Chapter 25 trek

Since what Zhang Weichi pointed out was actually impossible, Mao Xiang had no choice but to decide to flee anyway.So, the two friends rested randomly for two hours. At five o'clock, they woke up more than fifty members of the family, old and young, high and low, had a big meal, tied up and tied up, and then Maoxiang personally led a group of people. Ben Deli's servants led the way ahead with the luggage and boxes; Mao Qizong and his female relatives were carried by bamboo poles and walked in the middle; in addition, a group of strong servants, each with sticks, were sent to be in charge of the rear.The whole family followed Zhang Weichi, heading towards Qinshan Mountain in the east, and started on the road one after another.

The rainy weather that lasted for many days finally came to an end.On the once gray and dark sky, tangled clouds were dissipating.In the gaps vacated by the clouds, the azure blue of the lake reappeared.The long-awaited autumn sun is shining softly, and the nearby grass, green trees, and distant hillsides and fields are all shining wetly.Although water and mud still abound on the road, it is no longer like a while ago when there is almost no place to stay. At least it has reduced the pain of trekking for the people who fled in a hurry. However, it's just a little more light and fast in action. As for people's hearts, they are nervous and flustered like never before.Because before this, although they had fled with their families more than once, but first, it was within the jurisdiction of the "own family" after all, no matter how chaotic it was, there was always someone to rely on, at least they could make friends with each other; Come, relying on such a big family, with many people and powerful forces, ordinary thieves would not dare to pick them easily, so worry is nothing but worry, but they are not unsure about the future and destiny.But the current situation is completely different. With the successive fall of Haining and Haiyan, the influence of the Ming Dynasty in this area can be said to have been completely shattered; A "kind" of conquerors.These strangely dressed "tartars" from "Huawai" are said to only burn, kill and loot, and have no idea what benevolence, righteousness and morality are.This makes the subjugated people who are accustomed to conduct themselves according to the etiquette, feel a kind of inexplicable horror, a kind of panic of losing all support.

Now, as the sun rose, they had left Rashan far behind and began walking among flooded rice fields.This is a rice field with a large radius.It spreads from the north and extends to the sea in the south.In the late autumn of September, it was the time for soybeans to mature, but the fields were empty, and there was no farmer harvesting. There were only flocks of birds, hovering on the bean vines that had been washed away by the water... due to Zhang Wei Chi once said that there is a road leading to Ganpu, which is most likely to encounter rangers from the Qing soldiers. Therefore, from the beginning, Maoxiang was very nervous, while vigilantly watching the movement around him, while urging him The family followed closely.However, the flooded paddy fields are in a mess everywhere, and even the criss-crossing fields are mostly collapsed and collapsed. If you step on it, you will sink into the muddy water at any time.Needless to say, everyone stumbled and scrambled, and on several occasions they lost their luggage and overturned the bamboo poles, making them flustered and embarrassed.However, he was very lucky. During the journey, not to mention Qing soldiers, he didn't even meet a single person who fled.It seems that because they fled a day late, they were able to escape the Qing army's forward attack.As a result, just like that, the family not only walked through the rice fields safely, but also crossed the road leading to Ganpu smoothly. At noon, they came to the foot of Ma'an Mountain, where many bamboos grew.

"Thank God! Finally made it through!" Mao Xiang thought to himself.Because according to Zhang Weichi, next, as long as you walk one mile along the southern foot of the mountain, you will be the port branch. He has already arranged a boat to wait there for the pick-up, so Maoxiang really felt relieved, but he then I just remembered: In this short half day, I have been engrossed in monitoring the movement around me, and I can hardly concentrate on taking care of my parents and relatives, and I don't know how the two old people are doing, and what orders they have.So, although he had been running around all day yesterday and only slept for two hours at night, he was a little exhausted by now, but he still wiped his sweat with his sleeves, tried his best to pull himself together and turned around, searching with his eyes.When he found that the two old men had settled down in the shadow of a clump of moso bamboo surrounded by their female relatives, he gestured to Zhang Weichi to wait and hurried over.

