My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 313 Seeking refuge
The next day, Li Mi and Wang Bodang left the small courtyard.

The two men, disguised as scholars traveling for study, led a donkey and left the city together.

The situation inside the city was extremely chaotic. Everywhere you could see officials escorting laborers, with human heads hanging from their waists. These were people who were resisting the officials and intended to rebel.

The situation outside the city wasn't much better.

The first batch of officials had already set out, and a large number of laborers were urged to set off by the officials. As far as the eye could see, the mountains and fields were filled with people, and the stench was unbearable. The roars of the officials and the cries of the people were intertwined, playing the melody of the fall of the Sui Dynasty.

The scale of this corvée labor has exceeded that of any previous one, and the age for corvée labor has also been adjusted. Previously, only women were included in the corvée labor list, but this time, the elderly and children have not been able to escape it either.

Among the slowly moving crowd, you could even see elderly men with white hair, and some children biting their fingers with tears streaming down their faces.

Wang Bodang couldn't bear to look at these things, so he led his teacher onto the path.

The officials would ride by from time to time, and when they saw these two men, they would stop, look them up and down, confirm their identities as scholars, check their various passes and documents, and if they felt that they might have some background, they would let them go.

This made Li Mi feel that something was wrong.

In the past, when Confucian scholars walked the streets, few officials would think of conscripting them. But judging from the manner of those men just now, they were already hesitating about whether to take action against them.

The emperor's orders were urgent, and the officials would be punished if they failed to complete them on time. This made the officials envious, and they began to offend people they had never dared to offend before.

The situation of wealthy families and scholars who farmed and studied in the local area has become extremely dangerous.

The current situation cannot be resolved by simply paying some money or doing something else.

Li Mi even felt that if he had left a few days later, he might have been forcibly arrested and forced into labor.

For a time, neither the master nor his apprentice dared to take the main road. They proceeded along the side paths. Because of the reputation of Wild Buffalo Mountain over the years, the government had sent people to block all roads leading to Wild Buffalo Mountain. It was not so easy for the two of them to go up the mountain. They had to take a detour and enter Wild Buffalo Mountain from another direction.

The two of them walked for several days, encountering not only government officials and fugitives, but also thieves.

Since Li Xuanba cleaned it up, there hadn't been any thieves here for a long time.

Fortunately, both Li Mi and Wang Bodang were very capable fighters.

Unless they encounter a large band of thieves numbering over a hundred, they can handle smaller bandits. A few arrows to kill the leader will cause the rest to flee in panic, not daring to stop them.

They walked for several days in a row, and finally, they found a small path that led to Buffalo Mountain.

Having reached this point, the two felt much more at ease. They lit a campfire and decided to stay and rest.

"Crunch, crunch~~"

A faint sound came from afar. Wang Bodang was the first to react. He immediately picked up the bow and arrow beside him and stared warily into the distance.

From the distance along the road, a group of people gradually appeared, consisting of about a dozen carriages, each with servants. Several young men, riding tall horses, were leading the way and heading towards Li Mi's direction.

The group also spotted Li Mi and Wang Bodang, and they immediately slowed down, with the leader gripping his bow.

Li Mi said in a low voice, "Don't make a move, step back."

Wang Bodang nodded, and the two of them took a few steps back, moving further away from the road. Seeing this, the people in the convoy in the distance seemed relieved. They hurried past without stopping.

Li Mi and Wang Bodang only dared to continue resting after confirming that they had left.

The next day, they hurriedly set off.

But they had only walked a short distance when they encountered that group of people again.

This time, the other party began to back away, making way.

The road up the mountain was not easy to travel, and Li Mi and Wang Bodang dared not speed up rashly. As a result, the two groups frequently encountered each other over the next two days.

On the third night, just as Li Mi and his companions stopped to rest, the group reappeared. But this time, they did not pass each other by. The young man leading the other caravan rode up to Li Mi and Wang Bodang.

