A remnant sun hung obliquely in the sky, sprinkling its own bloody sunset on every piece of land. Walking east from Moscow, all you can see is a bleak and bleak wasteland. The canals dried up, the wheat fields withered, and a large number of crops wilted and died; Occasionally, emaciated elderly people and women in ragged clothes toiled in the fields to make ends meet, but the harvest was not even enough to sustain them.

In this position, Germany began to massively build up troops on the Eastern Front 45 days after the outbreak of the war, and reached its peak in the third month: a strategic choice that was very different from the historical West, the East and the East, and undoubtedly dealt a catastrophic blow to Russia. More than 2,400,000 Russian officers and soldiers died or were captured, and farmland that had lost its labor force was largely abandoned; Coupled with the loss of Ukraine, the most important grain base, Russia is even more stretched on the grain problem at present. In order to ensure the supply of food, the Bolsheviks ordered the implementation of "war communism" within the limits of control, forcing the peasants to hand over all their grain stocks; This method of fishing not only caused resentment and frequent revolts in various places, but also caused the government to consume a lot of food in the brutal counterinsurgency suppression, and the final net income was far from proportional to the price paid.

Because of the problems in the field of grain, the Russian people under Bolshevik rule were disgraced even at the end of the summer, when a good harvest was approaching: as for the class enemies and political criminals who were accused, it was impossible to treat them well. However, the family of former Tsar Nicholas is a rare exception. Because of their unique and sensitive identity, they have always enjoyed a life far better than ordinary political criminals in the previous game of various forces chasing the supreme power, at least they have never had any worries about food and clothing.

months. Nikolai was in prison though. The farmhouse where he lived was always guarded by armed Red Army guards day and night; However, in the meantime. But he really enjoyed the ease and peace that he had never had before. After releasing his authority, he no longer had the kind of straining and intrigue that he had when he was on the throne, but devoted himself to life with his family. They worked and studied like ordinary people, and decorated this ordinary farmhouse with exquisite beauty; The personality of the mediocre king that hangs over Nikolai begins to fade, and finally takes on the positive role of a benevolent father and exemplary husband.

The window grilles are cut to pieces, and the lights are shaky. Located on the dining table in the central living room, seven or eight plates of delicious dishes have been laid out at this time. Ochre steaks, golden bread, soft butter, plump sausages...... The color is bright and appetizing. The dining table is in the middle. A round cream cake is placed on a porcelain plate with ten slender candles of different colors on top; The red and yellow flamelight jumped, reflecting the happy faces of everyone present.

"Today is Alexey's tenth birthday, and our foal is finally going to run." The bearded Nikolai smiled, his eyes full of joy and love. His wife, Alexandra, who was sitting next to him, was even more smiling, and the excitement in her heart was indescribable. As the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Alexandra was originally a carrier of the hemophilia gene, which was inevitably passed on to her youngest son, Alexei, after she married her cousin Nikolai. In the past ten years, Alexei has hovered on the brink of death countless times. As a mother, she doesn't know how many tears she shed, and how much pain and suffering she experienced almost fainting. Right now. She's finally coming out of it. Under Rasputin's enigmatic treatment, Alexei really gradually regained his health, and the frequency and intensity of his attacks were much less frequent than in his childhood. According to Rasputin's prediction, Alexei will be completely free from the threat to his life caused by hemophilia after the age of ten, and will eventually recover to the point where he can basically live like a normal person; Now that Alexei's ten-year-old deadline has arrived, how can this not make Alexandra cry with joy?

At the other end of the table, a slightly slender figure is sitting on a chair: under the light of the cake candles, his face looks like finely carved porcelain. If the sisters beside him are like four flowers, budding or radiant, then he is like a crystal in a deep valley swamp, even in the dark and muddy, he cannot hide the brilliance and magnificence he possesses.

Listening to Nikolai's words, Alexei's face showed an innocent smile, he closed his eyes and quietly prayed a few words in his heart, and then blew out the candle on the cake. Green smoke curled up, applause erupted, and Nikolai took the lead in stretching out a knife and fork like a steak in front of him, and there was a crisp sound of crashing on the table.

