Chapter 37 Encountering Refugees
The people hurried forward in a hurry until it got dark. It was cloudy these days, so they traveled during the day and rested at night.
Everyone stopped to cook. Those who were more particular put a mat or cloth over their heads, while those who were too lazy just spread a straw mat on the ground and lay down to rest.
The four dogs were doing their duty in the team, strolling around and patrolling.
At 9 o'clock in the evening, everyone had almost finished packing and lay down to rest.
The young men in the team patrol from 9pm to 6am, a total of 10 hours, 5 hours. There are 10 people in a group, 5 groups of 50 people, and a group is on duty for 1 hour, which is 2 hours. There are 10 people in a group, and each group only needs to patrol for 2 hours. The patrollers are energetic and will not be too tired, and the short time will not affect their rest.
The advantage of having more people is that there are more people working, and each person shares more of the burden, making it easier for everyone.
There are more than 300 people in the whole team, more than of whom are young and middle-aged. As long as they don't encounter regular troops and thousands of refugees, they are very safe on the road.
The only disadvantage of having so many people is the high consumption of food and water. Now everyone eats their own food. It has only been nearly a month since we set out, and every family has surplus food.
At 7 o'clock in the morning, the last shift finished their night duty, and Awang, a servant of the Shen family, picked up the gong and shouted "Dang ding ding ding!" to everyone to get up.
The two servants of the Shen family, Old Man Zhao and Awang, were also included in the night duty team, not replacing Shen Jingfu and Shen Jingcai.
The brothers Shen Jingfu and Shen Jingcai also had to keep watch at night. Anyone over 12 and under 50 had to patrol and keep watch. Shen Jingfu's eldest son, 13, also had to keep watch at night.
As for how to form a team, everyone means to form a team on their own, freely, as long as there are enough people.
Lin Youcai finally suggested that people could form teams freely, but among each group of 10 people, there could be no more than two people from one family.
More than 300 people were selected to form 100 teams. The extra men who met the requirements could serve as substitutes or replacements, as people would get sick or feel uncomfortable sometimes. The team also had other work to do to earn work points.
The Lin family has 4 adults and 4 teenagers, 8 people are not enough. Lin Youcai wants to have a Lin family member in each group, and if his family is not enough, there are brother-in-law Shi Yong and two brothers-in-law, a nephew and two servants from the Shen family.
A few days ago, we held a meeting to decide on the team formation. The men from the three families whispered together and reached a consensus on the team allocation.
Every team has its own family, so we can sleep peacefully at night.
These 50 people are on duty tonight, and another 50 people will be on duty tomorrow night. Each group only needs to be on duty for one hour. Everyone is very satisfied with this arrangement.
When we got up in the morning, we all felt a little cooler. The air was no longer hot and dry, and the wind was moist and cool.
The village head looked up at the sky for a while and said, "It's been cloudy for a few days. I'm afraid it's going to rain! Tree, tell everyone to cover the grain!"
"Okay, Dad." Lin Benshu took the gong and knocked it to notify everyone.
Sure enough, not long after the team set out, a drizzle began to fall from the sky. The rain was not heavy, but if it stayed there for a long time, it would soak the clothes.
Those who had hats put on them, those who had straw raincoats put on them, two children walked together wearing one straw raincoat, and there were also people wearing straw mats to keep out the rain, each showing their own way to keep out the rain.
Old Lady Wang was even more moved in her heart. How wonderful it is to have a motorhome! It is not exposed to the sun, wind or rain, and there is a cool breeze when it is hot. I never thought that after living for most of my life, I would enjoy the blessing of my fourth son and my granddaughter.
Every time she went to chat with the old ladies in the same village, they were covered in dust and dirt, while she was clean, and she enjoyed the envious looks they gave her.
Old Lady Wang was just feeling happy! Suddenly, there was a noise outside the car, the village head's gong was struck loudly, and the team stopped.
Today, it was the Zhu family's two ox carts that were at the end of the team. In the drizzle, the Zhu family's carts were held by someone and wouldn't let go. The dirty refugees knelt and cried, asking the people on the carts to give them more food.
Taking the small road from the official road and then getting back on the official road, in fact, Lin Zisu and his friends accidentally took a shortcut and shortened the journey.
The team set out in the morning and walked until noon, encountering scattered people on the road. Some were 4 or 5 people walking together, some were more than 20 people walking together, and the largest number was 30 or people walking together.
Everyone had a numb expression and was covered in dirt. Some carried a lot of luggage, while others carried less.
Zhu Xiaoyu, the youngest daughter of the Zhu family, looked at the family following the ox cart. The little girl was dirty and looked at her with big eyes.
The little girl gritted her teeth and followed the ox cart, begging them to be kind and give her something to eat as she walked.
Zhu Xiaoyu and her husband Tao Mingyuan have a son and a daughter. As a mother, she couldn't bear to see the little girl so she quietly threw half a steamed bun to her.
The little girl hurriedly caught it and stuffed it into her mouth. She choked and could only stretch her neck. She was reluctant to spit it out, and guarded it tightly for fear that it would be snatched away.
Unexpectedly, half a steamed bun was like water dropped into a frying pan. The refugees who had been staring at their team on the road now rushed over.
Originally, seeing that Lin Zisu's team was large in number and powerful, the young and middle-aged men were holding weapons to guard against the refugees and looked at these people viciously.
They didn't dare to rush forward to rob, but they couldn't resist the temptation of food. They had cows and mules, and the carts were bulging with stuff, so there must be food and drink. What's wrong with giving them some food?
Didn’t you just throw some food down?
Behind the team, the Zhu family shouted continuously, and the two patrol teams immediately rushed over to help.
Others held their weapons tightly to prevent other refugees from robbing their homes.
Wailing sounds were heard one after another. At first, no one dared to use weapons. They just drove people away and pulled away the people who were pulling the car, allowing the team to continue moving forward.
The refugees who wanted to take advantage of the situation rushed over, and everyone immediately became furious. They used wooden sticks as thick as wrists, sharpened their heads, and at first just swung and stabbed with them. They became furious, and all of them used the hatchets, machetes, kitchen knives, axes tied to their waists, and the hoes and shovels on the carts to fight.
The situation got out of control and the ground was stained with blood.
The refugees were just ordinary people. Food was important, but life was more important. As long as they were still alive, they still had hope of survival. If they were injured, there would be no hope at all.
The refugees rushed forward quickly and retreated quickly.
The people who stood in front of the cart were trampled by the cow and were forced to walk forward, their screams echoing through the sky. Zhu Ming, the eldest son of the Zhu family, who was driving the cart, whipped the cow desperately, not caring whether people died or not.
The whole team accelerated forward, not daring to stop, leaving behind a few half-dead refugees lying on the ground.
After this incident, everyone was in a state of panic, and the younger children were so scared that they cried loudly. The two groups of people on duty today did not suffer any serious injuries in the fight just now, but they did have a lot of superficial injuries.
The head of the village saw that there were more and more refugees on the road, so he specially added a group of people to patrol.
Ginger is still experienced, Lin Youcai sighed, put down the fire axe he was holding tightly, sat at the door of the ox cart, and took out the telescope to check the situation on the road.