Chapter 8 1. At the feet of the Son of Heaven (1)

Little Li Lianying followed her parents all the way to flee famine and came to the downstairs of Yongdingmen City. The night before, her father witnessed a man who was so hungry that he killed his wife and fed the child with human flesh... Looking at the lack of food and clothing His father is at a loss... It is already the Mengqiu Festival in the sixth year of Xianfeng. Just a few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th, the autumn wind is still very strong, and the autumn leaves dance wildly all over the sky.Maybe it's because the Li family lived on the streets with scantily-clothed clothes. They felt that this year's winter came very early. Hu Huli kept thinking about it and counting, and they only walked for two days. With a swipe, the cold winter atmosphere enveloped them.

The feeling along the way was really uncomfortable. I drove forward day and night. The children had weak legs and couldn't keep up. They walked slowly, and they didn't carry much dry food with them. Everyone there is unfamiliar with the place, sitting and eating, fearing that they will not be able to reach the capital, the Li family will bury the bones and feed wild dogs by the roadside. In the past two days, the five brothers have been harmed.The little guy felt that everything was new when he left the house for the first time. Hu Huli just walked in front of him silently pushing a ghost-headed unicycle, and his brothers pestered Cao Shi to ask this and that.The brothers have never been out of Dacheng County no matter how far they were born. As soon as they walked out of Dacheng along the bank of the Ziya River, the eldest and fifth children ran forward, cheering, while the third and fourth children were a little more stable and showed no expression. Be as lively as the eldest brother and the younger brother, even if they tugged on Cao's sleeves, they would pick up every small stone on the roadside to see if it was rounder and heavier than the stones in Dacheng.Of course, there is no need to mention those strange questions, which are as thick as the hair on their heads. At first, Mrs. Cao reluctantly hesitated to speak a few perfunctory words, but the two of them asked more and more strange questions.Mrs. Cao has grown up so much and has never seen Dacheng County. Rural women can understand what they can do when they are stuck at home. What they pay attention to is a hoe in the field and a pair of scissors in the house. A little heart is enough for a good daughter-in-law.It stands to reason that Mrs. Cao is also a leader among the big girls and young wives in the neighborhood, and is known for being well-informed.The third child and the fourth child thought that they had seen their mother talking loudly among a group of women, and their skills beat the group of "Fang"'s superior performance, so they unexpectedly regarded her as an all-knowing, omniscient and powerful person.Mrs. Cao murmured in front of the two boys and couldn't answer, and the two of them didn't know how to see, so they simply grabbed the corner of the mother's clothes and stopped, staring at the moving lips of the mother, Cao did not answer. No, it's not true if you don't answer, I want to reprimand a few words, think about the children running all the way to escape famine with their parents when their bodies are still tender, it's hard enough, I can't bear it after a few bears.Little Lingjie had something on his mind, originally he was walking alone between his father and mother, but after seeing this, he found a step for his mother, and dragged the third and fourth children to chase after the eldest and fifth children.Mrs. Cao rushed to catch up with her husband, and the two of them walked side by side. Looking at the five children bouncing around in the twilight ahead, Hu Huli felt as if she had knocked over a bottle of five flavors, sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, The astringency is delicious.After pondering for a while, Hu Huli turned his head and looked at his wife lovingly, and said in a soft and slow voice, not without helplessness, "What should we do when it gets dark? None of the five children have traveled a long way!"

Before it got dark, the little guys were exhausted, screaming that their backs were sore and their legs hurt, and they didn't want to go anymore.At that time, the Li family was walking in a wilderness, and the night was coming from invisible places around them. Looking far away, there was a gray area at the end of the road, and the nearest village was less than the distance. It’s about ten miles away, so it’s obviously wrong to turn back. If you go forward, you’ll have to go to the Year of the Monkey before you know if you’ll come across a populated village. , Even if I wanted to find a place to shelter from the wind, I couldn't find it. At this time, the evening wind was already very terrifying, and the "hu rumbling" shouted from far to near, covering the sky and covering the earth.

If you want to sleep here, you can't find a thatched hut to shelter from the wind. In all likelihood, the little ones will get sick from the cold.But where to find a thatched cottage?There is not even a big tree in the surrounding area, only sparse and trembling wormwood on the side of the road, the ground is in a mess, obviously no one is tending to it, and it has not been planted in autumn, if it is not the season, the corn seedlings are almost the same Time to show up. Hu Hu Li knew that the brothers didn't tell lies, the four of them couldn't help but sit on the ground, raised their heads and looked at their father pitifully, wiping their sweat. Little Lingjie didn't say he was tired, but the sweat on his face And the posture of panting with his mouth wide open shows that he is also unable to move an inch now.It's about twenty or thirty miles away from the big city, and I have been traveling for two or three hours.Because the little ones are fresh at the beginning, when they leave the house for the first time, they just hold back their energy and run forward to have fun. It will be extremely difficult for them to pull up.Hu Huli looked at Cao Shi, Cao Shi shook his head, expressing that there was nothing he could do.

In the end, they really couldn't think of any other way, so the little guys just lay down and rolled on the ground, their mouths were worn out and they asked them to run harder and run a little longer to stop them in the hotel, but they didn't do it.The first night was spent in such an environment, the earth was the bed, the sky was the roof, and the five children made a pile and squeezed together on a ragged padded jacket brought by Hu Hu Li. Hu Hu Li and Cao Shi One person picked up a handful of hay, lying on both sides to block the children, and the ghost-headed unicycle was placed upwind to block the wind a little bit, at least it felt better than not being blocked at all.

