It was early winter, and the besieging army had changed into winter clothes, and after a full eight months of siege, they still failed to enter the city. Commander Liu waited for the heavy snow to stop, but unexpectedly killed 500,000 horses of the Feng Department of the National Revolutionary Army from the oblique stab, and as soon as the battle was fought, the white-legged crows scattered and fled. When Commander Liu fled from the Han's Tomb Headquarters in the eastern suburbs, the dark night sky was sprinkled with snow grains like grits. The snow particles smashed on the roof of the car with a dense swishing sound, and Commander Liu suddenly remembered the hexagram that Mr. Zhu predicted for him, "When you see the snow, you will see the opening of the relationship", it seems that the bowl of bitter tofu and the stiff and incorruptible pieces of meat are also metaphors for today's ending, and sighs: "This old goblin!" Mr. Zhu later wrote down a line in the "Chronicle of the Republic of China", the last part of the "Historical Evolution" volume of the county chronicle: The remnants of the Zhensong army fled east of Bailuyuan and burned down 57 houses, shot three people, raped 13 women and aunts, and looted property without any plan.

Platoon Commander Yang and his soldiers did not greet Tian Fuxian when they withdrew from Bailu Town Junior Primary School. Tian Fuxian immediately felt a strange silence when he opened his eyes, he put on a cotton jacket and jumped out of bed with cotton pants, and a thin layer of snowflakes fell in the yard. He put his hands on his trouser belts and pressed his shoulders against the door of the next classroom, and stopped on the threshold with an involuntarily "oh". The soldiers were nowhere to be seen, and a row of desks against the wall was covered with straw curtains. Those curtains were recently collected by him from the rice-producing area of Shisui River Province and pulled up by ox carts to the white deer. The futon was uncovered. Pierced shoes, rotten leggings, tattered shirts and trousers were thrown under the table. He turned around and ran to the single-room house where Yang Pai lived for a long time, leaving only a straw curtain on the bedboard, and lists and slips for collecting grain and grass were scattered on the table. He concluded that it was a permanent escape and not a temporary retreat. He kicked over the charcoal pot rack, and a few red charcoal cubes the size of date kernels rolled out of the charcoal ash. He hurried to Lu Zilin's house. "Zilin, come to your security center at noon to discuss matters." Tian Fuxian said, "Our days as dogs have ended today." ”

"That's the end of our dog days." Tian Fuxian repeated this sentence at the meeting convened at noon, "This crow soldier has tossed people enough." The nine villagers couldn't hold back any longer, and opened their throats to mock that the Henan eggs were all blind bears, and cursed them for not dying well.

The dog analogy is harsh but accurate. Yang Platoon Commander and his white-legged crow flew to Bailuyuan for a full eight months, Tian Zongxiang and his nine subordinate township covenants actually became dogs for Yang Platoon Commander to drive, he took them to recognize the village to lead the way, to a family of crops in the Han Gate Building to urge grain and forage, Tian Zong Township about in Yang Platoon Commander often revealed the kind of grievances and flattery of dogs in front of the cruel and violent owner, their nine township covenants are not helpless dog eyes? Tian Fuxian understood the feelings of his subordinates very well, and let them vent their grievances and resentment about being dogs. The entire Bailu Yuan was venting its anger at the moment. The news of the white-legged crow soldier's escape quickly blew through the villages and villages like the wind, and the catharsis of anger then surged, and the burned houses, the mutilated dead and the raped women naturally became the topic of discussion. Tian Fuxian said solemnly: "There are two urgent things to do: one is to take care of the families who were burned, killed, raped and plundered by deserters, and the other is that the burned house in Bailucang should be built. "Then he gave a specific idea of these two things, and when the crow soldiers fled, they didn't have time to take the food stored in the school classrooms, which could be used for the expenses of these two major events." The villagers went back and sent a notice, informing the villagers to go to the mountains to collect wood, two rafters to pay one liter of wheat, five rafters one liter, one purlin three liters, one purlin five liters, the rest of the girders, burdens and pillars according to the material of wheat, bulldozing and mud to move adobe, pulling bricks and throwing tiles, should be done to do small work and handy, one liter of daily wages, three meals. Is this a loss to the bitter people?" When the nine villagers heard this, they all marveled and bluffed, such a generous wage was tantamount to almsgiving, and they were afraid that they would only go into the mountains to collect timber and those who came to do small work would break their heads; Some people complain that the township is too kind, and may even want bad things, and they all come to eat mixed rice, who can control it? Tian Fuxian waved his hand gracefully and said: "As long as everyone feels that they don't treat the villagers badly, it's okay, and the things on the side are worried." ”

