Chapter 48 Death and Life
Li Changfa led this mighty army along the Yanshui River in the direction of Yan'an Prefecture. Hundreds of people who had come all the way from Yanchuan gathered beside the road. They were all looking forward to the team tremblingly, calling out the names of their relatives. Seeing this scene, the women who were walking in the middle of the team and being led by ropes also rekindled hope in their hearts. Regardless of their shame, they looked towards the crowd on the side of the road. The common people who recognized their relatives bravely rushed out of the crowd, took out pieces of silver or large handfuls of copper plates, knelt down to the soldiers holding the ropes, kowtowed, wailed, and begged.
Those who took back their loved ones kowtowed to the perpetrators and hugged each other while crying with gratitude. More people were kicked to the ground mercilessly because they could not pay a price that satisfied the military master. The young man searched hard for a long time but could not find his missing relatives, so he collapsed and wilted on the side of the road.
Behind the army, another large group of civilians followed from a distance, numbering several hundred people. These are family seekers from Yanchang County. They just followed the team and did not step forward. This is because they know that the female family members have just been kidnapped and the novelty of the military men has not worn off. At this time, claiming them will not only bring humiliation to themselves, but may even cost them their lives.
Therefore, they could only follow from a distance.
Instead of returning the same way, Li Changfa decided to march in the direction of Yan'an Prefecture, although he did not want to go back to the prefecture to "suppress bandits". General Li Shen knew very well: since the government has sent officials to the county seat, order has obviously been restored there. Moreover, it’s just a prefecture or county. If you really rob a dignified city for nothing, this matter will be bigger. Don’t talk about yourself, I’m afraid Mr. Xiao won’t be able to handle it.
The reason why Li Changfa took a new path was because he knew that the way the army came from was in ruins. In the next few months, it is still unclear whether the rat sparrows in the fields will starve to death in large numbers. Returning back the same way is a loss-making business. Take a new path, even if there is no gold or silver worth grabbing in the countryside, "because of the enemy's food", the food that the sons and daughters eat will definitely not need to be produced by themselves.
Liang Laosi was walking alone on the road from Yan'an Prefecture to Ganquan, leaning on a wooden stick.
Liang Laosi didn't know where Ganquan was, let alone that in front of Ganquan were Yanzhou (pronounced "Fu", today called Fu County) and Yijun... But he could distinguish between east, west, north and south. He only knew that this road went south—— The thieves walked south along this road.
So he chased down this road.
Thieves always have to eat, and they have to stop eating. Liang Laosi has some dry food, which he can eat while walking. When the dry food is finished, he can eat wild vegetables or not.
He wants to catch up with the thief.
Thieves always need to rest, and when they rest, they have to stop. Liang Laosi could keep walking. When it got completely dark or he couldn't walk anymore, he would lie down on the side of the road with his clothes on and get up again in the dark.
He wants to catch up with the thief.
Liang Laosi made up his mind that as long as he still had breath, he would catch up with the thief, even if he had to crawl.
Liang Laosi risked everything to chase, not to fight against the thieves. Instead, he will surrender to the thieves.
A few days ago, Liang Laosi, who had not found his family, followed the crowd back to Yanchuan with Master Yan. After being stopped at the city gate, he returned to the village. He saw his home burned down with his own eyes, but he still held on to a glimmer of hope: It would be nice if someone could escape.
Wherever people are, there is home.
In the ruins, he saw two corpses, big and small, that had been burned to charcoal. The bigger one had no head. He knew that it was his father. No need to ask if you are young, yes.
Liang Laosi, whose mental and physical strength had reached the limit, howled like a wolf, then his vision went dark and he collapsed on the ground.
When he woke up, he found that he was lying in a hastily built shed, surrounded by several busy neighbors, old and young - their home was gone, and everyone built a temporary shed to shelter. All the farm tools with iron heads were taken away, and each family took turns digging some shallow holes with a few remaining wooden shovels, so that the dead could be buried first. Later, Liang Laosi, together with several other people whose female relatives were abducted, took hard buns with mixed noodles and wild vegetables collected by the villagers, and embarked on the road to find their wives.
At this time, his wife became his only hope.
Like other villagers, the honest and humble Liang Laosi is very timid. He likes to take advantage, he is selfish, he has some simple cunning... Yes, that's right. But he didn't dare to rebel, he had never thought about it. Although his ancestors were illiterate farmers for generations, everything he had been exposed to since childhood told him that rebellion is a heinous crime, many times more serious than beating one's father and scolding one's mother for being disobedient and unfilial. Those who rebel are extremely bad. Bad and evil people are all evil spirits. Sooner or later, their whole family will be killed, and they will be struck by thunder from the sky and thrown into the frying pan after death.
As for the sins he suffered, they were all fate.
Liang Laosi had always believed in this.
