A house in the east of Gaizhou City, covering a relatively wide area. However, even in the not bright moonlight, you can see that this house should be dilapidated, and the courtyard wall is uneven, obviously caused by the owner's lack of money to repair it.

On the kang of a large house inside, four people lay quietly. They were squeezed into each other tightly and motionless.

I don't know how long it was, suddenly there was a "gurgling" sound, and then a little boy's weak voice sounded: "Dad, mother, I'm hungry!" ”

As soon as the voice fell, a girl's voice sounded, also weak, and a little timid: "Mother, father, daughter is cold!" ”

The woman lying on the outside of the left side listened, sighed, and said with the same weakness: "Well, if you fall asleep, you won't be hungry!" Tomorrow morning, my mother will cook porridge for you to drink, a little thicker! ”

The man on the other side tried to squeeze a little tighter, touched his daughter, sighed and said: "You can't do it without firewood in this winter, no matter how economical it is, you can't survive this winter, I think tomorrow I'll go cut some firewood and come back to burn the fire pit!" ”

Their family spoke Chinese, apparently Han.

"Daddy, you're so hungry that you can't walk, so you have the strength to get out of the city!" The woman said helplessly, and then said with a little resentment, "The Ming army is really vicious, it's about to be harvested in autumn, and it has ruined all the grain in the field!" Thanks to me, I used to hope that the Ming army could recover Liaodong and drive Jianyu away! ”

"Yes, if it weren't for that, grandparents wouldn't starve to death!" The little girl was obviously a little older, and she also said with hatred, "The dog emperor of the Ming Kingdom climbed up from the eighteenth layer of hell to harm the common people!" ”

"Don't talk nonsense!" When the man heard this, he reprimanded.

The little girl was either angry, but she was not convinced, and immediately retorted: "Those old men all said this, and also, the second king next door also said this, everyone said this, is there still a fake?" ”

Obviously, Huang Taiji's public opinion strategy still played a certain role, not only Jianyu, but even the Han people also had resentment against the Ming army and the Ming emperor.

The man listened, and after being silent for a while, he whispered: "Anyway, Jianyu is not a good thing!" ”

After that, the room fell silent again. After a while, the man suddenly sighed and said in a low voice: "In this war, both sides use all means, and in the end, we ordinary people are the most bitter!" It's really a good old saying, I'd rather be a peace dog than a messy person! ”

Hearing this, the woman was silent for a while with her children in her arms, and then suddenly began to cry. When the two children heard this, they comforted their mother, but the man did not speak, and he knew that his wife was worried that the family would not survive this winter.

The man just looked at the roof, and he didn't feel sleepy, he thought quietly for a while, and after the woman stopped crying, he said with reluctance: "The officials only care about themselves, even if they are the emperor who is high, they are thinking about his country." For this, we keep fighting, and who cares about us ordinary people! In the past, I was so naïve that I thought that if the Ming army came back, our life would be a little better. Now it seems that in fact, it is all the same, and the common people are not taken into their eyes at all, alas......"

After a long sigh, the room fell silent again.

At some point, there seemed to be some movement outside. The whole family was so hungry that they couldn't sleep, so the little boy spoke first: "There is a voice, it is dawn!" Mother, it's time to cook porridge! ”

"Don't make a sound!" The man's voice raised slightly, and after saying a word, he listened intently. The whole family listened quietly and attentively.

"Why does it seem to be shouting to kill?" The woman asked, a little confused, "Did I hear me wrong?" ”

After a while, the sound grew louder and louder, mixed with the sound of horses' hooves, and there was no doubt that there was chaos outside.

Hearing this voice clearly, the woman became frightened and squeezed the man with the child in her arms.

The man wanted to find out, but he didn't have the strength to get out of bed and get out of the house, he was really hungry, and it was too cold outside. As soon as the door opens and closes, it will be colder in the house!

confirmed that there was shouting and killing outside, and the family was a little scared. They don't know who and who's fighting outside, but if they do, it's going to be messy. In addition to the rebels, there will also be people who take the opportunity to smash and loot. I don't know if my people will be affected after dawn tomorrow?

In the troubled times, life is too hard!

In Gaizhou City, many people have the same idea as this family, hiding in their own homes, helplessly waiting for their fate tomorrow!

To their surprise, the shouting outside stopped earlier than they expected, and it seemed to be about an hour before and after. Then I heard the footsteps of a group of soldiers outside, and the sound of horses' hooves.

Many people are a little nervous in their hearts, for fear that those who win will start robbing the whole city, this situation is not too common in this world.

However, they worried all night, and nothing happened. When the sky was just dawning, someone was beating the gong and shouting in the streets and alleys, which made them understand that Gaizhou was actually occupied by the Ming army! This is something they didn't expect in any case, it's like falling from the sky, full of incredible! You know, it's winter! Aren't the Ming army all cats in the city, and if there are soldiers outside, they can only be soldiers from Jianyu?

What surprised them even more was that some of them were bold enough to go out and see that these Ming soldiers were full of energy in the cold wind, and the military discipline was strict, they walked in a straight line, and the team was neat. After dawn, there was no trace of imaginary chaos in Gaizhou City.

The man in the family, after probing his head at the door for a while, returned to the house and said to his wife and children: "These Ming troops seem to be good, and they don't look like rioting the people!" ”

The woman was skeptical, and was about to speak, when she suddenly heard footsteps in the courtyard outside. Suddenly, several people in the house turned pale with fright, and the man hurriedly stepped forward to protect his wife and children behind him and looked at the door.

The footsteps soon arrived at the door, and then I heard the words of the Daming official: "My lord, my subordinates just saw someone in this house, they should be inside!" ”

When the man heard this, he couldn't help but feel very remorseful, he shouldn't have gone out to see the excitement! It's okay now, it's time to get into trouble!

At this moment, a shrill voice was heard, with an order: "Open!" ”

"Yes!"

Then someone pushed the door, but found that the door was bolted from the inside, and the previous Daming official words rang out again: "Hurry up and open the door, Master Shi Jian is here!" ”

The man didn't know what the division supervisor was, but he knew that he would definitely not be able to hide from it now. If you don't open the door, you will annoy the soldiers outside the door, and the result will definitely be worse. In desperation, I had to step forward and open the door.