Wen Yi leaned against the door, watching the woman feed the little porridge in the bowl that could see the figure into the mouth of her son, who was just turning old, the one-year-old son was skinny, which was a typical symptom of malnutrition, and then looked at the daughter-in-law who was also yellow and thin, her face was full of sadness.

This is the last bit of rice in the family, and he watched the woman almost count the grains out of the rice bowl, and a small bit of rice is only enough to make a little rice soup for his son. But what about tomorrow, what about tomorrow? Adults can still settle, wild vegetable bark or something, they can always fool around, but the son is still so young, how can he survive?

The woman looked up at him, her wide, sunken eyes filled with despair.

Standing up, he tightened the straw rope in his waist, "I'll go to the town and see if I can find some odd jobs and earn some money to buy some rice." ”

After speaking, without waiting for the woman to reply, he turned around, lifted the flat hemp rope erected in the corner of the wall, and strode out of the door. He didn't know if he could find a job to do, but he had to go out and give it a try.

When I walked to the entrance of the village, I met Wen Cheng from the same village, and the two looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

"Out of food?" Wen Yi asked.

"Who's to say it isn't? Originally, there was still a little grain at home, and it was estimated that they would be able to survive until the autumn harvest, but the day before yesterday, didn't the county come to collect the money and grain from the bandits, and they robbed it all. Go out and try your luck, you can't watch the mother-in-law doll starve to death! Wen Chengdao.

"In this world, I can't live anymore." Wen Yi tightened the straw rope around his waist again, "It's really forcing me, Lao Tzu also ran to Cang'er Mountain to be a bandit." ”

"Shut up, you!" Wen Cheng was startled, and reached out to cover Wen Yi's mouth, "Have you forgotten the tragic incident in our village last year, the old Liang family, the old He family, and more than 100 people from the two families have all been the same." Isn't it because the two of them are rebelling? Don't mess around, our old Wen family is breaking bones and tendons, grasshoppers on a thread, don't mess around! ”

"I'm just going to say it, how dare you mess around!" Wen Yi sighed, thinking of the riot against taxes and taxes last year, his heart couldn't help but jump up, the Liang He family was originally a big family in this village, because they couldn't stand the endless harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and killed the county officials who came to collect taxes. The two families united the relatives and friends of the He Liang family in several nearby villages, and they actually rebelled, and when the momentum was at its greatest, they almost even captured the county seat.

Later, the matter was miserable, the imperial court transferred a large army, looking at the huge riot, it was suppressed in a blink of an eye, and the remnants of the He Liang family fled to Cang'er Mountain, but they were only some strong men. The old, weak, women and children were all thrown down, and they were arrested by the officers and soldiers and taken to the entrance of the village, where the two had just passed, and their heads were cut off. Rivers of blood. In the huge village, only the old Wen family remained.

Having said that, both of them fell silent, it was wrong for the He Liang family to rebel. But what is the sin of those women and children? also dragged out, and killed one cleanly.

"You know what? The general who killed people was not our Qin people, he was a Yan person. "Walked for a while. Wen Cheng said suddenly.

"What, Yanren? Yan people can also be our generals of Great Qin? Wen Yi said in surprise.

"You are alone in this, I heard people in the town say that the current generals of our Great Qin are all Yan people." Wen Chengdao.

"The way of the world!" Wen Yi muttered, no wonder he didn't blink when he killed people?

The two stopped talking, and walked forward in silence on the road leading to the town.

As soon as the two of them stepped into the town, they were dumbfounded, and everywhere in the town could be seen the same yellow-faced and thin men with straw ropes tied around their waists and flat shoulders on their shoulders, some wandering aimlessly on the street, some leaning against the wall, their two long legs straightened, basking in the sun with their eyes closed, and more gathered in groups of three or five.

"Don't mess with those people." Wen Cheng whispered to Wen Yi: "Those people are all from a village, but whenever there is a little work, they always rush to do it, who wants to rob them, they come up to fight with them, they are numerous, and they are in groups, I have seen them beat people several times to vomit blood." ”

"So ruthless!" Wen Yi stuck out his tongue.

"Who's to say it's not, but just such a little food, enough for a few people! Look at this street full of people, it's not that they can't survive, who will join in the fun? Wen Cheng sighed, "I hope we have a little more work today, and they can still give us a little soup after eating." ”

The two glanced at each other, smiled wryly, found a wall root, and sat down.