Hu Huli and his wife didn't sleep that night, they kept talking nonchalantly with their eyes open until Dongfang paled.In the middle of the night, the wind subsided, but the sky was even colder, and the whole body was blowing cold air from top to bottom. Hu Huli was afraid that the child would be sick from the cold, so he took off a few more clothes and covered the child. Sitting in a small gown with arms folded until dawn, his teeth chattered from the cold. The road on the second day was obviously more difficult than the first day. First, the fifth child complained of foot pain, and Hu Huli asked him to bear it.Unexpectedly, the little guy sat on the ground and took off his shoes, and raised his feet to show his father.When Hu Huli saw it, she was so distressed that she burst into tears.I saw that the soles of the younger son's feet were densely covered with large and small blood blisters, some of which had rotted away, exposing bright red flesh and blood.So, as a matter of course, the little guy sat on the unicycle for a while, and now it broke down. As soon as Xiao Wu got off, the fourth child took off his shoes to show his father, so naturally he had to sit on it and rest for a while.The brothers, except for Xiao Lingjie, dangled on the unicycle like a revolving lantern.When it was getting dark, I couldn't walk a few steps. Fortunately, Hu Huli learned the tricks.I found a dusty farmer and asked about it, and there were no shops and no villages for dozens of miles, so the family found a dilapidated earth temple with only four walls left, and got some firewood to light it. He cooked a pot of porridge to eat hastily, and with the heat of the porridge entering his stomach, he fell asleep.

If it takes five or six days, I stop the passers-by to ask for directions, and everyone always says that the capital is in front of me, but I can’t get there no matter how I go, sometimes I walk away with strides and gather my strength for a while, thinking that I have walked a long way, and I look back. The few stalks of dead leaves fluttering on the branches of the small tree that was used as a sign when we set off are still clearly discernible.On the seventh day, at dusk, the young and old of the Li family finally arrived on the official road outside the capital, and they were indeed much more angry than what they had seen along the way.Even though it was evening, there were still people coming and going on the official road, and there was an endless stream of laughing and cursing. It really was a prosperous, gentle and rich town.

Hu Huli sighed inwardly, no wonder people often say that a blessed person should be born in a big country.The horse-drawn carriage drivers in the capital looked more beautiful than the county magistrates in Dacheng County.How did Hu Huli know that those who rushed out of the city before dark were servants of rich families in the capital, and after hanging out with officials for a long time, they naturally brought out a so-called "bachelor air" that was different from ordinary people.Just this is enough to make Hu Huli smack his lips and praise him for a long time. The Li family didn't go into the city that night, because they were afraid that once they entered the city, it would be dark and they would have nowhere to go to seek refuge.What's more, they don't know what the rules are like in the capital. They don't know whether they let the fleeing refugees from other places hide overnight.Country people are like this when they first come to a big town. They are afraid of wolves and tigers. They always think that there are more things in the city than at home. In the end, it was still ridiculed. People in the city called it the "bumpkin air" of "hillies", and more politely called it "small family air".When Hu Huli was young, he knew a lot of people from all walks of life, who traveled all over the world, and knew a little bit about the things on the scene.However, just knowing this just bound him invisibly, causing him to linger a lot at the gate, still undecided whether to enter or exit.

The majestic and majestic city gate in front of them was Yongding Gate, Hu Huli didn't recognize it, it was Xiao Lingjie who told him.The five little guys ran away as soon as they got to a crowded place, and Mrs. Cao couldn't help shouting, only Little Lingjie obediently followed behind his father, and he would go wherever his father went, but he didn't like The third and fourth children kept chattering and asking questions.Occasionally, I saw something novel and interesting, and I didn't talk much, I just pulled my father's sleeve and pointed it out to him.It is the first time for the father and the son to come to the foot of the emperor. This treasure land is full of beautiful scenery, not to mention, the city gate tower made Xiao Lingjie look at a bag of cigarettes time.At that time, the sun had already set, and there was still the last ray of light between the sky and the earth, but the sky was monolithic, gloomy, gloomy and dignified. The cold wind mixed with sand was blowing desperately. The city wall stands in the night with the sky as the background. The silhouette is black, tall and majestic. It looks dignified, solemn, austere, and noble, and it will unconsciously give rise to a sense of awe.The city gate tower looks like a solid square platform, the style is the same as the city gate tower in Dacheng, but the weather is quite different.The night is gloomy, and we can vaguely see the cornices and bucket arches on the city gate tower. The color is golden, which is the color of the emperor's dragon robe. It is noble and elegant. There is a copper bell on each of the four corners of the cornice. Storytellers describe the sound of "horse running and bell" when a general goes out to battle, and the sound of "kelang kelang" is crisp and sweet.

The city wall is ocher red, the tone is dull and solemn, and the three big characters of Yongdingmen are engraved on the top of the city gate.The city gate is vermilion, with shiny copper nails the size of bowls on it.Two big lanterns hung on the gate bars above the city gate, illuminating the city gate as bright as day, and making the copper nails on the gate even more dazzling.Four or five soldiers with bright helmets stood in the door opening and watched the continuous stream of people coming in and out of the door with cold eyes. The red tassels of the spears in their hands fluttered, and the people stood still like cast iron.

