In February of the 21st year of Guangxu (1895) of the Qing Dynasty, Fuzhou County, northwest China.

The night was dark and dreary, with thick snow everywhere.

In a long-abandoned church, Yang Chuncheng and a few homeless people dug the heavens and the earth for three days, just cleaned up, lay down in the side room to rest, in a daze, suddenly heard the sound of people outside, the sound of "bangbang" was loud, and many people knocked on the door.

He was a wanted criminal by the imperial court, and he was taken in by Zheng Yixia, a friend of the county yamen, under the pseudonym "Li Zaojiu", and hid in this long-abandoned church, and even the homeless people who lived together did not know his true identity.

At this time, he heard the noise of people outside, thought that the officers and soldiers had come to arrest him, and he was so surprised that he put on his clothes haphazardly, rushed out of the door, rose up, jumped onto the roof of the two-story side house opposite, and when he looked down condescendingly, he saw a blazing fire outside the courtyard gate, and the voices of people were shouting, and it turned out to be forty or fifty hungry people with unkempt hair and ragged clothes, carrying torches, slamming open the door and rushing into the church.

The leader was a scrawny, ragged hungry man, who screamed, "Everyone, search! This church is inhabited by people, as well as women and children! ”

Yang Chuncheng saw the hungry people robbing, worried about the disaster of the four homeless people living together, and wanted to jump down to drive them away, but he was worried that there were too many people, and he recognized that he was a small matter, and his friend Zheng Yixia was a big matter, so he didn't dare to be reckless, and squatted behind the roof to watch the changes.

The hungry people rushed into the side houses, turned over the altars and cans everywhere, looked for things to satisfy their hunger, and when they saw that they were empty, they couldn't help but shout and curse, overturned the pots and pans to the ground, made a loud "sigh and bang", and rushed into the inner room, pulled out the four homeless people, and pushed them into the courtyard.

The homeless people did not have time to get dressed, so they only wore single clothes, and stood in the ice and snow with their seven children in their arms, shivering from the cold.

The leader of the homeless named Shu Zhengqi, in his early thirties, slender and long, shrewd and capable, is said to have worked as an errand in the county government of his hometown of Anhui, and begged everywhere with his seven-year-old son Shishi, and wandered here not long ago, and was taken in by Zheng Yixia to live in the church.

The middle-aged man next to him is called Wen Moshi, a native of Tianzhu, Gansu, who used to be a private school teacher, and his six-year-old daughter Qiuyue lives together.

There are also two thin-looking men, from Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, named Xia Dingshan and Xia Dingchuan, about twenty-seven or eighteen years old, who are brothers, and are also the husbands of two women, Cuihua and Chunxi, and the father of five children.

Cuihua, Chunxi, and the seven children saw the appearance of the hungry people with their teeth and claws, and they trembled with fright and cried loudly.

The hungry people circled around them, their eyes glowing red like hungry beasts, and excitedly said: "These children have fine skin and tender meat, we have a good meal of meat to eat!" Hurry up and burn the fire and roast human flesh to eat! ”

A few hungry people couldn't wait, so they hurried to the downstairs of the church to bring firewood and grass, set it up in the courtyard, and lit it with torches, and four more hungry people ran to close the courtyard door and moved a big stone to block it to prevent other hungry people from entering.

When Shu Zhengqi and the others saw this posture, they were so frightened that they hurriedly knelt on the snow and cried for mercy, but the hungry people were like beasts, so where did they care.

After a while, the firewood burned, the flames soared to the sky, and several hungry people rushed forward, pulled out Shu Zhengqi's son Shi and Wen Moshi's daughter Qiuyue, and said, "These two children are older, eat them first, and then eat those five!" ”

Shi and Fuyue screamed in fright, and just cried and shouted, "Daddy save me!" A few hungry people twisted their wrists, covered their mouths, and fell to the snow.

The leading thin and hungry man shouted, "Hold it down, and I'll go find a kitchen knife!" "I hurried into the house.

Shu Zhengqi and Wen Moshi were as anxious as mad tigers, crying and scolding, desperately trying to save the children, where were the opponents of the hungry people, and they were knocked to the ground in a few blows, their faces covered with blood, and they wailed miserably.

Yang Chuncheng squatted on the roof, saw the two people being beaten, and saw the two children being pressed to the ground, their lives hanging by a thread, and suddenly flashed in front of his eyes The scene of his wife and children committing suicide and young daughters giving away in the past year, he couldn't help but feel sad, and thought: "Shu Zhengqi They treat me well, I have to rescue these children no matter what, but how to go down to save people, I have to think of a perfect strategy!" ”

He hurriedly looked around, and saw that the roof was covered with snow, and a pitch-black chimney stretched out, and he had an idea, and hurriedly walked over gently, reached out and grabbed a handful of cigarette ash at the mouth of the chimney, and smeared it on his face.

At this time, I only heard a person in the courtyard shouting: "The kitchen knife is coming, you press the person well, and I will cut the throat!" It was the starving man who was in the lead, and then came the heart-rending cries of Autumn Moon and Stone.

Yang Chuncheng didn't dare to delay, so he made a move to "spread his wings", flew off the roof, and shouted: "Where are the demon people, indiscriminately hurting people's lives, don't stop quickly!" ”

When the hungry people heard this cry, they hurriedly looked up, and saw him flying down from the roof, with his face black and his sleeves fluttering, and they thought it was the ghost of the church.

Shi and Qiuyue were crying, when they heard this shout, and saw the hungry people scattering and retreating, when they hurriedly looked up, they saw Yang Chuncheng's face dark, standing majestically in the courtyard, and immediately recognized it, hurriedly rolled and fell, climbed to him, hugged his legs tightly, and cried: "Uncle Yang, help, Uncle Yang!" ”

When Yang Chuncheng heard this, he was secretly surprised, and thought, "Oops, how do they know my identity?" Stunned, I suddenly remembered something.

