When there is a shortage of war, it is not easy to be a human being. And it's not easy to be a slave when the war is in chaos!

Sometimes, though, being a slave may be better than being a human being, at least for some. They prefer to be slaves rather than to be human. Even the life of a slave is not easy.

For the people trapped in Jingnan City, the days passed not easy, although the master gave food to the slaves, but if they wanted to eat cooked rice, they always had to buy coal and firewood, and without firewood, they could only eat raw rice. The price of coal and firewood has risen sky-high, and in order to cook, ordinary people have long removed the tables, benches, old furniture, and even doors and windows and even the beams of the wing rooms at home, and turned them into firewood in the stove. It can be dealt with in a short time, and after a long time, there will always be a time to burn out.

Real problems always need to be considered, even for people who can't wake up and are willing to be slaves. The pressures of real life always need to be considered, after all, even minions need to live.

What to do?

Just when people were worried there and didn't know the future, there was news that the masters were going to hand over the coal stacks to the government, and the government would allocate them uniformly, and there was no need to buy coal in the future.

The people who were originally worried suddenly all of a sudden became grateful to their masters. Before that, although they had pinned their hopes on their masters, they did not expect that their masters would consider them as slaves so quickly.

"After all, it's still the masters who think about us as minions!"

Yan Songnian, who was over sixty years old and wearing a number coat, stood on the side of the street, shouting at the people next to him.

"From the Spring and Autumn Period to the present, there has been such a benevolent and righteous court in this world!"

Twisting his head and looking at everyone, his expression looked a little excited, after all, in his opinion, no master has ever been so kind to the minions as the current masters. How can those of them who are slaves not be grateful to their masters.

So most of the time, whenever he had the opportunity, he would tell others how kind the masters were, and the big ones remembered the grace of the masters.

It seems that there is no better way for him to express his loyalty to his masters than in this way.

Just stand in front of the people. He continued to shout.

"Nope! For the first time in the world, I tell you, since ancient times, when defending the city, it was the government that grabbed food from the mouths of the people, and only our Qing Dynasty was able to take out the grain and coal benevolently and distribute it to the big guys, so as not to let the ordinary people starve. Of course it's our lives......"

His shouting only caused a burst of peace around him, and everyone was there to thank the master for his benevolence, and many people knelt down in the direction of the palace, and the look of gratitude was even more heartfelt.

I don't know how many people are there to thank Dade's grateful master, and they even shed tears, because they feel that there is no better master in this world than the masters.

"The coal cart is coming, the coal cart is coming......"

A long series of hundreds of coal trucks are driving on the road, and those coal trucks have to send the coal to several places in the city for centralized stacking, unlike in the past, scattered in dozens of coal stacks in the city, which are too scattered, not only consuming manpower to guard, but also easy to lead to self-theft by the guards, after all, the coal stacks are not the imperial court's, or it is safer to put them in the imperial court.

When the coal car passed, from time to time there were broken coal falling from the car, and the children on the side saw it, and they ran over to pick up the fallen coal, everyone knows that the coal is expensive now, and the children also know that they are worried about the family. They felt that by bringing the coal that had fallen from the ground back to their homes, they would always save some money for their families.

Seeing this scene, Yan Songnian couldn't stand it anymore, he couldn't accept that these people took advantage of the government and the masters, these enzymes were all the grace of the masters to the big guys, how could these uneducated things take advantage. He immediately ran over and shouted.

"All down, all down......"

He yelled as he tried to get rid of the people.

"This coal is all the coal of the imperial court, and no one is allowed to take advantage of the imperial court!"

As he yelled, he grabbed a child and scolded loudly.

"You bastard, you steal things at such a small age, and you steal things from the government, and there is no royal law, how did your father and mother teach you...... Smack. ”

Seeing him step forward, he grabbed the kid and "pumped" it with two big mouths, hitting his own palms painfully. Not to mention the kid.

