Chapter 1: The Plague (Part 2)

  Yang Kaiyuan saw Yang Yingqi and was taken aback for a moment, then said: "What are you doing here? Go back quickly!"

  Yang Yingqi pointed at the crowd and said: "Don't worry about me for now, let's think of a solution quickly, or else everything will be looted in no time."

  The chaos of grabbing food is actually far from over, those who didn't grab are desperately trying to grab, those who grabbed can't help but want to grab more, and another hundred or so elderly and weak people stand by the side, not daring to join the fray, just hoping to pick up some leftovers after the big grab.

  Zhe Yan rushed to survey the surrounding terrain: this valley is roughly gourd-shaped, near the entrance of the valley is a narrow and long small valley less than twenty steps wide, behind the small valley is a large valley that is more than twenty times larger, and between the small valley and the large valley there is a mountain pass. The place where the rations are distributed is in this small valley.

  Zhe Yan bowed his head and thought for a moment, then asked Yang Kai: "Will you help me?"

  Yang Kai said: "If you have a way, I will help you no matter what."

  "Alright!" Zhao Yan Chong strode forward in big steps, saying to the over a hundred elderly and weak people: "Do you want food? If you still want food, listen to me and follow me!" His stature was very tall, Yang Ying Qi looked at his back and estimated according to another world's measurement that he should be over 1.8 meters. Zhao Yan Chong stood like this, shouting loudly, quite majestic!

  Those people looked at each other in dismay after hearing what Zhao Yan Chong said. After a while, an old man with the attitude of "a dead horse is better than no horse" took a step forward. Once one person took the lead, there was a second and third...

  Zhe Yan Chong had these people, one by one, hand in hand, blocking the narrow pass, and after several layers, he let a dozen or so people who seemed to have some strength take stones as the left and right wings standing at the front. Zhe Yan Chong and Yang Kaiyuan stood at the very front of these people, like two tigers leading a flock of sheep.

  The people who were rushing for food discovered that the commotion had already started to subside, and soon they all stopped. The people following Zhe Yan Chong were all old and weak, but with over a hundred people gathered together, they formed an unstoppable force. On the other hand, the people who were rushing for food were strong and numerous, but they were disorganized and scattered.

  The crowd quieted down and stared at Zhe Yan Chong, each wondering what he was going to do.

  Finally, a sixteen or seventeen year old boy with an evil grin on his face stepped out and said: "Who are you! What do you want to do with this bunch of good-for-nothings!"

  "Shouldn't I be asking you that?! Everyone has this ration, why are you snatching it away?!"

  "That young man sneered: 'This little food is not enough at all! If it's evenly distributed, everyone will starve to death together! In that case, we can only let the strongest person survive!'"

  Zhe Yan Chong said: "I ask you, how much grain is there? How many people are there here? If we divide it evenly, how much will each person get?"

  "That youngster furrowed his brow and said: 'I don't know! Who cares about him?! I only know that dividing it equally will definitely not be enough to eat!'"

  Zhe Yan Chong said: "I heard that a month ago when we just came in, there were more than 2,000 people, but now there are less than 1,000! The number of people has decreased"

  More than half is gone, it should be enough to eat, but why is it still not enough?

  "There are fewer people, but there's also a lot less food."

  Zhe Yan Chong continued in a stern voice: "Why is it much less!"

  Everyone looked at each other in dismay, and the young man seemed to have thought of something, furrowing his brow. Zhe Yan-chong said: "Think about it, everyone, why would our rations be gradually reduced? Is it because the Khitan people want to save a little silver? No! They want us to kill each other!"

  The crowd was in an uproar, and Gu Kou left from a distance. Those soldiers didn't know whether they hadn't heard clearly or weren't interested in understanding, and they also didn't come to ask questions.

  "When the epidemic first broke out, why did the Khitan people want to treat us with kindness in addition to isolating us? Because we had over 2,000 people! If they forced us to riot, it would be a difficult situation to control - especially since many of us were infected with the disease and close combat could spread the disease to the soldiers. Even if they brought in archers, there was no guarantee that they could wipe us out completely. As long as three or five of us escaped, who knows, maybe the epidemic would break out again somewhere else!

  Zhé Yàn Chōng paused for a moment before continuing: "So, when we still had over 2,000 people, the Khitan people provided food for 1,500 people; when we had 1,500 people, they provided food for 1,000 people. Now that we have less than 1,000 people left, I'm afraid the food here can only feed 500 people at most! The people in the valley are not only sick but also starving! Before long, we will be left with only 200 people, 100 people, a few dozen, or just over ten people. Will they still treat us kindly then?"