However, at this moment, Liang Laosi was a little suspicious. If one’s family’s nightmare, as well as the tragic death of the ignorant child, were all due to the karma of sins committed in the previous life... Could it be that the entire village had committed sins in the previous life?
Could it be that everyone in Yanchuan County had committed sins in their previous lives?
Going further: Could it be that everyone on this land...has committed sins in their past lives?
Or - God dumped all the people who had done evil in their previous lives on this land and then ignored them?
This land is a land abandoned by God. Are these people the people abandoned by God?
Liang Laosi couldn't understand. So I set out on the road with these questions.
At this time, Liang Laosi still didn't want to rebel, and he didn't even have the slightest thought.
He doesn't understand why the dead are like this. He just knows that he and his wife are still young. Now that the tragic death of his father and son has happened, he should bury this grief in his heart. As long as there is still a glimmer of life, people will... Live - even if you live like a pig or a dog, the old Liang family will still continue.
Well, alive.
Along the way he discovered some female corpses.
After careful inspection, he was slightly relieved: they were all women with small feet.
Many families in the Ming Dynasty would bind girls' feet as long as the conditions were slightly better. But if the family background is really poor, women are often talented. Because the family expects them to work in the fields, having their feet bound is equivalent to being half disabled. Of course, a gifted girl can only ask for a smaller gift when she gets married.
The talented captive women were driven by whips during the day to pull carts and carry burdens like animals, and at night they were dragged to various camps for the soldiers to vent their anger. Not to mention that women with small feet cannot do such physical work. Just walking will take a long time and they will not be able to keep up with the team, thus becoming a burden. Li Changfa and other generals and soldiers rushed to Yanchang anxiously. Unless they were outstandingly beautiful, they might be left behind by the generals. Other burdens, the fate waiting for them was to vent their revenge and be abandoned like worn shoes!
Then again, in such a poor place, how could there be a few outstandingly beautiful people who could be retained by the generals? Although the soldiers are not very picky-but they are all still thinking about the new trophies ahead!
The soldiers who are at the bottom of society have no mercy in their hearts. Like Zhong Ayi, they usually have only one way to have fun: bullying weaker people.
They almost never see women, and they are full of savage curiosity about the female body structure - so the abandoned corpses on the roadside are almost without exception the result of being tortured and killed after having their chests and stomachs cut open to see what was going on.
Liang Laosi finally caught up with Li Changfa's team.
He wanted to step forward to identify, but was pulled back.
Turning around, he saw an old man, staring at him with a pair of cloudy old eyes and shaking his head: "You child, please bear with me for a few more days, waiting for them to grab a new woman. Now you go there to get a knife!"
Liang Laosi knew that the old man was right.
For his own life, to reunite with his wife, for the incense of Lao Liang's family, to survive... these days, he was wandering like a pig and dog in the wilderness a hundred feet away from the team, surrounded by a group of people like him people.
At night, he seemed to hear his wife's screams.
Not just him, everyone seemed to hear the screams of their loved ones.
Cry.
Bear with it.
It will be fine when it comes to extension.
It would be fine if you have suffered what you are destined to suffer.
Then, you can live.
Unexpectedly, when Yanchang County was in sight, the army divided.
Liang Laosi and the others rushed between the three camps like crazy, but did not dare to step forward. They ran from west to north and then east all night, hoping to distinguish the screams of their loved ones in the dark night, and then croaked around in agony.
All wails sound the same.
All the wailing sounds are tearing and gnawing at the hearts of Liang Laosi.
The army entered the city.
Anyone trying to escape from the city would be blocked head-on.
Or, he would be attacked by chaos blades and die on the spot.
Seeing the billows of black smoke and hearing the vaguely distinguishable screams, even though they were outside the city, Liang Laosi and the others knew what was happening in the city.
The army left the city through the west gate.
Liang Laosi, who was guarding the outside of the north gate, rolled and crawled like crazy and ran towards the west gate.
He rushed up a small slope.
From a distance, he really saw a familiar figure in the team!
There were several people beside this figure, and each of them had a straight rope placed on their shoulders. They were towing a large cart.
Liang Laosi was about to rush over, but suddenly, the familiar figure staggered and fell.
The figure fell down, and the wooden wheels of the cart behind her ruthlessly ran over her under the action of inertia. The cart bumped, stagnated, and continued to move forward.
The west wind brought a whimper from the figure, very light, like a sigh. This is the last sound my wife makes in this world.
The clear sound of whips and scoldings, along with a sudden burst of screams from the team, shook Liang Laosi's eardrums. There was a "boom" in his brain, his feet were empty, and he fell heavily.
By the time he crawled out of the dry ditches all over northern Shaanxi, the team was already far away.
He crawled over on his hands and knees, but his wife had already been dragged to the side of the road.
The heavy cart ran over her belly, and her intestines flowed out and dragged her for a long time. Of course, she was already dead after being run over by the wheels and stepped on by countless pairs of feet. The bloody feet, the numerous scars on his body, especially his wide-open eyes, crushed Liang Laosi's cowardice, perseverance, and hope... everything about him to pieces!