As for taking care of the disaster households, Tian Fuxian only thought of it after hearing the villagers talk about what happened there. He slept in the elementary school last night and didn't know anything, so he couldn't come up with a specific plan for a while. After some deliberation, the nine township covenants decided to compensate the more than 30 families who were robbed by the fire in an equal amount of five to eight buckets, depending on the size of their losses, but there was a difference of opinion on the question of whether to take care of the families of the dozen or so women who had been raped.

Strong men rushed into the Qinling Mountains in groups of three or five with their bare hands, carrying pine rafters or purlins bound with kudzu vines out of the mountains, unloading wood on the ruins of the Bailu Barn that was burned by the fire, taking the receipts drawn by the acceptance personnel with brushes, and then rushing to the Bailu Town Junior Primary School to collect wheat. When people walked out of the school gate with food bags, they couldn't suppress the joy on their faces, and they were happy and sincere, although Tian Zongxiang had a pair of fierce round eyes, but he had the kindness and softness of a bodhisattva. All nine villagers were involved in this huge project, and they were all loyal, proactive, and kind and courteous to the villagers.

The new county magistrate has taken office and is surnamed Liang. The sign of the county party department is also hanging at the door of the county government, and the secretary of the county party department is surnamed Yue. Tian Fuxian often went to the county for meetings, so he handed over the entire project to Lu Zilin. Lu Zilin said to Tian Fuxian, who was going to the county government for a meeting: "You go, you go, you can go with confidence, if you miss the project, you will ask me if you take my head." Tian Fuxian left with peace of mind. Lu Zilin had a smile in his deep eyes, and walked to the villagers who were building the foundation of the trough: "If you do it for a while, you can rest for a while and smoke a bag of cigarettes, and if you are hungry, go to the kitchen to touch the two buns!" As a result, the villagers laughed. Everyone worked more happily, and no one rubbed their skin and rubbed their faces to ask for steamed buns when they didn't have dinner. Lu Zilin walked into the school's grain storage classroom with his hands behind his back, and stood in front of the grain pile to watch the villagers who were collecting wood to pay for wheat. After the grain is filled with a wooden bucket, the person who distributes the grain scrapes it along the edge of the bucket with a wooden plank, and the wheat that is higher than the edge of the bucket is scraped to the ground, which is the most fair "flat bucket" in the grain trade. Lu Zilin said: "Leave the scraper." Fill the bucket to the brim. It's full!" The people were much more relaxed, and Lu Zilin turned around and walked away again.

The terrifying atmosphere that had permeated Bailuyuan for eight months from the beginning of the chicken shooting (shooting) performance was quickly dissipated, and the image of Mr. Tian's township covenant and his nine subordinate township covenants of generosity and benevolence became clear. Before the ninth ground froze, a row of new houses on the ruined site of Bailucang were all completed, the gaps in the collapsed earthen fence wall were also repaired, and the dilapidated and low gate tower was replaced with a brick square gatepost, showing a new scene.

Bai Jiaxuan got up and went out to visit his baby daughter Lingling, who was studying in the city, on the fifth day after the crow soldiers fled.

On the evening of the first day of the siege of Xi'an, a spooner from Bailu Village who worked as a cook in the city returned to the village. As soon as he walked into Bailu Town, he was surrounded by people who asked him about the situation in the city during the siege; He was miserable to deal with a few words and left, and encountered the same siege and the same inquiry in the alleys of Bailu Village; He hurriedly walked into the house, and when he saw the old lady in the yard, he crawled on his knees and cried so much that he couldn't stand up, and the villagers rushed to the courtyard to inquire and visit. The spooner cried out, "Mom! All I said was that I would never see you again in my life!" Bai Jiaxuan and his mother Bai Zhao's wife Bai Wu came to this spoon guest house three times to inquire about Lingling's news, and the spoon guest's answer was one sentence: "I didn't see Lingling." ”