The four little guys wandered around somewhere and then came back with a haw on their lips. They seemed a little lost. Cao knew that they had seen something delicious or interesting, and they wanted money to buy it but were afraid of suffering. reprimanded, so I shrank my neck and dared not make a sound.Hu Huli and Xiao Lingjie patrolled around the gate of the city for a few times, fearing that the guards would be suspicious, and fearing that Mrs. Cao and the children would be in a hurry, they returned to the place where the wheelbarrow was tied.Looking back after a while, the city gate has been closed.So Hu Huli stopped hesitating, opened the bedding in a remote corner, and cruelly took out some change to buy a burner for each of the children, and asked them to lie down and sleep after eating, while he and Mrs. Cao stood aside Sitting, looking at the few but bright lights in front of him, he fell into deep thought. In the next few days, I lost my calculations, and Hu Huli didn't know how far the whole family traveled on the road. Now that I think about it, it is not an exaggeration to sum it up with a lot of hardships. It was such a difficult journey. ! Two days after leaving Dacheng, they ran out of food. There were seven people in the family, seven mouths, and the little ones were growing up.In desperation, Hu Huli remembered that he had brought a huqin with him just in case before leaving.So he took out the huqin, and spent half a day teaching Xiaolingjie a few ditties, and then the father and son settled the others first. They held the huqin, carried their jobs, and walked through the streets and alleys to sing ditties and play the huqin , begging and begging, trampled through thousands of doors, and ate hundreds of meals.Don't think that you won't be afraid of starvation. If that's the case, Hu Huli might just find a place to live and stop moving forward. Anyway, the future is hopeless. As long as he can survive, it is best not to move forward.However, the big towns and small villages they passed along the way were all ruined houses. After entering the ten courtyards, seven or eight were empty, and the remaining two or three were still preparing to move their families. Most of them met The peasants could only squeeze a few tears from their eyes to express their moral sympathy, and then they complained: "In these years, there is a lot of war and chaos. I don't know if I can eat the next meal. In the busy February and the busy August, the government still collects the land tax. No one has overnight food!" In fact, even if Hu Hu Li didn't inquire, you can tell just by looking at their faces. The peasants are all in rags, their faces are yellow to blue, their eyes are sunken, their steps are frivolous, and they have to stop after two or three sentences. Come down and gasp for breath, they are also starving!Hu Huli often couldn't bear to look at them too much, and even couldn't bear to give them the little money he had left.Therefore, Hu Hu Li and his son ran from house to house with broken legs and worn out feet. Occasionally, they ran into one or two well-to-do and kind-hearted households, and wiped their tears and gave them some food, rice and steamed buns. It can only be eaten for a full meal.What about the back?Maybe I'll be hungry for two, three, or even four meals.They were also reluctant to live in a hotel, and they could find a good place to live in a complete land temple. Although the wind kept squeezing in through the cracks in the doors and windows, they felt a sense of security after looking at Xiao Ran's four walls.If things go wrong, we can only use local materials and adapt measures to local conditions. If there is a tree, rely on a big tree, and if there is a hole, find a big hole.Lie down in a place slightly sheltered from the wind.At that time, not only could I not sleep, but I also had to worry about it.In the wilderness, if there is no guarantee, a group of highway robbers will emerge. These highway robbers may not all be bad guys who specialize in this industry, and many of them are poor, hungry and boring farmers.Hu Huli once saw a fresh skeleton lying on the side of the road with his own eyes, saying that it was fresh because blood was still oozing from the bones of the skeleton.If Hu Huli's vision is correct, it will not take more than a day for the skeleton to go from full of flesh and blood to skeleton.It is said to be a skeleton because after the meat on the top is removed, the bones are not lost at all.Hu Huli was sure that if it wasn't for a human being, it would never be possible to "work" so meticulously, and he felt sick for a while.From this, he can almost deduce what kind of expression a group of people will have around the steaming iron pot of human flesh. Their eyes must be like wolf-like ones, shining blue with greed and grabbing light, and their faces must be Surrounded by the murderous aura that only the executioner can have when holding the ghost knife and looking at the back of the neck of the