Chapter 1234 Winter

In Lianshan, it was already winter, and a group of people were trekking in the forest. From a distance, they could see the light of fire coming from the mountainside in the distance.

The long journey had already made Feng Shi very tired, but after seeing the torch-like light, he was like a chicken blood, and his vision of the future immediately suppressed the double fatigue of body and mind.

Feng Shi was a real mountain dweller. His ancestors moved into the forest to avoid disaster and barely took root in the mountains. When he first entered the mountains, there were more than a hundred people with the surname Feng, but now, with relatives and friends, there are only a dozen people.

The village where he lived was called Qingmu Village, and the name was named after a nearly thousand-year-old green tree in the center of the village.

Qingmu Village was also glorious a long time ago. Just like Lianyun Village, it was a large village. Every year, or every one or two years, there would be merchants from outside who came from afar to trade with the village.

But later, as time passed, natural disasters and man-made disasters caused Qingmu Village to decline. Later, merchants stopped coming because of the low profits.

By the time of Feng Shi's generation, there were only more than 200 people in the whole village, and most of them were elderly. There were fewer young and strong people and children.

Among them, the fewest were children. As mountain people, it was not surprising for a couple to give birth to more than ten children in twenty years, but the environment in the mountains was harsh and the mortality rate of children was extremely high. Often, out of a dozen children, only three to five could successfully grow up to more than ten years old and start working.

Among them, girls were more likely to die.

This was not because the mountain people would abuse their daughters, but in the harsh environment, boys were naturally stronger and more likely to survive.

In fact, in the mountains, daughters were very precious. Villages generally intermarried, that is, if one village married a daughter out, another village would also marry a daughter in.

Although such rules are backward and cruel, and can even be said to treat people as objects, they are also the way for the village to survive.

But only in this way can the village continue.

If there are no daughters in the village to exchange with other villages, the only way for the village to survive is to spend a lot of money to buy wives from merchants.

As for if there are no daughters and not enough money and goods, the village will naturally perish over time.

Lianshan Baizhai has formed a fragile and stable ecology over the long years, which fully demonstrates the law of survival of the fittest.

Those young and strong who can't marry a wife have only two ways, either to perish from now on, or to follow the merchants out of the mountains.

As for gathering in the mountains, turning into bandits, and robbing other villages, this will attract hundreds of villages to attack!

Qingmu Village is now in such a situation.

There are fewer and fewer girls in the village, and the young and strong can't find a wife at all, and the people brought by the merchants are too expensive.

As for going out, it is also a gamble.

Even if the outside world is peaceful and prosperous, a mountain dweller without a household registration may not be able to survive outside even if he tries his best.

This is even more true in troubled times.

Therefore, when the legend of General Yingtian gradually spread in the hundreds of villages in Lianshan, those large villages were fine, but the young and strong in the villages that were already on the verge of extinction were extremely excited.

The mountain people as a group are not lacking in survival wisdom and have their own shrewdness, but in other places, their ideas are also very simple.

That is, the outside world is unfamiliar, but General Yingtian is different. When various legends spread and become a topic of conversation after dinner, they will naturally no longer be unfamiliar after a while.

Especially when they knew that the Yingtian Army was recruiting soldiers, many young and strong who couldn't find a wife were tempted.

However, the distance between villages is long and the mountain roads are difficult to travel. In addition, when recruiting soldiers, the recruiters have to record the family situation of the young and strong, and only recruit people from the village. This has dispelled the idea of ​​many mountain people to join the army directly.

And things that are difficult to obtain are undoubtedly easier to make people think about them day and night. In this situation where they cannot get them temporarily, the young and strong in the village will constantly imagine their brilliant future after joining the army.

This is the case with Feng Shi. He was born with some bravery. When he was twelve years old, he started hunting alone. At first, he just set up some small traps, but later he learned to make his own rough bows and arrows, and his archery skills were gradually honed.

Now, within twenty steps, there are few targets that he cannot hit.

More importantly, although he can't write, he has a little culture. When he was seven or eight years old, a Taoist came to the village. The Taoist lived in the village for a while. He liked the Taoist very much, so the Taoist told him a lot of stories and taught him how to judge some things through the environment.

This made him much better than the average mountain people in farming and hunting.

He is only sixteen now. If he is given another ten years, it will not be difficult to save enough money to buy a wife.

Before the appearance of General Yingtian, saving money to marry a wife was his life goal.

But now, his idea is completely different.

Along with the legend of General Yingtian, there is also the wonderful world outside, with picturesque mountains and rivers, being appointed as prime ministers, having luxurious clothes and delicious food, and beautiful wives...

This is the reason why many mountain people give up their stable lives and choose to join the army.

Everyone knows that war is dangerous and one could lose his life if he is not careful, but when he knows the outside world, the desire in his heart can no longer be suppressed.

This is the case with Feng Shi.

He believes that he is not inferior to any mountain people. Whether it is hard work, bravery, character, or ability, he is good in everything. As long as he joins the army, he will be able to stand out quickly with his own ability.

In addition, the legend of General Yingtian also gave him strong confidence.

That was the descent of the gods. Even the two emperors, Chidi and Baidi, recognized each other. Even some villages, their ancestors, for the sake of the future of their descendants, did not hesitate to offend the ghosts and gods, so that they could not rest in peace after death, and warned their descendants to seize the opportunity.

Of course, more importantly, General Yingtian did show extraordinary magic.

It turned out that the general was trapped in the mountains. Before the lack of military rations, the mountain gods drove the beasts to be hunted by the Yingtian army. In the end, there was so much meat that they could not eat it all, and it was directly piled up into a mountain.

Later, the general burned the wasteland and cultivated the land, and God also bestowed dew, which increased the grain output per acre of land tenfold.