Chapter 9 The Avenue Leads to Heaven, I Walk on the Other Side
Before they walked on the official road to Shandong Prefecture, and now they are standing in a position that is perpendicular to the official road at a 90-degree angle. Tieniu also doesn't know where it will lead.
Yang Bo thought for half a day and stood up, casually tightening his belt with force. Through the tattered clothes, he could see his own emaciated body. The knife wound on his back was still throbbing painfully, those who wanted to cross over should take a look at his current miserable state.
"Come on, Iron Bull! We're not taking the main road. Let's go that way!" Yang Bo snapped a branch off and tested its length in his hand. The direction the branch pointed was towards the endless mountains...
Yang Bo finally made up his mind.
"Ah, let's go!" Unexpectedly, Tie Niu stood up without any objection.
"Hey Tieniu, why don't you ask us where we're going?" Yang Bo looked at Tieniu with some confusion as he carefully learned how to find a walking stick for himself and even tried out its length.
Tie Niu rubbed his head with a silly expression and smiled foolishly: "Then... where are we going?"
"Let's go into the mountains!" Yang Bo finally understood that his Iron Bull brother wasn't someone who liked to dig deep and ask questions.
Yang Bo turned around and said categorically
"What's going on in the mountain?" Tie Niu closely followed Yang Bo
"Tie Niu, do you think we can make it to Yunzhou Prefecture looking like this?" Yang Bo asked patiently.
"I really don't know..." Iron Bull shook his head. Today, they at least had half a pancake to fill their stomachs, but Yang's situation was hard to say, after all, he was still injured, and going into the mountains would definitely be more difficult than taking the main road.
"Do you know how much longer until we enter Shandong province?" Yang Bo asked again
"Should be soon, right?" Tieniu replied hesitantly, he couldn't figure out why Yangbo wanted to abandon the official road and not walk on it, there were still many relief supplies waiting for them at the prefecture.
"Alright, think again. Now Henan has suffered a disaster and so many people have rushed to Shandong. Can they get relief?" Yang Bo saw that Tie Niu didn't understand, so he changed his words: "In other words, even if we make it to Shandong, what if those officials refuse to provide relief?"
"Can't be, can it? We're all starving to death!" Tie Niu was startled. "The officials in our place said that as long as we get to the prefecture of Guanzhou, there's a way out. They also said that the emperor has stored grain in Guanzhou, and once we arrive, we can receive..."
"Hmph" Yang Bo sneered. These officials hoped that the people under their rule would die somewhere else, which was not surprising, and they didn't want to take responsibility, but such blatant deception was unforgivable. Looking at Tie Niu's shocked expression, he was probably still convinced that there was relief waiting for him in the front lines.
"Oh, so many good people!" Yang Bo sighed inwardly: "You have long been abandoned by the so-called imperial court, it's just that you don't know yet?"
"Big brother, what are we going to do?" Only after hearing that there was no food relief did Tie Niu start to panic.
"Into the mountain, into the mountain to find some living way..." Yang Bo pointed forward, in the distant and blurry outline, several towering mountains stood there.
"Besides, there are too many bandits on this road, our young and strong heads are worth a lot of money." Yang Bo added.
"Why is our brain worth more?" Tie Niu was even more puzzled.
"Isn't that easy?" Yang Bo smiled: "Whether it's pretending to be a Tartar or a bandit to get a reward, you can't take the heads of those who are old or women and children, right?"
"Hmm, that's also true... But big brother, isn't there nothing in those mountains?" Tie Niu seemed to be in a bit of a dilemma.
"Yes, there's nothing on the mountain by the road, but what about behind? What about in those mountains? Tributaries, you don't know what tributaries are? Anyway, we can't just follow them blindly and try our luck." Yang Bo explained for half a day, but Tie Niu still didn't seem to understand.
"Big Brother's meaning is that it's better to rely on oneself than to put one's hopes in those corrupt officials!" Yang Bo saw that Tie Niu didn't understand, so he didn't say anything more. Since they had already arrived at this place and encountered such a situation, complaining and self-pity were clearly of no use.
His only goal now is to solve the survival crisis first! If there's no food, maybe he can still hold on, but if his head is gone, it's irretrievable. Yang Bo no longer wants to rely on luck to take risks.
"Tie Niu doesn't understand these things, but wherever big brother goes, Tie Niu will go too." Tie Niu is obviously not a serious person.
"Good brother!" Yang Bo patted Tie Niu's shoulder with his hand. "Come on, Tie Niu, let's go into the mountains and try our luck!"
Soon, Yang Bo began to regret making this rash decision.
For two whole days, they walked for two whole days!
The original plan to find some food in the mountains clearly fell through, and when Yang Bo was extremely hungry, he even peeled a handful of grass roots and swallowed them down, if not for Tie Niu's desperate support, he would have fallen long ago.
But as they gazed out at the towering desolate mountains in the distance, both of their hearts surged with wave after wave of despair. They no longer had the strength to climb over these high mountains.
"Brother Iron Bull, put me down... " Yang Bo gently patted Iron Bull's shoulder.
"Tie Niu can definitely carry you over, once we get past this mountain, we'll be able to find some food, brother, you must hold on!" Tie Niu said stubbornly, panting heavily.
Yang Bo's eyes were a bit red "Good brother, go rest your feet over there first?"
Hearing Yang Bo's calm tone, Tie Niu finally put his mind at ease. Since yesterday, Yang Bo had been falling into a state of frenzy from time to time, saying things that Tie Niu couldn't understand, which made him very frightened.
Under a withered yellow tree, Tie Niu sat beside Yang Bo. Looking at Yang Bo's distracted eyes gazing into the distance, he had some words he wanted to ask but didn't know how to say.
"Brother Iron Bull..."
"Hey, big brother?"
"I'm afraid I won't be able to get out of here..." Yang Bo fell silent for a moment before speaking in a soft voice.
Tie Niu was startled and just wanted to speak when he was interrupted by Yang Bo.
Looking at Yang Bo's concerned eyes, Tie Niu suddenly turned red and choked: "It won't be, we're almost out of here, as long as we can get over this mountain... Wuuu"
Yang Bo smiled wryly, no matter how much experience he had, it was all in vain in this extreme environment. For the past two days, nothing had entered his stomach, and even in this scorching weather, he hadn't drunk more than a few mouthfuls of water. Although Yang Bo had used red-hot charcoal to cauterize the festering wound on his back, it had been lingering for two days without healing. Not to mention that his body was originally extremely weak, even an iron-clad person would be unable to withstand the journey here.
"Tiě Niú, do you believe what I'm saying?" Yang Bo smiled slightly and reached out to gently pat Tiě Niú's head.
"Believe it!" Tie Niu cried even harder
"That's good, Iron Bull, you know? These past two days, the more we walk forward, the thicker the grass on the ground becomes..."
Tie Niu stared at Yang Bo with his eyes wide open, he didn't understand what Yang Bo was saying.
"Tiě niú, you just need to keep moving forward, and you'll definitely find a way out! It's just that big brother is probably..."
Yang Bo's mental state was getting worse and worse, Tie Niu was a kind person, he couldn't drag him down anymore. As a modern person, Yang Bo had his own bottom line to adhere to, which was also his last bottom line. Perhaps by cutting off flesh from the starving man to eat himself, he could survive for a few more days, but he would rather die with dignity than do such a thing...
