noffsinger Chapter 166 Refugees Going Up the Mountain
Chapter 166 Refugees Going Up the Mountain
The rain didn't stop until the evening, and there was no sign of it getting any lighter.
The old village chief stood at the entrance of the cave, looking at the heavy rain outside, and couldn't help frowning.
"If this rain continues, it will probably become a disaster!"
Lu Tianming next to him also had a worried look on his face. He was thinking more deeply than the old village chief.
There is a plague outside now, and the corpses of people who died of the plague are almost everywhere.
There is a Luo River dozens of miles away from An County. The year he first became an official, the Luo River flooded due to heavy rain.
That year, countless households were flooded in the lower reaches of the Luo River. After the flood, local officials did nothing and a large number of them were punished by the court.
It has been raining almost every day these days, and today it was raining heavily again!
If there is another flood, the water will carry the plague corpses everywhere, and I am afraid that wherever it goes will suffer!
Lu Tianming did not speak about this matter, as speaking about it would only add to his worries and would not solve the problem.
After standing at the entrance of the cave and looking for a while, Lu Shuhe came over and called them back to eat.
The next day, the rain was still falling and showed no sign of slowing down.
Lu Tianming, the old village chief, County Magistrate Yao and Master Yan chatted for a long time at the entrance of the cave. When they dispersed, they all looked unhappy.
Master Yan called on his disciples with a cold face to continue practicing martial arts. Li Rui, who usually showed off, now practiced diligently.
Master Yan gave them some instructions for a while, asked them to continue practicing, and then returned to the cave.
Lu Qingqing and her group practiced martial arts honestly at the entrance of the cave. Lu Shufu came to ask Qin Lang and Lu Qingqing for help because he hadn't been able to practice a few moves well.
As the three of them were talking, they heard Li Rui's surprised voice.
"Hey~, do you see a few people over there?"
All the fellow apprentices were attracted by these words and looked in the direction of Li Rui's finger.
The rain was so heavy that Lu Qingqing had to watch for a long time before she was sure that there were indeed a few people coming towards her in the distance.
Lu Qingqing hurriedly shouted into the cave:
"Uncle Tianming, Master, someone is coming outside!"
When everyone in the cave heard someone coming, they rushed to the cave entrance and looked outside.
Lu Tianming shouted loudly in the cave:
"Everyone, wear scarves before going over there!"
A group of people ran back to the cave, put on their scarves and ran back to the cave entrance to see what was going on.
As the men got closer, everyone could see their appearance clearly.
The people who came were all wearing straw raincoats, about seven or eight of them.
When those people walked to the front of the cave, they were shocked to see so many people inside, especially the people at the entrance who were holding knives.
Seeing that they did not rush out to attack them, the leading man breathed a sigh of relief and took the initiative to speak:
"Hey guys, we're from Nanbiangouzi Village. It's been raining heavily for a few days now, and we're afraid of floods, so we've come up the mountain to take shelter. We mean no harm."
When they approached, Lu Qingqing could already see the appearance of several people clearly.
Two young men and two young women, accompanied by three children.
Seeing that the few people had no weapons in their hands, Lu Qingqing relaxed her grip on the knife.
Lu Tianming listened to the man's words, looked at them, and said:
"We dug this cave. You should find somewhere else to live."
When the man heard this, he nodded repeatedly and said:
"Okay, let's go right away, right away."
As they spoke, they continued to walk inside. When they passed another cave for grazing livestock, they subconsciously turned their heads to look in that direction.
Then, he quickened his pace and walked forward.
Throughout the day, more people came up the mountain.
Most of the people going up the mountain brought their families with them. Judging from the complicated luggage they were carrying, they were probably villagers from nearby villages.
Seeing that more and more people were coming, Lu Tianming arranged for people to guard the cave next door during the day.
As more and more people went up the mountain, almost everyone who passed by would look into the cave.
There were more people in the cave where they lived, so those people just took a quick look and walked away.
But when passers-by saw the livestock in the cave next door, they couldn't help but envy them.
Lu Qingqing sat at the entrance of the cave and discovered this problem, so she suggested to Lu Tianming:
"Uncle Tianming, I'm afraid there will be more people coming up the mountain. Our animals will be too conspicuous if they stay in the cave next door. I'm afraid someone might have bad intentions. Why don't we build a fence gate to block their view?"
Lu Tianming nodded, "That's a good idea!"
The old village chief knew some carpentry work before, and when he heard about it, he took the initiative to take over the job.
The men found suitable branches and, under the guidance of the old village chief, soon made a simple fence gate.
Everyone braved the rain to install the fence gate. Unless you lay down and looked in between the branches, you couldn't see what was going on inside if you just passed by.
But as more and more people went up the mountain, everyone in the cave began to get nervous, and they couldn't help but think of the sneak attack they encountered on the way to escape the famine.
At night, although there were people on duty, some people would wake up from time to time, and then go back to sleep after seeing that nothing had happened.
On the second day, more and more people went up the mountain to seek shelter. Many of those who went up the mountain this time looked like refugees fleeing famine.
Lu Qingqing saw someone who looked like a plague patient among the refugees!
The man looked extremely pale and was a little unsteady when walking, but fortunately he did not vomit or have diarrhea on the spot.
When Lu Qingqing saw this, she immediately informed Lu Tianming.
Lu Tianming's face looked grim. He thought of this when he saw people going up the mountain.
But the mountain road is right here, and they can't close the road and prevent people from passing.
After thinking about it, Lu Tianming decided to line half of the road outside the cave with branches to form a yard, so that he could slightly separate passers-by.
At the same time, everyone in the cave began wearing scarves all day.
On the fourth day, the refugees who fled to the mountains revealed a piece of news.
There's a flood!
Lu Tianming took his men to a higher place to check the situation. They saw a vast expanse of water at the foot of the mountain, and a large number of refugees on a mountain ahead.
At this time, the rain was still falling, but it had turned from heavy rain to moderate rain.
After learning that there were still a large number of refugees on the mountain ahead, everyone in the cave became anxious.
Erxi thought about the fish in the pond being caught by others, and felt like a cat catching a fish. He suggested:
"No, let's just go fishing in the rain. There are more and more people on the mountain. If we wait any longer, we won't know who will catch the fish!"
Several families responded. They were scared of being hungry while fleeing the famine, so they all wanted to grab more food to bring back as a backup.
Seeing this, Lu Tianming arranged for nearly one-third of the people to stay behind to guard the house.
The rest of the people went fishing in the rain, and divided the fish equally. Another group would go fishing the next day.
After hearing this, everyone agreed, packed up and left the cave.
This time, Lu Qingqing and Qin Lang went out together, and they planned to catch more crabs.
The last time they went fishing, they only caught three crabs, and Lu Qingqing ate two of them but still felt unsatisfied.
By the pond, everyone can catch a lot of big fish with just one net.
The fishermen became more motivated, and when they saw the sacks full of fish on the shore, everyone was delighted.
At this time, the people who stayed in the cave were attacked.