Chapter 272

The originally somewhat depressed dark and thin man stood up immediately upon hearing his wife's words.

He said with a somewhat heavy tone.

When he was young, his family still had some spare money, which exempted him from military service.

Although he didn't have to fight those Xiongnu on the battlefield, he respected those men from the bottom of his heart.

Although they were not full here, at least they could still survive.

If those men at the border couldn't eat their fill, I'm afraid they would even lose their lives there.

Although he didn't know many big characters, he still understood this principle.

The woman was scolded by the dark and thin man and wiped her tears with grievance.

Wouldn't she be thinking this way to let her children safely survive this winter?

The dark and thin man also knew his wife's thoughts; after scolding a few words, he didn't speak anymore, and the atmosphere between the two fell into silence once again.

In the main room, three dark and thin children opened their round eyes and looked at the situation outside the house.

None of them were very old.

The oldest one stood up and only reached the height of the rice jar.

They were located at the junction of the border and the Xiongnu.

Although there were troops guarding the surroundings, life was not easy.

The dark and thin big man looked at his children and sighed heavily in his heart again.

The smoke rising in the kitchen blew toward the sky.

Helian Bobo had long since brought a team of men and hidden in the dark.

It was not dark yet, and he could just see the cooking situation in every household in the village.

Smelling the faint fragrance of rice coming from the air.

"Make a move immediately after it gets dark; finish the battle quickly and don't delay."

"Eliminate everyone present to prevent the news from leaking out."

Helian Bobo's eyes were like eagle eyes, carrying a trace of coldness.

Looking at the small village below, his eyes were full of indifference.

The few big men nearby heard the Chieftain's words and all responded excitedly.

They were also smelling the faint fragrance of rice coming from the air.

Everyone was waiting for the arrival of night.

In the village head's house.

The village head was smoking his dry tobacco while calculating the grain and fodder to be handed over tomorrow morning.

After calculating the specific numbers, he sighed heavily.

"After this batch of grain and fodder is handed over, how many more people in the whole village will starve to death?"

His voice was somewhat muffled.

The village head's wife heard the village head's words and could only sigh heavily.

Their family was in the whole village.

Considered to be in relatively good condition.

For those whose family conditions were worse, I'm afraid they could only survive for two or three days after this batch of grain and fodder was handed over.

Afterward, they would have to eat tree bark and mud all day long.

But with their family's conditions, even if they wanted to help, they couldn't.

Their family's conditions were just barely enough to keep everyone fed.

"It's fine, this winter is a bit harder to endure."

"When the time comes, organize the villagers to go to the mountain to see what can be eaten."

The old village head was silent for a long time, and finally, he thought of a way.

Fortunately, there was a small mound behind their village.

Although it was called a small mound, it was also a large forest, just not comparable to those deep mountains and old forests.

"Sleep, sleep, it's not early anymore."

"You still have to go and hand over the public grain tomorrow morning, so rest early now."

The village head's wife sighed and blew out the candle nearby.

As the lights in a few houses went out, the whole village slowly fell into silence.

Except for the bird calls coming from the deep mountains in the distance...

There were no other sounds.

Helian Bobo looked up at the sky.

The whole sky was pitch black.

Clouds hid the moon's radiance in the dark.

A little bit of light was revealed, illuminating the whole earth.

Sensing that it was time.

Helian Bobo waved his hand at the brothers behind him, and everyone stood up excitedly.

They knew it was time to launch an attack.

The sound of horse hooves rang out.

The vibrating ground began to tremble.

Some people in the village who hadn't slept yet naturally felt the vibration coming from the ground.

"It's not good, don't sleep."

"It might be mountain bandits."

Some experienced people immediately realized something was wrong.

Although the young people were not bad now, these people had also experienced turbulent times.

From time to time, mountain bandits would come to the village to rob grain and fodder.

Feeling this movement once again, everyone knew that the mountain bandits had come.

The dark and thin man pushed his wife awake at the first moment.

Then he looked at his three children.

The three children were all blinking their eyes and looking at their father, their eyes full of fear and panic.

"Stone, Dad will hide you in a moment; remember not to make a sound."

The dark and thin man looked at his eldest son and said seriously.

He had to prepare for the worst.

The best outcome would be that those mountain bandits would leave after grabbing the grain and fodder.

The worst outcome might be the slaughter of the village.

The oldest child heard his father's words and shook his head in panic.

He looked at his father with some fear.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid."

"After this group of people leaves, Mom and Dad will carry you back again."

"You must watch your two younger brothers and tell them not to speak."

The dark and thin man's fan-like palms slowly fell on the tops of his three children's heads.

Gently stroking, it seemed to alleviate the fear in the hearts of the three children.

When seeing that the three children were no longer panicked, the dark and thin man and his wife began to pull at their bed kang.

There was a hole under their bed kang.

This was a place where every family hid their own things.

The hole was not big, but the three children could barely hide underneath.

……

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