New Shun 1730

After the team leader confirmed it again and again, he looked at the simple map again and still needed to make a difficult decision.

Once they crossed the mountain pass and ran out of food, if there was a problem with food, it would be a big deal.

This is not the army.

But even the army knows that if there is no food, they will have to mutiny.

At this juncture, the people from the surveying team said: "As the saying goes, do your best and leave it to fate. This matter will ultimately depend on God's will. The locals said that avalanches will occur from time to time at that mountain pass. If an avalanche occurs and the mountain pass is blocked, it means that God will not allow it. Crossing the mountains will really have to wait for three to five years, after Maple Bay develops, before we can cross it."

"But if God allows it, as long as we cross the mountain pass, it will be clear. Going down the river, fifty or sixty miles a day is no problem. At most, we can reach the Elbow River Bay in seven or eight days."

The team leader was silent for a while, nodded, and said nothing.

After waiting for the people to disperse, the leader who did not believe in gods and Buddhas still took out the fire rope to make incense, took a pot of wine, poured it on the ground, kowtowed three times in the direction of the distant snow-capped mountains, and prayed in a muttered voice that this time would be successful.

Finally, he made up his mind and issued an order.

Starting tomorrow morning, all fishing and hunting activities will be suspended.

The retired soldiers who had been with the team before and the local hunters of the fur company formed an advance team to open the way ahead and determine the situation at the mountain pass.

Most of the people behind had one meal every morning and evening, relying on dried meat and sugar, and they must cross this mountain range as soon as possible.

After the order was issued, the team's marching speed increased a lot.

The food they carried with them also decreased visibly. When camping at night, the panic, anxiety, and distrust of resentment accumulated and spread every day.

Beside the campfire, the two brothers Wang Long and Wang Biao chewed the hard dried meat and whispered their dissatisfaction.

There were four brothers, two of them stayed in the village in Fenglin Bay, and the oldest and youngest were on the list to move east of the mountains.

Both brothers got married, and their wives, who were clever and could weave cloth, all stayed there. The old father, who had endured the long and arduous journey on the sea, also stayed there.

Only the two brothers followed the team to continue their unfinished migration.

"Brother, do you think what they said is true? We have seen a lot of flat land along the way. There are fish in the river and beasts in the forest. I think it can accommodate thousands or hundreds of people in the village."

"Why do you have to cross the mountains when you don't want to cultivate the good land? Go to the other side of the mountain?"

Faced with his brother's doubts, Wang Long couldn't help but sigh, looking at the stars in the sky, and remained silent for a long time.

After a long time, he said, "Really or not, how can I know? But now it's like this, I have to listen. These days, we have been walking on mountain roads. How can it be like my hometown, which is flat and endless?"

"The masters have their own ideas about the court's affairs. They said they want to repair the Yellow River, so we have to move; we finally got here, and they said we have to cross the mountain. Who knows what they are going to do?"

Wang Biao whispered, "Brother, what's the difference between us and being captured to serve in the army? I don't know how to use a gun, but I still have a gun on my shoulder. I have to leave my wife, children, and parents, and I may have to build a garrison fortress. Isn't this the same as being captured to serve in the army? I don't want to be a soldier, I just want to farm well."

Wang Long thought to himself, who among the good people is willing to serve in the army? In recent years, the court has recruited soldiers in the Central Plains, but what kind of people are they recruiting? Either disaster victims or people whose families can't make ends meet. As long as the family can still make ends meet, who is willing to serve in the army?

Now, he felt that he was really deceived by the court. It was called relocation, but in the end, wasn't it the same as being a soldier? And being a garrison soldier?

When he got there, he had to farm and build a house, and he had to walk such a long way, and he had to leave his family there and didn't know when he could reunite.

When he first came here, Wang Long was still very happy.

The climate is indeed good.

There are indeed trees everywhere.

There are indeed plains and water.

It also looks like it can be farmed.

It was a bit hard at the beginning, but the most difficult sea journey was over. I just felt that with my own strength, if I worked hard for a few years, my family would have a hundred acres of land and raise a few cows and horses. What a good life that would be?

Even the old father who was most opposed to the relocation at the beginning became excited a while ago, and prepared to plant wheat in the spring, and even discussed building his own house after the wheat was harvested.

