In the upper reaches of the tributary valley, the brutal battle has just begun, and Hu Lin's face has been blackened by the smoke of gunpowder.

The artillery of the attack was resting due to overheating, the two barricades with the dragon banner of the Republic had been blasted open, and the rebels who did not know where to get their guns and the rudimentary farm tools were shaken.

He was not the only one who came here from Mincheng, there were many people with a conscience and a sense of helplessness between the old and the new came here to support the core of the battle.

But before the real attack began, the men were already in the sign of a rout, and the four cannons broke through the two barricades with a very slow rate of fire. Many people thought that if the flag of the Republic was planted, the people on the other side would be restrained, but in fact, after the two sides opened fire, the artillery began to roar.

Hu Lin wanted to dissuade these people, at least to stop the tragedy, but found that there were people mixed in and constantly inciting anger.

Maybe a few days ago, he would have thought it was out of anger or passion, but now after that day, he feels that these people are not simple.

Next to him was a poor young man who had broken his leg from a cannonball and was now dead.

The six-pound iron ball flew up, jumped up from the street, and jumped over the barricades of wood and the stones of the demolished water-powered spinning mills, and struck the poor man directly.

He died of too much blood, his face was pale, and he was holding a small wooden bracelet in his hand, and he didn't know who he wanted to give it to.

Not long ago, this was still a living person, and he was still a little shy in the face of a famous big man like Hu Lin from Fujian.

Not long ago, the poor lad told Hu Lin why he chose to fight.

"This gentleman, we are not like you. I have a small house in this small town with three acres of land. But three acres of land can only sustain life, and life is tight, and nothing can be done. I heard that there is a new thing called sweet potato in Mincheng, and one acre of land can produce a lot, but I just heard that I didn't dare to try it. If I hadn't said so much, I wouldn't have been able to live this day. ”

"We people here are like this, we have a few acres of very small land, and we used to spin and weave cloth in our spare time, and sell some money to subsidize our families."

"When I was a kid, I wanted a new dress, and I didn't have one that fitted me for as long as I can remember, and it was always a lot bigger. My mom said that it's better to be bigger, so that you can wear it for three years, and then it will be broken when you wash it, and it can be used as a patch. Otherwise, if you change it once a year, you can't afford it. ”

"Then I cried all day long, and my mother said to me, 'Son, do you want new clothes?' I said yes. My mother said, 'Look, this is cotton, and I twist it into thread, and I spin it into yarn, and I weave it into cloth.' After selling the cloth, they bought cotton, spun it, and weaved it into cloth. In this way, one pound of cotton will become two pounds, and two pounds will become four pounds, and when it becomes four pounds, my mother will make you new clothes.'" ”

"I was so happy at that time, I said, 'Mom, then I will help you spin the yarn, you can weave the cloth, will you be able to quickly turn into four catties of cotton?' My mom was right, and that's when I started spinning. ”

"Life just went by, my father died, my mother was gone, and I grew up. Suddenly, one day, the yarn was worth a lot, and the one who sold it was expensive, and the people who collected the yarn in the town took the initiative to lend us cotton and let us help spin it, and he took it back. At that time, I heard that there was a new loom, and the cloth sold very well and was woven quickly, and the yarn was worth a lot of money. I thought, the better days have finally come, and if I sell it for money, I will buy a new loom. ”

"I remembered what my mother said about cotton, if I could buy a loom, I could make money to buy two, and then I hired someone, and ten or eight years later, I would be a person with dozens of new looms."

"But the new loom is expensive, I heard that there are cooperatives elsewhere, but we don't have them, and I can't afford them. If I take back the cotton given by those who harvest the yarn, I will not make any money. I thought, it is better to sell these three acres of land, buy some cotton, and rush to the good year, maybe there will be money in two years. ”

"But when the land was sold, the cotton was expensive, and it was said that there was a futures exchange. But even if it's more expensive, there is still some money to make, but it is less earning. I don't want to get sick, and I can easily save some money, which is equivalent to working for more than half a year. ”

"When I got sick easily, a lot of water-powered mills began to be built here. A person can see dozens of spindles, and the spinning is fine and strong, and the money will never be less cotton, we sometimes want to buy can't buy, how to compete for others? ”

"It turned out to be one, then two, and then ten or twenty, and our originally not very good place has become prosperous, but what does it have to do with me?"

"The land is sold, the spinning yarn is not earned, the days are getting more and more difficult, sometimes the yarn is sold after spinning, and the money for cotton is not earned at all. I still have to eat, and life is getting harder and harder. ”

"I thought about it, I went to work in the yarn factory, but some people do it, and many young children ask for cheaper prices, and the children's fingers are alive and they learn things quickly, what do I compare?"

"At that time, I thought, this is fate. If you had sold three acres of land and bought a new hand-drawn loom, it would have been different now. There are no hydraulic machinery for looms, and the cloth is getting better and easier to sell, and a few companies that sold looms at the beginning now have their own industries and have bought more than a dozen looms. ”

"What's the use of regret? The land is gone, the yarn is worthless, and I only have such a small spinning wheel left, but the debt I owed before will have to pay interest every year, which will not be stopped because I am poor. ”

"What do you say we are for, sir? To live, to eat. And what the big people from your city said, for the sake of dignity. ”

"What is dignity? Dignity is that when I wanted a new dress, my mother said that I could get it by working hard, and this is dignity, the dignity of a worker. Don't steal, don't rob, don't cheat, if you want a new dress, take the spinning wheel at home and turn one pound of cotton into four pounds of cotton, even if it is ugly, even if it can only be dyed with tanned sunspots, but it is comfortable to wear, that is what I made myself. ”

