Chapter 45 Military Disaster
Although Guan Shengyun took away most of the boats, there would always be some boats that slipped through the net in the river branches and reed marshes. The adults searched them here and there, and found more than 30 ships of various sizes. According to the plan, Yan Wenlong, Mo Hantao and others left Yan'an Prefecture with great fanfare. After creating enough momentum, they changed to the waterway, followed the Yan water, and divided their troops at Heijiapu: Yan Wenlong abandoned the boat and landed on the shore to "recover" Yan'an. Sichuan and Mo Hantao continued to take boats to "recover" Yanchang. The reason for this distribution was that after all, the latter had been in prison for so long, and his body could not bear the long journey on the road. Taking a boat down the river would save some effort.
Unexpectedly, just after arriving at Heijiapu, Mr. Yan was getting off the boat in a lively way. Someone suddenly discovered in horror that thousands of people were pouring in from all over the mountains and plains in the distance! Are the thieves not gone yet, or are they coming back to kill them, or are the people who have been unable to make a living after the catastrophe gathered together to commit robberies? The officials did not expect to encounter such a situation. Mr. Yan, who was so angry just a moment ago, was the first to jump back on the boat, dive into the cabin, and loudly ordered to moor to the other side immediately! How could the boat boss dare to neglect him? The oar was rocking rapidly and he was so exhausted that he was sweating profusely, but the boat didn't move at all. A series of vicious scoldings and threats of curses spewed out from the mouth of Mr. Yan, who was dressed in green and wearing a small cap. Fortunately, Ding Zhuang on the shore discovered that he had forgotten to untie the mooring in his haste, and the boat was still firmly tied to the tree on the shore, so he hurriedly stepped forward to untie it. open. Unexpectedly, before the kind man could board the boat, the boat shot towards the other side like an arrow.
In desperation, the good-hearted man threw his clothes into the river, grabbed the rope in his hand and stretched out his hand to climb up the side of the boat... There was a crisp sound of "pop" and a broken finger bone, accompanied by a scream of "ah!" The ruler struck hard, and then there was a loud shout: "Gou Cai, let go!"
The situation of other boats was similar, and they were rowing towards the south bank of Yanshui one after another. The warriors who had already boarded the north bank jumped into the river one after another and swam towards the south bank, while those who didn't know how to swim fled to the east and west sides, and some were jumping on the bank, shouting, cursing, kneeling and begging...
Liang's family has been living in Yangjiayuan on the outskirts of Yanchuan County for generations.
Although his name contains the word "老", he is actually only twenty-five years old. Of course, he is in vain. He was indeed four - he once had three brothers, but they all died before they reached adulthood. When Liang Laosi was five years old, his mother also died. Now there are only four people in Lao Liang's family: his father Liang Tou, his wife, and a four-year-old baby.
Life was hard.
The land here is very barren. In good years, the yield per mu can be more than 100 kilograms (Ming Dynasty, 16 taels). In bad years, there have been times when the seeds and grains cannot be harvested. During festivals, or when heavy physical labor is required during the busy farming season, you can eat one or two completely dry meals a day. At other times, half dry and half dry with some wild vegetables will be fine. At its worst, it eats grass roots and tree bark. You have to be careful when eating tree bark, otherwise, you will eat yourself to death in a short time...well, or starve to death.
The most delicious thing is elm bark. Some people who don't understand peel off the bark, boil it until it becomes soft, and chew it directly. Under normal circumstances, it won't take long for them to bloat to death - the bark is just bark, no matter how soft it is, it won't be much softer. They can barely swallow it, and their stomachs are full of crude fiber and cannot be digested. If you feel uncomfortable in your stomach, you will want to drink water. The crude fiber in the stomach will be soaked in water and swell, bursting the stomach. The pain will make the person roll on the ground for an hour or two, or even longer before he dies. At this time, if you meet an experienced and well-intentioned person, he or she will give the family members advice and give them a heavy blow on the back of the head with a thick wooden stick to end the pain of their loved ones as soon as possible. There is no way they can be saved. If you eat too little, you won't be able to survive without bursting your stomach. The digestive juices of the human body cannot dissolve these things, so they all pile up in the gastrointestinal tract and eventually die. Longer and more painful.
The rough outer bark of the elm tree cannot be eaten, but the soft inner part can be eaten. Peel it off, peel off the old outer skin, cut it into sections, spread it out to dry, and then grind it into powder with a mill. This can be eaten, or you can grind it with acorns and mix it. The only problem is that it's a bit dry: it's like human shit and sheep shit, with black balls. However, he can survive.