condemned prisoner, wondering where is the best place to lower the knife.Thinking of this, the back of Hu Huli's neck felt chilly, and at the same time his whole body became limp and his bones were crisp, as if his own flesh and blood were being cut bit by bit by a group of people he imagined with wrist-removing sharp knives.A few days later, one night, they couldn't find a ruined temple to live in, so they had to spend the night in a small dry ditch. At midnight, he heard a sound coming from the ditch, and there was a faint moonlight that night , There was a mysterious brilliance between the sky and the earth, he lay down in the grass and dived under the sound, and heard a man and a woman whispering, as if they were discussing some housework.He secretly laughed whether his nerves were too tense, and was about to sneak away, when he heard a short but horrible scream from above, which was made by a woman.He didn't know what happened, so he didn't dare to move.After a while, he heard the sound of a heavy object being dragged on the ground beside him. Looking sideways, his heart suddenly constricted, and suddenly he felt a stream of bile slowly flow into his mouth, which was cold and bitter. .The two people who spoke just now showed their signs, but it was the man dragging the woman. The woman was completely naked, soaked in the moonlight with a shocking paleness, but the breasts between the two breasts were as bright red as rose petals. , It was blood, and it seemed to have a pungent smell. The man had a gleaming sharp knife in his mouth, shining like the eyes of a dead fish under the moonlight.Hu Huli's heart jumped into his throat again, and the bitterness permeated every part of his body that he could feel.His eyes didn't blink, and at that moment he was extremely frightened and extremely curious. The man dragged the woman to the center of the river. There was water in the center of the river, sparkling and flowing silently. The man picked up the water and there was a "squeak" sound. He washed it hastily, as if he was afraid of something, and his eyes were not clear. He kept looking left and right, Hu Hu Li held his breath and remained motionless. Men wash women's private parts and wounds on their bodies.After washing, he held the knife in his mouth in his hand. At this moment, Hu Huli found a sack stuffed in the man's waist.The man's face was facing Hu Huli, but Hu Huli couldn't see his expression, or he saw it vaguely but didn't dare to feed it back to his brain for any judgment.The man held the knife in his hand and hesitated for a while, as if considering the specific direction of the knife.All of a sudden, he saw him plunge the knife into the woman's chest, the knife body sank, leaving only the handle, and with a twist of his wrist, he put one of the woman's tits into the sack in a short while.Hu Huli didn't want to watch any more, but he didn't even have the strength to close his eyes. He watched the man pick the woman into a bare, bloody skeleton, and finally leaned over to lick the blood on the woman's skeleton. It was clean, and even smacked its lips, like a dog after eating meat and bones, with its long tongue sticking out.Hu Huli saw that the man's tongue, which was not thick, was blood red, like a puddle of blood. When the man left, he patted the sack that was still hung back on his waist with satisfaction, and a bright smile like a spring flower appeared on his face.The sack was even more bulging at this moment, and the man's belt fell into an arc. Hu Huli heard the man say a word, it was: "Qiu Ju, don't worry, go away! After eating you, if there is nothing to eat, I will kill myself and let the children eat." Hu Huli couldn't tell what he felt after he sucked every word the man said into his ears. Anyway, after the man left, he vomited for an entire hour. At the end of the vomiting, yellow water oozed from his mouth. As thick as pus, as viscous, he suspected it was really his bile.Because he no longer wanted to vomit after vomiting, and the bitter feeling in his mouth miraculously disappeared. Only he himself knows about this matter in the Li family.When he went back on the road after dawn, he had the urge to vomit again. Mrs. Cao thought he was suffering from the wind and cold, and advised him to rest for a while before leaving. . This time is not the most frightening and haunting for Hu Huli, because what happened at night he can force himself to believe that it is just a dream, he can force himself not to think about the shocking paleness and the beauty of rose petals. red.He can forget that night and even the front, back, left, and right of sleeping in the river ditch that night.However, another experience forced him to recall everything that had been forced into his subconscious.That time, he had just eaten the hind leg of a wild dog that was on the verge of rotting. When Little Lingjie found that wild dog, it was unsightly. Wriggle around. At that time, they hadn't touched their teeth for two days. Thinking about it