Sweet Dreams in Famine Years: The System Leads to a Brilliant Life

Most of these disaster victims were ordinary people who were unarmed. When they saw the soldiers approaching with weapons in their hands, they suddenly became panicked and dared not take a single step forward.

At this time, the leading officer slowly took out a notice, stood in front of everyone, read it loudly, and then posted the notice on the city wall. The officer's voice was particularly harsh in the silent air, and everyone held their breath and listened attentively.

When the contents of the notice reached the ears of the victims, their already terrified faces instantly turned as pale as paper.

"The imperial court is conscripting men! Oh no, run!" Someone shouted first, breaking the silence. As soon as the voice fell, the originally silent victims suddenly fell into panic, running around like frightened birds.

However, the soldiers who were on high alert had already taken precautions and quickly surrounded the fleeing crowd. The leading soldier shouted coldly: "Anyone who dares to move will be killed without mercy!"

Although the threat was in front of them, there were still some people who took advantage of the chaos and quietly fled to the side. However, before he could run a few steps, the officers and soldiers swung their swords like lightning, the blades cut through the air, and then there was a muffled sound, and the escapee fell into a pool of blood in an instant.

"Ah! Murder! Soldiers are killing people!"

The crowd instantly fell into chaos. The people gathered here were originally some refugees who were suffering from hunger and cold, and many of them were on the verge of starvation. When they saw the city gate open, they thought they had their last chance of survival. Who would have thought that this was a trap set by the imperial court to capture able-bodied men? Death was inevitable, and the refugees were filled with despair and anger - rather than being forced to die tragically on the battlefield, they might as well take a gamble and see if they could escape this disaster.

With this thought in mind, the refugees no longer cared about being afraid of the officers and soldiers, and fled in all directions, trying to find a glimmer of hope for survival in the chaos.

Zeng Zhengen was alerted the moment the soldiers read the notice. Without hesitation, she used her Qinggong skills to quickly leave the city gate and ran towards the resting place without looking back. When she returned to the resting place, she didn't even have time to catch her breath, and immediately shouted to remind everyone: "Everyone, run! The court is conscripting men!"

After that, Zeng Zhengen quickly ran to Zeng's house. Seeing her mother and family busy, she also joined the packing team. She hurriedly explained to Zeng's mother: "Mom, hurry up! We have to leave quickly! The soldiers at the city gate have started to capture able-bodied men, and they will catch up here soon."

The three little guys were also helping to pack up. Seeing this, brother and sister Zeng Sicheng and Zeng Sirui also followed suit and helped.

Soon, everyone packed up their things. Zeng Zhengen swiftly carried the three kids onto the wheelbarrow and tied them up with cloth strips to ensure they would not fall off during the escape.

Zhang Jiajun opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say that he could keep up with the team. But Zeng Zhengen did not give him a chance to speak, and decisively interrupted: "Everyone will run in one direction in a while, and it will be crowded. You are young and have short legs. You will definitely not be able to run faster than the adults. It will be easy to be pushed to the back. That will be dangerous."

Her words hit the nail on the head. Faced with such a large-scale escape, once they were separated, it would be extremely difficult to find each other. Zhang Jiajun stopped talking after hearing this, but he was secretly annoyed in his heart, blaming himself for growing too slowly. If he grew faster, his mother wouldn't have to worry so much.

"Mom, I will eat well in the future and grow up quickly so that I can be as tall as you. Then I can protect you." The third brother Zhang Jiahu suddenly said solemnly.

The tense atmosphere instantly eased a little with his naive promise, and everyone couldn't help but feel a little relieved.

Zeng Zhengen couldn't help but smile and responded softly, "Okay, then I'll wait for you to grow up and protect me."

After Zeng Zhengen finished speaking, he pushed the wheelbarrow back in the direction he came from.

The Zeng family also placed the two children on the cart and retreated closely following Zeng Zhengen.

Wang Huan followed the Zeng family, but she couldn't help but miss her mother's family. She hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to go over and call them. But at this time, Zeng's mother glared at her coldly and said mercilessly: "Old family, you have to think it over. If you get separated from the team later, we won't wait for you."

