affairs of the three people of the Qin family would be exposed.
Gu Damu's answer was unexpected: "Mr. Qin and the others went to Yongtai Mansion to inquire about the situation. They said they would be back later, so let's not leave and wait for them."
Gu Jinli was surprised. When did Mr. Qin tell Gu Damu that they were going to Yongtai Mansion, and why did he give such a reasonable reason?
Everyone was also surprised. The third grandfather asked Gu Damu: "When did Mr. Qin tell you?"
Gu Damu said: "I said it last night when we met the Qin family's ancestors and grandsons at the mountain col on the left before we went to bed."
On the left side of the cave, there is a depression that is one person deep and two meters wide. This is where several men go to relieve themselves, while the women go to the dead woods on the right to relieve themselves.
As soon as Gu Damu said this, everyone understood and did not ask any more questions. They were very grateful to the three people of the Qin family. If it were them, they would not dare to go to Yongtai Mansion to check the situation. If one of them is not good, someone will die.
Gu Jinli admired the behavior of the three people of the Qin family. This was such a good excuse. He even asked Brother Gu Damu who was keeping watch in the middle of the night to say that in this way, even if Brother Gu Damu patrolled down the **** in the middle of the night, they would not see the three of them. People would not suspect anything. They just thought that the three of them went to Yongtai Mansion.
After the catastrophe that night, Lao Yan was very afraid that someone among them would die again. After hearing that the three people of the Qin family went to Yongtai Mansion to see the situation, they clasped their hands together and bowed to the east sky: "God bless you, Mr. Qin." Brother, grandson and grandson are back safely."
When the third grandfather knew that the Qin family’s ancestors and grandsons did not come to the cave to gather, he put the matter aside and said to Luo’s father: “Tie Zhu, go to the place where we found the water last night and bring back the jar.”
They found a dripping stone crack in the mountains last night and collected half a jar of water. Before leaving, they put a jar there to collect water. After one night, they should be able to collect a lot of water.
“I’ll go right away.” Luo’s father picked up a jar, took the machete, and left the cave.
After Luo’s father left, the third grandfather called Gu Dashan, Uncle Tian, Gu Dafu, and Gu Dagui, and went to the mountains again to look for food.
They didn't find anything to eat last night and ate a lot of beans. They had to look for food quickly and fill up the "holes" they had eaten.
As for Gu Qingtian, Gu Qingliang, and Gu Dexing, they still stayed in the cave and did not go out to find food.
The third grandma was very dissatisfied with this, but the third grandpa said that it is not peaceful now, and he was afraid that some disaster victims would find this place and hurt the women, so leaving these half-grown men here, if outsiders really come, they can also bluff people. , so that others dare not take action easily.
Luo Wu and Gu Jinan still went to patrol down the slope.
Gu Jinli's several girls were arranged by the third mistress to cut the grass.
The weather is getting cold now, and they don’t have thick clothes. They cut some dead grass and weave it into straw clothes and sandals to keep out the cold.
After they cut several rounds of withered grass, and the third mistress and other women in charge knitted a few straw clothes, the three people from the Qin family also came back, with tired faces on their faces.
When Third Grandma saw them, she hurried up to meet them and asked Mr. Qin: "Brother Qin, how is the situation in Yongtai Mansion? Can we still go that way?"
Mr. Qin wiped his face to cheer himself up, shook his head and said: "It's not good. Peng Changyong's soldiers are stationed on the outskirts of Yongtai Mansion. Whenever they see someone, they will welcome them into the city. But it's not relief, but murder and robbery." .”
The faces of the Third Grandma and the other women changed greatly when they heard this: "Here, are we still killing people? You beasts!" Mrs. Chen was most concerned about her own life and death, and hurriedly asked Mr. Qin: "What should we do now? How long should we hide here? ? There is absolutely nothing to eat in this mountain. If we hide for a long time, we will be dead if we run out of food."
As he was talking, Third Grandpa and the others also came back. Seeing the three people of the Qin family, they asked again about the situation in Yongtai Mansion.
Mr. Qin said it again, and finally said: "We don't have to hide in the mountains. We can go down the mountain. Instead of taking the official road, we can bypass Yongtai Mansion from the plain, then go up the Chi Road, follow the Chi Road, and pass through the Six Prefectures of Zhongzhou. In places like Jianghuai, which is separated by a river from the south of the Yangtze River, the drought should not be that severe."
After a pause, Mr. Qin continued: "If the drought is still severe in places like the Jianghuai River, we will cross the river and go to the hinterland of the south of the Yangtze River."
With Mr. Qin’s words, everyone seemed to have found a backbone. This route was too familiar. If I hadn’t walked it myself, how could I have said it so clearly?
After hearing this, Third Grandpa felt that his burden was much lighter: "Brother Qin is well-informed, we listen to you."
Mr. Qin chuckled and said, "We are escaping together. No one listens to anyone else's opinions. When something happens, we work together to find a solution."
Once he decided to bypass Yongtai Mansion and go south, Third Grandpa asked Gu Dashan and Uncle Tian to take the jars and continue to collect water from the cracks in the rocks. As much as they could catch.
In the evening, everyone got together again, decided on the exact route, and discussed how to deal with anything if something happened on the way. It was not until the beginning of the night that everyone went to bed.
At dawn the next day, everyone got up. After roasting the beans, each person shared a handful of beans, and then gave the younger children straw clothes to keep out the cold. The group began to go down the mountain and walked outside the mountain.
Halfway up the mountain, they met some victims coming down from other peaks. It seemed that many victims were hiding in the mountains like them.
No one paid any attention to anyone else, they just kept their belongings tight and walked at a distance.
After descending from the mountain, Mr. Qin led several members of his family across the dry river where they first arrived and walked towards the plain in front of the dry river.
When some victims saw this, they glanced in the direction of Yongtai Mansion, and then chased after them, shouting: "Fellows in front of me, wait a minute, where are you going?"
Several families remained silent, fearing that the victims who followed were bad people.
Mr. Qin slowed down, and when the victims asked again, he turned around and said to them: "The defenders of Yongtai Prefecture killed the good and took credit for their merits. There is no way to go there. We are going to this plain to take a detour south."
After saying this, Mr. Qin ignored them and explained to the third grandfather: "They are all poor people. I can't bear them to die. Brother Gu, don't blame me."
Third Grandpa shook his head: "Brother Qin, there is no need to explain, we all understand...Oh, God is so annoying."
After hearing what Mr. Qin said, the victims hurriedly ran back to tell the people they knew. After a while, many victims followed them.
There are many smart people among the victims who know that it is better to go south than east. They have also experienced the killings by officers and soldiers of Yongtai Prefecture, so more and more victims are going south.
When Gu Jinli and the others bypassed Yongtai Mansion and got onto the Chidao, they saw more victims on both sides of the Chidao. They were in groups, stretching for hundreds of miles. The number of people was no less than what she saw when she woke up.
Mr. Qin felt relieved when he saw so many victims going south. Only with more victims going south would the yamen not be too strict when registering, and their identities would not be exposed.
(End of this chapter)