carefully, this incident happened just the day before they entered the bustling capital city.At that time, the sky was bright and bright, and the wild dogs were lying on their backs in the wild. Hu Huli saw the surprised and greedy eyes of his sons when they saw the dead dogs.Without the slightest hesitation, he swiftly chopped off the wild dog's intestines, leaving the four legs and head that were not too rotten.Little Lingjie and the third child ran out for two hours and somehow got back half a pot of muddy water with grass roots and filth floating in it. The water color was gray-green and the smell was pungent.Hu Huli didn't care about these anymore, and set up a firewood to cook for a while. There was no salt, no seasoning, nothing, only stinky water and dog meat that wasn't too stinky.The sound of boiling water in the pot made the stench even stronger and could not be wiped away. Hu Hu Li pinched his nose and forked a hind leg with a knife. After spitting, looking again, I saw that several sons were already like wolves and tigers, shouting, each grabbed a piece of dog meat and stuffed it into their mouths, chewing until they "drinked and drank" loudly.In the end, the whole family rubbed their stomachs, their mouths were full of oil, and the water in the pot was exhausted, leaving only a few dried weeds and some broken bones. I wonder if Little Lingjie remembered the chicken leg that he gave to Er Nuo. The red sun is scorching, pack up and go, not far ahead, there is a village at the end of the road.The dilapidated walls and walls are all black and brown, and there are still unburned straw thatch roofs on several walls, which are obviously looted by the fire. There is no cooking smoke in the village, and of course there is no sound of chickens and dogs, people calling their children and daughters, and helping the old and the young to run around.Hu Huli felt sad and stopped for a long time before he made up his mind to stay overnight.At that time, the sun had already slanted against the broken wall, and the road was endlessly desolate. The evening clouds were like blood, and the smear was half stretched to the sky. A few half-cut trees in the deserted village stood in the wind, like a tombstone without words describing the bitterness of the tomb owner.Hu Huli never dreamed that in this village, he almost vomited his liver and intestines, and died in Huangquan. The rotten dog meat he ate was spit out by him, and of course there was thick "bile", just dog meat and bile It was all bright red, like a bleeding wound on a woman's chest in a river ditch in the middle of the night. The village is very large, and the silence becomes dead in the setting sun. Even the dead branches and leaves blown by the autumn wind do not show a trace of life. After entering the village, all you can see are empty houses and death yards.The houses are covered with straw thatch roofs, and the fire burned them all, leaving only ashes and broken beams to narrate the vicissitudes of life.Turning around the village, there is no longer a main road, the winding path leads to secluded places, and a narrow path looms from the back of the village, sinking into the sky.The Li family walked forward on tiptoe in fear, when suddenly a wild dog rushed out of the slant, with white teeth and bright eyes, except for its full belly, it looked like a hungry wolf rather than a dog.The dog barked wildly, grinning its teeth, with blood still dripping from its lips, looking at its whole body, it looked like it had just escaped from a pile of dead bodies, its hair was clotted into a lock of purple blood, clotted into a ball.There is clearly a small piece of bloody intestine dangling on the front leg.The dog and the man confront each other for a while, and the dog tucks its tail and flees. Looking far ahead, it can only see dead trees and weeds, and the sound of water flowing. It seems that there is a small river in front of it. Clusters tremble in the wind.There seemed to be pieces of cloth fluttering in the wind in the grass, not just one piece, but many, many, like the banners hung by heavenly soldiers on the walls of a big city. Going forward, the bloody smell suddenly blew into the nostrils with the wind. The Li family was not afraid. In the past few days, there were not twenty dead bodies on the roadside at the village head, but there must have been nineteen. It's just as usual.Little Lingjie dragged the third child forward and flew forward, submerged in the weeds, a cry trembling like autumn leaves came from the river ditch accompanied by the sound of water: "Father, come and see!" Without hesitation, Hu Huli also entered the wild grass.The river bank is under the cover of weeds, and the slope is extremely steep.Little Lingjie was calling at the bottom of the river, and there were dead bodies scattered among the weeds on the bank. The clothes were all local peasants, rags and tattered clothes, and the death conditions were extremely miserable.At a glance, Hu Huli saw several people