I am the Odd One Out Chapter 26

Some residents of Xi Town packed their bags and followed the footsteps of the refugees out of the south gate of Xi Town to join relatives and friends in a foreign land. The panic of fleeing spread in Xi Town. As more and more refugees came in through the north gate, the residents of Xi Town followed the refugees out of the south gate one after another.

Some people also think that leaving is not the best option. Although the Beiyang Army was defeated and turned into bandits, they are not bandits after all. They will not take root on the ground. They will just burn, kill and loot during their escape. As long as you avoid them, after they are gone, Xi Town will still be the current Xi Town. town. Some people think of thousands of acres of reeds and say that reeds are a good place to hide. This idea was approved by many people, but how to hide in the reeds? Some people said using a boat, but others immediately said it wouldn't work. How many families can be loaded into the bamboo canopy boats and larger wooden boats moored at the dock? Some people say that Leo Lin's woodworking club should quickly build a few boats. Everyone shook their heads. They said that the Beiyang Army was close at hand. Not to mention that there was no time to build a ship, and there was no time to even make a footbath. This person argued that there was no time to make the footbath. An afternoon was enough to make the footbath. Everyone retorted, could a footbath hold 20,000 people in Xizhen? At least 20,000 footbaths must be made, and it is difficult to fit an adult in one footbath.

At this time, someone said that they could build some bamboo rafts. As soon as they finished speaking, a few smart people ran away, ran home, picked up their axes, and ran towards the bamboo forest in the west mountain. In the afternoon, the West Mountain was full of men from the creek town. The sound of cutting bamboo was mixed with the sound of shouting. The lush bamboo forest soon became deserted. They removed the branches and leaves on the mountain, cut the bamboo into the same length with a splitting knife, and then carried the bamboo tubes down the Western Mountain to the waterside of Xi Town. The flat area by the water was soon covered with bamboo tubes. They tied them with hemp ropes first. Take out the skeleton, and then put the bamboo tubes one by one to build a bamboo raft. The waterside of Xi Town was bustling with people, and excited children were running around there. It was the first time for many people to tie a bamboo raft. They were learning how to tie it right away. When binding the bamboo tubes with ropes, they did not double-bind them, but tied the bamboo raft like firewood.

Two days later, patches of bamboo rafts stretched out into the water, just like the rice fields lying in patches after the autumn harvest. The men who finished building the bamboo rafts returned home sweating profusely and with bloody hands. Their women had packed their bags and were ready to board the rafts and hide among the thousands of acres of reeds. The rows of bamboo rafts made the remaining residents feel more at ease. They planned to board the bamboo rafts and escape into the reeds when the defeated Beiyang Army approached.

Several families were worried that the Beiyang Army would sneak up on Xi Town at night, so they packed their bedding in advance. After dark, they carried their bags on their backs and went to the waterside, boarded bamboo rafts and propped them up toward the reeds. Their figures gradually disappearing in the moonlight made other residents of Xi Town panic. They felt that these leaving families must have heard the news, so they followed suit one after another, taking advantage of the night to take advantage of the night with their children to help the old man climb the bamboo. After the raft and more figures disappeared on the water, rumors came that the Beiyang Army, which was burning, killing and looting, was only more than ten miles away from Xizhen. For a while, the waterside was crowded with people fleeing, and they pushed and shoved. On my own bamboo rafts, some fell apart before they could be opened, while others fell apart even when they reached the middle of the water. Many people fell into the freezing cold water, and some elderly people and children froze after just a few struggles. After it sank, other strong men and women desperately grabbed the bamboo raft next to them and climbed up. More bamboo rafts were overwhelmed and scattered, more people fell into the water, more people sank, and the cries for help flew away in the night sky of Xi Town.