Outside Guzhou is Luzhou, which has abundant water and marshes. It has been located in the east of the Great Yuan Dynasty since ancient times. It is not as bitter and cold as Bailou Liuzhou all year round, but it is also not as rare as the southern part of the Great Yuan Dynasty. There is always flowing water, and in spring The ice is melting very fast, and when the Mangchi River is still frozen, Luzhou is full of rivers and streams. The spring flood has come, and the fish and fish fields in the shallows of mountains and rivers are fertile. This makes Luzhou different from the rest of Dayuan. Safari is the main activity. The number of living people is very small, but there are many people engaged in farming, mulberry, fishing and hunting. The people's livelihood skills are different from those in the rest of the Yuan Dynasty, but similar to those in the Zhongzhou and Xilu Three Kingdoms.
The water and swamps are everywhere, which is a very stable benefit for the people who are engaged in farming, mulberry, fishing and hunting. Being surrounded by mountains and rivers, they can naturally live on the bounty of mountains and rivers. Furthermore, because Luzhou is close to Guzhou, the entire Yuan Dynasty was originally When it came under the jurisdiction of the Royal Court, Luzhou was the only way to go from the Royal Court of Guzhou to the east of the Yuan Dynasty. Whether it was foreign merchants or scattered small businessmen in the Yuan Dynasty who could easily make money from fur goods, they all had to pass through it. Luzhou, where grain and rice are abundant and the people are skilled in fishing, woodworking, mulberry weaving, and weaving, also makes a lot of profits from it. There are no poor people in every house, no one picks up things on the road, and no one is on duty at night.
But ever since the Xu Meng Mansion colluded with various tribes to raise armies, Luzhou has never been as peaceful as before. First, the royal court deployed troops and horses to garrison in Luzhou to resist the Xu Meng Mansion's iron armies, which had high morale and was commanded by Huang Fuchao. The cavalry advanced westward, causing countless casualties. Even though there was a strong pass to block the iron hooves of Xu Meng's mansion, they were still unable to do so. They were quickly thwarted several times by the arrogant scholar who was good at arranging troops and using cunning schemes and destructive tricks. Withdrawing from the pass, Luzhou almost gave up and fell into the hands of Xumeng Mansion. If we say that in the past, when Luzhou had not fallen, the royal court was under the control of Shao Hehan. Although there were also corvees and taxes, it was far less than when Xu Meng's mansion came. He completely ignored the life and death of the people and took plunder. So much so that iron hooves were allowed to trample the entire precarious Luzhou at will. Every household had no food and no cold clothes. In just a few months in the middle of winter, Luzhou, which was originally considered to be one of the richest, froze to death and starved to death, almost occupying Luzhou. Thirty percent of the people in the state have their own families, but wild dogs in the countryside often eat human bones and become fat and strong.
Everything is easy to destroy. The people whose ancestors lived in Luzhou relied on the vast swamps and fertile soil to survive. In this war that only lasted for less than two years, there are rumors that those who are not lucky can still save their lives. Most of them were also displaced, with few family members and old friends left. They were no better than dogs and had to bear endless sufferings. Those who were extremely lucky would have died long ago when the first tribal cavalry rushed into Luzhou. He had just been stabbed, and he had nothing to worry about after his death. On the contrary, he was infinitely more comfortable than the other refugees who were struggling to survive.
Life is worse than death. Luzhou is like a piece of celadon that was born tall and graceful out of the kiln. Now there are only tiny fragments of porcelain left everywhere, which is shocking.