There is also knowledge in peeling off tree bark. You can't dig around a tree, otherwise the tree will die - when you kill all the trees around you, you will not be far from starving to death. Cut it lengthwise and leave half of it, so that the tree will not die and it will save your life when you need to count on it next year. Under normal circumstances, there is no need to worry about not having enough food: don’t forget there are tree roots too! As tall as the tree is, so are its roots! Moreover, the roots of the tree must be numb. In total, the bark wrapped on the roots is much more than that on the trunk. You can feel free to dig up half of the roots, peel off the skin, grind them into powder and eat them. As long as you don't dig out the main root, the tree will always give you a chance to survive.
It is indeed hard to live a life of chewing tree bark from time to time, but since I never know what the happy life of other people and other places is like, and since I became sensible, I and the people around me have lived this way. Liang Laosi also thinks that this is the way to live. Life is the normal state for everyone in this world, so it doesn’t feel bitter.
Like other neighbors, Liang Laosi's father, Liang Tou, worked hard and used the few buckets of food he had saved for many years to marry him a wife when he was 20 years old. My mother's family is from Fengjiagou, not far away. Seeing that this family is just a couple and they are all strong workers, the marriage was agreed to happily. Soon, a boy was born in the family. Old Liangtou felt so sorry for his grandson that he would eat the mixed noodles and steamed buns closely. One time, his grandson dropped a broken bowl that had been cured twice. Liang Laosi slapped him in the face. Before his grandson could cry, Lao Liangtou's slap hit his son's head... His grandson and grandpa also Very close.
Not long ago, I heard that thieves were coming, so Lao Liang and his family hid in the ravine with the villagers. After a few days, people came out one after another from the county town. It is said that the thieves were not much more ferocious than the officials. They only robbed the rich and did not cause much trouble to the poor except for the small ones. Lao Liangtou was thinking about the broken things in his broken house. His son and wife did not stop him and ran home. Two days later, Lao Liangtou was so happy that he ran back without seeing anything. He said that the thieves were all gone. Before leaving, he opened the county warehouse for everyone to collect food. He went there boldly and carried dozens of grains on his back. The pound of food is coming home. So the people who were hiding all returned to the village. Sure enough, things were still the same at home. The thieves only attacked the county town and did not go to the countryside.
That night, Lao Liangtou dug out some of the buried grains, and the whole family ate a delicious meal in the dark. Most of them continued to be buried: there were hundreds of families in the village who had the courage to go to the county to carry back grains. There are less than ten households in the country. Don’t let others know about the fact that your family has food!
A few days passed, and the days completely returned to normal. That day, Liang Laosi went out to cut firewood early in the morning, and took a look to see if the trap set in the forest could catch any rabbits. At noon, as soon as Lao Liangtou came back from the fields to amuse his grandson, Yangjiayuan was surrounded by officers and soldiers. It sounded like they came from Yulin.
The officers and soldiers said they were looking for rebels, so they went from house to house looking for things, not sparing any of the better ones, and they were all robbed. At first, Lao Liangtou was worried that the secretly stored grain would be discovered - it was buried shallowly beside the kang in the house and covered with torn sacks and loose skins of straw used to ignite the fire. So he stood in front, bowed his waist, said good things and begged the soldiers pitifully.
The baby was so frightened that he cried loudly, and his wife quickly hugged him and comforted him. The baby buried her head in her mother's arms and cried. Although the wife's face was smeared with pot ashes, the baby's tattered clothes did not cover the outline of her breasts, so a few guys still had bad intentions. Several people looked at each other, then two of them came over and dragged Lao Liangtou out of the house, while the other went to pull his wife. The baby hugged her mother tightly and refused to let go. The guy got anxious and grabbed the baby's neck and pulled hard. The baby's cries immediately stopped and were suppressed. When Lao Liangtou saw that his grandson was in danger, he didn't know where he got the strength. He bit and grabbed the ground to break free, and the two of them rushed forward. As soon as he took a step forward, he felt a chill in his heart. He lowered his head and looked down, and saw a bright knife tip coming from his chest. came out. Lao Liang's head fell to the ground, and what was reflected in his gradually dilating pupils was a hellish scene: the baby was carried upside down by the legs, and his head was smashed on the edge of the kang. His wife was pinned down by several people on the dead baby. beside……
Almost at the same time, the whole village exploded, and everyone ran out one after another. Those who ran fast saved their lives, while most of those who ran slowly died in vain.
The people who ran into the fields were horrified to find that people from several surrounding villages were running out. It seemed that Liujiayuan and Fengjiawan were not the only ones who had fought. Fear spread quickly, and more and more people ran. Liang Laosi, who was dragging firewood home, saw it from a distance, dropped the bundle of firewood and ran back towards the crowd. He recognized someone from the same village and stopped him to ask. The man didn't know what happened to his house, so he struggled to get away. Shouting to let him run away from the military disaster together. Of course Liang Laosi wouldn't listen, and dodged back. The cat was looking in the ditch at the entrance of the village, and then he saw the flames shooting out of his house. Just as he was hesitating whether to rush back to see what was going on, he suddenly saw some bloody corpses lying on the road. Liang Laosi understood: going back would be a dead end. Then a lucky thought arose in my mind: Did my father, wife and children also run away? If this is the case, it's better to look for it first, and come back if you can't find it, otherwise your life will be in vain. Liang Laosi turned his head and ran southward, chasing the fleeing crowd.