  It's hard to say whether the actual situation is like this, but most people who think about their recent circumstances all believe it. Even that young man was shocked and said: "Could it be that they want to wipe us out completely?"

  "Did you think the Khitans would let us leave alive?"

  Upon hearing this, the crowd was already stirred up. Yang Yingqi thought to himself: "Yan Zhongge's words just now may not hold up to careful examination, but in a situation like this, they are more than enough to deceive people's hearts. First use danger to scare people, then unite them - this method of incitement has been used countless times by leaders of peasant uprisings throughout history, but to be able to use it so consciously... somehow it feels like the thinking of some modern people." By this point, he was already 70-80% convinced that Zhe Yan Zhong was his "older brother from a past life".

  Yang Yingqi calculated that Zhe Yan Chong's next move would be, and thought to himself: "Regardless of whether he is my brother or not, I must help him." Taking advantage of the distraction, he slipped into the crowd unnoticed.

  "But I'm not sick, I just have a fever! It has nothing to do with the epidemic!"

  Someone else said: "I was ill, but I'm all better now! Look, I can even kill a tiger!"

  "Enough!" Zhang Yan shouted loudly, "The Khitans don't care which of us are sick and which aren't! All they know is that as long as we all die here, they - especially those officials - won't be threatened by the plague!"

  Zhe Yan's words made everyone feel deeply desperate, and some weaker people even fell to the ground crying.

  The young man took another step forward and said: "Then you tell us! What should we do?"

  "Listen to me! Follow me! Most of you will survive!"

  Yang Yingqi almost laughed out loud in the crowd, and the masses who were wandering aimlessly in danger often hoped for a strong leader to lead them. Zhe Yan's words clearly took advantage of this psychology. Yang Yingqi thought to himself: "Actually, my brother may not have a solution in his heart yet. But now we can only stabilize people's hearts first, otherwise the situation will only get more chaotic." The "brother" he was thinking of was not Yang Kaiyuan, but Zhe Yan.

  If it were in a peaceful time, there might not be even one person who would listen to Zhe Yan Chong's words, but now they have no other hope except for this "hero who has led over a hundred people" standing before them.

  "Anyone who wants to leave this valley alive with me, go left!" Zhang Yan shouted loudly.

  A child in the crowd supported a woman who was crying uncontrollably, leading her away. Yang Kaiyuan was shocked to discover that the child was actually Yang Yingqi, while Zhe Yan's face remained expressionless.

  Then an adult walked over, followed by a middle-aged person... In an instant, most people had moved to the left side, leaving only a dozen or so still hesitating, including the young man who was arguing with Zheyan.

  Another young man walked a few steps forward, he was not tall, but the flesh on his body was as hard as stone. Yang Yingqi saw that when he moved, people around him gave way to him, and no one dared to get close to him within two steps. He thought: "This person is not old, but it seems that he is a tyrant in this valley!"

  The young man said in not very fluent Chinese, "I don't quite understand what you're saying, but now you - and the people behind you - get out of my way. I'm going back to the valley." His hand was still holding half a bag of wheat - the most precious part of all the rations.

  Yang Yingqi frowned heavily as he watched from the side, not knowing how to break this situation for a while. Suddenly, someone behind the crowd said: "Let's let it go, I'll pass..." A middle-aged man with a hunched back and constant coughing came out.

  That sturdy young man saw him and exclaimed: "Master! How did you come!" But he spoke in Jurchen.

  That middle-aged man smiled slightly and said, "I saw you didn't come back for a long time, so I came to take a look." Zhao Zheyi glanced at him and said, "I'm Di Yu, how should this hero be called?" It was the standard Bianliang accent.

  "Zhe Yan Chong!"

  Di Yu nodded and said to the boy who told the truth: "Listen to him."

  "But..."

  Di Yu seemed as if he might tumble over at any moment, but his tone brooked no dissent: "Listen to him! Aru barbarian!"

  Arumand finally put down the sack of wheat and walked to the left. The people who were still hesitating also eventually went to the left.

  Finally, the first young man who came out to ask questions walked up to Zhe Yan Chong and asked: "Are you Zhe Yan Chong?"

  "Yes!"

  "What is your relationship with Dasongzhai?"

  "I don't know!"

  The young man hesitated for a moment and said: "I don't know what method you have to let us leave here, but I temporarily decide to help you! By the way, my name is Ouyang Shi."

  Yang Yingqi let out a sigh of relief when he saw this, knowing that with the attitude of these most difficult people, the situation in the valley could be initially stabilized.