Liang Laosi's old world collapsed.
Liang Laosi dragged his wife to a shallow ditch and buried her.
No one helped, everyone was following the team, hoping to find their relatives. By the time Liang Laosi filled up the shallow ditch with the loess in his hands, the team was no longer visible.
Liang Laosi limped away in confusion, and saw the body of an old man on the roadside with a wooden stick next to him, so he knelt down and kowtowed, picked up the wooden stick as a crutch, and continued to walk mechanically.
Liang Laosi, who sprained his ankle, could not walk fast. As we approached Yan'an Prefecture, we met some lucky people who had redeemed their relatives along the way. According to them, the team had turned north a day ago and should have gone back to Yulin.
Liang Laosi thought about it for a while. I can't walk fast, but even if I can fly, what can I do if I catch up with the army?
Liang Laosi sat on the side of the road, numbly thinking about the fact that he had been taught since childhood that thieves who should be afraid of and guarded against did not harm the countryside. Instead, they gave his father dozens of kilograms of grain, and the whole family died miserably when they were supposed to protect themselves. In the hands of the officers and soldiers - my father's head was cut off by them to receive the reward!
Liang Laosi didn’t understand the principle of not drinking from the stolen spring until he died of thirst. Liang Laosi still hadn’t figured out why the rebels must be demons. Liang Laosi no longer wanted to wait for the souls of rebels after death. Thunder. Liang Laosi only knows one thing: he once had a family that was far from perfect but still manageable, and now he is alone.
Liang Laosi is no longer afraid.
Now that I have lost everything I was afraid of losing, it doesn't matter anymore.
Liang Laosi wants revenge.
Liang Laosi wants to kill someone.
Liang Laosi wants to kill the dog officers and soldiers.
No mercy!
Therefore, Liang Laosi had only one option: surrender to the thieves.
Liang Laosi swam across Yanshui and embarked on the official road leading to the south.
One afternoon a few days later, Liang Laosi finally encountered the surveillance cavalry of the army behind Guan Shengyun's army. He also saw the smoke rising from the temporary camp of Guan Shengyun's troops from a distance.
So he walked down the official road, sneaked into the bushes nearby and continued walking forward.
Guo Qinglin has been very happy since noon today.
Finally arrived at Ganquan - well, it doesn't matter what the name is, as long as there is a river!
Pushing the boat along the official road is an eternal wonder. After the scorching sun caused several boats to dry out and fall apart, the captain of the national team had to organize people to pour well water on the boats every time he arrived at the campsite - some even brought water to the boats when boating on dry land. This is no joke. What!
Seeing the river, Guo Qinglin asked Guan Shengyun early to stop today's march and set up camp as soon as possible. Then they arranged for people to carve out a slope on the shore, built a simple dock, and pushed all the boats into the river. It will be very easy for a while in the future.
The captain of the country became more and more happy as he thought about it, so he asked a few brothers to empty a small boat and row upstream to avoid the bustling ship unloading yard, hoping to catch a few fresh fish to reward themselves. A few miles downstream of the unloading site will be very lively, and fish will be frightened away or dive to the bottom of the river. If you want to eat fish, you have to paddle upstream.
Liang Laosi was so anxious that he waded through the bushes one foot at a time and made a lot of noise, so he was discovered by the cavalry.
Several cavalrymen galloped over to find out. Seeing the cold light of spears and sabers reflected in the setting sun, Liang Laosi jumped into the rushing Luoshui River in a hurry, and was immediately rushed downward by the rapid current.
The cavalrymen did not know at first that the movement in the bushes was a person. They thought it was a trapped deer that they wanted to catch and beat as a sacrifice. When he saw clearly that it was a beggar who had thrown himself into the river, he ignored him, turned around and rode away.
Liang Laosi, who was exhausted, hungry and mentally and physically exhausted, had been holding on with only one breath these days. After struggling for a while, he was no longer able to resist the rapid river water, and he was washed downstream with the current, floating and sinking. Finally, the last bit of strength was exhausted, and Liang Laosi gradually began to lose consciousness.
Liang Laosi, whose face was full of water, felt a slight soreness and swelling in his eyes - at this moment, tears flowed down.
However, his whole body was submerged in the water, and no tears could be seen on his face. He wanted to shout loudly: "I am not willing to accept it!" He opened his mouth and a large mouthful of river water came in.
Liang Laosi knew that he was going to die too.
Just die. If you die, you can be reunited with your family again.
At the last moment, Liang Laosi felt a sharp pain coming from the top of his head, and he vaguely thought: It turns out that the death from drowning was caused by severe pain in the top of his head.
Then, he was pulled out of the water by his hair.
Guo Qinglin also didn't expect that the "big fish" he picked up had a name.
Liang Laosi.