There is a family named Wen on Beishun Road in Luzhou, which lasts for three generations. They are all authentic Luzhou families. The men are engaged in fishing, woodworking and cultivating the fields, while the women often reel and weave clothes. They are very diligent and can do everything. It is an ordinary business, but after three generations, it has accumulated a large family fortune. The house is spacious and there is no need to worry about livelihood. Even the only son Wen Lingyu has been blessed by this blessing. He has been well-educated and knowledgeable since he was a child. , and with this ability, he became a teacher in a famous family outside Luzhou. He was highly valued by the elders of the famous family. Maybe in a few years, he could leave Luzhou and go to the mansions of various tribes. As an official, I saw that there was a blue cloud road reaching the sky in the future. However, since he was busy away from home, he rarely returned home, and there were often times when he did not return home for half a year. Wen's father died early, and the only person left in the house was Wen, who was already in his fifties. When Lingyu returned home, he brought back a gentle, kind-hearted and very good-looking woman. Soon after, it was revealed that the matchmaker was marrying him, which made the originally lonely Wen family a little relieved. Not boring.
Wen was an open-minded person and did not talk about sitting upright and showing proper etiquette. However, with her daughter-in-law in the house, the two of them, apart from spinning silk and weaving clothes and taking care of the mulberry trees, were washing clothes or chatting. Very congenial. In particular, she often talks about interesting things about her only son, Wen Lingyu, when he was a child, or old things about his early years when he was tired of school. The woman has a very good family and is also well-educated. Although she is considered to be married, she often hears what Wen said , I feel very close to each other, and over time, I have thrown away all the cumbersome rules between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and talked freely, which has made the lonely house here less difficult and boring.
In addition to such ordinary things, Wen still had to go to the Guanyin Temple in the city to ask for fortune-telling.
This was the case in the early years. Ever since Xian Hui's daughter-in-law came home, she went there more frequently. In addition to asking for autographs and asking questions on weekdays, of course she also had to ask for a son. She was very faithful. And whenever Wen Lingyu rarely came home for a short stay, she often had to ask for a son. The three of them went to the temple together to beg for a son, and they often said a few words, saying that Wen Lingyu should not just focus on running around to make a living, and go home on his own if he has nothing to do. Even if he forgets his mother, he must not neglect his virtuous daughter-in-law. I don't know whether it was Guanyin's pity or whether Wen Lingyu really heard it, but as expected, after returning home three times in a few months, he felt happy after taking his pulse and diagnosing it.
The child lands smoothly and smoothly, and can sit up with difficulty.
But within a year, news came that the Xumeng Mansion had raised troops.
No one could have guessed that the troops raised by the Xu Meng Mansion could sweep through half of the Yuan Dynasty in a few months, and they never thought that there would be so many tribes that obeyed the Yuan Dynasty. Throwing whips cut off the flow of water, and more than 400,000 horse hooves were like Thunder shakes across Luzhou.
Today's spring is deep and sunny. Mrs. Wen carefully closed the old firewood door and put the two wild vegetables hanging outside into her arms. After thinking for a moment, she returned to the firewood shed and listened to no sound around before daring to put the firewood in her arms. A hidden cellar door was opened, and I walked tremblingly into the narrow cellar. I didn't dare to hold the light, so I had to rely on the faint sunlight to find my way. I walked to the bedside, and in the dark I found an arm that looked like a dead branch. Using the skills of pinching the pulse that I had learned in the early years, I reluctantly took my skinny wrist and rubbed it for a while, and finally let out a long breath of turbid air.
"Since my mother-in-law came, she lit the oil lamp. Che'er was crying just now. Now she has fallen asleep. There is no harm in holding the lamp."
After the old woman lit the oil lamp, a pale and thin woman's face was revealed on the narrow bed. Under the weak light, she looked like a ghost. She was as tight as a ghost, but she still held a child firmly with her left arm, but the child did not look thin. Instead, it fell on the woman's skinny arms, making her look very strong.
