Famine and Chaos: Weaving Cloth in Exile to Escape the War

Hearing Yang Xiaoniu's words, Jing Zhichun was momentarily stunned.

She was pondering the map when Yang Xiaoniu took it out. Could this person be a mind reader?

How did he know that he had always wanted the map of the Great Zhou Dynasty?

She never revealed a single word to anyone about her plan to escape exile with her two children.

Immediately, Jing Zhichun began to feign ignorance with a calm expression, "Brother Yang... what are you saying? I don't understand."

Seeing that Jing Zhichun didn't acknowledge it, Yang Xiaoniu didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point: "Madam Shen, I know that what I said sounds a bit abrupt."

But the situation is critical right now, and I can't worry about that anymore.

Actually, when we went to Wild Goat Pass to catch tigers, one night I was on watch and I heard you talking in your sleep.

I heard you muttering to yourself that to get the map of the Great Zhou, you must take the children and escape to the south.

At that time, I suspected that perhaps you came into the mountains with us not just for the simple purpose of catching tigers.

Later you said you needed to go into town to buy medicine and even pre-ordered some herbs from a pharmacy, so you had to spend the night in town.

That day, after you and Erniu's wife went to the inn, I went to the pharmacy where you ordered the medicinal herbs. The shopkeeper said that he had never had a customer like you order any medicinal herbs.

At that time, I thought you were going to run away, so I kept an eye on things and let Erniu go home alone.

I stayed in the city that night and didn't leave.

I saw you change your clothes, ask the beggars about the Liu family in the back alley of the restaurant, and then sneak into the Liu family's shop in the middle of the night.

I understood everything then. Perhaps you went to the Liu family's herbal medicine shop to look for a map of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Because, what ordinary person would have a map?

But the Liu family is different. Their Huichuntang has its own caravan that regularly trades medicinal herbs to the south; they must have maps in their possession.

As soon as Yang Xiaoniu finished speaking, Jing Zhichun was so shocked that a layer of cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

She thought she had done something flawlessly, but little did she know that Yang Xiaoniu had seen through everything she did.

Moreover, she talks in her sleep in the middle of the night?

They actually revealed something so important...

That foul mouth of his deserves to die!

rough.

Moreover, looking at Yang Xiaoniu, I used to think he was just a simple and honest rough man, but I never expected him to be a shrewd and cunning person.

Fortunately, Yang Xiaoniu seemed to think she was just looking for a map and didn't see anything else, so Jing Zhichun breathed a sigh of relief.

But since things had come to this point, and Yang Xiaoniu had even brought the map to her, he must have come to negotiate terms.

It wouldn't be appropriate for her to pretend to be stupid any longer.

Jing Zhichun took a deep breath, raised her eyes, and said, "Since Brother Yang has seen through it all, I have nothing to hide. Yes, I am indeed looking for a map of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Brother Yang, are you bringing this today to negotiate?"

Yang Xiaoniu felt relieved to hear that Jing Zhichun wasn't angry at him for revealing her secret.

Moreover, it seemed that Jing Zhichun hadn't gotten the map she wanted from the Liu family's pharmacy, which relieved him once again.

In fact, since they met Jing Zhichun, she has saved the lives of the Yang family members several times. The Yang family members could never repay these favors in several lifetimes.

His act of revealing the secrets of the Spring of the Capital is truly ungrateful...

However, he had to do it for his family.

Yang Xiaoniu lowered his head, not daring to look at Jing Zhichun, and knelt directly on the snow.

"Madam Shen! The plague has broken out and the barbarians have already breached Qingshi County. We can no longer stay in the Northwest. I'm giving you this map, Madam Shen. Take your children and escape."

But I beg you for one thing: when you run away, please take my three children with you! Leave a lineage for the Yang family.

I know you're very capable. With you by our side, our three children might still have a chance to survive.

"What?"

Jing Zhichun never expected that Yang Xiaoniu's condition would be to entrust his orphan to someone else.

The adults of the Yang family are still alive, so why didn't they flee with the whole family and instead entrusted their three children to her?

Jing Zhichun frowned and asked, "Brother Yang, now that you've returned from the battlefield and have a map, why don't you take your whole family with you?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Xiaoniu's eyes instantly reddened, and he choked out, "Madam Shen... actually, actually, I... I escaped from the military camp."

When I was conscripted by the government to fight the barbarians, I was afraid, but I also understood the meaning of protecting my home and country.

What's the value of a farmer's life? Dying on the frontier is a respectable way to honor our ancestors.

But when I got to the battlefield, I realized that the 30,000 peasants we were conscripted were nothing more than scapegoats in the eyes of General Wang Mang.

In fact, General Wang Mang had long known that the plague had broken out on the barbarian side. He was afraid that his personal guards would be infected with the plague, so he conscripted us peasants to be at the forefront.

We peasants, hungry and with knives in hand, charged forward, while General Wang Mang and his elite troops hid behind to oversee the battle.

After we peasants and the barbarians fought to the point of exhaustion, General Wang's soldiers rushed out to make a show of killing a few half-dead barbarians.

In just five days, more than 10,000 of us peasant soldiers have died...

What's most disheartening is that many people didn't die at the hands of barbarians, but at the hands of their own people.

On the battlefield, some of us peasant soldiers couldn't hold on and wanted to retreat, but waiting for us behind us were Wang Mang's personal guards...

They were right behind us, and anyone who tried to retreat was cut down without batting an eye.

I watched helplessly as Tiezhu, from my village, had his right hand severed by the barbarians. He clutched his wound, only wanting to retreat back to the camp to get it bandaged...

But before he could run a few steps, Wang Mang's personal guards, who were overseeing the battle, chopped off his head with a single stroke...

Blood spurted high into the air, and when the head rolled to my feet, its eyes were still wide open, filled with disbelief.

I never imagined I would die at the hands of my own people…

At this point, Yang Xiaoniu burst into tears, his eyes filled with blood. He took a while to catch his breath before continuing, "That day we won and drove back the barbarians. That night, I went to the outhouse and heard the guards watching over us peasant soldiers say that General Wang Mang had devised a plan to use the remaining peasant soldiers as bait to lure the barbarians to Jue Long Valley... and then set the valley on fire."

They burned us peasants along with them, saying that we had been in contact with barbarians and might bring the plague back to the camp, so it was better to burn us all.

At that moment, I didn't care about anything else.

I'm not afraid to die under the barbarian's blade, but I can't die at the hands of my own people...

My parents, my brother, my children, and my wife are all waiting for me. I'm going home.

I took out the only three taels of silver I had and bribed one of the old soldiers guarding us. He stole an old map for me, and I escaped that very night.

All I wanted to do was run home and try to save my life.

When I arrived in Qingshi County, I heard that the barbarians had launched a surprise attack on the county, and the county magistrate had surrendered.

I rushed back as fast as I could, just wanting to tell my family and fellow villagers that the barbarians were about to attack!

Fortunately, I escaped and brought the news back.

However, according to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, deserters would have their entire families implicated!

The imperial court will not let me, nor my family, off the hook.

It doesn't matter if we adults die, but our Yang family children are so young. They shouldn't die with me.

Madam Shen, I beg you, I beg you to lead them to escape south.

If... if they really survive, I'll change their surname, so they'll forget they're surnamed Yang, forget they ever had a father like me, an uncle. I just hope they can survive quietly, like wild grass...