with their heads separated from each other. Their heads were left in the grass, and only black hair fluttered in the wind.Hu Huli turned a blind eye and jumped down the river slope. When he opened his eyes, his throat suddenly seemed to be hit by a heavy object.Unstoppable, a hot and sour current broke out, and the river beach was full of naked corpses of women lying here and there, like big fish stranded on the river bank. The women were very young, and some of them were still lying around. A child whose brains were blown apart.Little Lingjie and the third child were standing dumbfounded among the dead.Hu Huli almost vomited before he gave up, tears and snot all over his face, he had almost forgotten where he was, the world?Nether ghost mansion?All women must have been raped.The river beach is full of fine sand, and the traces of fighting are clearly visible.Some women have been cut into pieces, their flesh and blood have dried up, and they are not obvious on the sand, only bodies lying like dead fish.The bitter tears in the small river have been shed, followed by blood, the sound of the water is murmuring, reflecting like the setting sun of blood, red and white are distinct. Hu Huli was escorted back to the original place by two children, and Mrs. Cao went in without knowing it. Seeing Hu Huli's face was sallow, she didn't ask any more questions.That night, the family wandered for seven or eight miles along the scorched woods by the river before wading across the river and finding a place to sleep. Sometimes Hu Hu Li Zhen doubts whether he is alive or dead. When he has something to do, he is exhausted and has no time to think about it. Once he calms down, he is unconsciously afraid, and he can't tell what he is afraid of!people?ghost?He was even afraid of seeing anyone. If a hurried traveler passed by on the road, as long as he glanced at him and was seen by him, he would be terrified, afraid that this person was a villain with a sharp knife and intending to commit murder. He met not many living people along the way, more like dead people in a deserted village by the river, and when he came to a place with a few more people, he would breathe a sigh of relief and feel a sense of security spontaneously.It was in these places that he heard a lot of complaints and discussions about the current situation.The eyes of those who said these words were full of anger and dissatisfaction.They said that since the foreign devils came ashore in the south, the people of the Qing Dynasty had not had a single day of comfort. Before the foreign devils came, at least there was still a way to survive.The imperial court pays this foreign devil money today, and tomorrow pays that foreign devil money. The debt that can never be repaid, the imperial court will not be able to pay for it for a while, and it will all be passed on to the common people.The situation of the country is becoming more and more difficult to clean up day by day, and even God takes advantage of the fire to loot. The "Nine Rivers" in Zhili have been in trouble for years, and the Yellow River burst into water three times in a row for three consecutive years. Millions of people were killed in the turbulent waves.Where the floods passed, houses collapsed, property, people and animals were plundered, and there was a vast ocean for hundreds of miles.After the flood, there were swollen human corpses everywhere, and no one cared about them. The plague continued for a while, and the people who barely escaped from the hands of the river god saw the gate of hell again in the distance.In addition, bandits are rampant and the world is in chaos, so some places are really empty, and there are too many people without a trace of cooking smoke within dozens of miles.The situation in the land that has not been flooded is not much better. As soon as the five grains and green seedlings emerge in the field, thousands of locusts will "buzz" and fly over. Nothing left, only bare poles left in the slightly larger trees.In many places, the bark below the height of a person was stripped off and eaten by the hungry people.The trees have no branches or leaves, and half of the white stubble is exposed, which is extremely frightening. The fields are desolate, the people are in dire straits, and straw signs are planted everywhere to sell children and daughters, so that a seventeen or eighteen-year-old yellow flower girl is not worth dozens of Xianfeng Tongbao!What's more, they change their sons to eat, and the official roads are full of hungry people, which attracts wild dogs to fight for food, barking, kicking and biting; flocks of sharp-billed crows in mid-air also play for fun, chasing the smell of rotting and smelly corpses, without any scruples. Hovering and cruising at low altitude, its desolation is too desolate to bear to see and hear.The common people are in such poverty, but the court officials still follow the laws and regulations of the Qing Dynasty. They gather in groups to collect land taxes every February