"And now? Who wants to make trouble? Who doesn't want to live a good life? But I want to work, who gave me this opportunity? ”

"Someone came and told us that the revolution and uprising in Mincheng were going to change, and our life and death were finally in control. But the result? What has changed? Nothing has changed. ”

"Someone came again, saying that the educated families in the north would not forget us, and the king would not forget us. As long as we rise up and rebel and let the world know what we want, then the king will come and clean up those black-hearted factory owners. ”

"Not only did we have to rise up and resist, but we also gathered a few copper plates and asked people to go to the capital to petition! I don't want to get rich anymore, I just want to go back to the days when I had three acres of land and a small spinning wheel. If you want to go back, you'll have to smash those harmful machines. ”

"But that's not okay, people say we're riots! If you smash a machine, you will be hanged, and human life is worse than a machine, so I can understand what dignity is. ”

Hu Lin remembered that after this young man said this, he smiled at Hu Lin and said, "Originally, I didn't believe that the king would pity us, thinking about us living or dying. But this gentleman, when I saw you, I believed it. Looking at what you are wearing, I heard that you are still a representative of the council, I thought, there are always good people in this world, and there are good people like you, not to mention the king and those big families? ”

"You say, they are so rich, they have land, at least they don't have to open a yarn factory, right? Definitely can't be opened, that will definitely pity us. Really, really rich people are good people, what do you think these people are opening yarn factories for? Not for the money yet? If he has a land of hundreds of thousands of acres and tens of thousands of acres of tax-free military merit land, will he open a yarn factory? ”

"Yes, there were bad things in the past, but at least I can survive. Now you say that everything is good and wonderful, but we can't live anymore. ”

The yellowish teeth, reluctant to be cleaned with tooth powder, always wafted an uncomfortable smell when they spoke, but Hu Lin sat aside and listened quietly, without avoiding or covering his mouth and nose.

Originally, he wanted to tell this young man that it was not the fault of the machine, but the fault of unfair distribution. But before he could speak, an iron pill ended the poor life of this young man, who was waiting for someone to save him back to the past, and who was obsessed with the new clothes made by his mother.

…………

The battle was not fierce, and even though the attacking side was not a regular army, the armed hired men of the Nanyang Company were also trained in professional flintlock pistol formations, and the artillerymen graduated from the new-style school, so there was no suspense at all.

Hu Lin's luck was good, and a few lead bullets flew past him, but his ancestors did not take him to the land of the Heroic Spirit.

But while the battle was still going on, the organizers of the rebellion went to find Hu Lin and asked him to follow them.

There is a boat right by the sea.

"Mr. Zhu Qian, it's still too late to leave. Let's go to the capital, to declare the truth here, to let the people know what kind of massacre happened here, to know the petition of these people, and to make this ridiculous Minjun Council the executioner of rebellion and massacre! You are a famous person, these words make you more effective in speaking, as long as you get to the capital, there will be momentum. Let's go, let the blood of these people be shed in vain! ”

Hu Lin wiped the black ash and sweat on his face, listened to the messy voice that was still ringing in the distance, and thought of the document he signed in the Mexican Party headquarters a few years ago before the miners' petition, once the situation could not be controlled, all the members who organized the action must die in the party building, the corners of his mouth smiled, and he missed those people, those things, and those days.

So, he asked, "Is it just a boat?" ”

"That's right."

"Ready?"

"That's right."

"How many people can you pack?"

"A dozen."

"So you guys wanted to run in the first place? You want to trade these people's blood for what you want? The anger of the changer? Change the army's suppression of the new council in Mincheng? The blood of these people is just your tool? The more blood flows, the better this blood-stained steamed bun will be, right? You knew from the beginning that you couldn't beat it, and you even prepared a boat for yourself, but you just fired during the previous negotiations, right? ”

Hu Lin didn't talk nonsense, took out the flintlock short gun that was already empty, smashed it on the top of the head of the person in front of him, and shouted: "No one is allowed to go!" Come with me to the council and explain! ”

Bang...... The moment he hit it, Hu Lin only felt a chill in his waist.

"It's like a knife."

He thought so, and then fell to the ground, watching the men hurry away.

…………

When I opened my eyes, it was a small room of snow-white whitewashed with lime.

The strong smell of alcohol, mixed with the herbal smell of Tian Qi and Pu Huang, a woman's voice in the distance drifted into Hu Lin's ears vaguely.

"Don't eat broad beans, fishy, and sour and cold. It's cold too, so it should be fine......"

I didn't hear the words clearly, but Hu Lin knew that he should not be dead, his head was groggy, and there were several traces of blood transfusion inserted into his arm with goose feather tubes.

Staring at the snow-white roof overhead, an old face suddenly appeared, this face was familiar, but it was strange all these years.

But blood is always thicker than water, thicker than anger, and thicker than young blood.

"Daddy......"

I haven't screamed for a long time, the second word I learned in this life, and I shouted it out like this. Before going to the valley, he left a letter for Jian Chen, but not for his father, because he would not give up the things he had written, which his father told him to declare nonsense, and which he had burned.

The old man had tears in the corners of his eyes and a smile on his lips, knowing what his son wanted to know, and was about to lie to him that he had not killed a few people, but he saw the corners of his son's chapped and pale mouth move.

The voice was faint, and the old man leaned his ear to it, and finally heard what he had wanted to hear in nearly twenty years.

"I'm tired, I want to go home."