"In the summer of the first year of Chongzhen, there was a drought in Jifu, and the red land was thousands of miles away." - "History of the Ming Dynasty·Five Elements Chronicles".
…
These days, life is difficult for the people.
Since the end of Wanli, in less than twenty years, floods, droughts, and locust plagues have occurred frequently, making the people of Shengdou miserable.
Even the best place in the capital was not spared.
In the first year of the Apocalypse, the new emperor ascended the throne, and the sky was filled with migratory locusts in the capital.
In the first year of Chongzhen, the new emperor ascended the throne, and the capital was spread thousands of miles away.
In the cracked and barren fields, a group of hungry people were wandering, lifeless like zombies.
The grass seedlings have long since withered, the weeds are no longer alive, and the bark of the trees has been stripped clean. If you want to eat the clods of soil, you have to find water to swallow them.
Zhao Shilang and his whole family mingled among the fleeing groups, staggering forward in confusion.
Last year, my mother died of illness.
This year, the eldest son died of illness and hunger.
Just a few days ago, a family was blessed by heaven and found a large patch of foxtail grass by the river.
Make porridge with grass seeds, save some and eat it in two days.
The whole family cherished the second son Zhao Han. He ate the most grass seed porridge, but this caused bad things. Zhao Han had not pooped for several days. The grass seeds were hardened in his abdomen and he could not pull them out. He was just waiting to die.
In the evening, the whole family slept in the wilderness.
Zhao Shilang took his eldest daughter Zhao Zhenlan to pick up weeds and dead branches nearby to make a fire. His wife Zhao Chen and her second daughter Zhao Zhenfang continued to help their son Zhao Han excrete.
"Han'er, use more strength!" Mrs. Zhao Chen held a branch and carefully poked her son's anus.
Zhao Han took off his pants and squatted on the ground, grabbing the withered grass with both hands, using all his strength, and said with a cry: "Mom, I can't pull the baby out."
"It's almost, it's almost." Zhao Chen said with tears, her son's anus had been poked and bleeding.
After a while, Zhao Han screamed in pain and then fainted on the spot.
Zhao Chen said happily: "It's coming out, it's coming out!"
The whole family had no food left, so they could only boil some half-dried grass roots and drink them with hot water to satisfy their hunger.
Even grass roots have to be dug up with good luck, and the whole family is swollen due to malnutrition.
The condition of his family is pretty good, just bloated. Some hungry people have been hungry for too long, and not only have their fat been exhausted, but their muscles have also atrophied, and their skin and bones look like mummified corpses.
At night, the stars are shining brightly.
Zhao Shilang was wearing a worn-out Gebu suit, looking up at the stars, and murmuring to himself: "The Ming Dynasty is brilliant, the mountains and rivers are eclipsed, the atmosphere is full of demons, and the generals are in ruins. What can we, the Confucian scholars, do about it? What can we do about it!"
Zhao Shilang is indeed a Confucian scholar, and his ancestors have been Confucian scholars for generations, because the Zhao family's household registration is Confucian (just like the business registration, it is a branch of the civil registration).
More than ten years ago, the Zhao family's family was relatively well off.
However, his imperial examination cost a lot, and his family business has long since declined. There have been natural disasters in recent years. Last year, Zhao's mother was seriously ill, and she borrowed loan sharks to treat her illness. In the end, she lost her husband and could not repay the debt, so she had to sell land to pay off the debt.
In the beginning, you could borrow money from your tribe and friends, but who could bear it as time went on? In the eyes of his relatives and friends, Zhao Shilang was like the god of plague, and they all avoided him.
Another day later, the fleeing team arrived in Tianjin, facing each other across the canal and the city wall.
Some officials and gentry set up a porridge shed by the river to help the people, and Zhao Shilang's family lined up to wait for the porridge.
However, when only a few hundred people were being given porridge, some clerks shouted: "The porridge is gone today, come again tomorrow."
Suddenly, there was a loud cry near the porridge shed. Some hungry people came forward to fight and were beaten to death by the officials.
The red land of North Zhili is thousands of miles away, and more than 100,000 hungry people gathered in Beijing and Tongzhou.
Even if the imperial court wanted to provide relief to the people, it would not be Tianjin's turn. It would just give soup to hundreds of people every day as a show, and the little relief funds it had had long been embezzled.
Suddenly, a group of people dressed in fresh clothes and angry horses came, and the leader shouted: "My master has adopted a daughter, who is over twelve years old and under sixteen years old, and the one with a good face is worth half a bucket of rice!"
