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Chapter 46
The people who remained behind discussed building houses with Village Head, then fell into a sweet slumber, dreaming of a wonderful future life.
Their dreams were starkly different from reality as they were awakened by difficulty breathing. Upon waking, everything was pitch black. They thought it wasn't daylight yet and wanted to continue sleeping, but they couldn't breathe properly.
Trying to get up to check if there was something wrong with their bodies, "thump", their heads hit a wooden board. They were puzzled, recalling that the bed had no ceiling when they went to sleep.
They reached up and felt an arched surface, making them even more confused. Whose bed has such a low ceiling?
As they tried to get out of bed to light a candle and investigate, "thump" again, their feet hit something. They became a bit panicked then, reaching out to feel their surroundings, only to realize they were trapped in an enclosed space.
The air inside was thin, making it difficult for them to breathe. Then a flash of insight struck - they seemed to be trapped inside a coffin.
Fear spread throughout their bodies as they began frantically pounding on the coffin and screaming for help, but no one could hear them.
They deeply regretted not listening to their father's advice to leave the village, and bitterly resented their father for not explaining clearly that this would kill them.
Another voice rang out from inside the coffin, "Stop shouting, no one will come to save you," the voice was chillingly sinister and terrifying.
"You, you, you are, who?" a feeble voice quivered with fear, as if about to cry.
"Hehe, who am I? I'm the one replacing you."
The sinister, terrifying voice surrounded them as the trembling person asked, "Wha, wha, what do you mean?"
"From now on, you'll take my place sleeping here, while I take your place living among the people!"
"No, no, no way, please spare me, please go find someone else. Many people are fleeing the Capital, go find them instead, okay?"
"No way, I've set my sights on you."
"Please, please..."
Losing consciousness from lack of oxygen, no one could find them as they died in this desolate corner, unknown to anyone.
As daylight broke, when they awoke again, they found themselves on the official road outside the village, unable to discern if it was reality or a dream for a long time before finally regaining their senses.
Looking around at the dilapidated village in the daylight, it was starkly different from the night before.
The group shivered, their faces pale as paper, struggling to get up and support each other as they left to catch up with their father.
Chang'an and the others were oblivious to what happened in the little village. They passed through normal villages and would stop to rest, but most villages were unwilling to let them in.
The local villagers were very exclusive, instinctively wary of strangers approaching, let alone letting refugees like them stay overnight for fear they would cause trouble in the village.
Passing through one village, they saw the villagers dragging their families and belongings, pushing handcarts and driving ox-carts, streaming out of the village en masse.
Seeing this, Old Gu Six slightly raised his chin, and Chang Le instinctively jumped off the carriage to approach the group of villagers.
He first bowed politely to the middle-aged man leading them and asked in a raised voice, "May I ask where the elders are headed?"
The young man wearing a wooden mask was polite. Village Head sighed and replied, "Yesterday, the officials notified our village that all able-bodied men aged 10 to 50 must join the military and report to Jing King's army within two days. If they don't show up, the officials will come and forcibly take them."
"There were few able-bodied men in our village to begin with. To survive, we have no choice but to flee."
Chang Le bid them farewell with a bow. "Thank you, elder. I have something to inform you as well - do not lead the villagers southward to flee, it is even more dangerous."
Village Head watched Chang Le's departing figure, then looked towards the people waiting in the distance, who were clearly refugees fleeing famine as well.
Since the young master told him not to go south, they would go elsewhere instead.
Seeing those people heading further north, perhaps the only safe place was the realm of exile, though living conditions there were extremely harsh.
Well, it would just be a difficult life, better than losing their lives at least.
What had originally been a trickle of a few dozen people leisurely fleeing northward was now joined by a large group of over two hundred more people.
Old Gu Six knew that forced military conscription had started here, and with such a large group traveling openly on the road, their intent was far too obvious.
There might even be officials lying in wait for them to surrender themselves along the way.
Chang'an lifted the carriage curtain and said softly, "Father, let's change our route and avoid the main roads."
"As expected from my daughter. Your father had the same thought, but the small paths will likely be difficult for this mule carriage to traverse, and we may have to abandon it."
Then his daughter would have to travel on foot, which would be too arduous.
"Father, it's alright. Once we pass through Jing King's territory, we'll find a suitable place to settle down."
"Very well, I'll listen to you, daughter."
They changed their route to take the remote side paths. The people following Chang'an and her group remained steadfastly behind them.
Seeing the people ahead leaving the main road to enter the small paths, Village Head hesitated briefly before deciding not to follow. They needed to leave Jing King's territory as quickly as possible, and with such a large group, they would travel slowly on the small paths.
He feared officials might take a different route to intercept them on the small paths.
He had considered many possible scenarios that could arise from taking the small paths, but failed to consider the possibility of being surrounded from two sides.
The authorities likely anticipated his assumptions and gave the villagers time to turn themselves in voluntarily. Knowing they would try to flee, the officials didn't bother going to the villages to capture them, instead setting up checkpoints at all the exit routes to let the people come to them instead.
Chang'an and her group chose the small paths, which would be advantageous for them if any incidents arose.
There were bound to be a few troublemakers among the larger group on the main road, and killing Jing King's people on the main road would only invite trouble upon themselves.
Chang'an's group were just 'ordinary' refugees fleeing famine, never intending to get caught up in the turmoil engulfing the realm. They preferred to avoid any avoidable trouble.
Their goal was to become 'ordinary' farmers.
The initial stretch was still passable, with the mule carriages able to get through. But the closer they got to the mountains, the more difficult the terrain became.
"Father, let's discard the carriage compartments. The mules can carry whatever we need, and we'll discard anything too cumbersome to carry."
At this point, neither the mule carriages nor the handcarts could proceed any further, only people and livestock could pass. Everyone followed Chang'an's instructions, discarding what needed to be discarded and keeping what could be carried.
Chang'an had already 'discarded' a batch of items earlier on the journey under various pretexts, having actually stored them all in her spatial bag.
The original three large wooden boxes had become one, and one of the buckets had also been 'discarded'. Most of the cotton quilts had been 'thrown away', leaving only two beds.
The food supplies they had taken out originally were not much, and only one hundred pounds of new rice and fifty pounds of old rice remained, which the mules could carry, so their family had nothing much to discard.
Old Gu Six and Chang Le took turns carrying the pots, bowls, ladles, and basins, while Chang'an only needed to keep up.
On the journey fleeing from the famine, Chang'an had not walked at all, so suddenly having to walk, she felt a bit unaccustomed to it and wanted to lie down and sleep for a while after just one hour of walking.
Just as Chang'an had thought, the subordinates of the Jing King had predicted their prediction, and more than thirty officials were waiting for the fleeing people to fall into their trap, about a hundred miles away on a small path.
And the checkpoint on the official road was farther away, deliberately chosen at the intersection of the next county town and several villages, with as many as two hundred officials guarding it.