More than a month ago, he was rubbing hemp rope in the hall on the second floor of the church, when Shi and Qiuyue came back from playing with him, ran up to him, looked at his face, but did not speak.

He smiled and said, "Stone, what are you looking at?" ”

"Uncle Li, you look like a person." Stone Road.

"Uncle is so ugly, who will be like me?"

"Really, we saw just now that there is a portrait of a person on the outer city wall, and it looks like you!" Shi said, "Qiuyue, do you say yes!" ”

He was surprised in his heart, and said quietly: "You brag, how can people be painted on the city wall?" ”

Qiu Yue interjected: "Uncle Li, don't listen to his nonsense!" My father and Uncle Shu said, you are good to us, how can you be a bad person! He pulled over the stone and ran out of the room.

Yang Chuncheng knew that the children had seen the wanted portraits posted by the government, and they were secretly panicked, and their big hands were a little trembling when they rubbed the hemp rope, but when they saw Shu Zhengqi and they never mentioned it, as if nothing had happened, they relieved themselves.

At this time, he listened to the crying of the two children, and thought: "It turns out that Shu Zhengqi and they already know my identity, and they didn't report to the official, aren't they just because they believe that I am a good person?" For this affection, I must protect them today! Thinking of this, I can't help but feel a surge in my chest.

Shu Zhengqi had already recognized him, and cried: "Yang, Yang-Brother Li, Brother Li, they want to kill the child, save the child, save the child!" ”

Yang Chuncheng picked up the two children, walked up to Shu Zhengqi and Wen Moshi, pulled them up from the ground, and said, "Brother Shu, Mr. Wen, don't be afraid, everything is with me today!" ”

When the hungry people heard this, they knew that he was not a ghost, and when they saw him single-handedly and with their bare hands, they immediately took up firewood from the ground and cried out, "Whoa," and besieged him.

Yang Chuncheng is strong in kung fu, where can he see the hungry people in his eyes, punches and kicks, and beat them to the ground, and the ghosts cry wolves.

The hungry man in the lead didn't know what to do, cursed, threw a kitchen knife, grabbed a piece of firewood, and stabbed Yang Chuncheng fiercely.

Yang Chuncheng hated him for being inhumane, grabbed the firewood and gently took him, dragged him to him, grabbed his clothes and threw them away, and the hungry people screamed "ahh

The hungry people were stunned, hugged their heads and ran away, and fled without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Shu Zhengqi and the others had tears on their faces, knelt on the snow with brushes, and said gratefully: "Thank you Brother Li for saving your life, thank you Brother Li for saving your life!" He pulled the children and kowtowed.

Yang Chuncheng hurriedly stepped forward to support them, and said, "Brother Shu, what are you doing here, get up and talk quickly!" ”

The crowd kowtowed a few more times before they cried and stood up.

Yang Chuncheng wiped the blood on Shu Zhengqi and Wen Moshi's faces, and said, "Let's live together, it's a family!" Share the blessings, share the difficulties, and be polite to me! ”

While the crowd was crying, they couldn't stop thanking.

"Since everyone knows who I am, I won't hide it from everyone, I am the prisoner that the court is looking for." Yang Chuncheng said, "If you don't dislike it, you will still call me 'Brother Li' in the future, and the children will still call me 'Uncle Li', okay!" ”

Shu Zhengqi wiped away his tears and choked up: "Brother Li, don't say that, what is disliked or not!" He also told everyone: "Everyone listen, Brother Li is not surnamed Yang, he is still our Brother Li, no one is allowed to say it!" ”

Everyone nodded and cried: "I know, no one is allowed to talk nonsense!" ”

Yang Chuncheng called them into the house, and strode out of the door to find the hungry man who threw out the wall, but he searched everywhere, and there was no shadow, presumably he was rescued by the hungry people, and he couldn't help but feel uneasy.

He turned around and walked into the courtyard, moved two big stones to block the hospital door, and when he walked into the side room, he saw Shu Zhengqi and they were cleaning up the pots and pans all over the ground, so he fetched a basin of water, washed the cigarette ash on his face, and helped them pack up their things before they went back to their rooms to rest.

The next day, he was nervous, afraid that something would happen, but in the blink of an eye, it was almost dark, and there was no movement.

At dusk, he climbed up to the domed tower by the church wall, stood against the railing, meditated on his thoughts, and saw a few children herding cattle in the wasteland outside, chasing and playing, very lively.

He remembered what happened last night, worried about the incident in the east window, and affected his friend Zheng Yixia, and thought: "Enming has been demoted from the palace in order to save me, if I affect him again, I will be so sorry for him!" I couldn't help but sigh.

Suddenly, he heard a sound in the distance, it turned out to be the familiar sound of the military formation and drums, and when he hurriedly looked, he saw that the flags in the direction of the west gate covered the sky, and the golden armor was everywhere, and countless officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners came like flowing water.

He was taken aback, stretched out his head to see, at the front were hundreds of cavalry, freshly dressed and brightly armored, passing by, and then a pair of fast hands in the military prison, holding the honor guard sign of "avoidance" and "quiet", and under the white tiger daxu embroidered with the big character "Qincha" and waving in the wind, eight brave men carried a silver-topped sedan chair and walked by, and finally there was the infantry who could not see the end at a glance, all wearing red tasseled warm hats, wearing yellow clothes and cotton armor, and short knives hanging from their waists.

When he saw that the minister of the Qincha had come, and it was the officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners who were in charge of the Zhenghuang and Yellow Banners, he was even more alarmed, and he didn't know what was going on in the county town.