The hungry people who had daughters came forward to ask questions, 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: "Father, mother, sell your daughter. Save some food. Half a bucket of rice can last for several days."
Zhao Shilang and Zhao Chen both buried their heads in silence.
Zhao Zhenlan forced a smile: "Anyway, it means death. If you sell your daughter to a wealthy family, you can survive as a maid."
Mrs. Zhao Chen sighed: "Lan'er, this is not a servant of a wealthy family. He is clearly a charlatan who buys and sells women."
Zhao Shilang gritted his teeth and said: "My Zhao family has been innocent for generations, but my whole family starved to death..."
"Dad, the eldest brother is gone, and the second brother cannot die. The Zhao family still wants him to pass on the incense," Zhao Zhenlan pleaded, "Father, mother, you should leave a way for your daughter to survive. My daughter doesn't want to starve to death."
Zhao Shilang turned to look at Zhao Han. His son was in a coma and had a high fever. He would definitely die if he didn't eat.
After being speechless for a long time, Zhao Shilang turned around and looked at the sky, closed his eyes and shed two lines of tears, waved his hand and said, "Go."
Mrs. Zhao Chen held her daughter's hand with tears in her eyes and said in a tearful tone: "Lan'er, mother will groom you."
The youngest daughter, Zhao Zhenfang, who was only six years old, watched all this silently, seeming to understand everything and yet also seeming to understand nothing.
The North Canal was so dry that it was impossible for boats to sail. The mother and daughter carefully slipped into the river. The river water washed Zhao Zhenlan's face, which was delicate and lovable, but her cheeks were slightly sunken due to hunger.
But I heard the Yaji yelling: "No more, no more, the adopted daughter has already collected them all."
Mrs. Zhao Chen suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, finally no longer having to sell her daughter, but when she thought about the family's lack of food, she immediately fell into sadness and distress.
Zhao Zhenlan stepped forward and said to Yaji: "I am literate."
Upon hearing this, the arrogant leader immediately turned around, stared at Zhao Zhenlan for a while, nodded and said, "She is indeed a beautiful woman."
Zhao Zhenlan added: "My father is a scholar, and some of my ancestors were officials."
"It's still a scholarly family." Yayi became happy.
Zhao Zhenlan said: "I am worth three buckets of rice."
"Hey, three buckets of rice? In this day and age, even an official lady is only worth one bucket at most." Yaji threw out two bags of rice, both of which are small bags that can hold half a bucket. One bag of rice can weigh about five or six kilograms.
.
Zhao Zhenlan stopped bargaining. She untied the rope that tied the bag, revealing the tawny old rice. She forced a smile and said to her mother: "Mom, my daughter is gone. You and dad should take care of themselves."
"Lan'er, you also need to take care." Zhao Chen said while wiping her tears.
The charlatans took the girl away, and Mrs. Zhao Chen dragged two bags of rice to see her husband.
Six-year-old Zhao Zhenfang realized something and cried: "Sister, sister, I want my sister!"
With a sad look on her face, Mrs. Zhao Chen comforted her little daughter and said, "Fang'er, please don't cry. My sister has lived a good life. My sister has lived a good life."
"I want a sister, I want a sister!" Zhao Zhenfang still kept crying.
Zhao Shilang looked at the two bags of rice on the ground, and then at his crying little daughter. He couldn't help feeling sad, and he squatted on the ground and sobbed.
Suddenly, Mrs. Zhao and Chen pulled out a rusty kitchen knife, and like an old hen guarding her young, she roared viciously: "What are you going to do? Get out, get out!"
But a group of hungry people, coveting their two bags of rice, were surrounding them with eager eyes.
Other hungry people who sell their girls for rice are often surrounded by hungry people nearby if they are not protected by their hometown party. If they are really hungry, they will eat other people, let alone just killing people and robbing rice.
Zhao Shilang ignored his grief and picked up the walking stick, trying to save the family's life-saving food.
"Da da, da da da..."
The sound of horse hoofbeats came from far away, and the people on horseback were all armed with weapons.
More than 20,000 hungry people stood there blankly, and the cavalry quickly rushed over. One person frowned and asked, "Didn't you say we were going to give out porridge today?"
No one answered.
The man got off his horse, grabbed a hungry man and asked, "Where is the porridge cook?"
The hungry people responded in horror: "It's over."