The child's face was swollen in an instant, and the person also cried, Yan Songnian was not polite, and shouted loudly.

"You dog, you dare to steal things from the court, you have things that your father didn't teach, and you don't have any upbringing......"

As he spoke, he bent down to pick up the coal that had fallen from the ground, put it on the wagon, and then looked at the people around him.

"The big guys have a good look, this coal belongs to the government, and it is taken out by the masters to take care of us as slaves, the masters are so good to us, we may not even steal the master's things, if we steal, then we really have no conscience, and those dog things...... Say you, say you, and steal the master's things, grandpa, I'll kill you......"

As he spoke, he deliberately raised the waist knife in his hand, which looked very majestic, and the people next to him saw it, although many people looked at him with contempt, but there were still people who gave him a thumbs up and praised him.

"Master Yan, you are really selfless, we have a figure like you in the Qing Dynasty, then it is just around the corner to extinguish the Ming!"

"No, a character like Yan Ye is the official of our Great Qing Kingdom, and the officials like the Ming Dynasty are all corrupt officials!"

"That's it, it's Yan Ye Yingming!"

"If you want to talk about me, I am still the master Shengming, otherwise, how can I use a character like Yan Ye."

"Oh, thanks to the master......"

The compliments of everyone made Yan Songnian even more proud, and he said with the waist knife at his waist.

"Don't underestimate the coal that fell to the ground, this is the coal of the imperial court, not ownerless, nor everyone's. fell to the ground, let's pick it up and return it, even if it freezes to death, we have to pay it back, this is the master's canon, let's go one by one, we can't know gratitude! The masters are so good to us, we can't forget Ben. We don't want to do things that have no conscience. ”

In fact, Yan Songnian is not an official, but he is just patrolling the streets of an infantry yamen, when it comes to official status, maybe this will pull out a woman in charge, and her status in the army is higher than him, but what people say is righteousness, and no one can refute such righteousness.

No one in the big guys refuted it, and he even spoke in agreement. He said even more triumphantly.

"Man, whatever you do, you have to do it with your conscience, are you right?"

The people around him echoed him, and even some of them were there to compliment him, all of which made him more and more proud. It also made his waist stand straighter and straighter, and in his memory, it seemed that he had never had such a face as today. Never before has it been so praised as it is today.

Why would the big guys praise him? Isn't it because he is just, because he has his masters in his heart?

"And you little thing......"

He scolded again at the child who had just risen from the ground.

"Don't think that stealing coal is a trivial matter, tell you, this is the master's thing, stealing the court's thing, that is a rebellion, it is to kill the head!"

The kid was startled, the anger on his face was gone, his eyes looked at Yan Songnian fixedly, and he was about to cry when he saw that look, obviously he didn't think that he was just picking up a piece of coal, since there would be such a big sin.

Maybe it was because he saw that this child was scared enough, and someone on the side said to Yan Songnian with a smile:

"Don't scare him, no, don't you return all the things."

So the man whispered to the boy:

"If you don't go quickly, let's go."

When the kid heard this, he hurriedly left, and Yan Songnian snorted unhappily when he saw it.

"I said, Zhao Laosan, you are too kind-hearted, according to my meaning, you are such a thief who steals the master's things. At the very least, we'll have to pump him a few more big mouths! ”

The reason why he was so unhappy was because Zhao Laosan was so agitated. It's not that he lost face. It's that he can't make a face in front of everyone like before.

"Master Yan, your husband is selfless, but this is a big child, what do you do with his general knowledge?"

Yan Songnian's face sank when he heard this, and he stared at Zhao Laosan and snorted.

"Cheng, you will be a man, and you will forget the king......'s law when you are a man."

Zhao Laosan didn't pay attention to him, just turned around and left silently, everyone saw that they couldn't see the excitement, so they dispersed, after Zhao Laosan left the main street, he didn't go home, he has been thinking about it for the past few days, thinking about taking out the family's savings and buying a lamb. Sheep are the most nourishing people, as long as there is grass to eat, dung can also strengthen the field, to shear wool and weave clothes.

