Kai Fu Han

Chapter 263
"Thank you, Taoist priest!" Liu Xinyuan walked up to the Taoist priest who just spoke and thanked him.

"Blessed Lord, you're welcome. I have indeed been to Penglai. What I said is not just to help you. And going to Penglai is indeed a way out for these poor people. Even if you don't say it, I will suggest it later. Therefore, we cannot receive the blessings from the Lord." The Taoist priest explained: "Our Taoist temple does not have much food, and it is not enough to support so many refugees for a long time."

"Why do I only see your Taoist temple coming down to give out porridge, and the temple on the mountain?" Liu Xinyuan asked.

Usually the temples have more incense than the Taoist temples, but in these troubled times, only Taoist priests come down the mountain.

"The war happened suddenly. I guess the temple is still preparing. I don't know very well." The Taoist Priest was a kind person and did not arrange it arbitrarily.

Liu Xinyuan no longer dwelled on this topic and asked the Taoist priest: "Please, Taoist priest, please spread the word to the refugees who will come later and let them go to Penglai. I am very grateful."

"I will do it. Blessed Lord, you can rest assured." The Taoist leader promised.

After Liu Xinyuan finished explaining, he left some more taels of silver for the Taoist priest before setting off south again.

He didn't stop when he passed Dingjia Town. Among the previous refugees were the people of Dingjia Town. Liu Xinyuan knew that this town had also been looted, so there was no need to go in.After bypassing the town directly and walking south for five or six miles, we came to a village called Lijiacun.

This village is located in a mountain stream. It is a very small village. It is estimated that there are only more than 40 households. It was originally supposed to have a few hundred people, but now it is not sure. Unlike the villages and towns I have seen before, the villagers here did not flee.

Most of the people in the village were busy in the fields outside the village, probably weeding.Now that winter wheat officially grows three or four leaves, the grass in the field also grows wildly. If it is not removed, it will inevitably affect the development of the wheat and the growth of the root system.

Slightly older children also have to pick up hoes and work in the fields.

Most of the houses in the village are low mud houses, that is, the kind of houses built with mud and a thatched roof on top. There are only one or two houses and some houses are built with bricks and tiles, but there is no one The houses are all built of bricks and tiles.

Lijia Village is not big, and Liu Xinyuan walked from the beginning to the end of the village in half a quarter of an hour. There are only some old people left in the village who are no longer able to work in the fields, and some women with children, running around and walking around. Little Doll.

"It's really poor."

Entering the village, Liu Xinyuan couldn't help but shake his head.

The entire Lijia Village is very poor. Every family is poor. There are shabby thatched houses and mud houses. The clothes everyone wears are very shabby. They don’t even have a pair of shoes on their feet. Straw sandals are luxury goods. Liu Jin even looked at them. There were some kids walking around naked.

Everyone I saw was dark and thin, and most of them were skinny and skinny, with sallow complexions, as if they were seriously ill. It should be caused by not having enough to eat or wearing warm clothes for a long time.

Most of the old people and women also look weak, and they probably have eaten very little or even nothing recently.

Seeing more than a dozen people from Liu Xinyuan enter the village, the people in the village didn't take any precautions, they just looked at them dully.

Before Liu Xinyuan was about to pass through the village, a middle-aged man who was fairly well-dressed and clean walked up to him.

"Several military lords, I don't know what to do in this small place? Our village has just been ransacked by the army led by Mr. Liu. There is really nothing to show respect for. The people in the village have not eaten for several meals."

The time of troubled times is not short, and the few people who can survive in troubled times are stupid people.

Liu Xinyuan believed what the village chief said. Liu Lin's army must have looted the village. Judging from the faces of the people left in the village, they must have only drank some soup for several meals and hanged their lives. "A bandit's fault is like a comb, a soldier's fault is like a grate, and an official's fault is like a shave."

The tactics of those soldiers are more ruthless than those of the bandits. The bandits at least know how to stay safe so that they can come back later.

But looking from another direction, if these villagers were really robbed, they would definitely not stay in the village now. They would have gone out to beg for food like the refugees they met before.

I just saw that there are still people working in the fields outside the village, which shows that there is still hope in the village, and the source of hope can only be food.

It shows that there are smart people in the village who hid the food before the rebels came. The hidden food is what prevents the villagers from fleeing.

Looking at the middle-aged village chief in front of him, he speaks with some grace. He must have read some books. That smart man should be him.

"We are from the Xinghan League. We are different from the puppet Qi army before. Moreover, we are just passing by and will never disturb the people. Please rest assured." Liu Xinqi said some reassuring words first.

"I just want to ask, when did Qi's army pass by you?"

When the village chief heard that it was not an important question, he replied directly: "I just passed by shortly before dawn today."

Then he added: "I heard that I stayed in Dingjia Town last night and caused a lot of damage to the town."

I passed by Dingjia Town before, but I didn't go in to check because I was in a hurry. I just found that there was not much popularity outside the town. Now that I heard the news, I think this wave of rebels must have completely looted the town.

After looking at the sky, the sun was in the middle of the southern sky. It was estimated that the time was around noon, which meant that Liu Lin's tribe had passed from Lijia Village for about two hours.

Liu Xinyuan's team, all of whom are soldiers, will soon catch up.

After bidding farewell to the village chief, Liu Xinyuan continued to move forward with his men.

"Are we going to catch up and kill Liu Lin?" one of his men asked.

"I'm still thinking about it. Originally, I planned to kill Liu Lin directly. But now that I see the refugees and the looted villages in front of me, I am a little hesitant." Liu Xinyuan replied.

"why?"

"The alliance leader and I have discussed similar issues before." Liu Xinyuan explained: "At that time, we had just defeated the five-county coalition. We asked the alliance leader why we didn't directly occupy the five counties that attacked us. The alliance leader said that our Xinghan League lacked the ability and occupied It cannot be managed, but it will harm the people.”

"It's the same now. It's easy for us to kill Liu Lin directly, but the tens of thousands of rebels without Liu Lin's restraint will definitely cause chaos in Laizhou, and those innocent ordinary people will definitely be burned, killed, and looted by these rebels."

"Now I somewhat understand why the leader insisted on destroying and capturing all the people as much as possible instead of defeating them. Our Xinghan League develops slowly, and those people can still live. Our reckless expansion of the territory will make innocent people suffer instead. Even fatalities and injuries.”

"Then we still have to follow?" His subordinates were confused.

(End of this chapter)