"Big Brother, Big Brother, everyone from our village has come to join us! Hahaha..."
Early that morning, Zhao Erhu ran over to find Wang Yan, buzzing with excitement, as if he had finally made something of himself.
Back then, I wanted to lead you all to prosperity, but you looked down on me. And now? Aren't you still coming to join me, Zhao Erhu?
As the Taiping Army consolidated its rule over Jiangnan and began making probing attacks into Jiangbei, more and more commoners became displaced refugees, fleeing northward, fleeing toward places with food.
Being outside the mountains and not far from either Lu'an or Shucheng, this area frequently encountered groups of fleeing refugees of all sizes.
Refugees sounded like pitiable people with nowhere to turn, driven from their homes, unable to eat their fill or keep themselves warm. And they truly were pitiable. If they had a choice, no one would want to live like that. They were all just struggling to survive.
But pitiable as refugees were, they could never be called kind. They were hungry! They had no one to rely on! And there were many of them!
As they drifted from place to place, the timid ones stole, the bolder ones robbed, the boldest ones killed. Those even more audacious simply gathered into organized bands and became wandering marauders, burning, killing, looting, and bringing disaster wherever they went.
From that, one could imagine just how much pressure Zhao Erhu's fellow villagers endured every day.
The looks cast their way by every passing band of refugees made them feel as though thorns were at their backs, fishbones lodged in their throats, needles beneath their seats. They had gone numb from being watched.
Finally, with the recent developments, the commoners had noticed Huo County's unusual troop movements and