20demayo Chapter 62 First to Escape
Chapter 62 First to Escape
Before dawn, Meng Fuqing got up and dressed.
She gently knocked on the door of her mother's and younger siblings' room, stood outside quietly for a moment, and then Shan Qiyu came out wearing a winter coat.
"Why are you up so early? It's still early," Shan Qiyu asked softly.
Meng Fuqing: "Mother, let's hurry up and load the rest of the things onto the cart. We might have to leave this morning."
Two days ago, they slaughtered four or five chickens and ducks at home and simply marinated them. The rest were directly stored into Meng Fuqing's space.
Previously, old items were placed outside to conceal the new ones, while the newly purchased items were stored away.
Besides, most of the grain, the remaining cloth, the newly made winter clothes, and the eggs that had been saved up over the past few days were also in the space.
They were wearing down-lined clothes underneath, and their old winter coats were warm enough.
The remaining items to be taken with the vehicle, such as dried meat, marinated chicken and duck, leftover vegetables, grains, and steamed dry rations, were all wrapped in oilcloth and loaded onto the vehicle.
Next, simply fill the water bladders with water, wrap the clothes and bedding in oilcloth, and load the iron pots, iron stoves, and other miscellaneous items onto the vehicle, and you're all set.
On the other side, Meng Bochang had been busy these past few days, so anxious that he developed two blisters on the corners of his mouth.
He learned of the fall of Yongzhou in the middle of the night. Early this morning, he instructed his two sons to take care of the family, and he took a gong and beat it from one end of the village to the other.
"Everyone, hurry up! When you hear the gong again, everyone must gather at the village entrance!"
Someone poked their head out from inside the door, their face filled with undisguised panic. "Village chief, are we really going to have to leave our homes?"
"Yongzhou City has been breached by the Hu people. If we don't leave now, we won't be able to leave later!"
Meng Bochang frowned, forming two deep vertical lines between his brows, and waved him away, "Hurry up, go and pack your things, don't dawdle!"
Upon hearing this, everyone hurriedly began to get busy.
There's nothing they can do; natural disasters and man-made calamities are never something ordinary people can control. All they can do is drift like duckweed, trying to find a way to survive.
In Mengjia Village, the Meng clan members naturally followed the clan leader, while families with different surnames did not all follow, such as the Sun family.
Even after the incident of Sun Dacheng climbing over the wall in the middle of the night, Sun's mother remained very dissatisfied with the village chief who favored Meng Fuqing's family, and she was also skeptical of the news her husband brought back from the village chief.
"It's really strange," Sun's mother muttered. "Our son-in-law's family lives close to the county town. Yesterday, they said there was no movement from the county town and we should wait patiently. How did the village chief know that the barbarians were attacking? We hope that the whole village won't be arrested by the government as bandits!"
"So what do you want to do?" Sun's father asked in a muffled voice.
Sun's mother straightened her clothes. "Of course we'll wait for my son-in-law to send word and then go with his family! Our family has no money or food right now, so we have to rely on our daughter and son-in-law to survive. I don't trust those people surnamed Meng."
Sun's father squatted at the door for a long time without saying a word. His family's money had been used for medical treatment some time ago, and now they had nothing left. On top of that, there was war, which made it impossible for people to survive. They could only rely on their son-in-law's family.
He stood up, pressing his leg, and walked outside with his head down.
His mother called out to him, "Where are you going?"
"Tell the village chief we're not leaving today!"
Sun's mother watched his retreating figure and snorted softly. In the end, he still had to listen to her.
When the gong sounded again, the villagers pushed their carts and carried their bundles to the village entrance. They were all startled when they saw the scene under the big tree at the village entrance.
Several tall horses stood under the trees at the village entrance, with three carriages in the middle. If the village chief hadn't been standing in front of them, constantly looking in their direction, they would have thought that the Hu people had ridden into their village.
It's no wonder they were frightened. They had only heard that a few people came to Dr. Zheng's house for medical treatment, but they had only seen one of them in the village. Dr. Zheng had recently broken his leg, so they dared not disturb him easily. How could they have imagined that there would be so many people?
They hesitated, not daring to approach.
Meng Bochang explained simply: "These people are merchants who were separated by the bandits and only reunited in our village a couple of days ago. They just happened to be going the same way as us, so they came with us. With so many people, we have nothing to fear from being robbed!"
Hearing this, the villagers felt much more at ease.
Some villagers then realized why they had been hearing horse-drawn carriages passing by their houses at night recently; it turned out to be this group of people.
Looking at Xie Jin and his group, their eyes lit up. With this kind of momentum, no one else would dare to provoke them easily! They could just take advantage of the situation.
Meng Fuqing sat at the front driving the cart, looking at the commotion Xie Jin had made, and then at her family's mule cart that offered no protection from the wind or rain. She thought that if she had the chance on the road, she would also steal a cart with a roof for her own use.
Shan Qiyu, with her two children, lagged behind and spoke with Yao Shanyun.
"What's wrong with Cui Miao'er?"
Cui's name was Cui Miao'er, and people always called her Cui Miao'er because it sounded natural to say it.
Behind them, Cui Miao'er silently wiped away her tears.
Yao Shanyun's expression was not good. "What else could it be? I told the couple to inform their in-laws that the Hu people might attack earlier, but she kept delaying, saying that people outside said the Hu people might not be able to attack."
I sent my eldest son to my in-laws' house yesterday, but it was a rushed trip. She just said she wanted my eldest son to go back to her parents' house and bring her family along, but I didn't agree. And now she's wiping away tears!
Shan Qiyu could only say, "We'll ask the village chief which way we're going later, and if it's on the way, we'll see if we can take them along."
Yao Shanyun sighed, "This is the only way."
Meng Bochang stood on a large rock and looked around at the number of households. He counted a total of twenty-eight households, only five of which were from outside the village. The five were the Ji family, the Zheng family, and the Liu family, and the other two were the families of the two wives from the village.
Those who weren't leaving told him that most of them wanted to go with relatives, so he could only tell them to leave as soon as possible; there were also some elderly people who were frail and had difficulty walking.
They knew that whether they fled or not, they were doomed, so they might as well live peacefully for the last few days and not be a burden to their children.
The atmosphere became somewhat heavy, and the villagers gradually fell silent.
Meng Bochang said in a deep voice, "We are going to Jing'an Prefecture, which is more than 3,000 li away from our Changping Prefecture. Always remember what I said before. This concerns your personal safety and the lives of your family. You should know the importance of this. I won't say anything more."
After saying this, he looked at Mengjia Village, where he had lived for most of his life, lifted his robes, prostrated himself on the ground, and kowtowed three times.
The atmosphere among the crowd grew even more tense. The villagers knelt down in silence with the village chief, bowing once to bid farewell to their hometown, twice to bid farewell to their ancestors buried here, and three times to bid farewell to their elders who did not wish to be a burden.
Once they leave, they may never return for the rest of their lives.
After getting up, Meng Bochang looked at Mu Feng, who was driving the carriage, and said, "Young Master Mu, we can go now."
After Mu Feng nodded, he waved to the villagers and said, "Let's go!"
Two horses led the way, followed closely by three carriages, with six more horses guarding the left and right. Behind them followed the village's elderly, weak, women, and children. Meng Fuqing, driving a mule cart, lagged behind the group, with strong laborers constantly on guard behind her.
They were the first to learn of the war and fled the village. Fearing the attention of the authorities, they dared not travel openly on the main road, but instead took a barely passable road. With so many people, pushing the carts was difficult, and their progress was not fast at all.