He was in his prime, and he was empty-handed and without any belongings. In less than an hour, Liang Laosi caught up with the crowd, walking through the crowd, calling loudly for his father, wife and children. That night, the crowd that had lost their minds just took a rest in the wilderness. Liang Laosi and other people looking for their relatives didn't get much sleep. They stumbled around all night and continued to call with hoarse voices.
At dawn the next day, the crowd continued to flee south. It was almost noon, and these people who were fleeing almost scared Master Yan to death.
When Mr. Yan saw clearly that the dark crowd turned out to be ordinary people, he suddenly understood most of it: it was caused by deserters. It seemed that the army had already arrived in Yanchuan!
As the saying goes, bandits are like a comb and soldiers are like a grate.
Everyone is familiar with combs, but many people may not have seen grates. In the past, due to the limitations of living conditions, it was impossible to take a shower and wash your hair at any time. Secondly, what followed was people's self-exculpation, that is, making excuses for objective existence. The best example is Lao Bei & Jing Zhajiang Noodles. Obviously I couldn't afford large pieces of meat and was greedy, so I chopped up some minced meat, mixed it with the killer salty noodle sauce, Xilihulu, and swallowed it with a big bowl of noodles. But... the men of Huangchenggen must not lose face! So I made excuses. Don't have too much diced pork, too much will taste bad! What we men pay attention to is eight small plates of side dishes, shredded carrots, green radish, cucumbers, gluten shreds, cabbage shreds, mung bean sprouts, soybean sprouts and green beans! Vinegar, where's the vinegar? Chili oil, pepper oil, coriander, green onions... in short, I have to prepare all the free ingredients! Hey, I almost forgot, garlic, you have to have garlic! understand? This is called being particular - stop it now! Get a table of Dongpo elbow, skinny shrimp, big crabs and see what this particular person eats! I'm sure he'll pretend not to hear anything you say and don't respond. Wait until he raises his head and then tell you about the art of playing eight small dishes...don't ask, the bottom of the plate must have been bottomed out! Okay, let’s get back to the topic. Because you can't wash your hair at any time, similar taboos have arisen: it is unlucky for a girl to wash her hair, and washing her hair too much will damage her vitality. The grate is the solution to the problem of not being able to wash her hair at any time. The teeth of the grate are very dense, and cute little creatures such as lice and fleas hidden in the hair can be "grated" out.
Bandits and rogues, because they are afraid of the encirclement and suppression by the government and the army, pay attention to coming and going as fast as the wind. Everywhere they go, they will conduct a rough search and then run away immediately. Of course the people should run if they can, and hide if they can't. For this reason, whether it is people or property, as long as it is hidden, there is always a high probability that it will be missed.
But the officer army is different, especially the guest army (soldiers from outside), they will never be polite to you! On weekdays, military pay is deducted by officers at all levels so that there is nothing left, and food can only be said to be in a state of starvation. The only opportunity to make a fortune is to suppress bandits!
Speaking of which, if you catch the bandits, will you fight with the red-eyed desperadoes with real swords and guns? Regardless of whether he can be chopped or not, even if he really has the head skill, if the officers at each level deduct a little, how much money can they get? Is it worth it to fight for your own mouthful of mixed noodle buns that you can barely starve to death? Therefore, as long as you are not stupid, of course you will not chase after it with all your life.
But for the people in the "bandit areas", it's a different story. The bandits ran away to report a "great victory". Let's lay the groundwork. In order to "completely eliminate the remaining bandits", we need to conduct a serious search, right? Everyone is rummaging through boxes and cabinets, who knows what you have picked up? Let alone raping a few women, even if you behead the person, as long as you insist that the head belongs to a bandit or a bandit's family member, the dead cannot speak, so who can do anything to you? Besides, you can justly say that it was bandits who did it. It was obviously a fool from the countryside who got the wrong person! The local civil servants will definitely not dare to confront you directly - otherwise, if something like this happens again in the future, they will die in the city, and no one will come to help him again! Therefore, at this time, the officers and soldiers will not be in a hurry to leave to chase the bandits, but will slowly search and search carefully. Over time, they will become experienced in this area. By the time they leave, this place will be basically empty and there will be nothing. Will stay with you. It's as clean as a grate.
Faced with this kind of military disaster that seemed to be eradicating the roots, the people naturally wanted to run as far as they could.
Therefore, when Yan Wenlong identified the fleeing people, he knew that the government troops had "recovered" Yanchuan - if it were bandits, the people would not have run so far and there would not be so many people!
