The Kotaro family has been farmers in the castle town of Inima Castle for generations. A very responsible farmer, relying on the hard work of his family, can hand in grain on time every year, and every time he is pulled to train and fight in winter and summer, he never complains. This gave them a good reputation among the lords, samurai, and neighbors.

Kotaro, 36 years old this year, after his father died of illness last year, is the pillar of this small family. He has two younger brothers, a younger sister who married to Kakegawa, and he also has two teenage children, and his life is not bad. At the end of the ploughing and resting on the ridges, Kotaro always nagged his two precious sons. He said that the eldest son had already agreed on a family affair and would get married this fall. The second son was able to accompany him to work in the fields not long ago, sharing a lot of work between him and his eldest son.

"When they both grow up and start a family, I can retire." Kotaro's wrinkled face is filled with a wistful smile whenever he says this, "Bask in the sun, just like my father did before." ”

However, all the good lives were shattered by the war a dozen days ago.

When the people of the Okabe family rushed into Prima Castle with their troops, many villagers in the castle town felt that war was about to be fought, and dragged their families to other places to take refuge. But Kotaro didn't think he would fight, after all, the samurai master of the Asahina family and the samurai master of the Okabe family have been working together for decades for the Imagawa family, so how can they say that they will fight? Moreover, his second brother's daughter-in-law was sick and needed to be taken care of. But the second brother is not in good health and can't take care of it alone, so Kotaro has to stay and help, so he didn't mention the escape. - He regretted it later, and said that he should have tried to escape to Kakegawa to find his sister.

However, when the coalition forces of the Asahina family surrounded him, Kotaro and his family made another wrong decision. At that time, when many villagers saw the army coming, they said that they would run to Asahina and His Royal Highness Iio. Kotaro, however, felt that it was safer to hide anywhere than to hide in the city. If they run out of the city, maybe the besieging troops will pull these poor people to the front line as strong men, and let them carry sandbags to fill the trenches of Yinmacheng. So he took his two younger brothers, and the three families cleaned up the whole family and hid in Yinma City together. In the first few days, life was stable, and although I had to go to the rice warehouse to collect food and everything, at least I didn't continue to fight.

However, on June 13th, Kotaro, who was still living in a small idle tea shop with his three families, suddenly learned the shocking news - the Okabe family was going to close all the granaries! The people of the city are desperately trying to grab food! At that time, Kojiro, who was serving water to his brother and daughter-in-law, suddenly dropped the water scoop in his hand, beckoned the third brother and his eldest son to rush out and join the crowd! He knows that now the food around the family is enough to eat for two or three days, and if the food is really blocked, it is difficult to say whether he can eat next!

However, when Kotaro and the others arrived, several of the granaries had been swept away, and the samurai of the Okabe family sealed off the remaining granaries. Kotaro had no choice but to return home disappointed and announced that the next step was to strictly control everyone's rations.

It's okay for the adults to be hungry for a few days, but the key is that his third brother is still with a little boy who is just two years old. The third brother gave birth to two daughters before, both of whom unfortunately died, but this child is his baby, and he can't be hungry at all. The cry of a child because of hunger echoes in everyone's heart like the sound of a wailing flute. Kotaro took his two younger brothers and three adult juniors to look for food in Yinma City, and after two days of searching, only his second son found a small half-bag of millet in an abandoned warehouse that I don't know how long ago - this has made the whole family happy for a long time, and also delayed the family's food shortage crisis for a day.

On June 16, the whole family really couldn't eat, so they had to dig wild vegetables and eat everything they could see. For the first time in his life, Kotaro did something bad - from a fellow countryman's house, while he was not paying attention, he stole a small bag of rice to go home - but this was still not enough for everyone to eat. His second and third brothers, along with many of his fellow villagers, ran to the gate of the castle and demanded that the Okabe family open the door and let them go back to the castle town - but they were severely beaten by the guards. The second brother, who has been in poor health, was hit in the stomach hard, and he didn't recover for a long time, and was carried back to the teahouse by the third brother, and the second brother's daughter-in-law cried into a tearful person. That night, the family didn't get to dinner.

On June 17, the nightmare began. The second brother's body still couldn't eat, and he died of illness after staying up all night. Kotaro looked at his relatives who were crying, but he didn't have time to grieve - if he didn't go out to find food, the whole family would starve to death. Kotaro took his third brother, his second brother's son, and his two sons out to find food. With tears in his eyes, Kotaro taught his two sons how to steal - he had taught them from an early age to be a human being and not to do such things as stealing chickens and dogs.