This young man was very young, looking only about fifteen or sixteen years old, but he had already undergone the coming-of-age ceremony, a sign of adulthood.

The young man, riding his fine horse, looked at the two men before him and suddenly asked, "Where are you two headed?"

Before Li Mi could speak, Wang Bodang said unhappily, "At such a young age, he has already become lame in both legs. It's truly pitiful."

The young man smiled, then dismounted and bowed to the two men again, saying, "There are many thieves on the road, so I have not dismounted. Please forgive me."

Wang Bodang then said, "I am planning to follow my teacher to live in seclusion in the deep mountains to cultivate myself. What advice do you have for me, sir?"

The young man shook his head. "This mountain is not a place for cultivation. I think you two are planning to go to the village to live in seclusion and cultivate, right?"

Wang Bodang gripped the bow tightly, but Li Mi glanced at him and said, "There's no need for that. This is clearly one of our fellow travelers."

Li Mi stepped forward and looked at the handsome young man in front of him. "Dressed as a merchant, yet taking this back path, and up the mountain at that. Are you perhaps going to sell this thing in the village, young master?"

The young man laughed heartily, “Since we’re on the same path, let’s travel together to avoid any misunderstandings!”

Seeing that the young man was so straightforward, Li Mi did not hesitate and agreed. The two groups then headed up the mountain together.

The two sides did not talk much, and their destination was getting closer and closer.

Li Mi, confident in his status, didn't pay much attention to these people. Wang Bodang, however, was different. The young man also seemed to be a wandering knight. After exchanging a few words, the two discovered several mutual friends and became increasingly close as they talked.

"Teacher, are they really going to seek refuge with Qingzao Village?"

“I’ve found out everything. The young man who’s leading the group is surnamed Xu, named Shiji, and courtesy name Maogong.”

"Xu Maogong? Where is he from?"

"He said he was from Weinan. Teacher, he even recognized a few of my friends there. Those people are all famous heroes, and they all live in Qingzao Village."

After Wang Bodang confirmed the other party's identity, Li Mi decided to have a few words with this young man.

"Your name is Xu Maogong?"

"Indeed, Brother Wang told me about you. Master Liu is truly extraordinary. He refused to serve a corrupt emperor, instead traveling around to teach his disciples without taking a single penny. He truly has the demeanor of an ancient sage!"

"This is nothing."

Li Mi sized up the many servants behind him. "I see that your carriages are very heavy, your servants are strong, and the horses pulling the carriages are not ordinary. You don't seem to be an ordinary wealthy household. Why would you want to seek refuge with the mountain stronghold?"

Xu Maogong sighed. When Zhai Rang first arrived at Qingzao Village, he sent someone to contact Shan Xiongxin and Xu Maogong, hoping that the two of them could come and help him. Shan Xiongxin went without hesitation, but Xu Maogong did not go.

Because his family was very wealthy, and he was considered the richest man in the area, it wouldn't be appropriate for him to abandon his family fortune and become a thief.

But the situation is different now.

"Lord Liu, you are unaware of this. My family originally possessed some property, but His Majesty is planning to wage war against Goguryeo, so he ordered local governments to levy heavy taxes, claiming it was for military preparations. My family's property was truly in danger of being preserved. If it were just the loss of property, that would be one thing, but those people are also planning to seize my family members for forced labor. I had no choice but to dismiss my servants, take some trustworthy people, and protect my family as we fled to the mountains."

Li Mi was somewhat surprised, "Has things really come to this?"

"Alas, in the past, it was the poor who couldn't survive, then the wealthy began to suffer, and now, even those with immense fortunes can hardly make ends meet. The officials don't care about past relationships at all; they'll stop at nothing to collect enough corvée labor and heavy taxes. No one can escape them. Only those with relatives in the military or government offices can protect themselves; the rest are helpless."

Li Mi was speechless for a moment.

For the sake of this war, the emperor has pushed everyone in the world to his opposite side.

(End of this chapter)