Butterflies love flowers in June, which should have been a hot and humid day, but this year the weather is exceptional.

That night, Yang Wan's mansion lit a butter lamp, the hazy moon shadow shone on the window lattice, and the candlelight swayed lightly, reflecting Xia Mu's shadow.

Under Ah San's service, he changed into an ink-colored robe, and then left the mansion and went to the Xu Mansion for a banquet.

At this time, it was too late, but the streets in Beijing, especially the alleys, were particularly gloomy and desolate.

At the intersections of the important streets in the distance stood night patrolmen, checking the occasional passerby.

Red or white paper lanterns hang outside the gates of every house, dimly lit and swaying under the eaves.

Under the dim light in his hand, Xia Mu could see large woodblock printed martial law notices pasted on the walls of each street entrance, and it seemed that martial law had begun in the capital since the Japanese War.

In the narrow and long streets and alleys, in the distance, the husband carried a small lantern and knocked on the broken gong, and the shrunken shadow appeared and disappeared into the darkness.

Xia Mu listened to the slow, listless sound of gongs or bangs, and gradually faded away in the wind.

In the twenty-seventh year of Jiajing, the Northern Yuan Dynasty has entered the fortress four times, three times directly under the city of Beijing, and the Hetao has been occupied for thirteen years, and Emperor Sejong has always been ashamed of this, hoping to recover the Hetao.

But Qiu Luan was not Zeng Miao, and it was impossible for the emperor to expect him to recover the Hetao, and until Qiu Luan died, the Hetao was not recovered. As soon as Qiu Luan died, the soldiers and horses were in accordance with the latest order issued by the Governor's Office of the Five Armies - there were soldiers and horses patrolling the city, and it was forbidden to walk at night. Prevent the spies of the Northern Yuan Dynasty from mixing into the capital, but they still live a life of drinking in the courtyard of the deep house.

In those palaces that were closer to the imperial city, for fear of being heard by the palace, they did not use gongs and drums, or even silk and bamboo, when singing and dancing, and only let the courtesans gently tap the board with red sandalwood or ivory clappers, and sing in a low voice, sometimes as thin as a hair, as if there was nothing or so.

These ministers stopped their glasses and sang songs every night, and there was no group of courtesans in that house. They happily persuaded the wine to make the dishes, guessed the fist, but few people thought about what strategy they should offer to the imperial court, and quickly beat me back and recover the lost territory of the Hetao.

As Su Gang said, "One hundred and twenty years of national soldiers, the Day of Righteous Death is today!" "It's gone, after all, there is only one Su Gang, and there is only one Zeng Mill.

Suddenly, the cranes on the ancient cypress trees and pine trees on the coal mountain in the distance were startled by the loud noise, and from time to time they flew up in flocks, hovering over the Forbidden City and the East City, and let out a desolate cry.

Xia Mu looked at the crane chirping in the cold wind, and it was actually mixed with this terrible **, and the clear ** sound seemed to come from the outer city, which made Xia Mu couldn't help but stop, looking at the dark outline of the night like the bottom of the pot, and his brows furrowed.

Why are there so many painful ** sounds coming from the outer city tonight?

Thinking about it, he glanced at the Xu Mansion in the distance, turned around and walked towards the outer city.

Just a few steps to the outer city, Xia Mu had nowhere to stay, only to see the deep city gate hole, along the city walls on both sides of the avenue, there are endless shacks, dilapidated nunnery, and thatched sheds, and they can't see the edge at a glance, almost submerging the buildings in the outer city.

As far as the eye can see, it is full of devastation.

The first thing that catches your eye is the numb and dirty faces, those that have been sallow, and the hopeless and desperate eyes are there. The soldiers patrolling the city at night in the distance were putting the bodies of dozens or hundreds of refugees who had starved to death and fell to the ground on carts, and were about to be sent to the human field outside the city to be burned.

What is God's sin?

What are the sins of the people of the Ming Dynasty?

Xia Mu was speechless in a daze.

