"In the summer of the first year of Chongzhen, there was a drought in Jifu, and the red land was thousands of miles." - "History of the Ming Dynasty: Five Elements Chronicles".

……

In those years, the people had a hard time.

Since the end of Wanli, in less than 20 years, floods, droughts and locust plagues have been frequent, and the small people in Shengdou have suffered unspeakably.

It is the best place in Beijing, and it is not spared.

In the first year of the Apocalypse, the new emperor ascended the throne, and the locusts flew in Gyeonggi.

In the first year of Chongzhen, the new emperor ascended the throne, and Gyeonggi Chidi was thousands of miles away.

In the cracked and barren fields, a group of hungry people roamed, lifeless like the walking dead.

The seedlings have long since withered, the weeds have not survived, and the bark of the trees has been stripped clean, and if you want to eat clods, you have to find water to swallow.

Zhao Shilang took the whole family, old and young, mixed in the escape team, and staggered forward blankly.

Last year, my mother fell ill and died.

This year, the eldest son fell ill and starved to death.

Just a few days ago, the family was favored by the heavens and found a large area of dogtail grass by the river.

Cook porridge with grass seeds, save some to eat, and eat it for two days.

The whole family cherishes the second son Zhao Han, and he eats the most grass seed porridge, but because of this bad thing, Zhao Han has not for several days. The grass seeds are cemented in the abdomen, and they can't be pulled out, just waiting to die.

In the evening, the family slept in the wilderness.

Zhao Shilang took his eldest daughter Zhao Zhenlan to pick up barren grass and dry branches nearby to make a fire. His wife, Zhao Chen, with her second daughter Zhao Zhenfang, continued to help her son Zhao Han excrete.

"Han'er, use some more strength!" Zhao Chen held a branch and carefully poked at his son's anus.

Zhao Han took off his pants and squatted on the ground, grabbed the dry grass with both hands, exerted all his strength, and said with a crying voice: "Mother, the child can't pull it out." ”

"It's coming, it's coming." Zhao Chen said with tears in his eyes, his son's anus had been poked and bleeding.

After a while, I only heard Zhao Han scream in pain, and then fainted directly in place.

Zhao Chen said happily: "The poop is out, the poop is out!" ”

The whole family had no food left, so they could only boil some half-withered grass roots and drink hot water to satisfy their hunger.

It is the grassroots, which can only be dug up with good luck, and the family members are swollen due to malnutrition.

The condition of his family is not bad, but it is just swollen. Some of the hungry people have been starving for so long that not only have they run out of fat, but they have also atrophied their muscles, and their skin and bones are like dried corpses.

At night, the stars shine brightly.

Zhao Shilang was wearing a shabby Ge cloth shirt, looked up at the starry sky, and muttered to himself: "Brilliant and bright, the mountains and rivers are discolored, the demonic atmosphere is full of people, and the country will not be a country." I am a Confucian scholar, what can I do about it? What can I do about it! ”

Zhao Shilang is indeed a Confucian scholar, and his ancestors have been Confucian scholars for generations, because the household registration of the Zhao family is Confucian (like the merchant registration, they are all subordinate branches of the civil nationality).

More than ten years ago, the Zhao family's family was quite wealthy.

But he spent a lot of money on the imperial examination, and his family business had long since decayed. In recent years, there have been a series of natural disasters, and last year Zhao's mother was seriously ill and borrowed loan sharks for treatment. In the end, the people were gone, and the debts could not be repaid, so they could only sell the land to settle the debts.

At the beginning, I could borrow money from my clansmen and friends, but who could stand it after a long time? In the eyes of relatives and friends, Zhao Shilang is like a plague god, and he can't avoid them one by one.

Another day later, the escape team came to Tianjin, looking at each other across the canal and the city wall.

There are officials and gentry by the river who set up porridge sheds to help the people, and Zhao Shilang's family lined up for porridge.

However, only a few hundred people gave porridge, and some officials shouted: "Today's porridge is exhausted, and tomorrow will come again." ”

Near the porridge shed, there was a sudden cry that shook the sky, and some hungry people came forward to entangle, and they were beaten to death by the soap officials.

More than 100,000 hungry people gathered in Beijing and Tongzhou.

Even if the imperial court wants to help the people, it will not be Tianjin's turn, and hundreds of people will only be treated every day, and the only little disaster relief money has already been embezzled.

Suddenly, a group of people came in fresh clothes and angrily, and the leader shouted: "My lord accepts a righteous daughter, over 12 years old, under 16 years old, and those with good faces are worth half a bucket!" ”

The hungry people with daughters came forward to inquire, and then took their daughters to jump into the shallow canal to wash their faces.