Zeng's mother's words were powerful. She had long been impatient with the clinging Wang family, who were like dog-skin plasters. Zeng's mother really didn't want to have anything to do with them anymore. Moreover, Zeng's daughter had explained the situation at the city gate clearly when she came back, and asked everyone to pack up and retreat. As long as the Wang family was not ridiculously stupid, they should have been ready to catch up with the team.

Hearing this, Wang Huan's face changed color. He didn't dare to hesitate any longer and hurriedly chased after the Zeng family, fearing that he would be left behind.

At the same time, other villagers in Dapo Village also packed up their things and followed the Zeng family to retreat. Everyone was orderly and moved quickly, not daring to delay for even a moment.

Meanwhile, the Wang family had just come to their senses from the conspiracy. They had been discussing for a long time, thinking about how to take advantage of the chaos to blame the Zeng family and get some benefits from it. When they were about to take action, they suddenly found that the Zeng family and other villagers had begun to retreat.

Several people were stunned, not understanding what was going on. When Zeng Zhengen called for everyone to retreat, they were busy discussing countermeasures and did not hear it at all.

"Dad, what should we do? Everyone is retreating, should we keep up?" Wang Dachui asked anxiously.

Father Wang looked at the crowd rushing to the back like a tide, and was at a loss for a moment. He looked around blankly, but could not find any trace of Zeng's family.

"No rush, let's wait until they retreat far away, and then follow them from behind." Wang's father said calmly, as if he had everything planned out with confidence.

However, the Queen Mother felt a little uneasy as she watched the retreating team. She couldn't help but whispered, "Boss, are we really not going to retreat with us?"

The king's father glanced at her coldly, his voice full of impatience: "Why are you following? Don't you see there are so many people? What if we get separated? Besides, when they are far away, we can follow behind them. Not only will we not have to squeeze, but it will also be safer."

Wang's father has always been the head of the Wang family. No one dared to refute his decisions, and Wang's mother had no choice but to stop talking. Seeing that the Zeng family and other villagers' team had gradually gone away, the Wang family felt that the time was right and was preparing to slowly follow them.

However, just as they were about to set off, the soldiers at the city gate had already caught up with them. The soldiers, armed with weapons, had fierce eyes and hurried steps, and quickly surrounded them.

The Wang family was so frightened by this sudden scene that they stood there in a daze, not daring to make any more rash moves. Before they could react, the soldiers rushed up and grabbed Wang Dachui without saying a word.

"Sir, sir, why are you doing this? What have we done wrong that you are arresting my son?" The Queen Mother was so frightened that her face turned pale. She did not dare to throw a tantrum like she usually did. She could only suppress her panic and ask in a low voice.

"The border war is tense, and the court is short of troops. All adult men over the age of sixteen must be arrested and conscripted into the army." The soldiers' cold words were like a bolt from the blue, instantly stunning the Queen Mother.

Conscripting men? How could this be possible? If their son was conscripted into the army, how would they survive?

The Queen Mother knelt down on the ground, tears falling like beads from a broken string, and begged in a trembling voice: "Sir, please don't arrest my son! He is the only strong laborer in our family. If you take him away, how can we, old bones, live?"

The Queen Mother’s earnest pleas did not win the officers and soldiers’ sympathy. After all, these soldiers were just following orders and it was impossible for them to soften their hearts just because of a few pleas.

At this moment, Wang's father fell to the ground and suddenly began to act. He continued to pretend to be seriously injured, and even to make it more realistic, he gritted his teeth, cut his finger with a sharp stone, and then smeared the blood on the corner of his mouth, pretending to be dying.

Originally, an officer was about to step forward to arrest him, but when he saw the blood on the corner of Wang's father's mouth, he couldn't help but hesitate for a moment, thinking that this man looked like he would not live long and it would be useless to arrest him, so he gave up on arresting him.

Upon seeing this, the king's father secretly breathed a sigh of relief, feeling fortunate that his little trick had worked and that he had temporarily escaped this disaster.

The Queen Mother kept begging for mercy from the officers and soldiers, but these officers and soldiers were only following orders, so how could they possibly show mercy to the Queen Mother?