In the next two days, Bailu Village's cooks, apprentices, odd workers, wipes, carts, and a few people who did business and opened shops in the city returned to the village to visit their parents, wives and children, and brought back and spread a large number of horrific news during the siege: countless citizens and soldiers who died of war, disease, and starvation, and the corpses could not be transported out of the city gate, and were stacked horizontally and vertically under the base of the city wall. At first, quicklime was used to cover the carcass, but later there were more and more carcass, and when the lime ran out, they were covered with loess, and the city was filled with a stronger and stronger stench. All public or private latrines are overflowing with manure and urine, and farmers on the outskirts of the city who collect dung and grow vegetables cannot enter the city, and people in the city cannot get out of the dung and urine and send them out, so they pile up in the streets and alleys. The maggots raised from the dung heaps and the maggots crawling out of the carcass stacks mingled unscrupulously in the streets and alleys, and then divided into small groups to advance towards all open doors and windows, where maggots the size of little fingers wriggled in the beds, pots, tables, chairs, and drawers. Maggots often burrow into the nostrils, ears and snoring mouths when people are asleep, and inadvertently bite a mouthful of maggot pus and a fishy smell.

Bai Jiaxuan asked all the people who had returned to the village from the city, and they all said that they had never seen Lingling. Those goosebump-inducing and disgusting and vomiting rumors completely suffocated the vitality in the courtyard, first his wife Bai Wu, then his wife Bai Zhao, and then Bai Jiaxuan himself, all stopped eating for two days, and Lingling's dry Da Lusan's meal was also reduced by half, and Xiaowen and his daughter-in-law were embarrassed to eat although they still had some appetite. On the fourth day of the siege, Xiaowen's daughter-in-law asked her mother-in-law for instructions on what to do for breakfast? What you get is "Who's going to eat?" She didn't go into the stove again.

"Four" is an inauspicious number, implying "things". The fairy grass did not eat for three days, but the spirit was still undiminished, and when I went to spin the thread, the cotton thread was always broken, and then I went to rub the cotton twist, and the cotton net was punctured. Bai Zhao simply stood on the side of the road at the west end of the town, waiting hopelessly. The terrible expectation continued until it was dark again, and Xiancao suddenly called "Linglingwa", and fell down from the side of the kang, and Xiaowen and his daughter-in-law rushed over to help when they heard the sound. Bai Zhao was still standing at the intersection west of the town. When Bai Jiaxuan walked into the wing room from the upper room, Xiaowen hugged his mother and shouted loudly, and Xiaowen's daughter-in-law was pulling a needle from the back to stab someone. Xiancao cried out, broke free from Xiaowen's arms and threw herself at Bai Jiaxuan, and then was comforted by her son and daughter-in-law and lay down. Bai Jiaxuan said: "Take care of your mother." I'll go into town. ”

While the people in the city were having breakfast, Bai Jiaxuan stepped into the shop door of the second brother-in-law of the leatherman. The second sister thought that a customer was coming, but when she came to the counter, she found that it was a country brother, so she exclaimed and cheered. Bai Jiaxuan suddenly fell to the ground with a stone, if Ling Ling'er entered the corpse stack, the second sister's family would definitely not eat breakfast so calmly, and they would not open the shop to sell goods. He sat down in his chair and couldn't help but ask, "What about Lingling?"

"Carry the dead!" The second sister said, as if she saw her brother's surprise, but said in a light tone, "Everyone is lifting." Some dig pits, others carry the dead. The pit was under the northeast wall of the city, and it was so big that it could hold more than 10,000 dead people. Bai Jiaxuan sighed, confirming that the words of those people who returned to Bailu Village were not made up. I dug a hole overnight in the dark room last night, and I have to dig it in the dark room today. The second brother-in-law said, "Ling Ling'er also dug a pit two days ago, and yesterday and then changed to carry the corpse." Dig and bury at the same time. Many of the corpses were only left with bone racks, and it was impossible to distinguish whose arms and whose legs, so they were loaded into a rack cart and pulled to be buried. Bai Jiaxuan was already numb to these things, and only complained: "Second sister and second brother-in-law, you two are really cool!" Why can't you think of asking Lingling to go back to the countryside? Her mother-in-law and her mother haven't eaten water and rice for three or four days, and she's going crazy!" Brother, you're not stupid and can think about things! Do you think what can happen to me? If something happens, can I tell you? The baby didn't go back to the original, but the baby was safe!" The cobbler's brother-in-law said, "Why can't you even get the hang of it?" The second sister said: "On the first day of the siege, I urged Lingling to go back, and the baby said that there was no holiday in the school, and that he would act according to General Hu's urgent order, dig mass graves, carry and bury the dead, and clean up the dirt all over the streets. Bai Jiaxuan said sadly: "The family doesn't even burn the fire. ”

