After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times

Chapter 1164 - 1146: Fu Chang

Fu Chang hasn’t heard any news. He’s currently hiding in the deep mountains with his two sons. There are thirty-nine households, a total of one hundred and eight people, hiding in the mountains with them.

However, they initially had more than eight hundred people. But as they fled all the way to this point, when they were getting closer to Luoyang, news came that Prince East Sea and his entourage of more than two hundred thousand people had been annihilated. Before they could recover from their grief, they encountered the Xiongnu army.

Judging by the direction, the Xiongnu are planning to attack Luoyang. With Prince East Sea taking so many people, Luoyang’s defenses are weak; how could it possibly hold?

Fu Chang dared not go to Luoyang and immediately ran into the mountains with his two sons.

During the escape, many refugees knew that Fu Chang had some skills, and seeing him run into the mountains, they followed him.

With Xiongnu soldiers wielding knives chasing them into the forest, under the shadow of death, this group fled for a long, long time. When they finally couldn’t run any further and stopped, they found themselves deep in the mountains and didn’t know how to get out.

Excluding those who scattered along the way, Fu Chang finally counted a total of ninety-two people who had made it together.

They temporarily dared not go out. With the Xiongnu rampant, they didn’t know how Luoyang and Your Majesty were faring.

Fu Chang was worried, but soon pushed aside these major concerns. The most pressing issue at the moment was the survival of their group.

There were wild beasts and poisonous insects and snakes in the mountains. It was dangerous, but compared to the brutal Xiongnu outside, the refugees unanimously decided to live in the mountains.

They put forward two elderly people to speak with Fu Chang, "I see the terrain here is relatively flat, and you can hear the sound of water, obviously, there’s a water source not far away. Why not temporarily settle here and wait for the fighting outside to calm down before we go out?"

That’s what they said, but who knows when the war will end?

Fu Chang looked back at the way they came, but couldn’t discern the direction for the moment, so he nodded in agreement.

So they followed the sound of water inside. The originally flat terrain gently rose and then fell again. The dense woods were not suitable for living.

After walking for another quarter of an hour, the dim light, due to the tall trees, suddenly became bright as they moved forward. Everyone found themselves in a clear expanse.

This was a valley surrounded by three mountains. In the distance, water flowed down from the mountain stream and formed a large pool below. The water overflowed from the pool, forming a river.

The river divided the flat land into two sides. The side they were on occupied about two-thirds of the valley. Fu Chang’s gaze followed the river downward, where it seemed to disappear into the mountain on the right.

Fu Chang decided to settle there. He led the people in building straw huts and opened up a lot of fields on both sides of the river. They carried very few farming tools, most of which the refugees used for self-defense.

They also had some grain and seeds.

Seeds are essential for fleeing. Refugees leaving their hometowns, except for those who fled suddenly, would carry various seeds with them after careful consideration. They were their means of starting over.

Fu Chang gathered all the seeds and found that there were mostly vegetable seeds, quite a few hemp seeds, but very few grain seeds. Speaking of grain, having reached this point, there were few families that could distinguish between grain seeds and food.

Most people had already begun to eat the grain seeds.

So he could only try to pick out some grain from the food to use as seeds.

The mountain had plenty of resources. Although life was tough and they were often hungry, and occasionally bitten by poisonous insects and snakes, fortunately, Fu Chang knew some medicine and recognized herbs. Currently, no one had died from snake or insect bites.

As for wild animals, the able-bodied men usually went hunting in groups. With many people and fire, they could confront them.

The group settled there, and as three years passed, they lost a few people, but the village also gained new lives. The small village, known as "Xing Village," began to have newborns.

Living in the mountains and starting from scratch, time flew by, and it was hard to perceive the change of time.

Fortunately, Fu Chang never forgot the time outside. When he decided to stay, he had his eldest son, Fu Yong, start recording dates. Once they ran out of paper, they carved on the rock walls, to avoid forgetting the current date.

Fu Yong carved "July 8th, the fifth year of Yongjia, clear skies" on the rock wall, placed the stone shard in a fist-sized rock hole, and turned to find his father.

Fu Chang was in the field harvesting beans, and many villagers were working in the fields. An old man, very pleased, came over with a sickle and said, "County Lord, this year is another bumper harvest. I think the land at the foot of the mountain can also be cultivated."

Since they hid in the mountains, they had a good harvest. Well, last year there was less rain, even the water flowing from the mountain stream was significantly less. It usually flowed continuously, like endless fabric, but last year it poured out like water from a kettle, forming only two thin lines that even stopped for over ten days, truly scaring them.

Fortunately, the deep pool under the mountain stream stored enough water, and the mountain’s moisture was abundant, so they still had a good harvest. However, many wild animals came to this place last year. They lost three people chasing away the animals. Finally, Fu Chang had them step back, giving up the fields downstream to the mountain animals and setting traps in the middle to prevent animals from approaching. Their houses were mostly built upstream and near the mountain when they constructed them.

Seeing such anomalies with the mountain stream and mountain animals, Fu Chang knew there was trouble outside. He said to his two sons, "There is likely a severe drought outside. We don’t know how the war is progressing, and encountering such a natural disaster, it will probably be even harder to stabilize. Let’s continue living here and wait for the right time to leave."

Originally, he had already identified the direction. Over the past year, he figured out the way out through hunting and gathering, intending to leave after the autumn harvest this year. But now...

They decided to stay for another year.

This year, the water in the mountain stream finally returned to normal, and the number of animals coming to drink water decreased, so they knew the drought should have subsided.

But they still didn’t know what was going on outside.

Fu Chang initially wanted to go out. Now, hearing the old man mention continuing to cultivate new land made him even more tempted, so he said, "Our tools are heavily worn. Since we are going to cultivate more land, we might as well send people out to buy some farming tools after the autumn harvest."

They initially brought few tools with them, and with wear and tear, that number was even smaller now.

The old man didn’t want to go out, thinking the outside world was too chaotic compared to the peaceful life in the mountains.

With Fu Chang here, they didn’t have to pay rent or taxes, only a small amount of grain each year, which was used to support the elderly and orphaned. The valley’s soil was fertile and yielded well.

In just three years, they were able to fill their bellies. Though most of the meals were bean dishes, they were content.

Thus he said, "We could make farming tools from stone and wood. Haven’t we made many stone hoes and stone axes before?"

"But stone is heavy and can’t compare to iron tools," Fu Chang said. "Moreover, we’ve long run out of paper, and the mountain doesn’t have complete medicinal ingredients, so we still need to go out to procure some supplies."

He knew they had grown accustomed to mountain life and were resistant to going out, so he didn’t express the desire to find the court.