At this time, the family members following behind had also arrived one after another, and the originally not very spacious hillside became crowded.Mao Xiang turned sideways and walked through the jumbled luggage.When he was about to reach the bamboo bushes where his parents were resting, he suddenly heard a panicked scream: "Hey, uncle, come quickly, it's not good! Grandma is not good!" Mao Xiang was taken aback, and quickly ran over, separated from the huddled female family members in a panic, and couldn't help being stunned.His wife, Su Shi, was fine when she set off, but now she closed her eyes tightly and fell into the arms of the maid Ziyi with a low breath.The face that had been smeared with a lot of dust became bloodless, and the forehead was covered with bead-sized beads of sweat, and the mouth was half-opened stiffly, clearly fainted.Dong Xiaowan knelt in front of her, among those who pinched her hard with their nails.

"Ah, why is this so? What's going on here?" Mao Xiang couldn't help asking sharply. "The sun is too strong, grandma is already weak, and she can't bear it after walking all the way in the sun. It's okay." Dong Xiaowan replied, and then asked Ziyi to lay Su's family on the ground, and started to untie her clothes Collar buttons. "Well, how do you know? You know this?" Seeing Dong Xiaowan loosen the clothes that were tightly wrapped around her body for Su Shi, she pulled out a silver hairpin from her bun, continued to stab at the person, and then stabbed vigorously. The patient's hands, Mao Xiang couldn't help asking suspiciously.

"Yeah, I don't think it can be done like this, why don't you find a doctor to have a look!" Someone echoed from the side, it was Su Shi's personal mother and daughter-in-law, and the mistress's accident must have made her think of her own responsibility. She looked extremely nervous. Mao Xiang glanced at the old lady's long, frightened face, but said nothing.Because he remembered: Among the few cleaners in the family, there were some who were good at medicine, but they had already scattered their things; now they are in the wild, with no village in front of them, no shop in back, where can they find a doctor?

"I have learned a little bit before, let's try it!" Dong Xiaowan replied calmly, without raising her head. "Hey, let her fix it!" Mao Qizong said from the side, "She is right, your wife is suffering from heat stroke. I have read it in medical books..." Before I finished speaking, several voices suddenly shouted happily: "Ah, it's okay, it's okay, grandma woke up!" Sure enough, Su Shi, who was lying unconscious on the ground just now, opened his eyes and moved his lips slightly.Although he still couldn't make a sound, he was clearly conscious.

Maoxiang breathed a sigh of relief, and was about to straighten up when he suddenly heard a trembling voice from the side: "Ah, I can't, I can't...I can't...I can't!" Mao Xiang hurriedly turned around and found that it was his mother, Mrs. Ma.In order to avoid attracting attention as much as possible while fleeing, the normally well-groomed old lady, like other female relatives, combed a man's hair in a bun, put on men's shabby clothes, and smeared a lot of dust on her face.She was sitting cross-legged on a rock, but now her eyes became straight for some reason, and her body was shaking from side to side, as if she was about to fall down.Mao Xiang was taken aback, and rushed forward with a stride, together with the maids, they supported her together.Seeing that the old lady was like Su Shi just now, with her eyes closed and her whole body limp, he couldn't help shouting anxiously: "Xiao Wan! Xiao Wan!"

When Dong Xiaowan rushed over, he urged nervously, "Hurry up, my wife is also suffering from heat stroke, please treat her quickly!" Dong Xiaowan looked at Mrs. Ma, but didn't start to tie the hairpin immediately.She first probed the old lady's forehead, then pressed three fingers on the other's wrist, checked her pulse for a while, and then called softly: "Madam, ma'am!" Seeing that Madam Ma didn't respond, she softened her voice: "Ma'am, don't be afraid, just open your eyes and see, we are all here!" Strange to say, this time, there was movement.I saw the old lady's eyelids move and move, and suddenly opened.

