Chapter 126: Chapter 116: Life Finds Its Own Way

Du Chengfeng, sitting on horseback, sighed.

Thinking back to when he first came to this world, without any foundation, he was a refugee. He finally managed to establish a small livelihood at Yang Family Fort, but after a great battle, he became a refugee again—of course, the time in Yanzhou was not bad. He not only found work, got assigned a house, but even had the opportunity to study under a retired official.

And now, after another great battle, he was still a refugee.

Fortunately, this time, it wasn’t just him, or the villagers of Yang Family Fort. Even over a hundred thousand people from Yanzhou were like them, leaving their homes to embark on this promising venture.

"Is this really a good thing?"

Li the carpenter, who was driving the cart, felt increasingly uneasy, constantly feeling that his future was getting dimmer.

Why had he become a refugee again? Why did he say "again"?

"This is indeed a good thing."

From the cart, the long-unseen Old Man Yang Xuan began to explain.

Indeed, some people were unwilling to leave their homeland and chose to stay in the countryside of Yanzhou, but soon these people would bear the consequences of their choice—both Jizhou and Yanzhou had been breached, the entire northern mountain road was almost destroyed. The Southern Chen court would surely send troops to the front line to resist the enemy.

As for the front line, naturally, it would be Jizhou and Yanzhou.

Stuck between two armies, life for those who stayed would only get harder. At least as refugees, they could still survive, but those who stayed might not even be able to save their own lives.

"But being a refugee isn’t so easy either."

In a corner of the cart, Liu Bolun was taking large gulps of wine, his sparse forehead indicating he was under great stress.

As the true organizer of this great retreat, Liu Bolun had been working tirelessly these days, and it was because of this that he realized how immense a task it was to orchestrate a retreat involving over a hundred thousand people.

How to calm the public, how to arrange an orderly evacuation, how to achieve the fastest retreat, while also ensuring the people and animals were fed along the way... It was only then that he realized what the decade of Ruan Shantao’s teachings truly meant.

If it weren’t for the literate and educated stepping up to lead and cooperate in the evacuation, Liu Bolun’s work would have been a hundred times harder.

Although the old man never succeeded in spreading benevolence across the world, those ten years of teaching did indeed save the lives of the people of Yanzhou City.

"Hic."

Thinking of this, Liu Bolun raised his hand to toast towards Ziyang Mountain in the distance.

Then he continued contemplating even more challenging problems.

Such as...

"Where are we going? What will we eat?"

Du Chengfeng, sitting on horseback, was stumped by the question.

"Is this really something that needs thinking about... oh."

Halfway through speaking, Du Chengfeng realized that perhaps it really was a question worth considering.

After all, this time, the number of refugees wasn’t just a few hundred villagers, but a massive group of over a hundred thousand. When they reach that scale, countless and boundless, the daily consumption of food was already an exaggerated number. Although Liu Bolun almost emptied Yanzhou’s warehouses before leaving, the amount divided among everyone wouldn’t last long.

As for where to go... is there any place that can take in such a large number of refugees?

"But these things aren’t something you need to worry about."

Upon realizing what Liu Bolun was pondering, Du Chengfeng didn’t think much of it.

"Or rather, it’s not something you need to worry about."

To someone new to being a refugee like Liu Bolun, this was a severe problem, but to Du Chengfeng and the villagers of Yang Family Fort, they had already been through it once—Jizhou was also destroyed back then, the villagers of Ji Town were even petrified by He Xiqing’s surprise attack, but once they recovered, they scattered and disappeared without a trace.

The population of a single province sounded plentiful, but when these people opted to seek refuge with relatives or find a place far away, these hundred thousand people would disperse quickly.

In fact, it was already beginning. Perhaps in Liu Bolun’s mind, the refugee team was still over a hundred thousand strong, but based on Du Chengfeng’s observations, when he rushed back from Yanzhou City, more than half of the team had already left, and after departing Yanzhou’s territory, the numbers dwindled even more, with people constantly dropping out, taking friends, relatives, or family in the direction they desired.

Now, it’s uncertain whether this group even numbers ten thousand.

Just like water, without any guidance, people will flow to wherever they can survive.

Guided by the instinct to survive, life will find its way.

"So why are you following along? Can’t you find your own path?"

Thinking of this, Du Chengfeng turned his horse around and pulled out the steppe general from the team.

This group of steppe people was the ones he had rescued in Yanzhou City back then. At the time, he hadn’t thought much of it, doing it just to annoy Xiang Rong, and he also wanted to experience the feeling of "acting on impulse," so he did it casually—yet who would have thought after the battle, these over three hundred steppeland warriors clung to him, refusing to leave his side.