The flood has been ravaging Jiangnan for five days. Most of Jiangnan is in ruins, with almost every house leaking and every wall collapsing. Houses on the east and west are all submerged in water with no boundaries. People travel on rafts between the streets and alleys, and millions of disaster victims are displaced.
How tragic it is.
The only good news is that the rain in the Jiangnan region, which lasted for almost a month, finally stopped.
However, even after the rain stopped, the flood in the south of the Yangtze River did not ease much, and the water in many places was still several feet deep. For example, in the severely affected Taiping County, even the Taiping County Government Office was still flooded. It seemed that the flood would not recede for ten days or half a month; and even if the flood receded, the flood disaster would not be reversed. The destroyed houses, washed away farmland, and flooded property and food were irreparable. Millions of disaster victims were displaced and crying for food, and the road to disaster relief was long and arduous.
Jingnan County was the least affected county in the flood and had the most effective disaster relief. Many displaced victims from nearby counties fled to Jingnan upon hearing the news. On the main roads leading to Jingnan, groups of victims, even victims from the same village, fled to Jingnan with their elderly and children.
Dahou Mountain spans Jingnan, Tiantai and Taiping counties, and controls the main transportation routes from Tiantai and Taiping counties to Jingnan. After the flood, victims passed by the foot of the mountain every day to flee to Jingnan.
Dahou Mountain is a mountain system that stretches for hundreds of miles, with dozens of high mountains, thousands of meters high, and magnificent. Dahou Mountain is very famous in Taizhou Prefecture, but its fame is not a good one. It is famous for its bandits. There are more than ten gangs of bandits, big and small, in Dahou Mountain. They cannot be completely eliminated and are not at ease. They are notoriously difficult to deal with. Because it spans three counties, when Jingnan suppresses bandits, they flee to Tiantai and Taiping areas, when Tiantai suppresses bandits, they flee to Jingnan and Taiping areas, and when Taiping suppresses bandits, they flee to Tiantai and Jingnan areas. Due to administrative factors, it is difficult for the three counties to jointly suppress bandits. There have been only one or two times in the past ten years, but the joint suppression of bandits has not achieved much effect. Once the joint suppression of bandits is carried out, the bandits will hide in the deep mountains and old forests. There are wild fruits and prey in the mountains, and the bandits will not starve to death. After a long time, the three counties can no longer bear it. Once the three counties withdraw, the bandits come out of the deep mountains and old forests and start to resume their old business and occupy the mountains as kings.
In the past, people were always nervous when passing by the foot of Mount Dahou, but now they are not worried at all.
Those who are barefoot are not afraid of those who wear shoes. We are all disaster victims with nothing. What can the bandits rob us of
On this day, a group of more than 80 people walked along a main road leading from Dahou Mountain to Jingnan County.
The leader was a sturdy man in his fifties with a short beard of black and white. He was wearing a brown robe with half of his arms exposed. He was as strong as an ox, but his face looked pale.
Following closely behind him was a young man with a slim figure, wearing coarse cloth clothes and a pair of sheepskin boots. Apart from the sheepskin boots that were inevitably stained with mud, the rest of his clothes were neat and clean without a drop of mud. However, there were a few spots of mud on his face, but even so, it could not hide his handsome face. His eyebrows were as thin and long as distant ink, his eyes were big and bright, his mouth was small, and his lips were red and his teeth were white.
How should I put it? The boy is a bit feminine, like a girl, with an oval face, and looks like a fox spirit.
Of course, although the boy looked like a girl, no one looked at him twice along the way, because he was playing with a dagger in his hand, like a butterfly flying through flowers, fluttering in his palm.
The refugees fleeing on the road were too busy to avoid the danger and dared not to seek trouble. Of course, there were also some who were ignorant and teased the boy, but they were soon taught a lesson by the more than 80 strong men following behind him.
The more than 80 people following behind the leading man and the young man were all strong men. They rolled up their sleeves, exposed their shoulders, and walked recklessly like crabs, cursing dirty words. However, they were very respectful to the two people in front of them. They surrounded the two and walked all the way to Jingnan County.
"Damn it, Goddess Nuwa has finally repaired the sky. The rain that has been falling for a month has finally stopped. My pants have been wet for the past month, and my two brothers haven't had a clean day." A man looked up at the sun in the sky and said with a curse.
"Hu Laosan, if you keep talking nonsense, I will ask your two brothers to separate from you!" The young man walking in front turned his head and smiled, and the dagger in his hand quickly rotated between his two fingers, emitting a circle of dazzling cold light in the sun.
Although the boy deliberately made his voice hoarse, it was still pleasant to the ears. It turned out that he was really a woman dressed as a man.
"Ahem, Young Master, you are joking. We will not split up, even if you kill us."
The man immediately laughed awkwardly and dared to walk with his legs together, for fear that the young master would kill him and his two brothers.
The burly man was frightened like a dog with its tail between its legs by the look and words of the girl.
Hahaha... ..
The burly man in the lead and the other men couldn't help laughing when they saw this. They were so cheerful that they didn't seem like refugees.
"Ruonan, we are almost at Jingnan County, put away your fish dagger." The burly man in the lead reminded.
"I know, Dad. You're nagging like an old lady." The girl rolled her eyes. Although she mumbled something, she was still very obedient. She pinched the dagger between her fingers and flicked it lightly. The dagger disappeared into her sleeve.
The sturdy man was scolded by the girl, but he smiled without caring at all, and his eyes were full of love for the girl.
"Old Boss, Young Boss, I just can't understand it. It's so good and promising to be bandits in the mountains. We eat big chunks of meat, drink big bowls of wine, divide gold with big scales, play hard..." Another man with a full beard complained, looking confused. When he talked about playing hard with women, he thought of Hu Laosan's experience, and immediately stopped talking, swallowed the last few words, and continued, "We live a carefree life in the mountains. The king of heaven is not as good as us, and even the emperor is envious. Why should we be refugees instead of being promising bandits?"
“That’s right.”
"We have been reduced from bandits to refugees. It is too shameful. How can we still live in Dahou Mountain?"
Several people in the crowd immediately responded.
"Damn it, Zhang Laosan, you still have the nerve to ask! You can't do anything, and you eat everything you want! The mountain torrents destroyed the mountain stronghold, and the food we snatched with great difficulty was chewed up by you bunch of foodies. If we don't go down the mountain to become refugees, will we go to hell to starve to death? Besides, the fat sheep down the mountain have all suffered from the flood and have gone to the flood shelters one by one. If the fat sheep go to the flood shelters, where should we go if not the flood shelters? You are guarding the mountain stronghold to snatch refugees?! If we snatch them back, will they be your fathers or mothers?!"
The burly man in the lead was very gentle to the girl, but he was extremely rough to this group of rough guys.
Of course, rough guys only fall for this.