It is already the end of May and the beginning of June, the land of Yichuan is still dry and yellow, and the summer of lack of rain is more intense, scorching the thick loess of this long country. The land was as dry as a beggar's hungry mouth, and even the tidal flats by the river, where the river had been flooded, were now exposed, and the loess sedimented along both sides of the river, all the yellow mud was baked up by the scorching sun, like a yellowed scroll, discarded there, and tossed by a gust of hot wind.

As far as the eye can see, all the land along the hills and beams is not half of the new soil, all of them are scorched by the hot sun, swaying with a kind of illusory light, twisting and shaking the trees in the distance, which is so weird and terrifying.

In previous years, the clouds along the river, which were often flooded, also became skinny at this time, listless and slowly flowing, and there was no trace of grace anymore, along both sides of the river, it was once a literati and ink writer, and the willow forest where the rich lady went out to play, at this time there were only a few sparse leaves, and most of them simply died.

In the land along the river, one in the east and one in the west, there are wheat seedlings or millet fields like leprosy heads, but they are also wilted and have no spirit, and in each piece of land, there are tenants of the landlord's family, who are in tattered clothes and hold wooden sticks to guard this cherished hope.

This was the result of the agricultural time when the powerful landlords drove the tenants to grab it.

In fact, it has not rained since the beginning of spring, but every time it rains, it is no different from cat urine, and when it falls to the ground, even the ground cannot be seen to be wet, and it cannot solve any problems at all.

At the beginning, when the drought began, the county respected Zhao Zi, begged up and down, got some food, opened a few porridge factories in key places, and dealt with a few cool officials more decisively, which changed the local officialdom.

In fact, the local officials are all villagers who look up and don't look down in their hometowns, and the so-called cool officials are not natural, but they are up and down, and the boss doesn't look at the action, but only looks at the urging of the results, so it will increase layer by layer. It's been a habit for a long time, and I don't want to be different, so there are cool officials everywhere.

This Zhao Zi County Order originally had a heart of the world, but how could he have cast the wrong mother's fetus, to this place full of deafness, it is also difficult to support alone, but still with a single duty, therefore, at the beginning, you can still save some people, but the food and salary given above is just a drop in the bucket, and it will not last long to break, but it will begin to levy various taxes, although Zhao Zi shirks in every possible way, and does not want to knock on the bone and suck the marrow, but the relief will also give up, and can only watch the people leave their homes or lie in the ditch.

The river, now like a duck, was almost filled with hungry people, soaking in the river day and night, bending over, with endless hope on their faces, feeling under every stone in the muddy water, hoping to catch a small fish or shrimp, and some wild vegetables, to fill the already hungry belly.

At this time, the water flow is not abundant, and there are fewer aquatic plants, so there are few fish and shrimp, where can we supply these countless people day and night? Occasionally, a lucky person suddenly stood up, ran with a fist and ran to the riverbank, and then disappeared directly into the willow forest, that is he got the lottery, must have caught a small fish or two, did not dare to cheer and confess, ran directly, if he dared to cheer, maybe he was robbed by countless people in the water, at that time, not to mention a fish, even a life can not be saved is between the two.

In fact, it's not that there is no such thing, but in this river, it keeps happening, it keeps appearing, don't you see, and there is a corpse floating down the river upstream?

But when the body floated down, no one cared how he died, and even if he hit someone's thigh, that person just gave way a little, and then continued to touch the stones in the river, without looking at it again.

On this hot day, even in the river, it felt unbearably hot, and almost all the people took off their stripes naked.

The so-called almost all are because there is one exception, in this group of fishing people, there is a thin scholar in a scribe's robe, the so-called long shirt is just a shape, patches stacked on patches, the original color can not be seen at all, and the thickness is completely in line with the winter jacket.

The scribe carefully tucked the hem of his robe into a belt with a few knots around his waist to prevent the river from getting wet, and pulled his trousers high, his dry legs crumbling in the muddy river, and he lowered his head to catch fish, and from time to time he had to take care of the huge scribe's scarf on his head, so as not to let it fall off, a scribe's scarf, and his hair was exposed before and after, as for the said huge, it was because his head was no longer fleshless.

Because of the people's natural respect for the scribes, the same river, densely packed with people, but everyone consciously left him at a distance and gave way to a river embankment for him.

This scribe called Li Liang called Chunhou, can take its solemn name in this world is not much, that is a cultured person, the most poor, but also in the private school for two years, Li Chunhou was in the old father, when the family was still quite solid was sent to the private school, counting on the gold list to win, change the next court, but, I don't know if God is against it, or Li Chunhou's fate is not good, after the township test, even a few times to show talent, are about to approach, no progress, this makes people more unwilling, So the family pawned and sold all the fields and houses, hoping that the next game would be able to show off their talents in high school, and they would also eat the intermittent court subsidies at that time, and they would be able to glorify their ancestors even more.

