During this period, the population of the Eastern Han Empire was more than 50 million. In today's world, it is already a very large number, and it is definitely the world's number one.

But compared to the later generations he is familiar with, this number still seems very small.

Especially scattered on such a vast land, except for a few densely populated areas, most of the Chinatown at this time was in a state of no rooster crowing thousands of miles away.

Moreover, during this period, the agricultural development of the vast territory seemed quite insufficient, and undeveloped wasteland, mountains and forests were everywhere.

Looking up, Guo Peng couldn't see much farmland, only weeds and trees everywhere, a primitive landscape.

So Guo Peng understood what he heard from the Cao family about what was going on when many famous scholars left the capital and fled to the world when they encountered ****.

It is purely because the land is not developed properly, and there are wastelands and forests everywhere, and wild fruits everywhere.

Moreover, those places are often sparsely populated, and no one eats wild game all over the mountains.

The famous scholars walked along the way to pick them up, ate wild fruits and game, caught some fish in rivers and lakes, settled in places with few people, and relied on the mountains and rivers to eat water. They could survive without farming, just like primitive people.

Guanzhong and the Central Plains are logically well developed areas. They are relatively densely populated, but they can still see the scene of thousands of miles of wilderness.

This is the case in the Yellow River area, let alone the undeveloped Jiangnan and even the farther Lingnan. It is estimated that it is still in its true primitive era now.

Along the way, in addition to the primitive landscape, Guo Peng also saw many people fleeing in groups.

He was dressed in rags, with his family, his face was gray, his eyes were dull, and he staggered step by step. As he walked, someone rushed forward and could never get up again.

There are many elderly people, children, men, and women.

They seemed to be commonplace with death. When they saw someone falling down, others stepped forward and carried the body away, threw it into the jungle on the side of the road, and then returned to the team to leave.

If there are relatives, they will cry a few times. If there are no relatives, they will only expose the corpse in the wilderness, which will turn into nutrients for the land and a fatal source of bacterial infection.

Some of them also showed vicious murderous intent and impulse when they saw Guo Peng's convoy.

But when he saw the ferocious knight riding a horse in leather armor, holding swords, spears, swords, halberds and bows, he showed timidity, lowered his head, and did not dare to raise it again.

Guo Peng was once soft-hearted and wanted to take out some food for those thin children who were only boneless, but was stopped by the follower Cao's guidance.

"It's useless. Even if you give it, you will die later. Those who want to die will die. If you are lucky, you will have a lot of food. And if Dalang gives it, our convoy will not leave. If you get it alone, others will also ask for food.

There will be more and more people, blocking our convoy. When the food is sent out, the people who have not received it will still be resentful, thinking that we have food but don’t give it to them. If we incite a little, we will attack in groups. These dozens of us are not opponents of so many people. It is best to treat them."

The guide gestured at the steel knife in his hand, held it tightly, with a cautious look on his face.

Guo Peng was speechless.

It seems that the guide is familiar with this.

On one hand, there are abundant life and carefree family children, and on the other hand, there are amazing poverty and miserable deaths. The gap between the rich and the poor is so big that it is the end of the world.

With this, it is not difficult to imagine why Zhang Jiao’s Taiping Road has so many believers.

It is easy to live and simple to die, and the lives of the people seem to be so worthless.

Their lives are indeed worthless, illiterate, have no land, cannot engage in management, or production.

High officials and powerful officials are busy fighting for internal struggles and fighting for power and profit. Where can we care about the lives and death of the people?

Anyway, as long as there are not too many people in their manor who die.

As for those bankrupt self-cultivated farmers, they just want to plunder the land.

However, people facing death and elimination are always full of the spirit of rebellion and rebellion, and the opportunity for changing dynasties is brewing in it.

Nowadays, the orders of the central government of the Han Empire are no longer so effective and cannot exert their ability to regulate macroeconomicly. The entire country has declined bit by bit, and is shared by powerful people who have swarmed in the local area, causing a tragic riot.

There is no winner, the loser is the entire nation.

From the Yellow Turban Rebellion to the Three Kingdoms Return to Jin, the population of more than 50 million in the late Han Dynasty was mostly lost.

Modern people seem to be just a string of numbers, but in that era, what Guo Peng saw were rotten corpses and thick white bones.

Famine triggers escape, escape leads to death, death leads to larger and more terrifying bacterial infections and plagues, and together with war and hunger, tens of millions of people died miserably.

After arriving in Chenliu County, Guo Peng's convoy set out northwest and was better off walking on the official road, but Guo Peng could always hear the guards who went to the weeds on the side of the road to communicate in a low voice about how many corpses and bones he saw.

He didn't seem to think it was strange, but he got used to it. Guo Peng could only order when he saw the corpses that were not restrained, he would set a fire to burn the bodies, and he would not be able to bury them.

What kind of world is this?

When people fell asleep late at night, Guo Peng would ask himself this way. At first, he was a little confused, but soon he figured it out.

From ancient times to the present, China and abroad, the world has never changed. No matter where in the corner, there is always a "numbers smell like wine and meat, and the road is frozen to death."

It has never changed.

Now he can do nothing.

So Guo Peng quickly learned to watch coldly.

Occasionally, when he saw teams of famine refugees walking past him, he would just face a cold face, hold the weapons in his hands tightly, and act with his guards to act as a warning posture, making these refugees afraid, fear, and speed up their passage.

And he never expected that he would be robbed by bandits on the road.

Those who cannot survive are unwilling to starve to death, so they become bandits and rob merchants who come and go on the road. It can be said that it is normal.

However, facing so many knight guards in the Cao family, Guo Peng did not expect that someone would still dare to rob.

The robbers are quite brave and have a little calculation. When they robbed, they probably saw the weapons in the hands of the Cao guards. They thought these people were not easy to mess with, but they also felt that there must be a lot of treasures, so they really couldn't help but feel that they were greedy in their hearts.

They launched a sudden attack.

Without regular weapons, they attacked with stones that were available everywhere. Stones as big as fists hit the convoy from all directions, which was quite dense, causing the convoy to be in chaos for a while.

Some were hit on the head, some were hit on the body, and some were hit on the horse and were startled and threw the guard off and ran away.

Guo Peng was caught off guard and saw a stone flying towards his door, but he didn't react.
Chapter completed!