and August, and even half a cent cannot be missing.If you fail to pay, you will be thrown into prison.This is not the life of a human being!It is the officials who force the people to rebel, and the people have to rebel. Anyway, they will all die. It is better to jump up and rush to kill the rich and corrupt officials first and eat a few full meals.The starving victims rose up one after another. In some provinces, there were thirty or forty large and small teams composed of hungry victims. Among them, the most powerful was the Taiping Army. He rushed to Jinling, established a court, and sat on an equal footing with Emperor Xianfeng, competing for domination of the world.The emperor sent an unknown number of soldiers and horses. One by one, the troops were dispatched to the south of the Yangtze River. Once they were transferred, they would never come back. However, these sensational things were all seen or heard on the way to Beijing after all.Sitting outside the Yongding Gate, Hu Huli looked at the brightly lit city of Beijing and listened to the melodious music of silk and bamboo coming out of the city.He didn't want to think about what happened when he was at the post station, it was useless to think about it, and it made him afraid in vain. He only focused on estimating what the emperor could give him. He didn't ask for wealth and wealth, but only food and clothing, and a happy family reunion.However, there is another question that is now on the agenda. How can he earn a living in Beijing? He was at a loss for a while. When the gates of the city opened wide the next morning, the Li family entered Beijing against the first sun.Only then did Hu Huli realize that there were quite a lot of plain-headed people with dew on their heads and rag shoes on their feet. They seemed to have come out of the ground all of a sudden, and they were noisily going to the village with Hu Huli and the others. Walking in the city, Hu Huli heard a few young men with a big city accent among them. He didn't recognize them. Out of various complicated considerations, Hu Huli didn't go up to strike up a conversation. Entering the gate of the city, looking forward, it suddenly becomes clear that there are neat rows of houses with blue bricks and gray tiles, red walls and green roofs, and graceful and luxurious palaces, row upon row, layer upon layer, and you can't see the end at a glance.There are even red men and dolls, all of whom are full of red, beaming and shuttling back and forth on the street, the sound of laughter and hawking is deafening.The farther you go, the more pedestrians there are, and the noise is louder. On both sides of the wide avenue, there are shops, with colorful facades, eye-catching signboards, a wide variety of groceries, and smiling bosses sitting in gorgeous clothes. At the entrance of the store, customers are attracted, and all kinds of snacks are fragrant.This time the greedy worms in the stomachs of a few little guys can be hooked out. The little five eyes are looking at the strings of crystal clear, black, purple and red candied haws hanging down on their stomachs, unwilling to leave. Hu Huli is in this big country. Feeling very ashamed, looking at the fat-bellied Beijingers walking by talking and laughing proudly, and looking at his shabby coarse clothes with a few big holes leaking flesh, he wished to find a crack in the ground and get in again. not come out.There is no way to find the cracks in the ground. He blushed and pushed the wheelbarrow without looking sideways. The wind under his feet rushed left and right among the crowd. He just wanted to escape from this bustling place and find a place Hide in a secluded alley.At this moment, Xiao Wu timidly called out: "Daddy, I want to eat that!" Hu Huli suppressed his anger, kept on stepping, and scolded his youngest son in a loud voice: "You want to eat, your father and I still want to eat? Who will give me the money?" Xiao Wu burst into tears with a "wow", not only crying, but also rolling on the ground, and the people who passed by hurriedly avoided.Hu Huli heard someone scolding in a whimpering voice: "Who's bastard is running wild here, why is he so undisciplined, he's as dirty as a mud monkey." Hu Huli's face was burning as if it was burning. When he looked back, a young woman was covering her nose with a silk handkerchief and walking around Xiaowu with a disgusted expression on her face.Hu Huli didn't dare to reprimand him any more, he was afraid that his youngest son would really be stuck here, and he would lose his father as a father.He hurriedly took out a few copper coins from his pocket, and told Xiao Lingjie to buy a candied haws, and Xiao Wu laughed through his tears. The family ran like lost dogs on the sunny street, and finally found a smaller alleyway.Pushing the wheelbarrow in, Hu Huli wiped his sweat, sat down and sighed for a while.Now he has no idea at all, how to take the next step, there are no relatives around, the sea of ​​people is vast, and there are all