Last night, he discussed it with his daughter-in-law, and the woman was very happy, so let him go and buy it quickly. After a few words with Yan Songnian, he walked around the city with a few taels of silver, and after shopping for a long time, he bought a little sheep, and on the way back, he led the sheep to see the weeds growing on the side of the road in the corner, and he would keep an eye on it.

"When it grows longer, I will cut it back and feed it to the sheep......"

When Zhao Laosan led the lamb out of the city and walked to a place where he could almost see his home, someone ran over and left the old man, so he called it.

"Daddy, Daddy."

Zhao Laosan stood still and looked at his son running with a red face, and when the child saw him holding a lamb, he ran to him and gasped.

"Dad, did our family buy this sheep?"

Zhao Laosan nodded with a smile, handed him the rope and said:

"Take it."

The son took the rope, picked up the lamb and walked a few steps, and then, as if remembering something, put down the lamb again, lifted the sheep's hind legs, and then took a look, and looked up at Zhao Laosan after reading it.

"Daddy, it's a ewe."

"The ewe is good, the ewe is good, and she will be able to give birth to lambs in the future......"

Zhao Laosan said with a smile. Then he touched the top of his son's bald head, and felt a heartache in his heart for no reason, and then sighed again.

When they walked home together, Zhao Laosan said.

"Fucai, you are nine years old this year, you are about to grow up, your father will not beat you again in the future, in the future, you have to know that you have to learn things, you know?"

After speaking, he looked down at Youqing, the kid tilted his head, and after listening to his words, he just said sullenly.

"Dad, are you going to camp?"

Although he was only nine years old, Fucai could still hear the meaning of his father's words.

Dad is going to enter the camp on an errand, and this time he enters the camp, he may have to go to the battlefield, but there are no eyes on the battlefield. If it were, it shouldn't be, Daddy is so good. God certainly wouldn't hurt a good person. He thought so in his heart.

"Hmm,"

Nodding, Zhao Laosan's tone was a little heavy. He didn't want to say such things to his child, but how could the child not know all this?

"Hey, it's all fate......"

If he could do it all over again, would he be the green battalion soldier back then?

Zhao Laosan didn't know that he was trying to survive, in order to get money, in order to let the family have enough to eat, as for what Ming army, what Qing army, he didn't think about it, just thinking, whoever gave him military salary, he would give his life to whom, in comparison, the Qing army was better, after all, when he was in the green camp, he went all the way south to see the city and slaughter the city, saw people and killed people, like bandits, he could grab a good time.

In just a few years, he bought more than 100 acres of land in his hometown, and even robbed his stupid brother of a mother-in-law in Jiangnan. At that time, the life of the family was so comfortable. It's just that he never thought about how those comfortable days were exchanged.

But then what?

Then, just fled west with the Qing Dynasty, what does his hometown look like now, he doesn't know, is the land still there? Did the mother-in-law remarry? Whether the sons are married or not, he doesn't know, now, he has a mother-in-law again, although it is robbed, but it also gives birth to children, and he can be regarded as re-opening the branches, but he is always worried in his heart, he knows that retribution will come sooner or later.

Like now, isn't retribution coming......

That night, Zhao Laosan has always been sullen, into the night, sitting on the threshold, he looked at the green seedlings in the yard, the yard is full of potatoes, in the future, the family may have to rely on these potatoes to survive, and then he looked up at the sky again. Looking at the starry sky, he let out a long sigh and looked depressed.

"I'm going to go to the camp tomorrow on an errand......"

At this moment, he felt that the color of the sky seemed to be wrong, and the color was red, as if he wanted to dye the sky red.

What's going on?

In confusion, a shout suddenly sounded outside, and the shouts of the people were far away in the dark night with the sound of gongs.

"The water is gone, the water is gone, the grain depot is water......"