A brightly dressed man strode over from a distance, looked at the men carrying flat burdens all over the street, and his face involuntarily showed a proud look, and walked to the top of the steps in front of a merchant's door, and shouted loudly: "Master Lu's house repairs the courtyard wall, and I want twenty strong men!" Food, shelter, twenty a day's wages. ”

Suddenly, all the flat shoulders on the street rushed up at once, Wen Cheng and Wen Yi reacted a little slower, and were trampled by the surging crowd a few times, and when the two people got up, that person was already surrounded by three layers inside and three layers outside.

"Forget it, it's not our share." Wen Yi sat down again disappointed.

After a while, the man led twenty men away, and sure enough, he took away all those who were in groups of flat bearers, who took more work on weekdays, and naturally ate more, and naturally looked stronger.

Time passed little by little, and the sun had reached the middle of the sky, but no one came except for the Lu Yuan, who recruited a group of people.

Grunting a few times, both of their stomachs screamed, Wen Yi looked at Wen Cheng, and the two of them invariably tied the straw rope around their waists a little tighter, "How prosperous this town used to be, every time we came here, we all came here to find a job to do, and we could get a little spare money, how did it become like this now?" ”

"It's not the chaos that the He and Liang families made last year, many people in the town were involved, those who were killed by the rioters, and those who were killed by the imperial army, will definitely not be able to go back in ten or eight years." Wen Cheng sighed, "Actually, it's not just our Ziyang County, I've heard about other places, everywhere is like ours." ”

"But I see that the old man Nalu is doing well, look at the previous person, it's just a subordinate, look at that belly, it's all shy."

"I heard that this old man Lu was able to make a big effort when he suppressed He Liang's rebellion, they have a family soldier, and the eldest man of Old Man Lu's family is an official in the county!"

"The way of the world!" Wen Yi hung his head down, today, he had sighed like this countless times.

"Do you know why the Lu family wants to repair the courtyard wall? At the beginning, they helped kill so many people, but in the end, they didn't kill them, didn't there still be people in the He Liang family who fled into Cang'er Mountain, this old man Lu was afraid that those outlaws would sneak down the mountain to retaliate, so he wanted to increase the height of the courtyard wall and reinforce it. Wen Chengdao.

"Aren't they killed and broken, how dare they go down the mountain to take revenge?" Wen Yiqi said.

"Who said that they were killed and broke their guts, they fled to the Bears Ears Mountain as bandits, recruiting troops, some time ago the official army went to suppress, I heard that they suffered a big loss, and many people were killed by the bandits, no, they suffered losses, but in the end it fell on our heads, and they levied food, saying that they wanted to invite reinforcements to come and kill all the bandits."

Thinking that the last bit of food at home was also looted, Wen Yi was not only angry, "They can't help the bandits, but they only know how to bully us, they robbed us of our food, and they don't see them fighting the bandits!" ”

"You be quiet, there are a lot of people here, you want people to hear, say that you are the eyes and ears of bandits, you can't tell clearly when you open your mouth, our village is not lightly affected because of the He Liang family, otherwise I repeatedly told you not to say that it is a person from our village on the road." Wen Cheng hurriedly said.

Wen Yi stopped making a sound, leaning against the wall, the whole person curled up in a ball, squinting his eyes and dozing. Wen Cheng also closed his eyes listlessly.

In this world, it is really impossible for the poor to live. But just a few years ago, their life was still good, but since Daqin was defeated by the Han people on the grassland, this day is not as good as day by day, taxes are more and more, a year's harvest, seven or eight out of ten will be levied away, and the rest is unable to support the life of the family.

The sound of the gong woke up the two hungry people, and the two of them jumped up reflexively, their faces full of panic, and that day, the night when the village cut off so many people's heads, also began with the sound of this gong.

The frightened two widened their eyes and saw a man dressed in a fast hunting suit, standing in front of a wall, beating the gong and shouting loudly: "Come and see, come and see, the edict of the imperial court, everyone must have a good life!" ”

Wen Cheng and Wenyi glanced at each other, and slowly approached each other, on the street, not only those idlers who carried flat burdens, but also the merchants and residents on the street came out and surrounded the fast catcher.

The notice posted on the wall was covered with a bright red seal, but the words on it were written in heaven for most people here, and no one knew them at all.

"Brother Errand Officer, what's written on this?" A man asked loudly: "In this situation, what is the good life, the court will not be taxed, and our life will definitely be better." ”

"You can eat indiscriminately, don't talk nonsense, taxes are a major national policy, you dare to discuss it, be careful to go to prison." Catching Kuai's eyes, the gong hammer knocked on the notice on the wall, "The imperial court has decreed that landless peasants can get land for free, according to the population, ten acres per ding." Isn't that a good thing, you say? There are a lot of good things written above, so be quiet and listen to Lao Tzu read to you! (To be continued......)