Zhao Zhenlan, who was fourteen years old, said to her parents: "Dad, mother, sell your daughter." Save some food, half a bucket of rice can be eaten for several days. ”

Zhao Shilang and Zhao Chen were silent.

Zhao Zhenlan squeezed out a smile: "Horizontal and vertical is death, sell your daughter to a big family, and you can live as a maid." ”

Zhao Chen sighed and said: "Lan'er, what kind of big family is this, it is clearly a tooth for buying and selling women. ”

Zhao Shilang gritted his teeth and said: "My Zhao family has been innocent for generations, but the whole family starved to death......"

"Daddy, the eldest brother is gone, the second brother can't die, and the Zhao family still wants him to pass on the incense," Zhao Zhenlan pleaded, "Dad, mother, you should leave a way for your daughter to live, and your daughter doesn't want to starve to death." ”

Zhao Shilang turned his head to look at Zhao Han, his son was in a coma, and he had a high fever, and he would definitely die if he didn't eat.

After being speechless for a long time, Zhao Shilang turned to look at the sky, closed his eyes and shed two lines of turbid tears, and waved his hand: "Go." ”

Zhao Chen tearfully took his daughter's hand and said with a crying voice: "Lan'er, my mother will wash you up." ”

Zhao Zhenfang, the youngest daughter who is only six years old, watched all this silently, as if she understood everything, and she didn't seem to understand anything.

The North Canal was too dry to sail, and the mother and daughter carefully slid into the river, and the river washed Zhao Zhenlan's face, which was delicate and lovable, but her cheeks were slightly sunken with hunger.

But he heard the tooth yelling: "Don't accept it, don't accept it, the righteous daughter has already collected it." ”

Zhao Chen suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, finally he didn't have to sell his daughter, but when he thought about it, the whole family had nothing to eat, and he immediately fell into sadness and distress.

Zhao Zhenlan stepped forward and said to Yayu, "I am literate." ”

Hearing this, the head of the tooth immediately turned around, stared at Zhao Zhenlan for a while, and nodded: "It's also a beautiful embryo." ”

Zhao Zhenlan said again: "My father is a showman, and my ancestors have someone who is an official. ”

"It's still a scholarly family." The tooth was happy.

Zhao Zhenlan said: "I am worth three buckets of rice. ”

"Hey, three buckets of rice? In these years, she is the official eunuch lady, and she is only worth one bucket at most. Yayu threw out two bags of rice, both of which were small bags that could hold half a bucket, and one bag of rice could weigh about five or six catties.

Zhao Zhenlan didn't bargain anymore, she untied the rope that tied the bag, revealing the yellow-brown old rice, squeezed out a smile and said to her mother: "Mother, my daughter is gone, you and your father should take care." ”

"Lan'er, you have to take care too." Zhao Chen said with tears in his eyes.

The toothymen left with the girl, and Zhao Chen dragged two bags of rice to see her husband.

Six-year-old Zhao Zhenfang, who realized something, cried: "Sister, sister, I want sister!" ”

Zhao Chen's face was full of Qi Rong, and he comforted his little daughter and said: "Fang'er, don't cry, my sister is going to live a good life, and my sister is going to live a good life." ”

"I want a sister, I want a sister!" Zhao Zhenfang still couldn't stop crying.

Zhao Shilang looked at the two bags of rice on the ground, and then looked at the crying little daughter, and couldn't help but feel sad, squatting on the ground and crying bitterly.

Suddenly, Zhao Chen pulled out a rusty kitchen knife, like an old hen guarding her cubs, and roared viciously: "What are you going to do? Get out, get out! ”

But it was a group of hungry people, coveting their two bags of rice, and they were eyeing them around.

Other hungry people who sold women for rice were surrounded by the hungry people in the vicinity if they were not protected by their families and the township party. When I'm really hungry, I can even eat people, let alone just kill people and grab rice.

Zhao Shilang couldn't care about his grief, picked up the stick he was hurrying on, and tried to save his family's life-saving food.

"Dada, dada......"

There was a sound of horses' hooves, from far and near, and the men on horseback were all armed.

More than 20,000 hungry people stood stunned, and the horse team soon arrived. One frowned and asked, "Didn't you say that you were going to give porridge today?" ”

No one answered.

The man rolled over and dismounted, grabbed a hungry man and asked, "Where is the soup kitchen?" ”

The hungry people replied in horror: "It's over." ”

"Damn, it's not noon yet, how can it be done? Foolish! The man was furious.