"You, are you all here? Is the daughter-in-law okay? Ah, just now, I was frightened!" She said, looking at everyone weakly and pitifully. Mao Xiang, who was watching nervously from the side, finally realized that her mother was not suffering from heat stroke, but just an old problem of timidity.He straightened up, collected himself, and was about to say a few words of comfort when he suddenly heard his father calling from behind, "Xiang'er, come here!" "Well, have you thought about it carefully?" After Mao Xiang followed, Mao Qizong glanced at the women who were passing towels and water, greeting and flattering Mrs. Ma and Su, and frowned. Frowning, he asked, "How do you plan to end this escape? Could it be that you really want to lead your whole family to Shaoxing?" Shaoxing is the seat of the East Zhejiang Anti-Qing regime headed by King Lu, and it is not far from here.Mao Xiang really thought that only by escaping there can he be safe.But he also knew that he had to try to cross the Qiantang River Estuary, which was deep and rough, which was not possible right now.Hearing the questioning in his father's tone now, it made him a little confused. "In my opinion, don't go anywhere! Hurry up and try to get home, the most important thing is to go back to Rugao!" Mao Xiang blinked his eyes.He wanted to say: "Isn't Rugao already in the hands of the enemy? How can I go back? Unless I shave my head and become an obedient citizen!" But when his eyes fell on his father's old and anxious face, he stopped temporarily. Mao Qizong seems to have seen through his son's mind.He waved his hand resolutely, gritted his teeth and said: "If you are a submissive citizen, then you must be a submissive citizen! Let's save the lives of the whole family first! If you continue to drag this way in the wilderness, even if you don't get killed by the Tartars, you will die from exhaustion. Sick to death, scared to death!" "..." "That's right," Mao Qizong slowed down his tone slightly, "until now, I haven't encountered any serious danger. But there is still tomorrow and the day after tomorrow! Even if this level is passed, there is still the next level The chaos in the south of the Yangtze River is just beginning now, and I’m afraid it will drag on for a long time. This endless escape will not be the end after all!” After a pause, seeing Maoxiang bowed his head and remained silent, he suddenly became angry and stomped his feet vigorously: "Okay, okay, just figure it out! But you have to think clearly: it's easy for us to die, but it's not easy for us to die." What about leaving your mother, your newly born younger brother, and your wives, concubines, and children? You can’t just leave them alone! You, you just figure it out!” After saying this, he turned around abruptly. body, abandoning his son, and quickly returned to Mrs. Ma's side. Hearing the footsteps of his father leaving in anger, Mao Xiang could not help but slowly squat down on the spot.It is true that he did not readily agree, but that did not mean that he did not know the hardships and dangers of such an escape.In fact, just last night, he had the idea of ​​staying and not leaving, and discussed the possibility of doing so with Zhang Weichi.He finally denied this idea because he felt that no matter what, he couldn't shave his head and become an obedient citizen of the Tartars!But his father's proposition at this moment revealed to Maoxiang for the first time a choice that seemed unthinkable in the past. "Ah, in the end, am I really going to take this step?" He thought bewilderedly and tremblingly in his heart, "If I really do this, if I really shave my head and become an obedient citizen of the Tartars, what will the community members think? How should I say it? How will I face the spirits of my ancestors? Also, if in the end, the rebels who rise from all directions beat the Tartars out again, and this country is still under the rule of Ming Dynasty, then what should I do? Hey, No, no, you can't do that anyway!" After a pause, he thought again: "...But, Daming's defeat to this point is really due to the extreme darkness and corruption. It is not easy to make a comeback! Moreover, if you keep running around like this, I am afraid that the rebels will not be able to wait. When that day comes, we will meet Tartar soldiers first, and then we will have to be slaughtered! But as my father said, it is easy for us to die, so what if we leave our mother, wife and children behind? Of course, in order to die for the country, we must also The whole family can die together; or they can resign themselves to fate and leave them alone. There are many precedents among the loyalists since ancient times. It is true that the country has been destroyed and the family has fallen to this point. What hope is there? Even if you can survive, you are already human Unlike humans, beasts are not like beasts, what is the interest in life? Why not just close the eyes of the whole family, see nothing, and forget nothing!" Thinking of this, Mao Xiang's heart hardened, and he even felt Being able to die happily is the simplest and most convenient relief.However, it was only for a while before he hesitated again: "But I'm afraid that my father and mother may not be willing to do this, so why don't I just have the heart to leave them behind?"... In this way, Mao Xiang was surrounded by various choices and choices. Weighing, dragging and entangled, the more he thought about it, the more confused he became. In the end, he only felt his head buzzing, but his eyes were blank, so that it was clear what happened around him, and people started screaming and running around, but he couldn't react immediately. come over……