Chapter 360 Enemies Meet on a Narrow Road
Ma Peng's face sank: "Sir, you must have mistaken me for someone else."
Meng Shaode looked at Ma Peng suspiciously, the more he looked, the more familiar he became. He just couldn't remember where he had seen him. Could he really have misremembered?
"Sir, are you willing to take a gamble?" Ma Peng's expression was serious at this moment:
"I have already found a place to settle, and there is also a water source. We can build a camp here."
Adding this year, he had been fleeing for four years. He had never taken the main roads, only mountain paths. He had been forced into the mountains before, and he was able to lead people to build houses. Now, being chased by the officials like a rat crossing the street, how could he watch his team be destroyed?
"Water source?" Meng Shaode was persuaded, his eyes lighting up.
Seeing this, Ma Peng pressed his advantage: "Yes, I will definitely not mistreat your entire family, young and old. We can plan great things together."
Meng Shaode took a deep breath. He couldn't adapt to such a huge turnaround so quickly.
He had become accustomed to fleeing, and had never thought of rebelling against the world's situation.
But at this moment, a thought flashed through Meng Shaode's mind like lightning. He seemed to have overlooked one path.
"Okay."
Meng Shaode's head was still buzzing. He lowered his head and walked to the woman:
"Lihua, I've made up my mind. That gentleman is right. We can't keep fleeing passively."
"Ah?" This time it was Cai Lihua's turn to be surprised.
"Dad, what did he say to you?" Ah Jiu was also very confused.
"Jiu'er, don't ask. Anyway, he reminded me. If we keep going to Lingnan, we won't even arrive by next spring. Think about it, winter is coming soon, and if we don't starve to death, we'll freeze to death on the road. It's better to organize the people here. Perhaps when the war suddenly stops, we can go home."
Meng Shaode said excitedly, this excitement was like uncontrollable hot blood boiling up.
Ah Jiu and her mother exchanged a look, clearly thinking their father had gone mad.
"By the way, that person said he found a water source."
As soon as this was said, Cai Lihua's pupils contracted: "If there is a water source, we can indeed settle down temporarily."
"Moo..."
The mother sheep they were leading bleated, and the two playful little sheep hopped to their mother's side. Whether there was milk or not, they had to nudge her.
Just finding a water source was enough to attract everyone's attention.
Who would have thought that Ma Peng's strategy of recruiting soldiers would be so easy?
More than three hundred old, weak, and strong men were all willing to follow him into the mountains.
The mountains became more and more desolate, and a group of refugees instantly disappeared from the main road.
By the time it was dark, Ah Jiu, accompanying her mother and grandmother, arrived at their destination and discovered that there were many, many caves here.
Especially the huge mountain peak in front of them was not like a mountain peak that stood between heaven and earth like a knife-cut surface, but rather like twenty huge round stone balls.
The stone balls had at least hundreds of holes, and there were green plants and large trees around them, making the barren stone stand out in stark contrast, more like a giant turtle egg in the world.
This mountain peak was indeed quite strange.
"This mountain stone is so strange." Even Meng Shaode found it unusual.
"Yes." Cai Lihua looked up at the giant rock. As the sunset faded, the entire giant rock was covered with a layer of red.
From a distance, it looked like a giant stone ball had fallen onto the mountainside and embedded itself one-third into the ground.
That night, bonfires blazed, and with the previous people forming a dense mass, there were over a hundred bonfires.
Ah Jiu and her parents took advantage of a few strangers gathered around one of the bonfires.
The child in the arms of the woman opposite was crying incessantly.
The woman had messy hair and wore a headscarf. Feeling embarrassed, she took the child a few meters away to coax him.
Mother Cai Lihua, like a protective hen, held her sheep in her arms.
"Shaode, what if they eat our sheep? Are you brainless? We're not short of food, why did you insist on following?"
Meng Shaode looked at the four lambs accompanying the mother sheep and sighed, saying:
"Flee, flee, flee... When will it end? We are not short of food and drink, but we can't withstand the chaos. " Saying this, Meng Shaode stared blankly at his wife:
"Let's observe the situation first and see what Boss Ma plans to do. Perhaps he really has a plan, and then we won't have to flee anymore."
A gust of cold autumn wind blew fallen leaves, making the flames flicker and dance.
As the days grew colder, Meng Shaode's words became more and more reasonable. Yes, they were not short of food and drink, but they would still freeze to death.