Another horse rider said, "Big brother, we can't run for nothing, see if there is any oil and water on our bodies." ”

These guys were horse bandits, and when they heard that they were going to give porridge outside Tianjin, they immediately rode horses to grab food.

They didn't dare to enter the city of Tianjin, but they had the courage to grab grain outside the city, and the soldiers stationed in Tianjin were also soldiers anyway.

"What does it smell like?"

"Someone cooking porridge over there!"

When a few horse bandits heard this, they rushed over and snatched the food that the hungry people had obtained from selling their women. The hungry people tried to resist, and were hacked to death by horse bandits with knives one after another.

Another horse bandit shouted: "Whoever has food, hand it all over!" ”

"Run!"

The murder saw blood, and the hungry people in the vicinity fled in panic.

If you are far away, you don't know what happened, but you can't escape with them anyway. Within moments, the fear spread rapidly, and more than 20,000 hungry people fled in a frenzy.

The horse bandits kept an eye on the person with the bag on him, no matter what was inside, anyway, he grabbed it first.

Zhao Shilang picked up his son, who was unconscious and feverish, picked up a bag of rice himself, asked his wife to take a bag of rice, and protected his daughter to escape in panic.

"Ahh

There was a scream from his wife behind him, and Zhao Shilang hurriedly turned around to look.

saw that Zhao Chen had been stabbed and fell to the ground, and the grain was also robbed by horse bandits. His eyes were cracked, he put down his son, his eyes were red, and he said, "Thief, I fought with you!" ”

Zhao Chen shouted bitterly: "Boss, leave me alone, run away, run away!" ”

Two legs can't run on four legs, Zhao Shilang knew that he couldn't be spared, he picked up the wooden stick and rushed back: "Thief, take your life!" ”

The horse bandit sneered and raised his foot to kick Zhao Shilang down.

Zhao Shilang struggled to get up, the horse bandit slashed down, and then made up a few more knives as if venting his anger, and Zhao Shilang fell in a pool of blood and no longer moved.

"Daddy, Daddy!"

Zhao Zhenfang pounced and shook her father's body vigorously.

"It's noisy." The horse bandits raised their knives and wanted to slash.

Another horse bandit stopped: "Old Seven, it's enough, the little girl will also be killed?" It's important to grab something. ”

The horse bandit then put away his knife, grabbed two bags of rice, tied it to the horse, and continued to kill people and goods.

In the blink of an eye, more than 20,000 hungry people had fled, leaving only a few hundred corpses.

Some were killed by horse bandits, and many more died by stampede. There are also some hungry people, who are dying of hunger, and have no strength to flee for their lives, so they just lie in place and wait to starve to death.

In the north of Tianjin, there is a temporary wooden bridge.

The officers and soldiers guarding the bridge witnessed all this, but no one was willing to come to the rescue.

Not only that, but they also raised their swords and killed any starving people who tried to cross the bridge. Whether it is a hungry person or a horse bandit, it is a big trouble for Tianjin!

Zhao Zhenfang's voice was hoarse, but her parents still didn't respond. She knew that her father and mother were asleep, and a month ago, her eldest brother also fell asleep and did not wake up.

The little girl was so hungry that she stood there blankly.

I don't know how long it took, Zhao Zhenfang walked towards the nearby corpse. There was a fire that had not yet been extinguished, porridge in a broken clay pot, and some grains of rice were sprinkled on the ground.

Carefully dig the blood-stained rice grains into a clay pot. Zhao Zhenfang followed her mother's example, collected water from a few clay pots, and knelt there waiting to cook porridge and drink.

I don't know if it's cooked or not, Zhao Zhenfang couldn't bear it, she sobbed with tears in her eyes, swallowed saliva, and held the crockpot out of the fire with her hands.

"Ahh

The little girl's hands were blistered, but she did not throw away the crockpot, but carefully placed it on the ground.

Then, she was stunned, turned to look at her father, and stood stupidly until the porridge was cold and didn't come back to her senses.

Suddenly, Zhao Zhenfang suddenly picked up the clay pot, came to her parents, shook her father's corpse and said, "Daddy, don't sleep." Get up quickly and drink the porridge, and you will not be hungry after drinking the porridge. ”

The father did not respond.

She went to shake her mother's body again: "Mother, drink porridge, drink porridge and you won't be hungry." Mother, get up and drink porridge...... Woo, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa......"

A great fear struck her, and the little girl began to cry.

Gradually, I was tired of crying and had no strength.

"Water, water, thirsty ......"

The little girl turned her head to look, but it was Zhao Han who was struggling to speak. She wiped away her tears and rushed over happily: "Second brother, second brother, get up and drink porridge!" ”