"What? When Lord Xia saw these refugees, did he sympathize? On the city wall, a middle-aged man dressed in black and wearing a hat was lying on the broken city wall, holding a horse chopping knife in his hand, reflecting the moon and the ground, holding a dog's tail grass in his mouth, and talking with mockery.

Xia Mu was taken aback, looked up, and showed surprise in his eyes: "Knife Meteor, it's great that you're still alive." ”

The knife meteor has not been seen for a few days, and his jaw has grown a short beard, I saw him jump off the city wall neatly, point to the boundless victims, and say: "If Lord Xia still has a little conscience, let's find a way for the refugees to live." Otherwise, it will be difficult for them to survive this winter! ”

"What's the matter, doesn't the Household Department of the capital care about the Lunar Calendar Division?" Xia Mu was taken aback, could it be that no one cared about these refugees.

Dao Meteor smiled coldly when he heard this: "The Yan family's father and son treat them as dogs, and the household wants to manage them but has no money, what do you say." The southeast is now full of wolf smoke, the Tan Tan army is tight, three battles and three defeats, Hu Zongxian and Yu Daxuan were detained by Jinyiwei, and some of the ronins among the Japanese slaves have mixed into the capital of Nanjing, wantonly killing people, and the capital seems to have also mixed with the ronin. ”

"The ronin has mixed in!" Xia Mu gasped. Glancing at the refugees again, he became worried.

In the past two days, more than 100,000 people have fled from Tongzhou and the southeast of Beijing, and there is nowhere to shelter them, and many of them are sleeping under the eaves on both sides of the street, huddled together for fear of freezing to death.

They shivered in the biting cold wind, **, whined, sighed.

The women whispered to God, mourning and weeping.

The children shrunk together in their mother's arms, crying and crying out for hunger, tearing apart the hearts of adults.

But when the patrol soldiers sent by the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses approached, they were patient for the time being, and did not dare to say anything. Since martial law was imposed on 24 December, hundreds of refugees have died every day, as many as two or three hundred.

Although there are porridge factories in all five cities, the mortality rate is increasing, especially among the elderly and children.

Xia Mu saw that the northeast wind was blowing tonight, and it was very cold, who knew how many large and small corpses would be carried to the mass grave tomorrow morning?

"They are all the people of the Ming Dynasty, thinking in their hearts that this country should be their protector ......" Dao Meteor choked up in a bad tone, "but when they can't even count on the country, what can they expect?" Oh my God? ”

Xia Mu looked at the embroidered spring knife on his waist, and his eyes were dyed with a layer of moisture: "They shouldn't live in this era......"

"The world is turning around, the years are like water, how can we not be like them, people like us live in a world of swords and swords, struggling in the sea of blood and human life, going farther and farther. It's just that the farther I go, the colder my heart becomes, and sometimes I think to the saber that I've become the walking dead. ”

Xia Mu was speechless, looked at the endless victims, and said coldly: "Who is in charge of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses?" ”

Dao Meteor knew that this kid wouldn't care: "Xu Jue, Yan Shifan's lackey." The guy exchanged the relief grain from the court for Chen sesame seeds, and then transported the relief grain to Datong and sold it to Meda. ”

"These lackeys who are difficult to make a fortune do not deserve to live in the world." Xia Mu coldly put down a sentence and walked towards the inner city.

It's just a section of the Great Wall, but there are two extremes inside and out.

Zhumen's wine and meat stink, and there are frozen bones on the road.

He had only taken two steps when he noticed a sudden commotion in the distance in the middle of the refugee pile.

Xia Mu looked back and saw a large wave of victims, surrounded by a long-haired woman wearing a fox robe, the woman handed the steaming steamed buns to the victims from the maid's hand, her white gauze skirt was stained with the mud of the victims, but she didn't care at all.

Such a woman is really rare kindness in the world.

Just looking at it, the woman was actually Xu Xiyi.

