Looking at the village with smoke rising on the mountainside, Xu Muer, who was carrying a hoe, walked home lightly.

Today is the solar term of Xiaoman, early in the morning according to the rules handed down by the ancestors after sacrificing to the god of agriculture, Xu Mu'er went down to his own field to make a feast, and looked at the dry corn grains in the field becoming fuller, and the tail of an ear of millet swayed gently with the wind, and the heart was naturally happy.

Xu Muer's village is at the foot of Xujialing, and Susong County, which is next to it on the left, is almost sixty miles away by land, but this official road happens to be repaired at the doorstep. Although he heard that there was some kind of stone-breaking army in Anqing Mansion recently, and he was separated by hundreds of miles, Xu Mu'er, like everyone else in the village, felt that this matter was none of his business.

Although there was not much snow last year, and there was very little rain this spring, the more than 40 acres of spring millet planted by Xu Muier are growing well, and there is still more than a month to harvest, according to the current situation, one mu can collect at least 500 catties of millet, pay tenant grain and two taxes, one mu can save at least 200 catties before and after, and you can also plant some melons, fruits and vegetables in the ground in the second half of the year, so this year must be a good year for Xu Muer's family.

While walking, Xu Mu'er was still summing up, and I heard that now Jiangnan has begun to prosper Zhancheng rice again, and the government also sent people to the village to preach during the New Year's Festival, encouraging the people of Xujia Village to interplant a season of Zhancheng rice after harvesting corn. Xu Mu'er remembers that in the early years, the family also planted Champa rice, the rice from the rice is also delicious, and the Champong rice is not picked up when planted, and the planting on dry land is also as willing to live as corn, in summer and autumn, it only takes 60 days to harvest a season, and one mu can also harvest four or five hundred catties of rice, but I heard the ancestors say that this Champa rice is easy to grab fertilizer with corn and melons and fruits, and the corn and melons and fruits will fail after planting for a few years.

The peasants in Jiangbei have planted millet for thousands of years and eaten millet for several years, so millet is the foundation of the farmer's family, so it gradually became less planted, so that no one planted it now.

It's just that I heard that a few days ago, the officials who came to the countryside to persuade the peasants said that as long as the peasants promised to plant one season of Zhancheng rice every year, they could be exempted from some taxes, and even the government could provide seeds and cattle, which made the people in Xujia Village a little tempted. If you want to plant Champa rice, you naturally need the government to give seeds, but the ploughing ox is a treasure, whether in the long run or in the present, if you can get a ploughing ox from the government to go home, how much manpower will be saved?

According to the Xu officials, if you want to borrow ploughing cattle to plant at least 100 acres of Zhancheng rice, a few days ago I was busy making corn seeds and didn't have time to think about it, now I see that the corn is about to be harvested, Xu Mu'er is totaling, his own family has more than 40 acres of land, if it is enough to get together with the fields of his eldest brother and fourth brother's family, but I am afraid that it will be difficult for my brothers to settle accounts.

This fifth brother Zhang was originally a blacksmith who went to the village to visit the household, and when he went to Xujia Village, he fell ill, but fortunately he was taken care of by the villagers, and he was recruited by the old man Xu of the other branch in the east of the village to be his son-in-law, and inherited fifteen acres of ancestral land. Later, he became a blacksmith in the village, and successively bought dozens of acres of land, and now he has more than 60 acres of land in his hands. On weekdays, Fifth Brother Zhang is good at drinking turbid wine, and often brings Xu Muier, plus Fifth Brother Zhang's daughter-in-law is also a distant cousin of Xu Muer, after the relationship between this cousin-in-law is recognized, it is naturally much closer.

Now that there is such a good thing as a tenant cow, Xu Muer's first thought is to partner with Fifth Brother Zhang, who called the brothers in the family are all dirty men, and it is better for outsiders to rest assured.

