"Old Song, then when we get to the north end of Taihang Mountain, the borderless land of barren mountains and mountains, can we grow some grain?" Kewang suddenly asked, it turned out that when his family was in the village, he never had his own land, and he was very eager to have a piece of land that belonged to him and could be cultivated.

Farming in such a barren mountain and wild place, even if the land is not your own, no one will take care of it.

"Even if it is a barren mountain and a wild mountain, in fact, there is a master." Song Xiance said, "Most of these mountains, forests, swamps, etc., will belong to a certain royal relative, or even directly owned by the royal family, and ordinary people can't buy them with money." ”

"Huh?!" Kewang was surprised and a little disappointed.

"But except for birds and beasts, there is basically no output in these places, so these big men basically don't care, let's settle down there and open some fields."

"Well, then let's open some fields." Hearing that he could farm, Kewang was happy again.

"It's just that these places are either steep and uneven, and it is difficult to make a piece of land, or the land is barren and the yield is very low, otherwise the emperor's relatives will not abandon it, are you sure you want to open up the wasteland?" Song Xiance asked.

Zhiwen was secretly happy on the side, since he found the seeds of sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn last night, he planted them immediately, a month later, the seeds of these three crops are not a problem, in addition to corn also needs some water, sweet potatoes and potatoes are drought tolerant, not very picky to the soil, and the yield is high, which is suitable for planting in the mountains.

"If you can have land to plant and grain to harvest, then you are not afraid of working harder." Kewang listened to Song Xiance's words, and was not discouraged, but had some longing for the coming days.

......

In the second year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, in late October, at the foot of an unknown mountain in the easternmost part of Lu'an Mansion in western Jinxi, a group of refugees-like people were leaving the thin official road east into northern Hebei one after another, and marched north along the western foot of Taihang Mountain, which basically had no road.

It was Zhiwen and his party, according to the route set by Song Xiance, left Puzhou, went all the way north, and arrived at Linfen in Pingyang Prefecture, without delaying for a moment, and even the capital city that was far more prosperous than Pujie Erzhou did not go in to visit.

Except for Zhiwen, who had new clothes and could go shopping, the others could only stay outside the city to receive food from the local government and gentry.

However, Zhiwen and they are not short of food, and they don't look down on this kind of porridge, so they don't stay in Pingyang Mansion City and Lu'an Mansion City behind, and other partners, including refugees, have no opinions.

After crossing most of Lu'an, he finally arrived at the first small goal of the trip - Taihang Mountain.

The mountain here is majestic, the terrain is precipitous, to the foot of the mountain, there is no need to find someone to ask, Zhiwen and others also know that this mountain must be Taihang Mountain.

When Puzhou designed an ambush for the Yan family's guards, there was a rapid march, and most of the refugees followed, and then hundreds of young people were selected to participate in the hillside blockade, and the effect was not satisfactory.

This time he marched east to Taihang Mountain, and Zhiwen no longer walked slowly as he did before he reached Puzhou, but quickened his pace, only slightly slower than that rapid march.

On the one hand, although there is snow after winter, but it is not big, the road condition is acceptable, Zhiwen wants to rush more, it is best to reach the north end of Taihang Mountain before a heavy snowfall, if the speed is too slow, if you encounter a heavy snow on the way, it will be very troublesome.

In addition, a few people led by Kewang want to farm the land, and they keep urging Zhiwen to speed up the trip, according to their ideas, it is best to find a foothold before the year, spend the New Year in peace and stability, and prepare for the next year.

After this rapid journey, nearly 300 people were left behind, some of them were too poor to keep up, and some were estimated to have found another way out.

Zhiwen naturally won't affect everyone's arrangements for a few people, just survival of the fittest, and the rest of these people are real elites.

Xiao Lin and Dacheng unloaded the last bag of grain from the frame that had been removed, put it on the back of the horse on the side, and said to Zhiwen and Xiao Jie who were left at the end: "Brother Zhi, Xiao Jie, let's go first?" ”

"Go and go, we'll catch up in a moment." Zhiwen urged.

As before, Kewang led the team to rush to the front, and he had already headed north early, and Song Xiance followed him with Yutu so as not to go the wrong way.

In the middle is a large group of refugees, Zhiwen and Dingguo postponed together, this arrangement is to urge the refugees to hurry, not to let the line stretch too long, but also to rescue the people who have fallen behind, after all, they have fallen behind on the official road, and they can also find some village and town markets to ask for a way to live, and if they fall behind in Taihang Mountain, it will be a death.

The most important thing is to clean up those traces that are too obvious, pay attention to whether anyone is following behind you, and if so, deal with them in time.

Zhiwen and Xiaojie stayed at the end because they had to dispose of the carriage that had been abandoned on the side of the road.

When we were about to enter the mountains, the roads were certainly not as good as the official roads, and the carriages became a burden, and the grain that was put on the carts had been unloaded and carried away on horseback.

These frames are a little conspicuous when they are left on the side of the road, and Zhiwen plans to put them in the warehouse when no one is around, so that they can be used in the future.

As soon as the carriage was put away, Ma Er's subordinate Huang Si also appeared on the official road, and it seems that Ma Er still arranged for him to stay at the end to listen to the news.

"Brother Zhi, Brother Jie." Huang Si nodded at the two of them.

"Let's go together." Zhiwen greeted.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, right?" Zhiwen asked as he walked.

"Nope." Huang Si replied, "If Brother Zhi is not at ease, then I will stay here for a few more days?" ”

"No, no, no." Zhiwen simply asked so casually, Huang Si has always been reliable in inquiring about the news, and it was he who sent a message before, saying that there was no one within the range of more than ten miles behind.

Zhiwen then let the people who were resting and waiting on the side of the road go north along the Taihang Mountain, there are not many people who take their route to escape, and the people who go north are not there except themselves, and the others continue to go east, across Taihang, and continue to flee after entering northern Hebei.

"Don't delay, just go with us." Zhiwen said.

When you enter the mountains, it is not pleasant for a person in the wilderness to stay in the snow.

And without other refugees as cover, being alone is conspicuous, and it is not so easy to find out the news.

In the mountains and forests, Zhiwen felt that only himself and Yaqian could monitor the rear relatively easily and without a trace, so he left Yaqian and him at the end.

As soon as Zhiwen finished speaking, he turned a corner, it was a mountain basket, and Ma Er was waiting for them on the side of the road.

"Ma Er, once you enter the mountains, Huang Si doesn't have to delay any longer, right?" Zhiwen asked.

Ma Er nodded, "I was also about to tell him, no one else will find out any news, it is enough to have me." Ma Er said confidently.

"However, I plan to arrange another matter for him, I want to ask Xiaozhi your opinion."