While she was talking, Bai Ling walked in the door and called "Dad" and stopped, she saw her father's red, swollen and bulging eyes. Bai Jiaxuan raised his hand and pulled it into her face: "I almost gave you the lives of three people!" Bai Ling covered his face and said, "Dad, I'm not annoyed when you hit me. But I'll ask Grandpa Zhaohai to call you back?" Only then did Bai Jiaxuan know that Lu Taiheng had already come to the city to visit his grandson Zhaohai, who was going to school. Only then did he recognize that the young man standing next to Ling Ling was Lu Zilin's second son Zhaohai. Lu Zhaohai smiled a little shyly and confirmed, "The words are taken back." ”

Lu Zhaohai wore a navy blue uniform, a round hat on his head, a black glossy face on the hard visor, and deep sunken eyes and long eyelashes showed the germological characteristics of the Lu family. "How can Lingling and the second boy of the Lu family be together?" Bai Jiaxuan was puzzled, and then he smelled the strange smell emanating from Lingling and Lu Zhaohai, which was the smell of rotting corpses, which made people feel disgusting when they smelled it, and immediately confirmed what the second brother-in-law said, "Carry the dead". He said, "Change your clothes, wash off the smell of dead people from your hands, and follow me back to where I was." Bai Ling said: "The corpse is still rotting under the wall before it is lifted, how can I go?" Bai Jiaxuan said: "When you finish carrying the dead people in the city, go home just in time to carry the corpses of your mother and your mother." Bai Ling said: "You go back and tell your mother-in-law and mother that I am fine and not injured or sick, so they are not in a hurry and they are relieved." Lu Zhaohai interjected and said, "Uncle! Bai Ling was the leader of the corpse transport team, and she was messed up when she left. After a week of transporting the corpse and letting her go home, I also wanted to go back to our plain, and we both went back together. Bai Jiaxuan ignored Zhaohai and said to Lingling stiffly: "Wow Lingling, do you dare not listen to me?" Bai Ling said: "Dad, it's not that I don't listen to you. You see, so many people died in battle, starved to death, and rotted under the city walls, and we were protected by them, and we survived, and no matter if their conscience was disturbed! I'll tell you the truth, I can't go back for a week, the corpses are carried and buried, and the whole city will hold a memorial ceremony, and the mass grave that is being dug will be named 'Revolution Park', so that future generations will always remember these heroic souls who sacrificed their lives for the national revolution......" Bai Jiaxuan listened to these confused new terms with great difficulty, and his head was wooden. Bai Ling said: "Second aunt fetch me two buns, I have to go." Dad, you take a day off and go back tomorrow. Bai Jiaxuan wanted to block it but didn't block it again, seeing that the second sister brought the buns to Lingling and the Lu family, the two of them went out. The second sister said: "What the baby said is also right! If the corpse is not carried earlier, who can stand it if the living are buried? It's almost winter vacation, I'm going back to the original with Lingling and your two nieces and daughters, and I miss our mother too. Bai Jiaxuan asked with straight eyes: "What is the second cargo of the Lu family running back and forth with Lingling?" The second sister guessed what he meant, and said, "People are classmates and revolutionary comrades, and your old brains don't like anything!" Bai Jiaxuan said: "Second sister, you are following nonsense. I made it clear that if you tell her to study, she will study wholeheartedly, and she will pull and pull back and forth with the Lu family!"

Bai Jiaxuan hastily ate breakfast and said goodbye to the second sister and the leatherman's brother-in-law, and stepped into his gatehouse regularly after dark. The courtyard has come back to life. Not long after he left with his blanket on his back last night, Lu Taiheng brought the words that Lingling was safe and sound. Xiancao and her mother relieved themselves of the heavy burden, but missed their daughter and granddaughter even more, and even proposed that the two of them go to the city together to see if Lingling was thin or fat. Bai Jiaxuan said: "No one has to go. It's all in vain to go. Let's worry about her and be afraid of it, but she doesn't want anyone, she is only busy carrying the dead and burying the dead. I ran away, and the thief didn't even have time to sit with me a little longer. That's—it's a sea beast!"