But he didn't want to, when he exhausted his family wealth and finally was admitted to Xiucai at the age of forty, the imperial court could no longer take out the money and food for worship, and the rules of the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years were cut off. Coupled with this natural disaster**, the government no longer takes a last-shift showman seriously.

Li Chunhou had no choice but to put down his position to be a bookkeeper in Zhang's shop, mixing some rations every month to survive, but the opportunity did not appear again, life continued to be difficult, and in the end, even Zhang's merchants were closed, so everything became a dead end.

Dad also once proposed that he wanted to take his family to Fuxian to join King Chuang, but this idea was categorically rejected by Li Chunhou, the reason is not difficult to imagine, it is just a dispute between thieves and orthodoxy, Li Chunhou himself thinks that he has read the books of sages and sages, and it is about serving the country with loyalty, how can he abandon righteousness and follow the thief, even if King Lu Shichuang is sympathetic to the people, and what he does is to do the way of heaven, it will not work.

At that time, my father didn't persuade him again, so he relied on this single seedling.

is also self-pity, a distraction, just caught up with a whirlpool, immediately made the originally weak Li Chunhou stumble, staggered for a long time, before he could stand firm, but the strength was great, and he was hungry for a long time, only to feel that it was dark in front of him, and the turbid river was shaking like a spinning top. Although the river is not deep, firstly, Li Chunhou's body is weak and can't help the wind, and secondly, this fright makes him extremely flustered, and he can't stand up anymore, just in the river, waving his arms and shouting loudly, making a splash of water It's not lively.

Others fell, then forget it, life and death let him go, but after all, this is a showman, or the people's innate respect for the scribe in their hearts played a role, so the people not far away screamed and ran to the rescue.

Everyone tried their best to drag Li Chunhou to the riverbank, and saw that he was just too frightened, and there was nothing, so they let him dry his clothes in the sun, and everyone was busy fishing.

Li Chunhou lay like a dead fish, looking at the blue sky, staring at the sun like molten iron, motionless, her head full of her own misery and sorrow, her head full of dead old father, hungry old mother, and desperate, hopeless prospects, at this time, I realized that my belly full of sage poems and books was useless, and everything, in the face of this boundless hunger, seemed so pale and hopeless. Next, what should I do? I asked myself countless times, but outside the head full of poetry, there was no answer.

Just lay down until the sun was setting, only then did he cover his belly that was half filled with river water, struggled to get up, and staggered home step by step.

Walking on the depressed and dilapidated streets, looking up, it is even more miserable, the original prosperous assorted town, also withered and lifeless, there are few shops that can be opened, let alone customers come to the door, in fact, now, even a dog on this street is gone, let alone a human figure.

When Li Chun was dragging a long figure and staggering alone, a rapid sound of horses' hooves rumbled from the other side of the long street, and in this quiet street like a ghost domain, it seemed extremely abrupt and amazing.

Li Chunhou turned around numbly, and saw a man riding a fast horse, and immediately sat a man dressed in nondescript clothes, beating a horse and rushing directly into the long street.

"Here comes the pole." Li Chunhou thought, but he just thought about it, he was numb and lost the slightest fear, and then stood on the side of the street and watched the pole roaring with a red flag on his back.

I don't have anything to look up to, what else am I afraid of robbing? Not only that, but I felt a faint sense of joy in my heart.

At this time, the Spring and Autumn Righteousness in my heart, under the incomparable hunger, in the endless despair, has been a little shaken, coerce me, follow the pole may be able to live for a while, I have long heard my father say, in the west of the rich county, there is a pole that has crossed the self-proclaimed king, the soldiers are full of food, the people are stable and rich, if it is really like that, it is really better to listen to the words of the father, defected to him, maybe with his own ability, get the attention of the traitor, and then find a chance, teach the rude guy who has no father and no king, and accept the court's recruitment, This can be regarded as saving the people and doing a great thing for the monarch.

Thinking of this, the originally empty body suddenly had a great strength, and he was ready to step forward and recommend himself.

Before Li Chunhou stepped forward, the pole riding the horse was on the street, strangling the war horse, the corner of the war horse's mouth hurt, and he neighed with a long sigh, and the front hooves stood up, and made a circle on the spot, and the hooves fell to the ground with a bang, which scared Li Chunhou a lot.

The pole on the horse sat firmly on the horse, looked at the empty long street in front of and behind, his face was full of disappointment, he spat on the ground first, and then, staring at the only person on the long street, shouted: "That scholar, you come here-"