Thinking about this, Xu Mu'er carried a hoe to the east of the village, and came to look in front of the blacksmith shop of Fifth Brother Zhang's house, but found that only his cousin was busy working, so he took a stool and sat in front of the shop, and smiled at his cousin: "Hurry up and get a bowl of water to quench your thirst, Fifth Brother is going to the county again today?" ”

My cousin also brought water from an earthen bowl with her hands and feet, and said with a smile: "I don't know what strange wind is blowing today, but there are many people who come to ask for water to drink. ”

Xu Mu'er smiled, but she didn't hide it, and said with a smile: "It's a guess, who has been here?" ”

The cousin pointed to the things hanging on the beams in the shop and said: "The fish bream was sent by Brother Han in the west of the village, the bacon was sent by your brother, and the string of yellow croaker can be seen, it was brought by Brother Tao of the village family, how about it?" ”

"Ahh Xu Mu'er looked at it, smacked her tongue, drank the water in one gulp, got up and sneered: "I don't usually burn incense, I am in a hurry to hug Buddha's feet." ”

The cousin also laughed, but took the jug to refill it, and said: "Brother sticky, don't worry, my fifth brother explained before going out in the morning, and I won't forget Brother sticky if it's a good thing." Look at the sun, the fifth brother is about to change home, and then take a break to drink a bowl of water. ”

Xu Mu'er thought about it, he greeted Fifth Brother Zhang to drink a lot of turbid wine on weekdays, and Fifth Brother was also a sincere person, so he sat down patiently to drink water and wait.

After a while, I saw Fifth Brother Zhang and a few villagers coming back in a hurry, and when they came closer, they called Xu Mu'er to see that his face was flustered, and as soon as he got up and asked, he heard Fifth Brother Zhang say: "Woe!" Hun family, quickly pack up the house, only bring money and rice grain, and bury everything else! ”

Xu Mu'er was shocked when she heard this, and hurriedly stopped: "Fifth brother, what kind of disaster happened to you and you want to abandon your home?" ”

At this time, Xu Mu'er saw that Fifth Brother Zhang's face was full of panic, and his mouth was full of bubbles, and after listening to Xu Mu'er's question, he said: "Brother Muo'er, quickly pack up and go with me!" You also know that the stone-breaking army broke Anqing Mansion a few days ago, but you know that just three days ago, the stone-breaking army also broke Taihu County, and now it is driving the villagers to Susong. This morning, I went to the county to sell iron, and when I walked to the county seat, I realized that the four gates were closed, and nearly a thousand villagers had gathered in front of the city. I think that the villagers can't enter the Song, and they must go west, and our Xujia Village is next to the official road, but I'm afraid that these villagers will come to the family business and it will be difficult to protect it, so let's run away quickly! ”

Xu Mu'er was shocked when he heard this, he was a native of Xujia Village, and naturally knew the tragic situation of villagers fleeing from the famine in the past years, so he understood that Fifth Brother Zhang's words were by no means alarmist. After hearing this, he immediately jumped up, grabbed Fifth Brother Zhang and said, "Quick!" Hurry up and follow me to the village house, my family's millet will be ripe in a month, how to escape? Isn't this all cheaper for homeless? ”

Fifth Brother Zhang pushed Xu Mu'er away, and shouted: "There is a fart in the village, there are nearly a thousand in front of Susong City, and there are not many people who are fleeing from the four towns and eight miles, and I am only eighty in Xujia Village, with more than three hundred people, how can I stop these thousands of displaced people?" If you find Muramasa, you still don't want to escape? ”

After that, Xu Muer's memory was a little missing, but she remembered that she had been running in the village all night, but both the village and the clansmen were busy packing up and preparing to escape. When it was almost dawn, he and his mother-in-law finally dug a big pit under the jujube tree in the backyard and buried all the things that could not be taken away, and then the couple carried two bags of millet and two copper coins in their arms, drove their own big pig, and helped the old lady to Xujialing with the eldest brother and the fourth brother.

On the ridge, watching the homeless people all over the mountains and fields enter the village along the official road, and watching the old and weak women and children in ragged clothes go into the fields and reach out to pick up half-ripe millet seeds and stuff them into their mouths to satisfy their hunger, everyone in Xujia Village burst into tears and sobbed silently.

After that, the whole village hid on Xujialing for a few days, but it was the broken stone army with knives and guns who found out, and they were driven all the way to the west, passing through Huangmei County, Qizhou, and salary...... Finally came to the city of Huangzhou.

Just now, when the old man who looked like a servant in the city was perfunctory and deceived like the states and counties along the way, the angry Xu Mu'er picked up a small stone and scolded "Dog Official" and threw it, and then saw that the old man was hit in the forehead by the stone and fell into the city.