Xu Xiyi looked at the hungry doll in front of her, and then looked at the empty vegetable basket, and her slender eyebrows wrinkled slightly: "Chunxiang, you go get the silver, go to the city to see, there are still leftover buns in the restaurant, buy more." ”

Hearing this, Chunxiang hurriedly persuaded: "Miss, we should go back, the master said that he would have a banquet for Lord Xia tonight, so you must arrive early!" ”

Xu Xiyi smiled weakly: "Lord Xia is reasonable and won't blame us." ”

"But Miss ......"

"Chunxiang, didn't you listen to my words, Miss?"

"But Miss, the old lady knows that she has to serve the family law again, Chunxiang is distressed Miss!"

"Grandpa? It's okay, you can go quickly. ”

Chunxiang had no choice but to walk towards the inner city, but only took two steps, looked at the smiling man in front of her, and almost exclaimed: "Lord Xia——! ”

When Xu Xiyi heard this, she turned her head to look and saw Xia Mu standing in the night, looking at herself with a smile.

"Why did Lord Xia come here?"

Xia Mu looked at Xu Xiyi, who was wearing a little thin, and hurriedly took off his coat and put it on for her: "Miss came here late at night, every guard around her is not afraid of danger, there are Japanese slaves who have recently mixed into the capital, Miss should be more careful when traveling." ”

"Lord Xia, let's go to my house for a banquet first, don't let grandpa wait for a long time."

Xia Mu smiled, took the silver in Chunxiang's hand, threw it to the knife meteor in the distance, and said with a smile: "I will leave it to you when I buy steamed buns, you help me buy steamed buns, I will return your favor, these refugees are handed over to me, I will support the last sky of the Ming Dynasty for them, if I Xia Mu eats it, they will have a mouthful of soup to drink!" ”

"Childe ......"

"Good boy!"

Xu Jie was already waiting in the mansion and was impatient, so he sent someone to invite Xia Mu, but when he came back, he was told that he had gone out two hours ago.

Looking at a table of good dishes, it was already a little cold, Xu Jie's heart was angry, and he complained to Zhang Juzheng, who was drinking tea leisurely: "There is never a delay in the light, why are you so snub to the old man today!" Mo didn't just do the four-grade pacification envoy, and there was no one in his eyes, and he became proud. ”

Zhang Juzheng looked at the teacher's dark face and played on the side: "Teacher, don't worry, there may be something delayed in the light." ”

"Master, Mr. Xia is back with Miss Sun!" At this moment, the old butler shouted at the top of his voice.

When Xu Jie heard this, Mrs. Xu Shao on the side pulled her husband Xu Fan's sleeve. Xu Fan looked at his father's angry appearance, sighed lightly, and didn't dare to speak for his daughter.

In the blink of an eye, Xia Mu walked into the middle hall, saw that Xu Jie had been waiting for a long time, and hurriedly greeted the teacher: "The student is late, please take care of the teacher more." ”

After speaking, he saluted Zhang Juzheng again: "Brother Taiyue! ”

Zhang Juzheng smiled and saluted: "Congratulations on being in the light, and I am promoted, and I will carry more in the future." ”

Xia Mu smiled silently.

Xu Jie looked at the muddy handprints on his granddaughter's gauze skirt, and saw Xia Mu's presence again, his face crossed, and he felt that the atmosphere of the family was corrupted by this granddaughter.

A lady who is beautiful, does not wait in the word pavilion, runs out late at night, if this is spread out, others will say that he has no tutor in Xufu.

Thinking about the anger in his heart, he said angrily to the old housekeeper: "Take the family law to serve!" ”

Xu Xiyi lowered her head, she just refused to kneel, she didn't do anything wrong, why should grandpa punish herself!

Xia Mu saw that Xu Jie was really angry, and hurriedly begged for Xu Xiyi: "If the teacher wants to fight, just hit Guangzhong, it was Guangzhong who asked Miss out of the court." ”

The feather duster raised by Xu Jie stopped in the air and snorted coldly, he didn't want to save Xia Mu's face, after all, Xia Mu was the emperor's person, and it was no longer what it used to be!

PS: Tomorrow it will still be three more than 10,000 words. Guys, ask for collections, ask for support.!!