kinds of beings, where can we find a place to stay?Not to mention, how can I make a living when I find a good place to stay?Hu Huli was extremely frustrated, with no place to vent his grievances, he couldn't help but think of his little son's troubles in public just now, so he turned to look for him, the little guy's face was covered with tears, and he was biting a Candied haws smiled and Mimi ate vigorously. Without saying a word, Hu Huli picked him up angrily with a tiger face, pressed him to his knees, pulled down his pants, and beat him hard.Xiaowu also howled like killing a pig, Hu Huli threw him on the ground after beating him, made him cry, and squatted down in a corner to smoke dry cigarettes. Xiao Wu cried loudly, the more she cried, the more she cried. Seeing her husband's ruthless attack, Cao couldn't help but hold back her breath, and went up to lift her little son over. When she saw Xiao Wu's buttocks, there were blood-red fingers all over her. print.Cao's heart ached so much that she wanted to cry at first, but she held her breath and persuaded her for a while, but couldn't persuade her, so she hugged her youngest son and cried loudly. You should also worry about Hu Hu and Li Shao. The Cao family was crying, and the door of a house in the small alley they were in opened with a "squeak", and an old lady with silver hair squinted her eyes and poked her head this way. Look.Hu Hu Li Zhengchou couldn't find anyone to ask questions, this time he grabbed the straw and hurried up to tell the whole story, saying that they escaped from the famine and came here without food and clothing, and wanted to find a cheap inn to stay in first, and asked the old lady if she knew Know where there is such a hotel. 要说这旅店在北京城遍地都是，他们进城后走这一截路至少经过了二三十家。因为小灵杰一直在仰着头念商店的招牌上的字。可是那地方不能住呀！只看门口那锃明的金字招牌和门口的伙计干净利索的排场，胡胡李心里便直发毛，望而却步。想找其他人问吧又嫌不好意思，怕被人笑话。这一路上胡胡李走着只觉得如有芒刺在背，不经意抬一下头，能遇见几十来人的猜疑、讥讽、嘲笑等等感情兼而有之的眼光。 这个老太太一露面，胡胡李一眼便看出她应该是个古道热肠的好老人家。老太太果然没有辜负胡胡李的期望，睁大浑浊的双眼朝挤在一堆的曹氏和几个孩子看了一眼，叹叹气说： "捎家带口地出来不容易呀，我明白，我老糊涂了也明白你说这个理儿。" 老人家絮絮地说她是听见有小孩哭才出来看看，并且劝胡胡李别那么狠心，老天爷把人从娘胎里生下来就是为了让他活，只要想活，没有活不下去的人，只要想走，没有走不下去的路。胡胡李低着头喏喏连声，表示明白老太太的意思是责怪他不该把气撒到孩子身上，孩子又没有罪。 老太太絮絮地说了好半天，才告诉胡胡李该到哪儿去找那一号的小店，就是只求暂时容身，啥条件都不限的。胡胡李听老太太说完便忙着告辞要走，老太太非说路七拐八弯不好走，走丢了可不好办，坚持要送他们一程，胡胡李诚惶诚恐，再三推辞，老太太执意要送。 一群人簇拥了老太太出胡同口，眼前又有一条南北胡同，老太太喘着气告诉胡胡李沿胡同一直往北走，有五六里地的模样，有一个丁字路口，再沿丁字路口朝西走，不多远就到。 胡胡李临走时老太太一劲叮嘱他别再拿孩子撒气，年轻人啥事都能干，遇着麻烦时平心静气想一想，自然会有招儿，天无绝人之路嘛！胡胡李几乎要感激涕零，站都站不住了。老太太走出好远，他还听见老太太在喃喃自语： "捎家带口出门在外，难呐！不容易呀！" 小旅店果然极好找，南北胡同上走的人不多，而且看上去没有几个油头粉面的。胡胡李心下稍定，脚下不自觉有了力气，胸膛也挺了起来，老太太那些话说的绝对有道理，至少对眼下四面一摸黑的胡胡李而言是这样。是上午，阳光暖融融照着，胡胡李有了心情，有了目的，自觉不再像汪洋中的一条小船一样随波游荡，时时担心害怕会被风浪掀翻，只要先为一家老小找一个栖身之所，他相信自己肯定有能力糊住这七张口。不用说，老太太的话起的作用真是非同小可。人嘛，到困厄时总希望有人能拉他一把，"拉"的意思包括和他谈天，或者说两句让他宽心的话，这就够了，谁也不愿一直活在茫然中不知所措地四处瞎撞，说不定你就能一语提醒梦中人，使他从此总在心里点燃一盏指路明灯，从此找到一条通向他的目标的光明大道。 几个小孩子看老爹有了喜脸，也活蹦乱跳起来，小五的屁股也忘了疼，扯着胡胡李的衣袖撒娇。这条巷道和大城县城的那儿条大路模样差不多，两边隔三差五有一个店铺，铺面不大，从路上走过时看到的货物好像也不太时新，屋子里阴森森的衬得杂货灰扑扑地像是落了一层灰。店老板也无精打采的像刚睡完觉没有洗脸。路是用整块的大青石板铺成，由此也可看出京城和小地方确实不一样。然而说"整块"只是根据对过去推测而来，眼下似乎不能叫石板，而该叫碎石块，且不说石板已然裂成半截青砖大小、形态各异的小石块，就这些小石块上都密密麻麻全是年长日久、雨刷人走弄出来的"麻坑"。路两旁大多是住户，门楣应该都不算高，一个个小朱漆门紧闭着，偶而泄出一两串喧哗之声，却也是隐约可辩，不太明晰。路两边各有一道臭水沟，沟里水呈黑色，也并不全都是水，菜叶子，破鞋头，烂袜子，睁着眼睛的甲鱼头等等应有尽有。路面上也有水，"麻坑"里星星点点积着，湿湿的连成一片黑青。 胡胡李这回是信马由缰，胜似闲庭信步。几个小孩子看到啥稀奇古怪的东西便拉他过去看，他看到有啥好玩东西也招呼小孩子看。他自己也像小孩子一样呵呵地笑，聚精会神地看，看个没完。爷儿六个一路上你追我赶，嘻嘻哈哈地边笑边跑，路上经过的人瞅着他们，有几个人不自觉地微笑出声，但那笑声中分明是赞赏而不是嘲弄。独轮车此刻在曹氏手里，她推着车落在后面慢慢地走，胡胡李时不时从几个孩子堆里回一下头，伸出舌头扮个怪模怪样的鬼脸，逗得她捂着嘴直笑。 丁字路口朝西拐的路口有几家皮货店，看样子生意还可以，店里一律大声嚷着，是老板在和天南海北的买主谈生意。 皮货店外的墙根下摆着许多浅底高架的挑子，挑子上挂着一撮搓好的麻绳和一串串各形各色的皮角碎片。一个匠人正坐在小马扎上，神情专注地穿针引线，他在补一个皮靴。其他的挑子房边都摆着马扎，却不见人。几个孩子躲到一家皮货店的门背后听一个南方人和老板面红耳赤地争着价钱，南方人个子矮小，嗓门却不小，叽哩咕噜地叫，嘴巴里像衔了根稻草，话说得含糊不清。老板此刻显然是掌握着主动权，不愠不火，面含微笑，好像是他也听不大懂南方人的话，好长时间才慢语轻声地夹里一句。南方人却像是一只竖着冠子的公鸡，脸红脖子粗，唾沫星子直飞。几个小家伙躲在门后听得叽叽呱呱地笑，边笑边向老爹挤眉弄眼、招手，想让他也过来看热闹。 胡胡李这工夫已经找到事儿了，他蹲在那个匠人旁边看他补靴子。匠人起初并不理会，埋了头只顾眼急手快地干自己的活计。等那只靴子补好以后，匠人把它一下撂到旁边搁着的筐箩里，随手又拾起另一只，趁这当口抬头问了一句，话音里满是火药味，神情也极不耐烦： "师傅，你补鞋吗？" "不，我随便看看。" 胡胡李冲匠人满脸堆笑，和颜悦色地回答。匠人有四十岁光景，满脸胡子拉碴儿、黑不溜秋的，坐在马扎上块头显得不是很大，眼神里却掩饰不住有一股子凌厉的冷气。胡胡李听出他的口音像是山东人。因为直隶和京城本就接壤，京南二三百地的人说话除了方言中某些词汇外，大多数话和京城话所差无几，而匠人嘴里说出的话和王大哥到大城以后说的以山东话为底蕴的直隶话听起来简直一模一样，再说他那股子威猛劲恐怕除山东人外，也找不出来几个。匠人眼里露出的冷气哧得胡胡李心里忐忑，一听对方是山东人，就想以祖籍的关系套个近乎，因为"看看"倒不假，更重要的是胡胡李还有比看看更重要的目的。那知山东人一听他只是随便看看，"腾"就把手中刚捡起的靴子又扔掉了，豹眼圆睁，胡茬根根竖起： "不补鞋呆一边凉快去，别耽误大爷干活。" 胡胡李可没想到这位补鞋师傅有这么蛮横，蹲他旁边看看都不让，可是他不愿走，不得已低头看了看脚上蹬的千层底布鞋，那鞋肯定是该补了，不是小补，而是大补，最好的办法是鞋面一撕，重新上一层鞋面，只留下个鞋底即可。这么几天长途跋涉，都是铁脚板磨着这双布鞋拖过来的，前面都伸着舌头，一只上五个脚趾头有四个露在外面，黑乎乎的像炭块，另一只脚趾头倒是只漏了一个，可惜后边全磨穿洞了，一走一"呱哒"，露着脚后跟，一闪念间胡胡李打定主意，凑上去冲匠人说： "师傅，我不是那个意思，我是说我脚上这双鞋坏得太厉害，害怕不好整治，耽误您太多工夫，不好意思，您看……。" 匠人说完"一边凉快"后果真开始干活，好像他那句话就是圣旨，一说出来谁也不敢稍有忤逆。待胡胡李把脚上的鞋子褪下来，匠人很不满意地嗯了一声，拿起胡胡李的鞋子左看右看一番，又从挑子上扯下来一块巴掌大的黑皮，眯着眼睛比划了一阵，头也不抬地说： "能补，半个时辰以后来拿。" 听话里那意思还是要赶胡胡李走，胡胡李这下可找到了充足的理由，你给我补着鞋我总不成光着脚丫子乱跑。于是心安理得地从匠人旁边搬过半截青砖，一屁股坐在上面，想伺机和匠人聊个天儿，打探点情报。 匠人开始补胡胡李的鞋之前从笸箩里先拿起了一杆旱烟袋，看样子是想过把瘾再干，胡胡李急忙把自己的烟荷包递过去，殷勤地让： "师傅，您尝尝吧！自己地上种的旱烟，不难抽。" 匠人的一只手已然探进腰间，迅即又缩了回来，很不好意思地从胡胡李手里把烟荷包接过去，那一霎那间胡胡李瞥见匠人的眼睛里闪过一丝天真孩童才有的羞涩。显然，匠人的腰里旱烟是抽完了。 匠人边往自己的烟袋锅里装烟边紫涨着脸自我解嘲： "盛情难却，那俺就尝尝，不过丑话说前边了，你让俺一袋烟，俺也不少收你的补鞋钱。" 胡胡李仍然陪着笑；"哪里话？哪里话？师傅抽我一袋烟是看得起我，我李某人三生有幸，补鞋钱……嘿嘿，亲兄弟还明算帐呢，是不是？"