HCB Chapter 170: Hopes shattered, darkness
Chapter 170: Hopes shattered, darkness
Shen Zhiqiu also got along well with his grandfather and his other two sons.
The gentleman's surname was Meng. He had three sons and one daughter. The three sons were all married, but the third daughter-in-law lost both her husband and her son when she fled from famine.
Because the son who passed away and the young grandson are both from this family.
The eldest grandson who was not there at the beginning was from the eldest wife’s family.
Now Mr. Meng has two sons, three grandsons, two granddaughters, and the old couple.
There are also two little servants who have been raised since childhood. It is said that they are little beggars brought back from the street by the old man. Because they are young, they are often bullied by the older beggars.
The old man was soft-hearted and took him in as a servant, raising him from childhood to adulthood.
There were originally six of them, but along the way, four of them died just like his third son, fighting with those who tried to steal food.
Old Mrs. Hua also heard about this from the old lady of the man’s grandfather’s family, and she also sighed, “Good deeds will be rewarded!”
Shen Zhiqiu had a particularly good impression of this old man, not because of his status as a wealthy man, but because this old man said:
The bandits in the mountains spread the word that they were chivalrous men who would not use force but would win people over with virtue.
How can one win people over with virtue? Shen Youyou was speechless after hearing this.
If you want to pass through here, you have to hand over your young wives and daughters, and the remaining men can bring their mothers and older women with them.
You can also choose not to go over. The bandits said that it is all voluntary. If you don't want to go over, just stay where you are. No one will shout at you to rob or kill you.
But there is one thing, there is reliable information, that after crossing this valley, you will reach the territory of Shanxi Province, which is under the jurisdiction of King Yan. It is said that there is a soup kitchen at the pass.
When you get there, people will help you distribute houses and land, so you can find a stable place to live.
Whether to take a step forward or stay where you are depends entirely on your decision. Moreover, I heard that Yue Wang’s troops in the south have already attacked and their hometown has been broken.
This is how bandits win people over with virtue, all voluntary!
Who can willingly abandon his wife and daughter? Isn't it true that there are wolves in front and tigers behind, and you can't catch the wolf without sacrificing your children?
It's really speechless. Many people chose to abandon their wives and daughters and took the men in their families with them.
After all, in most people's minds, the good days that pass are the hope for survival, while staying where you are means waiting for death if you are attacked from the south.
There were also many wives and daughters who went up the mountain voluntarily. These silly women gave up themselves just to keep their families alive.
The bandits also gave another option, which was to recruit soldiers in their mountain stronghold and say they wanted to establish themselves as king.
He also proudly claimed that you and your whole family could join the village, and then no one would snatch your wives and daughters away, and you would be able to eat and drink well, and follow him to compete for the world in the future.
Many people also choose to take the third route and go directly up the mountain with their families.
There were also many people who had nothing to eat or drink and were alone who chose to go up the mountain.
The gentleman claimed that there were at least two thousand people on the mountain.
Shen Zhiqiu was shocked by this number. If there were more than 2,000 people on the mountain, most of those who escaped from famine would be the strongest in their families.
Just a rough calculation shows that there are at least more than a thousand able-bodied laborers.
In ancient times, this was indeed a considerable force. No wonder the man with the carriage who looked so powerful couldn't get through.
Mr. Meng sighed and said, "My nephew, I'm telling you this. My third son is gone, my grandson is gone, and what about my third daughter-in-law? My wife and I discussed this when my third son died.
If things can be settled in the future and my daughter-in-law wants to remarry, we will adopt her as our goddaughter, marry her off with a nice dowry, and become her family members in the future."
This is why Shen Zhiqiu looked up to the old man. The meaning was very clear. Mr. Meng couldn't even bear to send his widowed daughter-in-law to the mountain, let alone his other two daughters-in-law and a daughter.
Of course, this is what Shen Zhiqiu thought. The old man did not treat his daughter-in-law badly. He even found that the two sisters-in-law were quite caring towards his younger sister-in-law.
Their family is also very harmonious.
Shen Zhiqiu still had one thing he didn't understand: "How did you get here? Didn't you meet any conscripts along the way?"
Mr. Meng said: "How could we not have encountered them? But we also took the mountain road to avoid them..."
Shen Zhiqiu and Shen Youyou looked at each other. From the old man's narration, the shrewd father and daughter understood that Mr. Meng and his people were not from Hunan, but from Hubei.
It turned out that there was water on the farm because there was a spring, which was enough for their family to use, and there was also a lot of food stored on the farm.
It was because the old man was kind-hearted and often distributed water to the villagers in that village that he attracted the covetousness of others.
In fact, they started fleeing famine after the Chinese New Year, and it has been confirmed that now in these remote areas, no one is recruiting soldiers, and the local officials can hardly protect themselves, so they fled for their lives with their families.
Mr. Meng also secretly told you that the people who had just clashed with you originally had more people, but they refused to hand over the woman in the car and planned to force their way in, and dozens of them were killed.
Shen Youyou's heart trembled. Grandpa Li said that those people's skills were about the same as his. Even if Grandpa Li was being modest, the other party's martial arts must be good.
If dozens of them were protecting a young lady, even the horses would not be able to get through. Their group seemed to be large in population, but there were only less than a hundred strong laborers, and most of them were women, children, the elderly and the young.
They can't fight head-on, they can't afford it. Even if one of them is killed, they can't accept it.
Obviously Shen Zhiqiu didn't intend to fight hard, so he asked Mr. Meng: "Uncle, you should know the terrain of this area. Can we take a detour?"
Mr. Meng shook his head in frustration: "Well, there are other ways, but they are all occupied by various mountain kings. They are not good people either. Either join or die.
In comparison, this is really good. At least as long as you don't force your way in, no one will draw their swords against you.
The remaining dozen or so people came back to escort the woman in the car, and the bandits did not pursue the matter any further.
Oh my! Listen to this, he was forced to hand over his wife and daughter in order to pass away, and he was the most particular among all the bandits in this area. What kind of world is this?
All the expectations that everyone had when they saw someone disappeared, and suddenly it felt like there was no direction.
It’s like the world has become gray, without any light or vitality.
Even the old man backed off this time: "Little Third Son, why don't we go hide deep in the forest? Even if the troops from the south attack us, they won't come into the mountains to search for us, right?"
Shen Zhiqiu also frowned at this moment: What grandpa said is a solution, but it is definitely a bad idea.
After all, no one knows how long the chaos in this area can last. If it lasts for ten or twenty years, these children will really be useless and can only become mountain people with no future in sight.
It is even possible that he cannot even find a wife, because most of the people in the village are from his own clan, and he cannot marry someone from the same clan, right?
Moreover, he was unwilling to live like this for the rest of his life, and even more unwilling to let his daughter and son live like this with them.
Shen Youyou was very conflicted, more conflicted than ever before, because she had thought of a solution, but it was very dangerous. If something went wrong, her father might be implicated.