"Damn it, it's not even noon yet, how can it be possible that the treatment has been finished? What a fool!" The man was furious.
Another rider said: "Brother, we can't go all this way to see if Kuhaha still has any oil or water on him."
These guys were horse bandits. When they heard that porridge was being given outside the city of Tianjin, they immediately came on horseback to grab food.
They didn't dare to break into the city of Tianjin, but they had the courage to grab food outside the city. Anyway, the soldiers stationed in Tianjin were also cowards.
"What is the taste?"
"Someone is cooking porridge over there!"
Upon hearing this, several horse bandits rushed over and robbed the hungry people of the food they had obtained by selling their girls. The hungry people tried to resist, but were hacked to death by the horse bandits one after another with knives.
Another horse bandit shouted: "Whoever has food, please hand it over!"
"Run!"
The killings were bloody, and the hungry people nearby panicked and fled for their lives.
Those who were far away didn't know what was going on, so they were right to flee together. Within a moment, fear spread quickly, and more than 20,000 hungry people fled in a confused swarm.
Horse bandits specialize in people with bags on their bodies. No matter what is inside, they will grab it first.
Zhao Shilang carried his unconscious and feverish son on his back, picked up a bag of rice himself, asked his wife to get a bag of rice, and protected his daughter from running away in panic.
"ah!"
His wife's screams came from behind, and Zhao Shilang quickly turned around to look.
But he saw that Mrs. Zhao Chen had been stabbed and fell to the ground, and her food had been stolen by horse bandits. His eyes were about to burst, he put down his son, his eyes were red and said: "Evil bandits, I will fight with you!"
Zhao Chen reluctantly shouted in pain: "Master, leave me alone, run away, run away!"
Two legs cannot run as fast as four legs. Zhao Shilang knew that he would not survive. He picked up the wooden stick and rushed back: "Evil thief, you must die!"
The horse bandit sneered and kicked Zhao Shilang down.
Zhao Shilang struggled to get up, but the horse bandit slashed him with a knife, and then struck him with a few more blows as if to vent his anger. Zhao Shilang fell in a pool of blood and stopped moving.
"Daddy, daddy!"
Zhao Zhenfang rushed over and shook her father's body vigorously.
"It's very noisy." The horse bandit raised his knife and tried to cut him.
Another horse bandit stopped him and said: "Old Seven, that's enough. Kill the little girl too? It's more important to grab things."
The horse bandit then put away his knife, grabbed two bags of rice, tied them to the horse and continued to kill and steal goods.
In the blink of an eye, more than 20,000 hungry people fled, leaving only hundreds of corpses.
Some were killed by horse bandits, and more died from trampling on each other. There were also some hungry people who were dying of hunger and had no strength to escape, so they just lay there waiting 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 wanted to come to the rescue.
Not only that, they also raised their swords to kill any hungry people who tried to cross the bridge. Whether hungry people or horse bandits, they were a big problem for Tianjin!
Zhao Zhenfang's voice was hoarse from crying, but her parents still didn't respond. She knew that her parents 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.
After an unknown amount of time, Zhao Zhenfang walked towards the nearby body. There was a fire that had not been extinguished, there was porridge in the broken earthen pot, and some rice grains were scattered on the ground.
Carefully dig the rice grains stained with blood into the earthen jar. Zhao Zhenfang followed her mother's example, collecting water from several earthen jars, and knelt there waiting to cook porridge.
She didn't know whether it was cooked or not, but Zhao Zhenfang couldn't bear it anymore. She sobbed with tears and swallowed her saliva, and took the earthen pot out of the fire with her hands.
"ah!"
The little girl's hands were scalded with blisters, but she endured the pain and did not throw away the jar, but carefully placed it on the ground.
Then, she froze there, turned around and looked at her parents, and she didn't come back to her senses until the porridge was cold.
Suddenly, Zhao Zhenfang suddenly picked up the earthen pot, came to her parents, shook her father's body and said, "Dad, don't sleep. Get up and drink porridge. After drinking porridge, you won't be hungry anymore."
The father didn't respond.
She went to shake her mother's body again: "Mom, drink porridge. If you drink porridge, you won't be hungry. Mom, get up and drink porridge... woo woo, wow wow wow..."
A great fear came over her, and the little girl began to cry loudly.
Gradually, I became tired from crying and ran out of energy.
"Water, water, I'm so thirsty..."
The little girl turned around and saw that 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!"