Who would have thought that a few days later, he and his younger brother would be called up, and they had to go.

Although his wife and children were taken care of by family members, and they said they would be reunited in three years at most.

But he thought the most difficult days were over, but suddenly got this news, and he had to keep going. And it was such a long way to go, and the animals were carrying seeds, and they were not allowed to eat.

How could he not be panicked?

When the seeds are planted in the ground, even if the gods come, they have to plant in spring and harvest in autumn, right?

Over in Maple Bay, at least the granaries can be seen, the stored food can be seen, and there are ships coming from time to time, at least they will not starve.

But now, the future is really uncertain.

People are always full of panic about the unknown future. Even if they move far away to Fusang and break away from the past, it is also a step into the unknown, and he endured it. But now, he who thought he had seen the good days in the future has to start a new migration, and it is a place where there is a clear shortage of seeds. This panic is unimaginable.

The court had money, and Wang Long probably knew that. So he knew that if they could buy seeds with money, the court would not let them carry seeds on the road. And if they couldn't even get seeds... what kind of terrible place would that be?

Fenglin Bay was different.

Fenglin Bay had no seeds, no stored grain, no houses, and no towns twenty years ago.

But he had never experienced all of this.

He came to Fenglin Bay, although it was strange, but familiar.

At least, there were towns, grain, seeds, land, farm tools, cattle and horses... Strangeness was different from hometown, but familiarity became familiar because of all these.

Now, it was completely different.

Walking on the mountain road, he could see snow-capped mountains, which he had never seen before. He had seen snow, but he had never seen a very high mountain. He heard that Mount Tai was very close, and of course it was not far from his hometown, but he still hadn't seen it. But even if he heard that Mount Tai was the highest mountain in the world, he had never heard that it was covered with snow all year round?

What he carried were seeds. He had lived a good life so far and had never experienced famine and migration. The only migration was to Maple Bay across the vast ocean. But even in Maple Bay, he did not bring seeds that were clearly forbidden to eat.

Settlement, migration, and the first batch of pioneers are three completely different concepts and three completely different lives.

He can accept the process from settlement to migration.

But it is really difficult to accept the transition from migration to the first batch of pioneers.

He grumbled a lot, but in the end, relying on the deterrence of court officials, the food in his pocket, and the hope that he could see the plain in at most half a month, although he was panicked, he finally suppressed it.

However, in the next ten days, this panic began to gradually intensify.

The food in his pocket was getting less and less.

The mountain road became more and more rugged.

The snow-capped mountains that could be seen from afar were like Sun Wukong trapped in the palm of the Buddha's hand looking at the Buddha's fingers. He felt that they were in front of him, but he could not get close to them.

Casualties gradually appeared in the team. Two people fell into the steep canyon. The team did not collect the bodies or find out whether they were alive. Instead, they just kept moving forward.

There were more and more complaints at night, and some people were even whipped in public for complaining too much.

When camping at night, people were not allowed to talk too much. There were always soldiers patrolling with guns and bayonets. Those who were talking there would be forbidden.

Fear, depression, and the unfamiliarity of military life began to accumulate among the crowd.

It was like a wooden barrel, with gunpowder constantly accumulating inside, more and more, to the point where it could be ignited with just a spark.

Although, in fact, the altitude of this mountain pass is only more than 1,300 meters; and the highest of these seemingly scary snow-capped mountains is only 3,000 meters.

But after all, they are just ordinary people, people who have not received military training and do not have many lofty ideals. For them, this is still a journey full of fear and anxiety.

The leader didn't know whether he only had high-pressure tactics, such as not allowing people to complain when camping at night.

The leader also tried to reason with them, expressed hope, and told them that victory was just around the corner.

But in the end, it was of little use.

Because the leader couldn't explain why they had to cross the mountains, when there were obviously a lot of flat land, river impact land and very suitable places for reclamation along the coastline on the west side of the mountains.

Even if the leader understood the significance of crossing the mountains, these significances were meaningless and unreasonable to these migrants.

For example, for China, for the future, for more land for future generations, for a better life for most people in the future... etc., the migrants didn't want to listen and didn't want to listen, and some of the reasons didn't make sense.

So, this mountain pass with an altitude of only 1,300 meters became an extremely difficult obstacle for this migrating team to overcome.