Since the Xumeng Mansion tribal cavalry entered Luzhou and broke into the city without scruples, no less than a thousand ordinary people died from horse collisions or tribal swords and guns. Everyone left nothing, and they all fell into the hands of the Xumeng Mansion soldiers. In the end, people from the Xumeng Mansion came to Luzhou and saw such actions that were no less than massacres. They strictly prohibited the killing of people and the robbery. It was less, but it was still forbidden to go into houses to rob money and food, but it seemed that the people in the Xumeng Mansion were unwilling to establish such military laws, so they delayed it, fueling the arrogance. The Wen family's residence had long been occupied by soldiers, and no money or food was left. They had been exploited, but Wen never showed any dissatisfaction from the beginning to the end. Instead, she often brought tea and water to the soldiers who occupied the Wen family's residence. To protect himself from worries, even though he was often scolded as an old slave by those soldiers, he still never got angry.
A while ago, when the seasons changed from winter to spring, the daughter-in-law who was hidden by Wen in the cellar of the woodshed was very weak. Even though Wen gave his daughter-in-law and grandson the few grains and rice left by the soldiers, the woman only had a small taste and almost all of them were lost. He was given to a child, but his body became weak after going back and forth. Moreover, since the sun was out of sight here, he soon became ill. Wen went to the city for many days in a row to do the work of escorting and carrying food and baggage on his shoulders, so that he could get some copper coins. The doctor asked for several doses of medicine to avoid losing his life.
"I wonder if there is any news from my husband?" The woman was skinny, but her eyes rarely brightened when she mentioned this matter. The old woman hesitated for a moment and rubbed the woman's palm, "Relax, although the soldiers and horses of the Xumeng Mansion tribe are ferocious. , but Lingyu is a scholar. When you were in a daze the first two days, you received a letter from Lingyu, saying that although it was difficult now, you could still get enough. When you feel better, I will give you the book of faith. Listen, I don’t know much about reading, but I can still get by.”
When she was about to leave, the woman grabbed the old woman's sleeves, hesitated for a long time, and then handed the child in her arms to the old woman.
"Mom, please sell me."
"My mother was originally weak, and it became even more difficult after she got sick. I'm afraid she won't be able to survive when the situation gets better. Che'er is still in her infancy and needs someone to take care of her. If there are kind-hearted people, I can send my mother and Che'er to the peaceful world. I can feel relieved no matter what.”
The old woman walked out of the firewood shed tremblingly. She had not seen a grain of rice for many days. When she walked out of the Wen family's house, which was littered with empty altars, the sound of soldiers drinking and cursing could be heard in the house. There was also a woman crying and howling in extremely miserable ways. I don't know who it was in the city. A girl from another family, a good woman from a good family somewhere, but the old woman did not stop, but looked dull and walked slowly and slowly.
He walked out of the messy place that was supposed to be his house, avoided a few hungry wild dogs, walked through the streets full of homeless people despite the clear spring scenery, and finally walked to the Guanyin Temple that he visited most often in the past. , took out a straw stick from his sleeve, and inserted it into the gray hair that had not been inserted into a hairpin for a long time.
As if they knew the cruelty of their actions, in this city that was full of ruins, messes, and starvation, there was only such a clean place. There were children and women who were selling their children kneeling outside the Guanyin Temple, struggling to open the children's mouths, and letting the soldiers pass. The merchants begged bitterly, saying that the child's body was strong and that even after being beaten countless times, his body was still strong. There was a woman with two or three looks who sat sideways outside the merchant's car tent and put on her old, tattered and dirty clothes. Pulling it down a little, but there is really no food in the belly, and it is too cute to show the charming eyes.
Wen waited for a long time, but no one came to ask.
I thought that no one would buy an old woman who was nearly sixty years old, but the old woman still stood there. After a long time, she remembered that she should worship Guanyin, so she turned back and looked into the temple, planning to worship twice from a distance. Even if there is no fragrance in the hands, there is always sincerity.
I remember that there was always a clay statue of Guanyin in the temple with a deep smile and half-open eyebrows. But when the old woman looked over this time, she realized that the statue of Guanyin, which should have been unconscious and should not have changed, had closed her eyes tightly at some point.
I don't want to see this world.
Not far away, in front of the inn door, there was a soldier of Xu Meng's Mansion leaning against a sword. He looked at the old woman who was still kowtowing silently with delicate features.
