The wooden wheels rumbled over the road with a dull thud.
In the long procession, no one spoke. Everyone was silent, even the usually boisterous children walked quietly beside their parents.
The situation outside was worse than they had imagined.
On the road from the village to the county town, all the villages had been swept clean by the refugees from the previous night. Almost every village had lost people during that night.
As for the Jiang family's village, thanks to the timely warning from the Jiang Pan family, although some property was lost, all the villagers were safe and sound.
Some villagers who had previously felt unlucky could no longer complain after seeing the fate of other villages.
No matter how valuable things were, they were not as important as human life.
Some sensible villagers felt that the Jiang Pan family had saved their entire family, and they were immensely grateful to the Jiang Pan family.
The procession soon reached the outskirts of the county town.
The situation in the county town was not good either. Many people were coming out of the town with their families.
The village chief waved for the procession to stop. "Does anyone want to buy anything? This journey will be long and arduous, so we should prepare what we need. Go ahead, you have half an hour. Hurry up."
Some people from the procession entered the town gate.
Jiang Pan and Chen Yuezhi discussed it and decided to go into town to gather information.
Jiang Wan quickly hugged her father's leg. "I'm going too."
Jiang Pan smiled and picked her up. "I haven't forgotten you. Let's go."
After instructing Da Lang and the others to watch the cart, the family of three entered the town.
There were no longer any guards at the town gate. After inquiring, they learned that the county magistrate had fled with his family yesterday, and the guards and yamen runners had also disappeared.
Jiang Wan cursed the county magistrate as a corrupt official in her heart!
Sitting on Jiang Pan's arm and walking on the desolate and messy streets, Jiang Wan couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic towards the common people of this dynasty.
The dynasty she was in was called the Great Liang Dynasty, and it had a history of over two hundred years since its founding. Since the accession of the emperor, who was greedy for pleasure and incompetent and foolish ten years ago, the Great Liang Dynasty had rapidly declined. Coupled with two consecutive years of severe drought, the people who were already living in dire straits found it even more difficult to survive.
It was rumored that rebellions had broken out in many places, but many were false pretenses, using the banner of righteousness to harm the people.
The suffering of the people and the widespread desolation were the most accurate descriptions of the current situation in the Great Liang Dynasty.
As she had expected, the shops in the county town had long been closed, and no one dared to open for business.
Pedestrians on the street looked panicked and vigilant, keeping a long distance from each other, with no one daring to approach.
Jiang Wan saw a general store ahead and reminded them softly, "Dad, Mom, let's go to that shop and see if we can find anything useful."
Jiang Pan and Chen Yuezhi nodded and walked towards the general store.
The general store's door was wide open, and the goods inside were scattered haphazardly. Jiang Pan stood at the entrance and called out twice, "Is anyone in the shop?"
There was no answer.
Jiang Pan handed Jiang Wan to Chen Yuezhi. "I'll go in and take a look first."
Chen Yuezhi held Jiang Wan and waited outside, watching Jiang Pan's back nervously.
After searching around, Jiang Pan found no shopkeeper and beckoned to the mother and daughter.
Chen Yuezhi, holding Jiang Wan, entered the shop and then put her down. She then began to search around the shop.
The general store sold everything, from firewood, rice, oil, salt, and vinegar, to some daily necessities. Chen Yuezhi wanted to see if she could find some grain or other edible items.
Jiang Wan's gaze fell on a shelf displaying knives next to her.
She needed to find some self-defense items for her family.
As soon as she reached the shelf, Jiang Wan found it difficult.
At five years old, her height prevented her from reaching the knives on the shelf.
When Jiang Pan came over and saw her standing on tiptoe to get a knife, he was almost scared to death. "Wan Wan, don't move!"
Jiang Wan turned her head and shouted to him, "Dad, come and help."
"My little ancestor, what are you doing with a knife?"
"Self-defense!"
Jiang Pan was stunned. "Self-defense?"
Jiang Wan nodded. "Dad, our family has no weapons. What if we encounter danger on the way? Although these cleavers are not very portable, they can still be useful."
Jiang Pan finally understood. "Wan Wan, you're so thoughtful!"
He had also thought about self-defense, but farmers were usually kind to others, so the only self-defense weapons they could think of were clubs.
But no matter how sturdy a club was, it couldn't compare to a knife.
Jiang Pan quickly collected all the dozen or so cleavers on the shelf, not even sparing the scissors.
"Her husband, look what I found!"
Chen Yuezhi exclaimed from behind a shelf.
The father and daughter hurried over and saw Chen Yuezhi holding a bag containing about ten pounds of salt!
This was a good thing! If people didn't have salt, they would become weak and listless over time. This ten pounds of salt, if used sparingly, could last for half a year!
Chen Yuezhi was overjoyed. "I see there are some seasonings on that shelf over there. Let's take them all; they will be very useful on the road."
Jiang Pan quickly went over and collected all the seasonings.
Chen Yuezhi looked around the shop with some regret. "It's a pity we didn't find any grain."
Jiang Pan said, "Grain is so precious in these times. It's normal not to find any. Alright, let's go, don't be late."
Saying that, he packed the found items into a sack, slung it over his shoulder, and walked out. Chen Yuezhi had just picked up Jiang Wan.
The family of three hurried to the town gate. Many villagers who had entered the town earlier had also returned, but their expressions were all somewhat grim.
They had intended to go into town to buy some grain, but all the grain shops were already deserted.
Without grain, how would they manage on the journey?
Seeing Jiang Pan's family of three return with a large sack, everyone's eyes lit up. Someone familiar with Jiang Pan came up and asked, "Da Pan, what's in your bag?"
Jiang Pan generously opened it for them to see. "We found some useful things in a general store just now."
Saying that, he took out a knife from the bag. "Our family doesn't even have cooking utensils, so we just took some. Does anyone want a cleaver?"
Who didn't have such a thing at home? Only Jiang Pan's family, who had just severed ties with Old Man Jiang's family, did not.
A cleaver was enough for use, and taking more would be a burden, as not every man was as strong as Jiang Pan.
When everyone saw that the bag was full of heavy and useless items, they turned their eyes away.
A hint of slyness flashed in Jiang Pan's eyes. He tied up the sack and casually placed it on the cart.
Just then, a mournful cry came from the town gate: "My third son!"
The voice was so familiar that Jiang Pan's family turned their heads. They saw a group of people walking out of the town gate. Old Man Jiang and Old Woman Jiang were crying their eyes out, while Old Second Jiang was carrying a tall and thin man on his back, staggering under the load, looking as if he might fall at any moment.
Chen Yuezhi frowned. "What happened to Third?"