However, at such a time, every citizen takes great care of their own food, and it is no longer so easy to steal it. Kotaro's two sons and a group of men were about to steal a rich man who was said to have robbed a lot of food in the past, but the rich man found out, and the two sides immediately fought, causing a large brawl to the south of the castle tower. Many people took advantage of the chaos to plunder desperately, and the scene did not stabilize until the Ashgaru of the Okabe family arrived - however, Kotaro could not find his eldest son.

People around said that the Ashigaru of the Okabe family had dragged away many of the people who had been killed and burned them in order to avoid the epidemic. But Kotaro can't accept this reality no matter what, no matter what-his eldest son who is about to get married will leave like this, and he will send the white-haired man to the black-haired man. He searched around the city again and again, and finally returned to the teahouse crying.

The only good news was that his third and second brother's sons had come back with two large bags full of food in the chaos, and the little baby and the three women in the family had eaten and would not starve to death. However, at dinner that day, the whole family was extremely depressed - how could such an ordinary family bear the loss of two relatives in one day? And on that day, the atmosphere in the entire Yinma City also became extremely tense, and everyone was wary of every villager who was close to each other in the past with the eyes of thieves.

That night, Kotaro was lying on the floor tossing and turning because of the death of his son and brother, unable to sleep - which saved the family's life by accident. In the wee hours of the morning, a group of people rushed into the house without saying a word, trying to snatch the two large bags of rice hidden under the bed. Kotaro, who was still awake, resisted desperately and tore a bag in the tear, and half of the millet in the bag fell to the ground with a clatter. The gang also saw that the commotion was getting bigger and bigger, so they took it as soon as they saw it, and fled with the sack and a half of the grain they had stolen. And the whole family could only carefully pick up the fallen grain from the ground one by one and look at each other. It was this remaining half bag of rice that kept the family from running out of food immediately.

On the 18th, the Okabe family finally opened a warehouse to release grain. However, Kotaro didn't get his food - just as he was about to get to the place where he was about to get it, the line suddenly became chaotic and someone started looting it! The Okabe family dispatched the army to suppress the rebellious people, and the situation suddenly became out of control. When the castle finally stabilized, the granary where the grain was distributed was closed, and the samurai and ashigaru guarding the city were unmoved, regardless of how the people, including Kotaro, cried.

After eating everything he could, the family ran out of food completely. The third brother's infant baby was the first to leave, and the second brother's daughter-in-law also died of illness because of excessive grief. The third brother's daughter-in-law also contracted the damn disease, and that night, in order to avoid affecting her relatives, she actually committed suicide by throwing herself into a well. The family that was originally happy was suddenly left with only five people.

On the 19th, trust among the people was lost, and the hungry people went crazy to plunder others, thefts and robberies were frequent in the castle, and clashes with the Okabe army were becoming more and more serious. But Kotaro was already a little numb. They had nothing to steal and rob, but they were at ease. The family barely survived on half a bag of food received by a former neighbor, Muji, and survived in this hell on earth, and the whole city of Yinma was like an active volcano about to erupt.

However, on the 20th, just before the city was reduced to a miserable world due to hunger, disease, and the struggle among its inhabitants, the dawn of hope came. The retainers of the Okabe family, who had gone out to negotiate, brought back news that Yu Qiuping was willing to accept the hungry people in Inuma Castle and provide them with shelter and food. When the news first came, the people didn't want to believe it, and they all felt that this was just a ploy by the Okabe family to stabilize the people's hearts. However, when the Ashigaru of the Okabe family came to the gathered refugees, distributed the last day's rations, and asked everyone to wait outside the east gate for the evening release, the people finally realized that they could leave this hell on earth!

With unimaginable kindness, the rainy autumn red leaves gave up continuing to besiege the city of Yinma, which was about to fall due to hunger, and was willing to accept these refugees. Regardless of their hungry and tired bodies, the people of Yinma City cheered and sang the praises of the benevolence of the rain and autumn leaves. Even Kotaro, who has already lost many relatives and is extremely tormented and depressed in his heart, wept bitterly because of the kindness of this highness.

On the evening of the 20th, thousands of people crowded inside the east gate one after another. The avenues, alleys, houses, and even the rooftops of houses were crowded with people. Kotaro dragged his family and brought his surviving family members to huddle among the crowd, waiting for the moment when the door to Elysium would open.