"Dear Niki, seeing Alyosha (Alexei's nickname) grow to where he is today, my heart is filled with gratitude to Our Lady Mary for her family." Alexandra quietly wiped the tears of joy from the corners of her eyes and said to Nikolai in a voice that had become a little hoarse, "Alyosha has grown up, and we don't have to worry about his doom anymore." ”

Nikolai nodded slightly, and the look on his face was full of joy and approval. After a while, something suddenly occurred in his heart, but his tone suddenly became low, and he said slowly: "It's a pity that the Holy Master who cured Alyosha can no longer be by our side. Just this morning, he was sentenced to death by the Bolsheviks on seventeen counts, and was immediately executed. In order to vent their savage desire for destruction, the Bolsheviks executed the Holy Master with great cruelty, and it took four hours for the Holy Master to finally throw himself into the arms of the Lord. ”

Alexandra's face darkened when she heard this, and she quietly drew a cross on her chest with her fingers. Since the Tsar's family had been under strict supervision since the February Revolution, they lived in almost isolation from outsiders; Therefore, they remained unaware of the numerous crimes committed by Rasputin behind the back of the Tsar. In the eyes of the Tsars, Rasputin was still the saint who cured his young son of a terminal illness; Upon hearing that he had been killed, Nikolai and Alexandra were depressed and painful, as if they had lost their most reliable old friend.

"What about you, what charges did those red demons impose on you?" After a long silence, Alexandra finally looked up from the sluggish eating movements and said to Nikolai.

"The Bolsheviks accused me of thirteen crimes, including suppressing democracy, massacring the people, ignoring the suffering of the people, and deliberately provoking two wars against Japan and Germany." Nikolai lowered his voice to avoid damaging the joy of his children, "There are some accusations for which I am indeed responsible, but the most critical and core charges are deliberately fabricated by these demons! I never ordered the shooting of the marching people on the ninth of January, and the treason of deliberately provoking war is even more absurd; As the Tsar of all Russia, will I still sell my national interests to the barbaric monkeys of Japan in order to obtain money? ”

Nikolai opened his mouth angrily, and there was a hint of hatred and contempt on his face: "Speaking of treason, I am afraid that there is no force in the history of Russia that can compare with this group of Bolshevik demons." Although the war against Japan led by me was unfortunately lost, it only lost the economic interests of Manchuria and did not cede an inch of land to Japan; And the Treaty of Brest they signed lost 1.5 million square kilometers of land, and handed over 44 million people and untold wealth to the Central Powers! If there is really a trial, hanging these red demons a hundred times will not be enough to offset the crimes they have committed against Russia! As for the suppression of democracy, they have also dissolved the Constituent Assembly, which they have promised so many times, by force, so who is in a position to accuse me of my actions? ”

"And how did you respond to them?" Alexandra spoke.

"Naturally, I did not hesitate to deny those baseless slanders. I requested counsel and thus extended the proceedings. Nikolai spoke softly, with a hint of hope in his words, "according to the information revealed to me by a loyal guard, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands is interested in sheltering us and negotiating with the Bolsheviks on this matter. As long as I put this farce of trial on, I hope to wait until the day when the situation changes; Then we will be able to escape from the Bolsheviks. ”

Alexandra's eyes lit up, and her heart lit up with a glimmer of hope. At present, although his family is enjoying family pleasures that he has never had before, he is always under the guns of the Bolsheviks; If the other party is willing, he can let himself die at any time without a place to be buried. Although the Netherlands is a strange land that has never been reached, it is much better for my family to settle there than it is now. Faintly, Alexandra's mind began to come alive: once Nikki escaped from the clutches of the Bolsheviks, he might not be able to regain the honor of belonging to the Romanov dynasty with the help of the anti-Soviet forces in Russia at present!

Before you know it, this family dinner is also coming to an end. Nikolai and Alexandra, though they had their own thoughts, did not tell their children about these things out of secrecy, lest the young ones would be discovered by the guards who guarded them. After tidying up the cups and plates, Nikolai let his children read and study as usual: now he had renewed hope in his heart for his fate, and his desire to be strict with his children and to their success was restored.

Not far from the farmhouse where the Tsar's family lived, a group of heavily armed guards and soldiers also welcomed a Cheka commissioner in his barracks. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the monthly ticket support of the book friend Angel Reading, and the peach charm of the Qingge and Wonderful Dance Mulan Boat ~~~

It is said that yesterday's subscription volume plummeted to the bottom, which made the hearts of authors who were still trying to update on Chinese New Year's Eve cold